#the title seemed like a euphemism to me

[vimbry-moved]

it's sad how many reviews and stuff around tmbg seem to centre linnell as the sole dark and creepy writer of the band, never really crediting flansburgh too. do "hide away folk family," "dirt bike," "rabid child," "black ops," "cloisonné" mean nothing to them, smh.

[an-aroaces-harem]

After reading Ellis' current event route finally without a translator right before I went to sleep, my mind went to interesting places in the 'trying-to-fall-asleep-phase'. Especially because they kept a certain scene in and it wasn't in awkward japanese euphemisms. Let me tell you, japanese smut is very ... interesting?

Anyway, everything under the cut because sexual territory.

You know, I started to wonder if Kate's the most sexual and um, open MC we have so far. So my mind tried to puzzle together the info of the other MCs I have. If I missed anything (especially ikerev and ikegen) feel free to correct me.

Also, as a note, I mostly referring to how the MCs were like prior to becoming a couple because in basically every game, the moment they start to date, the horny levels rise high.

In IkeRev, we have Alice and while she is older than she looks, considering the time period she grew up, she pretty much was a virgin prior to falling into Cradle. I haven't played much ikerev, so my knowledge is really limited, but while she seemed quite innocent, she also didn't freak out before doing the deed. Also, Seth's route, just saying.

In IkeSen we have Mai who's undoubtly the horniest we had so far. I don't think it was ever mentioned anywhere but I don't think she was a virgin prior to travelling back into time. Also, there was a event (I don't recall which one) where Mai and Masamune are definitely 69ing. Oh, she definitely initiates which is surprising considering how the japanese archetype of a woman is like.

In IkeVamp, we have Mitsuki. I'm gonna be honest, I don't like her and please, please someone take that ugly, plain white bra away from her. Anyway, I'm pretty sure she mentioned she wasn't a virgin anymore; it was just a little comment after (probably) Arthur assumed she had to be one. Who can blame him tho, she does seem rather innocent. At least we've got canon big boy #1, Theo.

In IkeGen, we have Yoshino. My knowledge is super limited, but I do know there was an occurence of Yoritomo teaching her how to do a blowjob. Oh, and prior to ikevil, Ibuki held the title of earliest sex scene and highest amount of sex I believe as well. Could be wrong there.

In IkePri, we have Emma who definitely is a virgin, considering her 'romance has to be like THIS' schtick she had especially in the beginning. Also, her topping attempts never succeeded (tho it's less her and more the writers' fault) and I don't think I have seen her initiating? She is kinky tho, considering how much she's into biting in Chev's and Gilbert's routes.

And then, we have IkeVil. Kate touched herself in Ellis' premium end in the handcuff event and I really wonder, did we ever have a MC doing that? Also, the amount of suggestive content prior to a route release is insane (I'm sorry Victor stans, I know you have it hard with the few crumbs). I do think she was a virgin prior to all of this, she she's rather open from what I've seen. Seriously, lets list up what ikevil presented us so far: William and Kate having sex in chapter 10.5 prior to a relationship, Alfons overtaking Ibuki's record, Roger being canonically big boy #2, the handjob from Kate to Ellis from the every inch of you ecb story, Jude having an actual sex scene (outside from AU stories) way before his release, Harry complaining that he's totally pent up after not having sex for ONE day, Harry and Kate probably 69ing as well, the vore stuff from seams like love and the list goes on ...

Maybe I'm just biased because imo, ikevil is the best game Cybird made so far yet. The stories are intriguing, and the story events don't feel like I'm reading the same over and over, just in a different context. Hell, not even the Don't Look At Anyone But Me event turned me off, even though I hate the jealousy trope in basically every form.

Anyway, that's what my sleep-addled brain came up with. Mai may be the horniest one, but Kate has so far showing more kinky sides, so they're pretty much on par. Again, if I missed something, confused something or anything else, feel free to let me know.

[lopposting]

Some more Lies of P translation notes!

Some cool translation details that I thought were fun that didn't fit anywhere else.

[long!]

[Spoilers]

In the Korean version, Geppetto is speaking an "old-fashioned"/archaic form of Korean to reflect the time period that the game is set in

Set around the turn of the century (late 1800s), mimicking the Belle Époque of France's industrial revolution, we can guess that the game's events take place during the late 1800s. Given Geppetto's status as "old geezer", we can guess that he's closer to 100 than not, so he would have been born around the early 1800s. I might not be completely accurate - basically, he's speaking as an elderly person might speak in current time to culturally reflect his age; other times I notice he's using some words that are now out of use.

From the game's initial trailer:

깨어나거라, 아들아. 이제 이 아비를 기쁘게 해다오. Wake up, son. Make this father happy/proud.

The word he uses for "father" is "Abi" (아비), which is an archaic word for "father". In current day, korean speakers would generally use "Abeoji" (아버지).

The -gura(거라)/-DaOh(다오) conjugation is also an additional syllable that has since fallen out of use, or is considered archaic, in current korean:

아들아, 네 심장을 다오. Son, give me your heart.

하지만 알아 다오, 나는 너도 사랑했단다. But know this, I loved you too. English VA version: In my own way, I grew to love you.

This is also apparent in Geppetto's final letter at the end:

우릴 방해할 자는 이제 없을 거란다. 너를 위한 크라트를 다시 만들어주마. (-juma, Supposedly, only a "superior" speaker can use -juma) 그때까지 호텔에 조심해서 머물러 다오. 너를 누구보다도 아끼는 아버지가.

He also uses the -Oh ending again. (although he does call himself "Abeoji" 아버지 here and not "abi" like the trailer. He uses "Abi" again in another instance when responding to a guesture)

It's a very cool detail to me. I think it's a bit missed opportunity that, as far as I know, the english version doesn't seem to reflect this! Although to be fair, I'm struggling to imagine how they would. 19th century english/french maybe isn't as different or isn't different in the same ways from "modern" english that 19th century Korean would be from "modern" Korean. [Well, my only education on this stuff is from watching episodes of Dae Jang Geum]. I haven't checked to see if any other character (like Antonia) speaks this way. [Pls message me if Geppetto also speaks like this in your or any other language version!!]

Lies of P, Blood, puns, and the P-Organ

The P-Organ, in Korean, is referred to as the P기관. 기관 (gi-gwan), however, doesn't necessarily correlate directly to the word "Organ": It's quite an interesting word to choose because it can refer to any system of moving parts, both organic or mechanical; and it can mean an organ, a machine, or even a governmental body or institute.

As you may have heard by now, the game's titular pun revolves around the fact that the english character for P sounds the word for "blood" in korean (피), making the title (P의 거짓 P-ie Geojit?) read like Lies of Blood, in a nutshell. The title Lies of Blood then fits into the becoming-real flesh-and-blood themes of the game, perhaps also suggests that the deception in Krat has cost the lives of many - and, of course, references the lying of the titular character, who is inferred to be none other than (P)inocchio! So, in Korean, the P-Organ (P기관) becomes something like the Blood Engine. Which rather sounds like a euphemism for a heart!

[Perhaps: It's also a bit of narrative that Geppetto refuses to refer to it as our heart, unless he refers to it as belonging to Carlo.]

In English, this wordplay no longer exists, and so it's rather awkwardly literally translated (as the P-Organ).

How do you say, "NEOWIZ"?

I've seen a few people ask about the pronunciation of NEOWIZ (Lies' publishing company). Hangul is phonetic, so you could (technically) say the official pronunciation of NEOWIZ (네오위즈) is Nae-Oh Wiz and not Neo (like the Matrix character) -wiz.

However [in my opinion], I don't think this matters, because when something is translated to another language, it often takes the pronunciation of the language it is read in. Kind of like how in english you would read the capital of France correctly as Paris (with an S sound at the end), and not "Pari" (french pronunciation).

Also, Krat is consistently pronounced by in-game characters as "Krot" (Long O, rhymes with "Cot" or "Not") in the english version. In the game korean releases, "Krat" is written as 크라트, which would be pronounced and read as "Krat" (short A, rhymes with "Rat" or "Cat").

[I think the devs also say "Krat" too. The rounder "O" pronunciation of "A" in words seem like more of a European pronunciation in general]

The "Youngest of the Black Rabbit Brotherhood" and Gender

In Korean culture, Age is particularly significant in both Korean social hierarchy and language, and the role/position of being the youngest in a group is a particular role known as being the "maknae" (I mean, I definitely think this also exists in the western world, people definitely would understand being the "youngest" one in your family, but it's slightly different from that).

