#or if i *am* the target audience the thing is the biggest flop since the hindenburg and pilloried in the main square

[marypsue]

I gotta say, loving something absolutely to pieces from the word 'go', recommending it to everyone in earshot constantly, and then seeing someone else recommend it...by saying 'probably most people won't like this'? Feels unfortunately very representative of my experiences with media since ever.

[curious-minx]

October 2010s Music Deep Dive!

A mock up poster for the only possible music festival line-up I would be willing to risk my life attending. Tony Allen’s passing has caused the entire Octoberfest to be cancelled indefinitely, but all proceeds from ticks will be given back to the community. 

Hope all of you special nobodies and overblown somebodies reading this right now are having a smashing start your first o November. All last month I had taken it upon myself to listen to as many albums and fragments of albums released sometime during the month of October spanning the entire 10’s decade, 2010 through 2019. This is all probably a result of drinking too much dead water, Quarantine brain, undiagnosed Autism, magical thinking and the death of boredom. I have created a Spotify playlist sporting 25 hours and 4 minutes worth of music with an arbitrary amount of albums getting multiple songs, but largely one song/album. This project did create a sense of madness because of the volume of music that gets cranked out. How can we expect anyone to properly criticize music when it is nearly impossible to keep up with it all? I largely culled these albums from Allmusic’s Editorial Choice section, but I did have to use Rateyourmusic to fill out the hip-hop and R&B gaps. In gathering up all of this music I am attempting to see if spooky music was relegated to the October season and any other possible trends. Even though October has been laid to rest her swelling calendar breast still contains a treasure trove of music worth discussing. Grab your broom, sharpen your heels and get the cobwebs out of your ears because we’re going on a Deep Dive! 

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The 2010s Old Souls and Musical Auteurs 

I consider any musician or band that endures more than a decade worthy of this veteran label. Music biz lifers seem found solace in the October release schedule. A trend that has carried onto the new decade with October 2020 offering revitalized releases by Elvis Costello and Bruce Springsteen reunited with the E Street Band. All three main members of Sonic Youth, Moore, Gordon and Renaldo are still harnessing that spooky Bad Moon Rising energy and carrying it over into their solo releases. 

KIM GORDON’s NO RECORD HOME

The first truly proper solo album by Kim Gordon following up her pretty good noise rock releases under the Body/Head moniker with Bill Nace. No Record Home towers over Thurston Moore and Lee Renaldo’s mostly okay solo releases because of how truly experimental and refreshingly modern sounding No Record Home is. This album sounds like it could easily have come out from a young Pacific Northwest Trip-Angle (RIP) label upstart. Instead, Gordon is defiantly aging gracefully and remains an all around important feminist voice in experimental rock music. No Record Home did not pop up on a lot of “Best of the Year” lists in 2019, nor did Gordon embark on any kind of touring for the release. I am hoping that more people will eventually discover this great album and realize that Gordon was truly the best, most truly experimental aspect of Sonic Youth. Her vocals on this album are the best she’s ever sounded because she built these songs and sounds with the intergral collaborator, producer Justin Raisen. A glimpse at Raisen’s Wikipedia page is a who’s who of great artists of the past decade: Yves Tumor, Charli XCX, and Sky Ferreira. The collaboration occurred at an AirBnB shared between Gordon and Raisen and birthed the first single of the project “Air BnB.” A song that completely sets the tone of the album and features one of those amazing music videos in the same line us Young Thug’s “Wyclef Jean. “

Björk - Biophilia

Can you name the last album the rolled out with its own app? Nine years have come and gone and I certainly can’t think of another album with such wholesome ambitions. Björk was getting passionate about ecological concerns in her native Icelandic home with Sigur Ros and using her sphere of influence to try to good. 2014 the app has found a permanent home in the MOMA, but outside of this curio status the album itself is still a worthwhile addition to the Björk canon. Biophilia finds Björk in musical scientist mode using sounds captured from a Tesla coil and making a whole musical universe onto herself. The rest of the 2010s found Björk going for bigger and more ambitious projects that continue to frustrate those who wish she would go back to her poppier roots. She remains one of those most consistent solo artists around and someone no one will be able to predict what she does next. The only thing is certain is that it will be visionary and will probably include a wildly ambitious rollout and a new piece of physical art like Biophilia’s $800 tuning forks.

NENEH CHERRY - BROKEN POLITICS

Featuring production duties for the second time from Four Tet (who also pops up in the October playlist with his 2013 album Beautiful Rewind). Broken Politics in Cherry’s words, “is about feeling broken, disappointed, and sad, but having perseverance. It’s a fight against the extinction of free thought and spirit.” The music video for single “Natural Skin Deep” was filmed in Beirut, a backdrop made even more painful given 2020’s Explosion. Cherry is an artist with deep spiritual and blood connections with artists central to jazz’s history. Broken Politics also features songs built around Ornette Coleman samples. This is all to say that Neneh Cherry is always going to be someone tapping into a creative cosmic vein that spans generations, and with that comes a hard wisdom. Two years later we’re still dealing with the same god damn guts and guns of history. 

