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youshouldbemanic · 5 years ago

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MANIC TRACK CLAIM

It’s been a week since Manic and I wanted to get this up a few days ago so I’m just going to post the track claims I have received

Reviews and reactions of Manic ✨

ASHLEY: ok so I really liked ashley especially as an opening track because it deals with a subject that's tricky for both halsey and fans; when fame becomes too tough or if halsey falls out of love with it, what will happen? i really liked the lyrics, especially the line about bursting into flames, because a lot of people can identify with that feeling. I loved the sound of the song, the production was so good!! it's one of my top favs from the album :) - @halseylockscreens

CLEMENTINE: "Clementine" exemplifies so much of what makes Manic interesting - the lyrics are sad and introspective, while the tone is playful and almost whimsical. It's inspires nostalgia and hope all at once. The way Halsey embraces the contradictions in herself - not needing anyone, but also needing everyone - is something that so many people, myself included, can relate to. It's sweet, sharp, and cathartic - especially the final "and then some" she belts in the background. It's in my top five for Manic! - @manic-nightmare

GRAVEYARD: I’ve said it before but Graveyard was the song that I heard and knew that this would be my favorite album. I think the use of guitars in the album is really pretty and really sells that it’s Ashley. Halsey singles are usually fast past and flashy but Graveyard feel so personal. Even the upbeat parts remind me of a heart beat after running for a while and you’re trying to catch your breath. The first time I heard it I thought that it was about G-eazy and abusive relationships but the more I listen to it and the music video makes me think it’s also about her relationship with herself. Ashely and Halsey are two different people Halsey represents all the bad and good of mental illness she’s loud,speaks her mind,gets angry, she feels everything so intensely and Ashley is in the background trying to keep up. The gasp is one of my favorite parts of the whole song, one thing she’s always done and has perfected on this album is whispers/talking in songs that makes it feel like she’s talking to you. I think I love Halsey so much because a lot of her songs feel like a friend telling you all their secrets and thoughts.- @leocaitelin

YOU SHOULD BE SAD: You Should Be Sad is a very strong fourth track on Manic with a country influence to what is an angry pop song. Lyrically, the song has a nice flow to it that is complimented by the upbeat guitar. As Halsey stated in a tweet this is the “after he cheats” song; as she looks back at her relationship with an ex. Sure, this is not the poppunk song we all expected from the original snippet of the bridge that is “hey hey hey hey” and not “yeah yeah yeah yeah” but the anger soaks through her lyrics and into her words that it coats how you feel. By the end the song becomes sad, almost remorseful and finishes with a soft harmony. All in all, not a bad song.- @hunterthewriterworld

FOREVER...(IS A LONG TIME): Let me tell you right now that even though this isn’t in my top tracks of the album, I was destined to claim it as my track simply because of the rain sounds in the background... rain is my favourite thing and the second I heard it I knew it was a sign. I love how it starts sounding all cute and then at the ‘just right’ part it sounds like doubt is starting to creep into her mind and then the song takes a complete turn. I think Forever... is one of the most interesting songs on the album and I love how it goes into Dominic’s interlude! - @youshouldbemanic

I HATE EVERYBODY: Alright “I Hate Everybody” is so fucking good musically and lyrically speaking. This one blew our minds because halsey is so fucking honest about how she let someone elses opinion about her have a bigger impact or effect on her than just being enough on her own. She´s so self reflective on her behavior in this song it´s almost as if she´s discussing it to get a clear pattern or picture about it for herself - she´s analyzing her previous behavior to state the point that SHE is important - not anyone else in this context. There seems to be a shift in her self perception. We immediately fell in love with this song because it is so relatable in our opinion. We immediately understood that feeling and could relate to it in some way or another. This song kinda feels like sitting down with halsey to talk about what is going on superficially speaking and then internally speaking because both those aspects often differ a lot from each other (e.g. how your friends, your partner etc. sees you or thinks you´re feeling vs. what is going on inside your head). We also loooove how the music is pretty tender and it seems as if the persona halsey is kind of telling a story very calmly and then when it comes to the chorus it seems as if ashley is coming through - this is when the music and the lyrics become more dynamic in a way. And we don´t know if it´s just our perception but we love how the music is giving the song a kind of sarcastic tone that adds to halsey´s criticism of herself. -@twinzmoon

