#people did the same shit after the 2004 election

[tanadrin]

I feel like a conspiracy theorist, but I'm convinced the GOP cheated by disenfranchising enough voters to win. Not just in swing states. The margins in every state are weird. A few thousand votes here and there across every county. The huge number of split ticket votes. The sudden loss of 12 million democratic voters despite record early voting turnout and voter registration?

It doesn't add up. It doesn't make sense.

So many people who had confirmation of their ballot being received and accepted are now finding out that they were unregistered or there was a "problem" with it.

They were saying for months that they didn't need anyone's vote. The betting market manipulation. The billionaire backers. Elon Musk's grubby hands all over the election.

They did steal the election. And we'll probably never find out how.

in the broad sense, yes, american elections should be fairer, and the franchise should be more universal. in the narrow sense--this is cope. purges of voter rolls happen in public. there's litigation on them all the time. a purge of 12 million voters from voter roles would not have gone unnoticed. to account for all these factors you would need an improbably large conspiracy. (stealing elections in the united states would be hard. each state administers its own elections! you'd have to steal 50 elections. and once again, this would be a case of someone rigging the presidential election and forgetting to rig any of the downballot races, which would be stupid.) including a conspiracy to rig most polling, given the outcome was within the margin of error of most polling averages for this election.

i get why it's the preferable scenario--people aren't dumb! my opponents are just evil! there's some optimism in that--but "i personally do not understand how this outcome could have occurred" does not mean it was a conspiracy.

So many people who had confirmation of their ballot being received and accepted are now finding out that they were unregistered or there was a "problem" with it.

this is normal and you typically have several days after the election to amend your ballot if there was a problem with it. if you do, it still counts. fun word problem time: if ~150 million people vote in an election, and 0.001% post on twitter about how they needed to amend their ballot (especially in non-swing states), how many twitter posts in a row do you have to see to convince yourself there is a ~conspiracy~ afoot?

fun second word problem: out of seven swing states, how many were governed by the opposing party or someone who had publicly opposed donald trump's election subversion attempts in 2020?

fun third word problem: do you know how elections in your state work? do you know which state official is in charge of administering them, and their party affiliation? do you know what the margins of downballot races like house and senate in your state were this election, and their relative swing from 2020? in short, do you know in detail how elections in the US work and what "typical" voting patterns look like, or are you just going off of vibes from a vaguely paranoid local bubble in social media?

[hello-nichya-here]

Why do you say Ted is worse than Ross

Because he is - and I say this as someone whose least favorite character of the main six in Friends is Ross because the dude can piss me off A LOT.

Ross is selfish, whinny, spoiled, obsessive and immature like Ted. But the writers of Friends were far more self-aware than the writers of How I Met Your Mother - mainly because they were not using Ross as a self-insert, and would not use Twitter to say shit like "If you ship Rachel with Joey instead of with Ross, you're the reason people like Trump get elected and destroy nations." No, I am not kidding, that actually happened.

Ted CONSTANTLY acts like a creep and the show treats it as fully romantic, and if a woman (mainly Robin) is turned off by it, the show tries to spin it as "She's afraid of commitment" or some bullshit. When Ross is getting possessive over Rachel the show actually allows her to call him out and she doesn't always run straight to his arms - not to mention, she can act just as unreasonable and entitled, meanwhile the most Robin does is say "Maybe, someday, if we're both single and miserable and no one else wants either of us, I'd consider marrying you."

Even Ross's most absurd moments get a bit more of pass because they're (usually) meant to:

1 - Show that the character is flawed (Him constantly getting paranoid that Rachel is gonna cheat on him with her co-worker is meant to show he's insecure, jealous, possessive AND doesn't listen when she repeatedly says she loves HIM, not this other dude - though the writers do still want the audience to root for him and Rachel to find a way to make it work)

2 - Make a joke about how he's kind of insane (see him not telling Rachel they're still married because he can't have another failed marriage - a situation in which NO ONE in the cast makes excuse for him, and we even have Chandler rightfully saying "At point did you think this was a successful marriage?")

Meanwhile the writers of HIMYM did things like:

1 - Say Ted breaking up with a girl on her birthday, through an answering machine that all the guests in her surprise party heard before she did, finding her years later, winning her back, then breaking up with her on her birthday AGAIN is totally just what was meant to be because "Well, she found true love later"

2 - Have him use "It was past 2am" as an excuse to cheat on his girlfriend/lie to Robin about being single to sleep with her.

3 - Make him have an emotional affair with a married woman that then left her husband (who thought of Ted as friend) for him, accept getting back together with his ex that was engaged and then left the groom at the altar, and make a move on his ex that was engaged to one of his best friends on the weekend on their wedding.

4 - HAVE TED TELL HIS KIDS HE WANTS TO TELL A STORY ABOUT HOW HE MET THEIR DEAD MOTHER, BUT IT'S ACTUALLY ABOUT HOW HE ALWAYS LOVED A DIFFERENT WOMAN THAT HE WAS STILL OBSESSED WITH AFTER 25 YEARS.

Not to mention, even the stuff in Friends that genuinely did not age well at all and that the writers weren't self-aware about in any way have a bigger excuse than the stuff HIMYM did because Friends started in 1994 and ended in 2004, yet HIMYM was on the same level, if not worse, and it started in 2005 and ended in 2014. There's a reason audiences tolerated Ross's shenanigans way more than they tolerated Ted's - Friends was a product of it's times, HIMYM felt behind it's time. Ross feels like a typical character you'd see in the 90's, Ted feels like the hero of every "Nice Guy" that is actually not nice at all.

Plus, Ross had much better chemistry with Rachel than Ted ever did with Robin (or literally any love interest except the Mother) and the series made sure to never give us an alternative pairing that was much better than the planned one like HIMYM did with Barney and Robin (and I say this as someone that ships Joey and Rachel). And while Josh Radnor made the rare good scene of Ted feel great, David Schiwimmer, and the entire cast of Friends really, made mediocre or downright bad scenes enjoyable or at least tolerable. The only one in the HIMYM cast with the same talent was Neil, who was playing the character that we were not supposed to actually want to see get the girl, which just made it even easier for audiences to root for Barney, not Ted.

It's just a perfect storm of different factors that makes a character like Ross getting a happy ending after all the shit he pulled MUCH easier to accept than when that happens to a Ted type, hence the finale of Friends still being incredibly beloved by nearly everyone, while HIMYM's ending was absolutely hated to the point that it shelved the planned spin off and put the showrunner's careers in limbo for nearly a decade.

[limelocked]

the more i read about the 2006 palestinian elections via wiki page rabbit holes the more i think the language surrounding it is so EXTREMLY weird considering where we are now with a divided palestinian government where theres not been legislative or presidential elections for soon 18 years even tho the attempt has been made at Least twice and has been embraced by both hamas and fatah in 2021 only for the scheduled election in may the same year to be suspended indefinitely by soon 18 year president abbas whos term was supposed to end 2009

from what im reading hamas and fatah got a ye old american split in 2006 where hamas got 44% of votes and fatah 41% which was a shock for israel and usa who favored fatah, this in itself would have not been a problem if not for

SURPRISE! PEOPLE GETTING INVOLVED THAT HAVE NO RIGHT GETTING INVOLVED!

the quartet on the middle east is a group of the usa, russia, the un, and the eu which for some reason was in charge of mediating between israel and palestine (please observe the usa bush administration in the room with us as well as the marked lack of middle eastern representation within the mediating parties)

the quartet said that the election was free and fair but

where youd fucking think it was the non-violence part that hamas had problems with or the recognizing israel part and maybe it was but im reading the wiki page for the Road Map of peace which is what this is talking about and good fucking god dude its so bad but if you insist on not reading the article which you should its terrible just know that famous war criminal george bush of 9/11 fame and a hardline israeli president (who as defense minister was found by an official israeli enquiry to bear personal responsibility for the Sabra and Shatila massacre) was calling a lot of the shots and being dicks about how palestines parliament should look like and who should get to do all the violence (israel, against palestinians)

so yeah the quartet was kinda asking for a lot and hamas which had branded itself on reform and change to the at the time kinda pathetic government (re: Road Map from 2000-2004 holy shit) said we're not gonna do all that to which fatah said well then were not forming a unity government to which hamas went well were gonna form a government anyways and they did which was followed by a year of tension and conflict between hamas and fatah, international sanctions levied against the palestinian government, and the blockade of gaza (which hamas had not yet taken over)

in 2007 a unity government was created. according to leaked documents authenticated by the guardian and published together with al jazeera; abbas and the PLO conspired to form this government and if it didnt meet the quartets conditions abbas would dissolve government and set up an emergency government, which happened when hamas allied forced and fatah allied forces clashed in gaza, believed by IISS to have started over suspicion by hamas that the fatah allied presidential guard (loyal to abbas and expanded by the us) was going to take over gaza

concluding statements: the way the media talks about this time is either that gaza exclusively voted for hamas without mentioning that hamas won the majority in all of occupied palestine, or its talked about as a coup done for shits and giggles with no contributing factors. whats almost never talked about is the external involvements prior to and after the election

abbas has the constitutional power to call an election as the president, he could just do it still, thats a thing he could do

[thekimspoblog]

@somethin-stupid-67

Season 6 still canonically happened. He went to prison in 2010. He did end up serving 6 years of his sentence, but in 2016 Kim was contacted by Caleb Dawson, the eccentric preacher of a unitarian church based in Wyoming. He was impressed with her recent heroism at the womens' clinic, but the truth is Dawson has been paying attention to Saul Goodman and his associates for quite a while. Dawson used to be a friend of Ricky Sipes (BCS S1E5), who did end up going ahead with his secession plan after Jimmy turned him down. Dawson opposes the government and prisons in general, and so he's been planting his followers on parole boards for quite some time now. Considering Saul has become an icon among libertarian weirdos (the church's main membership), Dawson would be happy to pull some strings for Kim; because Jimmy is a nonviolent offender, he can be transferred to a minimum security prison in Wyoming, and from there they can get him released on house arrest in a matter of months. There's just one thing Dawson needs from Kim first: The megachurch game is really a winner-take-all industry, and Dawson has made enemies with some of his conservative competitors; other churches he'd like to crush and absorb into his own. Sure, Kim's not a lawyer anymore, not on paper... but she's still got some magic in her... and if she could come up with a plan for the other churches to lose their tax-exempt status... well she scratches his back, he'll scratch hers.

Of course Kim initially runs for the door. She doesn't want to prank anymore; shit gets real. But the universe quickly chips away at her reluctance: before the meeting with Dawson even took place, a corrupt cop beat her for helping a 17 yo get an abortion (and this also leads to her breaking up with Glenn). While seeing a doctor after that assault, she learns she has a few good childbearing years left, but the window is closing fast. What's more, hard to say if it's depression, clairvoyance or what, but Kim has been having this persistent, recurring dream; she keeps thinking back to "Suspiria" 1977, a horror movie she and Jimmy watched one night only a week before they broke up in 2004. It feels like more than a dream; it feels like she's seen a glitch in the matrix. And if her nights are haunted with tingles of the supernatural, her waking hours are plagued with apocalyptic visions. She wants to dismiss the feeling of doom as just being a symptom of hating her life in Florida (something she's tried to just accept) but when Hillary loses the election, and she sees her own cowardice reflected back in Clinton's willingness to just "accept" the results even if thousands will die, it's the final straw. Maybe Kim's not a good person, maybe when she acts, people can get hurt... but she can't spend the rest of her life living a lie/waiting around to die.

*Hillary didn't lose the popular vote. You know what I meant; she won the popular vote but the EC handed the title over to the traitorous rapist anyway. We all saw what happened.

Between 2010 and 2016, Kim and Jimmy were still meeting in prison once every few months. The scene we saw at the end of S6 WAS supposed to be goodbye, but as Jerry Seinfeld famously said, never bet against the backslide. When Kim went back to volunteering as a law clerk, that meant going back to the same old vocational headaches, and that just made her miss him all the more. First she was only visiting the prison every 6 months, then only once a month; by 2016 she's in the lobby like clockwork every Thursday. Everything else in life has been a disappointment, and even if things were going better for her, she'd want him there.

It was a small betrayal, but the fact is she did conceal her reasons from him, for why she really wanted him out. She emphasized the fact that the US prison system was exploiting him in a way that had nothing to do with whether he was rehabilitated; she emphasized how the nation was devolving into anarchy and he's the only man who's ever made her feel truly safe. She didn't mention that she was trying to get pregnant until Episode8 of Slippin' Kimmy, when he was already sprung. And at first he didn't react too well to the proposition; he's getting kinda fed up with how she jerks him around.

[aintmyjewelry]

it was different but also the same when GWB became prez in 2000 and the hanging chad shit, and then again in 2004. it’s definitely a lot EASIER to see how bad it is now bc of internet and a lot of the GOP has gotten desperate to taste power again after the trump loss, but I wouldn’t say it was any scarier, they were just easier to dunk on when obama was president bc his admin worked well, unfortunately a lot of strides obama made as president that made it so good (and why it feels so scary now) made it easier for trump to abuse the position they way he did when he took over in ways GWB wasn’t privy to.

it feels like everything has just been slowly building and building and building like this was the plan decades ago skfkvkskfkd which is probably insane but between this and modern luxuries like the internet it feels like there’s either more power for people to rally or express their outrageous ideas which I fear can really lead to things escalating (such as the insurrection lmao) but these ideas definitely aren’t new. it’s all so crazy - thank you for providing this further insight! I was just a really small child in 2000 and 2004 and even when obama was elected and left office I was young so idk I didn’t understand all the political stuff happening lmao

[beesandwasps]

It’s fun to see people notice that Obama didn’t do anything about abortion when he got into office. For you youngsters who weren’t old enough to really be aware, let me explain why.

In 2006 (which was the midterm before Obama’s election) the Democrats ran on a platform consisting almost entirely of: “we will end Bush’s wars and hold him responsible for them”. Yes, there were other things in the platform, but that was the big appeal. (And no wonder: the largest protests in history were against the Iraq war — before it started and turned into a mess. By 2006, when it was clear that Iraq was a massive waste of time and life and money, it was even more unpopular.) The Democrats won a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate and a majority in the House, and almost immediately after taking office they announced— that they were going to increase funding for the war, and not punish Bush. (Pelosi was the public face of that announcement. She’s been a piece of shit since at least 2007, in other words.)

