#or change the meaning of the piece just from the context of who is singing it

[raylangivins]

i actually never want a stripped down cover version of any song on earth. if anything, i want funkier covers of slow songs.

[anonymous-inquiry]

Ode to the Dream SMP

For context, I don't think I'd consider myself part of the DSMP fandom anymore. I'm pretty distanced from all of the creators, and I've moved on to vastly different media and content. Sure, I'll still watch a TommyInnit video or a Schlatt stream, and I do consider myself a fan of GenLoss. But I'm not hyper-fixated on it in any form. Not like I was, at least.

But I was. For practically two years straight, with minor breaks, that was it. I watched every stream I could. I wrote on AO3. Hell, I went to VidCon and cosplayed c!Tommy and c!Slime. I was 14 when I first got into it.

I'm 17 now. The DreamSMP is like comfort food to me now. It's like talking to an old friend. And I do genuinely believe that the storyline, the lore, and most of what actually happened on the server were good. Loads of the people on that server are shitty people. I don't like them. I don't like what they did and what they stand for. Times have changed, and we have all changed with them, some definitely for the worst.

But the DreamSMP genuinely impacted the person I am today. From the characters I saw on my screen, I pieced together the way I wanted to be. It inspired me to stop being the shy little boy who dropped out of the school play. It inspired me to start acting, and singing, and dancing, and taking up space. It made me consider death and the people around me, and the reality of good and evil and fighting back against villains.

And yeah, I'll admit. I'm being cringe by writing this. I'm being super cringe by writing this. I don't care. I'll be as cringe as I can because this means a lot to me. Everything means a lot to me.

TommyInnit put out a video today that begged the question: "Was the DreamSMP good?" Yes, I think it was. For a moment, take a step back from the content as a whole, and just look at the people it impacted. The people it inspired to create. To write. To draw. To cosplay and act. Look at the people it inspired to make something similar or get into content creation themselves. There are bad people in that group, but those people are in every fandom. They are in every form of life.

But I didn't come here to preach. I'm not sure what I came here to do. I guess, in a way, it emphasizes my point. I haven't engaged with the DSMP for months, and here I am.

Inspired to create.

[kindheart525]

Do you have any really silly mane six headcanons

Twilight Sparkle once smoked weed during her equivalent of college and to this day is terrified that Celestia will find out (Celestia already knows)

Twilight has very little knowledge of memes and her friends frequently have to explain new slang to her before she causes political scandals (“no Twilight ‘kys’ does not mean ‘keep yourself safe’”)

Much like a real horse, Twilight often falls asleep standing up during her late-night stress & study sessions. Spike has had to wake her up and tell her to go to bed numerous times

Twilight was that kid who reminded her teachers there was homework when they forgot. Her classmates didn’t really like her for that

Her love life is very…active lol, including when she’s in a stable and committed relationship (like active within that relationship not as a serial cheater). She loves learning new techniques if you catch my drift

Fluttershy is surprisingly confident when she’s attracted to someone, and when she’s in a committed relationship she has a lot of fun facts about animal mating patterns to share with them for…no particular reason

Unlike Twilight, Flutters is surprisingly well-versed in memes because she’s learned a lot from Discord (and also Treehugger). She doesn’t really understand the humor in all of them but she’s aware of them

(In a universe where FlutterCord is canon) She had to absolutely fight for her life in the Mane 6 meetups when she told her friends she was dating/crushing on him

Daring Do eventually loses popularity, partly because so many of her books involve actual artifact theft and social attitudes have changed, and partly because ponies just moved on to newer book series. Rainbow Dash still remains her biggest die-hard fan even when she looks pathetic doing so

Rainbow Dash acts like a big baby every time Tank hibernates for the rest of her life (he outlives her) but after the first few years it’s kind of silly

This isn’t an idea I came up with but I really like all the jokes about RD writing really bad fanfiction, and it’s a headcanon I subscribe to

(Mostly a joke because I do ship her with mares outside of my next gens) Rainbow Dash is straight but has a lot of mares asking her out because of her mane, and it’s hard to get stallions because they also think she’s gay. She also has a hard time relating to her friends who all like mares

RD doesn’t take good care of her hooves because she flies all the time and forgets to trim them due to not walking very much. Because of this, they look funky and overgrown and her friends kind of clown on her for it

When she’s older, Rainbow Dash wrecks some of her joints trying to do stunts that she did when she was younger (like carrying her “little” sister). She has the worst midlife crisis out of all her friends

When Rarity was a filly, she used to create the most elaborate and dramatic plotlines with her dolls that easily measured up to any soap opera, with betrayals, love triangles, custody battles, the whole works

She enjoys listening to soul-crushingly sad music (like Marina’s discography) during her ice cream-crying sessions, in the process roleplaying a life much more dysfunctional than she has because it helps her cope with her actual problems. Also listens to that music in a good mood if she needs to be inspired for a certain fashion piece

She overstocks her supplies to a sometimes comical extent, like she has 400 refills for her bedazzler machine. How does she have room for all that stuff? A lady never reveals her secrets, darling✨

Applejack loves singing country songs like “Thank God I’m A Country Colt” and “International Harvester” at the top of her lungs, they literally never fail to get her hyped up

(In a human context, ignoring Equestria Girls) it took her awhile to learn that Apple Bloom had TikTok and other social media accounts because she only uses Facebook on her clunky home computer

AJ is incapable of enjoying any kind of sitcom because she’s always poking holes in the plot. Her least favorite storylines are the “caught in a lie” and general miscommunication tropes

She also can’t watch well-written, dramatic tv shows either if any of the characters behave dishonestly (such as Breaking Bad)

Pinkie and Cheese once performed “Amish Paradise” for her parents and sisters (even in universes where they aren’t a couple). Reactions were VERY mixed

Also some of my “how they explain the birds and the bees to their kids” headcanons for my next gens are pretty funny

Fluttershy is really good at explaining the whole life cycle (including reproduction and death) because taking care of so many animals means she’s seen it all. Nothing squicks her out anymore. She explains things matter-of-factly but gently as she guides her little ones through various examples involving her animals.

Twilight would do a good job and be comfortable with it but she would also go overboard, giving a college-level lecture about the full reproductive process when her 10 year old daughter only wanted to know what going into heat meant. Twi’s partner calls Fluttershy in to help for the kid’s sake.

Rarity buys her daughter the pony equivalent of those Care & Keeping of You books (and her son gets the male equivalent of those books). She uses those books to bond with her kids over “becoming a mare/stallion.”

Applejack is very overprotective of Apple Bloom and probably procrastinated on giving her “the talk” only to find out that AB already learned from the other CMC (especially Scoot “left completely unsupervised 24/7” aloo /hj). A similar deal would probably happen with her own kids as well unless her partner is better about it. Even though, years before, Granny Smith was very straight with AJ like “ya wanna know how our new batch of chicks was made?”

Pinkie isn’t uncomfortable with the talk at all, except her explanation gets so convoluted and off topic that her kids go off to ask someone else.

Rainbow Dash says “go ask your father”

[irulaan]

I think Raphael would be a terrible father. At least at the beginning (we’re ignoring the fact he’s literally The Devil™. jk we can’t)

Welcome to my ted talk, it’s just a bunch of words. I doubt this makes any sense

Despite my belief that he's adept at charming people and appearing nice, he still manages to do some terrible things to children (eeeh, Mol?). Like, seriously, a contract with a child? Even if we all know he could charm a piece of furniture into whatever he wants. So, handling a somewhat grown-up child wouldn't be a challenge for him, I guess.

A toddler? Absolute hassle. He doesn’t harbor strong feelings about them, nor does he find them repulsive, but he does consider them utterly useless. Requiring round-the-clock attention, they're a burden he can't comprehend why anyone would want. If handed a toddler, honestly, he'd let them cry until they're so exhausted they fall asleep.

Another reason why I think he would make a terrible parent (aside from the fact that he’s literally a devil) is his relationship with his own father, which is also awful. I mean, he absolutely despises Mephistopheles. I'd venture to say it's because Raphael feels like his father believes he's incapable of achieving his ambitious goals. Plus, our dear devil often behaves like a petulant child who didn’t get what they wanted (remember the whole crown of Karsus and so on).

