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homestuckreplay · 23 days ago

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✨ EOA4 – Character Opinions ✨

There’s SO many characters in this story now!! And to be honest, they’re all fun to read about. Even the ones I don’t like at all are adding something to the story, so I wouldn’t write them out or anything. This is just for fun, to see if and how my opinions are changing over time. <3

Love

Vodka Mutini – 🥺🥺

Peregrine Mendicant – LIBERTY. REASON. JUSTICE. CIVILITY. EDIFICATION. MAIL!!!! if PM has no fans then I am dead, and every panel she's in makes me love her more. yessss girl keep your oath even when you're bloody and jaded and your passion is gone. toss away your promise of nonviolence and lose defining parts of yourself in the completion of your quest and then feel nothing when it's finally done. I LIVE for this shit

Rose Lalonde – The second she picked up those dark wands and started blasting, Rose overtook John as my favorite beta kid. She's the only one who's skeptical of Skaia's intentions, the only one who'll take the consequences of breaking the rules over those of following them. I also love her writing style even/especially when it's way too pretentious, and her GameFAQs are a highlight of the whole comic.

John Egbert – A favorite since page 1 (not that he had loads of competition back then) and still a top tier incredible character. So much is happening to him that he simply doesn't have the ability to process, and when he gets to take a break for more than a few minutes, he's gonna need serious therapy. But for now, he keeps hilariously pranking CG, holding onto his favorite movies and identifying with their equally out of their depth protagonists to keep himself sane, and adopting children of various species. Plus he has the prettiest Sburb land.

Wayward Vagabond – I loved WV before we got his backstory and I love him more after. There's nothing like a little guy who rises up against overwhelming odds, one who isn't innately 'chosen' or special, but makes himself so through sheer belief in the cause. he's extremely Problem Sleuth coded (the guy, not the comic) in his almost defeating the king through nothing but his glowing personal charm. I for one would follow his cause.

All Salamanders – Shoutout to Casey, Crumplehat and the Secret Wizard especially. I’ll never forget you.

Jack Noir – COOL AS FUCK VILLAIN!! I like when a villain feels genuinely dangerous and unpredictable, but without being a completely chaotic monster. There are strong suggestions that Jack is in control of his actions and has a motivation that’s being hidden from the audience, and I can’t wait to find out what it is. His totally disproportionate responses to fairly minor requests make him fun to watch, and there’s something compelling about him being in theory capable of this in all sessions, but only ascending in the kids’.

grimAuxiliatrix – The most likeable troll for me by a long way. The way she's similar to Rose yet different and the way they're both trying to be the smartest in the room is compelling every time. Her strategy of sending Rose the transcript of their first conversation (from her perspective) so that Rose would agonize over how to copy it was a genius strategy and totally won me over, I can't wait for more of her.

carcinoGeneticist – The most helpful and informative of the trolls (perhaps against his will), CG and John have an incredible dynamic going where CG tries to be mean to John and fails, and John successfully pulls off pranks on CG that are harmless and not at all meanspirited. CG could stand to get some better taste in movies and appreciate whimsy, but, his reluctant and angry sharing of information is always fun to read.

Jade Harley – She has always been a lot of fun, and as tragic as the end of act 4 was for her, I actually think it's gonna make her more interesting as a character. My biggest complaint has been her lack of problems to overcome or purpose in her story relative to the other kids, and now that she has the significant handicap of no longer relying on visions from her dreams, I'm so excited to see where her story will go next.

Dave Strider – ok, I like Dave now. Tentatively, and no guarantee it’ll stay that way, but I do. He’s going through new and different hard times, meeting his more mature future self, experiencing life without his shitty bro, seeing his own dead body, getting out-trolled for the first time, and I actually feel bad for him. He’s still kind of an asshole, but he’s stepped into his role as the Knight of Time very quickly and is actually trying to do good with his powers, like trying to stop DD from stealing the MEOW journals. I have nothing but respect for someone who tries to grow and be better.

Davesprite, Jaspersprite, Nannasprite – Spritelogs are few and far between unfortunately, but I’m always excited to hear from any of these guys. I think the tension between ‘character who is close to and genuinely wants to help the kids’ + ‘will of Skaia trying to stop that character from helping the kids’ + ‘secret third element like a bird or clown that noticeably alters behavior’ is absolutely fascinating, and there’s room for the sprites to be explored WAY more.