Despite being a member of the brotherhood, she refers to her brothers as "Oppa", which is when the word "brother" is used by female speakers to an older male subject (Remember Gangnam style?) [A male speaker would use "Hyung". I debated putting this one in, because to me, it seemed kind of obvious, but I did see others asking about this.]

[Given that the developers are from a korean studio, I am choosing to believe that the subtitles provided by the game's "korean" version are the text/script as originally written intended by the developers!]

[fleetn-crab85]

Hello and welcome to a episode of...

Crab Over Analyzes "Naked Persimmon" from "33 and 1/3 Revolutions Per Monkee!"

Where, like the title says, I'm going to go through Mike's fantasy because there's a lot I want to unpack.

Now for context, at the 13-ish minute mark in 33 & 1/3, the mind control guy says (and I quote):

“Hm, interesting fantasies they have. Fixation, Withdrawal, Schizophrenia, Regression.”

Let's get this started because it's going to be long:

In the mind control guy's list he puts Mike at being “Schizophrenia". My first thought is, why? What about Mike’s fantasy screams “schizophrenia”? Is it because there’s two distinct versions of himself? Is it because he's singing two different styles of songs? Is it another reason?

The scene begins with a high energy, pretty standard Monkee sounding tune (and by Monkee sounding tune I mean it sounds like the Beatles). We see that the woman from before is shooting at a wanted poster with Mike’s face on it (Figure One). It seems he is wanted for 25,000 dollars for the crime of fraud. The poster is also split in two, one side that’s faded in black and white while the other is saturated with color. (Forgive me for the screenshot qualities I'm not working with much here)

Figure One, The Wanted Poster

We also see, perched on top of the image of himself, Mike clad in his nudie suit! (Figure Two) He also jumps when the woman shoots at him like she narrowly missed his head. While cowboy Mike is dealing with that, another Mike climbs up next to him. He’s dressed in more "modern" clothing, something right out of the first episode of the Monkees TV show (Figure Three).

Figures Two and Three, Cowboy and Monkee Mike

The Monkee Mike begins to kind of speak-sing,

Now it’s quite a while ago that I had a strange intuition Something was wrong with my gold record situation

Then, the Cowboy Mike cuts in,

Why do they say with so much adoration?

Then the other Mike angrily responds,

Well I can’t see that it makes it right!

Then out of nowhere Cowboy Mike starts strumming his guitar and changes the style of the song entirely. It’s slower with an audible old-sounding piano.

So for a while, I’ll just play my guitar And I’ll play a couple of tunes And I know that it may not get me too far But it’s the only thing I believe that’s true

During this part, Cowboy Mike encourages the audience, or rather the other Mike, to “sing along!”. Monkee Mike begrudgingly accepts and starts harmonizing with the Cowboy (Figure Four).

Figure Four, The Mikes Singing Together

Then Monkee Mike looks around, as if he knows someone is watching, and starts strumming his guitar to the same style as before,

Well the devil incarnate was runnin’ music supervision Put me in a state of catalytic euphemism

But Cowboy Mike butts again,

Someone’s preaching about the wonder world of communism

Then the other Mike continues, a little more defeated than last time,

But me I don’t understand it all-

And back to Cowboy Mike taking the song back over!

So for a while, I’ll just play my guitar And I’ll sing a couple of tunes And I know that it may not get me too far But it’s the only thing I believe that’s true

Monkee Mike, of course, doesn’t let this go much longer and takes the song back,

Well tell me Mr. TV Man, where do you make your moral stand? Which way, say, do you take your pay? Do you walk straight up? Or do you face the other way?

Then he holds out a long “woah” before screaming something into Cowboy Mike’s face. I’m not entirely sure what it is because the audio on the video isn’t that great (and I should also say the lyrics may also be wrong I'm working with very little here). Cowboy Mike then takes the song back to the slower tempo, but Monkee Mike doesn’t try to really fight it this time,

For a while, I’ll play my guitar And I’ll sing a couple of tunes And I know that it may not get me too far But it’s the only thing I believe that’s true

After they finish the last line, Monkee Mike gets shot (probably the woman) offscreen and falls over, presumably dead (Figure Five). Then Cowboy Mike hesitantly repeats the last line and is then promptly shot as well.

Figure Five, Monkee Mike is Shot

Now what does this have to do with schizophrenia? Well, I believe this is just the movie’s way of saying Mike is split into two-ish personalities.

(I also may be wrong about this, but I believe 33 & 1/3 is trying to say something about dissociative identity disorder, not schizophrenia, but I genuinely can’t tell)

The Cowboy Mike represents his desire to be his own person separate from the Monkees. In this persona, he’s his own musician. He's fully embraced his Texas roots and happily sings songs about playing the guitar. However, I still believe this Mike is some sort of facade since the nudie suit and song are so over-the-top country it’s comical. I would even say the Cowboy Mike's part of the song farcical. Mike is still forced to put on an act even when he’s trying to be true to himself due to that inherent desire to perform.

The Monkee Mike, on the other hand, is obviously tied down to his life as a Monkee, even when his true self tries to shine through. This Mike also isn’t afraid to ask questions and combat topics that the Cowboy Mike may want to but can't due to his "non-celebrity status" (I personally am interpreting Cowboy Mike to be an vision of Mike that never became famous but he still sings). Monkee Mike is an idealization of what Mike wants to do with his status as a Monkee but can't due to continually being "cut off" by producers, directors, or even his own fears.

The Monkee Mike also being shot first represents, to me, the death of the Monkees after their heyday. His celebrity status as a Monkee will be the first to go, then his other fabricated self. After that, there’s not much Mike left. He’s a fraud either way. The “only thing [he] believe[s is] true” is his music, not himself.

If you made it this far, Thank you for reading this! I'd love to hear your thoughts and/or comments about it in the tags, replies, or whatever!

[joltai-showa]

last night got recommended a video about all the batshit crazy theories from Cersei's POV in A Feast for Crows and was reminded of my own experience going through this book last summer

honestly the entire thing feels like a damn fever dream because all the chapters follow the same pattern:

- Jaime's POV and his journey to realization that his sister is an unhinged bitch and his little brother's been right all along. which was, you know, coming for a while, fair point, seems okay

- literally the single most random POV imaginable doing fuckass what. Arya in Braavos selling clams? Brienne lost and depressed in some wetlands with a few randos? Sam on a verge of breakdown in the most random place in the world? Dorne plotline appearing and disappearing every 300 pages? You can never guess what is going to happen in these "interlude" chapters

- Cersei's POV. Just Cersei's POV. Honestly usually when a character is playing the game of thrones in King's Landing, I am more curious about the political intrigue aspect of the plot, but Cersei is just FUCKING INSANE. You will open her chapter and will NEVER guess which fucking way her brain is gonna get her. Holy fucking shit was it worth it to wait three books for this character's POV, because every time I saw her name as the title of the chapter, I just went

and then asked the waiter (I usually read ASOIAF during summer vacation, so I am sunbathing by the swimming pool in a hotel) to bring me more irish coffee, cuz I am not getting through that without some additional whiskey in my system. I was NEVER I proven wrong.

I have a buddy who is a huge fan of the TV series and only recently started reading the books, so he's behind me in the plot, but kind of has a general gist of things, and every time he saw me screaming about something happening in a Cersei chapter, he would ask me wtf was going on, and I couldn't even properly explain, like HOW DO YOU EXPLAIN CERSEI HAVING GIDDY FLASHBACKS TO FUCKING HER BROTHER WHILE HER HUSBAND'S DRUNK AND SLEEPING ON THE FLOOR???? OR HAVING SUDDEN SESBIAN LEX WITH ONE OF HER SERVANTS???? WHILE FANTASIZING IN HER HEAD ABOUT BEING HER HUSBAND?????? WOMAN WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON WITH YOU

And this is literally the entire book.

Anyway, here's an accurate description of reader's experience with Cersei's POV:

P.S. I'm pretty sure Martin writes terrible sex scenes on purpose. Like, I can not believe that a sane writer is capable of making it this cringe and hilarious without trying to. Some of the euphemisms he uses are straight from Wattpad lmao

[paddingtonfan69]

2, 6, 8, 9, 15, 19, 21, 30

okay HERO for this plethora of numbers, tysm!!

2. What's something new that you tried in a fic this year?

i’ve fucked around with non-linear timelines before but the specificity doing a full backwards timeline for now I understand, and it’s time to leave the woods was a first for me, especially because said timeline took place over HUNDREDS of years! but i’m v satisfied with the results!