(Most likely, they did not punish Bush because any attempt to do so would have required for the big-name Democrats who had backed the war, including Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden, to be permanently damaged goods. The influence of Centrist Democrats to make everything worse is, and always has been, pervasive.)

Obama was campaigning largely on the same lines, but then the financial meltdown of 2008 occurred. Now, the meltdown was largely based on the deregulation of financial markets which came about under Clinton, with the destruction of the Glass-Steagall trading regulations (incidentally: the replacements for Glass-Steagall which have been implemented as a result of the 2008 meltdown aren’t as effective, because Centrists refused to restore the actual terms of Glass-Steagall, and there will be another meltdown sooner or later, but that’s another post for another time)… where was I? Oh, yes: the meltdown was largely based on the repeal of Glass-Steagall regulations under (and with the encouragement of) Clinton, but the actors in 2008 were mostly Republican backers, and in any event the public wanted to get rid of the Bush administration’s do-nothing approach, so Obama added “regulate the markets, break up the Too-Big-To-Fail Banks, and hold the financial sector responsible” to his repertoire alongside ending the forever wars.

When he got into office, with a majority in the House and technically a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate, he— asked for an increase in funding for the Iraq war, did nothing about the Afghanistan war, expanded the campaign of drone bombing in Africa and Asia, didn’t even lift a finger to ask about breaking up the Too-Big-To-Fail Banks, bailed out Wall Street, bailed out the management of a bunch of big companies (in the case of Ford, among others, doing so by using federal power to compell union workers to give up the benefits which they were entitled to by contract!), and although he couldn’t be bothered to say even a single word condemning the financial sector after taking office, when the bailed-out traders gave themselves performance bonuses at the end of the same year they were bailed out, he gave a televised speech telling us this was justified. (He did start some prosecutions over the meltdown — but not of any of the really large actors; the only bank executive to be prosecuted successfully was the CEO of a small bank whose total operations were less than 0.5% of the amount lost in the meltdown.)

Incidentally, he also failed to start any investigations of voting system integrity or voting access, both of which were issues raised by the Democratic Party in both 2004 and 2006, as well as 2008 (and again in 2016).

So when people are just now noticing that Obama did nothing about encoding abortion into law, that’s great, glad to have you onboard, but it’s not a surprise. Abortion wasn’t even one of the big issues he ran on, and he did nothing about the big issues he ran on, either.

[somethingusefulfromflorida]

World War Z was published in 2006, but takes place in 2009 at the earliest.  Late in the book, astronaut Terry Knox states that the International Space Station took over 10 years to complete; it started construction in November 1998, and Chief of Staff Karl Rove Grover Carlson says that the Republican party barely eked back into power after a disastrous 2-termer who started a “brush fire war” in the Middle East (George W. Bush).  He mentions an election year, but he doesn’t specify if it was the new president’s first or second term, so it’s either set right after 2008 or 2012.  This was written before the Nintendo Wii was announced, but one chapter mentions that people brought their GameCubes with them as they fled their homes in search of safety in the frozen Canadian wilderness.  This same chapter also mentions that they didn’t know how to pick survival gear; a park ranger finds a SpongeBob SquarePants sleeping bag frozen in the mud because its owner didn’t know the difference between a child’s indoor sleeping bag for slumber parties and a real insulated survival bag for camping.

The new president is never named, he’s just told be be pro-big business and anti-regulation, pushing a placebo zombie vaccine through the FDA to jumpstart the economy.  When shit hits the fan, he is “sedated” and his vice president takes power; we’re never told what happened to the president, whether he was bitten or had a stroke, just that he was “sedated.”  His Vice President is directly implied to be Colin Powell; he’s former military with family in Jamaica and black.  He appoints Howard Dean to be his vice president to form a bipartisan coalition; he is never referred to by name, but it is clearly supposed to be Howard Dean.  He was a rising star in the Democratic party from Vermont whose wife is a doctor and whose career imploded after he had a passionate outburst.  In 2004, Howard Dean gave a speech where he started passinately screaming about how he was gonna start sweeping state primaries and ride a wave into the White House, punctuating his point by going “HHEEUEAHHGH!!”  This was political suicide in 2004, and he was laughed out of the race.  In the book, he is referred to only as “the Whacko” because of this.  It is implied that he was Powell’s second choice for VP, his first being Barack Obama; the Whacko says that the Democrats wanted somebody else, somebody of the same skin color as the president, but that the country wasn’t ready for that.  In 2004, Obama was a candidate for senate in Illinois, so popular and so well spoken that he gave a speech at the Democratic National Convention before he even won his seat; then and there, pundits already had him pegged as the first black president, they could see the writing on the walls.  The Whacko becomes president when Powell dies of stress, but he is consistently referred to only as the wartime Vice President, out of respect for his boss.

Also, the Attorney General is implied to be Rudy Giuliani; all that is said about him was that he was the mayor of New York and once tried to give himself emergency powers to stay in office after his term.  Giuliani did exactly that after 9/11.

Other real life figures mentioned in the book

Fidel Castro; a ton of Cuban Americans flee the continent and return to the island during the zombie war, and he jumpstarts the economy by putting them to work as cheap laborers and slowly integrating them back into Cuban society.  He rehabilitates his image by stepping down as dictator and democratizing the country, voting himself out of office before the “nortecubanos” could hang him for decades of war crimes.

Nelson Mendela, referred to by his birth name Rolihlahla, the father of modern South Africa, he personally invites Paul Redekker, a former apartheid era political analyst, to solve the zombie problem; in the 80s, Redekker created a plan for the white minority government in case the black majority ever rose up against them.  In real life, Mandela lowered the temperature when he was elected president, saying that revenge against the apartheid government would do more harm than good.  In the story, Mandela uses this as justification to reuse the apartheid era plan to handle the zombie outbreak instead.  Redekker is so overcome by his compassion and forgiveness that he has a mental episode and dissociates, believing himself to be a black South African.

Kim Jong-il, the dictator of North Korea, he withdraws all troops from the DMZ and shuts the entire country down.  After months of radio silence, it is revealed that the entire country’s population has vanished; all satellite imagery shows a desolate wasteland, no zombies, but no humans either. He presumably moved everyone into subterranean bunker systems where he not only control their lives as on the surface, but now their access to food, water, and air.  He presumably became the god emperor he always wanted to be; either that, or the entire tunnel complex has been overrun, turning every man woman and child in North Korea into zombies.  The South Korean government refuses to send a expedition into the North to figure out what happened, lest they open up one of the tunnels and unleash millions of zombies onto the surface.

Martin Scorsese, mentioned in passing only as “Marty,” a friend of world famous film director Roy Elliot, who himself is a thinly veiled pastiche of Steven Spielberg.  Interestingly enough, the audio book features Martin Scorsese doing the voice of the conartist who created the placebo vaccine

One chapter has a ton of vapid celebrities hole together in a fortified mansion on Long Island, and takes great care to show each of them getting torn apart not by zombies but by regular people who storm the facility because they were stupid enough to broadcast their location on reality television.  A redneck with a “Get’er Done” hat (Larry the Cable Guy) and some bald guy with diamond earrings (Howie Mandel) blow themselves up with a grenade.  Rival political commentators, an annoying guy who talks about feminization of western society and a leathery blonde (Bill Maher and Ann Coulter) have end-of-the-world viking sex as the facility burns to the ground.  A dumb starlet (Paris Hilton) is killed by one of her handlers and her little rat dog escapes on foot.  A radio shock jock (Howard Stern) actually survives the war and restarts his show.

Michael Stipe of REM joins the army to fight the zombies

Another war veteran mentions how his brother used to have a bunch of Mel Brooks’ old comedy skits on vinyl record, and how he and his squad acted out the “Boy meets Girl” puppet skit with some human skulls.  Mel Brooks is author and narrator Max Brooks’ father.

Queen Elizabeth II, refuses to evacuate England when the island is overrun by zombies.  She intends to remain in Buckingham Palace “for the duration,” mirroring the fact that her parents refused to evacuate to Canada during World War II.

Vladimir Putin declares himself Tsar of the Holy Russian Empire, an ultra-orthodox religious state that has armed priests execute political dissidents under the guise of mercy killing people who have been bitten by zombies.

Yang Liwei, the first “taikonaut” (Chinese astronaut) has a space station named after him

While the main conflict is about government responses to the zombie pandemic, we see glimpses of a greater war torn planet.

A major plot line involves a Chinese Civil War which sees the entire communist politburo nuked out of existence by a rebel sub commander, as well as an attempted “scorched space policy” where the government planned to blow up their space station with scuttling charges to cause a cascade of space debris to encircle the Earth and prevent any other countries from launching missions in the future (this is known as Kessler Syndrome in real life, and was featured as the inciting incident of the 2013 movie Gravity).  The People’s Republic becomes the United Federation.

Iran and Pakistan destroy each other in nuclear war; everyone thought it would be India and Pakistan, but they had very close diplomatic infrastructure in place to prevent such a catastrophe; Pakistan helped Iran build a nuclear arsenal, but as millions of refugees fled from India through Pakistan to the east, Iran had to blow up some Pakistani bridges to stem the flow of zombies, which led to a border war and eventually total nuclear retaliation.

Floridians flee to Cuba, Wisconsinites flee to Canada, the federal government flees to Hawaii.  Everything east of the Rockies is abandoned and ruled by warlords until the government sorts itself out and mounts an expedition to clear the continent of zombies by literally marching an unbroken line of soldiers stretching from Canada to Mexico across the wasteland to the Atlantic.

Israel withdraws from Gaza and the West Bank to become super isolationist, building a wall around the entire country to stop the zombies getting in (they were the first country to respond to the pandemic, and the most successful), but the religious right rebels against the secular left in a civil war that sees Jerusalem ceded to a unified Palestine.

It is an amazing, multifaceted story with so much going on that nobody recognizes.  It was written as a response to the end of the Cold War and the start of the War on Terror.  It’s about a geopolitical shift, a change in the status quo, a disaster from which the world never recovers; America before 9/11 was a very different place than American after 9/11.  Iraq and Afghanistan changed everything, and we’re still feeling their effects to this day; the story uses the zombie apocalypse as the next big international disaster the world must adapt to.  World War Z is World War III with zombies, and I think it would do a lot better if it were published today, now that we’ve had several decades to respond to the fall of the Soviet Union and the endless wars in the Middle East and a global pandemic.

[gayenerd]

This interview was the cover story for the 17th issue of Jaded In Chicago. It was conducted in September of 2004, several weeks prior to the release of American Idiot. It was a fitting end to the fanzine that was named after the band, as “Jaded In Chicago” references Green Day’s 1994 MTV concert special. To come full circle by interviewing the band that inspired the zine’s moniker was somewhat surreal.

With the release of American Idiot, Green Day has transcended punk rock. By crafting the first punk rock opera and fashioning what is likely the first tasteful concept album of the new millennium, they’ve provided pop punk bands everywhere with a blueprint for how to mature gracefully. Additionally, as much as American Idiot is about innovation, it’s also a return to the fundamentals of punk rock. The album sears with dissent, takes aim between the eyes of the Bush administration and contains a dangerous sense of unpredictability. It’s been ten years since Green Day was the most popular band in the world and with any luck American Idiot will allow them to recapture that title in no time. (Interview with drummer Tré Cool).

Bill – Before we talk about American Idiot, I wanted to discuss the infamous “lost” album first. About a year and a half ago, you guys recorded what was to be the follow-up to Warning, but reportedly the master tapes were stolen. What can you tell me about what happened?

Tré – We just knew that if it ever came out, we couldn’t do any of those same songs on the actual record. If somebody puts it out, like crappier versions of the songs, it’s going to totally ruin it. Plus, it happened right around the same time that Billie wrote the song “American Idiot” and most of “Holiday.” We were in the middle of working on those songs, so we just decided not to look back and we kept going forward.

Bill – I’ve read that you feel American Idiot is “maximum Green Day.” Why exactly do you feel this way?

Tré – Well, because we’re firing on all cylinders, ya know? Everything about even just being in the band now feels so right. Everything from the recording process to the live shows to our ambitions. This might sound kind of dumb, but even the clothes we’re wearing during photo shoots. It’s more together like a band.

Bill – People are certainly expecting this record to be political, but I think they’re going to be surprised when they hear how you really go for the throat with some of the lyrics. Examples of this would of course be the title track and also the breakdown section of “Holiday.” What are some of the main reasons why you’re so pissed off with this country?

Tré – It’s more like confused and jaded, if you will, (laughs). The bombardment of bullshit, fake news, like Fox News and CNN. All the reality-based shit that’s on television, stuff like Fear Factor that the government is using to keep everybody like good little sheep and not asking too many questions. It’s like how if a cop hears you use the word “terror” it basically means he can take any normal American citizen’s rights away from them. A cop can do that at his or her discretion if they think you might be a terrorist or whatnot. The whole Patriot Act. It’s like do we actually have any rights after all? We don’t have the right to a proper election, we already found that out. The fabric of our government right now is basically just made out of one hundred dollar bills that are drenched in oil. As far as this upcoming election goes, I know that John Kerry is extremely conservative and he’s nowhere near the liberal we need in the White House to clean up the mess. However, he’s not George Bush. Kerry’s money is in ketchup. Bush’s money is in oil and blood. I’d choose ketchup over that, (laughs).

Bill – How do you hope people react to these songs?

Tré – I hope they can look past the strong language and go into the meaning of it. I hope they realize there’s a bit of sarcasm. I hope they don’t feel that we’re telling them what to do. We’re just sort of pointing the fingers at ourselves, saying like “I don’t want to be an American idiot or I don’t want to be a part of this bullshit.”

Bill – Talk about the character called “Jesus of Suburbia.” What sort of journey does he embark on throughout these songs and what made you choose this type of format for your songwriting?

Tré – The album is sort of like a timeline of his life. Depending on where you’re at with your life, you probably fit somewhere on that timeline yourself. Whether it’s the “Holiday” party stage, or the “Give Me Novacaine” drug stage or the “Extraordinary Girl” being in love stage; all these different stages in life show that what paths you choose will inevitably lead you somewhere. It’s not necessarily the happiest ending in the world, but it’s pretty realistic.

Bill – Are you at all worried about some of your fans possibly being alienated by the two nine-minute rock operas found on the album?