OTHER NOTABLES:

(Cat Power - The Wanderer; John Cale - Shifty Adventures in Nookie Wood; Tony Allen - Film of Life ; Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Psychedelic Pill ;Bryan Ferry - Olympia; Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Ghosteen ;Yoko Ono - Warzone; Vashti Bunyan - Heartleap; Elvis Costello & The Imposters - Look Now; The Chills - Silver Bullets; Weezer - Everything Will Be Alright In The End;Laurie Anderson - Heart of A Dog;Janet Jackson - Unbrekable;The Mercury Rev - Light In You;  Rocketship - Thanks To You; Van Dyke Parks & Gaby Moreno - Spangled; Donald Fagen - Sunken Condos; Prefab Sprout - Crimson Red; Pere Ubu - 20 Years in a Montana Missile Silo; Negativland - True False )

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TRILOGY OF BLACKSTARS

Three last albums released by three titans of 20th century songwriting. Two of them follow the trajectory of an older artist getting rejuvenated by a younger backing band. Lulu is beyond a meme at this point and is considered one of the most confounding flops since Metallic Music. Like Metallic Music, Lulu will get a reappraisal and find its audience. Mr. Blackstar himself Bowie considered  Lulu one of his favorite releases. “Junior Dad” alone makes this album a worthy addition in Lou Reed’s discography. Scott Walker invited some similarly hairy and intense younger rock studs into his private castle and pulls off a far more natural combination. Soused fits like a velvet glove on a elegant corpse hand swirling thick slabs of guitar and demonic percussion. Scott Walker effortlessly orchestrates between elegance and moribundity whereas Lulu wallows and thrashes against  the ugly riffage. 

No riffs or oozing wall of sound are  anywhere to be found on the sparse and pointedly elegiac You Want it Darker. Leonard Cohen never went full on sleazy I’m Your Man ever again but he didn’t become adult contemporary either. You Want It Darker finds Leonard and his son Adam Cohen. When Leonard passed away he was the only one to get a full David Bowie like museum tribute, Lou Reed only got a corner of a library. Cohen is far and away the most accessible mystical Jewish Buddhist monk with a penchant for fedoras and having a masked man with a leather belt beat him in the recording booth [citation needed]. You Want It Darker is the only one of these mortality laden kiss offs to win a Grammy. I do wonder if Cohen would have ever allowed a more adventurous production to touch his staid and timeless old fashioned sound. Tom Scharpling divides Leonard Cohen into his Pre-Fedora and Post-Fedora days. If you are being literal about that demarcation that still gives you a pretty vast body of music I just want sad bloated blurry black and white Leonard Cohen with a banana or the smiling cad on Songs of Love and Hate. Even the floppy fedora era has worthwhile albums and he sounds like if Serge Gainsbourgh was a muppet Gargoyle, he’s reliable. I will always beat myself for not buying that official Leonard Cohen raincoat at the Jewish Museum Leonard Cohen exhibit, but I hope someone has and they are finding comfort with Cohen’s music. A lot of his latter day period is comforting in a sardonic sexy mind bending nursing home sort of way. 

I am glad that these men were ultimately spared from having to deal with Covid times and even someone as tasteless as Brian Wilson’s Ghost can acknowledge that it’s more important than ever to keep your elderly loved ones locked away in a well ventilated pod. 

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(INSERT ARTIST HERE) SEASON

For a few sticky sweet select few artists the month of October proved to be a suitable release launch pad for more than one album. The Mountain Goats and clipping. have just joined the October two-timer club this year. The reigning queen of October releases is Taylor Swift and Adrianne Lenker. In chronological order swift released Speak Now, Red and 1989 probably Swift’s biggest run in terms of critical and commercial success. None of these albums have a particularly big place in my heart, in fact speaking on behalf of Brian Wilson’s Ghost Ltd. I’m not the biggest fan of America’s Sweetheart, Sweet Tea Poet Laureate.  All three of these albums all came out in the latter part of October and based on the Target brand synergy roll-out felt as inevitable as pumpkin spice. Haunted. Sad Beautiful Tragic. Out of the Woods. These are either song titles taken from these three albums are the names of the under utilized Romantic Halloween Horror Comedy genre. Lady Gaga might have been spooking it up on American Horror Story, but Swift gives a far more chilling performance in Tom Hooper’s midnight madness of Cats and I could envision Swift excelling really well as a horror film actor. Especially in a role like Scarlett Johansson’s Under the Skin. 

You cannot get more polar opposite from Swift than Adrianne Lenker. Who released her first solo album abysskiss   and the second Big Thief album of 2019 Two Hands. Lenker will have also gone on to make her third October release this year with her second solo album songs & instrumentals. Striking that such a ghostly autumnal band would have only released one album in October, but autumnal feeling albums are not beholden to release calendars. The song “Not” from the Big Thief album Two Hands is a watershed breakthrough moment for the band and put Lenker and her band on the map. In 2019 Big Thief became a band that could get booked onto a Goodmorning American performance slot and more or less made Big Thief one of the rare 2010s indie bands to become more or less a household name. 

Other notable artists to have released more than one album on October 2010s:

Less notable artists to have multiple October releases: James Blunt Korn

Calvin Harris 

Kings of Leon

Pentatonix 

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FORMER HARBINGERS OF HYPE

These are October releases from artists that once felt like whenever they put out an album a wider array of outlets and publications seemed to care more and would spill more digital ink over them. The big three artists that had the biggest drop off in attention and acclaim that stick out to me the most are Titus Andronicus,  Justice and Why? All three artists debuted with strong starts back in the aughts, but according to critical reception more or less crashed and burned. Titus Andronicus’ Local Business was one of the last times Titus Andronicus would get positive marks from Pitchfork. Local Business a fun and shaggy follow-up to one of the most self-serious concept albums of the 2010s. 