WITHOUT ME: I've seen a lot of people say that they are tired of this song. That it came out too long ago. That it doesn't belong on Manic, etc. I get it, but I don't agree. I will say that I love the live performances of this song better than the album version. I think more emotion and more pain come out in her vocals when she sings this live. Most of the lyrics are talking about helping and supporting the other person and only a little about the hurt and anger of being betrayed. It's what goes along with that, what goes on in your head after being cheated on that gives this song a place on Manic. Having been cheated on myself in a previous relationship, I feel all of that extra, unstated in the lyrics turmoil everytime I hear this song. The why wasn't I enough? What did I do or not do that they needed someone else? Am I lacking something that they needed? Is it something about the way I look? The way I act? The way I talk? The self doubt, self loathing and distrust when you start a new relationship. I got lucky and I have a wonderful, amazing girlfriend now, but it's taken me a while to be able to trust in this relationship after being cheated on in the previous one. I both love and hate this song. I love it because maybe not in the exact way, but I've had this happen to me. I got through it and I'm in a better place now. I hate it because I feel all of the confusion, anger, doubt and self loathing everytime I hear it. Either way, it's a powerful, emotional song. - @anf-stuff

KILLING BOYS: I had to listen to this song a few times through before I was truly able to appreciate it, mostly because it wasn't really what I was expecting. With the title "killing boys," and the obvious allusion to the movie Jennifer's Body, I guess I was expecting something angrier, more violent and aggressive, maybe more "Nightmare"-esque. And there's definitely a lot of anger in there, but it's not so loud and hostile and combative; it's all tempered by this kind of reflective, retrospective, "over it" attitude that you see throughout the album. She describes these bitter and vengeful actions like kicking in doors and keying cars and breaking windows in the verses, but they're all followed by a lot of "not anymores" and "never agains" in the chorus. And even the music itself gives the same effect; the whole song has that kickass percussion running under it, but the melodies aren't very harsh, and her voice is soft and almost somber. I love this song because I feel like this is the song on the album that fully embodies, both lyrically and musically, what Ashley said about setting out to write "dark and angry" music and realizing she simply wasn't angry anymore. -@gaygirlslove1d

SUGA’S INTERLUDE: I have to admit that I kinda put this song aside for a little while. I only listened to this song once when it was first released. It was released the same day as Finally // Beautiful Stranger and I was a little obsessed with that song. Obsessed enough to change the words a little so I could sing it to my girlfriend. But enough about that, on to my review. After listening to Suga's Interlude more, I like the song a lot. It's not one of my top favorites from Manic, but it's really good. Halsey's voice is interesting on her part. Sweet with a hint of sadness. Suga has a very nice flow in this song. I had to look up the English translation for his part. I have seen several interpretations about the meaning of the song, but to me it's finding out that just because you reach your goal or are living out your dream, it doesn't mean it'll bring you happiness. The song fits really well on Manic in my opinion. So maybe not the best song that Manic has to offer, but still a very good song.- @anf-stuff

MORE: This is a deeply personal song. I had mentioned this yesterday, I feel personally attacked for having picked this song. As a mother of two boys, I feel like I can say that. “Wooden floors, little feet.” “Little screen, photograph.” “When you decide it’s your time to arrive, I’ve loved you for all of my life.” It’s a known fact that Ashley has endometriosis. It makes it hard to get pregnant. It’s also been mentioned that she suffered miscarriages—not only that, she was performing on stage while going through at least one of them. Ashley has always been open about reproductive health and her story with it. It hits hard at special place—whether you want to be a mother or not. The lullaby, like off a mobile over a crib. The end that sounds like a sonogram, before you were to hear a baby’s heartbeat. How the audio is muffled as if you were listening from inside the womb. I was crying by the end of it, let me tell you. It is one of my favorite tracks, by far. The soft ones always are. It is a song of hope and heartache. Anger and longing. It is filled with truth that is Ashley’s, but so many can relate to. - @stopitchris

STILL LEARNING: I loved it, it’s not one of my favourites but it was fun and has a really good message!!!!And it’s also something I’m still working on myself; learning to love myself. It’s a hard journey but its achievable. The beat and lyrics were moving and deep and overall enjoyable!!!! -@pinklemongay

929: First impressions- cool strumming, OH NO HOSPITAL BEEP I AM GONNA CRY, OK GOOD ITS HER TALKING HER KITGLE LAUGH I LOVF JER SO MHCJ FUCKKKK SHES SO CUTE 🥺🥺, can’t remember half the time i’ve been alive, don’t meet ur heroes 🥺, THE FEATURE FUCKING LINE!!!! okgbn!!!!!, I wANT TO THORW UO, I HACE NEVER CRIED HARDER, AHHH, I CANT EVEN PROCESS IT SORRY, no lyrics to say bc i cant breathe properly, I KNOW DONT KEEP THEM TO YOURSELF 🥺🥺🥺🥺, sorry i need to listen to this again, MY MORAL COMPASS IS ON A VACATION, big coming of age movie vibes, this will be my Special Song i can feel it 🥺, i have felt every emotion. -@wreckageofmylife

WIPE YOUR TEARS: Wipe your tears is a very airy song that is almost reminiscent of the room 93 era. It has a twinkly aspect and deals with much darker themes. Yet it is also reminiscent of nightmare in the sense that it sounds more like a poem put to music. This song is also one of what the fans would call a “bi-anthem” as Halsey is talking about a girl which is very nice to hear. Personally I’m glad that this is only a bonus track as it is really short and does not fit the theme of the album. Yet it is still a bop and the better of the two bonus tracks. -@hunterthewriterworld

