#the proto men

[yammmmmmmmie]

[wavesoutbeingtossed]

Ok these fucking football bros using music performance and composition as a metaphor for how they run plays on the field and harmonize with their teammates to coordinate their moves as a perfect analogy— jfc no wonder Taylor’s down bad because they actually Get It in a way I bet no one else ever has wow

(I mean we knew that but actually hearing come together organically like that— like these dudes’ analysis skills are off the charts. And as someone who coaches a sport these two would be excellent coaches themselves just hearing the piano bit because their brains Get It.)

I know the “he never got me — none of them did” had us gagged when TTPD came out vs the “no one’s ever had me like you” and obviously seeing her and Travis together makes it clear why they get along, but hearing him and Jason talk about this stuff with such ease and genuine understanding just like… added a new level of understanding that like, he doesn’t just get her, he Gets It. (Which, we knew, but this is such a clear-cut example.) ​It also shows how much he understands the cerebral (and physical) aspect of music performance because it is very analogous to athletic performance and it’s just like… oh yeah their brains work in the same way in this respect.

Anyway, I fear I am losing the neutrality war lol.

[katarh-mest]

you know, the main reason I think The Apothecary Diaries has a big ol "This is a work of fiction" slapped all over it is because once you start digging into the details the anachronisms don't make sense any other way

[k-zit-the-oooze]

The U-Men at the Bat Cave, Seattle

Sometime in the middle 80s

[d1sc01nf3rn0]

Of all the dumb things the cishet men in the fanbase of Disco Elysium could say, I never expected "Dora Ingerlund is bad cause she had an abortion" to be one of them.

Which is weird, cause I feel like I also should've expected them to believe such nonsense lmao.

[english-history-trip]

Fictional minstrels are common in medieval literature but references to real-life performers are rare and fleeting. We have first names, payments, instruments played and occasionally locations, but until now virtually no evidence of their lives or work....

[Dr James] Wade’s study, published in The Review of English Studies, focuses on the first of nine miscellaneous booklets in the Heege Manuscript. It contains three texts and Wade concludes that around the year 1480 Heege copied them from now-lost notes written by an unknown minstrel performing near the Derbyshire-Nottinghamshire border.....

A little tale I will you tell

I trow it will like you well

Thereat ye shall have good game

But where it was I dare not say,

For haply another day,

It might turn me to blame...

All three texts are humorous and designed for live performance – the narrator tells his audience to pay attention and pass him a drink. The texts all feature in-jokes to appeal to local audiences and show a playful awareness of the kind of audiences that we know minstrels performed to.....

Richard Heege was a household cleric and tutor to the Sherbrooke family, part of the Derbyshire gentry, to whom his booklets first belonged. Wade said: ‘"Heege gives us the rarest glimpse of a medieval world rich in oral storytelling and popular entertainments.

The hare thought she would out win,

& hit Jack Wade upon the chin,

That he fell upon the back.

‘Owt, owt!’, quoth Jack, and ‘Alas,

That ever this battle begun was!

This is a sorry note!’

Jack Wade was never so afeared

As when the hare trod on his beard,

Lest she would have pulled out his throat... 

-- "The Hunting of the Hare"

[marzipanandminutiae]

I think some of the accuracy critiques of 2019 LW are totally legitimate (the hair, my god), but Jo wearing men’s clothes has never flown for me as something “wrong” with the movie. She generally does so around her family and apart from what the actors said (actors are....actors) it would make sense that she had some access to men’s clothing through theater costumes and Laurie and would want to wear them. I think it’s a perfectly legitimate interpretation of how her character would dress and I’ve never understood critiques of it. (I know Abbie Cox has said this is well—in her “not like other girls” video (where she. wildly misunderstands that term) which makes me extremely uncomfortable in general. So that may bias me but.)