6. What character(s) captured your heart?

okay very obvious because 6/7 of the fics I wrote this year were for agatha all along, and 5/6 of those fics were from Rio’s perspective, but I fucking love that bitch!!! a true loser shrouded in a cloak of seeming very cool, but actually just so down bad and gay that dealing with her ex actually takes priority over like… her sacred duty she’s been doing for millennia. death is a lesbian and she’s a little freak about it and she’s played by aubrey plaza!!! a true icon for all of us who cannot be normal about the women we are on in love with!! she is so special to me

8. What fic meant the most to you to write?

answered here!

9. What fic made you feel the happiest to work on?

all of them 😌 okay but if I had to choose, probably both in the death and taxes series, because it’s SUCH a fun world to inhabit and so silly and goofy!!! love to lean into the stupidity of it all and make myself laugh! also special shoutout to the second one for getting to make fun of dear evan hansen which is always a joy!

15. What was the hardest fic to title?

lmao hands down someday we will all be on our backs (free at last from income tax), which low key isn’t even a great title!! I was just googling and looking at lists of song lyrics about taxes and nothing was working! I wanted to do something from the beatles’ tax man, but the lyrics were too mean to my poor rio and then the others were just not right. finally one of the lists I found included this deep cut billy joel song and I was like SURE! it works well as sort of a nod to the death and taxes of it all, and the lying on our backs thing can be a little bit of a euphemism for sex, but man it does NOT roll off the tongue. its very funny bc this fic is close to becoming the most popular fic i’ve written EVER (crazy!!!!) and it’s NEVER referred to as its title, simply “tax evasion fic” which is much more fitting imo

19. Share your favorite piece of dialogue

answered here! but another one I love is from an inch away from more than just friends my only non-agatha fic this year, which was for bridgerton, a show I barely watch, but HAD to make my girl eloise a huge dyke for her best girl and wrote her this regency lesbian romantic speech that i’m quite proud of:

21. What's something that surprised you while you were working on a fic? Did it change the story?

when I was working on you’re here, there’s nothing I fear, I was having fun doing research on actual titanic survivors to throw them into this silly fic on the titanic. and I stumbled across these two men who were definitely gay for each other and I was like “oh what a fun detail!” but then when I decided to incorporate them into the fic, I found myself very touched by them and their story, what little we know of it. their inclusion is actually the final line of that fic, and adds a sweetness and romanticism to that story, which started out mostly as a comedic one, but the discovery of these irl lovers actually changed the tone of the ending!!! love those guys!

30. What would you like to write next year?

gotta actually finish an original fiction project I’ve been working on, which kind of fell by the wayside for these last couple months when I went insane over aaa!! on the fic end i would like to dip my toe back into the tax verse again, because I have so much fun with them!!

end of year fic asks

[saiyukiitaliaandinternational]

Monthly Minekura Christmas edition

Day 11 “Elf”

I know this might seem strange but the background is actually linked to the theme of 'elf' because that's Alden Valley, based on this photo that inspired me with the subject. Alden derives from Old English ælf ('elf') + denu ('valley'), thus meaning 'elf-valley'. I didn't want to use the Christmas version nor the Tolkien-based elves, and I couldn't find an equivalent in Chinese mythology. I prefer to stick with old traditions but it is complex and sometimes even confusing, so I preferred to use a place in England that was once associated with elves. Elves appear in some place names, though it is difficult to be sure how many of other words, including personal names, can appear similar to elf. The clearest English examples are Elveden ("elves' hill", Suffolk) and Elvendon ("elves' valley", Oxfordshire); other examples may be Eldon Hill ("Elves' hill", Derbyshire); and Alden Valley ("elves' valley", Lancashire). These seem to associate elves fairly consistently with woods and valleys. In Old English, elves are most often mentioned in medical texts which attest to the belief that elves might afflict humans and livestock with illnesses: apparently mostly sharp, internal pains and mental disorders. The most famous of the medical texts is the metrical charm Wið færstice ("against a stabbing pain"), from the tenth-century compilation Lacnunga, but most of the attestations are in the tenth-century Bald's Leechbook and Leechbook III. This tradition continues into later English-language traditions too.

Because of elves' association with illness, in the twentieth century, most scholars imagined that elves in the Anglo-Saxon tradition were small, invisible, demonic beings, causing illnesses with arrows. This was encouraged by the idea that "elf-shot" is depicted in the Eadwine Psalter, in an image which became well known in this connection. However, this is now thought to be a misunderstanding: the image proves to be a conventional illustration of God's arrows and Christian demons. Rather, twenty-first century scholarship suggests that Anglo-Saxon elves, like elves in Scandinavia or the Irish Aos Sí, were regarded as people. Keep in mind that like words for gods and men, the word elf is used in personal names where words for monsters and demons are not, so elves are people. In Old English, the plural ylfe (attested in Beowulf) is grammatically an ethnonym (a word for an ethnic group), suggesting that elves were seen as people.

Elves are known in Norse tradition, notably in Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda, which talks about svartálfar, dökkálfar and ljósálfar, but these terms are attested only in the Prose Edda and texts based on and it is now agreed that they reflect traditions of dwarves, demons, and angels, partly showing Snorri's "paganisation" of a Christian cosmology learned from the Elucidarius, a popular digest of Christian thought (this is why I take with a grain of salt Prose Edda when I want to learn about Norse religion). I prefer to focus in Old Norse poetry, particularly the Elder Edda. Elves are frequently mentioned in the alliterating phrase Æsir ok Álfar ('Æsir and elves') and its variants. This was a well-established poetic formula, indicating a strong tradition of associating elves with the group of gods known as the Æsir, or even suggesting that the elves and Æsir were one and the same. There are other sources that talk about elves such as Sagas of Icelanders, Bishops' sagas, and contemporary sagas. In Kormáks saga there is the mention of álfablót ("elves' sacrifice"), and in Eyrbyggja saga we can find the existence of the euphemism ganga álfrek ('go to drive away the elves') for "going to the toilet".

Fun fact: by the end of the medieval period, elf was increasingly being supplanted by the French loan-word fairy. An example is Geoffrey Chaucer's satirical tale Sir Thopas, where the title character sets out in a quest for the "elf-queen", who dwells in the "countree of the Faerie".

I imagined Gojyo (I find him the best for these kind of works) being alone in this place, pondering about his life and letting thoughts roam freely before maybe elves try to steal them. Here you can see two versions, a black and white version which resemble a manga page and another one where Gojyo chromatically stands out. I was unsure which posting, so asked a dear friend of mine and she liked both and eventually I decided to post both. Gojyo's pose was partially inspired by the famous painting of Caspar David Friedrich, Wanderer above the Sea of Fog. Ok again sorry for long post.

Credits:

Saiyuki Reload Blast © Kazuya Minekura, Platinum Vision, 2017-present

[dreamsinmytotebag]

Poetic references in pop culture

After having discussed poetry and songs and lyric poetry, we can see how certain poetic elements have seemed to find their way in pop culture. The target audiences for poetry and pop culture might have been considered to be different in earlier times but now they tend to overlap. What earlier used to be limited to the field of literature is now, often used as an aesthetic in films, music, etc. I also feel that, while it expands poetry as a domain and exposes new people to it, it also, in some ways, loses its value when it is brought down to stand as a mere aesthetic that people use as captions for their social media posts. Nonetheless, we get to see poetry making its cameo in pop culture many a times.

Starting with something very closely linked to poetry- songs and lyrics. Many artists and songwriters tend to have a poetic style of writing. Now, of course, not all lyrics and songs can amount to being termed as poetry, but some can. Hozier would be my first prime example for this. His deep and poetic lyrics tend to reflect a strong sense of writing, which at the same time also get entangled with the aesthetic of pop culture. The deep complexities and metaphors, and euphemisms in his lyrics may not be understood by all which can make the listeners interpret their meaning in some other way. Songs like “Cherry Wine” and “Eat Your Young” talk about social issues but due to their interpretation in pop culture, their meanings have come down to revolve around the subject of love and relationships. While, at the same time, there is no denying that Hozier also makes love songs. However, a song like “Eat Your Young”, which serves as, what some might say, a “protest song”, based on political greed and the exploitation of younger generations, should not be reduced to merely having a sexual connotation to it. The song also references the classic Anglo-Irish writer, Jonathan Swift and his essay, “A Modest Proposal”, a famous protest against the British treatment of Ireland. This shows how poetry can get lost while serving to the whims and the fancies of pop culture. I also happened to stumble across this one blog on Tumblr, which adds more to this Hozier argument. I’ll attach a link for a clearer understanding.