#halsey #manic #manic track claim

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neglectkills · 4 years ago

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Neglect In The Spotlight: What the Framing Britney Spears Documentary tells us about the Right Way & The Wrong Way to Help Someone You Care About

The recent New York Times documentary, “Framing Britney Spears;” is notable for bringing attention to the issue of Conservatorship Abuse by highlighting the legal and personal battles of superstar and pop icon Britney Spears; whose recent battle against her father for legal/medical/ and financial conservatship of her body, mind, Art, and estate, has recently taken center stage; thanks to many of the star’s sometimes overzealous fans who have taken a personal interest in their favorite pop idol’s personal affairs.

For those of us who grew up with the Pop Icon, her massive stardom and (frankly justified) public meltdowns shaped our view not only of the Artist Britney Spears, but also of celebrity itself. That’s why it’s not surprising that the “Free Britney” movement (a movement that believes that Britney Spears should have sole control over her conservatship, so that she can manage her own financial and personal affairs) is so popular with people in their twenties and thirties, people who like me, who grew up during the days of tabloid celebrity culture; and believe that Britney got a bum break by being dragged through the mud by ex boyfriends, the press, and the tabloids; simply for being a woman who was not only talented, beautiful, and sexy but also absurdly famous.

To watch, in retrospect, how horrifically this young woman was treated simply for being outstanding amongst her peers; is disturbing, to say the least... But is also seared into our collective minds as part of her superstardom. We see the paparazzi tabloid culture of the early 2000’s as part of the myth and mystery of this particular celebrity’s story, as well as an intrical part of celebrity itself. We, as society, see it as a trade off: They build you up just to break you down, but that’s the price of being rich and famous. You could argue that the same thing happened to stars as diverse as Marilyn Monroe to Shelley Duvall; and the press does seem particularly cruel to female stars who have lost their “shimmer,” either by reality or perception.

Feminist journalists and philosophers have pointed out that Britney’s story, in some ways, is a common to the female experience; women who are successful and powerful, and seemingly in control of their sexuality; tend to attract the judgement of society; as well as the disdain of men, and the jealousy of other women. The virgin/whore complex, or paradigm; won’t allow such women to be virgins and seductresses, mothers and businesswomen, performers and emotional Artists with something to say. What Britney, like so many other women is most guilty of... Is just trying to live her life; in spite of the unfair judgements, criticism, envy, jealousy, and disdain of others.

That’s why I think the documentary does a good job of holding the press accountable for its smear-campaign against its number one teen pop starlet. It does a great job of holding society responsible for the many sexist double-standards that we hold male and female celebrities apart; and I think it does a decent job of illustrating the genuine concern that many Britney Spears fans have for their favorite female artist.

Where I think the documentary falters, though, is its framing of the “#FreeBritney” movement as being entirely benign, benevolent, and helpful. Though I’m sure many of the people featured in the documentary genuinely care about Miss Spears’ health, happiness, and welfare; and believe that they are genuinely fighting for the rights of someone who is highly competent and capable; there are still others who have used evidence of Britney Spears’ past mental health struggles, nearly a decade ago, as evidence to the contrary.

While no one can ever know or understand the very personal and private struggles, feelings, or thoughts of someone else. Especially someone whose life experiences are as exceptional as Britney Spears’, I would argue that many both inside and outside of the #FreeBritney movement, are currently doing more harm than good.

The backlash of the documentary isn’t that more people are seeing Britney Spears as a competent grown woman who capable of taking care of her own affairs... But rather there are many who are using the documentary to push the once popular perception that there’s something so wrong with the star’s mental health, because of the seemingly stress-induced nervous breakdown she had in her twenties, that it justifies why she was placed in a conservatship in the first place.

If we can use our empathy and compassion to put ourselves into her shoes for a moment: How would you like complete strangers asking you if you’re “ok?” How would you like people on YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram commenting that they are “concerned” for your mental health?

To anyone of us that has been the victim of a Narcissistic smear-campaign; we can understand her pain on a smaller-scale, but not on the world-scale on which she finds herself. To anyone who has battled trauma or depression; or faced other mental health struggles, themselves; we know for a fact this is not the right way to advocate for someone who might be struggling; and yet casual disdain and disregard for “tabloid celebrities” feelings, is something we’ve all grown far too comfortable with and accustomed too.

I personally think that Britney Spears learned how to silence the “haters” a long time ago... She probably knows that a certain amount of criticism or speculation is the price she paid of fame... But at the same time, no matter how rich and famous someone is; it can’t completely block out such outrageous speculation. No amount of fame can silence thoughts that everyone thinks you’re “crazy” just because your whole life is out there for the world to see; and no amount of money can block out feelings of being isolated or misunderstood. Especially when those feelings are coming from your so-called “fans” and “supporters.”