Justice’s Audio, Video, Disco similarly is a follow up to a highly acclaimed album that set the bar high enough to doom Justice into never living up to the hype. Justice’s 2007 s/t heralded them as the next Daft Punk, but unlike those soulful and thoughtful robots Justice mainly wanted to make big ridiculous unfashionable synth prog rock. Audio, Video, Disco is simply cheesy fun and even though we live in a world better off without parties and gatherings this album helps you feel like you are in high-def IMAX monster mash on the moon. 

The leaves us with Why?’s Mump’s Etc. an album that already had the job of following up an already divisive follow up record Eskimo Snow. Why’s Alopecia is a really important 2008 indie blog rap album that helped thrust the online indie blogs into the hip-hop genre hybrid experimentalism. Why? would never make another universally beloved album again and with Mump’s Etc. ended up permanently in Pitchfork’s hate pit. In the original release review the Pitchfork writer essentially deems this album an act of “career suicide.” The whole review is essentially an assignation of Why?’s figurehead Yoni Wolf and taking him to task for all of his awkward lyrical blunders and the fact he is narcissistic enough to be a musician writing about his career in a meta fashion. Yet when I listen to Mump’s Etc. I am more or less enjoying Yoni Wolf’s personality and find the whole thing to be pretty charming. A perfectly serviceable 3.5/5 release that a media outlet like Pitchfork turns into a flexing opportunity to show how that they have the power to make or break a career. 

A.C. Newman, an artist who appears on this playlist with his terrific 2012 Shut Down The Streets took to Twitter to scoff at the idea that a good Pitchfork review has done anything for his career. Shut Down The Streets currently remains the last solo album Newman has released under his name choosing to focus on his main gig with the New Pornographers. The Internet based hype machine is even more ADHD addled and twitchier by the day. The joy of doing this deep dive allowed me to revisit a lot of these artists and acts that I had fallen out of touch with. I had completely forgotten about King of Convenience’s Erlend Øye who released the album Legao in 2014. I rediscovered a good deal of bands like the Editors, The Dodos, Kisses, Black Milk, Crocodiles, Empire of the Sun, Juana Molina, Jagwar Ma, Here We Go Magic, Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr., YACHT, Peaking Lights, The Twilight Sad, Elf Power, Swet Shop Boys, Radio Dept, Allo’ Darlin, Foxes In Fiction, and HOMESHAKE are all bands not trying to change the world or challenge listeners with avant garde experimentation. Instead I feel like I maintaining relationships with old friends on the edge of obscurity. 

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A HISTORY OF CHRISTMAS IN OCTOBER 

A tradition stretching back as far as 2014 not October’s Idina Menzel’s Holiday Wishes, but Seth McFarland’s Holiday For Swing sweatily released on CD, digital, and vinyl on September 30, 2014.  2015 then brings us a Chris Tomlin and Ru Paul Christmas albums because every force of Neo-liberal good must be balanced with evangelical contemporary Christian music *shutters.* 2016 finds the Christmas in October era reaching a complete and utter nadir with R. Kelly’s final official LP 12 Nights of Christmas and A Pentatonix Christmas, but also buffered by Kacey Musgrave’s Christmas. 2017 only had time for Gwen Stefani’s You Make It Feel Like Christmas and no one else could evoke this feeling in October. On 2018, Michelle and Barack Obama’s combined one and only Christmas wish comes true, no not cancelling those drone strikes, but getting John Legend to join the October release jamboree; Eric Clapton claps open his guitar’s butt cheeks and hatefully squats out a half assed Xmas album defiantly opening the album with “White Christmas” [eyeroll emoji]; and finally 2018 found the Pentatonix announcing in October that Christmas Is Here. I apologize for all of that crude butt talk about the hateful racist Eric Clapton, but(t) I have festive gluteus Maximus on the mind, because in 2019 Norah Jones got her alternative country gal trio back together to remind us to shake our Christmas butts. Eat shit commercial shit, today’s Santa’s birthday! That’s the magic of the October release schedule! 

The hallowed Christmas in October tradition continues on in 2020 with Dolly I-Beg-Thee-Pardon  releasing A Holly Dolly Christmas right on time on October 2, 2020 (Carrie Underwood missed the memo and unwraps her unwanted My Gift in September 2020). Meghan Trainor, Goo Goo Dolls, and Tori Kelly released Christmas albums. Can you believe Seth MacFarlane comes up twice in this article, because his sleazy J. Michigan Frog croon is processed and grated like Parmesan cheese snow flakes all over a rendition of White Christmas.  What a time to be alive! 

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WHERE DID THEY GO?

A Brief Case For Class Actress’s Rapproacher

Among my October music travels I encountered one artist that really impressed me with her proper LP debut Rapprocher. The trio fronted by Elizabeth Vanessa Harper is essentially peddling the kind of competent moody 80’s inspired synth pop that belongs on a lost Donnie Darko sequel. Harper’s vocals are striking and expressive and they are melded with constantly propulsive bed of shiny synths and glossy barely-there gated percussion. Outside of an 2015  EP called Movies featuring exciting production contributions from Italo-disco icon Giorgio Moroder there has been nothing else from Class Actress. Highly recommend you check them out especially if you want to find the sweet spot between Chromatics and Kylie Minogue. 