I don't think it's WRONG exactly; I do think it's lazy and belies their claims of historical authenticity. because she doesn't just wear those clothes in private- she wears them while working as a governess AND in her freaking publisher's office

would that have worked for an already-famous author? yes. look up George Sand; she pulled it off splendidly. for a young woman just starting out in the professional world, c. 1870? hell no. she'd have been hewing much closer to the line of respectibility- in an accurate setting, which again is a standard they set for themselves

it would have been more Authentic, in my view, to dig into how a woman like Jo would actually have incorporated masculine elements into her clothing to feel at ease while still maintaining baseline Respectable Female AttireTM. but, you know. that would have required effort and a respect for the lived reality of Victorian women's experiences, neither of which this movie's team had

also...I liked that Abby Cox video. I think a lot of viewers wildly misunderstood her meaning- she was talking about tropes used in historical fiction and a tendency going back centuries for writers to use androgynous or masculine presentation- or simple disinterest in clothing -as "proof" that a woman is more clever/innovative/generally interesting than her feminine peers. not whether GNC women existed in history- which is, of course, indisputable. so there's that

(don't even get me started on the How Dare You Criticize Perfect Infallible Saint Mary Wollstonecraft discourse that said video sparked. or the misogyny and professional invalidation leveled at Cox herself by many of those responses)

[serpentface]

What's the Wardi cultural take on Akoshos sleeping with/partnering with/marrying other Akoshos?

It's not highly regulated to a degree that there are overwhelming cultural norms about it. There's a lot of societal focus on akoshos being theoretically suitable sexual partners for both men and women due to being dual-gendered, but not to an extent that relationships with One Another are stigmatized.

They also largely get to escape from the most severe concerns about penetrator/penetrated power dynamics because they're not regarded as Men (they're regarded as dual-gendered, and they're a female social class on every practical level), there's no status of manhood to Lose by receiving sexual penetration. The only real thing you see in that department is people assuming that one acts as 'the man' and one acts as 'the woman', but this is largely due to preoccupation with a notion of sex being Penetration With A Penis (and that Penetration With A Penis means that one person is in a Man's Role and one person is in a Woman's Role). But this will not be regarded as unnatural as in same-gender male relations, akoshos will Have to take up a position in this sexual dichotomy if they want to have Real Sex (Penetration With A Penis) with each other, and this is not unnatural and doesn't involve gaining or losing status since they are simultaneously male and female, not men.

So like you might see individual culture critics finding stuff to nitpick about it as their annoyance of the week or a singular Guy here or there who thinks it's weird, but this isn't a widespread norm. The vast majority of people don't give a shit about akoshos having sex with each other. The worst thing you're likely to experience Solely by virtue of being in an akoshos-akoshos relationship is someone asking you (probably with genuine curiosity) which one does the man stuff and which one does the woman stuff.

Akoshos also don't experience Hard expectations for marriage (though there are societal pressures that make marriage an attractive safety net all the same, ESPECIALLY marriage to a man) so unofficial life-partnerships between akoshos are pretty much the Only same gender partnerships between unwed people that are going to go unquestioned. ((Sworn brotherhood is technically a same gender life partnership for men that is Functionally similar to marriage (in that it's a kin-making practice between unrelated adults), but the tradition is Built upon the assumption that both parties will be married to women and that a primary goal of this kinship is to provide security for both parties' wives and children)). Marriage obligations in general are more lax in the economically secure but not Wealthy lower mercantile classes (as obligations to support and perpetuate one's family are universal, but these obligations can be filled simply by having at least One son who can get hitched, and marriages in the lower classes have no political functions and therefore there's less reason to ensure All your children are wed (there's still incentives like dowry, but this is not desperately needed when a family is economically secure)). So akoshos in this class group tend to have a Lot more freedom in terms of their life arrangements and chosen partners (though still experience the limiting frameworks of structural misogyny in other capacities).

The only thing that is out of the picture is akoshos/akoshos marriage. Marriage in this society has a predominantly reproductive function, the concept of reproductively non-viable marriages is generally considered absurd. This is not JUST this culture's form of homophobia, as marriage is a very practical arrangement at its core - both in a reproductive capacity and as bedrock for the patriarchal blood-kinship family system that forms the core social unit. The idea of same gender marriage isn't just absurd because 'ewwww weird' it's like, that Cannot work within this system, it Cannot fill core functions of what a marriage intends to do here, the ways on which marriage and kinship are BUILT makes same gender marriage practically (rather than just socially) untenable.