Taking up a few more examples from music, particularly pop music, only recently we saw Taylor Swift release her 11th studio album, titled "The Tortured Poets Department”. Now the name in itself carries the essence of poetry. As a fan, of course my opinion would differ from the critiques or someone who’s not a fan, nonetheless, I enjoyed the album while also being aware of its different aspects that I did not enjoy as much. Particularly talking about “The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology” I clearly saw more of the poetic edge to the album here, rather than on the standard version. Swift is inarguably one of the best songwriters of all time and there have been instances where she has written actual poems, or has poems turned into songs. Her other albums, particularly, “folklore” and “evermore” also carry the poetic side of Swift. Lyrics like,

“Now you hang from my lips, like the gardens of Babylon.

With your boots beneath my bed, forever is the sweetest con”

-Ivy, evermore

Or

“Take me to the lakes where all the poets went to die

I don’t belong, but my beloved neither do you

Those Windermere peaks look like the perfect place to cry

I’m signing off but not without my muse, no, not without you”

-The Lakes, folklore

…carry a heavy whiff of poetry and a poetic style of writing. When songs with such lyrics are consumed by a wide audience, the audience naturally looks into its deeper meanings. In reference to Taylor Swift and her widely spread fanbase, Swifties, who are known to speculate her work with full intensity and dedication, will of course be opened to a whole new world of poets and poetry through their consumption of pop culture. Taylor Swift also has quite a few self-written poems, namely, “Why She Disappeared”, and “If you’re anything like me”.

Speaking of pop artists and their poetry, we can not move on without mentioning Lana Del Rey. Apart from her complex lyricism, Lana, also has a poetry book called "Violet Bent Backwards over the Grass”. Lana Del Rey is not only celebrated as an artist, but has developed a whole aesthetic around her, which her poetic footprints follow. She has a huge impact on pop culture and is known to bring in a whole Sylvia Plath vibe to her work. People usually draw comparisons between the two. One of my favorite poems by Lana Del Rey, would have to be “Sportcruiser”:

“All of this circumnavigating the earth

Was to get back to my life

Six trips to the moon for my poetry to arise

I'm not a captain

I'm not a pilot

I write

I write”

Apart from music, poetry has been reflected in films as well. For an example, I would like to mention my favourite movie of all time, “Dead Poet’s Society”. From a dark academia aesthetic to Walt Whitman references, and the famous “Oh Captain! My Captain!” line, draws in interest from poetry and literature enthusiasts. I personally, started exploring Walt Whitman after I watched the movie. Shows such as “Dickinson” which revolves around the life of the famous poet, Emily Dickinson, also bring poetry to pop culture. Such shows also help bring out the sides of poets and their work which could not be revealed back in their times due to the society’s conservative nature.

Apart from movies centred around poetic or literature themes, many shows or films reference poems or poets in dialogues, arising the viewer’s curiosity. The movie “Maurice” has a dialogue, “I am an unspeakable of the Oscar Wilde sort.” which references the famous poet/author, Oscar Wilde, particularly dealing with the theme of homosexuality. Adaptations of classics, such as “Pride and Prejudice”, or “Little Women” also finds literature being introduced to pop culture. However, at the same time, such adaptations can also sometimes misrepresent these classics, which is usually called out by the literature enthusiasts, showing an interaction between two crowds and an integration of literature into pop culture. One of the recent examples, we can find is when Netflix announced the adaptation of “The Picture of Dorian Gray” by Oscar Wilde. (my favorite book of all time) Like many other, I, too, was disappointed to find out about the queer erasure done by Netflix by establishing a familial relationship between two characters: Dorian and Basil, who clearly have a romantic one in the original story, in the book.

Moreover, ever since social media came into the picture, poetry has been widely spread across pop culture. With poets like, Rupi Kaur, making their debut on talk shows like, “The Tonight Show With, Jimmy Fallon” and going on tours and various poetry related social media accounts taking over, the extent of integration of poetry with pop culture has been quite large and has changed the way people consume and create poetry, with specific emphasis on spoken poetry. What’s most interesting to note here is that the impact of this integration has not been one sided. Pop culture too has been shaped immensely through the introduction of poetry and other literature related themes, especially in the way it references, creates, and presents its content.

[mariana-oconnor]

Black Peter pt 1

Haven't heard of this one either. Let's hope that's down to the fact it's a later story and not because it isn't popular anymore because of *looks at title* reasons.

I have never known my friend to be in better form, both mental and physical, than in the year '95.

Watson does keep waxing poetic about the year 1895. Must have been an epic year.

Holmes, however, like all great artists, lived for his art's sake, and, save in the case of the Duke of Holdernesse, I have seldom known him claim any large reward for his inestimable services.

Do we know the Duke of Holdernesse? I don't remember his name. How rude was he to Holmes that Holmes took his money? I feel like that must be arsehole tax.

So unworldly was he—or so capricious—that he frequently refused his help to the powerful and wealthy where the problem made no appeal to his sympathies...

More evidence for the Sherlock Holmes hates the rich theory. It's not that he's unworldly or capricious, Watson, it's that usually they're the bad guys (please see King of Bohemia). Not to put modern biases on a historical fictional character or anything.

down to his arrest of Wilson, the notorious canary-trainer

What did he train the canaries to do?

Was it, like, an entire hoard of pickpocketing birds?

Did they murder people for him? What?

Google tells me it might have been a euphemism for brothel-keeper. Or a singing teacher. So... honestly that story could go any number of ways. I think I'll stick to actual canaries, though. Probably in Canary Wharf.

During the first week of July my friend had been absent so often and so long from our lodgings that I knew he had something on hand. The fact that several rough-looking men called during that time and inquired for Captain Basil...

Watson pining at home while Holmes is out with rough-looking men and having them call him Captain...

...made me understand that Holmes was working somewhere under one of the numerous disguises and names with which he concealed his own formidable identity.

Honestly, I feel like this is character development. Before Watson would have just been 'Holmes is away' and 'Who is Captain Basil?', two entirely separate lines of thought. Now he has connected the dots. Proud of you, buddy!

...he strode into the room, his hat upon his head and a huge barbed-headed spear tucked like an umbrella under his arm.

“If you could have looked into Allardyce's back shop you would have seen a dead pig swung from a hook in the ceiling, and a gentleman in his shirt-sleeves furiously stabbing at it with this weapon. I was that energetic person, and I have satisfied myself that by no exertion of my strength can I transfix the pig with a single blow."

Everyone needs a hobby.

I recognised him at once as Stanley Hopkins, a young police inspector for whose future Holmes had high hopes...

Oh hai, Hopkins!

"However, my friend Dr. Watson knows nothing of this matter, and I should be none the worse for hearing the sequence of events once more."

For the sake of Watson and us, the invisible audience, please to be info-dumping exposition policeman!

"In 1883 he commanded the steam sealer Sea Unicorn, of Dundee."

"He has been known to drive his wife and his daughter out of doors in the middle of the night, and flog them through the park until the whole village outside the gates was aroused by their screams."

Can't say I'm entirely sorry Captain Carey is dead. In fact, maybe just chalk this up as self-inflicted and leave it at that. Whoever did it probably had a good reason.

However, the nickname doesn't seem to really be racist, so that's better than it could have been. Swarthy, as far as I'm aware, refers to tanned/weather beaten skin usually, which makes sense for a longtime sailor.

"He had built himself a wooden outhouse—he always called it ‘the cabin’—a few hundred yards from his house, and it was here that he slept every night. It was a little, single-roomed hut, sixteen feet by ten."

The original man cave?

The description of him is not crying out the sort of man who would keep tobacco on hand just in case his friends wanted some. It's not crying out the sort of man who has friends, for a start.

“Exactly, Mr. Holmes. I appreciated that point, and I conjectured that it was dropped by the murderer in his hurried flight. It lay near the door.”

Hopkins really is the smartest of the police officers we've met. And I still haven't noticed Watson comparing him to an animal.

So we have a terrible man killed by a harpoon in his man cave and no one noticed for ages because no one wanted to talk to him. I'm kind of hoping that all the women were in on it and they just... harpooned him together.

[sburbian-sage]

A

Ah, no., i

it's just my quirk., t

though you were it seems I can say you were close nonetheless., a

although I cannot explicitly confirm if it was a boss that did it, or if there is in fact a censoring effect on me, but if there were, how might one fight such a being?, w

when one cannot ask others about such a being's weaknesses., d

due to the aforementioned hypothetical censoring effect?, e

especially if such a boss or other being were perhaps too strong to defeat by ordinary means?, o

or isn't a boss at all, and instead is something it would be very very bad to kill?, n

not that I'm saying that it is or isn't., b

because it seems I can't.