Let’s continue… ehem, Enver Gortash? Like Raphael had this poor child inside his House of Hope where he was beaten by debtors and saw a lot of atrocities. Yeah, he doesn’t even have a paternal instinct.

Ugh, I’m feeling like a Raphael hater!

Let’s move on to the somewhat delulu part: Actual children of his own… finally!

Since our dear devil is a cambion, possessing this inherent humanity within himself (like his penchant for singing, poetry, and writing), I believe he craves things that mortals have, such as affection, closeness or even love (but doesn’t understand it). So, if someone is foolish enough to have children with him, I think he would see it as an opportunity to mold someone from their very first breath. Everything he does is connected to his grand ambition of becoming the king of hell, so having a child doesn’t sound too bad in that context.

He would completely ignore his child’s needs and would be pretty negligent overall. Would plot against Mephistopheles with them.

But to be loved is to be changed, and if someone is both brave enough to love him and start a family with him… well, I think we can appeal to his more human side. I think he could be able to feel ‘love’ for his child but he’s never going to be able to be a decent father. He will go from evil to mean. I really hope their other parental figure is treating them with love.

I think his first child ever will grow to resent him, even if Raphael tried to shape them to be a piece of his giant plan. Mortals are bounded to emotions.

But this is fantasy! I’d be delulu sometimes thinking he could be a great dad! Like actually being warm to his sons and daughters, reading poetry and living in a quiet home, away from the city and near a lake.

[lower-mkdr]

Just a personal rambling about Adela's skin

Just as a heads up, I'm not spoiler free when it comes to Adela so I hope you can bear with me today since her new skin has me totally in love even if the showcase isn't out yet, the Adela brainrot is real and it's always there, but I've been taking my time to let it out. Going to the point, GOD, I LOVE HER SO MUCH.

I like the way it's something elegant yet quite simple, since it fits her style really well. I often think about how Adela is so complex yet she keeps trying to be pretty simple for the sake of her own view of "a perfect and relaxing life", but it's the details what makes the difference, she's still pretty elegant and has a lot of style.

Regarding what we know by the tranlations, the name is "tower candlelight". The first thing I thought about was the "Tower" mentioned in Phantom of the Mist, the clock tower where everything changes, where Letta warns us to no get close to, but it ends being what connects every piece of information together with Adela guiding us to learn the story about Mad Shears.

I'm not really surprised by the idea of a concept similar to Rapunzel, but I absolutely adore it. It's the way she's trapped by her own hair, in a tower the same description calls "My heart shall become a tall tower, and I shall sit at its precipice. There, there is nothing but silence and sorrow." (Just in case, I'm using the tranlation provided by Jiu Jiu subs).

It explains itself pretty well, right? She's been trapped for a long time by her own worries, her way to escape? "let's cut the worries away", but she's still there, her heart still is there. Same as the story in her interrogation, no matter how much Adela wants to avoid it, she knows there's something she's missing. It's just a "Let's think I'm out" but she's not, she's just there, imagining she's out.

I like how there's many candles around here, even birdcages and their surrounded by flowers (I'll do another post later if I find them or have an idea about it, flower language it's really interesting). I would love to say that she's another flower between those cages, there's even vines around.

The hairstyle is something so personal that the second I saw it I felt like crying while saying to my friends "I love how she has long hair, but I don't know how to feel about it in her case". For Adela, long hair represents worries that suffocate the owner of said hair, so being able to see her with pretty long hair, despite being something that I love and adore in a personal way, it really got me thinking "Is she okay????" (baby, do you want a hug and some tea?)

All the context so far left me really intrigued, but it also means that this is a part of herself, an important one. Probably this is how Adela felt for many years since she was young, she always was bound to something, until she decided to cut it away herself in search of her own happiness (Her relationship with her mother, the connection with Chief, the multiple times she tried to find a place she could call "home", but never found one), and in the end, it was all a part of her that she neglected, her own memories, in search for some stability. Here she looks so far quite calm, I guess it would be related/explain later to have some connection with Chief?

It reminds her of her 100% compliance line "People tend to bury themselves with old troubling memories, overburdened and suffocated, so I cut it away from me. But little did I know that I also cut away something that allowed my heart to sing. It's you who helped me rediscover that something".

She's no longer waiting for a home, nor searching for one, she's no longer suffocating herself constantly with feelings she can't comprehend (see the Mother's pendant interaction, It keeps hurting me), she's just here, looking at you with a smile, knowing things can change, but change doesn't really mean something bad. Her hearth is free now, she is free now

[studentbyday]

Hey guys 👋🏻 Lately even if I sleep well, I've been finding it harder and harder to get out of bed and do my work, even if I still can feel excited about certain topics in my field (if they're presented in a different enough, positive context like new research that's happening in my area). @zzzzzestforlife told me that means I'm burnt out and that if I feel like I'm so busy I can't take 5 minutes to do anything extra, I should take a hour to just rest and rejuvenate because you won't actually fall that far behind in just an hour. Proverbially speaking. She actually prescribed that I take the weekend off 😅 And I trust her judgment because she knows the pace I work at (read: slower than her) and she's burnt out enough times to recognize the symptoms quickly and take action against it before it gets really out of hand.

So this weekend, I'm just going to rest (with the exception of the little bit of pathology assignment I still have to finish before Monday and reviewing a bit more for the immunology midterm on Wednesday...and a few very light admin tasks...God, as I type this, it's really tempting to just not take a break and keep working this weekend out of fear but I really don't think I should. I should preserve the bit of passion and enthusiasm I still have for my studies and return to them on Monday feeling refreshed enough to keep going, resting each weekend, until the end of the semester because I need to build sustainable habits if I want to take 5 courses / semester next year and come out of it still whole).

And I've kind of forgotten what rest mode is like?? So I need to do a little brainstorm...again. because this list will be a bit smaller and thus less overwhelming (to me in this burnt out state) than the one I shared before and I'll only be picking the activities that will actually be helpful for my current state (e.g. i am not aiming to wake up really early at all this weekend. that just puts unnecessary pressure because i just find that really really hard to do these days as the days get shorter and recently meditating just makes all my anxious thoughts re-surface so I think I need to try more active forms of mindfulness so the full strength of the emotions don't have to hit me and drain me so much). (And I am under no pressure whatsoever to do all of these. Just whatever I feel my body and soul are most called to do in the moment. I've forgotten how to rest in the busy-ness it's so weird...like i actually had to be reminded that real rest is not something you have to try really hard to do and if you do that then it ceases to be real rest, even if you're engaging in a supposedly restful activity. Why did I have to be reminded of something so common sense. I mean, I do know, but still. It's strange, the effect that extended periods of work mode has on the brain...)

Physical movement (pilates/yoga and walking in nature are still my current faves but I only walked in nature and did yoga once this week and my body is starting to complain about it...)

Practice piano (even if I think I suck...the only reason for that would be because I'm out of practice, so the more I practice and the sooner I start practicing, the better I'll sound. I haven't played since summer ended...)

Reading fiction (Maisie Dobbs is reliably calm yet uplifting and it's what I've been reading most of this week so I might continue that, but this weekend I'm going to slow down and get cozy, i.e. away from my desk, while I read)

Yapping with those who are dearest to me

Listening to music that is stimulating in a calming way (rn I'm thinking like slow classical choir stuff haha because you've got the harmony together with occasional notes that sing out above the rest and it's just really satisfying in a calming way...there are also a couple of piano pieces that have that kind of calming vibe like träumerei... There's also slow jazz.)

