#ok so bit random but i just saw a snippet of a tv show where they talked about deepfake prn

[mononoke--hime]

i just think women are very cool and i think they should make everything easier for women like shoutout for keeping it up, i don't think i could do it

happy international women's day to my favourite girlies in the world: mutuals

[yaz-the-spaz]

Thoughts on scripted?

hey nonnie, so i’m so so sorry i kept you waiting for like four days for this but i just really needed some time to properly process and collect my thoughts (cause i have a lot on this) and take my time to get them down in a coherent way, i still feel like it’s a bit jumbled and unclear at times but i tried my best to explain my thoughts as best i could. i hope it’s sufficient...

My Thoughts on Scripted

so i wanna preface this by making it clear to everyone who may read this that this is strictly my own interpretation of things and my own opinion on what zayn’s trying to convey in this song. personally, i think this song is very much about public images, narratives, and stunting, and sticking it out through all of that, so that’s the direction/theme that a lot of my interpretations of the lyrics in this song are gonna lean towards. you don’t have to agree. in fact, if you disagree that’s fine and i welcome and any all rational and fair/polite discussion on different interpretations of the song and certain verses or lines within it. i’m in no way trying to convince anyone to see anything a certain way (and my own interpretations and thoughts/opinions on this may even evolve or change with time), but i was asked by this nonnie to share my thoughts (currently) on the song and so that’s what i’m doing, and if anyone has a problem with any of the opinions or interpretations stated here i just ask that you address me about it respectfully :)

ok now onto the song analysis:

Blurry TV screens

Fuzzy broken scenes

Finding words don't have flow

Blurry TV screens

Fuzzy broken scenes

Hold her close finding love

so this verse to me seems like it could be meant to have a double meaning, as in 1) the scenes or roles they [he and liam and/or the other boys] have to play out (i.e. stunts, fake dates, scripted interviews, etc. that they feel like they’re playing out like a scene in a movie/tv show - mgmt telling them hold her hand this way, hug/kiss at this angle so it looks more intimate, ok now let’s take this pic/video and then we’ll do another angle; making sure to only show pieces of the story like scenes and only the pieces and angles that fit the narrative they wanna sell, etc.) and/or 2) the time they get to themselves which often feels like only snapshots that go by too quickly and are like a blur/fuzzy in their minds (stolen moments together in between stunt outings and shows and things where they have to perform/are expected to put on and keep up their usual act for the cameras before they can go back to being themselves again/have some time alone together to just be again, etc.), and the “finding words don’t have flow” part could mean because he doesn’t know how to talk about it or express how he feels about it cause he just has so many conflicting feelings (or even just that he can’t talk about it cause he’s not allowed)

Hearts don't feel the same

And the names we like to say

Change with time and age

so this seems to clearly be referring to feelings changing - though not necessarily in a bad way, maybe just maturing and growing together and changing as people, as in the infatuation is gone and you love each other differently than you did when you first got together but there’s still so much unconditional love there it’s just a different (like a more serious or maybe even a deeper) kind of love, or could be referring to friendships (whether between him and the boys or other people from his personal life) and those friendships changing or even fading with time, or even feelings about a situation changing over time; it could also be taken a bit more literally too of course as well and have a negative meaning as in we don’t love each other anymore/don’t feel the same way about each other anymore/aren’t as close anymore (again whether between friends or a romantic partner, or even not feeling the same way about a situation anymore, etc.), it’s all up to interpretation i guess and how you choose to see it but i think it can be thought of in lots of different ways

for the names thing i think this can also have multiple meanings, like maybe it could be referring to names he and liam and/or the boys call each other (friendly nick names, pet names as a couple, etc.) and/or the names they’re made to mention/promo in interviews, like how some periods we would get a bunch of louis and zayn mentioning each other or niall and zayn mentioning each other lilo or niam mentioning each other, etc. and then other times they’d be promo-ing other random people (like liam mentioning charlie puth every 2 seconds for a while, etc.)