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THE OCTOBER 2010s MASTERPIECES 

(Robyn - Honey, Big K.R.I.T. - 4eva is a Mighty Long Time  ,Miguel -  Kaleidoscope Dream, Crying - Beyond The Fleeting Gale , M83 Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming ,SRSQ - Unreality, Sufjan Stevens - age of adz, Joanna Newsom - divers, VV Brown Samson and Delilah, Kelela - tear me apart , Neon Indian - VEGA Intl., Fever Ray - Plunge , Antony and The Johnsons - Swanlights (goodbye album) , Caroline Polachek - Pang , Sky Ferreira - Night Time, My Time . Bat For Lashes  Haunted Man, James Ferraro - Far Side Virtual , Grouper -  Ruins , Kero Kero Bonito -Bonito Generation , DJ Rashad - Double Cup)

Maybe if I surround this VV Brown album with more well known artists she’ll finally get some more clicks? I should also mention that Joanna Newsom’s Divers is nowhere on my Spotify October Music playlist because Joanna Newsom thinks Spotify is bananas, and she hates bananas. I know I should also mention Kendrick Lamar’s good kid, m.A.A.d city and Tame Impala’s Lonerism. That’s the maddening thing about October music that just when you think you covered all your ground you find another hidden hump underneath the carpet.  I feel remiss without mentioning striking debut and instant hidden gem Tinashe’s Aquarius, which did you know has a new album art on Spotify. Death Grip’s No Love Deep Web. T_T I didn’t even get around to making a big verbal mosaic to Thom Yorke’s witchy Suspiria soundtrack.Corpus Christi! I forgot to highlight The Orb album in the collage with my other veteran artists!  As you can see this project nearly ruined me. I did not necessarily listen to all of these albums from front to back, but I did listen all of the songs on the playlist and chose them from the immense collection of October releases. I am pretty sure this is the kind of content for no one in particular but I really needed to get it out of my system. Let’s meet back up October 2030!!!!!

(Thank you to my beloved partner, best friend and Spotify provider Maddie Johnson XD)

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7sdLaNNaqWpKEKXRZ3jNqY?si=SLZxUwLMQYOQ5wA1xuZc7w

[memaha19]

Okay, I have a lot of (mostly positive) thoughts about Frozen II and I need to get them out...

Spoilers abound, obviously. This post is giant so it’s all below the cut.

I hope this makes any sort of sense, it took me like four hours to write and I’m afraid it’s just all my rambling thoughts.

Hi. Okay. I’ve seen Frozen II twice now (with plans to go see it again) but I have a lot of thoughts about it and the story and the characters and everything that have been warring inside my brain for the last three days and I just need to express them.

Tiny backstory, for those who weren’t following me six years ago: the first Frozen was/is everything to me. It was a phenomenon to the world, but also a personal phenomenon for me. And even when everyone got sick to death of hearing Let It Go, I’ve never given up on my love for it. I have pretty bad anxiety. Some days are hard. So to see a character like me in a Disney movie was amazing. To see Elsa struggle with herself and her fear and her anxiety was eye-opening and I immediately fell in love with her character and what she represented. I’m not Disney’s “target audience”. I was 21 when the first movie came out (the same age as Elsa, so I felt like I could relate even more) and I’m 27 now. But I was in love with Frozen all the same.

So. Frozen II.

There are a lot of things I love about it. I debated before writing this about whether I should start with  with my favorites, things I didn’t like, or just a general review? I guess I’ll start by saying: all of the things I disliked about it weren’t really even things I disliked, just things that I think could’ve been served better by a movie that had more time to devote to these things.

The Big Problem

This movie could’ve done with being about 20-25 minutes longer. That is my biggest complaint that ties into all my other complaints. I wanted more from some of the plots and the themes. Frozen II wanted to do way more than the time it really had to do all of these things. It wanted to deal with their parents past, Arendelle’s past, the sisters relationship post-Frozen, the romantic subplot between Anna and Kristoff, Elsa’s quest to follow the voice and find herself, the Northuldra, the mythology behind the Enchanted Forest, and a bunch of other tiny little things. It did not have the runtime for all of this and so while some of it was done incredibly well (i.e. Elsa and the whole “Show Yourself” sequence), some things felt introduced and then almost immediately abandoned. Other things felt like they were introduced and explored a teeny tiny bit and then given to us later as the reason why a character makes a choice to do something.

My biggest issue relates to our beloved, beautiful snow queen, Elsa, and her story. The catalyst for the film is Elsa’s desire and need to be something more, to do something else with her life. It’s this desire of hers that leads her to “Into the Unknown”, which ends with her waking up the spirits of the Enchanted Forest, endangering Arendelle and kicking off the journey that makes up the body of the film.

My issue with this isn’t that I don’t believe that Elsa could be having these “I don’t belong here, need to go somewhere else” thoughts. It’s been three years since the first movie took place, three years of her being queen and maybe deciding that, although she has the love of her sister and a family supporting her, there’s still somewhere that needs her more, that she needs more. My issue, again related to needing the movie to be a little longer, is that Frozen II forgets “show, not tell” a couple times. We’re told every day’s a little harder as I feel my power grow in “Into the Unknown”, without ever being shown this. A scene of Elsa wrestling with a new, undiscovered part of her powers would go a long way in fleshing out this plot point, giving her some reason to be concerned and some real impetus for her to want to follow the siren call and find out more about herself and her powers. Later, she sings or are you someone out there who’s a little bit like me, who knows deep down I’m not where I’m meant to be? A beautiful, beautiful theme in these movies is allowing yourself to follow what makes you different, don’t bury it or push it away, because it’ll show you who you really are and what you’re meant to be, but the beginning of the movie fails to show us any scenes of Elsa really struggling with being in Arendelle before it has her sing about how she’s struggling with being in Arendelle.