Those of us who were initially concerned for her conservatship situation are now concerned that this speculation about the Star’s health is only piling onto an image of “instability” that she has been trying to shake off since she was in her twenties.

Just a quick look at Britney’s Instagram can tell you how many people are only interested in the spectacle of concern, of feigning concern, rather than showing actual concern.

The documentary opens and closes with a good argument: The Britney Spears Conservatship is unfair, because she is has proven herself to be healthy and highly competent. It also makes a fair argument that Spears’ father, Jaime Spears, and several other members of the stars family (including lawyers and doctors hired by allegedly abusive family members) don’t have the star’s best interests at heart. I think that, in many ways, even beyond the documentary... is obvious.

The truth is, none of us know what Britney Spears’ personal financial, medical, or mental health situation really is; and that’s why none of us can speculate as to whether or not she’s competent enough to handle her own affairs. Our speculation is just that speculation; we know that she might not be in an ideal situation, but it’s not for us to judge what an ideal situation would be. The world we know, the image we perceive of her, as she so eloquently put in one of her Instagram posts; is just on the other side of the camera’s lens. But does that make us powerless to help someone who we perceive as being potentially medically neglected or financially abused? I’d say the answer is no.

The way we help people like Britney Spears, and people in the same kind of situation that the Britney Spears documentary depicts, isn’t by speculating about their competency or mental health; but creating safe spaces in which they can tell their own stories.

We advocate for others by creating the conditions in which they can advocate for themselves; and we write articles and essays like this, with the hope that the messages of self-advocacy and support will spread far and wide enough that they will find themselves into the Star’s private circle. So that those closest to the victim/survivor, can help support her, and advocate for what’s best for their loved one.

I know it makes me a hypocrite to pile on like this, because it does sound like I’m also offering my two-cents about what’s best for Britney, someone I’ve never even met, or could ever hope to meet... But the fact is this issue affects me personally because I had to advocate, in the past, for a loved one who was in the same kind of situation that the Britney Spears documentary depicts. My loved one was being financially abused and medically neglected, and I had to legally intervene; in order to make sure my loved one was both receiving proper medical care and control of their own finances. I’ve also had friends who were in similar situations, who died due to medical neglect, after being placed on the wrong psychiatric medications.

Therefore, I understand both as an advocate and as a victim; the harm of neglect and abuse. Neglect, in particular, can be as subtle as pretending to advocate for a victim’s health and best interests; but giving them either the wrong medication, the wrong dosage, or even the wrong diagnosis. This is particularly common in women, as women are likely to be diagnosed with mood disorders that require medication. Therefore, if Britney Spears is experiencing some kind of medical abuse or neglect, then that can be very dangerous.

It’s only because I have some experience in this field, as a nurse and as a family member of someone who was in a similar situation, that I feel comfortable offering any comment at all; but I’m humble enough to understand that I know absolutely nothing about Britney Spears’ personal situation, from the outside looking in.

I believe the best way to advocate for any and all victims of abuse and neglect is simply to give them the freedom and space to tell their own stories, so that they can be their own best advocates, that’s how we can #FreeBritneySpears and many others. Not by assuming we know what’s best for them, based on our own limited experiences; but by giving them the support, dignity, and respect that they deserve and require to make healthy decisions and live their own best lives.

- Neglect Kills

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nickelodeon-disneyreviewed · 7 years ago

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16 Wishes Disney Channel Original Movie Reviewed

Because sure, I can post my most recent review, but it’s kinda lame for a first Tumblr post so have this half-year old review of a nearly decade-old DCOM instead.