[fyi i’ll be skipping over any repeating refrains/verses since there’s no real need to re-hash things over again or take up unnecessary space with lines that have already been talked about]

So I

I don't wanna say what's scripted

Whether you are or aren't with it

I know what I need

'Cause I

I don't wanna say what's scripted

Whether you are or aren't with it

I know what I need

this part i think is pretty obvious (and i think a lot of people agree) that it’s most likely referring to having to say scripted lines in interviews and things of that sort and that’s why he avoids it so much, he doesn’t wanna be forced or used to sell the narratives they want him to sell and say the company lines they want him to say, he “knows what he needs” and that’s to stay away as much as he can from engaging in all the bs

but again i think it could also have a double meaning in that he maybe doesn’t wanna say or do generic things either and this can be in regards to life in general or more specifically with his romantic partner, like he doesn’t wanna say or do what he’s expected to say/do, he wants to be different and to do things differently/do things in his own unique way (in life in general, but also maybe in his relationship like finding other ways to say “i love you” or to show his love, finding other ways to be together that don’t necessarily follow “traditional” paths which also could be a nod them being in a [conventionally-speaking] “untraditional” relationship, which a lot of people would consider a same-sex interracial interfaith relationship between two huge self-proclaimed dorks lmao to be)

i think it’s important to note that he also includes a snippet of an interview shortly after this part in which he talks about sex not being as meaningful anymore with this generation and how that was a part of what he was trying to convey on ‘let me.’ which begs the question why? why draw attention to this specific interview (one that references ‘let me’) out of all the interviews he could’ve chosen? why draw attention back to such a romantic song (and to the idea of meaningful sex and meaningful relationships) in the middle of this dark part of the album that seems to (imo) mostly be about the negative sides of the industry? we’ll get back to my theory on that in a moment but in the meantime…

there’s also the fact that the melody of song is very somber through most of the song and i think that’s intentional because it kind of serves to evoke the pain and sadness he feels over his situation and i think he wants the listeners to feel and understand that as well and to understand why, to understand all the little things about his whole situation that make him so sad and the main thing seems to be that he has to “say what’s scripted” when he doesn’t want to and isn’t truly allowed to be himself or say or do what he wants as much as he would like. BUT—here’s where we get back to my theory on why he suddenly calls our attention back to such a romantic song and to the idea of meaningful relationships

not long after this point in the song (after the chorus repeats again) the melody suddenly changes, all of a sudden it feels less somber (at least to me), i would almost even characterize it as kind of tentatively hopeful/tentatively optimistic if i had to put a label on it, my theory is that he’s setting for the stage for what comes next, getting us ready for a change in tune (literally but also figuratively as in a change in theme) and then we get this

You'd still remember my eyes

Even if the Men In Black flashed

Their light into your eyes

For the second time this night

It feels right when it's, only you and I

so this seems to be a nod to a huge recurring theme on this album which is this idea of always remembering each other/always being fated to find each other (through space and time and making it together through all kinds of obstacles, etc.)—aka SOUL MATES—which so many songs on this album seem to reference over and over and over again…and which as an aside always reminds me of that moment in an interview (sorry i tried but i couldn’t find a link to it) where i think they’re talking about what would have happened in an alternative universe/timeline if they hadn’t gone on txf and weren’t famous or something like that and zayn says he’s not sure if he would’ve met liam cause “i don’t tend to do much in me own time” and liam’s like “but you might have” and zayn’s like “yeah but maybe” not and Liam Not Having Any of It Payne insists “but then again you might have”

but anyway all that to say that i think it’s clear by this recurring theme that zayn’s definitely since come around to the idea lol and has even adopted him for himself and decided to make into a running theme on the album and not only that but clearly he’s come to believe that the romantic partner (i.e. liam) he keeps alluding to in so many songs on the “icarus” side is his soulmate and they can make it through anything

[but again, as with a lot of the other lines in this song (and on this album in general) i think there’s a small chance this verse could also be have a double meaning as well, possibly as a reference to the fans and how mgmt/1dhq has repeatedly tried to basically do a madagasar penguins ‘you didn’t see anything’ move on us and act like the shit we know we saw never happened by panic-deleting videos and releasing bs articles and manipulating the boys’ twitters; it’s a rather flimsy theory i know, esp given that all the other lines surrounding it suggest that it’s more likely in reference to a personal relationship than a more general reference that could be applied to fans but it’s just something that’s been in the back of my mind ever since i first heard the song so just putting it out there]

Oh, you and I

Oh, you and I

Oh, you and I

Oh, you and I

do i even need to say anything about this?