Do mundane things like the laundry (I need to change my bedding anyway), sorting and folding said laundry (i don't usually like folding haha so Zesty usually does that [thankfully], but i think there will be something extra comforting about the folding patterns this time and there's just a lot still to fold...), washing my water bottle, and basically just cleaning house because the act of moving and seeing all the dirt get gone because of it is therapeutic and a surprisingly good de-stressor

I was also supposed to do my weekly hair mask this weekend which I almost completely forgot about

[unending-vigil]

give me your most self-indulgent tma headcanon (that you feel comfortable sharing). doesn't matter what or who it's about, that's up to you

hello nem. i finally get to your ask. so, it's not a headcanon, but close enough because i made it all up. in my head. and as such it's very self-indulgent, clearly

I'm Going To Talk About Clara Von Closen (i like clara better than carla so. that's the name i use for her even though she's carla in 127)

putting this under the cut because it's practically a fucking essay

we get... 5 pieces of information about her, shall we say

either she or albrecht (or both) are infertile, as they cannot have a child of their own

she feels something parental towards their nephew

she doesn't want to go out and explore the spooky tomb with albrecht

she plays the pianoforte excellently, but, according to albrecht, does not sing very well

she died of fever a few years before albrecht

now, i believe someone had introduced to me the idea of Web!Clara before I started thinking about her properly, and this influenced how I fleshed out those things. namely, the powerlessness she had—because surely being a woman in the cultural context of the regency era must feel like being a terribly powerless puppet. in what other ways does she feel powerless?

here's where I talk about the characterisation I got for her based on the above:

i started with the way she, reportedly, cannot sing well, but can play the pianoforte excellently. so she's got musical inclinations. i begin to wonder if her singing voice really is terrible, or if albrecht personally just does not like it. perhaps she's got a deep voice. i begin to wonder if perhaps she wanted to be a singer in some capacity when she was a child, and had her dreams shattered by something entirely outside of her control. and she threw herself at learning to play a variety instruments with more passion than before, because this she can control, her body will bend to her whims and she will wring the music that nobody wanted to hear from her throat out of the strings of objects, instead.

and then the fact that one of them is infertile. i consider the way I've given her a craving for control, and i think that if it were just albrecht, she would've found a way to get pregnant, and she would've told him that it was his. so that's another thing out of her control, another thing taken from her by her body. she wanted a child, wanted to shape and mould and watch them grow. and she didn't get that.

it was at this point in characterising clara that I go oh, have I made her intersex by accident? a singing voice perhaps more mannish than is acceptable for her, infertility... so i roll with it. alright. Clara is intersex. another thing out of her control, something that means others might consider her undesirable if she's not careful. she wouldn't have understood why her body changed differently to other girls, but she would've known, intimately, to keep it secret. she learns to do what it takes to keep herself safe.

her secrets have secrets. it starts with her body, but it's a few years, at most, that that's her only secret to keep. does she love albrecht, or is she just fond of him and glad he doesn't pry too hard? is she manipulating him in order to exert control over her life, more than any woman in this time should have? (does she even like men? one more thing to hide, to never tell.)

so—her relationship with Wilhelm, their nephew. "Myself and Clara have since made every effort to provide him with guidance and such affection as he may have lost." he was orphaned at 14, his mother having died in childbirth and his father passing on for unstated reasons.

this is almost as good as a child of her own. he's an orphan, so she's not competing with anyone, and while she may not have gotten to help mould him as thoroughly as she would have a child born to her, she at least avoids the more messy stages of childhood. and adolescents are very, very malleable. what she wants is to pass on all she has, and while she may not necessarily get that, she nevertheless gets something of the sort.

i won't really touch on not really wanting to explore the spooky tomb. i think this is just that she has common sense, frankly. and maybe she has a little of that eye curiosity—blackmail is the simplest way of ensuring someone keeps your secret, after all, and to get that, some investigating is required. maybe she knows that the artefacts of the tomb won't kill albrecht by themselves, and she wants to see what will happen to him.

dying of fever could just be dying of fever. or, well, flies get caught in spiders' webs, don't they? perhaps a corruption avatar got caught in her manipulations and didn't care for it much... enough to strike her down. (and maybe she comforts herself by saying it's all part of a bigger plan. it's surely quite the reassurance, when so much hurts your own plans, out of your control)

here's where i talk about her relationship with the others in smirke's band:

this is something i haven't concretely put down nearly as much for, but i think she's... peripherally aware of their discussions, but of course they're not going to include a woman (love period-typical misogyny /s) and those two that might particularly object to leaving her out... well, it's only an objection in principle. neither like her much, and neither want to be outed as trans. further, while albrecht does try to explain if clara asks directly, he's hesitant to share in full and not the best at explanations besides

clara is definitely very aware that her husband is terribly, terribly smitten with all of his little friends. which is fine. she may not be particularly fond of jonah, the one who's both ringleader and most struggling in society, but they've spoken a few times. he's nice enough, when he's not asking who knows of her secrets, and when she's not having to threaten to expose his in turn.

she most certainly knows doctor jonathan fanshawe better than albrecht does, though. she discovered that he's transgender, and, well... it was perhaps a little shitty of her, but she threatened to out him if he breathed a word of the ways her body might be different to other women's, and especially to her husband (he might have noted some differences, but he's seen more men naked than women. he's easily persuaded that there's nothing "wrong" with clara). an easily blackmailable doctor is a good doctor, for a woman with secrets to keep.

and now i get into rarepair/crackship territory. welcome to skynet.

so. Simon Fairchild, who I will still refer to as Simon for clarity's sake despite not using this name at the time. consider: Simon Fairchild, genderfluid trans woman (sorry if I'm getting it Wrong mach). clara von closen, lesbian who's never actually gotten to be with a woman but just admires from afar.

simon, on the periphery of smirke's band, as clara is, gets to know her. they become close enough that it's improper, but albrecht isn't paying enough attention to know, too caught up in the other men. clara is curious as to why she's attracted to what she assumes is a man, and simon is smitten with this tall beautiful woman.

includes a very "Oh, so that explains it!" moment when simon explains, and simon being Very Very Gaslightable, to the utter delight of clara. her silly rabbit

snd. i am too tired to elaborate further I think so just have the post. Clara 👍 my favourite ruthless manipulative loveless lesbian who also does have a deeply soft side for kids and for her lame-ass gf

[cherrylng]

ROCKIN’ON - MUSE (November 2009)

MATTHEW BELLAMY INTERVIEW

●"The Resistance" is an amazing piece of work. 「(Laughs) You liked it, thank goodness.」

●I think it must be a very well thought-out concept album, from the composition and arrangement of each song, to the fact that the last three songs are a suite, to the lyrics. How did you come up with the concept for this album? 「In a way, I think this work is a dramatic reflection of my real life. Because of the current situation in the UK— well, especially the political situation during the time we were making this album. Various protest actions, such as the G20 protest rally (an appeal to the world's 20 major financial conferences held in London in April 2009), the shock of the economic crisis, and the revelation that British parliamentarians were embezzling money (*the British media revealed that many members of parliament had unfairly requested additional benefits for private financial aid, housing allowances, etc. under the pretext of “public expenses”, which developed into a major scandal)… Well, it seems to have calmed down a bit now (September 2009), but at that time there was a very strong feeling among people demanding “change” - breaking down and denying the current system. It was flowing, wasn't it? That's partly because I’ve been away from England for a while now and have been living in Italy, so I guess I was absorbing information about England even more voraciously. I was probably missing England a little bit, so I watched British news on TV, read newspapers, and closely followed the coverage of various events at the time. By looking at the current situation in Britain from the outside, I was able to develop an objective perspective within myself.

At the same time, my relationship with my current lover (Gaia Polloni) is also very important to me. You could call it romance, but yeah, that’s why those two things, politics and love, were in a sense bisecting my daily life at the time. I think if you listen to the album, you can hear that there's a more dramatic, dramatized version of that happening in the album. They serve as a setting for this album. For example, the first song sings of ideas such as revolution, uprising, and a strong desire to overthrow the status quo and change, while the second song sings about an immersion into love that can almost be called a retreat. I want to feel free by being locked up in the world of two people. It is also a desire to be freed or to escape from the various problems faced in reality, such as the government, or from the many unpleasant people that one cannot trust at all. It's a feeling I've had for a while now. In this context - a romance in the midst of political unrest, upheaval, and change - each song on the album depicts a different emotional journey. This is the same thing with “1984,” and that's why I quoted a few things from that book. But the ending of the album is - what can I say, I'm not a particularly religious person, but I'm leaning towards a bit more of a spiritual direction.