I can't believe my ability to sleuth problems and decrypt ciphers is so strong that I arrived at a mostly-correct answer, even using the wrong process.

Anyway, you're telling me that you're being forced to self-censor and be evasive because an entity is forcing you to, and the entity in question is 1) not a boss, 2) too strong to defeat head-on, 3) probably shouldn't be killed. I can only think of a couple of entities which fall under this banner.

A Player. Perhaps one of the Law, Heart, or Rage variety, who has given a sentence/programming/command to not do the thing you shouldn't be doing. They could also be monitoring/brainwashing you with psionic powers, or else just have a bomb collar strapped to you.

Your Sprite. They're usually hardcoded to be friendly to you and guide you and stuff, but it's not impossible that you somehow prototyped a Sprite which is taking a hostile stance against you.

An Other. Technically not a boss, immensely strong, and it's not that killing them is bad, only that fighting them is innately dangerous.

The Debug NPC.

If it's the Player, then it might be worth it to send messages to your coplayers implying and insinuating that some weird abusive stuff is going on. If you think there's monitoring going on, or otherwise feel like online comms can't work, maybe try to meet up in person. As for "fighting", direct fights are indeed risky (putting aside Titles and such), and PKs are probably not desirable, unless you feel this is a prelude to a PK. In any case doing something like (hypothetically) waiting until they're asleep and active on the Dream Moon, finding their physical body, throwing a weighted net on top of them, splashing ice cold water on them, and then hitting them with a bat or other hard-but-not-deadly object while screaming at them to stop putting a censor lock on you, I dunno it could work. It'd be best to get back-up first though, or otherwise let your more communicative players help.

If it's the Sprite, I have no idea what you prototyped it with that it's hostile and has mind-control powers. If it has to come to it, I wouldn't be too worried about destroying the thing. The Sprites don't really contribute much anyway to people who already know how to play the game, outside of sentimental value (which a rogue sprite is definitionally not doing). Just toss in something contrary to its nature, and it might self-delete (only a euphemism in that it doesn't just zip out of existence, it explodes). Or maybe just throw something in that makes it less hostile? If that's not an option though, because it's double-prototyped, then just progress through the game. Every Sprite will eventually give you your Sprite Pendant, and soon after fuck off permanently. This is a mostly inevitable event, and once it leaves, any negative effects might also auto-dispel.

If it's an Other, I can only assume this was your fault because you made a deal with it. Hopefully you can try to find a loophole in whatever contract you made to get your ability to talk back, or else you'll have to make a second deal. And don't think this will wear off once the Session ends, any deal you make with an Other is persistent. Similarly persistent is your ability to communicate with that specific Other in the future.

If it's the Debug NPC, I can't help you. The fact that the Debug NPC is doing anything of consequence means things are going horribly off-rails, such that I literally wouldn't be able to provide you any relevant information or advice. So you'll just have to rely on your own problem-solving skills. Good luck!

[maggiecheungs]

spring-spun thoughts by li bai

(my translation; original and notes under the cut)

for you, the jade silk grasses of yan province

for me, the mulberries of qin with their drooping green boughs

dear sir, in all your dreams of homecoming

do you spare any thought for your heartsick love?

i’m troubled by the spring breeze (no acquaintance of mine!)

that slips, unbidden, within my silk-gauze screens

春思（李白）

燕草如碧絲 秦桑低綠枝 當君懷歸日 是妾斷腸時 春風不相識 何事入羅幃

notes on the translation:

this translation is a little looser/more daring than other poems i've tried my hand at before... i'm not usually brave enough to strongly push my own interpretation in my translation, but i did this time because 1) it's a li bai poem so there are already countless other more traditional english translations available and 2) if you can't make fun, slightly risqué interpretations/translations of li bai, then who else is there?

the context: it is spring! a gentleman has gone to yan province (in the army) while his lover is left alone in qin. sad!

the title: 春思 is usually just translated as 'spring thoughts', but i wanted to somehow capture the parallel between the homonyms 思 (sī, 'thoughts', 'yearning') and 絲 (sī, 'silk') that's in the original. i don't know how well it carries over, but i tried to make that connection between 'spring-spun thoughts (of an absent lover)' and the jade silk grasses of yan. i also wanted to preserve the sense of causality (which is an important part of the chinese poetic tradition but not necessarily evident to the english language reader): the specific brand of yearning that she’s feeling right now is specifically caused by her sorrow that he’s not there to enjoy the spring with her

the poem: translators seem to favour reading this as a fairly typical poem of yearning, but when i read it i felt there was a slightly... arch edge to the speaker's voice? it's very possible to read it as a straight lament at their distance, but i feel like you can also imbue it with a slightly sarcastic or accusatory tone, so i wanted to let both interpretations remain open in my version. hence my translation of the second couplet in second person, to give it a slightly more confrontational edge than a simple neutral statement of fact.

the final couplet was tricky, because it seems like such a non-sequitur. i made two possible interpretations: 1) that the spring wind in her bedchamber is just another reminder of her lover's absence from her side; or alternatively, and slightly more daringly, 2) that she's obliquely warning her lover that he's left her open and unprotected, and that she's been receiving unwelcome attentions from other men while he's gone (depending on whether you read the poem as sincere or snarky, this could be a genuine warning... or a mischievous, innuendo-laden hint that he should get his arse in gear and come back home to stop her running off with someone else. i think this last interpretation is a bit out-there, but i'm quite fond of it—and also, i'm pretty sure i read somewhere that 春風 (spring wind) is a euphemism for sex, which would lend credence to my theory...). it also strikes me that my slightly irreverent reading lends itself to a third possible interpretation of the final couplet: she’s coyly warning him that if he’s gone too long, she won’t recognise him when he returns to her bed lmao. but idk! i might be reading too much into it. or maybe not! the possibilities are endless

[shinygoku]

With the Beatles (1963)

Time for part 2 of CutCat Reviews Beatles Albums now it's February!

An iconic picture to be sure, but I'm not wild on it. Maybe it reminds me too much of trying to fit pictures into a small MS Paint Canvas? lol

Like with Please Please Me, I think there's some songs that slipped under the osmosis radar and that I ain't heard in full. Though I think the only albums I've listened to from start to finish all in order are the 1 CD, Revolver and Sgt Pepper, so I'll stop mentioning it on these early and the later ones... We're also still in "a fair few Covers" country, so will I be as mild on them as I was on the Non-Boys of PPM?

SIDE ONE

It Won't Be Long: I first heard this fairly recently, on the radio that was playing in another room. My thoughts weren't that strong, other than that "She Loves You" does the Yeah! repetition better lmao. Having been able to it properly since, though, I'm a lot warmer to it! It's optimistic and energetic, and the even higher amount of Yeahs is funny (though I maintain that SLY easily wins the Yeah Battle... but more on that when I reach it~). Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah!!

All I've Got To Do: This one seems to get slept on a lot... it's pretty solid, but it doesn't really offer any particular Iconic moments. The chorus shakes things up in a nice way but it seems Sticking Power ain't something it has. It's one of many songs that go to show how amazing this band was, as this isn't bad, but it's been left far behind by the other songs they've blessed us with, innit?

All My Loving: Now THIS is a memorable song! Such a jaunty guitar with the direct words! A real narrative is being laid out, albeit as an assertion of future things being promised~ Ah nuts, it blasted my memory of the previous song outta my head... XD - Seems this is the only one that got Red Album'd in this list? Wild that it's only the 1, but I think the right choice was made.

Don't Bother Me: George time! I'm not clear on if the narrative here is a post-breakup or if he's being dramatic about a spell away from the GF, but the main crux is that he doesn't want non-GF contact at that point in time. It's much moodier than most'a their stuff from this time, and there's more damn nice instrumental work.

Little Child: The title on it's own has me somewhat 8(, and the lyrics unfortunately confirm this [albeit Dancing on it's own ain't that bad, but one knows Dancing is often a euphemism in songs like this, or a precursor to more]... I'm sorry for such a negative, potentially pearl-clutching response. But also the music isn't charming me enough to coax me into softening my view. The first real Dud of this album, imo.