he repeats it five times which…interesting number first off 😏 (and also separates out the other four from the first one which again - interesting)…but also makes it pretty evident that this is a line that’s being very much emphasized, that has serious meaning, that he wants you to pay attention to, that much is obvious not only in the repetition but the fact that it deviates from the composition of the rest of the song - the music changes/falls away to just a very simple (piano?) melody and beat, the focus is mostly on just his voice and it’s the ever enigmatic “you” that he’s singing to (that also seems to be a running theme on both albums, as he often—not necessarily always but often—seems to differentiate between this “you” and other people/pronouns/things referred to in his songs) in a slightly sped up but very similar style to the style of the harmonies in you & i, a song in which he had very notable harmonies with liam (that’s possibly regarded as the most unequivocal ziam song) that they often romantically and openly serenaded each other with (like specifically turned to each other just to sing to each other), that liam said was his favorite song off the midnight memories album, that liam got a line from (“i figured it out”) permanently tattooed on his arm right below the feather that was widely believed to be the missing feather from zayn’s then chest tattoo (and which many believed being with zayn was the “thing” he figured out), a song that liam cried during the first few times they performed it without zayn, and a song that’s about nothing be able to come between two soulmates people in love who are destined to be together and that clearly had a lot of special meaning to them both (and that the fandom knows and that i’m sure they also know is widely regarded as a ziam song because as liam said on many occasions they see what we say about them, they know what goes on and what we think about the stuff they do/say) - all of that leads me to believe that this was a calculated and very obvious/deliberate move by zayn to emphasize this part in the song so clearly, a [huge] red herring if you will, and i would argue that it has even more significance not only just because of all that’s mentioned above but also because of the fact that he chose to include these lines in a song on the “falls” side of the album, the side that’s supposed to be the more negative/dark side (and the side that i believe is largely representative of his feelings and experience with fame and the entertainment industry). which to me suggests that the overarching message that he’s trying to get across/convey with this song is basically that everything may be shit with how things are being run and the stuff he (and the other boys) are made to do and say but he’s always gonna go his own way and regardless of what gets thrown at them he and liam (and the rest of ot5) are gonna make it through together

[thisnerdsadventures]

a 2021 update

Ah, so I have forgotten to update in a million years, per usual

~ Random thought section ~

I woke up this morning and read this tweet thread about Alice Wu's director's note for her movie The Half of It. It's streaming on Netflix, and I highly encourage to go watch it, it's probably one of my favorite movies from the past few years. Anyways, she talks about how she produced the film while digesting the heartbreak of a friendship breakup - the whole thread hit me on a different level, but here's a quote that really hit home for me, especially a month from graduation: "The end of the film is each of their beginnings. And for my characters, I can think of no happier ending." We spend a lot of time worrying about the end of things and the uncertainty of things to come. Yet, there was a time where we worried about the exact same things for the very chapter we are now so nervous about leaving.

1. I'm nervous about leaving school and starting the..... rest of my life???

2. I'm nervous that my friends will slowly fade away. I'm nervous that they'll get on with their lives and I'll be slowly still trying to get my bearings, stuck in limbo.

3. I'm nervous that starting adulthood will be difficult because there are no more college orientations, no more awkward freshman dinners, perfect opportunities to meet new friends who are just as nervous as you are.

In writing this out, I felt a sense of deja-vu, like I had written these words before. So I just looked back at some of my posts right before entering college, and lo and behold:

08-18-2016: Today I said goodbye to one of my closer friends, and i realized that without even knowing it, Sunday’s party was the last time I would see some of my closest friends. It’s awful that way, that you don’t even know it’s the last time until it’s passed, and you’re left to pick up the the end of a chapter of a relationship from the scraps of an unexpected and improper farewell.

I feel like I’m in a weird twilight zone between college and high school where my present friends are all beginning to fade away to move on in their lives, and I’m yet to really meet anyone in my class yet, so at the moment,,,,,,there really isn’t anyone.

I wrote this less than a week from moving to Boston, and it's so shocking to me that I also experienced the "unexpected and improper farewell" part in senior year. It's almost the exact same thing that happened in COVID and is continuing to happen. You never know when the last time you might see someone might be, except instead of consolidated over the course of one pre-college summer, it's over the course of more than a year, the time that this pandemic has been going for.

And I hate that I said the "fade away and move on" thing verbatim, literally nearly five years ago. To be honest though, it's true, a lot of them did fade away and move on. But so did I, I wasn't left behind. To some extent, I was the one who did a lot of the moving away. And like many things in life, a couple of us continue to hang around, and maybe our friendships cycled in and out over college, but have come around again after a few years. I guess those are the ones that you know will stick around. The limbo period between chapters is a hard one, and it's nice to know that present-day me isn't the only one who has felt this. It's nice to know that past me met so many incredible people so fast, that I forgot this limbo period happened.