In the first half of the album, I use love or romance as a means of escape, but at the conclusion of the album, I objectify the world and the people who live in it, and it becomes very objective. So, so to speak, I'm trying to objectively view the Earth and the people living on it over a longer period of time. In that sense, that last suite can almost be called science fiction, but in a sense, it's a song that starts from the perspective of the universe as evolution. Evolution is a process that progresses on a cosmic scale, and probably occurs all over the universe. Part 1 of that song has a character with a distant, bird's-eye view, looking at everything from a distance. It's almost as if the person is just gazing at various problems, problems for which there seems to be no way to solve them, from afar. So, in Part 2, the idea of escaping from that planet is depicted, and some of the inhabitants of that planet escape to outer space. So, well, we're stepping into a bit of a science fiction world (bitter smile). But then I realized that I really like that movie, Stanley Kubrick's "A.I." (*Kubrick's legacy project, adapted by Spielberg). The first half of the film depicts a typical everyday story, but towards the ending, it becomes very dramatic and reaches the level of a sci-fi drama. I really like that development. So I guess that movie may have partially influenced me. Although the majority of his (Kubrick’s) work depicts extremely mundane and “global” topics such as various problems faced by humans, love relationships, happiness, and the joy of love, in the end he depicts a completely different and spiritual place. I like the idea of making an album that goes somewhere far away from everything and is cut off from this world.」

● At the end, in the eleventh song, you sing, “Let's start over again.” This work, which opens with the order of the revolution and describes the path to its defeat, seems to contain an eternal cycle in which the revolution begins again, returning to the beginning at the end. 「Yeah, yeah. It is a kind of loop! (laugh). It's a kind of cycle of life, of things. I have also studied the work of Richard Dawkins (a Darwinist sociobiologist. He advocates memetics, which compares the spread of culture to genes. His representative works include The God Delusion). I was reading about evolution and Darwin's theory of evolution, and that influenced me a lot. Was it last year? The Darwin Memorial Festival (*Charles Darwin's 100th anniversary) was held.」

In the album's conclusion, I try to objectify the world, or rather, the earth and its inhabitants, in a longer term.

●I think it was this year. 「Yeah, yeah. That's one of the things that brought me into contact with Darwin's research and literature. I read it, and I got really into it. I read that the inside of a human being is almost like a computer program, that the inside of DNA is a storehouse of information from the past, and that the genes are basically spreading this information. In this way, some information survives, while some is eliminated. In a sense, genes are the main force controlling our lives. In this way, we are almost a shadow or reflection of something else. I think that is a very interesting way of thinking.」

●Do you think the human race is still evolving? Are we on the right track? 「Yes, of course! I think we are still in the process of evolution (laughs). But are we going in the right direction? If you ask me, I don't know. I mean, if you read books about evolution, you realize that some parts of the species are always surviving. So, for example, the way we are now, the framework within which we live, the way we live, all of these things may eventually disappear completely. There are even some people who think that the current human species does not have much longer to live! (laughs) Well, I personally sometimes feel that evolution is something very spiritual. The inner workings of evolution are actually very exciting, and through it we can gain a different perspective on time, and a different view of life. For me, it's much more rewarding to learn about it than religion, or, you know, it gives me a peace of mind.」

●As you mentioned earlier, Orwell's “1984” is the basis of the story of this work, but why has the motif of “1984” emerged in your mind now? Why did “1984” have an immediacy in your mind? 「The current British government (Labour) seems to be experimenting a lot with new technologies and things like that in their own country. For example, the newly developed technology of large CCTV surveillance cameras. Nowadays, when you go to the airport, your eyeballs are scanned (laughs).I don't know what to say. It's like the government is trying to be more sophisticated and control the people, using the excuse of "anti-terrorism" as a cover. I think we are moving towards a new period. At least in the UK. Many people (in the U.K.) have a sense that "someone is always watching" and a certain kind of Big Brother (*The dictatorial ruler/politician depicted in "1984". He is a symbolic figure who controls and suppresses people's lives and thoughts through television and wiretapping.). I think that motif is very contemporary, especially for the British. I think it is true that our freedom as human beings is slowly being taken away.」

●Is it a warning to the people? “Beware, our freedom is being taken away”? 「Yes, I think so, but hasn't it always been that way? In the past, the majority of people have always been optimistic, not worrying too much and not thinking too deeply about things. I think that's why it's important for artists to try to influence popular culture, to try to convey some of their ideas and perspectives. It might be an opportunity to make some people think about things that they have never thought about before. And, yes, I think that what I am expressing in this work is probably worth issuing a warning.」

●This is your first full-fledged self-produced album. Why did you decide to self-produce at this time? 「We have been using various studios in Europe as well as some studios in the U.S., and we got a little fed up with working in "rented" places. There are time constraints, you have to finish in a few weeks, and there are other people using the same studio, so it's very difficult in terms of time and freedom. I think it was during the recording process of the last album that the idea of "building a home studio" came to me. I learned a lot about recording technology in the process of building that studio. We bought and installed all the recording equipment ourselves. And through the process of setting up, I became aware of the recording and engineering side of the business. Until now, that part of my life has always been a bit of a mystery to me. I just watched the other people doing all this complicated stuff (laughs), and I thought, "This must be really hard work." But through the studio construction work, some of the mystery was taken away, and I was able to understand exactly what they (engineers) were doing.」

●What, if any, characteristics of the band Muse did you discover in this process of being left to make all the choices? 「Well… I don't know why we didn't do that before - it was pretty tough when we first started recording. But once we got through that phase, we realized that we were really enjoying the recording process. We laughed a lot, and I don't think we've ever had so much fun in all the albums we've made. Because with the previous albums, we were under a lot of pressure in terms of time, because we were only booked in the studio for two weeks or a few weeks, and we had to work really hard while we were there. So, yeah, I think if there's anything we've discovered about Muse, it's that we don't take ourselves too seriously (laughs).」

●Ha ha ha! 「(laughs) Especially while we are in that kind of production environment. Some of the songs are pretty heavy, and I think that's part of what made our creative environment so enjoyable. The three of us had a lot of laughs about the music we were doing, about ourselves, and about everything else. So in that sense, it was a much lighter and more relaxed experience than before. And if there's one more thing I've discovered, I think (with some emphasis) it's that this is the best way for us to record. It's probably the best creative environment for us, and it allows us to be more bold and not be afraid to try out ideas as they come to us. Because when everyone is happy and enjoying what they're doing, it sometimes gives you more courage to try something, even if it's a pretty crazy idea.」

●This album is a concept album, but at the same time, it is a work with an amazing variety of sounds, and is filled with various genres of music that are not all the same. What was the process of songwriting for the 11 songs? Did you compile songs that were born from different triggers and clues, or did you create them in order from the beginning, as if the lyrics depicted a universal story? 「Yeah… It's funny, but as far as the recording goes, we recorded the songs in the order they were recorded. We recorded "Uprising" first, and the symphony was the last song we recorded. But the songwriting process was pretty random, and there was no process. For example, I remember playing some of the piano parts in the final suite on a whim for three or four years, but I never thought they would become songs, or even something for Muse. On the other hand, songs like "Undisclosed Desires" were written almost entirely in the studio. "United States of Eurasia" was probably written a little before we started working on the album. I had a feeling that it was going to be one of the cornerstones of the album. It's a core song. That song was already ready before we recorded it, or rather, it was well-developed, and I had a clear idea of how I wanted the song to turn out. I knew exactly how I wanted the song to be recorded. But for the final suite, even though some of the piano parts were already there, the idea of making it a three-part suite, or adding bass and drums to make it a Muse song, came after I went into the studio and was not part of the plan. So "Uprising," "The Resistance," "United States," and "MK Ultra", which were already with us before we started recording, and most of the others came out of the studio as we continued working on them. Some of the songs had ideas from before, like the piano parts, and some of them were new versions of old ideas.」

●In terms of excitement, “United States of Eurasia” has a structure that has several “chapters” within one song. I think this song, which changes from an operatic melody to a Middle Eastern melody, and has an outro of Chopin's Nocturne, is a number that encapsulates the eclectic charm of this work, but where did the idea for this song come from? 「(laughs happily) That's right, maybe it's a Middle Eastern-ish “♪Dun dun dun dururu~♪” melody part, but didn't that already exist before the Wembley Stadium performance? How did it go? (Thinks for a moment) No! Around the time we performed at V Festival last year, we played a live show in Dubai, and we were able to experience a lot of cool music there. Shortly after that, I went back to England and performed at V Festival, and I remember playing a little bit of that melody during the break between songs, and Dom's mom came to see the show after the concert. But (bitter smile) she said to me, “What's that melody you were playing earlier? It was amazing.” So I thought, oh well, it might be a good idea to write some songs using that, and I thought I'd give it a try.」