The sole exception to the 'marriage = reproductively viable" rule is that akoshos can be married to men (which in practice is almost always as a remarriage after a man has secured At Least an heir). This has a Little bit of internal logic here in that they perform predominantly female social roles (thus are suited to being a wife, even if they can't bear children) (and also on practical levels of them having the same legal status as women) but it's really more of a 'this is just how it's always been' kind of thing. A lot of the older pre-Wardi identity dual-gender roles that got mashed together under the 'akoshos' name would have involved marriage to a man as a second wife/concubine, in addition to his primary wife who would bear his children. Men potentially having multiple spouses has not been retained as a cultural practice, but the notion that an akoshos Can be a wife to a man has survived into modern day legal and doctrinal practices around marriage.

So like this being said, marriage as it is legally defined is only between a man and a woman, a man and an akoshos, or a woman and an akoshos. In practice the latter two are comparatively VERY rare- a man/akoshos marriage cannot provide children (though an akoshos can practically fulfill all other obligations and duties of a wife), a woman/akoshos marriage Can provide children (and while akoshos cannot function as a male heir, these children Will take their akoshos-parent's family name (though the wife retains her father's family name)), but akoshos are legally grouped with women in terms of rights and privileges (including being permanently under legal domain of their father unless they have been legally handed off to a male husband) and Cannot provide hard power patriarchal support that this family system is built upon and therefore depends upon, which makes these marriages socio-economically insecure. They can obviously still be a good partner and parent, but this is not the same as having the Legal hard power of a patriarch.

Akoshos marrying each other would be reproductively and socially nonviable, and is treated as a similarly absurd concept to a man marrying a man or a woman marrying a woman. It's just not a part of the marriage and kinship framework, it's not a thing that you can Do.

[of-fear-and-love]

Rock Hudson in Pretty Maids All in a Row (1971)

[odk-2]

Billy Lee Riley and The Little Green Men - Red Hot (1957) Billy "The Kid" Emerson from: "Red Hot" / "Pearly Lee"

Rockabilly | Proto-Psychobilly

JukeHostUK (left click = play) (320kbps)

Personnel: Billy Lee Riley: Vocals / Guitar Roland Janes: Guitar Jimmy Wilson: Piano Ace Cannon: Saxophone Marvin Pepper: Bass Jimmy Van Eaton: Drums

Recording Engineer: Sam Phillips Producer: Sam Phillips

Recorded: @ The Sun Records Studios in Memphis, Tennessee USA on January 30, 1957

Released: on September 14, 1957

Sun Records

[crepegosette]

Since you have Nyo OCs, would it be alright to ask what are your thoughts and feelings on Nyotalia overall?

I have mixed feelings Nyotalia; on other hand, I kinda like how they're different from their original counterparts. I appreciate that they have their own identity, not just straight up "X as a man/woman." On other hand, it feels like they were created solely for fanservice and nothing more.

Imo I feel it can be used to explore character concepts that weren't explored in the original, or even different facets of the country they're representing (ex: I like the idea of Amy representing the "strength" of the US while Alfred represents diplomacy. Its true that those sides can overlap, but one suits the other side better) I kinda try to keep that in mind making my own nyos, (Normal Brazil represents our vibrant, energetic side, while Nyo!Brazil represents our "chill" side, how we don't want beef with anyone) It can be a good way to use traits that weren't picked up in the creation of the original character.

[multapohja966]

boygroups are built on the “non-threatening and relatable to young women” -male concept, which caused me to be vigilant and untrusting of these celebrities maybe too much (though not completely unjustifyingly) bcs what they looked and seemed like was a performanse. these men don’t share your values etc.. so i only resently realised boy groups have given many women a safe way to view men just interacting and being human without the weight of romantic context. concidering how deeply we separate the genders it is actually quite rare. 

boy band culture is potrayed as only a deeply alienating experience between the binary genders. like the format of it would only deepen the lasck of understanding between. that there exists only charicatures on both sides. the hysteric female stan sexualises a hypothetical boyfriend concept sold to her and the naive yet sexist male idol sees the fans merely as means to an end not deserving of understanding. but in reality there’s a rare and unique form of platonic love, respect and understanding between these groups. a lot of it strengthetened by the somewhat social alienation of both. catering to a female audience and being in a boy band will keep a male idol separate from hegemonic masculinity and being a fan girl is notoriously looked down upon. so excistance of the micro culture requires separation from the mainstream and inner group reliance. radio regulars don’t need to culminate a dedicated fanbase but kpop groups get almost all of their revenue from fans.