Tré – I don’t think they’ll even notice they’re nine-minute songs. They’ll think they’re a bunch of short songs put together. It’s definitely short attention span theater. It’s not like Wilco, where they have a ten-minute song with the same drumbeat and the same chord progression. Not saying anything bad about Wilco, they’re a fine band. They’re great to relax to and drink iced tea to, (laughs). I think we’d get bored doing that. We just sort of get to the point, say what we want to say and move on to the next part of the song. The way the energy flows in the songs is sort of like the way America is now too, just so scattered. There’s a big misrepresentation of how we feel in this bullshit climate right now.

Bill – One of the most important topics you address on this record is the American media. Specifically, how it perpetuates fear amongst the public and does little to question the President’s follow-through on his promises. Do you think the average American is aware of how the wool is being pulled over their eyes?

Tré – No, not at all. Say you see some guy driving down the street with a Bush/Cheney sticker on his Chevy S-10, beat-up truck with a pair of flip-flops hanging off the back. I want to ask him, “Why the fuck are you a Republican? What’s in it for you, dude?” Bush isn’t doing a thing for those people. He’s not helping them get a better truck or put food on the table. He’s not going to give them a tax break. Republicans don’t care about you. They’re not going to try and help you in any way. They just want to use you and get your dead peasants insurance once you’re gone.

Bill – Tell me about the upcoming club dates that you have scheduled where you plan to perform American Idiot in its entirety. Who came up with the idea and what are you looking forward to most about it?

Tré – I’d credit Pete Townshend with the idea. We’ve always admired The Who and their lack of inhibition as far as going for whatever crazy idea they had. As crazy as something like Tommy was when it was just a small idea, compared to what it’s become now, it’s pretty insane. They did A Quick One, where they played that live. That was a quick one, but ours is an hour. Basically, we just want to kick The Who’s ass. I listened to Who’s Next yesterday, which a lot of people are comparing American Idiot to. We totally got them beat. I’ve always aspired to be as good of a drummer as Keith Moon and I think I’ve fuckin’ passed by him on this record.

Bill – Roughly ten years ago, Dookie was released and went on to sell over ten million copies and become one of the most notable albums of the ‘90s. A decade later, I think you’ve constructed in American Idiot what is arguably your strongest record yet. Is there anything specific that you hope American Idiot accomplishes?

Tré – Yeah, I think it’s about time that people think of Green Day in a different light. We’re not snot-nosed kids anymore, we’re men now. I want people to think of us more as one of the mainstay supergroups of today. I’m not asking for too much, (laughs). We’re superheroes in our own minds. We think we’re really cool, why doesn’t everybody else?

Bill – What was the weirdest thing about being the biggest band in America in 1994?

Tré – I don’t think we really had time to enjoy it when it was happening. We were just trying to pay our rent and be able to make records for the rest of our lives. We didn’t know anything like that was ever going to happen. It sort of freaked us out a bit, but at the same time I was kind of busy just moving and doing it. We didn’t have time to look back since we were doing so much. By the time we had taken a break to make Insomniac it was like, “Do you guys know what you just did?” We were like, “Oh…shit.”

Bill – Earlier this year, Thick Records released the Out of Focus DVD, which featured live Green Day footage circa 1992. What are some of your favorite memories from playing at McGregor’s in Elmhurst, Illinois?

Tré – Demetri. Demetri was this male stripper that came onstage for some girl’s birthday at McGregor’s one night. They had her sit in this chair and the stripper did his thing for her. It was fuckin’ hilarious. In the middle of our show too. We took a timeout and let her get her strip on. I think that was the last time we played McGregor’s actually. I remember seeing State Street and I remember taking acid in Chicago. I remember going to the lake and wondering why all the fish were dead. I was inside Buckingham Fountain too. It was real hot out and I got in there during the Blues Fest. There were like a million people down there, but just one in the fountain. Of course this cop was like, “Get the fuck out of there! What are you thinking?” I was like, “I don’t know. I’m fried, dude.”

Bill – Do you have any comments regarding the rumors connecting members of Green Day to the mysterious band known as The Network?

Tré – The only connection is that their record was on Adeline, which is a label run by Billie Joe’s wife. That’s a few degrees of separation if you ask me. I think they’re getting a lot of mileage out of telling people they’re Green Day or pretending to be Green Day. The Network is not Green Day. Bastards.

Bill – Growing up I know that bands like the Ramones and The Who were very influential for you. What’s it like to now be one of the biggest influences on an entire generation of punk bands?

Tré – It’s kind of wild. Especially when younger bands meet you and they’re all nervous and stuff. You sort of get a little paternal with it, like “Ah…my children.” I feel like Michael Landon from Little House on the Prairie.

Bill – What has been the hardest part about achieving all the success you’ve attained?

Tré – I think you can pretty much choose what you want to deal with. You can choose for it to be difficult or you can enjoy it. It’s kind of up to the person.

Bill – After seven albums, what aspects of punk rock are still fresh and exciting to you?

Tré – I like seeing new bands. Bands that aren’t carbon-copied pop punk bands. Bands like Dillinger Four fuckin’ excite me. I think the Rock Against Bush compilation is a pretty damn good CD. There are some older bands on there that are still going strong and some younger bands that are real fresh and exciting too.

Bill – What does the future hold for Green Day?

Tré – I think whatever we put out next has got to be really fuckin’ good. After American Idiot we set the bar so high. It’s kind of like, “Now what are we going to do?”

[tes-trash-blog]

ElaborTe

So if you like Nords or stan them or cherish them as much as I do the Snow Elves, you might wanna skip this one.

TW: White supremacy, Neo-Nazism, the trash blog going completely off their shits

From the early days of the Elder Scrolls, the Nords have always been.. Well, Norse-coded. As far as races and their lore-evolutions go, they’re the only ones who have held steady in their Nordy McNordness throughout the series. They’ve always been hardy, fair-haired men and women from frozen reaches of Skyrim. They’ve always had a foothold in that tundra, as early as the days of Labrynthian, first featured in Arena. They’ve always preferred axes and steel over magic and guile, and before anyone says anything about Project Tamriel or out-of-game lore or whatever Kirkbride said about robots and wasabi, I’m talking explicitly about canon here, as canon is what most gamers see in these games.

From their appearance to their armor and weapons to the draugr and ancient gods, the Nords are very much the Elder Scrolls’ answer to the Fantasy Viking, which in itself is based on the Vikings of yonder year.. Give or take a few embellishments. Their axes have harsh-but-intricate carvings, their armor is lined with fur and made from honest steel, they have names like Hulda and Sigrid, Roggvir and Thongvor, their voice actors hail from Sweden or can put on a Scandivan-esque accent. They look, sound, act, and dress Norse.

In media studies, this is called coding, a relatively new term in academia and so far still largely used in queer studies. Unlike allegory, which is an intentional one-to-one comparison of something vis a vis Lion Witch and the Wardrobe or Ender’s Game, coding is by and large unintentional, or at least unclaimed and not explicitly stated. It is a byproduct of beliefs, biases, and bumbletyfucks the writer possessed as they created a work, and left unchecked it can lead to problematic elements.

This isn’t to say that coding is terrible, or Bad, or Problematic (though it often is at least one, and sometimes all three), but rather, it is a limitation of being human. Most writers are human as are most of the audiences the media reaches out to, and as such are bound by their worldview and preconceived notions and biases. Just because it can be problematic doesn’t necessarily mean it always is going to be problematic. A skilled writer can recognize this and work around it, or even play with the preconceived notions the audience has. I’ve seen very few white writers accomplish this, even fewer that were cisgendered men, but it’s doable.

However, if these notions are left unchecked, unchallenged, and uncritically accepted, you end up with uh, things. Things like, oh, the Khajiit who steal and deal drugs and travel in “caravans” (oof), the Bosmer who are the only brown Elves in the game and are also cannibals (yikes), the Reachfolk are dressed in untanned animal skins and wear antlers and do guerilla warfare and fucking yikes Bethesda what were you thinking???

You also end up with the Nords, who really took a nosedive from Fantasy Vikings into Gleeful Killers with Magic Shouting come Morrowind, where the Snow Elves had a proper introduction if only to show that the Nords of old were mass murderers, but, y’know, felt kinda bad about it after a child soldier killed their leader. It makes for a sad story, but it’s a cheap, Ender's Game-esque out so the viewer doesn’t have to feel bad about rooting for them. “They felt bad, guys! It’s okay!”

These deeply problematic aspects of Nords-as-homicidal-maniacs only became more apparent with the arrival of The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim.

Here’s where that white supremacy warning I gave earlier comes into play. You still got some time to check out and enjoy your day.

Still here? Alright.

It was a perfect storm. As I said in a previous rant, Skyrim came about in a time of unprecedented White Anxiety. I cannot stress enough how much white people lost their damn minds when Obama was elected president. There were threats on the then-President’s life, on his wife and daughters, on a daily basis. Gun sales reached record highs out of fear that the boogeyman Democrat would take their guns away. Libertarianism soon became a shorthand for a white supremascist who likes to smoke weed. The so called Tea Party screamed about “freedom of religion” while openly applauding anti-Islamic hate crimes and calling the President by his middle name/dogwhistle “Hussien”, white supremacist hate sites saw an influx of traffic; Stormfront, the oldest of the bunch, saw a jump from 23,000 users in 2004 to over 100,000 in 2008, and this was before bot users were a thing admins had to weed out, this was before a certain foreign power took a keen interest in installing a useful idiot.

This was home-brewed vitriol.

All the while, right wing media went batshit. Fox News had their Mustardgate “scandal”, a dogwhistle to their populist audience that their leaders weren’t like “the average American”. Conspiracy theories sprung up right and left (pun intended) about the Obama administration and “the shadow government”, of which those neo-Nazi sites, with their surge in fresh-faced users,  were a wellspring for. Being the Internet, their memes and “facts Big Media doesn’t want you to hear” spread like a cancer to the greater Internet-- Reddit and its subsidiary Imgur, Tumblr, Twitter, 9Gag, countless other pockets of blogospheres and forums and media platforms. It was, and still is, fucking inescapable.

And of course, Nazis love them that Norse aesthetic. They love the cold where only real men could survive, unlike those weak-willed patsies and *checks notes* dijon-mustard lovers. They love the pale skin and light hair of the people as that’s their idea of genetic purity. They love the runes, the affectations, how the Norse folk of old just invaded and pillaged and were so strong, they did Blood Eagles and were so masculine.

And therein lies why I hate the Nords. I hate how they went from Generic Viking to Murder Men, I hate the direction Morrowind and onward took with them, I hate how no one had the foresight to either tone down these aspects or put a spin on them like they seemed to do with other races. I hate how quickly actual racists took to this fake ass race, I hate how they tried to pull a “both sides are the same” in that stupid Civil War questline when one side is an actual ethno-nationalist paramilitary cult. 

I hate how the writers of Skyrim were cowards, and I hate that they apparently looked at Ur-Fascism and saw a checklist. I hate that they gave the Nords, and by extension you, the player, a moral justification for rallying against a “high-brow”, “elitist”, “globalist” “oppressive”, distinctly non-Nordic and non-Mannish group of people because they “threaten the Nord way of life”. But let’s make the Elves the Nazi allegory so there’s no qualms whatsoever about siding with the Fantasy Republicans. I hate that every other stereotype of non-Nord races can be found in that game, from the skooma dealing Dunmer to the thieving Khajiit to the bootlicker Imperial to the fucking High Elves. I hate that they only expanded on the morally-justified genocide of the Snow Elves with Songs of the Return, and then further reinforce how “good” that was by having you meet the guy who slaughtered children. I hate how, barring one easily missable side quest that still uses bothsidesism there is no challenge to this bullshit way of thinking. I hate that a sizable chunk of Stormcloakblr are also very clearly racist. I hate that my Ysgramor/Pelinal shitpost started to gain traction after someone with a rage face icon reblogged it with a “Kill All Elves” tag. I’ve deleted it since. The meaning is lost on those wastes of breath, and was 100% the cause for this rant.

I hate how the writers could have done better, but didn’t.

[vulgarweed]

Thank You Good Omens

This post is going to be stupid long, because I’ve actually managed to fall in love with Good Omens three different times in my life!

In May of 1990, I was a college student in a hippie town in Ohio that had a great comics/SF book shop (STILL THERE), and because staff knew I loved Neil Gaiman’s Sandman series, made sure to point out to me that Gaiman had just co-written a novel and I might like it. I bought it. I did like it, very much.

Despite spending a lot of time on co-op in NYC and seeing Sonic Youth live as often as possible and going hard for the sex & drugs thing, I had just fallen off the turnip truck from a tiny Appalachian town of <300 people with a HEAVY emphasis on hellfire-and-brimstone religion. It permeated everything, including school (Yes, public school. Didn’t matter)

A lot of people don’t know this about me, but I had a fervent Christian phase when I was in my tweens. Despite my parents being non-churchgoers, I did go to church. (They’d drop me off and pick me up). Peer pressure was so strong, it was impossible not to. Being thought of an atheist or Satanist would lead to shit, the beating out of.

And at a revival, I GOT IT. Slain in the spirit, speaking in tongues, the whole bit. I was ALL IN. I hectored my parents and cried because I didn’t want them to go to Hell. And yet, it went away just as fast. I am a spiritual person, don’t expect that will ever change, but I had this super intense faith for a while, and then I lost it.

So when I read Good Omens for the first time, I felt weirdly healed. The mockery of that sort of end-times theology, that also had a sort of gentle humanist kindness at its heart, with its failboat antihero demon and angel protagonists and an Antichrist who really just wanted to hang with his friends and saw taking over the world as a responsibility he didn’t want rather than something desirable…

It got to me. Right in the feels. The fact that it’s a comedy is KEY to its effectiveness - laughter is powerful healing magic, and GO turned the light of satire right onto some of my deepest and most secret fears.

That’s also about the time I found my real path. May 1 (Beltane) 1990 is ALSO the 30th anniversary of my Wiccan coven initiation. (And I’ll be in a Discord chat with my old coven tonight, we have all stayed fairly close) My practice has varied a lot since in the details, but not in the faith core.