●It's Dom's mom's favorite song (laughs). 「(Explosive laughter) Yeah, yeah! And, yeah, that Middle Eastern-style melody was the starting point for that song. And for some reason, I played it in the black key, the key of E flat. Because it is easy to play a melody like that (pressing the piano keys with fingers) like this. So that automatically led me to the key of E flat, which is a scale I don't normally use. My vocal range is usually D, E, C, or A, but I was not familiar with the E-flat, black key. So I had to work with a different chord arrangement than usual, and as a result, I had to build a song around that Middle Eastern groove to match it. And so the song gradually developed into a strange shape, a different type of chord shape, independent of the Middle Eastern melody that started the song in the first place. So, after I finished writing the main part of that song, I was listening to a piano piece. I think it was when I was looking at my iPod playlist, and that Chopin piece, “Nocturne/E Flat Major,” came up. It is one of my favorite pieces of Chopin's, along with the C-sharp pieces, and I thought, “Oh, this is an E-flat piece too, how interesting (laughs)!” I had never played it before, so I bought the sheet music, read it, and learned the notation so I could play it. Then I found that I could play it exactly the way it ended (laughs).」

●(laughs) I wonder if the meaning of the "song" as a unit, or the way you view it, has changed drastically since your last album. The amount of information contained in a song is completely different from your previous works. 「Yes, that's true for "United States" and especially for the symphony at the end. Of course, we try to incorporate new ideas and techniques into our music on every album, but one of the things that happened on this album was definitely a drastic change in the structure of the songs. I'm sure that will influence the next album as well.」

Dom's Interview

Translator's note: I actually finished translating Dom's interview first before tackling Matt's. The reason why? If you see the original interview itself as shown in the second image, his second answer alone took up almost the whole page of the magazine. And I had to split it into 3 text blocks simply because it exceeded the maximum of 4,096 characters that can be contained in a single text block.

It was no wonder Matt's interview took up 3 pages while Dom's only took up 2 pages.

At this point in time, I'm tempted to just set up a Ko-fi or something because this took up so much of my free time to get this scanned and translated, on top of wrangling with Tumblr itself to get this posted. Someone let me know if that's an idea to follow through or not.

[farthngdr]

This post is tinhatting to the nth degree, and it includes speculation about the current State of the Union of Cockles that is undoubtedly unpopular. If you're sensitive about this subject, turn back now.

(For the sake of context: I adore Cockles and want them to last forever.)

Someone mentioned that Jensen was asked at a recent con to name a favorite band or song. He answered that he had just learned to sing and to play a song called "Wondering Why" on guitar.

I read the lyrics to the song, which I am including here. Clearly he means this song to be a tribute to Danneel:

"She comes from silver spoon, golden rule, private school Never missed Sunday church And I come from blue collar, low dollar Out here where concrete meets old red dirt

And I don't know what happened But it sure don't add up on paper But when I close my eyes late at night You can bet I thank my maker

She keeps on loving me Loves me the way I am She's not just along for the ride She's my biggest fan Lord, it's a little old piece of heaven When we lay down at night She keeps on loving me And I keep on wondering why

She's got a wicked smile, angel eyes Every guy wanting to hold her close She's as pretty as sin Like the sun sinking down on the California coast

She keeps on loving me Loves me the way I am She's not just along for the ride She's my biggest fan Lord, it's a little old piece of heaven When we lay down at night She keeps on loving me And I keep on wondering why

Alright, alright, alright

I don't know what happened But it sure don't add up on paper And as long as she lets me I'll take her wherever she wants me to take her, oh

She keeps on loving me Loves me the way I am She's not just along for the ride She's my biggest fan And it's a little old piece of heaven When we lay down at night She keeps on loving me And I keep on wondering why."

My first reaction was, "That's really interesting, Jensen doesn't typically sing love songs that clearly reference the 'she/her' pronouns, so he is experiencing a renewed appreciation for Danneel." Wonder why...?

The lyrics are also taking a dig at a certain kind of person, the kind who is only "along for the ride." I wondered if that particular line was a dig at Misha, as I believe Jensen might have distanced himself from Misha due to the whole girlfriend debacle. I attended Burcon and the Jenmish panel, and I felt very strongly that Jensen had changed toward Misha, most likely due to Misha's inviting a new woman into his life, and also most likely without asking anyone else's consent to do so (except maybe from his kids). Judging by the cold (as in Arctic) mood of the panel, as well as a few mean-spirited swipes at Misha, something was definitely off between the two.

The song says she has "angel eyes" ?

Also: "It's a little old piece of heaven/When we lay down at night." Jensen has sung Bryan Adams' song "Heaven," which is thought by many to be a song he sings for Misha. ("When I'm lying here in your arms/I'm finding it hard to believe/We're in heaven.")

And I kept thinking about that line--"along for the ride." Could that be what a hurt and jealous Jensen thinks about Misha? That Misha was really just along for the ride, as opposed to Danneel, who has remained loyal and committed to him through thick and thin?

And then I saw a poem Alma posted on their story today. It's titled "Along for the Ride."

(I have no proof of anything. I know nothing. Just a mind that tends to see connections. And yes, possibly where there aren't any.)

If folks come at me for this, I guess I'll do what I always end up doing these days- -I'll have to delete it.

Oh well.

POSTSCRIPT: SInce the posting of "I'm going I'm gone," Alma really went. Not even posting their daily favorite verses on their Instagram story, which have been a staple of their account for several years. Alma, please come back. We weren't just along for the ride.

[arqueete]

Here's my attempt to explain what the Illinoise musical (currently playing at the Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, based on Sufjan Stevens' album Illinois though he is not directly involved in this project) is about (full spoilers) for those who aren't able to see it yet or ever. This is just based on my memory, no guarantees of accuracy here.

As warned in the program: "Illinoise explores themes of mental health, including depictions of suicide."

It's mostly a dance piece. The actors on stage only ever dance and act out things, while the band sings the songs from the album on behalf of the characters. There isn't a 1-to-1 of "this singer is the voice of this character," there are three soloists in the band and they wear wings a la Illinoise-era Sufjan tours. There is no dialogue. Sometimes a little bit of context is provided via a changing billboard that more or less refers to the song name.

The lack of dialogue means that character names (other than Carl, who is made to be the one referenced by name in part 2 of "Come On Feel the Illinoise" (etc. etc.)) are only available in the program. The program also has some brief character descriptions along with some bits of original writing by Jackie Sibblies Drury meant to be excerpts from Henry's journal. I didn't read any of these before the show started. (One thing the additional text does clear up for me, is that while the show did seem to suggest that Henry had feelings for Carl, the program makes it clearer to me that Carl probably reciprocated those feelings but the two didn't really talk about it or act on it in a significant way.)

Prologue

We start with a prologue with the main character, Henry, waking in bed next to Douglas, and he quietly gets dressed and seems to be trying to sneak out, but Douglas wakes and they say goodbye. This is over a bit of "Seer's Tower" and "A Conjunction of Drones..." Later we will see this exact moment play out again with context.

Act 1

Through "Concerning the UFO Sighting" we're shown that Henry is haunted by three characters, including Douglas. He then shows up with a bunch of ensemble characters at a campground. The friends gather around the fire. The early songs off the album (like "Come On Feel the Illinois" and "Black Hawk War") are used to establish this scene. The framing device of the whole piece is that these characters are sharing personal things they've written. Several songs from the album ("Jacksonville," "Night Zombies," "John Wayne Gacy, Jr." "Man of Metropolis") are presented as individual ensemble members' stories. When I saw it, "Jacksonville" (with some tap dancing sections in contrast to the style of the rest of the dance in the show) and "Man of Metropolis" (presenting a sweet narrative of the character gaining self-confidence) were crowd-pleasers.

Between each story, the characters try and encourage Henry to tell his story, but he keeps refusing.

Act 2

It's finally time for Henry to tell his story and first we get what I believe are a series of flashbacks (as in, not literally what he tells at the campfire) to explain how we got here. Over "Decatur" we're introduced to Henry's best friends Carl and Shelby and we see that Carl and Shelby are romantically involved (and Henry is maybe a bit jealous.) Then Carl and Henry decide to go on this road trip/move that Shelby declines to join, and obviously that's "Chicago." In New York, we see Henry run into Douglas (there's like a meet-cute where they bump into each other Douglas drops a bunch of artwork) and Douglas gives him his number. Meanwhile, Carl gets a call (presumably saying that Shelby is sick) and he decides to go back to Illinois, but Henry refuses to go back with him.