16 Wishes DCOM Reviewed22 today, happy birthday sweetheart! What is it? Well, that's actually an interesting question.... It's classically thought of as a DCOM...even though strictly technically speaking it isn't (yes, that's right, it means Disney Channel's official Facebook page is wrong on this!) It's really a direct-to-DVD movie that Disney Channel just happened to pick up on very, very early during the production stage (before they even decided on a lead, hence how Debby became involved) due to Disney Channel's previous relationship (and ongoing relationship, for that matter) with Mar Vista studios through a number of actual DCOMs before and since. See folks, only on this blog will you learn new facts and grow your brain right in the introductory minutiae of each and every blog post! Where did it air? Well, again, continuing the above it's actually a bit complex. Technically it did indeed premiere on Disney Channel first, but it was originally intended for DVD sales/streaming to be the primary means of distribution. Of course now it's as closely associated with the network as any other DCOM and other than directly streaming it or getting the DVD it's the only place on "traditional" television you'll find it. Who stars in it? Most prominently, Debby Ryan, who became attached to the project as soon as Disney Channel decided to throw money at it. Jean-Luc Bilodeau plays second-billing Jay - you may recognize Jean-Luc (no, not that Jean-Luc) from not only the later Mar Vista-produced DCOM Zapped! but also from the somewhat short-lived Canadian/UPN (remember that network? Probably not) production Kyle-XY as the title character. Anna Mae Routledge is Celeste "the birthday fairy" and...yeah, this is actually the biggest role she's been in (she's been in another movie we've done a mini-review on...Eurotrip, maybe?) The only other notable role is Karissa Tynes as Krista. Abby's mom is played by the same actress who played an FBI agent in...Snakes on a Plane. Yeah, really. The principal is also "Chevron Guy" from Stargate: SG-1. There's also this really gorgeous ginger with these Marianas Trench-deep blue eyes but...uhh, we'll get to that at the end I guess. Why are we reviewing this? ...well, see, there are three or so key events that lead to the creation of this very blog, and 16 Wishes is one of them. One of those events would be of course the creation of GirlMeetsWorldReviewed.Blogspot.com which directly inspired the creation of this blog. But of course there'd be no point or even capability to make this blog without material to fill it up with. That's where 16 Wishes and other things come in. Another of those events, by far the most important one, is Phineas and Ferb - or more specifically, when I just happened to chance upon Phineas and Ferb (The Chronicles of Meep specifically - I need to, like, send flowers to Povenmire and Marsh for that one, it was a real chance of fate that happened to be the first episode I saw as it was superbly excellent if not outright sublime) one night when I was desperately searching for new programming to watch. And as I describe in both my Jessie and Liv and Maddie retrospectives, this was actually critical timing because at the time I was just a few weeks off from having my ex-fiancee break up with me and less than a week from recovering from cancer-removing surgery. And not only was Phineas and Ferb the perfect TV visual comfort food at the time, but it was an immediate gateway to more visual comfort food on the network and by extension Nickelodeon (the first episode of anything I've ever watched on Disney Channel aside from The Chronicles of Meep - immediately after the Chronicles of Meep, in fact - was the second replay of the then-premiere episode of Good Luck Charlie's T-Wrecks and given the emotional state I was in, I was actually really blown away by just how well done an all-inclusive family multi-cam sitcom it was - and that was immediately followed up by the second replay of the premiere of Jessie's Gotcha Day which, well, if you want to delude yourself that Jessie is a better show than it is there are few better episodes than that to dive into). Now, here's the thing - even at that point after about a month of watching I was still on the fence about the actual quality of Disney Channel shows and Jessie especially. By that I don't mean I would've given up watching the network forever and never ever speak of the great embarrassment of being an allegedly grown-ass adult watching Disney Channel, but my viewing habits probably would be a lot like they are today - oh hey, Good Luck Charlie's on, yeah I like that show. Oh hey it's Phineas and Ferb. Oh, hey Jessie's on...I wonder what Rick on Pawn Stars is trying to rip off today. But what ended up being the real tipping point to being dedicated as an allegedly grown-ass adult to this network and becoming a Jessie super-fan (or at least the closest thing that passes for it) is this movie. I think what really resonated with this movie, again given my emotional state, is the back half where Abby finds herself turned into an allegedly grown-ass adult. Even when you're in your early 20s (as Abby finds herself), well...I'm just going to quote the speech Abby's dad gives: But being grown up is different than dreaming about it, isn't it? We understand. Of course! You're scared that your childhood is over and with it all the best times of your life! You probably wanna turn back that clock and start over? Boy I know how that feels! ...and being in my 20s...and already having been engaged in marriage, and then seeing all that blow up in my face, and then finding out I have cancer, and then dropping out of school over it...yeah, that shit gets overwhelming. You spend a lot of time thinking about how not long ago all you needed to do was wake up and go to school and everything else is provided for you, and you all of a sudden find yourself in that same situation, just minus the school, and at least just old enough so that it all feels familiar but at the same time a bit weird. Nostalgia is not perfect, and it can even be a dangerous thing - I've dedicated very large portions of this very blog about how nostalgia effectively stunted if not outright ruined Girl Meets World from its very conception. But we keep coming back to it because it's comfortable. Girl Meets World was greenlit and conceived, arguably, because it was a return to a very comfortable concept, a concept that was successful in its heyday and it was thought would