Ms. Paint – Every day I am grateful for her taking me on these wonderful adventures.

Mixed/Uncertain

Courtyard Droll, Draconian Dignitary, Hegemonic Brute – I like the Midnight Crew’s dynamic a lot, but the stakes feel much higher when they’re working against characters I care about instead of a bunch of green goons who only appear in an intermission. Because they’re minor characters who are more defined by working for Jack than having their own stories, I don’t find them as compelling ad Jack himself, but I enjoyed the Intermission enough that I don’t have it in me to dislike them.

Aimless Renegade – Look, I don’t support cops. I do think it’s good that AR is willing to criticize high level agents in his own society. I also think it’s good that he’s now trying to cooperate with the other exiles. I think it’s bad that he wields weapons of mass destruction without knowing how to use them. I think it’s bad that he tried to kill WV and PM on first meeting. I don’t really know how to feel about him. But he looks sick as fuck in that caution tape.

twinArmageddons – In his one Act 4 chatlog he seems like a misanthropic, impatient jackass who makes tasteless analogies. So I shouldn’t like him at all. And yet he compels me a little bit. Maybe it’s the 3d glasses with stars sparkling inside, maybe it’s his weird prophecies of death, or maybe I just agree with John that hackers are cool, but I want to see more from TA.

Becquerel – He’s extremely powerful, was created by the generally antagonistic Midnight Crew, is feared even by the gods of the Furthest Ring, and has spent years stopping Jade from entering Skaia’s mystic ruins. He could accomplish something pretty gamebreaking, but I have no idea what, or to what end. A major unknown element who’s set up to be important moving forwards, with no real hint as to what side he’s on if any.

AH – In universe he’s literally writing the story, and I’d like him to keep doing that cause it’s really good. But he is kind of a misanthropic dick who’s not especially kind to his readers. I can’t blame him for wanting to stay out of the comic, but he is here, and arguably has even more power than Becquerel should he ever choose to wield it. Another very unknown element, with greater potential than Bec of being influenced by real world readers.

Gods of the Furthest Ring – hey, what’s their deal? I gotta be honest, even though we know next to nothing about what these gods want or what their end goal is, if you asked me right now to pick a side, I would trust these gods more than I trust Skaia. At least the gods don’t try to pretend they’re a force of pure good, you know?

Dislike

White Queen – “JUST WALK OUT, you can leave!!! work, social thing, movies, war, palace, dentist, position as monarch, too fancy weed store, jack noir if your quick, skaian battle ships, IF IT SUCKS… HIT DA BRICKS!!! real winners quit” – the white queen probably

Skaia – An entity that destroys countless planets and civilizations across paradox space just to save itself, allows countless soldiers to be engineered for both sides of a war despite the outcome being known in advance, takes groups of children and controls every waking moment of their entire lives and puts them through severe trauma, and is allowed to see and know all while refusing to reveal its own purpose? And we’re supposed to fight on the side that protects this thing and allows it to propagate? Not on my watch. I’m not sure there is any revelation that could compel me to be pro-Skaia but given that we don’t know what the Ultimate Riddle is yet, I’m keeping this in ‘dislike’ instead of ‘hate’, because I know there’s big things still to learn.

Mom, Dad, Grandpa – Maybe controversial but I just don’t like the guardians, in general. I think their role in the story is interesting, and in some ways, they’re more mysterious even than Jack and Bec. But I don’t think any one of them has done a good job emotionally connecting with their child or preparing them for life’s challenges. Grandpa’s currently more focused on the dead version of Jade than the living, and Mom and Dad are, what, going on a date while their kids are in peril??

adiosToreador – upon rereading his conversations I really struggle to like this guy. He definitely has a hard time socially and I can relate to that so I want to like him, but, he makes it so hard. I can excuse how he talks to Dave, but Rose and Jade try to actually engage with him and he still comes across badly with them. If I ever have to read the phrase ‘DOPE SMACKED, TRINKED OUT, SMOTHER FUDGING, tROLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL’ again I’m gonna do some sort of acrobatic fucking pirouette off the handle.

gallowsCalibrator – Of all the trolls I’m the most suspicious of her, and I don’t think she’s sorry for any of the harm she’s caused to the kids. She’s absolutely willing to entertain herself at the expense of other people, whether that’s literally getting John killed, or making fun of Dave when he’s in a vulnerable moment. If the timeline can be changed, she’d do it in a way that benefits her and the trolls and completely screws over the kids, no questions asked.