Till There Was You: Now THIS, I like! I was baffled why this seems to fly under the radar of Iconic Beatles Songs, but I since found out it's a cover, so that's probably the explanation. The lyrics are decent but the real appeal is that absolutely gorgeous guitar work and bongos, they provide such a warm feel~ It's also giving me strong "Anime Ending Credits Sequence" vibes, which I'm quite partial to ^w^ ...Issit just me or does Paul gain a slight Irish accent when he says "no, I never heard (them/it) at all" :0c

Please Mr. Postman: This I DID know was a cover from the start, haha! It's a very catchy song, but even with my sizable Beatle Bias, I can't really commit to declaring this one as the best... it's very good and very listen-able, but it may be that the definitive Mr Postman is somewhere else...

SIDE TWO

Roll Over Beethoven: Again, it's a cover, but I've not heard Chuck Berry's OG take at the time of writing. The song is pretty groovy, George's vocals ring nicely. I'm not dazzled, but I like it well enough :>

Hold Me Tight: Another Beatles original, another one that tends to get omitted from Mentions...! It's nice, but a lot plainer than most'a the stuff, lacks a certain Pizazz

You Really Got a Hold on Me: Another cover, one I've prolly heard before by a non-Beatles act, while this one is another Fine, Inoffensive romp that I lack strong feelings for lol

I Wanna Be Your Man: Now I know this one was somewhat famously given to The Rolling Stones, and I even heard that played on the radio too. When it was their version, I wasn't impressed. Sung by Ringo, as it had been intended initially? ....I'm still not that impressed. Mostly in the lyrics, it's real repetitive! But my Ringo bias keeps it afloat, and it's odd Mid-ness makes it more memorable than others on this album.

Devil In Her Heart: A good cover, this! George doing nice vocals and the candance to the title is catchy, and ooooh the instruments in the background are also fun, are those maracas I hear? It gets bonus points for the harmonies disagreeing with the lead too, hehe

Not A Second Time: The last original of this album, and it's not really doing it for me. Something about it kinda blurs into itself. Their later betrayal type numbers are more my bag, baby

Money (That's What I Want): And we're closing the experience with one more cover. I dig the instruments, most notably the piano, but the song itself is just, like, whatever lmao, Maybe it's too overtly materialistic and a bit listless? Man oh man does the Pink Floyd Money blow this outta the water lmaooo

CONCLUSION

Best 3: It Won't Be Long, All My Loving, Till There Was You

Blurst 3: Little Child, Not A Second Time, Money (That's What I Want)

Overall Quality?: An improvement over Please Please Me, though in a way it's more level quality makes it a bit harder to pick the best at least best songs in it. Most of the covers are again decent but not amazing, and the originals are hit and miss. Unfortunately it seems side 1 got the Lion's Share of memorable, fun numbers, leaving side 2 with also-rans, though in that is Devil in Her Heart at least!

🪲🪲🪲🪲

On the next part, it shall have been (?) A Hard Day's Night and its all-original song lineup! Just the Album though, if I'm looking at the Film it'll be another, separate instalment ^w^;

[krispyweiss]

Album Review: Todd Snider - Crank It, We’re Doomed

The liner notes say Todd Snider shelved Crank It, We’re Doomed, for “artistic reasons.”

Upon hearing the album - recorded in 2007, abandoned, presumed lost and subsequently found - “artistic reasons” seems a euphemism for “fucked up.”

Finally released in its original format, Doomed finds Snider standing at the crossroads of folk, country, neo-funk and rock ‘n’ roll with a masterpiece on his hands.

A number Doomed’s 15 songs - including “From a Dying Rose,” “The War on Terror” and the Loretta Lynn duet “Don’t Tempt Me” - ultimately found their way on to Peace Queer (‘08) the Excitement Plan (‘09) and 2012’s Agnostic Hymns & Stoner Fables. Some were used as recorded in ’07 (“Don’t Tempt Me”); others received fresh treatments (“Good Fortune,” which features Kris Kristofferson on Doomed); and others still were renamed, which is how “Handleman’s Revenge” became Peace Queer’s “Stuck on the Corner (Prelude to a Heart Attack).”

In 2023, Crank It, We’re Doomed sits easily alongside other Snider triumphs like Songs for the Daily Planet and Cash Cabin Sessions, Vol. 3. Listening to it and wondering why it sat dormant for 16 years will likely cause Snider fans to gravitate toward the title of the song that explores Billy Joe Shaver’s shooting of a man and ask: “What Made You Do It.” That one is previously unreleased but sounds so familiar Sound Bites suspects Snider’s played it live over the years.

Other previously unheard numbers include the grimy, guitar-driven rock ’n’ roll of “Juice” and the acoustic, country lope of “But Seriously Folks.”

Violin colors the Doomed version of “America’s Favorite Pastime,” which vividly and hysterically recounts Doc Ellis throwing a no-hitter while tripping balls. And “Mercer’s Folly” recalls the sound of 20th-century Snider with lyrics that ultimately became “Big Finish.”

Artistic reasons? A major fuck up? It doesn’t matter now. Crank it, Doomed is saved.

Grade card: Todd Snider - Crank It, We’re Doomed - A

12/5/23

[studioahead]

Curator Spotlight: Natasha Boas

We’re ringing in the new year with a firecracker: one of our most hilarious, crazy features ever, an interview with Natasha Boas, whose sparkling wit is matched only by her taste in literature and chairs. You’ll have to read below to understand, but we’ll say now that this is a woman who was once Jacques Derrida's student and sat on his kitchen chairs in his apartment in Paris. A conversation with Boas, an independent scholar and curator (and thinker), had us traipsing all over the noosphere and our own backyard in San Francisco, where she became our tour guide to the hidden currents of a city we thought we knew well.

Studio AHEAD: In your home you have several towers of precariously stacked books. We’re going to name a few and would like you tell us the perfect chair/sofa/magic carpet on which to read them:

La honte (Annie Ernaux)

Natasha Boas: I have always been a huge fan of Ernaux’s and have read everything she has written in French, and then in 2022 she received the Nobel Prize in Literature so her novels are finally more available in English. La honte is about the shame a young woman experiences about her childhood and the woman she becomes. It’s autofiction, one of my favorite genres. I think I would suggest reading La honte on any Madame Récamier daybed—perhaps specifically on my antique nineteenth-century French iron folding bed. I grew up with it as my childhood bed and it has tiny wheels—when we once had an earthquake in San Francisco in the 1970s, I remember waking up having rolled across by bedroom from the garden corner to my fireplace.

SA: Specters of Marx (Jacques Derrida)

NB: For Derrida, the spirit or “ghost” of Marx was even more relevant after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. This essay was the plenary address of "Whither Marxism?," a conference on the future of Marxism held at the University of California, Riverside in 1993. Derrida was my professor in Paris and a very modest man who would have wanted us to read his book on a simple kitchen chair—perhaps a Charlotte Perriand Bausch chair from the 50s that came secondhand with his humble apartment—where the caning is damaged and used and it is broken and somewhat imbalanced.

SA: Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality (Sigmund Freud)

NB: This book contains the iconic essay in which Freud reveals his famous Oedipal theory among other things. It should be read in your mother’s lap—haha! No, it should be read on Freud’s divan couch of course! It may be the most famous couch in history and can be admired in Freud’s study in London at The Freud Museum at 20 Maresfield Gardens in the Hampstead neighborhood. The term “on the couch” became the euphemism for what psychiatrists do because of this very couch shaped like a chaise long with a Persian rug laid over it. Of course, I contributed to a fundraiser launched in 2013 to help reupholster the legendary couch. It seemed very important to me at the time.

SA: Leonora Carrington: The Story of the Last Egg (Leonora Carrington)

NB: This book is the accompanying catalogue to Gallery Wendi Norris’s 2019 exhibition of the same name in New York City. In addition to the show, the gallery hosted a two-day symposium on Carrington. It began with a dramatic reading of Leonora's play, titled Opus Siniestrus: The Story of the Last Egg, which in many ways predicts the dystopian situation of women’s reproductive rights today. My talk “The Leonora Carrington Effect: What We Can Learn from Leonora Carrington Today” became an essay for the book.

These ideas on the relevance of Carrington today resonated a year later at the Venice Biennale “Milk of Dreams” with its focus on Carrington and other historic Surrealist women artists. I wrote my dissertation years ago on this seminal modernist movement in art, which continues to influence my work. Currently, I have curated the exhibition on the post-Surrealist Gertrud Parker: The Possible at Marin MOCA, which includes Leonora Carrington, Leonor Fini, Alice Rahon and other influential Surrealist women. It is up through March 31 and I highly recommend a visit. It also features the famous Dynaton artists Luchita Hurtado, Wolfgang Paalen, and Gordon Onslow Ford, who convened in Inverness in west Marin County last century.