I know this part is getting a little long, but there's just a couple more snippets I want to share:

08-13-2016: I recently read Marina Keegan’s essay The Opposite of Loneliness, and one line resonated with me a lot: We’re so young. It seems silly and almost pretentious for me to think that this party would be so final, and yet it does, even though we have decades upon decades to build and connect or reconnect.

We’re so young, but that doesn’t stop the understanding that we are going to a new chapter in our lives and that it’s going to redefine our relationships. I hope it doesn’t change them too much.

I suppose much of the anxiety of going to college results from having to build my own community from the ground up again.... I tell myself the pieces will fall together and everything will be ok, but it doesn’t stop the increasing anxiety from, well, increasing.

I loved this collection of essays, if you haven't read it, I recommend you do. In moving around for so many years, I haven't been able to keep a lot of books in my possession, but I kept this one because that essay really hit home for me, and continues to, no matter what part of life I'm currently experiencing.

I think moving to college did change my relationships. But change is not a bad thing - your childhood friendships, the few of them that survive, end up strengthening and growing into adult friendships. And in the end, isn't that better than not changing at all? I'm hoping that a few of my college friendships will do that too - we'll go from college friends to family friends, and my kids will call them "Aunt" and "Uncle" and they'll grow up watching their parents talk for hours in the front yard before finally getting in the car and leaving for home.

08-13-2016: But hey, this is part of what I signed up for, I knew I wasn’t going to have much of an initial safety net, but I’m sure I’ll survive. We, as humans, always find a way to adapt right?

I think I survived and adapted. Not in the way I saw things going, but we can never really fully predict things, can we? One day, I'll learn to give myself a safety net for the next chapter, I'm sure. Today's not that day though.

Going back to her director's note, there was one more thing that just struck an emotional chord for me:

Fun fact, Alice Wu actually went to MIT for a bit before transferring to Stanford, and then she became a software engineer at Microsoft! I relate a little too much to her. Maybe one day I too will dump coding for my art form. But for now, in this above example, I relate far too much. I worked on my album, Imperfect, a little too obsessively this past winter while trying to digest the throes of heartbreak from one of my own friendships that ended. I still don't know if there was an ending for that friendship. I think I've spent a lot of time trying to put off the end, like a TV series that just keeps adding more and more seasons. Regardless of whether it needs to end or not (which I have not decided and will continue not to do so), I spent a lot of time thinking about who I was before and after that friendship, and I've concluded that a lot of who I am now, what my life looks like now is a result of that friendship. I'll give you a hint: I really like who I am now, compared to who I was before, and it showed me a lot of parts of life and friendship that I never expected would happen. That friendship was (is?) one of the most beautiful things that has happened to me in my life.

Let's finish off this reflective post with a quote from Khalil Gibran, that's kinda related to that point about how transformative the past can be, and how we're far better off in future chapters of our lives because of it.

When you part from your friend, you grieve not;

For that which you love most in him may be clearer in his absence, as the mountain to the climber is clearer from the plain.

Again, if you haven't read his collection of poems, you should absolutely 100% drop whatever you're doing right now and do so! Wow, I really just assigned an entire reading list in this post.

I hope in making this movie, Alice found peace. I would hesitate to say that I found peace when making my album. I wrote a lot of songs about the heartbreak I felt from that whole experience. But the last song I wrote, "Best Friends," ends the whole thing on a positive note, that at the end of the day, I remember how my friends (past and present) literally saved my life and how things are looking a little better, and whatever happens, I hope my best friends will be there waiting for me, whoever they end up being.

- OK I PROMISE I DIDN'T SET OUT TO BE 100% SO EMO -

But yeah, I haven't really been doing much otherwise? I guess just tryna stay alive, I've been cooking a lot and cooking a lot of good good food, I did apply to an MBA program, I got my COVID vaccine (second shot this week!), I am excited to announce I am publishing a paper in my MEng lab, which is a really big accomplishment imo, I am thriving in my (1) econ class that I kept, even though I didn't realize we had readings assigned like for the past month, I went to try pastries from this Turkish bakery, I biked, probably, 15 miles over the past month, I've read at least 4 or 5 books this year so far, and am hoping to knock another one out today. Currently dying because trying to finish my thesis in like . a week, which is looking a little challenging, but I'm sure it'll happen!!!??