[featherymainffins]

WAIT DOES THAT MEAN THAT DREAD WEIGHT IS JUST WLW MLM HOSTILITY??????

[rockmangurl]

I adore this so much.

“It’s kinda fun seeing ‘the Red Bomber’ unmasked.”

For @blackcrowcalling ‘s prompt, scene from Recut’s Curse of the Lion Men, Part 3 where Roll sees Proto Man without his helmet for the first time. :)

[thydungeongal]

There's an idea often advanced by the radical left that actually represents the perversion of an archetype that is nearly universal to humanity: "Girls go to college to get more knowledge; Boys go to Jupiter to get more stupider."

Traditionally, education was the realm of the masculine, but due to feminism and also woke it's impossible to be a man these days, so it stands to reason why girls would go to college to get more knowledge. But why would boys go to Jupiter?

The Roman deity Iūpiter, from Proto-Italic *djous patēr, whose cognates include the Greek "Zeus" and the Baltic "Dievas" among others, literally "sky father," in many ways acts as a metonym for divine wisdom in this context. Women are drawn to the earthly realm: men seek higher truths. But just as the halls of academia have been debased, so has the loony left chosen to paint the pursuit of the transcendent as folly: are boys going to Jupiter? Yes. But certainly not to get more stupider.

As Jordan B. Peterson argues in his book, 12 Rules of Life: An Antidote to Chaos,

[thewalrusespublicist]

Hello! Love your blog and your takes, objective and sane and well researched chefs kiss! I had a blast scrolling through it like it was my feed yesterday lol can you elaborate on klaus and Paul if possible? People mostly talk about them like it’s already understood but I don’t understand 😭 I’m kinda lost on their (all of them, including stu) dynamic during the hamburg years specifically when it comes to Paul

Aww thank you anon! Tbh I was starting to feel a bit down about my blog and what I was putting out ( the eternal crisis on how to give full answers and opinions without being stupid, boring and annoying lol). So I really, really needed this. :)

Oh Paul vs/and the Exsis, it's quite a long one so buckle up.

Disclaimer: all of the people involved are essentially art kids/young adults who are famously the most exhausting people on the planet. Do not blame them for being dramatic, it's their natural state of being.

If we want to go into Paul and Klaus, we have to kind of start with the John, Paul and Stu. Now these three are a mess that's too big to go into here (though I have THOUGHTS about how Stu is utilised in the Beatles narrative that I'm more than happy to share if asked lmaooo). But in short(ish):

John and Paul had had an intense year and a bit of closeness. Then John meets Stu at art college.

John and Stu become c l o s e for many reasons (being peers, living together, similar artistic leanings + ego, Stu being a gentle guide to John, sharing art projects/poetry/long letters and feelings etc.) They became 'closer than two men' a friend had seen (remind us of anyone gang?). Most importantly, John could be open about his feelings with Stu in letters. If John had BPD which I subscribe too, I think Stu was his 'favourite person' and as Aunt Mimi said his 'special' and 'closest friend' from this period up until his death (though imho the transference back to Paul was starting prior to his death).

It's not clear what exactly happens as there's differing accounts but Stu uses his money to buy a new bass as John wants him to come to Scotland then Hamburg and play bass as he will 'look good'.

Paul doesen't like being relegated to the seat behind John and Stu when he used to sit next to John. He also isn't thrilled when he gets to Hamburg and not only does he get to sleep in the other room with just Pete but Stu cannot be arsed to play because he's hanging out with his hot new girlfriend Astrid (more on her in a sec). Our boy has spent a lot of money he doesen't have and given up on further education to be here and is jealous and annoyed.

Paul and Stu probably were friends and I think their mutual antipathy is overegged. HOWEVER, can't be denied that Paul is jealous of Stu and Stu is jealous of Paul (and getting flare-ups from increasing brain damage). John and Stu tease Paul and steal his money, Paul is mean to Stu (as are the others encouraged by John). Do I think John was playing games with both of them? Yup. They end up scuffling onstage because Paul said something about Astrid (not clear what, one account is that Paul said that Stu could borrow money off Astrid if he needed it which isn't really that bad a dig but who knows Yoko??).