As it is, we’re given this (beautiful) song about Elsa wanting to go into the unknown when, only a few minutes prior, she’s seen perfectly content in Arendelle, even expressing in “Some Things Never Change”: I’m not sure I want things to change at all. These days are precious, can’t let them slip away. She flip flops back and forth from perfectly content with her family to suddenly needing to be somewhere else while the beginning of “Into the Unknown” seems to suggest that the last thing she wants to do is try anything out of the norm, telling the voice I’m afraid of what I’m risking if I follow you.

The risk is there, given that we’re all familiar with the first movie and we’re familiar with Elsa’s character, familiar with the fact that she and Anna mean the world to each other and that family is the most important thing. The impetus for why she would take the risk of leaving her family is missing, and it could’ve really been fixed and/or smoothed over with a scene or two in the beginning (maybe instead of just jumping right into “Some Things Never Change”) that shows how Elsa is experiencing new powers and/or doubts about being queen. It makes 100% sense to me that Elsa would want to know about her powers, given that they’re such a big part of her life (for better or worse) and that no one else around her has them, but there could’ve been a better way to make this theme of “I want to know who I am” the main jumping off point for the plot.

This post here, which really inspired me to do my post, brings up a good point about some of the songs that were cut from the film. “I Seek the Truth”, a song for Elsa and Anna, in particular makes me think that the road map was there for them to be a little clearer about the plot and that, like many things, it was chopped up and cut for time. In the song, Elsa sings to their mother about how she feels lost, scared, and uneasy, but that she also feels like she needs to find the truth and learn more about her powers.

How do I be me and Arendelle? How do I govern this land with a power inside that I can’t command? It’s growing and speaking a language that I don’t understand.

Here is the set up for the conflict that pushes the rest of the story forward. Here is a song that they probably should’ve kept in. (Don’t get me wrong, I love “Into the Unknown”, but it’s always felt like “Let It Go”/awards season bait.)

If you’re going to make something the catalyst for the whole film, make sure you have enough evidence to back it up.

(Again, I do not doubt that Elsa could be feeling confined and out of place in Arendelle after being queen for three years, that’s not what I have issues with. I just wish we could’ve seen evidence to back these feelings up, rather than just letting us rely on our previous knowledge of Elsa and her character to be like “oh, okay”.)

What I Wanted More Of

There’s a lot I loved about this movie (maybe this post so far doesn’t seem that way, but I do) but also it left me with this incredible feeling of “want”. I wanted more out of a lot of the moments and the story lines. Like I discussed above, my biggest, overarching issue is that they wanted to do too much in the limited time that they had and that left some things desperately in need of being fleshed out more.

I wanted more of Iduna’s backstory. There seemed like there was way more of her and Agnarr in the early trailers, so this is something I’m just     assuming was cut for time, because the art book devotes a whole page to little Iduna, who we barely even see. I actually just want a whole little     side story about how she snuck back to Arendelle with Agnarr and how their relationship began and grew. A little exploration of how little Iduna felt with, presumably, her whole family either dead or stuck in the forest     would’ve been great too.

Wanted more of why Elsa was feeling like she needed to leave Arendelle (already discussed above)

Related, wanted more of the Northuldra, who are introduced and then almost immediately left behind, only to reappear at the end and tell Elsa that she belongs there. And then she agrees to this?! Even though she’s spent next to no time with them?! I’m 100% okay with Elsa being the fifth spirit and finding herself (more on “Show Yourself” later) but more about the Northuldra and Iduna’s connection to them would make me less skeptical about the decisions made in the ending (more on THAT later too). I definitely though that Yelena was going to end up being their grandmother, or something similar that would’ve given the girls an even more special connection to them.

I wanted a moment where Elsa and Anna actually discuss Elsa abdicating the throne and Anna becoming queen. Instead it’s just like a thing that     happens in between two other scenes. I want to see tears and “I     promise I’ll visit all the time” and Anna accepting that Elsa has found a     place where she’s at peace and Elsa telling Anna that she’ll be a great     queen. More on this later.

I wanted Anna and Elsa’s reunion to be a little more dynamic, like Elsa     jumping off Nokk and running to Anna and Anna splashing through the water to get to her and then them just sinking down in the water and crying. Something like that. I know, probably even now, that Elsa isn’t the most touchy person (just watch her body language in the charades scene) and that holding her arms out for Anna is her “thing”, but Anna thought     Elsa was dead, so I think the reunion could’ve been a little MORE.

I actually kind of want the alternate ending that’s been floating around, the one where the water destroys Arendelle and then everyone works together to rebuild it. I know this is a Disney movie, but it just seemed a little too neat that Elsa was able to get there in time. I don’t really want the rumored ending where Elsa dies, because that seems unnecessary, but...

Things That Don’t Bother Me

AKA, things that I’ve seen others have issues with that that just don’t bother me.