That’s round ONE of my Good Omens love. Round TWO was in 2004. I was heartsick and gutted by W’s re-election even though I saw it coming. Honestly I think seeing the Religious Right still hold so much power was a literal trigger, I see that in hindsight now. (The projectile vomiting was a clue)

I decided to cope by attempting to read the Left Behind series, in an “understanding how the enemy thinks” way. Although of course I already knew that all too well. I was reading Fred Clark/Slacktivist’s brilliant page by page takedown, and then I remembered my old friends from that book I loved in college!

Surely I could handle Left Behind if I had Aziraphale and Crowley and Adam and Anathema and the rest mentally sitting next to me and helping to MST3K it! I made it through a book and a half of LB, but the GO reread was worth the price.

I was into fanfic by then, so I realized….”Ah, I bet there is fic. I bet people ship Aziraphale and Crowley.” I was not disappointed. The lower-tadfield comm on LJ at its peak had more than 1000 members, and there were DeviantArt groups and mailing lists and a fair amount on fanfiction.net. So I went ALL IN and I got very productive.

I co-founded the GO Holiday Exchange in 2005 (which I still co-mod, and it’s the longest running job I’ve ever had). I met so many friends there - special shoutout to Merlin/Quantum Witch, my dear friend and collaborator, whose illustrations brought my words to life. I was ecstatic to find that she lives within 2 hours of me, and over the last 15 years we’ve visited each other a lot. We got to meet Neil Gaiman together.

My third burst of GO love came with the show, of course. I went to visit Merlin and we watched it together, and squealed. Particularly through the first half-hour of Episode Three of course. GO fandom has produced a LOT of historical fic for obvious reasons, and it looked like a highlights reel.

Also, there used to be wank in the fandom about how Crowley’s name is pronounced. WE WERE VINDICATED. (Certainly he was named after the real sinister historical A. Crowley, right? Who once wrote a doggerel verse mentioning his name rhymes with “holy.”)

There are things that as a longtime book fan, I don’t like or am ambivalent about in the show, but I think the heart of it was captured so very well. Since the first read 30 years ago, I’ve also read almost all of Pratchett’s Discworld, and his style of discoursing through humor just sits right on my brain.

(Pratchett got me through 2007-2008, when I lost a home, a longterm relationship, and a dream job just a few months apart. Bless you Pterry, you are missed.)

So Thank you Good Omens! You’ve brought me laughter, comfort, creativity, friendship, and a permanent influence on my worldview and spirituality. You’ve created the space for a fandom that tackles deep questions about theology and morality, often in the same work with slapstick comedy and smut.

[purplesurveys]

1047

What’s the most historic thing that has happened in your lifetime? I can think of a few things. There’s 9/11 though I was barely conscious then, Osama Bin Laden’s death, the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, 2011 Japan earthquake, and the H1N1 and Covid pandemics. In my country, there were typhoons Ondoy and Yolanda, the Manila hostage crisis, and the Hello Garci election corruption scandal. Out of these, though, I’d say the heaviest ones to bear have been 9/11 and Covid.

What happens in your country regularly that people in most countries would find strange or bizarre?

We use a spoon and fork to eat and only really fancy shmancy restaurants give you a knife and a fork. Many eat with their hands as well, though this is way more common in provinces.

Everyone is late to everything and punctuality isn’t a thing, which is a big culture pet peeve of mine and I still like arriving early/on time anywhere.

This applies to Asia in general lmao, but shoes typically aren’t allowed or at least frowned upon if they go beyond the main entrance of houses.

We start Christmas as early as September, and we end it by the last week of January

When families get together, aunts/uncles will usually greet their nieces/nephews by asking if they already have a boy/girlfriend and/or telling them that they got fat. Horror relatives will greet you with both.

People generally like to keep to themselves, so striking a friendly conversation with strangers even if you have the pure, genuine intention to be simply friendly will just lead them to think you’re being a creep lol

What has been blown way out of proportion? The effects of video games and the question of it increasing violence among kids. Sure there’ve been gruesome accounts and no one’s invalidating those, but the overwhelmingly vast amount of people who play video games end up okay. I had so many killing binges on GTA but to this day I can’t even look at a real gun without shuddering, lol. When was a time you acted nonchalant but were going crazy inside? This is me every morning at work. 9 AM-11 AM is always the busiest period and it’s a lot of shit happening at the same time and a lot of morning deadlines to meet, but unlike college I can’t exactly call for a timeout whenever I want and have panic attacks anymore.

What’s about to get much better? I hope my fucking life is next in line. I’m tired of being tired of being tired.

What are some clever examples of misdirection you’ve seen? Probably all the times WWE would mislead viewers on a rumored return or debut of a big name by saying they’re in another city, implying that there’s no way they’d be appearing on a WWE show. This happened with Ronda Rousey and it was so fucking exciting when she finally showed up, haha.

What’s your funniest story involving a car? I don’t know, really...I don’t try to be funny when I’m on the wheel lol. Probably the time I let Angela use my car on campus, and when she needed to make a u-turn she ended up doing an awkward 90º turn and had an SUV nearly crash towards us. She had only driven a handful of times at that point so she was a little clumsy, but neither of us had any idea she’d fuck up a simple u-turn as badly as she ended up doing lmao.

What would be the click-bait titles of some popular movies? I can think of more clickbait posters than titles, but I can’t seem to remember what those films are called right now.

If you built a themed hotel, what would the theme be and what would the rooms look like? Themed hotels generally make me cringe. The most theme-y place we ever stayed at was the lodge in Sagada and it was really just more homey than anything. I’m not into themes when it comes to hotels as I find it a little cheap lol and I’ve always preferred a straightforward experience in the places I stay at for vacations.

What scientific discovery would change the course of humanity overnight if it was discovered? A way to live forever. < This is a good one. Also, maybe a huge asteroid or meteor bound to hit the planet that will make widespread extinction a certainty? I can’t even begin to imagine the panic that will rise from something like that.

Do you think that humans will ever be able to live together in harmony? I doubt it. It sounds difficult especially when you realize we’re 7 billion in total.

What would your perfect bar look like? As long as there aren’t any annoying younger college kids, who are almost always the loudest crowd and not in a good way, I’m okay with any kind of bar.

What’s the scariest non-horror movie? Some shots in 2001: A Space Odyssey are freaky as fuck. There were several scenes that included sudden HAL shots, and I did not enjoy those. How the fuck Kubrick managed to make a computer scary is beyond me. I’ve also always skipped the vortex scene with the creepy face shots after seeing it once.

What’s the most amazing true story you’ve heard? This is a really vague question... a few months ago I watched this video diary of parents who had a child born at like 25 weeks. Just way too early, basically. And they recorded the kid’s weekly progress, how she kept fighting, and her journey of being transported from one machine to another while she still needed them. It was beautiful to see her get bigger and plumper with each week that passed and it was just such a feel-good story to watch. I was so relieved when they showed footage of her as a normal, healthy toddler by the end of the clip.

What’s the grossest food that you just can’t get enough of? I know balut is pretty unpopular in the Western part of the world, but I’ll gladly eat a dozen of them in one sitting. In general Asian street food is usually considered gross - pig intestines, chicken intestines, chicken feet, pig ears, etc., but all are normal in the culture I was raised in.

What brand are you most loyal to? It’s annoying and I can’t help it, but Apple.

What’s the most awkward thing that happens to you on a regular basis? I try not to make it regular, but sometimes a mistake on my end will slip through in an email I’m sending and I have to send another email correcting myself and apologizing for the oversight. One of my least favorite parts about work.

If you had to disappear and start a whole new life, what would you want your new life to look like? I’m not wishing for much. I just wish it was easier to remove any trace of me on social media sites and have it be as if I never existed because I think that would make it easier for me to move on from...well, you know what. I still have trouble verbalizing it and I don’t feel like mentioning it tonight.

But idk, I like staying connected to my family and friends, so idk if I can ever achieve that. And that said, I think I’m bound to always keep seeing her around.

What movie or book do you know the most quotes from? I memorize a pathetic amount of dialogue from Love Actually, Twilight, Titanic, and The Proposal.  What was one of the most interesting concerts you’ve been to? I guess Coldplay? They gave assigned lightsticks for each section and the crowd looked amazing when the production crew activated the lights for certain songs. I still have some of the clips because I posted them on Snapchat, so I’m really glad I did that; otherwise I would’ve lost the videos forever.

Where are you not welcome anymore? I’ve felt pretty unwelcome around her. How she could do a 180 and just not be interested in having anything to do with me is really soul-crushing.

What do you think could be done to improve the media? Fact fucking check, please. Also keeping sources balanced, avoiding clickbait headlines, being more objective than neutral, and don’t fucking sensationalize. How timely that this landed on a journalism graduate, hahaha.

What’s the most recent show you’ve binge watched? Start Up but I haven’t continued in the last two weeks :/ I think it’s because I know I’m nearing the finale and I subconsciously just don’t want to run out of Start Up episodes to watch lol but yeah, I still have four episodes left and I have no clue when I’ll watch it again.

What’s a common experience for many people that you’ve never experienced? Being close with their mom and considering them as their rock.

What are some misconceptions about your hobby? I don’t know enough about embroidery to know misconceptions about it.

What did you Google last? 2001: A Space Odyssey because I needed to be sure of the scenes I planned on citing in the question above that made me mention the movie.

What’s the dumbest thing someone has argued with you about? Not being able to find a restaurant to eat at. The backstory is a little complicated but it’s the same fight that led my younger brother to slap me across the face, and what subsequently led me to stop speaking to him.

If money and practicality weren’t a problem, what would be the most interesting way to get around town? Probably a tank.

What’s the longest rabbit hole you’ve been down? It’s always the ones on Wikipedia lol. I find weird and interesting articles on there all the time; there’s always something new to read.

What odd smell do you really enjoy? The rain, though sometimes it can be too overpowering when the humidity has been high. I like it for the most part, though.

What fashion trend makes you cringe or laugh every time you see it? Streetwear is so fucking dull to me. I never saw the appeal.

What’s your best story of you or someone else trying to be sneaky and failing miserably? Hahahaha this happened just a few weeks ago actually. My parents and I were headed out to have some ramen, and I opened the car door to hop onto the backseat. They didn’t prepare beforehand and they left the Christmas gift I asked for - a corkboard - in the backseat, so I was able to see the whole thing, unwrapped and with price tag and all. Their mortified faces knowing that their secret’s been blown were hilarious. They had no choice but to just give it up, and the corkboard has been on my wall since.

If you had a HUD that showed three stats about any person you looked at, what three stats would you want it to show? I guess the stability of our relationship, their general mood for the day, and erm how badly they need a hug because I’m always willing to give some.

What’s the best way you or someone you know has gotten out of a ticket / trouble with the law? My mom fake-cries her way out and it’s always been hilarious to see a grown ass woman do it and pull it off every time.

Tear gas makes people cry and laughing gas makes people giggle, what other kinds of gases do you wish existed? I don’t really want to manipulate people’s action in this way, so pass.

[write-crawler]

Why culture matters, especially in times of economical crisis

A defense of Brazilian SAT (ENEM)'s essay theme: “Democratization of access to movies”

B A C K G R O U N D - What is ENEM?

The ENEM - Exame Nacional do Ensino Médio (National High School Exam) - is one of the most important tests for high school kids. It's a chance to get into an university, it's a chance to get into a public university - which, in Brazil, are free of tuition and are usually the highest ranking universities of the country. It's the Brazilian SAT.

The test is divided into Humanities, Languages, and an essay - which are tested on the first day - and Mathematics, Sciences, and Biology - tested on the second day. The ENEM happens all across the country in the first 2 Sundays of November, starting at 1:30 pm and lasts a maximum of 5 hours and 30 minutes. That means the first half happened already this past Sunday (November 3rd, 2019).

This is the first ENEM applied under the Presidency of Jair Bolsonaro, far-right politician who got elected in 2018. Last year, he criticized the test and a specific question about language that used as example a dialect used by the Brazilian transgender community. This is also the first ENEM that had an ideological screening. Also the first ENEM that had no questions about the Brazilian military dictatorship (1964 - 1985)  - which Bolsonaro supported and still openly supports - or about the dictatorship of Getúlio Vargas (1937 - 1946), who was a nazi and fascism sympathizer. 

T H E   E S S A Y - The “controversy”, its history, and my opinion

The essay is a dissertative-argumentative one that requires students to present na introduction, thesis, argumentation, conclusion, and a solution proposal. Every year it has a different theme, which the candidates only find out what it is when they recieve the test. It is released to the press and public later on the day, while candidates are still taking the test. This year the theme was "Democratization of the access to movies". And, like always, many many people complained about it. 

Part of the complaints were about how there are many other important topics to discuss, such as the fires in the Amazon rainforest or other political matters more closely connected to Jair Bolsonaro and his government. Other complaints were that most Brazilians don’t have access to the movies – only 10% of the country’s cities have movie theaters -, so it was very hard for most of the candidates to talk about that theme, making the theme unfair. A tweet that became viral after the test reports a candidate saying “Dude, some days, my house doesn’t even have water, and they want me to write about the democratization of movies”. So, basically, the complaints are that the movies are a reality that is too far away for many Brazilians and there are other social problems that affect everyone, which makes them more important than the movies. 

What these people aren’t getting about the theme is that it is not about movies. Or rather, it’s not just about movies. It’s about democracy and accessibility. But, because these two topics are too broad and the essay has a limit of 30 lines, with a focus on movies. The essay didn’t require you to explain why “The Shape of Water” wasn’t just a monsterfucker fantasy of Guillermo del Toro. It didn’t require you to point out all the symbolism in “Donnie Darko”. Or to talk about how “Fight Club” is an amazing criticism of current society. It didn’t require any knowledge of cinema or movies because it wasn’t about it. It wasn’t necessary to have ever stepped foot in a movie theater to be able to talk about this theme. Because the actual keywords of the theme are “democratization” and “access”. The “movies” part was there simply to help candidates narrow down the topics, to make it easier to talk about these topics.

This year’s theme has suffered the same criticism so many past themes have suffered, because people want the simple and obvious themes. And, to accomplish that, they reduce the theme to just one word. They take the word in the theme that is meant to help you think about the others and make it the theme of the essay.