We see Carl and Shelby back in Illinois and "Casimir Pulaski Day" is, you know, probably the most straightforward bit of the entire show.

Shelby dies and we see Carl's mental health deteriorate over a few songs. We get to "The Seer's Tower" and he takes his own life by jumping off a building.

Back in New York, romance is developing between Henry and Douglas. The arrangement of "The Predatory Wasp" seemed to be based on the one Sufjan performed on Austin City Limits, with the extended ending section that gets very chaotic, where we see that Henry can't stop thinking about Carl's death, and then it transitions into the calmer section at the end which has Douglas comforting Henry. This, in my opinion, is the strongest bit of the entire show (and the crowd seemed to agree.)

Act 3

Back at the campfire, Henry tells his story, which he does via what the program just calls "Chicago (reprise)" but is really one of the Chicago arrangements off The Avalanche--I'm almost certain it was the adult contemporary easy listening version. Afterward the friends all embrace Henry. At some point in here Douglas appears at the campfire.

"Tallest Man..." through the end of the album are just like, typical epilogue type stuff of the friends all together and Henry reflecting on the people he's lost and the new love he's found.

[docholligay]

Do you have any words (yours or by others) on grief/grieving a loved one?

I’ve been thinking about this a lot since I got it. I know this will sound strange coming from me, someone who writes not-infrequently about grief in the context of fictional characters, but you have to understand this: A frame makes a thing look like art. It’s easier to do things when they’re made to sit on a wall. So I’ve written and erased a dozen things, because I’m not sure how to talk about it when it’s me saying it. Which I guess is sad in its own right. That’s fine. This will have to be what it is. 

Some people have never been touched by death. 

I know it’s true, but it surprises me every time. I think all people of a certain age think they’ve lost someone, but there’s losing, and there’s being touched. If you’re coming to me with this question, you must know what I mean. You know someone who died, and that’s a little sad, you miss them, and you think of them from time to time. Grandparents, great-grandparents, classmates. Celebrities, if you’re weird enough. 

But then there’s being touched. I’m not sure I could have described the difference, before it happened to me. Someone dies, and, the world changes in an immeasurable way. Nothing will ever feel the same again. Now that’s all a very well traveled and quasi-hackneyed set of ideas, but it is true. The world is shifted. Doorknobs turn the other way, and always will. You could have sworn that clock had a robin at six, and not a blue jay, but the jay is singing now. The coffee didn’t taste burnt yesterday, or maybe it did but it was right for it to be burnt. 

The world is too still, and too loud. 

Grief is a shared way in which we are alien to each other. No two people mourn alike, and no deaths are mourned the same. I have been furious in the first flush of grief. I have burned things and made sacred oaths to my eternal anger. My grandmother sold everything he owned the week of my grandfather’s funeral. My friend once sobbed picking up a box of cookies from the supermarket. If at no point in your grief could you be called insane by a reasonable person, you cannot possibly understand what I’m talking about. 

You ever eaten a piece of gristle? I think grief is that piece of gristle. You chew and you chew, and you chew, but it just won’t go. You think, ‘if only I could get this down, everything would be okay’ but you can’t. It just sticks in your mouth, and it makes you gag, turning its oiliness over in your mouth. 

I nearly died once, by accident, mind you, in the grips of grief. It happens. You gag. 

So I think about that a lot, because its true what they say that flowers grow best where there was rot, and that’s true, but the trick of it is, that before the flowers can grow, that rot has to be broken down. It has to be chewed. And that takes time. 

There was a bar we went to. It was a fucking dive with shitty food and badly-poured beer, but PBR was a dollar on Mondays and you got a free basket of bacon. That’s where she told me she was dying, and I told her if she planned on doing this, she might have paid more than 3 bucks for my tab. 

It was a mess of a bar. 

They tore it down, shit, seven years ago now? And I remember thinking, ‘No, they can’t do that. They can’t get rid of that bar. It has to stand.” and I couldn’t have articulated to you why it had to stand, why this place I never thought much of and in which nothing good had ever happened to me had to stand, but I it tugged at me so hard. Because I could still hear her voice echoing there, and I could still hear what she told me. And if that bar didn’t exist anymore, than maybe it was never really real. 

Because that’s the insane part, right? You have individually and personally experienced 9/11, but everyone around you doesn’t realize the massive change the world has gone through. You are screaming at the smoldering pit, the scent of jet fuel in the air, and someone gives you that pitying look and goes, ‘How you holding up?” because the world is not different for them. You are fully prepared to have your knitting needles confiscated for the next twenty years if it would just make you feel safe again, make things feel right again, but this asshole standing in front of you has no idea. 

Because you’re changed. 

Grief changes us, but it’s wrong to think of that change as a ruining. 

The grand canyon is nothing but but a ditch dug by time, and wear, but people travel from all over the world to see it. A silver bowl tarnishes, but in the tarnish there are patterns and plays of light the new silver never dreamed of. Then again, that shitty dive bar is now a gastropub that serves burgers with aioli and has a gluten free menu, so some change is ruin, but that is not settled law. You can be changed and just be different. Different is not always worse. 

I think every person I’ve lost, and there have been more than I’d like, has changed me in some way. I’ve been a drunk, I’ve been destructive, I’ve been religious and reflective, and I’ve been a planner. I’m not any of those on a full-time basis anymore, but I see them all in the mirror, looking back at me. All those Docs, all the ways she has felt, still exist in me. 

 My grandfather, he of blessed memory, used to say that you don’t ever have to get over things, but you do have to get on with them. I think that’s what I’ve tried to carry with me. 

That’s the first step to breaking down the rot. Chop wood, and carry water. You keep it moving. You carry that with you, and you carry them with you. Sometimes thre’s nothing to do but the work.Then one day, you realize you told a story about them, and you laughed. You didn’t even think about crying. So then you cry.  Time comes you spent a whole day not thinking about them, and then you cry again. But slowly, life starts to take shape there. Things grow in around the ruins, and maybe it’s even more beautiful than before. You fly their memory like a kite, bright and bouncing in the wind of your life. People can see it in you, even if they don’t quite know what it is. It’s just a pretty, dancing thing in the clouds. 

And then you realize, you don’t want you knitting needles confiscated anymore. 

I recently laid years of anger to rest over someone’s death. It was the first time I cried about it. As soon as I stopped being mad, I had to let the sorrow in. After you clear the rot, you still need the rain, I guess. 

You get better. There are still trenches dug in the French forest from WWI, but the forest is no less green for them. Tragedy above all others. Covered by the willingness to grow. 

I feel like this fucking ramble makes less sense the more I noodle on it, and in many ways is more about how to move through grief than what it feels like, so, I don’t know, the best I have in the way of a poetic thought is that sometimes grief in the way all the clothes end up in the hamper now, and the way you stop halfway up the stairs with a cup of coffee before you remember, and the way you never walk past that cafe with the little pink cakes. That sharp, cold knife is small, and fits in so many places. 

But it can’t stop the grass from growing.

[respectthepetty]

Reading the (Visual) Rainbow 101

Lesson 3 - Other Visuals

Because I get so many asks about colors, I decided the best way to celebrate Pride is to educate anyone who is interested in how to better Read the (Visual) Rainbow and simultaneously allow myself to appreciate queer media.

Do you ever notice visual cues when watching a show? Do you ever feel the background noise is trying to tell you something important?

Well, either way, this lesson is for you!

As mentioned in Lesson 1, visual rhetoric is the use of images to persuade the audience of the piece's purpose. Since shows are a collection of moving images, the objects included within them are used as tools to enhance our understanding of the show.

*This is a Semantic Error appreciation post*

Metaphor, Metonymy, and Meaning

To save on time, the simplest way to explain these (which they are different) is that a single item is used for a larger abstract idea. There are many examples, like a smiley face can represent happiness but also the facade of happiness, a dove can represent peace, and an hourglass represents times. For instance, when Puen gifted Talay a pink hourglass, which was his color, it symbolized the borrowed time they had, but also the time they had spent with each other in that universe.