be successful because that previous success had grown itself into its fanbase to provide comfort (again, Christian and Sean have talked about the comfort aspect of the original show). And when you're in a position where comfort starts being medicine, nostalgia is a very powerful thing to go back to. My point being, girls who were 16 but accidentally wish themselves to be 22 as they walk out of a store dressing room and wishing they can just go back to school and live with their parents again and guys who actually are 22 (well, older than that even) but got kicked out of their fiancee's life so hard they apparently literally got cancer over it and had to move back in with their parents have a lot in common with each other. Of course, that's just my perspective. But also keep in mind that apparently this little movie gave Debby enough clout, at least on the network, to where Disney Channel ultimately decided to greenlight her own show which of course became the 101-episode (not 98!) long series Jessie. No, really, it got one of the highest adult demos of its night. It's really my theory that this message about childhood nostalgia, whether intended or not, proved to be a big hit with Millennials. I mean, think about it. We're supposedly the "never grow up" generation - we have high unemployment, low independent housing, yadda yadda. Abby's words about feeling like we're 16 and then suddenly 22 and needing a job and a means to afford our own place and take care of ourselves have become themes of a generation. And I'm not saying this as an insult to Millennials (being one myself of course) but that no doubt it happened to previous generations too - Gen X'ers, Baby Boomers, what have you as they suddenly find themselves transitioning from a school-focused work ethic to suddenly being in the actual work force. It's an increasingly universal theme as the world marches towards mechanization and now digitization, but it's a theme that's been rather under-represented in all but tween through young adult media. But enough of me waxing nostalgic and complaining about my personal life again, how does it rate as a movie? Well, Abby's a brat through the first part (then again that's the point) and then we kinda see her cartoon-mature and she grows up, yadda yadda. Debby's not bad at all in it, Jean-Luc captains his way through it equally respectably, Karissa is very much underappreciated, Chevron Guy makes for the second ultra-nerdy sci-fi reference in this very sentence and again if you've seen the movie you probably know who I'm talking about when I talk about this curly-hair ginger girl with these sapphire-forged eyes who's, like, so gorgeous I'd go through another round of chemo for, like I will forget about my lousy ex for her, yadda yadda. Even when trying to emotionally divorce oneself it's a pretty competent movie, and Lord knows there've been quite a few official DCOMs that don't measure up to this one (the vastly overrated Cowbelles, Teen Beach 2, yes Invisible Sister) Movie Grade: B-. Like I said, it's at least competent and enjoyable enough it deserves this. Movie MVP: That ridiculously gorgeous blue-eyed ginger, of course, for completely memorizing me in the two or three scenes she's in including the one scene where she gasps, which is the closest speaking role she has. ...just kidding, although I really do think she deserves more recognition (seriously, I don't think gingers get enough recognition for how beautiful they are, as I've again shared on this very blog before). But really, it's obviously going to be Debby, duh. This is the performance that convinced the network to give her Jessie, after all. Extra Thoughts: - Of course after mentioning that last part I guess I'm obligated to again remind you that my ex-fiancee herself is a ginger so I'm biased (and again, Debby became a fake ginger for the Jessie role so, there). - Speaking of Cowbelles, both that and 16 Wishes feature the song Don't Wanna Grow Up by the band Willknots - Uuugggh Disney Channel commercials from April leading up to the RDMAs are soooo laaaaaame. But I probably only think this because the RDMAs themselves are after-the-fact old news now. - here's a bit of trivia for you: after wishing to become popular, Abby claims that the dads of some girls are planning her birthday party in Las Vegas as they happen to own half of that town. This implies that they're direct descendants of Howard Hughes who quite literally owned half of Vegas (though it's honestly doubtful the writers really knew this at the time). - Abby's driver's license information is the following: ID #073 477 657; Class D (do note that most 16 year olds start off with a Class C license which legally permits them to drive most normal passenger cars - being too lazy to Google it, I don't even know if "Class D" is a thing); no endorsements (minor fun fact: yours truly, the author of this blog, has one endorsement: M, giving legal permission to operate motorcycles); no restrictions; Code 776-36A (whatever that means) and lists her DOB as 7/7/95 (which implies that the movie takes place very specifically on July 7, 2011 - almost exactly 11 months into the future of its original Disney Channel premiere date - and is also contradicted by the fact that in parts of the movie everyone's breath is obviously visible and many trees remain bare as they probably shot it in late February or early March of 2010) and her height as being 5'6" (which is Debby's actual height) and just as Celeste the Birthday Fairy says, the license doesn't expire - The design of the "Coastal State" license plate on Abby's car also implies this takes place in Oregon even though her license actually refers to "Coastal State" as the actual name of the state. - Abby's school, Walnut Grove, is a real school in the Vancouver area where the movie was shot. It's a private school and you can see on their website they're very proud of being the filming location for 16 Wishes. Their mascot actually is the Gators, BTW (as displayed on the school bus and Abby's lifetime lunch pass, which is modeled after the actual Walnut Grove lunch pass. Yes, I go deep into this for you - only on this blog!) - Yeah, I am waaaay behind on Andi Mack. I was hoping to binge on the backlog of episodes up to the latest today for my birthday but...yeah, forget that. We'll be resuming Andi Mack reviews tomorrow. Hopefully. - And obviously this is Part 2 of our Birthday Blog posts today, so, Happy Birthday Debby! (And Happy Birthday Me!)