Why is this dynamic important? Because it directly impacts the 'Exsis' (Klaus, Jurgen and Astrid's) group's relationship with Paul:

The Exsis were young artists living in Hamburg. They were artistic, cool, interesting and edgy. They were paramount in introducing the Beatles to cool new concepts, aesthetics and ideas. They also took themselves VERY seriously ie pretentious as all hell.

Astrid met Stu at Kaiserkeller and hit it off. They embarked on an all-consuming romance.

Letter from Stu to Astrid, c.1961

I've seen people say they were the proto-John and Yoko in terms of making their romance the whole world and influencing John years down the line and I can see that. With Astrid and Stu it's far more endearing though because they ARE young and the right age to have a relationship like that. Stu is popular with the Exsis in general and brings them into the Beatles group.

The Exsis didn't like or trust Paul. Astrid said later it was because Paul was 'too nice' which she herself admits is a ridiculous reason. The others also thought he was a bit of a show-off. It makes sense though if you're cool and edgy and want to stick it to the world to be sus about a guy being friendly show-off with seemingly no inner world. The other problem was a perfectly reasonable one imo, you're not going to like your friends frenemy who you don't connect with. Compound that with Paul not taking drugs as much as George or John and being in the other room and you begin to have a division.

Paul had been popular his whole life, like from what we know since-primary-school-popular. He had never been in this position before, let alone in a foreign country. I believe it became a bit of a brutal feedback loop. Paul's response to this type of behaviour consistently it to go more surface level, snide and passive aggressive. The natural response of any group with a designated 'ugh' person is to become more shady and exclusionary. The cycle continues and gets worse. Stu letters back home at this time says that in a shocking turn of events Paul is hated by everyone but Stu 'just feels sorry for him' (lmao OF COURSE you do Stu, its giving 'loathing' from Wicked lol). Klaus drew a lot of artwork of the early Hamburg Beatles that includes this highly unpleasant picture of Paul in 1961 which I think says a lot:

Klaus is also a musician and fancies himself a place on bass. When Stu leaves to pursue art, Klaus asks John if he could take over but John says that he thinks Paul is going to do it.

Klaus has later gone on to say that he thinks he was a better bass player for the Beatles' sound at the start and then Paul developed into being better for the group. It's one of those I cannot believe those words actually left your mouth and you are not deeply embarrased moments. But it's important to keep this desire and viewpoint in mind.

Klaus stays in touch with all of them and close to John and George, George especially. They visit Klaus on holiday in tenerife in early 60s and Klaus later draws the Revolver artwork.

This whole context of how they met and Hamburg is crucial and has to be taken into account when hearing Klaus' statements. Klaus and Paul started off with a lack of connection and with Paul on the outs, the Exsis got an incomplete view of Paul and an inaccurate snapshot of the Beatles dynamic overall. This is why when Klaus says 'Paul was always slightly apart from the others' and that 'divorce was inevitable' from early 60s we should remember that that is what Klaus is expecting to see as that's what he saw in Hamburg.

Klaus wanted to be the bass player (and was holding out hope to join a band with George and John in the 70s), was really close with George and suffers as many did with 'John Lennon aspiring boy bestie syndrome' (JABBS). Paul had what Klaus wanted and from the Hamburg experience, you could see why Klaus thought he might have an in and may have been jealous of this 'shallow' Paul of all people having the connection that he felt he should/could have with John and George. As with most sufferers of JABBS, he took John's side with everything, always refused to say any regrets about his involvement in How do you Sleep and thought Paul was fine with the song because 'he was even closer to John than [he] was. (Again Klaus to put yourself in that level of closeness with John that it's comparable to Paul is ???.) JABBS and its secondary condition PMIETGSH (Paul McCartney isn't even that good shut up) are virulent diseases that incapacitate sufferers objectivity and judgement, so it's fair to say that Klaus is a source you have to take with a pinch of salt on the early 70s period.

It seems that Klaus and Paul did get on a lot better the older they got (probably without the jealousy complication of George and John) and developed a sweet friendship. Here is Klaus' tribute to Paul for his 80th:

Here is the jam session he's talking about:

He now wants Paul to live in his house lmao so things have gotten warmer. But Klaus and Paul's dynamic is a great example of how and why natural bias, little jealousies and spats can consciously or subconsciously influence our internal narrative and why we need to be so careful about not taking one perspective as gospel.