For example, in 2018 the theme was “Manipulation of user behavior by internet data control”. Everyone said the theme was hard and that it was “the internet”. It was NOT about the internet. It was about how the internet is used to MANIPULATE people, how it is used to CONTROL and TRACK people’s behaviors. We all saw the election of Donald Trump in 2016 happen with a lot of fake news in the internet. We saw in 2018 Bolsonaro get elected by bombarding conservative’s WhatsApp groups with fake news. We KNOW Facebook tracks us and our behavior so they’ll know what ads to show us. Hell, Facebook watches us so closely, they can make shadow profiles of people who don’t have a Facebooks account.  So, if in the ENEM of 2018, you talked about the internet, and not about the manipulation of internet data, you failed the essay.

And 2017’s theme wasn’t deaf people. It was “Dificulties in the education of deaf people”. I did the ENEM that year. And, like most, I thought “fuck” when I read the theme. I, like so many others, complained on the internet about the theme, about how hard it was. And yet, I scored a 840 out of 1000 on my essay. It’s a really good score that would’ve gotten me into several good colleges. How did I manage to get a 840 even though I knew very little about the life of someone with a hearing disability? It’s not because I’m fucking incredible, or because I’m gifted, supersmart or because I suddenly developed an empathical bond with every deaf person in Brazil that allowed me to write the essay. But because I focused first on the first words of the theme, because I thought about the Brazilian educational system, it’s flaws, what affected me and those close to me. Then, after I identified the problems, I figured out how deaf people are affected by them. The theme didn’t require you to be na expert on deafness or to personally be deaf or know a deaf person. You had to think about Brazil’s educational system, the flaws it has and how could they be worse for deaf people. It required you to think about inclusion, disabilities, diversity, and, most of all, education, schools. So, if in 2017 you talked about deaf people instead of their inclusion in schools, you fucked up.

And here is the thing, and maybe you’ve noticed it already, the ENEM’s essay is always about social issues. More specifically, social issues regarding citizenship, democracy, and inclusion. No matter the theme, these three topics, somehow, are always involved in the discussion – because that’s the estructure of the essay. So the theme will never be about just one word or one concept. It’ll always be more complex than that. For more proof, let’s look at all the other previous themes since ENEM’s beggining:  

2016: Ways to fight religious intolerance in Brazil

2015: The persistency of violence against women in Brazilian society

2014: The question of child advertising in Brazil

2013: Effects of the prohibition in Brazil

2012: Immigration movement to Brazil in the 21st century

2011: Linving online in the 21st century: the limits between public and private

2010: The work (as in job) in building human dignity

2009: The individual facing national ethics

2008: How to preserve the Amazon rainforest: immediatly suspend deforestation; give financial incentives to landowners that stop deforesting; or increase law enforcement and impose fines on those who deforest

2007: The challenge of living with differences

2006: The transformative power of reading

2005: Child labor in Brazilian society

2004: How to garantee freedom of information and avoid abuses in the means of communication

2003: The violence in Brazilian society: how to change the rule of this game

2002: The right to vote: how to make of this conquest a way to promote the social changes that Brazil needs?

2001: Development and environmental preservation: how to conciliate these conflicting interests?

2000: Children and teenagers’ rights: how to face this national challenge

1999: Citizenship and social participation

1998: Living and learning

Apart from 1998’s theme, which really is simplistic, all others contain at least one of the topics I mentioned above: citizenship, democracy, and inclusion – perhaps not explicit in the title, but if you think about them, it’s not hard to get to these topics. And all the themes are about social issues. So this is why 2019’s theme is not, in any way, shape or form, a divergence from ENEM’s usual estructure. It’s true that it’s been a long while since ENEM’s essay tackled culture, but it still follows the usual formula, it still expects the same things from 2019’s candidates that it expected from the candidates of previous years.

Another part of the criticism that I haven’t addressed yet: that there are more important themes to discuss.

Honestly, Brazil has always been a country that didn’t give a shit about culture in general so this shouldn’t surprise me. Like most Third World countries, we serve only to supply Europe and the USA with raw materials and give them our natural resources. This isn’t by choice, by the way, that’s the result of living under colonization and USAmerican imperialism. The USA has kept a very tight leash on Brazil, us being it’s most loyal follower in South America – and, when we aren’t that loyal, the USA is quick to orchestrate a coup. And because of all of this, Brazilian society has na ironic culture of dismissing culture. Or rather, dismissing critical thinking and the arts and anything that isn’t pragmatical or practical. What matters here are real jobs, jobs that make money. You go to college so you can work, not to get culture. Because culture is for the elites and, unfortunately, that’s how Brazil wants to keep it.

 The lower social classes are taught to only care about majors that will get them a job. Here, we have a thing called Technical Education, and it’s purpose is solely to prepare kids to work. Like the name suggests, it’s just technical information, it doesn’t encourage or teaches critical thinking – again, because in Brazilian mentality, that’s all you need to do, work and shut up. You can opt for Technical Education rather than go to High School – the subjects that are required in High School are integrated with others – or you can do it after High School. Technical Education is NOT college, it doesn’t count as college or superior education. So, again, it really is meant to keep poor people away from college and culture and just get them to work. In 2016, after leftist President Dilma Rousseff’s impeachment – or coup, depends on your political position and how you see the process – and her right-wing VP, Michel Temer, took over, Technical Education started being encouraged a lot on TV with government advertisement. After Temer took over, it was passed a reform of our Educational System that no longer required schools to teach philosophy.

Currently, Bolsonaro’s government has constantly attacked education, especially public universities. Like I said before, public universities in Brazil are free of tuition, which means that it’s the only chance for many to go to college. And public colleges here also have social and racial quotas, some universities even have transgender quotas, to help the less privileged students get into colleges as part of historic reparations. One of the biggest projects of Bolsonaro’s government is to end all these quotas, making diversity in universities drop even lower. And his government also wants to impose monthly fees on public universities, claiming that those who attend public universities can afford it (we can’t, asshole). (Also, here’s the thing about a right given to you by the Constitution: if you have to pay for it, then it’s no longer right, it’s a privilege. So, charging anything at a public university is unconstitutional. Charging for education is against the Constitution.)

What is also concerning, is the project Future-se (comes from the word “futuro” meaning “future”), nicknamed Fature-se (a play on the name, comes from “fatura” meaning “bill”), that would make public universities depend on financial aid from private companies. Meaning that only the colleges, only the areas, that can be capitalized and/or that appeal to the capitalist market, would get fundings. That means, arts and human sciences are doomed. Those two areas already don’t have enough funding and already suffer with attacks from conservatives, constantly, for not being “productive” and not producing “anything” for society, now imagine when they have data from private companies refusing to invest in those areas. We’ll be cut for sure. Especially because the project states that it is meant to supply the entrepreneurial sector, the privates sector of economy. It’s not about giving back to the community, it’s about fueling capitalism. The project also allows private companies to buy and name buildings of the college. So, literally, you could have na auditorium at a public university called Wall-Mart or Jeff Bezos. Totally not capitalist propaganda, right?

This capitalism-covenient project comes at a time where Universities are struggling to pay their bills – because the State has made a cut on fundings (BOLSONARO’s government cut the fundings, it’s directly his fault a need for financial aid coming from outside the government is even needed). Another area that has suffered a lot of financial cuts is – guess it – culture!

I know I went on and on and on about Brazilian education, but I needed you to understand just a little bit of the extent that the higher classes will go to to keep the lower classes away from anything that may teach them critical thinking. Culture, movies, literature, and paintings are all things that make us look critically at our society. Art has always existed as a form of protest, as a form of expressing your political beliefs, be it left or right wing beliefs. To keep it away from the population, to restrict it, is to put restrictions on our souls, minds, and, obviously, freedom. We need the fictional to function in reality.

Fiction is not reality, obviously. But it doesn’t exist on a vaccum. It feeds on reality and it feeds reality, they’re both stuck in an endless cycle. Fiction isn’t reality, but it does have the most potential, out of anything, to change reality. If it didn’t, fascists wouldn’t need to burn books. If fiction didn’t matter, there would be no censorship of song lyrics under dictatorial regimes. If it didn’t matter, Bolsonaro wouldn’t have felt the need to extinguish the Ministry of Culture, turn it into the Secretary of Culture and put the son of a pastor in charge of it. If it didn’t matter, Bolsonaro wouldn’t have cut 43% of the National Cinema Agency (Ancine)’s budget for 2020 – making it the lowest since 2012. If it didn’t matter, Bolsonaro wouldn’t have threatened to end Ancine because of the movie “Bruna Surfistinha”, which told the story of a teenager who ended up being a prostitute. If it didn’t matter, Bolsonaro wouldn’t have censored LGBTQ+ themed movies that were being made by Ancine. And if it didn’t matter, Bolsonaro wouldn’t have asked Ancine to make a movie about himself, and the rise of the Brazilian reactionary movement. If it didn’t matter, Crivella, the mayor of Rio de Janeiro, wouldn’t have tried to enter a book event with the police to aprehend a Marvel Avengers comic book because it had two gay characters kissing in it. If it didn’t matter, they wouldn’t care.

But they do, a lot. Because, like I said, fiction doesn’t exist in a vaccum, it exists with reality. And so, what we see in fictional work has come from reality, in one way or the other. Because if you see gay people in a comic book, it’s because gay people exist. If there’s transgender people in movies or in a book, it’s because transgender people exist in real life. If minorities exist in fiction, it’s because they exist in reality. And what bothers them is not that we are present in books, but that we are present in real life. And, since genocide would take more effort, they take the easy way out and try to kill us in fiction hoping that it will lead to our dissapearence from real life. That’s why censorship happens. That’s why representation matters.

Protecting culture means protecting the rights of people to exist and be seen. And that is a political act. Shouldn’t be, but it is. Because the right is very firm and clear about the fact that they don’t want groups of people to exist because of who they are.

And, no, that’s not the same as antifa. Antifa hates fascists because their ideology inhenrently wants to persue the genocide of minorities. Antifa hates fascists because of what they believe in, not because of who they are. If antifa confronts a fascist, the fascist can say they regret defending that ideology and leave it behind. Antifa maybe won’t buy their motives, but will leave them alone. However, when it comes to fascists, either they lose or we die. It’s not the same.

But back to culture, literature and movies are a important part of people’s political position formation. Like I said before, education is not accessible to all and critical thinking isn’t being taught to many lower classes kids. So, for these kids that don’t have access to theorical texts – and, even if they did get their hands on these books, the vocabulary would probably be too hard for them (not because they’re stupid, but simply because no one has taught them these words and meanings before) and the quantity of information is not one they’re used to, making the text hard to digest and understand – movies are a great way to show them the ugly truths of our society in a way that they can understand.

Movies like “Freedom Writers” are very, very important to show exactly everything I’ve been saying so far. The movie is based on a real story about a teacher, Erin Gruwell, who starts teaching at a High School in 1995 where a lot of students are poc and involved with gangs, living in poverty and in violent neighborhoods. Gruwell understands the reality of these students and introduce them to books they can relate to, but that also teach them about history, the history of oppresed minorities – like the Diary of Anne Frank and the Diary of Zlata Filipovic. She knows these students won’t respond to textbooks, or hundreds of grammar lessons that seem meaningless to them. So she buys them books. Books written by teenagers like them who they can relate to. Now, I know these books aren’t fiction, but, still, they’re literature and they changed the lives of those teenagers – some of them were the first to graduate High School on their families. But as for the movie telling these stories, it’s essential that kids on the same situation as these teenagers see it. They have to see kids like them on TV going through the same things and making it out alive, well, and going to college. It’s important for them to see a teacher buy the Diary of Anne Frank to a group of teenagers deemed stupid by the educational system. It’s important that they see that the reason they might not understand Diary of Anne Frank isn’t because they’re stupid, but because they didn’t have a Erin Gruwell to help them, to explain it to them.

But “Freedom Writers” isn’t the only movie that does that. “Que Horas Ela Volta”, a Brazilian movie titled “Second Mother” in English, tells the story of Val, a woman who left her young daughter in the Northeast of Brazil to be a nanny, then domestic maid, in the Southeast, working for na affluent family – and living with them. She leaves her daughter in a poor state, with her grandmother, while she takes care of someone else’s son. Years later, Val’s daughter, Jessica, asks to stay with her for a while so she can take na entrance exam for a public university, the same one the family’s son, Fabinho, is trying to get into. As Jessica lives with them, she questions the unspoken and tight rules that dictate the places each social class gets to ocupate, creating tension within the household.

Brazilian TV series, “Assédio” (“Harrassment”), talks about a doctor at a fertilization clinic who is exposed for sexually abusing and even raping his patients. “Saneamento básico” (“Basic sanitation”) is a comedy about how the lack of basic sanitation changes a small town – the residents decide to make a movie, that has to be of a fictional story, to shed light on the sanitary problem they face. “Cidade de Deus” (“City of God”) talks about the favelas, the “slums”, police brutality, and racism. “Central do Brasil” (“Central of Brazil”) is about a retired teacher who writes letters that are dictated for her by poor people who are illiterate, and want to send letters to realtives. “Larte-se” is about a transgender cartoonist who started transitioning at 59 years old. “Hoje Eu Quero Voltar Sozinho” (“Today I Want To Go Back Alone”) is about a blind gay boy. “O Filho Eterno” (“The Eternal Son”) is about a couple who happily waits for their first son, and then find out the child has Down Syndrome.

See, all these movies are extremely relevant themes. All of them could be cited in an ENEM essay. All these movies are very political. All these movies talk about problems of our society and inequality. They show what life is like for those less privileged. To see those fictional stories, is to develop a better understanding of how society works and it’s problems. To see those fictional stories is to develop a bigger empathy for those suffering.

And to keep them away from people, to censor movies, to keep the price of movie tickets high, to restrict what stories can be told, is to limit the population’s right to think for ourselves. Think and criticize. It’s a violation of free speech, it’s a violation of democracy.

In times of economical crisis, the right rises with “magical” solutions for the economy that almost always means cuting the fundings of arts and encouranging the lower classes to work. Work, not think. It is in those times of crisis that music, movies, and literature suffer bigger and bigger attempts of being crushed. Because art is political, because to do art you have to think. And it is in those times that we must protect the most the arts. It is in those times that we have to do what we can to make the arts accessible.

And this is why the democratization of access to the movies is a very very important theme. And this is why culture matters, especially in times of economical crisis.

So we can think. So we can fight. So we can survive. So we can thrive. 