#16wishes #nickanddisneychannelreviewed #disney channel #nickelodeon

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usnewsaggregator-blog · 7 years ago

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Claes Oldenburg Is (Still) Changing What Art Looks Like

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Claes Oldenburg Is (Still) Changing What Art Looks Like

Yet when compared to the ice-cold irony of Warhol’s silkscreens or the colorful exuberance of paintings by James Rosenquist, Tom Wesselmann or Rosalyn Drexler, Oldenburg’s work, especially his enduring innovation — rendering sculpture literally soft, through re-creations of everyday things (ice cream cones, typewriters, toilets) that sag from the wall or bag on the floor — looked, and still look, like marvelous reprobates. In the Pop room of any museum gallery, they smirk and slouch and revel in playing at art, seeming to be both the comedians and the clinical depressives.

The latter half of his career, after he grew restless with the art world and moved into cartoonish public sculpture, collaborating with his second wife, the art historian Coosje van Bruggen (who died in 2009), has somewhat obscured his outré spirit — in part because many of the outdoor works, funny and toylike, have become so civically beloved. “Spoonbridge and Cherry,” a red cherry balanced on an enormous spoon, made in steel and aluminum and installed in 1988 in the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden, is among the most photographed artworks in America, the backdrop for untold thousands of silly selfies. Its fans would likely blanch to learn that among Oldenburg’s early public-art proposals was an idea even creepier than the hole: speakers that would have broadcast a piercing nightly scream through the streets of Manhattan at 2 a.m. As he wrote in one of the lesser-quoted passages from his most famous piece of writing, 1961’s half-satirical manifesto “I Am For …”: “I am for the art that comes up in fogs from sewer holes in winter. I am for the art that splits when you step on a frozen puddle. I am for the worm’s art inside the apple.”

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Oldenburg working out in his studio. Behind him is the work “Big Tools (Screwdriver, Pliers, Hammer),” 1985. Credit Pieter Hugo

THESE WORDS in mind, you don’t fully expect what greets you when you walk into the studio and home Oldenburg has kept on the still-gritty far west side of SoHo since 1971, a five-story warehouse where naval propellers were once manufactured. Inside, it’s as immaculate and organized as a museum. Surfaces gleam and light falls beautifully on the maquettes for public sculpture that line the walls. Slim in khakis and tennis shoes, Oldenburg was sitting in one of the large office spaces with an assistant and wasn’t able to get up to greet me. A fall last year broke his hip, forcing him to get around with a cane or by propelling himself across the floors on rolling office chairs. His daughter, Maartje Oldenburg, who spent most of her childhood in this rambling building and is now an expert on his career, had arrived just as I did, and we convened at a big table her father had piled with boxes of files, like a lawyer preparing for a deposition.

“I guess I was always an archivist,” he said, smiling, surveying the spread, his glasses and ponderous forehead giving him an owllike bearing.

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Unlike some overexamined artists of his generation, Oldenburg enjoys interviews, and he had been through this routine dozens of times before. But today he seemed to be in the mood for some serious retrospection: The first drawings he pulled from a folder were ones he made in middle school and high school in Chicago, where his father, Gosta, a Swedish diplomat, had moved the family in 1936 from Oslo upon being posted to the United States as a consul.

His daughter looked over the profusion of drawings protected by plastic sleeves and said: “I always think I’ve seen everything that’s here. But I’ve never seen these before.”

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Growing up in wartime Chicago gave Oldenburg, a bookish child of Europe, a firm purchase on America’s brashness, inseparable from its boorishness and brutality. That sense informed the ragtag, anxious nature of his early pieces, work that seems to gain political relevance with each passing year. His childhood drawings — schematics of war planes, storyboard cartoons, caricatures of classmates — aren’t anything special. But they immediately reveal three things: He was a preternaturally talented draftsman from the start; he was always wickedly funny; and he has always had an engineer’s passion for the built world. It’s no accident that many of his best drawings over the years have taken the form of grandly elaborate blueprints and architectural renderings, making him a charter member of what I like to think of as the schematic school of late Modernism (other members would include Bruce Nauman, Lee Lozano and Chris Burden).

Art didn’t really grab Oldenburg until he was an adult. “The Art Institute of Chicago was a mystery to me back in those years,” he said. “Where I’d go was the Field Museum and look at things rather than looking at art. I think I’ve really always been more interested in things than in anything else.”

At Yale, which he entered in 1946, he was drawn to literature and studied with the formalist critic Cleanth Brooks, but he was an eccentric student at best. “I actually left once before I graduated,” he said. “One day, I just got on a train and came to New York and sat on a park bench in front of City Hall and read ‘Moby-Dick.’ ” His early 20s were spent in a peripatetic drift that was equally Kerouacian: cub reporter in Chicago, sent to find bodies floating in the river; ad agency stint drawing insects for an insecticide company; dishwasher in Oakland, where he traded drawings for rent. In San Francisco he met the poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti, and in Los Angeles he feared for his life. “I sat next to two guys at a diner who were plotting a murder, honest to God. L.A. was really a terrifying place for me that first time.”