I’ve seen a weird amount of complaints about how many songs there are, which makes me go ???, because there are actually less than the first film and I, personally, would’ve liked a couple more songs.

Some people think “Lost in the Woods” is out of place but I’m just happy Jonathan Groff got a whole song.

Elsa not being at Anna’s coronation: That’s not Anna’s coronation at the end of the film. She already been crowned (another scene I wish we could’ve had). So Elsa was most definitely at her coronation, I’m sure.

Elsa being too ethereal and unrelatable at the end: it’s true, I love Elsa and look up to her because I see my mental health struggles in her, but seeing her happy and free and smiling at the end of the film doesn’t make me love her any less. She’s not some all-powerful being. “Show Yourself” isn’t about her becoming an otherworldly spirit goddess, it’s about her seeing herself for who she really is. Sure, she has a new pretty dress and a new pretty horse. But she’s still Elsa. She’s just an Elsa that knows where she belongs and who she is and she’s happy. And I feel like that’s definitely something everyone with mental illness hopes for someday. I do admit struggling with myself about this point, though, because I still would like to see her try to balance her newfound confidence with her mental illness.

Anna being too clingy and annoying: Anna working through her co-dependence is a big part of her journey in the film. Keep in mind, this girl had a childhood shaped by abandonment: her sister shutting her out of her life and then her parents dying unexpectedly while her sister still shut her out when they should’ve been grieving together. She then turns to the first guy who proposes to her (Hans) only to have him try to kill her and  Elsa and just turn out to be a terrible human being, So it makes absolute  sense that Anna, despite having a relatively stable, happy life with     Kristoff and Elsa, still has some of these residual fears. She spent 13     years begging her sister to speak to her. It makes sense now that her     greatest fear is losing her again. So I don’t find her worry and the way     she clings to Elsa to be annoying or out of character. She’s still working     through some trauma, just like Elsa, and that’s part of why “The Next     Right Thing” is so powerful. It’s her picking herself back up and growing     and telling herself she can do this.

There isn’t an actual villain: a movie without a villain and without conflict would be a bad idea. There would be no stakes. Luckily, the “villain” in Frozen II comes from the internal conflict both girls have. The “bad guy” they have to defeat is their own internal obstacles. I much prefer watching them grow and change in this very real way instead of watching them defeat some cardboard cutout villain standing in the corner and laughing maniacally.

I’m  actually okay with Anna and Elsa not being together at the end of the film (that’s not my issue with the ending) but only because we all know she can gallop on her magical horse from Ahtohallan to Arendelle in less time than it took the water to break from the dam and rush towards Arendelle, so she can come home whenever. And that is really the only thing that gives me piece about them not being together. That and the very peaceful, free look on Elsa’s face right at the very end.

The Ending

I know there’s been a lot of discussion about the ending. And I have my own feelings about it too.

Like I said above, it’s not the separation, really, that frustrates me, because I can appease myself by telling myself that they still see each other all the time. Of course I would’ve preferred them not to separate at all.

I understand the whole justification of “sisters don’t live together their entire life, they’re growing up and growing apart” thing that’s been going around, but it just doesn’t feel like it fits for these two particular characters. That, and the fact that Disney seems like they’ve fallen into this “separation” trope. This film, Toy Story 4, and Ralph Breaks the Internet have all ended in very similar ways.

I am a little frustrated that they decide that the best place for socially awkward, insecure Elsa is the forest, alone, with a bunch of people (the Northuldra) who weren’t fleshed out enough to give her any sort of reason to want to live with them. Meanwhile, free-spirit Anna becomes the queen. Anna goes through a lot of growth in this movie so it’s not actually her new role that I’m skeptical of. It’s putting Elsa, given her background, where she ends up. And maybe if the movie had taken time (again, it all comes back to more time) to give us more of the Northuldra and give Elsa more of a relationship with them, I could be like “okay, she belongs there”. But does she? The forest is saved and the spirits are at rest and tamed. What does she do all day then? I honestly want to know.

Just because she is magic doesn’t really provide enough justification, for me, for her to have to live there with them. It’s not like she faces fear and prejudice in Arendelle for her magical abilities. The beginning of the film and the shorts seem to suggest that the people love her magic. So, I would’ve preferred an ending in which she could still tame the spirits and get her magical makeover and then go home with Anna, returning to the forest whenever she pleased and whenever she needed, but continuing to, if not be the queen, at least be there to advise Anna.

The good part is this gives me a lot of good ideas for future fanfics.

Things I Loved

This whole post up until now is probably making you wonder if I really loved any of the movie. The truth is, I loved a whole lot of it, but since Frozen is so important to me, I feel especially critical of it. I have to get nitpick-y, especially when I think they could’ve done even more.  

However, I loved:

the animation. That really goes without saying. The film, the colors, every moment was just beautiful. I’m always in awe of the advancement of     animation.

the humor. It could’ve gone one of two ways with so much Olaf humor. It went the “this movie is funny as hell” route and I am so glad. I’m still randomly saying “Samantha?!” to myself.

the more mature songs. I’ve seen people say they didn’t like the music as well and that none of the songs are catchy. I love that they’re a little more mature and a little less “Disney bops”. I cry every time I     hear “Show Yourself”, “All is Found” is hauntingly beautiful, and “Lost in the Woods” is a really poignant song, if you look past the reindeer chorus.