[amarantine-amirite]

Once is an Accident

"Accidents happen", they say.

"Everyone makes mistakes. Mistakes help us learn."

We've been taught this since the beginning of our lives. We've been taught that mistakes are what makes us human. There's no shame in screwing up.

Or so I thought. There comes a point where the mistakes add up. There comes a point where people start to see a pattern. One time, it's an accident. Twice, it's careless. Three times, well; God help you if it happens a third time. After a while, it stops being a mistake and evolves into a pattern of incompetence. People get mad at you for your carelessness. They think less and less of you. If you screw up, they kick your ass.

It embarrasses me to admit that I just plain can't do the same things that my friends can do. I have virtually no stamina. I lose things. If plans change, it freaks me out, as does uncertainty. I have the social skills of a raccoon with dumb rabies. I struggle to try new things on my own. No really, I have to have someone physically show me how to do something and watch me as I complete it. It's gotten me rejected from everything.

Sometimes, I can't accurately gauge how “new” something is going to be. Case in point: the time I tried to resume piano lessons after we moved.

I’m not going to bore you with why we moved. I’m just going to cut to the good part.

I’ve done piano lessons since I the age of seven. A young lady named Marissa taught me, and she was a good teacher. When I say she was a good teacher, I mean that she was both nice and effective.

How? Most kids give up music because playing scales and stuff from beginner’s song books bores then half dead. Most kids would much rather play popular music than, well, this; and I can tell you from experience.

While working through the beginner songbooks, I did not progress quickly at all. In fact, I progressed about 45.5% slower than Marissa’s three other students (not enough perspective for you? I progressed slower than the boys!) In fact, they only thing that I had to show for the piano lessons was that my eye-hand coordination was approaching that of my normal peers.

Everything changed once my mom got me a Harry Potter piano book for my eleventh birthday (I loved Harry Potter back then, by the way). All of a sudden, I got good at piano. I liked playing the piano. I went from “that girl that lags behind the boys” to “that girl that almost got offered a record deal” (I would’ve taken it, but I was only twelve, a teeny bit sceptical about the whole thing, and my mom said no.) Bottom line is, I felt much more motivated to learn (and more motivated to practice, most importantly) than before.

Well, that all stopped once we moved. Instead of doing music lessons outside of school with someone like Marissa, I did them through the school. I’m won’t bore you with details does that made doing music through the school a pain in the ass, like having to complete sensitivity training, ear training, and get up early for 2 AM rehearsal because our band teacher had non-24 hour sleep-wake disorder.

Three months into the program, our school band got a gig recording music for (and I still don’t believe it) The Hannah Banana Movie. A preschool cartoon about an anthropomorphic banana that would help kids, the original Hannah Banana used to air on Nick Jr. sometime between the years 1994 to 2001. Even though the show ran for 7 years, they only filmed 13 episodes in the winter of 1994. Of those 13, Only about five of them ever actually saw any airtime on TV. To be honest, I’m kind of surprised that The Hannah Banana Movie even got made. Given how many episodes they ultimate aired, I don’t think the show was too popular.

Not what I brought you up to speed with The Hannah Banana Movie, I can get to the good part.

One scene of the movie featured Hannah driving a school bus. I don’t really remember how it fit into the context of the story, but then again, The Hannah Banana Movie didn’t have much of a story to start with. Anyway, at some point during the journey, somebody rolled a large rock out onto the road. The rock smashed into the side of the bus, sent it hurtling over the edge of a cliff, where it later crashed into a birthday party and set the room ablaze.

I remember the scene because Jessi-Lee Hill, the music director for the film, showed it to me and two other girls (Kimberli, a slim, bug-eyed Mexican violinist with red hair, and Vivian, a short, Indian drummer with albinism, wacky hair dye, and an eye patch). “What is that,” asked Kimberli, “Revolution 9 backwards?”

“Precisely!” said Jessi-Lee as she pointed to Kimberli, “we can’t use the music in the scene. Copyright problems. I turn it over to you guys. We need about 6 to 10 minutes of new music for that scene in the movie.”

The three of us jumped at the chance to write music for a movie. “Now,” Jessi-Lee began, “technically, I’m not allowed to assign you this job, because you aren’t on the studio’s payroll as music personnel. If anything goes wrong, the studio executives are going to hand my ass to me, so don’t screw this up. Got it?”