I think I would read The Story of the Egg on the bed that the Surrealist artist Max Ernst made for his wife, the artist Dorothea Tanning. It is said that she hated the bed and hid it out of view in the basement of their Provence house, but it is currently being shown on the top floor at a small regional Max Ernst museum in Seillans, near my family house in the Var, Cote d’Azur region. It’s a bizarre six-post structure with a mirror, green metal leaves, a faux brown fur bedspread and several circular paintings attached to it—but seems like the perfect bed for lounging on to read this provocative book.

SA: You are an expert on countercultures and in particular the Mission School. Is there anything you have learned from them—whether related to art or not—that you apply to how you interact, live in, go about San Francisco? This is of course a movement whose members reimagined what was around them.

NB: Yes, I have always been drawn to countercultures, alternative art movements, and under-recognized artists. What drew me to the Mission School artists was that it was an “affective” community—one based on shared sensitivities, a shared neighborhood, and friendships. Graffiti, studio painting and the San Francisco Art Institute were touch points for the group. In many ways I see this group of artists as a continuation of another SFAI group, the Rat Bastards Protective Association with Jay deFeo, Bruce and Jean Conner, Manuel Neri, and others. In fact, Ruby Neri, Manuel’s daughter, who was raised in Inverness and educated at SFAI, literally connects the two movements. I learned that there can be a correlation between street art and studio practice through her, Barry McGee, Alicia McCarthy, Chris Johanson, and Margaret Kilgallen.

These artists were not precious, they used simple materials often culled from garbage found in the city and they always included their friends’ work in their exhibitions, and they still do. That is very much the “Bay Way” of making art. It has influenced my way of curating too. I am not afraid of the heteroclitic or telling new stories. I just curated a show this fall: “Old Friends/New Friends” at Creativity Explored, which is a studio that supports neurodiverse artists or what we used to refer to in art history as “outsider artists” and the expanded Mission school artist community.

I grew up in SF in the 1970s. I even lived at the now defunct radical artist colony The Farm founded by the conceptual artist Bonnie Ora Sherk under what was then Army Street overpass and now Cesar Chavez. I worked at the Café Trieste in North Beach as a barista and served the likes of Allen Ginsburg. I read my poetry at City Lights Book Store and saw the Dead Kennedys perform at The Mabuhay Gardens. We were around when Harvey Milk was assassinated and when SFMOMA was on the fourth floor of the War Memorial Veterans building on Van Ness Avenue. This group of Mission School artists are my generation. We vibe on the same San Francisco history.

SA: I am curious as to what happens in your curation when you bring institutional outsiders inside the institution. Perhaps nothing happens. Perhaps it changes everything. Perhaps it ruins everything.

NB: In my experience—magic happens. But I have always taken risks—like bringing a trailer, which I bought with the Indigenous artist Brad Kahlhamer at an Arizona swap meet for a hundred dollars, into a museum gallery to create a nomadic studio space. We had to fumigate the trailer to make it museum compliant and we built out a proscenium so we could also use it as a stage for local Native performances. The exhibition was appropriately entitled SWAP MEET and played on all the valences of cultural exchange.

SA: You speak so much about San Francisco’s history, and so much has changed, that I wonder if counterculture is still possible in this city? 

NB: Yes—it is always possible especially in our city with its cyclical history of boom and bust! There is always some kind of counterculture operating. We just need to ask “which culture is counterculture countering?” and then we can identify it. And we should always be brave enough to counter culture through the sub, the underground, the transversal. I just participated in a show at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris called The Termite Bites and it looked at artists who are practicing—literally and figuratively—below ground.

SA: We always ask the person interviewed how they came to California. We’ll pose this question to you with a twist. How did you come to California? And can you trace the history of how one piece of artwork that you own came into your possession here in California?

NB: My family came to SF from France in the late 1960s as part of a larger movement of young people seeking alternative lifestyles and new ideas—I was raised in a vibrant multicultural city and went to a French lycée and roamed freely around town on Muni. Later, I moved east for college and then lived and worked as a curator and professor in New York and Paris for over 20 years, when I returned back to the Bay to raise my family.

Most of my collection is from artists I have worked closely with over the years in all three places—either gifted or swapped. I am particularly attached to an Etel Adnan (1925-2021) Mount Tamalpais artwork I have from my time working with her in Paris. Adnan—who was born in Beirut, Lebanon, died in Paris, and lived an important part of her life with her life companion, the artist Simone Fattal in Sausalito—is a transnational link for me between my two homes and two cultures—in her case three cultures. Her poems and drawings in the book Journey to Mount Tamalpais speak to me the most; it has been re-edited recently by my friend Omar Berrada.

SA: Lastly, in the spirit of Guy Debord and the Situationists, if you were doing a dérive-style walk around San Francisco, where might it take you?

NB: My dérive would always lead me back to the Lyon street steps at Broadway. My friend Marc Zegans just published a book of poems about this important passage way in the city. Our SF was more of a village, pre-tech booms. I grew up and went to high school in Presidio Heights. It was very sleepy. We lived on those steps as teens, overlooking the bridge. We had our first kisses there, smoked our first joints, played the guitar, the city was ours.

Photos by Ekaterina Izmestieva

[starlitangels]

hello! i've been seeing soo much of my favorite artists get into redacted audio and i just wanted to know where can i start listening or what character should be a good start for me to get into redacted?? i've been wanting to listen to him but idk where to start! thank u 😊

Hello friend! I've answered this before but I'll go ahead and do it again since my answer has changed just a little teeny tiny bit

I would recommend Freelancer Season 1 to start! There are a lot of posts on this website about everyone's recommendations, but I'd say probably Freelancer Season 1 because the main listener character is also just as new to the rest of the shared universe as a new audience member, and gets the basics of the mechanics explained pretty well.

Normally I'd also recommend Sovereign State Season 1 as a good starter too, but its finale episode(s) need a lot of context to really have the proper impact...

Unless of course you have plenty of time and don't mind a lot of information being dumped on you. In which case I recommend grabbing the "Everything" playlist! It's every narrative video he's made in the order of release, so the exposition is in the order that he gave it in. Which, honestly, can be very helpful, because watching things out of order can be confusing because some information will be casually mentioned like it's common knowledge while you're sitting there confused like "Wat?!" because that exposition was in a different series

But if the "Everything" playlist seems too long and daunting, character playlists for David, Asher, Milo, and Vincent (before the Inversion series) are a little easier to digest.

Also an important thing to note: everything is connected. Even if you don't think a certain storyline is connected to the rest of the universe for [reasons] when you first listen to it, I guarantee you, it's connected in some way.

Redacted also has a website with an official timeline but I don't recommend reading it until you've watched most (if not all) of the videos because reading a timeline is honestly more overwhelming and a lot less fun and interesting than just listening to the videos. Go to the timeline afterward for specific dates if you need them.

Also bear in mind that he deals with some heavy subjects sometimes and applicable content warnings will always be in the YouTube video description. If you're more sensitive to certain subjects, read the descriptions and make a judgment call from there. If you can handle pretty much anything, that's more than fine, but if not, this is your friendly advice from me to keep an eye on the video descriptions for any subjects you'd rather not hear about

I love the Imperium AU and Inversion but they can be too dark for some people and that's okay

I'm not trying to scare you off, I promise. I love this channel and its stories dearly and could not recommend his storytelling more highly. I just want you to be aware that heavy subjects can pop up

Redacted is an adult and writes stories mostly about adults, so mature topics and "spice" (as a euphemism) will pop up alongside the aforementioned "heavy" subjects

Another thing: trust in Redacted's storytelling. If something seems "bad," it is most definitely there to serve a greater purpose later down the line. Trust that he's going to service his story and the things that you may not like will lead to something so satisfying when its time comes

Anyway. TL;DR, start with either the "Everything" playlist and go in order of release for the "true experience" of having a seemingly random barrage of characters thrown your way, or start with Freelancer Season 1 for a decent rundown of the universe's rules and mechanics and magic system

Don't do what I did. Which was hop around randomly, cherry picking whomever's "title" seemed the most interesting at the time until I'd heard the whole channel and had to go relisten to things in some semblance of the right order in order to figure out wtf was going on. I ended up watching Elliott's playlist as the first playlist I watched and let me tell you, I was confused as hell. Don't do that. Freelancer Season 1, and the "Everything" playlist are my top recommendations for understanding the lore in the order it was released so you need fewer context clues on wtf is going on

[stigmatamama]

did you see that fragrantica review of tom ford lost cherry that associated it with like dentists and medical fetishes that was probably going around the gerard fans earlier this week??? i need it but i CANNOT find it :/

I’m screaming? No I did not see that but I did just read the most insane review from user “Foldyrhands” where they mention stigmata (sick) and loving Lana del Rey as a tumblr Expat… putting the full review under the break because I’m crying lol. I’ll let you know if I see the dentist / medical review haha

There is something to be said for smelling like something you eat. Hélène Cixous writes in Stigmata: Escaping Texts that “...eating and being eaten belong to the terrible secret of love.” To be wanted, so completely and rapturously, that your beloved consumes you whole.