If lights turn on after a period of darkness, this represents an awakening or enlightenment.

If we see hearts, we know it's love.

If someone's face is hidden behind other objects like a mask, they have a secret.

If we see rain, it usually means sadness (like tears), and a storm meanings conflict.

And if we see a man drinking bitter chocolate while he watches his crush go to lunch with a bunch of women, we can assume he, too, is bitter.

But you don't always have to look at the deeper meaning of objects because sometimes, the object speaks directly to us:

Clothing - That's a Loud Outfit

Clothing is one of the easiest elements to notice in media because it is on the characters, and we regularly see them.

Let's rewind to Lesson 2 - Color Basics. We learned about the difference between warm colors and cool colors, and that the colors include lighting. If you watched George Michael's "Freedom! '90" music video, you may have noticed that the lighting changes from cool to warm during the video. Maybe you noticed the changed truly began with the burning of Michael's infamous BSA Rocker's Revenge leather jacket that he wore in his 1987 "Faith" video which cemented him as a sex object.

Michael, the epitome of masculinity at that moment, surprisingly decided to not appear in this video. Instead, the music video famously featured supermodels (in their prime - LINDA EVANGELISTA!) in various states of undress. If you noticed the lyrics, Michael sings that clothes do not make the man as the chorus builds to Michael repeating "Freedom!" several times.

The burning of Michael's jacket, a piece of clothing, brings warmth and happiness due to what the jacket symbolizes. The models, whose job is to wear clothing, experience warm light the more they shed their clothes.

This is visual rhetoric at its finest. The visuals are reinforcing the narrative of the song. Normally, nudity means freedom and vulnerability, but within the context of the song, it means even more. The clothes do not make the models. They themselves are the show. Michael, much like the models, wants to distinguish his identity and separate it from the labels that have been imposed on him. The lighting, the clothes, and the items all support that message.

But sometimes the clothing isn't symbolic. Sometimes the clothing tells a blunt message, where it clearly spells out who or what the character loves.

Sometimes its more subtle, like the possibility of the W over Kitae's heart representing his love for Wan.

Sometimes, the clothing tells the plot because Jaeyoung wears his "DIE BITCH" jacket when he first meets Sangwoo since he really wants that bitch to die.

And sometimes, the clothing can just be for funsies.

Posters - The Writing is on the Wall

Printed material can offer textual support for the show's purpose. It is another layer of what we are seeing play out on our screen, but sometimes, it's harder to notice.

If you watched Hayley Kiyoko's "She" video, you might have noticed that her clothing spoke to the audience. She wore a bright shirt that reads "Everyone Loves an Asian Girl" with rainbow socks.

But you might have also noticed the posters on her walls.

Lance Bass who was a member of NSYNC, the second-best boy band behind Backstreet Boys, publicly came out in 2006. It was a big deal. He is the first poster we notice since it's bright red. The poster on the right of him is of twin sisters and openly gay musicians, Tegan and Sara. Sprinkled throughout the posters are ones for Fanta Orange. Coca-Cola had a popular campaign titled "This Coke is a Fanta" which was based on the (homophobic) Brazilian phrase "Essa Coca é Fanta." In 2018, Coca-Cola flipped the phrase and produced limited edition red coke cans filled with orange Fanta and distributed them while embracing the phrase. If we didn't realize Kiyoko was gay from her socks, the posters help to reinforce the song's purpose - Kiyoko must stay true to herself throughout her struggles.

The writing on the wall helps focus the audience's attention on what is important in that moment.

Because it can tell the characters' state of mind like being in hell.

Or what we should expect from the plot of trying new things and doing things differently.

Signs - Follow the Signs

Much like posters, signs clearly spell out what we are supposed to understand from the scene. If the sign is next to the character, we can assume the sign is about the character or their arc.

Like letting us know the character is having a queer awakening.

Books - Judge Them by Their Covers

Books tend to reinforce what we are seeing within the scene and can also offer additional information about the characters that isn't vocally stated. If we see romance novels near a character, it implies the character, regardless of their outwardly appearance, is a romantic at heart.

Or perhaps they are trying to learn more about their robotic crush by reading "AI" or feeling it's "Doomsday" because they caught feelings for a guy.

Activity

Remember that you are watching a visual piece of media; therefore, the visuals ARE being used to persuade you. If there is a lot of items in the background, pause the scene, and examine what is being shown. Are the items simply telling us about the character's personality? Are we being told about the plot? Are we being told more?

Also, keep in mind that the item may be talking to you in a language you can't speak. Most of the included examples were in English, but a few aren't since the media we are consuming is not in English. You might miss some textual clues, but think about why you are being shown these items.

There are many more ways that the background noise provides visual support for the narrative, so to prepare for the next lesson, watch either music video, and think about how the split screens are being used to show barriers, boundaries, and order.

Joel Corry x MNEK "Head & Heart" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRuOOxF-ENQ

Silvy "Queen" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZLGkkDHkRE

[nothinggold13]

I know I said this in my tags on the poll but I just CAN’T get behind “sloppy wet,” like, it is a VISCERAL disgust. Someone’s there going “it’s not sexual!” and guess what!! I never thought it was!! Someone else is going “it’s like a little slobbery baby kiss!!” and guess what!! I love babies and small children and I make them my entire life, but I still think their slobbery kisses are gross!! And I don’t want heaven meeting earth to feel gross!! And I don’t want God’s love to feel gross!! And I don’t think the original context of the song changes the way that line feels!!

Like, if it doesn’t make YOU feel that way, that’s great for you!! But I think creating alternative lyrics when playing the song in worship is SO valid, because it DOES feel icky to a lot of people!! The original lyrics are important in the context of what John was writing, and why he was writing it, and, again, as I said in my tags, I’m sure he had a meaningful reason for writing it that way, even if I don’t understand what was going through his mind for that particular word choice. It just doesn’t mean I have to sing it that way. He’s an evocative writer and of the two songs of his I know, his lyrics make me feel so many things!! Unfortunately in this case that feeling is “ew ew ew ew get off of me ew” which I fully trust was not his intention but also fully does ruin my experience with the song.

Is “unforeseen” the BEST alternative? Maybe not! But it is the version I learned many years ago at camp, and I think it is a beautiful word that is more pleasantly evocative than “sloppy wet,” so that is what I will sing. (I understand that some people get bad connotations from that word, too; in this case, I’m the one who does not see it in a bad way at all. Some people see unforeseen as non-consensual, but for me it’s the cinematic first kiss scene: something you’ve been waiting for, and yearning for, but haven’t known when the moment would finally come! In my mind, it’s a deeply shared “at last” experience! Which, to me, fits the line of the song much better! But because everyone does NOT feel that way, I understand why they might want other alternatives, too!)

Anyway, you can yell about “sloppy wet” being meaningful in the original context until you’re red in the face, but you also have to accept that that might not change the “ew ew ew” reaction that that image causes in some people!!

Good music has a tendency to grow bigger than the original artist. People will change pieces of a song to make it more reflective of their own experience. That’s not cowardly. That’s an act of love.

[rose-of-pollux]

🕰️, ✒️, 👀, 🎼, 🎸 and 💫 for the BttF asks :o)

🕰️If you were to insert yourself into the trilogy, what year would you come from? My own time, honestly; it’d be an interesting juxtaposition to Doc’s vision of the 21st Century and different situations for Doc and Marty to navigate

✒️You are hired to write/draw a new bttf comic, and it can be about whatever you want. what in the bttf universe would you want to expand on? In an answer that will surprise no one, the continuation of the musical timeline; as the Tropes page for the musical pointed out, the exact events of part II (and by extension, pt III) can’t happen since Doc’s voice activation lock means that Biff won’t be able to steal the DeLorean and create the 1985A timeline like he did in the movie. That being said, there are plenty of other shenanigans for Doc and Marty to get into, and I’m sure they’d end up in 1885 some other way, resulting in Clara coming back with them to 1985.

👀Share a random headcanon you have about your favorite character! I'll do a different Doc headcanon (I have several 🤭); that in the Lone Pine timeline, he remains close to George and Lorraine since he's their only link to "Calvin Klein" at first, but then he genuinely becomes a family friend and George asks him to be Marty's godfather as a result, which is how Doc takes Marty under his wing in the improved timeline, as well.