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Oldenburg has lived on the far west side of SoHo since the early ’70s. Credit Pieter Hugo

But his wandering, he said, gave him the courage to try New York. He moved there in 1956, and it was as if the city had been waiting for him. The Abstract Expressionist revolution was running low on gas. The year before, Robert Rauschenberg had made “Bed,” one of his first so-called combines, a melding of painting and sculpture, by drawing and splashing paint on his pillow and his patchwork quilt and stretching them on a wooden frame. Not long before, Jasper Johns had begun his edge-to-edge American flags, rendering an icon not as an image in a painting but as an object in itself. Formal orthodoxies were being detonated in studios all over Manhattan, and Oldenburg could feel the tremors.

“I felt like the Ab Ex painters weren’t saying very much, and I wanted work that would say something, be messy, be a little mysterious,” he said. “Nineteen fifty-nine was the turning point. I was painting these brushy paintings — figurative — and then, thankfully, it all just fell apart.”

Drawing on a longstanding interest in the primitivism of Jean Dubuffet and thinkers about ritual and symbolism like Sigmund Freud and his pupil Wilhelm Stekel, he began making raw pieces that seemed to come straight from the id. They included the first iterations of Ray Gun, a mutable symbol for himself roughly in the shape of a toy laser pistol, a form that continues to fascinate him to this day. (On a visit to the studio’s second floor, he came across a piece of cardboard with three ray-gun shapes on it that appeared to be old raisin cookies nibbled into shape and then glued down. “Not sure what this was for,” he said, looking it over quizzically.) His other alter-ego, my favorite, is a geometrically minimalist mouse head that evokes Mickey and the reels of a film projector, as well as a kind of twilight-zone Modernist future. This symbol took its most improbable physical form in his “Mouse Museum.” An obsessive collection of small pieces and punning found objects (plastic bananas in conversation with dildos), the museum was born in his studio and eventually came to inhabit a snug, vitrine-filled, gallery-size structure shaped like the mouse head, designed by him and van Bruggen; the collection has been periodically exhibited, including a showing at Documenta 5 in Kassel, Germany, in 1972.

In the space of less than five years, in the short-lived but highly fertile gallery scene that sprung up in the East Village and at the legendary Green Gallery on 57th Street, he helped birth not only Pop Art but performance art as well, in maniacal productions with sculpture as props, staged with his first wife, Patty, now Patty Mucha, and compatriots who would later go on to fame as well, like Lucas Samaras and Carolee Schneemann. At one of these performances, “World’s Fair II” (1962), Oldenburg hung a soft sculpture depicting an upside-down New York City skyline from the ceiling in front of an audience in a rented storefront. Many performances consisted of the artist and Patty rolling around or dancing on a debris-covered floor. Writing at the time, the poet Frank O’Hara observed that Oldenburg ��actually does what is most often claimed wrongly in catalog blurbs: transform his materials into something magical and strange.”

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AS HE APPROACHES his ninth decade, Oldenburg has slowed his once-furious pace of productivity, but he is still at work on public projects and large-scale sculpture. He’s finishing a private commission in California called “Dropped Bouquet,” a colorful maquette of which sits in his studio, and he’ll have a show of new works at Pace Gallery this month in N.Y.C. His energy — some of which goes into a stationary bike he is using to strengthen his legs — remains remarkable. Nearing the end of the third hour of our interview, he kept trying and failing to bring it to a close, spotting other things to talk about, ferrying me up and down in the building’s creaky old freight elevator, big enough to fit a small car.

“I like living in the studio,” he said. “You have the ability to see everything. And you can always change things any way you want them.”

Unlike some other old masters of the New York downtown scene (Jasper Johns, who now lives in Connecticut; Rauschenberg, who died in 2008 and spent much of the later part of his life in Florida) Oldenburg has remained resolutely in the city that nourished his work, with only a couple of periods away in Los Angeles and France, where he and van Bruggen bought and renovated a chateau.

“I don’t get out as much anymore, but I feel like the city is here when I want it,” he said. His daughter, who remembers the scavenged toys she and her brother were allowed to choose from the heaping garbage barrels her father amassed for his work, told me, “It’s always kind of a mystery to me how things still work their way in here. He’s very good at keeping things that he wants to use for later.”

As if to prove her point, he took us to see some small assemblage works he has been tinkering with, simple but unruly arrangements of inconsequential junk on small metal shelves. One in progress consisted of not much more than a cardboard figure of a pinup girl, a brown foam Berenstain Bears novelty headband, some paint-dipped stirrers and a piece of red rope. It looked unaccountably like a deconstructed view of Cezanne’s bathers.

“I put things here and I look at them for a long time and if they don’t belong, well, they’ll get up and walk.” He stared intently at a small plastic toy ladybug, perched tentatively on the edge of the conglomeration. “I told her to get lost,” he said, “but she’s still here.” Hopefully, he added, “Maybe she’ll stay.”

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#changing #claes #looks #oldenburg #still

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