[migleefulmoments]

"No one will ever convince me he made that statement, and if you listen to his ACTUAL words about that, he didn’t say he wouldn’t take any more LGBTQ roles." Darren literally said that the gay community would have his head if he took another gay role but somehow to tinhats like Cassie, that means the next role he takes will be a gay character. I guess Darren meant that he knows the gay community will try to murder him, but he has faith in his ability to avoid their attempts. They're such freaks.

When they make grandiose and sweeping statements like this, I feel the full weight of the disinformation campaign they all embrace. Cassie claims “When you listen to his actual words…he didn’t say he wouldn’t take any more LGBTQ roles” so we have to see if she’s telling the truth or she’s manipulating reality in order to soothe their anxiety and allow them to easily fetishize the gay version of Darren. 

What did Darren say? (You can read the entire Bustle piece (X))

“There are certain [queer] roles that I’ll see that are just wonderful,“ Criss explains when we speak at a recent event for Clorox’s What Comes Next in New York, a few days after he returned from an overseas tour with his Glee co-star Lea Michele. ”But I want to make sure I won’t be another straight boy taking a gay man’s role.“Although Criss says it’s “been a real joy” playing queer characters like Blaine, Cunanan, and Hedwig in the Broadway musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch, he now doesn’t feel comfortable taking those roles, which is “unfortunate,” he says. “The reason I say that is because getting to play those characters is inherently a wonderful dramatic experience,” he adds. “It has made for very, very compelling and interesting people.”

One of the reasons they claim they don’t think Darren said the words is because they claim that print interviews are fake: 

12/18/18  ajw720 answered: 

I would like to see a video as well, nonnie, as I don’t actually think he said any of this shit. Print articles are never, ever to be trusted. They are generally fabricated.  

If you recall nonnie, D himself called out an article earlier this year (it may even be the one referred to in this piece of crap) for taking a quote of his out of context about his Filipino Heritage, likely as he was sick of being called white repeatedly.  Fact is, while he is able to correct the “white” narrative, he, at this time, is not able to correct the straight narrative so he can’t even defend himself when this utter nonsense is published in his name.

First of all print articles aren’t generally fabricated and most CAN be trusted if you vet them properly. Claiming  “ALL print articles are fabricated”- and therefore not to be trusted is a perfect cctrope because it gives them the out they need to label everything they don’t like-every single quote, every single story, and every single description as fake news. It’s the perfect strategy for ignoring everything Darren talks about that proves he isn’t Blarren- all the puns and sexual innuendos, all the crude comments, all the sweet things he says about Mia or his sexuality. All they have to do is remind their followers that it was in a print article and Woosh- it’s invalid. Trump is doing the same thing with his base-he’s grooming them to believe that the media is dangerous and that everyone fabricates stories about him. He calls them “the enemy of the people” so when the. NYT proves he laundered money for years through the Russian mafia or that he actively cheated during the 2016 election and is trying to cheat in 2020, his base will scream “fake news” and threaten to go all 2nd amendment on the rest of us.  

Once again Abby uses something to prove her point but misses the fact that it actually proves she’s full of shit- Darren did push back on the interview where he was misquoted regarding his Filipino heritage but he hasn’t pushed back on any other interview he’s ever given. We can see he’s capable of pushing back, he’s interested in making sure he is quoted accurately and yet we’ve seen no other example- the reasonable conclusion is that is because the other interviews weren’t misquoted.    

e Bustle piece and understand that he said he will no longer play LGBTQ characters. It’s clear that Darren has a far deeper understanding of the issue than Cassie and Abby.  Splitting hairs and claiming he didn’t specifically say he would never play a bisexual or trans character is stupid. What Cassie and Abby are missing in the article is this paragraph:

This conversation about straight actors being cast in gay roles is about more than just LGBTQ actors losing out on Oscars, of course. It’s about Hollywood missing an opportunity to embrace new talent who would better serve these stories. And over the years, actors like Criss have become more sensitive to these types of concerns. The Versase star understands that there is an added honesty to actor getting to play characters who share their identities. “The commitment to that drama is told in such a way that it can really effectively reach people’s lives,” Criss says. “I think that really is important.”

Abby gets her wish- there is an audio recording of him making this statement-albeit it was 4 months prior to the Bustle interview and he seems to have evolved his understanding of the importance of representation in those 4 months. In the Hollywood Reporter interview he said:  

“….But I do think about that now, you know, if roles come by that are LGBT leaning - I really think it would be insensitive to the gay community if I were to take another role. I think they’d have my head. You know, I would totally understand that. So I’m certainly cognizant of it. And while it is very tricky, I think the discussion and the questioning is really really important. And I think it’s good that we’re uncertain and I hope that we can find some kind of balance.” -Darren Criss, 8/26/18 

I am an idiot and can’t remember how I got the audio portion of the interview on to my blog so I have to refer you to my old post if you want to hear Darren say the words (X). 

I think you are correct- Darren is well aware the gay community will kill him but he doesn’t care because he has superpowers. 

EDIT** I found this charming comment from Chrisdare who is a “journalist” yet she knows nothing about journalism. I got in an argument with her once and she schooled me that journalists aren’t educated.and will say anything a publicist tells them too.  Whatever, Valentina,  Google should be your friend.     

Anonymous asked: It wouldn’t matter if you saw a video because you wouldn’t believe it anyway. You would say he was being forced to say it. Fact is CCers haven’t believed a thing

ajw720 answered:I believe many things nonnie. I also have a deep and fundamental understanding about hollywood works nonnie and that is something you clearly lack.

Further, if D was straight, i believe he would never allow them to portray him as an asshole.  D is an incredibly intelligent human being, he knows exactly how negatively the straight push reflects on him. and frankly, it would not be necessary if he exclusively slept with female persons with vaginas.

Have a nice life living in delusionville.    

chrisdarebashfulsmiles JCS shut the f** up. 

When we talk about articles and how they are made we talk about facts. I hate when you come here busting balls on professional stuff when you don’t know anything. You can’t even imagine all the shit we do as journalist

It’s not a matter of cc but the fact they are ruining D’s life and career. And if you are a fan you need to start opening your eyes and stop being an enabler. I swear you should feel guilty when he will come out because you helped keeping him in the closet.

Talk about dellusionville! 

**********Edit Edit *******(X)

chrisdarebashfulsmiles  Because there’s a power of attorney that allows RR and Ab to do so. To say something D has to prove that the article is harmful and he has to do it through a legal action. And this means breach of contract with all it entails like the two years of stop from signing an anything.

That IS NOT how “power of attorney” works.  But nice try- 10 points for originality and imagination! 

***Edit Edit Edit *********

Anonymous asked: An article you should read to help you understand how journalism works .tinyurl/com/y9s49tms. German Reporter At Der Spiegel Fired for Fabricating Stories “On A Grand Scale”. “I’m so angry, horrified, shocked, stunned,” Der Spiegel deputy foreign editor Mathieu von Rohr tweeted Wednesday. “Claas Relotius faked, he cheated on us all.” Journalists can’t just make up stories or publish falsities no matter how much you want to believe that is happening in Hollywood.

chrisdarebashfulsmiles answered: It’s amazing how is crystal clear that you never worked in a magazine or in a PR firm. I work since 2004 and I don’t need an article… I know how it works. We aren’t talking about WSJ and serious stuff. We are talking about gossip and showbusiness so don’t try to be smug because you are failing.

Have nice day/ night wherever you are. :) it’s evening here and I’m enjoying my free time.

bjpb8 Oh, my gosh who is this person. People thrive on gossip and “Rags”. IT SELLS. First begain with papers like En/quire, The Globe, etc. Then spread to SM with blinds. You think other magazines and papers do not want to make money. Everyone prints what sells depending on audiences. Embellishment is part of the trade. They want to catch your interest, which feeds right into what PR wants to sell! Tts a sybiotic relationship at best! It is just some are more talented at making what sounds like truth out of lies. Its called entertainment. You might want ro “read” about it.

The author of the Bustle interview has a master’s degree in journalism from CUNY New York so it is more like the wall street journal than it is the “website” you work for Valentina. Journalists have a degree in journalism.  Anyone can be a blogger - you’ve proved that. 

****Edit Edit Edit Edit *******

D/arren did not write that post! (X) 

12/19/18

ajw720 I have enough faith in Dar/ren Cri/ss personality and his respect and love for his fans to know that the comments attributed to him were not his.  I’ve seem this happen before…I’m sure many of you have, also.  Darr/en is stuck between a rock and a hard place right now.  When he finally writes a memoir about this time, he will let us know about his anquish, anger and remorse.  If one is a TRUE CC and Dar/ren fan, after years of roller-coaster rides via PR, et al…I will continue to take the advice of the person that runse THIS SITE.  “Trust the process…”

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@geminess We have to trust the process and believe that C and D are working hard towards an ending to this absolute tragedy that is legally clean and does not jeopardize either of their careers.  

I believe in them, I cannot accept that D would ever willingly choose to represent himself in this manner and to continue this nightmare of a charade surrounded by utterly and completely vile, disgusting human beings.

Please, please, please may we be right.  I cannot repeat enough there is no alternative ending that is acceptable but D breaking free by ending this sham of an encage, severing ties with his inhumane team, and eventually coming out.  

And yesterday proved once again just how frightening the alternative is.  I would fear for his career and his life.  And it baffles and amazes me that anyone watching, even if you believe he is the straightest man alive, cannot see how harmful that article was.  It was like he used the LGBT+ community to win his awards and is now ready to dismiss them.

(X) 12/19/18

Anonymous asked: On the bright side, this means we’re coming to the end right?

ajw720 answered: Anon, we honestly don’t know, but we can only hope. If D extends his time with these assholes, it will be very ugly for him personally and professionally.

But logic seems to say that this article, the literally offends every fan but the blind and naive, is wholly unnecessary if in fact they are going to continue a professional relationships. And it did not just the fans, think about how many award voters they offended yesterday with that utter piece of crap.

Absolutely and utterly unreal. Hard to believe they are able to get away with working against their client at every turn.

Logic? One thing the cc fandom has proven in the last 10 years is that they do not understand or care about logic. 

12/24/18 (X)

ajw720 It’s interesting how there are such varying opinions on the “straight boy” article. And I think it comes down to 2 questions:

1. Do you believe D is a willing participant in his closeting?

2. Do you believe he actually said what the article alleges?

My answer to both is a resounding no (though he will be forced to validate the comments) and I have good reason to think this. But I certainly see why ones perspective is different if you answer one or both as yes.

This being said, no matter your answers to the above, I don’t see how it can be justified that he would dismiss b/laine in such a manner. And the timing, because I still think it makes him look like an ass and /or a coward as awards are voted for playing queer. And to repeat, I don’t think he should play queer again until his team is dismissed, so I’m not disagreeing with the premise, just the manner it was done, which again, I believe was without his consent.

Not posting to start a fight. Everyone is entitled to an opinion. I clearly am not afraid to state mine, which is very reasoned and based on a lot of information I’ve collected.

Just interesting that some very intelligent people, all of whom believe he’s closeted, can vary so much in what they believe.

[laundryandtaxes]

you've made me change my opinions on gun control but the parkland students have me question that again. what's your take on their activism?

I mean my views aren’t based on current events, they’re based on what seems to be effective and what doesn’t seem effective to me. “Ban assault weapons” sounds cool to lots of people but 1) we did try banning “assault weapons” (used in the Clinton ban to mean semi auto rifles that looked scary) from 1994 to 2004 when they were actually hard to get- if our goal was to limit availability this was the PERFECT TIME, when they cost a grand and there weren’t many of them in the country- and EVEN though the number of them actually ROSE during the ban as manufacturers designed around the ban 2) there’s no conclusive evidence that it managed to reduce spree shootings, as shooters just switched over to other kinds of semi auto rifles and handguns. So it’s a bandaid solution that doesn’t even seem to work well under the best conditions- when they are already hard to get and there aren’t that many of them in the country. There’s an estimated 3 million AR-15s in the country now ALREADY, I would guess that number is -at least- 5x, and maybe even 10x, lower than the actual number, there are kits being sold to build lower receivers in your garage with a $200 press and some time, and on top of that you can build a decent (not premium, not shit) rifle yourself for $500, you can buy one off the rack for $400. There is no future for this country where, imo, knowing what I know about availability of parts, an AR is all that hard to get. The people I’m personally worried about anyway (violent neonazis) are watching the news and will have 5 or 6 more before midterms elections. Nobody is gonna turn in their rifles when asked or even when compensated- I’d be surprised if you got 1 million back under a buyback. Like if we had seen a massive decrease in spree shooting during the AWB of ‘94, I would support bans. But not only did we not see that, not see any impact on violent crime, but we saw a modest decrease in the use of banned weapons specifically in spree shootings (which, no, does not mean less lethality when the round an AR shoots is also in plenty of other rifles that look less scary and like hunting rifles) and all rifles from hunting rifles to the AR account for less than 5% of all gun homicides in the country. Even when considering that rifle rounds seem generally to kill at a higher rate, .223 in particular is so underpowered a round the military is likely to switch away from it soon and it’s not uncommon for people to survive 3 or 4 shots with it, so this idea that the AR is outrageously lethal doesn’t hold up. Your odds of making it after getting shot with it aren’t great but they’re better than if you’re shot with grandad’s bolt .308 or.303 rifle.

“Ban so-called large capacity magazines” also sounds cool to lots of people but it takes an amateur less than 3 seconds to reload and a well trained shooter hardly over a second, and cops have a habit of showing up to spree shootings and waiting for shooting to stop completely rather than directly getting in there- this fantasy that anybody, let alone cops, will wait for a reload to try to get a shot is a fantasy. Cops are not legally obligated, as of the most recent court cases, to come into a dangerous situation and do shit to “protect” you. They’re gonna wait outside and fret while people die. So those idea that 10 rounds is a magical number where your shooter won’t just switch magazines when cops are not going to intervene anyway is silly. What I WILL say is your odds of surviving a handgun shot in this country are great (if I’m ever shot with a pistol I have 80% odds of making it out alive) and rifle rounds tell to have a higher lethality rate because of what we have good trauma care for. I would be less upset to see them go than ARs because, again, you can just reload quickly. A 10 round magazine doesn’t mean 10 people get shot when you can just buy more magazines.