In fact, romantic cannibalism has sort of been having a moment lately. Between breakout dream-pop star Ethel Cain’s self-titled character, tragically consumed by the wretched man she adores, to memes about biting your boyfriend making the rounds on all corners of the internet — it seems worth investigating, in this particular cultural moment, why people (women, mostly) want to smell like food. There is much to be said on this subject, and much of it has already upset people. There are innocent fantasies of girlhood and unsexed affinities towards baked goods tied into what might be called the more sinister gourmand-industrial complex, and it is by no means my intention to disturb these wholesome scent preferences. That said, the ways in which sweet candy perfumes intersect with gendered politics of desirability and class are no clearer articulated than in Tom Ford’s 2018 viral cherry organza Lost Cherry.

I would love to hear an earnest argument for how a perfume quite literally named after a vulgar euphemism for a woman’s lapsed virginity is not related to misogyny. It is an obvious enough influence to have eventually become retroactively opaque in the pursuit of commodity fetish. Beauty products are made to make women more desirable to men – of course, they bear coded signs of that very desirability. I also don’t mean to suggest I am somehow above this fact of life. I use Too Faced's Better than Sex mascara because I want all-day lift, but I hear the ghost of Andrea Dworkin screaming at me in Yiddish the entire time. Suggestive beauty product naming accomplishes what the toy company Mattel cracking jokes about their profit-based value system in the Barbie movie accomplishes for Mattel profits tied to the sale of tickets for the very same movie: postmodernity is defined by critique of the product embedded into the product itself. It gives you something to think about, a connection to briefly make. Wielding the power of this sexy perfume is like the excitement of losing your virginity. But then you stop there. You don’t think about it any further. Zizek has been saying this for decades. Products no longer sell you a product, and they no longer even sell you just an idea. Products sell you an entire mindset, a politic, a worldview, and they do it in ways often in seemingly direct conflict with their values in order to earn your trust. Why would Victoria’s Secret, a lingerie company, suddenly become interested in a bare-faced simple beauty campaign. Why would Dove, a company producing deodorant and soap marketed to help people smell better, care about your self-esteem? Thankfully Tom Ford Fragrances does not try and pretend it is a feminist beauty product company – but many people who consume it still somehow mentally place it on the neck of an “empowered woman,” whatever that means in the scheme of advertising.

Tom Ford himself as a designer and businessman is hardly known for his demure marketing. At its best, the worldbuilding of Tom Ford as a house has stood for the provocative in service of understanding ourselves more honestly. Like the surprisingly modern character of Samantha from Sex and the City, you get the sense that they both are tired of not saying the quiet parts out loud. That sex is a force as constant as the sun, and even the most repressed souls yearn, desire, like all humans do: in inconvenient and obscene and incorrect ways. But quite frankly, there is a difference between revealing and challenging the coded interchanges of heterosexuality, and reproducing them wholesale. Where I think this vision falls apart is when it leaves the tight control of a single room of creatives, and more or less integrates wholly into the pre-existing market for beauty products. If Tom Ford fragrances can’t even clear an f-bomb past certain production circuits, I fear for its ability to make serious waves in the cultural politics of suggestive beauty naming, or whatever loose assembly of legacy platitudes people suggest Lost Cherry might serve to provoke. This is all to say, I have seen women do better for themselves — and I want more for us.

There are two important questions at play here. Firstly: is Lost Cherry a good perfume in its own right? And secondly, does what it represents for the culture surrounding perfume consumption bode well for the general state of creativity in fragrance? Luckily enough, the answer to both of these questions can be summarized in a single word: no.

Lost Cherry opens with a blast of bitter almonds. I’ve noticed a trend among many Tom Fords (including the equally popular masc counterpart Tobacco Vanille): the opening spray is very provocative, and the dry-down is extremely conventional. In the case of LC, the initial sour profile of the cherry note fused with the bitterness of almonds recalls cyanide, and in one case, the purported smell of decaying corpses. Into the drydown, however, the nutty profile becomes sweeter and the cherry becomes candied. There is very little evolution beyond the first fifteen minutes — once it settles, it does so for a couple of hours of diffusive aspartame fruit showboating, and then it is gone.

I can understand why people call this perfume addicting. Usually, the formula for creating this effect is the combination of something widely palatable with the traces of something extremely offensive at high doses. This was the secret to most perfume in the 20th century. Jasmine was entrancing — narcotic, even — because of the traces of urine-like indoles found within the composition. Rose became sensual with the addition of civet, the perineal gland secretion of a small mammal related to the common genet. Lost Cherry uses the rich, juicy profile of a cherry accord to hide notes of alcohol and decay on the wrists of impressionable young women.

This is not, inherently, my issue with the perfume. Rather, I find Lost Cherry does far too much to achieve far too little. The notes blend together, the careful deceits fall flat: there is a reason this perfume is perhaps the belle of the dupe economy. If its formula weren’t so generic, it wouldn’t be so easy and popular to duplicate. The second reason so few fans of this scent own a full bottle is, of course, the high price point. A 50ml bottle currently retails for $395. This brings me to my second concern: Tom Ford is not entirely responsible for the inflation of the luxury fashion markets at large, but its most popular offering does absolutely embody the particularly nefarious intersection between completely unreasonable status-based prices, products lacking in conceptual substance, and second-hand male voyeurism.

Of course, when you deal in products made and sold under the luxury market, oftentimes prices are less a reflection of the material costs of production and more a material representation of a brand’s prestige and identity. You aren’t paying for the perfume inside Lost Cherry’s bright red bottle, you’re paying for the bottle itself as an idea.

You’re paying for an individual enumeration of Tom Ford Beauty, now itself an individual enumeration of the loose collection of ideas festering within the digitized remains of a woman selling cleansing oil in mid-century New York City formerly known as The Estée Lauder Companies. I do not labor under expectations that Tom Ford will lower its prices. I do, however, wish we would stop doing their marketing for them. Lost Cherry as an idea is virtually inescapable on the internet: it is recommended, mood-boarded, and, as referenced before, most often-evangelized through the recommendation of fakes. It is the idea, and you, dear reader, can only ever reach for pale imitations. You wish you could smell like this, but of course, you shouldn’t. There are several far more sophisticated cherry-based perfumes made by independent and niche perfumers. There is nothing that Lost Cherry does that Strangers Parfumerie’s Cherry Amaretto (retailing for $ 90 USD) does not do better. And much of Lost Cherry’s allure — the seductive, red-lipped ingénue, essentially lied from an amalgamation of vamp Pinterest boards — is best enacted as a self-aware subverted performance and not a marketing strategy.

I love Lana del Rey as much as the next Tumblr-expat, but I also think what makes her music so electric is her self-aware vulnerability. She’s thinking and acting against her own best interests; she’s playing out self-destructive spirals, but fuck it, she loves him. You may think I’m asking too much of a cosmetic product, but the culture of self-described “empowerment” surrounding Lost Cherry and other fruity-sweet ultra-femme contemporaries does none of this. It is not performative, it merely performs. Something like Mugler’s Angel, widely considered the first gourmand perfume, was so glorious precisely because it was so vulgar and controversial. Some men drooled for it, but just as many loathed it. It was regarded as both chic and trashy, sexually ambiguous, alluring, and ostentatious. In my humble opinion, there are two ways to interrupt the very real modern cultural tradition of men wanting women to smell like food so they can better be consumed: either cut your dessert with something sophisticated and off-putting or dial the saccharine indulgence up to eleven. Part of me wants Lost Cherry to tone it down, and another wishes it would have gone all the way.

Where it presently stands, however, feels halfway between pruning oneself for male fantasy, and searching for something perfectly mediocre in your own right. My wish may be unreasonable, but I one day hope to see women justify spending entirely too much on sweet perfume for its own sake. Maybe this is how you feel about your decision to wear Lost Cherry, and that is perfectly fine. Wear it to your heart's content. I just hope that one day, we can decide on figureheads for the neo-gourmand fourth-wave feminist revolution that smell a little less like plastic on accident, and a little more like plastic on purpose.