None of us of written music before, and consequently, we had no idea where to start. “OK, Vivian, I’ve got nothing.” I said, “Any ideas?”

Vivian leaned forward in the chair and scratched her head. “Well, Carol,” she began, “that song that they used in the original only consists of random clips of music played forwards and backwards, sound effects, and random snippets of dialogue. How about we make something like that?”

Kimberli nodded in agreement. “Good thinking, Viv” she said, “something like Revolution 9 practically writes itself.” She later furrowed her brow and frowned a teeny bit. “But, Revolution 9 really scares me,” she added, “Is it OK if we write it to sound like something else?”

“I know, but so was that scene.” I responded, “Even without the music, it really gave me the willies. It just works. Let’s do it.”

It only took us an hour to have everything recorded and produced. Vivian had a point. The song practically wrote itself. We only had to throw together random sound clips and see what stuck, distort, reverse, and echo the crap out of everything, and toss in a motif (in this case, the sentence “moving forward.”)

Except, it didn’t go quite the way we hoped. About a day or so after we emailed the files to Jessi-Lee, she called us into her office. “Girls,” she began, “We have a problem.”

I plunked down on a bean bag chair, crossed my legs, and looked at her. “Lay it on me” I replied.

“We can’t use your music.”

All three of us sat there in confusion. “Why can’t you use it?” Kimberli asked, tilting her head to the side.

Jessi-Lee’s expression dropped. I could immediately sense a subtle yet profound fear in her voice. “Girls, when you recorded the song,” she began, “a school bus flipped over and rolled off a cliff.”

Kimberli turned around and flashed a smug expression in our general direction. “I told you that emulating Revolution 9 would cause problems,” she said, wagging her finger “but did you listen? Nope.”

I don’t know if that meeting solved any problems, but regardless, we had to record it again. This time, we had an easier time of where to start with the songwriting: start off with some normal, jaunty music, glitch it up, and then feed it into random chaotic gibberish.

The day to record the music came. We turned off all the lights in the studio and lit candles to set the mood. The entire session had a bizarre, transcendental feel to it. As we recorded, it felt like we had exited our universe and gone someplace else. When we heard it back, it spooked us; much more so than the first piece we wrote.

And we still couldn’t use it.

Jessi-Lee called us into her office again. “I’ve explained this to you, but it’s as if you never learn!” she barked.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone get so angry over a piece of music before. “So what?” I said “Nothing bad happened this time.”

Jessi-Lee’s eyes widened. I could see veins bulge on her neck. “Nothing bad happened?” she said, gasping, “Nothing bad happened?! Well, not only did another bus sailed over a cliff, but it caught fire as it did so, and on top of everything else, the lone survivor from the previous crash died that evening. What do you fucking mean nothing bad happened?!”

Jessi-Lee got so mad she had to leave the room. We spent the next few minutes talking amongst ourselves. We didn’t talk about the music; what happened with it still spooked us too much.

Some time later, Jessi-Lee came back with our band teacher, Mrs. Newbury. “OK, guys,” she began, “Jessi-Lee has explained the situation to me, and we will give you one last chance. Just...one more chance.”

“Right,” Jessi-Lee continued, “if you screw up again, all three of you are out of your school band. Got it?”

We nodded solemnly. “Good,” she said.

We had to record the music again! Unfortunately (and, really annoyingly) for us, disaster struck before we could even start. I know because as we brainstormed ideas, Mrs. Newbury came into the room.

“Save it,” she said, “all three of you have been kicked out of the band”

“Why” I asked.

“You know what you did.”

I don’t think we did wrong. “This needs to stop happening.” she said, “Once is an accident, twice is careless, I have no idea how you even got a third chance to screw something up so badly.”

“What do you mean screw up so badly?”

Mrs. Newbury shook her head. “This morning, as you sat down to brainstorm the music, two gasoline trucks crashed head on into each other, exploded and squashed a little Vollkswagen beetle painted like a ladybug flat. Need I say anymore?”

All three of us got kicked out of band for something that we had no control over. Nobody would call what happened to us fair by any stretch of the imagination. We got blamed and disciplined for something that wasn't our fault. We did nothing wrong, but we still got in trouble.

Do I know what became of The Hannah Banana Movie? Probably not, but I highly doubt they finished it.