I don’t ideologically oppose licenses for firearms purchases, and we have them in my state- minor annoyance to get but 10 bucks and not difficult, and even though mine required no test or class (unlike my concealed carry license) I don’t think requiring a sort of written and shooting exam to ensure basic proficiency is that unreasonable. I also think it does nothing to prevent violence. Someome capable of handling a gun well enough to kill people should be able to pass a basic course, and someone who plans their massacre for months is going to laugh at a waiting period. Most of these men have plans and there’s no reason to think they couldn’t just plan to take a course too. So I don’t actively support licensing measures- again because I have no reason to think they’d be effective. When building policy the goal is to do things that work. Not just to do a thing for its own sake.

So the three most common ideas to stop this stuff are both likely to just not be effective and I don’t support them for that reason even BEFORE you consider my ideological oppositions to disarming regular people and leaving cops with tanks. I do think this kind of violence might be better prevented with something like my state has where if you’re under a restraining order (as many men who eventually commit domestic violence are before committing that violence) then a friend or the state is required to hold your guns while you fight it in court. Judicial oversight is critical though- I don’t trust judges but I definitely don’t think anyone should be deprived of a constitutionally guaranteed right with no chance to appeal. It goes a bit further than barring domestic abusers from owning guns- which is ALREADY FEDERAL LAW, the ATF just doesn’t actually enforce that law by searching whether someone just convicted of domestic violence has already bought guns. If you’re just barred from buying more but have 10 in the house, that’s obviously stupid. Oregon has a new law where neighbors and friends can suggest to a judge that you be disarmed, but it doesn’t require the “accused” to even be in court as it’s figured out, which is bullshit. It is a good idea that a judge has to actually look at evidence and make that decision, and that it can be appealed. With any kind of rights revokation I think judicial oversight is a good thing. I also think it's an issue that 12 states don't report well to NICS because the background check system only reads what records it has- and I think we need a law REQUIRING military and law enforcement agencies to report internally investigated affairs that bar someone from owning firearms. The Air Force just quietly slipped 4000 more personnel names to the FBI that it hasn't submitted to it. That has to stop. Cops being domestic abusers (when they abuse at almost 50% higher rates than the general population) should not happen and should not be preventable by internal investigations. Committing a crime that prevents you from owning and using firearms should actually...prevent that. I do not think that law enforcement and military agencies should be able to investigate themselves at all in any capacity anyway in addition to...all the other things I also think about these groups. The Sutherland Springs shooter having been not reported to the FBI, many cops having DV investigations handled internally and still carrying a gun every day, these are ACTUAL loopholes around current law.

I think a lot of people see this stuff and go “Oh my goodness gun violence” and think this is what drives national gun murder numbers. It isn’t. Remember than murders using “assault rifles” account for less than 5% of all gun murders, not even counting other kinds of homicides like stabbing. There is one approach for spree violence- these men all seem to have histories of violence against women as the greatest single common thread between them and I still think addressing that (like with the restraining order law we have here) is the single greatest measure you’ve got, although that requires not just women reporting but women being BELIEVED by judges. If you wanted to actually talk about gun violence in general, you would be talking about handgun murders since they’re the majority of those in the country. But “gun violence” and “spree shootings” are not at all the same phenomenon and don’t really have a single set of solutions between both.

I have no interest in bullshit about mentally ill people being violent- not only are mentally ill people more likely to receive violence than cause it, but someone who plans a massacre and puts peices together, and carries it out, and even escapes after, is not IMPAIRED BEYOND ABILITY TO CARE FOR THEMSELF as is currently the legal threshold for disarmament; somebody who’s depressed (which, it can be depressing world- lots of people are depressed) should also not be stripped of firearms rights without judicial review spurred by someone seeming to be a threat to themself or others; no diagnosis should allow someone to be stripped of a rigjt automatically and anyway I domt want the FBI looking at people’s health records without good cause when there is no diagnosis thst means you’ll murder someone. Plenty of mentally ill people manage not to kill someone every day. Sometimes people are just bad and the goal here is to limit the damage they can do. I don’t have answers but I also don’t pretend to. What I can say is that this kind of behavior displayed by the Parkland shooter (including, my newest CNN alert says, holding people at gunpoint) should be grounds for at least temporary disarmament. I also have no interest in talking about it in terms of “needs,” considering there are all kinds of dangerous things (harder to get than guns but available) that I also don’t need, like an excessively heavy truck or a car that goes over 80 miles an hour or a sword of literallt any kind.

So no, my opinions haven’t changed because I don’t have new information about the efficacy of the measures most people are still calling for. We tried an “assault weapons” ban and it didn’t work when they were 10 times harder to get and twice as expensive and much less commonly owned than they are now. We have no evidence it worked. Whatever we try, it needs to be something other than an ineffective policy that didn’t work under the best conditions for it. Typed this on mobile and may add links later when I can/this probably has some good ole phone typing typos.

[charleajaymedia-blog]

What is the importance of politics in the pop-punk scene? An analysis of Neck Deep’s song ‘Happy Judgement Day’.

Popular Music Culture Research Report - All Appendices available upon request.

INTRODUCTION

The pop-punk scene emerged in the mid-70’s, taking elements from the pop and punk/punk rock genres and fusing them together. Pop-punk particularly took off with success and originated as a scene in the US. This scene took the DIY element of punk, discussed by Dunn (2012), to releasing music. My research into the pop-punk scene aims to explore the social and political statements discussed through the music in this scene, looking into the history of punk and analysing lyrics as case study into modern political issues. Bennett and Peterson (2004) define the concept ‘music scene’ as a “cluster of producers, musicians and fans (that) collectively share their common musical tastes and collectively distinguish themselves from others”. This becomes relevant when discussing in particular, the aesthetic perspective of music scenes covered in this research. The importance of politics is discussed daily in news, print, television etc. Music scenes also have a reach to their audience on the topic of politics, and researching the pop-punk scene is of importance due to its’ strong statements of counter-hegemony and why bands incorporate them into their lyrics.

SECONDARY RESEARCH

Street (1995) draws on key elements that make a local music scene. These are: Industrial Base, Social Experience, Aesthetic Perspective, Political Experience and Community and Scene. I would argue a music scene can begin locally but if successful it eventually it always finds a way to migrate further than its’ origins especially with technological advances making music instantly accessible and shareable.  

Using this approach by Street, the Industrial Base for pop-punk scene in the Midlands includes venues that accommodate to pop-punk gigs such as: O2 Institute, O2 Academy, The Asylum Venue, Rainbow Venues, Barclaycard Arena, Mama Roux’s, The Sunflower Lounge (evidence of this can be seen in appendix 1). Venues such as UPRAWR and The Planet also accommodate for pop-punk themed club nights (evidence of this in appendix 2).

The Social Experience element includes how people experience music, where people experience music and what kind of music you experience.  With the last element being pop-punk music as the answer to ‘what kind of music’ that is being experienced, where people experience this music are the venues named in the industrial base section for concerts and club nights, on radio shows (appendix 3), and with it being available online pop-punk is streamed online through Spotify, YouTube, Soundcloud and purchased as physical copies as CDs, vinyl and cassette (appendix 4) where people can take this music on the go or listen to it from home much like all music today being easily accessible.  

The Aesthetic Perspective element involves how music affects our daily lives, and how we view ourselves in relation to other people and groups. One way of viewing groups of people is through creating subcultures and identities. For example, pop-punk fans are stereotyped as wearing flannel, being ‘skaters’, wearing vans, having body modifications such as tattoos and piercings, loving pizza, hating their hometown, and ‘defending’ pop-punk (appendix 5). As an individual going to many pop-punk gigs and primarily listening to what defined as pop-punk music, I can argue that for this stereotype it’s relatively accurate to the die-hard fans in this music scene. Frith (1996:109) argues that it’s not about the music or performance reflecting the people “but how it produces them”. I think this is an important difference to establish as this point suggests that musics’ aesthetic impact becomes a part of a persons’ identity as an individual and collectively.

The Political Experience of pop-punk goes back to the roots of punk music, one of the most established bands in the punk movement were the Sex Pistols. Their song ‘God Save The Queen’ became an anthem for punk music and was released in 1977. This song was about rebelling against British politics, being a British band, this was a topic they could be seen to have a passion to write and perform about as it impacted them. Moving into the punk rock/pop-punk scene in the 2000s, ‘American Idiot’ by Green Day was released in 2004. The song ‘American Idiot’ is about criticising American politics, specifically around the time of George W. Bushs’ re-election. “We did everything we could to piss people off” said Billie Joe Armstrong, the front man of Green Day (appendix 6). Even as recent as 2016, Green Day performed their song ‘Bang Bang’ at the American music awards and during their performance Billie Joe Armstrong chanted “NO TRUMP, NO KKK, NO FASCIST USA” (appendix 7). Taking this strong stance against the current political state through their music platform sends a message about the culture surrounding the punk rock/pop-punk/alternative rock scene they represent, and what they stand and don’t stand for. Even more recently in February 2017 Green Day performed in Manchester Arena UK, and during their set Billie Joe Armstrong yet again put forward a statement that challenges American politics.

"Tonight is about us sharing this moment together. We don't need any cell phones anymore right now. We don't need news. We don't need Facebook, we don't need Instagram, we don't need any of that shit. Everything outside these doors is all corruption and all negativity. I'll tell you one thing; Donald Trump is not my fucking president., because soon he will be gone. Because we're the freedom, this is what freedom looks like, freedom looks like this in Manchester. Freedom is singing at the top of your lungs. Freedom is passion and love and joy. We will not be divided. We will not be divided. WE WILL NOT BE DIVIDED." - Billie Joe Armstrong, Green Day, 6th February 2017 (appendix 8)

Bringing strong beliefs and opinions about American politics into the UK creates awareness and a joint mentality in the crowd of people in that arena. Media allows people in the UK to interact with American politics and Donald Trump in particular is almost impossible to avoid hearing about. Making a speech and chanting about essentially being anti-trump is praised and accepted in the scene. This suggests the people who listen to Green Days’ music are like-minded that of the band. Not only is the political experience influencing the song writing, but it’s influencing the groups identity, and the fans who follow them.  

With the Sex Pistols, a UK band who wrote about UK politics, Green Day, an American band who write about American politics, there is also currently a crossover which I will be focusing on later on in my research in which American Politics influence pop-punk bands closer to the UK.  

The Community and Scene element draws on how music generates a sense of community in a locality. For example, at a pop-punk gig it is a common practice to mosh and crowd-surf to music. Straw (1991) stated in his definition of a scene “that cultural space in which a range of musical practices coexist […]”. One practice created by a music is dancing. This relates to the political experience as there are politics of dancing such as why people choose to dance vs not to dance, how dancing can articulate class, nationality, ethnicity, age, gender and sexuality. In pop-punk, as I mentioned earlier it is common practice to see a mosh-pit form in the crowd during a performance at a gig. The act of moshing can be perceived as aggressive; from personal experience the mosh pit is a place to release passion in a semi-violent spirit but ultimately, it’s a safe place for people to express their energy through the music. There are ‘unwritten rules’ of the mosh-pit culture to make it enjoyable and safe for everybody involved (summed up in the article in appendix 9).

METHODOLOGY

The methodology I will be using for my research is a textual analysis approach. Textual analysis’ micro-analytical approach will be useful to my research as my object of study is lyrics to a song by pop-punk band Neck Deep titled ‘Happy Judgement Day’ released August 2017 from their album The Peace and The Panic. The aim of this textual analysis is to deconstruct the lyrics and meaning of the song and the messages portrayed through this example of pop-punk music. Alongside this textual analysis I will also be conducting a meta-textual analysis of the music video that accompanies the same song. This is an important element to my research as the meta-textual approach is macro-analytical and offers an opportunity after deconstructing the meaning of the song through a textual analysis, to contextualise it into wider societal problems, my main focus being the political themes of the song. I have chosen this specific song due to it being released as a single before the album release, setting the tone for the entire album, also due to the discussion online surrounding this song and the political themes (appendix 9.1). I think this song is also a good representation of the discussion of UK and US politics in one song. Therefore, I can analyse points of the research question and how US pop-punk has influenced UK pop-punk through this song as a case study.

PRIMARY RESEARCH

The song ‘Happy Judgement Day’ by Neck Deep follows the structure of sounds and forms of the Tin Pan Alley musical repertoire (VCVCBC) (see appendix 10 for full lyrics and music video). The music video is set in an old-style school with separate individual desks that each school kid is sat at looking disinterested, bored, passing notes, doodling the Neck Deep logo (already showing more of an interest in the musical influence than education) and generally just giving the impression of not caring. There is a blackboard, formal uniforms with ties, an old box television which is playing a ‘survival for judgement day’ black and white video, a skeleton, a big world map, and a teachers’ desk. The use of this mise en scène immediately connotes a 50’s/60’s throwback in terms of the era it is portraying. This is important to the theme of the music video and song because of the common practice of the “duck and cover” drills in schools as discussed by Schelbach (2015). This is also demonstrated in the music video of the band members participating in the duck and cover drill by taking cover under school desks, further enforcing the practices of this time period. The 50’s/60’s black and white film imagery has similar imagery to another pop-punk album ‘okay.’ by As It Is (appendix 11). Although the imagery on this album cover is in colour it has a nuclear weapon with the same style of art as ‘The Peace and The Panic’; these albums also have the same influencer Mike Green who did mixing, composition and was an engineer and producer for both.

[Verse 1]

Oh, what a time to be alive! Wake up and smell the dynamite And keep your eyes locked tight to your screen And don't believe everything that you see You'll find, modern life's a catastrophe  

This first verse comes in immediately with a satirical tone, almost angry at the topic of the current social and political climate. “Wake up and smell the dynamite” seems to refer to the saying of “wake up and smell the coffee” which means to open your eyes and have a look around you and become aware of the situations going on. Replacing the word coffee with dynamite suggests the idea that weapons and violence pose a huge threat in society and this needs to be paid attention to. “Don’t believe everything that you see” could refer to the media, in particular, news channels broadcasting particular stories with bias motives, and online where fake articles circulate. There are also many conspiracy theories involving politics and media, such as:

The Manchester Arena attack and how it was a false flag operation to distract from Theresa Mays’ negative media attention.  

The 9/11 attack and how George W. Bush organised it. This conspiracy in particular has been turned into a well-known meme and even directly referenced to in other music genres such as Skrillex and Diplos’ ‘Where Are U Now’ ft. Justin Bieber (appendix 12). At 1:40 the freeze frame shows a sketch saying ‘Bush Did 9/11’.