Hate

Bro Strider – What, this fucker thinks he can show up, slice a meteor in two and fight phase 1 of a boss battle and I’m gonna forgive him for child abuse? Not fucking likely. Those 24 hours baby Dave spent in a crater before Bro bothered to go get him was probably the best day of Dave’s life actually.

Lil Cal – He remains bad to look at.

#homestuck #eoa4 #milestone #ooc in tags #before this project started i made a short list of my absolute fav homestuck characters #(no particular target number but i ended up with 7 and could Not narrow down further)#from acts 1-4 John Dave and WV all made the list #doing this project that has changed to John Rose and PM as my clear top 3 from these acts #big shifts but my love for john egbert is eternal <3 #chrono

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hotfuss · 9 months ago

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rolling stone france september 2021

edit: translation now available thanks to the wonderful @likemonstersinlove!

- INTERVIEW -

THE KILLERS

America afterwards

DEEP DIVE INTO THE KILLERS’ AMERICA

Pressure machine depicts the daily life of a small american town in a springsteenian style deftly taken on by their singer, Brandon Flowers. The band tell of their reunion with guitarist Dave Keuning and consider their return to the scene with prudence.

At the onset of the pandemic, when it became obvious that the Killers 2020 tour would not happen, Brandon Flowers started thinking back to his childhood spent in the small isolated town of Nephi, Utah. “There was a nostalgia in the air and a little bit of sadness too, " says the singer, "all those stories resurfaced as I was thinking back to the place where I was in the 90s.”

These “stories” make up the fertile ground for the Killers’ new opus, Pressure Machine, released August 13th, a concept album about life in Nephi told from the point of view of several of the town’s inhabitants, that broaches varied topics: [from] prescription drug abuse to poverty, by way of criminality, drugs, homophobia and depression. Despite the dark tone of the record, there are strokes of hope and joy sprinkled along the album.

“When I was writing these songs, I was thinking among other things of Sherwood Anderson’s Winesburg, Ohio, or of John Steinbeck’s The Pastures of heaven, says Flowers, where multiple short stories all take place in the same setting. For some reason, I dared to try it myself. Once I realised they were going to take place here and they would be true stories, everything became obvious to us.”

Brandon Flowers wrote the lyrics before the music was composed, scattering pictures of Nephi around his [computer] keyboard to get inspiration. When they were ready, the band gathered in their studio in Cotati, California, with producers Jonathan Rado and Shawn Everett,

|| “BRANDON FLOWERS WROTE THE LYRICS BEFORE THE MUSIC WAS COMPOSED, SCATTERING PICTURES OF NEPHI AROUND HIS KEYBOARD TO GET INSPIRATION.”||

the same team who worked on Imploding the Mirage the year prior. It was early 2020, at the beginning of the pandemic. “It was hard, says Flowers, Shawn has a penchant for hypochondria. He would wear glasses, a protective visor, and three masks in the studio. It was crazy. The bassist Marl [Stoermer] also had a hard time, and he could not get into the studio. But we would wear masks as well and get tested regularly. We were quite diligent.”

The album opens with “West Hills”, which tells the story of a desperate Nephi townie who gets arrested for “oxy” possession. “They got me for possession of them hillbilly heroin pills enough to kill the horses that run free in the west hills”, sings Flowers. The record turns even darker with “Terrible Thing”, which focuses on a gay teenager contemplating suicide. “There were kids I grew up with and only discovered years later that they were gay, recalls Flowers, it must have been so hard on them. I think the world is progressing in a more positive and more inclusive direction, but it was still the 90s and people would keep such things to themselves.”

Most of the songs are pulled from Flowers’ own memories in Nephi or things he read these past few years, but in “Desperate Things”, he chose to write the fictional story of a cop falling in love with a victim of domestic violence and ends up murdering her husband. It’s a story that would have easily found its place in Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska, and that is unlike any other song from the Killers’ repertoire.