I love that they didn’t go out of their way to make this movie appeal to everyone. Yes, it has flaws. Oh yes. But it’s dark and it’s mature and     it’s a little weird. Not every little kid is going to like it, but they didn’t try and dumb it down to appeal to every little kid out there.

The growth for the girls. I already touched on Anna’s growth re: her     co-dependence, but Elsa has a lot of growth too, obviously. Seeing GIF     sets of her in the first movie and her in the second, I just want to cry,     honestly. Seeing her be confident and sure of herself and happy with who she is and even just the way she and Anna are able to casually cuddle and hold hands when she was terrified to touch her AT ALL in the first movie. I’m overwhelmed. Strong characters can sometimes help out a chaotic plot (or a plot with too much going on) and if there’s anything Frozen specializes in, it’s the strong, beautiful characters we know and love.

“SHOW YOURSELF”. This fucking scene. I can’t listen to the song or watch the scene without SOBBING. Many things about it kill me. I’ve never felt so certain, all my life I’ve been torn. But I’m here for a reason,     could it be the reason I was born? and the way she steps into the middle of the elements and it shows her snowflake and the way she says “Mother?” with tears in her eyes and the little “hand over the mouth” movement she does because she’s so happy and the DRESS CHANGE and when she starts crying and You are the one you’ve been looking for-all of my life! and I am found! Geez. Just thinking about it makes me cry.

One of the main things I wanted from Frozen II was a story in which Elsa wasn’t made to feel bad about herself (in Frozen, she hurt Anna and blamed everything on her and her powers; in FF, she blamed herself for getting sick and messing up Anna’s birthday; in Olaf’s Frozen Adventure, she blamed herself for ruining their Christmas tradition, etc.) and it     delivered. I love seeing her smiling and embracing her powers. I’m okay     that Anna didn’t give her a dressing down at the end like “how dare you put us in an ice canoe and push us away.” It’s nice to see Elsa gets     some wins.

Elsa talking to the memory of her grandfather, saying “That’s not what     magic does, that’s just your fear.” Coming from someone who used to be so afraid of her magic that she locked herself away for 13 years, this is     just an awesome, confident moment for Elsa.

“The Next Right Thing” and the absolute pain in Anna’s voice as she says when it's clear that everything will never be the same again. An awesome performance from Kristen Bell.

“I don’t want to stop you from being whoever you need to be, I just don’t     want you to die trying to be everything to everyone all the time.” Yikes,     this line has hit me both times like a gut punch. Perfectionism and     anxiety go hand in hand and, oftentimes, people with anxiety feel like     they need to go out of their way and run themselves into the ground trying to please everyone to appease their own anxious feelings. I speak from     experience.

The parallel between the scene in the first movie where Elsa tells Anna she belongs in Arendelle, Anna says “so do you” and Elsa replies “No, I belong here where I can be who I am without hurting anybody” vs. her decision to live somewhere other than Arendelle in the second movie that doesn’t come as a result of her trying not to hurt people but as a result of her being free and knowing, finally, who she is and allowing herself to be this person. It’s beautiful. It’s beautiful growth for our anxious little queen.

The themes are mature and gorgeous. Growing older (it hit hard when Olaf said “and you all look a little bit older”); acknowledging that things in your life will change and that you have to embrace the change sometimes, because change leads to growth; knowing that it’s okay to be angry at     people, even people you love, and that your feelings are valid; embracing what makes you different, because those differences are beautiful and will let you be who you are; the power of finding where you’re meant to   be/knowing what you’re meant to do; taking things one step at a time even when taking any steps at all seem impossible; acknowledging the past without allowing yourself to dwell on it and be consumed by it. Gorgeous. I’ve said many times that Frozen II tried to do a little too much, but all these themes are just beautiful.

Anyway. This is so long and I’m so sorry. I’ll probably be back with more thoughts after I see it a third and fourth time!

I really do love this movie. If I seem super critical, it’s all from a place of love. I love this franchise. I love these beautiful films. I love the amazing characters they’ve brought into my life. I’ve wrestled the last couple days with how much I truly love Frozen II vs. how much I wish they had had the time to explore all the ideas they obviously wanted to explore (I hope we get some shorts or an extended edition) because it’s obvious that all these ideas were there and ready to be fully explored.

Anyway, if you read this giant essay, thank you. It became like 3x longer that I was planning on, but I could talk about Frozen for HOURS.

[stevecanmakeanythingnerdy]