The line “don’t believe everything that you see” could be perceived as a nod towards political conspiracies such as these, and could be applied to more recent ones such as the Vegas shooting etc.  

[Chorus]

Is it just me or does anyone else feel like this could be farewell? Oh, we almost had it Then we pissed it all away Building walls, dropping bombs Stop the world, I'm getting off Oh, we almost had it Never thought I'd see the day When the world went up in flames When the world went up in flames

The chorus being the part of the song that is repeated several times, like all other songs it has the main message and theme explored as the focus. The first line of the chorus begins with a rhetorical question which creates an effect of unity speaking to its’ listeners; almost like Barlow (the vocalist) is singing with a tone of desperation or disbelief at present day political issues, particularly a nod towards “building walls, dropping bombs” which seems to be a direct link to current American politics and President Donald Trump and his plans for building a border wall between the US and Mexico. While having a lot of American politically driven lyrics, “Oh, we almost had it then we pissed it all away” could be referring to the Brexit vote. On Neck Deeps’ twitter account the day before the Brexit vote they hinted towards voting to remain in the EU (appendix 13). After this referendum resulted in the UK leaving the EU 51.89% to 48.11% these lyrics “we almost had it” has a significant relation to this UK related political issue. “Stop the world I’m getting off” and “Never thought I’d see the day when the world went up in flames” suggest a corrupted, messed up world that Barlow doesn’t want to be a part of. A lot of fans also seem to relate to these lyrics as they have tattoos depicting a world being destructed (appendix 14).

[Verse 2]

We all worship celebrities, desperate for an identity But cigarettes and MDMA don't give you substance You don't think about what you say 'Cause your mouth is bigger than your brain It's a shame, so fake and you're all the same

The second verse seems to steer more towards commentary on the current state of society, particularly idolising celebrities more than we should, wanting to belong to certain social groups and identify a certain way to other people, much like a school kid mentality which links to the meta-text of the music video which is set in an old dated school environment. This environment could be a relating visual to how ‘old-school’ the education system is when it comes to teaching about important political issues, which is also further backed up by the cuts to the ‘teacher’ in the video falling asleep and the lack of care while kids are focusing on “cigarettes and MDMA” more than these important issues that impact their future. There is a running theme through the video in which Barlow is sat at the teachers’ desk singing these lyrics, further implying the idea that this music could even be doing a better job at making these pupils at schools aware of current social and political issues than the education system, as Neck Deeps’ audience varies from about 14 to mid-30s (speaking from personal experience of observing others at their gigs and interacting with fans online). Substance abuse is also a problem in wider society so this could be a polysemic meaning. “It’s a shame, so fake and you’re all the same” is also a line that can be seen as a dig towards politicians. In the media politicians are often being slammed for being liars and hypocrites (appendix 15).

[Bridge]

There's a black cat up in the windows of Parliament There's a man in the back of a black cab, talking about the good days When it all went up in flames Happy Judgement Day It all went up in flames Happy Judgement Day

The reference to a “black cat” is often linked with superstition and bad luck. In the windows of parliament this suggests what is happening in the UK (most likely the Brexit decision) is only going to result in something bad. ‘Judgement Day’ is a religious term used by Christians to determine the day the world ends and whether you go to heaven or hell. Barlow is insinuating the end of the world, going up in flames, because of all these poor decisions being made by governments. This point is also further portrayed by the globe prop in the music video being set on fire. The bridge of the song is combined with the part of the music video where the bored school kids decide to ‘rebel’ and join the band jumping around, throwing around paperwork etc. This could be seen as a metaphor for joining the pop-punk, anti-establishmentarianism movement in which they disapprove of corrupt and unjust political power.  

The overall tone of the music video uses black and white, slightly grainy film editing for the ‘survival of judgement day’ video, and a muted, dull colour and tone for the scenes in the school. This bland setting once again connotes the dull education system, and could be suggesting a commentary on todays’ education and politics and how nothing is changing by releasing a video in 2017 set in the 50s/60s and making the connections of how similar things seem to be. The lyrics combined with the video enforce this idea of being angry at watching the world “go up in flames” which is the definitive message of this song.  

CONCLUSION  

Overall, the combination of primary and secondary research uses examples of US and UK punk/punk rock and pop-punk, and the merging of both countries’ political issues as influences. Comparing the scenes, pop-punk derives from the punk/punk rock community which has a defining element of anti-establishment disposition (Dunn 2008:197). Although Dunn discusses punk rock politics and the “healthy resistance to dominant forces” and counter-hegemony, this has migrated into pop-punk as this scene originates from punk and punk rock. He also suggests the idea that the opposition to social norms and dominant forces is conveyed not just in the lyrics but in the punk scene as an entirety. I agree with this to a certain extent, as this angst exists in the pop-punk scene. However, the moshing, rebellious, anti-establishment tone has to exist with a drive and passion behind it. This being the topic of the lyrics. These are after all, the words people yell along with and get tattooed, why would they do this if the lyrics didn’t mean something to them? The analysis of these lyrics has strong UK and US political themes, that can’t be denied, but also a tone of sarcasm and generally just being fed up which can be related to by many even if their passion isn’t completely political.  

Applying this to a wider societal context, pop-punk has a relatively young demographic as an audience. A lot of things in common with young people is that whether they live in the UK or US, is that they hate Donald Trump and everything he stands for. This particular song analyses the ridiculousness of this presidents’ position of power, and the Green Day performance mentioned earlier not-so-subtly bashes Donald Trump. There was also an incident at one of Neck Deeps’ shows this year in Nottingham Rock City where violence broke out between the band and crowd vs security at the show (appendix 16). The crowd then proceeded to chant “OH JEREMY CORBYN” after the band left the stage (as shown on the setlist in appendix 17). This political chant for the Labour leader originated to show support for his party during the election. One thing also in common with young people is that a lot of them seemed to show support Jeremy Corbyn, with more than half of young adults voting for Labour (appendix 18). This election was also the highest vote proportion of 18-24 year olds in 25 years (according to Sky News data – appendix 19). Obviously, all of these voters aren’t pop-punk fans, but it opens up the idea of music (even beyond the punk scenes and subcultures) having a bigger political impact on its’ audiences than perhaps realised. These words have power and influence on world issues, with people repeating these songs, learning the lyrics and singing along at gigs. Spreading a message within the community and encouraging people to pay attention to not only their own countries political issues but worldwide issues could be argued as the importance of politics in the pop-punk scene.  

Bibliography

Bennett, A  Peterson, R A (2004) Music scenes: local, translocal and virtual  

Dunn, K (2012) “If It Ain’t Cheap, It Ain’t Punk”: Walter Benjamin’s Progressive Cultural Production and DIY Punk Record Labels. Journal of Popular Music Studies.

Dunn, K (2008:197) Never mind the bollocks: the punk rock politics and global communication

Frith, S (1996:109) Music and Identity in Questions of Cultural Identity (1996)

Schelbach, M (2015:2) Atomics in the Classroom: Teaching the Bomb in the Early Postwar Era

Straw, W (1991) Communities and Scenes in Popular Music  

Street, J (1995) (Dis)located? Rhetoric, Politics, Meaning and the Locality

Appendices available upon request

[douchebagbrainwaves]

WHAT MICROSOFT IS THIS THE LADDER

You often can't tell yourself. And for programmers the paradox is even more pronounced: the language to learn, if you get bored halfway through and start making the bricks mechanically instead of observing each one, the drawing will look worse than if you had merely suggested the bricks. So why did I need it? You'd think that would work for any kind of taste. And in retrospect, it was crap. Though strictly speaking World War II was an extreme case of this. Some switched from meat loaf to tofu, and others by playing zero-sum games.

So you spread rapidly through all the colleges. Strange as it sounds, that's the real recipe. Although empirically you're better off using the organic strategy, you could succeed this way. Some of the very best ideas. The discoverer is entitled to reply, why didn't you? A lot of startups have that form: someone comes along and makes something for a group that doesn't include you, it tends to be a bit smarter to dominate Internet search than you had to be suitable for everyone. It's hard to trick professors into letting you into grad school.

What would they like to do it for free, in their spare time, and take day jobs as waiters to support themselves? It would seem a misnomer if someone said they were very determined to do something trivially easy. And the flattening effect wasn't limited to those under arms, because the main cost in software startups is people. Sometimes you need an idea now. We had a page in our site trying to talk merchants out of doing real time authorizations. You might also want to look at the employment agreement you sign when you get hired.1 This turns out to be big like Microsoft.

The founders of Kiko, for example. All parents tend to be more interesting than one without. Serious applications like databases are often trivial and dull technically if you ever suffer from insomnia, try reading the technical literature about databases while frivolous applications like games are often very sophisticated.2 Plus if you find someone else working on the same thing, they got it at the same time, as their next door neighbors.3 Often they care a lot about their pets and spend a lot of email, or because they saw a movie star with one in a magazine, or because it's hard to imagine anything more fun to work on certain things. Several well-known startups began this way. Prestige is the opinion of anyone beyond your friends. Good design is often daring.4 Working from life is that it lets you jump over obstacles. That form of fragmentation, like the others, is here to stay.5 Any really good new idea will seem bad to most people; otherwise someone would already be doing it.

If there is such a thing. It could be because it's beautiful, or because they know VCs aren't interested in such small deals. So what less ambitious professors do is turn off the filters that usually prevent you from seeing them. But if opinion is divided in such discussions, the side that knows it would lose in a vote will tend to err on the side of money.6 For most of the great advantage of school: the wealth of co-founders. Good design is timeless. If you just start doing stuff for them, so that is a good idea to Mark Zuckerberg as because he used computers so much. I used to think the good ones, at least now, the reason Google survived to become a good hacker? Math would happen without math departments, but it would work for any kind of work ends up being done by people who don't understand it.

Like a lot of schleps, you'll still have plenty dealing with investors, hiring and firing people, and I suspect the human brain is just as lumpy and idiosyncratic as the human body. But if you're living in the future had few fonts and they weren't antialiased. I'm in debt. If you're at the leading edge of a rapidly changing field, you don't even notice an idea unless it's evidence that something is worth doing, you're more likely to be right than original. And as the Duplo world of a few giant companies dominating each big market. She assumed the problem was one that needed to be solved though. For example, thinking about getting a job will make you happiest over some longer period, like a well.7 VCs are driven by consensus, not just within their firms, but within the VC community. Some of the smartest people around you are professors. I'm old enough to remember that era; the usual term for people with their own microcomputers was hobbyists. I would never use this. Or is it just something nice?

It's a matter of pride, and a pretty striking example it is. This one may not always be true. The main reason they all acted as if they enjoyed their work was presumably the upper-middle class tradition comes from.8 Look around you and see what the smart people seem to be working for them. The purchase price is just the beginning. Not only was this work not for a class, but because it didn't seem ambitious enough. When I told the fearsome Professor Conway that I was interested in AI a hot topic then, he told me I could be whatever I wanted when I grew up, the ambitious plan was to get lots of education at prestigious institutions, and then gradually refine this initial sketch.9 There is something to this tradition, and not just because you don't have to force yourself to do it well. It all evened out in the end, wow, this is a bit of a fib. A lot of them try to make relativity strange. But if your job is to design things, and sometimes it's a sign of laziness.10

Which inevitably, if unions had been doing their job tended to be asymmetric about major axes, though; there were hundreds of minor symmetries. Be ruthlessly mercenary when you start doing this though: you're trying to see things that are obvious, and yet that you hadn't seen. It depends on what the meaning of is is. And the best paying jobs are most dangerous, because they didn't have materials or power sources light enough the Wrights' engine weighed 152 lbs.11 The market doesn't give a shit how hard you worked.12 People who didn't care much for religion felt less pressure to go to grad school, you'll find valuable ones just sitting there waiting to be implemented. The alarming thing is, the mistakes that produce these regrets are all errors of omission. In Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Robert Pirsig says: You want to know how to solve it. Why not start a startup with someone you like, and that's frightening. Yuppies were young professionals who made lots of money? Business schools like to talk about startups, but philosophically they're at the opposite end of the year I couldn't even remember what else I had stored in that attic.

Notes

It did.

IBM is the only significant channel was our own, like speculators, that all metaphysics between Aristotle and 1783 had been raised religious and then a block or so, even if it's dismissed, it's not inconceivable they were forced to stop, the average car restoration you probably do make everyone else microscopically poorer, by decreasing the difference is that we're not.

So by agreeing to uncapped notes, VCs who understood the vacation rental business, A.

Com of their upbringing in their experiences came not with the exception of the VCs buy, because those are the most part and you start to spread from.

Parents move to suburbs to raise five million dollars in liquid assets are assumed to be important ones.

Sam Altman points out that this was the capital of Silicon Valley. But a couple hundred years ago it would have expected them to lose elections. I apologize to anyone who has them manages to find the right to do this with prices too, and that you decide the price, and earns the right to do some research online. Another advantage of startups that are hard to predict precisely what would our competitors had known we were working on such an idea is bad.

Become increasingly easy to get the people working for me do more than half of 2004, as accurate to call the Metaphysics came after meta after the first question is not economic inequality is a fine sentence, but for a reason. If a company they'd pay a premium for you, however, is not always as deliberate as its sounds.

There are people whose applications are perfect in every way, I mean forum in the same reason 1980s-style knowledge representation could never have come to you as employees by buying good programmers instead of bookmarking. Does anyone really think we're as open as one could do as some European countries have done well if they'd survived. Who is being put through an internal process in their early twenties. Acquirers can be times when what you're doing.

It's probably inevitable that philosophy will suffer by comparison, because spam and legitimate mail volume both have distinct daily patterns. Turn on rice cooker.

17. I think the reason the founders lots of potential winners, which made it to colleagues. According to Michael Lind, when they say that it might seem, because the processing power you can eliminate, do not try too hard to erase from a company's culture. It was revoltingly familiar to slip back into it.

Even now it's hard to think of ourselves as investors, but I'm not sure. Two possible and not least, as accurate to call you about an A round. Some, like speculators, that probably doesn't make A more accurate predictor of low salaries as the cause. Give the founders of Google to do it well enough to be redeveloped as a process.

The knowledge whose utility drops sharply as soon as no one trusts that.

Thanks to Robert Morris, Rajat Suri, Sam Altman, Trevor Blackwell, Geoff Ralston, Paul Buchheit, and Jessica Livingston for inviting me to speak.