“I chose a story that caused a scandal in town when I lived there, and I took a few liberties in the third verse to turn it into a murderous ballad, explains Flowers. In a typical pop or rock song, there are only two verses. It’s only when you start looking into Springsteen and [John] Prine, for example, that you find a third or fourth verse. But it only serves to flesh out a story.”

“In Another Life” and “In The Car Outside” linger over disappointed dreams and bitter regrets of middle age, but the album ends on a true hope with “The Getting By”. “But maybe it's the stuff it takes to get up in the morning and put another day in, son that holds you 'til the getting's good…”

The album includes appearances from Joe Pug, Sara Watkins and Phoebe Bridgers, and marks the return of the Killers guitarist Dave Keuning. He did not take part in Imploding the Mirage or the last tours because of personal problems and the exhaustion from the long years spent on the roads. He was not involved in the entire creative process, but “In The Car Outside” and “A Pressure Machine” both start off on his guitar lines, and he plays on other songs from the album. “It was cool that he came back, declares drummer Ronnie Vannucci Jr. You always realise what someone brings to the table the moment he comes into or out fo a room. It was nice to have his input again in the studio. We’ve been playing together for about 20 years. It felt good.”

They had almost finished recording when they decided to send an NPR employee to Nephi to record interviews with the inhabitants. He came back with incredibly personal stories, so lively that the band decided to open each song on the album with excerpts from those recordings. “We were right in the mastering phase, but to us, it was the last ingredient we needed to complete the project," says Vannucci. It gave us a better grounding in reality than our interpretations through songs and music… They were people with their accents and their stories. It’s what allowed us to put the project together and strengthen it.”

The band gave a virtual concert at the end of June for the Splendour in the Grass festival in Australia, with Keuning and Stoermer back on stage with the band for the first time in years, but they aren’t planning to launch an official tour before next March when they go to New Zealand. They will perform in North America in August 2022. But first, they performed on August 21st at the We Love NYC concert in Central Park, along with Bruce Springsteen, Paul Simon, LL Cool J, Elvis Costello and many others.

They will also be playing the Firefly Festival in Delaware on September 24th, and the Sandjam Music Festival in Florida at the beginning of October. For now, according to the band, Keuning is planning to join them on the road, but Stoermer will stay home. Tour bassist Jake Blanton will take his place again.

“We will play a trial concert in Terminal 5 [in New York] before the Central Park concert, " declares Flowers. We’ve had incredible concerts at Terminal 5. I cannot stop thinking about the song we’re gonna open the set with. I hope I’ll keep my cool. Playing live is a part of our identity and it’s something that we missed, this connection to the people of this community.”

Many bands are currently on the road, including Dave Matthews Band, Phish, and Green Day, but the Killers are being very careful by accepting no major concert as headline act before 2022. “We don’t want to be a band that spreads Covid or the K variant, " explains Vannucci. There are a lot of unknowns related to touring and questions of responsibility. And just out of respect for the people and so that everyone stays healthy, we wanted to remain prudent in that regard and not jump the gun too fast.”

Even if they will have two full albums filled with songs they have never played live when they get back on the road, they’re already considering another record. The band is at the very early stages of conception. “We had meetings for a week in San Diego notlong ago, at Dave’s, says Flowers. We were together the four of us, it was the first time we were doing that in years. But we must rehearse in January for the tour. I don’t know if we’ll find the time [to finish another album], but we will certainly meet again before Christmas.”

In the meantime, Flowers is eager to share Pressure Machine with the world. And working on the album finally gave him the opportunity to see Nephi in a very different light. “When I was a teenager, I wanted to leave. It’s only way later that I developed a better understanding and another view of this town’s beauty. I was so free there. People didn’t even need to lock their doors. I had a different upbringing there. I can appreciate that now.”

captions:

page 4

GLITTER

On stage, Brandon likes to call to mind his hometown of Las Vegas, Sin City. And has great fun with it. Here at the Bonaroo festival in 2018.

page 6

MEMORY

The Killers spent the lockdown recording their new concept album.

#the killers #brandon flowers #ronnie vannucci #dave keuning #pressure machine #pm era #tk interview #rolling stone #i know it's missing one pic but it's the same as the cover i'm letting it slide for this time #my stuff #rolling stone magazine #translated interview

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