RANDOM RECORD WORKOUT SEASON 5 Battle 28 Village People : Renaissance ( Side 2 ) Vs. The Time: What Time is it? (Side 1 ) Village People : Renaissance ( Side 2 ) (The) Village People is an American disco group well known for their on-stage costumes depicting American masculine cultural stereotypes as well as their catchy tunes and suggestive lyrics. Originally they were created by Jacques Morali and Henri Belolo to target disco's homosexual audience by featuring popular fantasy personae. Partially because of this the band quickly became popular and moved into the mainstream. They had three super hits, that are often still a part of american radio play, including "Macho Man, "In the Navy", and their biggest hit, "Y.M.C.A.". Those hits propelled them through the late 70's and early 1980. Television guest spots on things like American Bandstand and Love Boat, tours, the whole nine. VP were at the top of their game. Then new wave hit. It just feels like Village People were pushed by the label to try and stay current, and none of them knew how to do it. The first side of this album is typical VP stuff-disco infused mediocre dance tunes. This side, though? Their attempt at new wave. No. Shit. Like I said before though, none of them knew how to pull it off. Here's the best part, though. They TOTALLY did. I am not kidding. These are some of the best new wave tunes I have ever heard. I bought it for the comedy, and stayed for the hooks!!! It's like they looked around and said, Devo's cool, let's listen to their records and try that. There are only four tunes (mostly and oddly 50 % food themed) but they are each a treat for the ears! (#seewhatididthere) "Action Man" starts off with a typical VP beat, but quickly introduces elements of keys and glee. "Big Mac" follows on the heels of that success with an obsession for the famous Big Mac. Oh, I just realized, maybe it's a double entendres I did not get. Oh well, it's still pretty amazing either way. Ironically "Diet" follows. Let me just say this, any song you incorporate spelling out something (in this case D-I-E-T) it works. It works, well and it works because it's hooky. It forces audience participation. Even if you don't want to, you feel compelled to spell it out. So all of these "failed attempts" at new wave (I vehemently disagree) are all amazing. But nothing will prepare you for the mastery that comes next. I am NOT kidding when I say that "Food Fight" is my new favorite song. It is so good, it's going on my list of songs to cover. It is simple genius in it's just two minutes of simple keyboard bliss and yelling. I can tell they had a blast recording this. It really is a shame it flopped, because these 4 songs are some of the best things that ever happened in 1981. The irony about this record is just a few short months ago, I was at a record show, and a friend of mine was talking about it while we flipped through the bins. The dealer at the particular table we were looking at knew of it and described the cover to me. It sounded hilarious so I said I would keep my eyes open for it just for the morbid curiosity. Well, I didn't have to wait long, as the very next time I went to my local haunts about 2 weeks later, there-as if by fate- a fresh, minty, STILL SEALED copy sat waiting for me on the self. I knew what it was as soon as I saw the hilarious cover, and the dealer (and my friend) were not wrong. Worth every dollar of the five spot I laid down to get it. If you like new wave like I do and can find this gem in the wild, pick it up and don't look back. You will NOT be disappointed. The Time: What Time is it? (Side 1 ) The Time, also known as Morris Day and the Time and The Original 7ven, is an American musical group that was formed in Minneapolis in 1981. Their work has been a part of the formation of the Minneapolis sound, featuring a mix of soul music and dance music with funk, rock n roll, and more. Led by singer-songwriter Morris Day, the band members are known for having been close Prince associates. Arguably one of the most successful acts to have worked with him. Probably largely because they basically exactly replicated his technique and style essentially. I mean, if you are going to rip somebody off, then it might as well be somebody who does what they do on an exceptional and professional level, right? Actually, to be fair the Time is actually a creation OF Prince. I will explain. The Time was assembled under a clause in Prince's contract with Warner Bros. that allowed Prince to recruit and produce other artists for the label. Inspired by the 1980 film The Idolmaker, Prince decided to put together a pop-funk group that would serve as an outlet for material in the vein of his own early albums, while he explored other genres and styles in his own career. Seemed to be a move that worked out well for him. The band went on to release four albums, consisting of jammy, rock-infused 1980s funk, generally light and humorous in tone, strongly influenced by Parliament, James Brown and Sly. Although they scored numerous hits during the early 1980s, mostly on the R&B charts, they never approached superstardom. With the exception of singer Morris Day, who was required to follow Prince's guide vocals note-for-note (!), none of the band played on their debut album. Prince instead played all the instruments himself, crediting the production to his alter-ego, "Jamie Starr", and Morris Day. So their debut is really a Prince album. On THIS album, the Time did their own thing. "Wild and Loose" starts it out...getting, well wild and loose. It is a 7 minute jam session with all kinds of craziness. Everything including the kitchen sink as the liner states. "777-9311" follows. It's another, although slightly different tempo Prince party. Go ahead and call it, I dare you. Just be sure to use a Minneapolis area code. "Onedayimgonnabesomebody" is a bit shorter, but not in title. And yes, it is all one word. A hashtag before there was such a thing! I am a bit miffed though, as the track ends with the band saying in unison " we don't like new wave". Well, maybe it is slightly tongue in cheek, but I don't know, they are pretty funky. Not my thing, but since it basically has Prince's fingerprints all over it, I give it the respect it deserves. Seriously, this is Prince's real life alter ego in a band, I guess. (Which he had with The Revolution...so...???). His muse or something. It's just such a bizarre concept to wrap my head around. So the Village People found a Renaissance and tried their hand at new wave. They took 12 minutes to blast through 96 calories and 4 songs. They made me hungry in the process. They burned 24 calories per song and a whopping (Big Mac'ing?) 8 calories per minute! They also earned 9 out of 12 possible stars. The Time took...well, their sweet time, and burned 128 calories over 18 minutes and 3 whole jams, I mean songs. They burned 42.67 calories per song and 7.11 calories per minute. They earned only 3 out of 9 possible stars. Y. M. C. HEY!! Looks like Village People take the prize today! Listen for yourself! Check out the links: Village People : "Food Fight" (a.k.a. The most amazing new wave track ever recorded). GOOD GOD HOW I WISH THERE WAS AN OFFICIAL VIDEO FOR THIS but alas... https://youtu.be/hpttbL8J4N4 The Time: "777-9311" https://youtu.be/bIyBuRjtUx4