🎼If you have one, share a song that you associate with your favorite character! My friend, I have an entire Doc playlist. One of the songs on there is this one, referencing Doc's backstory about his rocky relationship with his father, who was trying to pressure him into going into law instead of science, forcing Emmett to study science on the sly--

🎸What is your favorite piece of movie soundtrack? (can be orchestral or any other!) ...Movie, huh? Well I'm going to slightly cheat since the score is mostly the same between the movie and the musical for this scene, but it's the scene where Marty and 55!Doc say goodbye, Doc tears up the warning note, the cable detaches, and Doc goes to repair it while Marty gets the DeLorean ready to go back to 1985. As I said, the musical's version is almost identical to the movie's (and I love it in both contexts), with the big change at the very end, with Doc singing a triumphant reprise of "For the Dreamers" as he connects the cable and sends Marty home.

💫If you have any bttf related WIPs, here’s the opportunity to ramble about them! If we're talking about just WIPs, the only one I have going on right now is my Ashen Pines AU, which was supposed to have been just a one-off for AU Roulette, but then took on a life of its own. I normally don't even like post-apocalyptic stories, but that was one of the prompts I was assigned, so I decided that I'll just do a one-off "what if?" scenario where, in an alternate 1971, the Cold War got hot, and Doc became a target for multiple governments and organizations for his nuclear knowledge from his Manhattan Project days--as a result, Hill Valley gets leveled in an attack, leaving a three-year-old Marty as the only survivor of his family. Doc, who has just escaped his handlers after Napoleon and Illya informed him that his own government also plans to strong-arm him into working on nuclear weapons again, is going on the run, but realizes he owes it to Marty to look after him, since it's indirectly his fault that Marty lost his family. It starts out as obligation, but when it becomes clear that Marty genuinely thinks the world of Doc, even after Doc tries to explain to him multiple times that he's the reason why Marty is an orphan now, Doc realizes that he genuinely cares for this kid. And it just... kept going. I have so many places where I want this to go; right now, it's Doc raising this little kid, but I do want to eventually timeskip to 1985 in this 'verse so I can explore some more ideas with an older Marty. And I do want to write a fic where Main Timeline Marty and Doc meet Ashen Pines Marty and Doc. If we're talking about general ideas, I have so many. I want to continue my Witherspoon arc (I know exactly where that's going and how it will wrap up--in a very angsty-with-a-happy-ending finale), and I have various other ideas, like more musical-verse stuff, and that Indy crossover, and a possible Scooby crossover, and... a lot.

[outofangband]

🎶and Morwen For the Headcanon Ask Game!

From this headcanon ask game! Still accepting them!

Music related headcanons

-Baragund played a wooden flute and some of Morwen’s earliest memories are of sitting by the hearth of her childhood home, watching him play. She doesn’t remember most of the actual tunes as an adult but she remembers the movements and swaying.

-Wood and reed flutes are the most common instruments used by the Bëorians. Also common is something like an oud which are made from spruce in the southern parts of Dorthonion.

-Most Bëorian music is preserved through oral tradition and written musical notation varies somewhat between families and locations. Song and poems however are often preserved in writing.

Few records of musical notation survive the Bragollach.

-While Bëorian lullabies tend to be somewhat less whimsical and more somber than Hadorian lullabies, (not every one of course, just generally) children’s songs that are not lullabies do often include word play and whimsical, sometimes almost surreal, imagery.

-Rían would send Morwen bits of musical notation and lyrics and poems in letters, partly so they’d be kept safe (Rían’s writing spaces are a bit scattered). She has a small collection of that she keeps all the way to Doriath where they remain after she goes to search for Túrin. The musical notation was a sort of shorthand Rían created herself and it’s possible that it was never translated but the words were preserved.

-Morwen’s voice for singing is lower than her speaking voice and just as solemn. She does not sing often but if those who are privileged enough to hear it describe it as somewhat transfixing. She only ever sings specific songs.

-She teaches a few songs to Húrin and to Aerin, and their meaning but I think most Bëorian songs they and others know are from Rían. Rían enjoys how lyrics, meaning and tune change through cultural context and how their languages combine. I don’t think Morwen particularly enjoys this.

(Somewhere I have a piece about Aerin singing a Bëorian lullaby on the night of what should be the Hadorian midwinter festival but I cannot find it… thank you Tumblr search function, if I find it I’ll link it back here)

[leedollop]

I totally agree, but I wanna hear your personal defense of A/dam.

To be honest, I think Adam got so much hate because he was paired against someone like C/harlie, and I think it's very easy to want to side with C/harlie because of what she represents. C/harlie represents child like hope, optimism, and wonder, and, against her, I think it's easy to see A/dam, even with his boyish charm, as representing adult like cynicism. (Plus C/harlie defending the fan favorites).

But, it really isn't that way if you look at it from A/dam's perspective. Imagine you've been doing exterminations because you love the people in Heaven and you've been led to believe the people in Hell are like, the worst of the worst and are threatening Heaven's safety. Like yeah, if I thought everyone was pretty much all like V/alentino down there who were now whining about getting their just desserts, I'd also be singing Hell Is Forever and calling exterminations entertainment! I think it's unreasonable to expect A/dam to have that perspective changed by a few doodles, especially when C/harlie never gives the context of what her people are really like, just that they're her people, so of course she'll defend them.

To be fair to C/harlie, pushing her explanation off until the last minute could lead to pressure that doesn't make people good at explaining things (unintentional on A/dam's part), but she could have been bonding with A/dam that whole time instead of making annoyed faces at him, which probably would have helped A/dam understand her perspective more. C/harlie being impatient is her biggest character flaw, and I'll be interested to see how they address that in s2.

Plus, I think it's worth mentioning that C/harlie didn't present that well in court either (to be very clear, I adore C/harlie as a character, I think she has a great heart and means no harm, I just think, again, she often puts the cart before the horse). My biggest critique is that she picked A/ngel D/ust, but she never informed the court of the situation A/ngel D/ust is in, which stopped them from sympathizing with A/ngel the same way she or us the audience have. Even when A/dam and L/ute were making comments about A/ngel's career, C/harlie didn't give them the context of overlords or the fact V/al is an abusive piece of crap specifically that overpowers A/ngel.

Like yes, C/harlie doesn't know the full extent of it, but she saw enough at the studio that day to argue A/ngel is in a state of duress. Yes, the court did see A/ngel's conversation with V/al at the club but, without the context of how Hell works, to them it probably just sounded like two sinners having a power dispute, and they could have just thought the chain was a part of V/al's powers rather than an overlord thing.

It's ironic A/dam and V/ox ended up being such good friends in my and my friend's AU, because I feel like they both get hated on in the fandom for similar reasons. Mostly that people overly side with one character and refuse to see either of their sides of the story.

For example, I feel like people are so protective of A/ngel D/ust that any support for him outside of just outright "I love you and I hate V/al" is ignored and diminished. So people see V/ox putting on an act around V/al and, instead of noticing V/ox protecting A/ngel, people just latch onto the fact that V/ox wasn't yelling at V/al like "HOW DARE YOU HURT MY BOI, I HATE YOU V/AL!" to paint him as just as terrible as V/al. They also then ignore V/ox's obvious annoyance at V/al, and V/al literally throwing a glass at V/ox and breaking his phone, showing V/ox isn't safe from V/al's wrath either, nor is he in a great situation. Yet he risked his ass to calm V/al down anyway.

I think a lot of people forget killing sinners for those in Hell isn't that simple, and in V/ox's situation, even with angelic steel he'd have to make a plan so it couldn't be traced back to him (I doubt V/alentino is the only overlord he'd have to worry about in that scenario). So yeah no, V/ox isn't going to directly oppose V/al's actions for his own safety and he's not going to beat the jerk to a pulp or willy nilly decide to kill him because, if he does and it doesn't work, he's putting himself and A/ngel in way more danger than it's worth.

Sorry, I got very passionate there lol. My point is I tend to write things as less black and white, especially concerning those two characters, because I think putting yourself in their shoes makes a lot of their behavior make sense. Which isn't saying the exterminations were the right thing to do because I see people swing things all the way back around that way, but that A/dam's viewpoints on it were understandable if we dissect why he hates Hell and it's people in the first place. Which is why in my AU he's given a chance to see the truth and, when he does, it's a very quick turn around.