#theres a whole wikipedia page for it and im reading it as if i didnt live thru it six months ago

[mbat]

something thats sadly a part of most things is that if you seek out knowing *everything* about that thing, youre bound to run out of new things to learn, and often it happens pretty quickly depending on a few things

and thats not an inherently bad thing, itd be nearly impossible for something to come out, or even only have been out for a few years, and have a ton of things about it hidden or even just not what most people would know about. plus, these things arent exactly made in mind with 'we need to cater especially to the people who will obsess over every nook and cranny'

i mean, ive tried to get into things before and realized that i learned basically everything about them within a week or two, and the momentum i had straight up stopped in minutes (for better or for worse)

all this to say, its actually such a relief to find something that really is just neverending when it comes to learning about it. like, i swear everything in world of warcraft is just a rabbit hole and i could probably play the wikipedia game just on the wowpedia alone and have a quite a few target articles

and like, it helps that the franchise is turning 30 in exactly 2 months and 1 day as of when im writing this. thats 3 whole decades of several games and comics and books and etc. and one of the games is literally a fucking MMORPG which has been constantly worked on for twenty years

like. every time i go to a wiki page, i find like 20 wiki pages i didnt have any idea existed at all. i watch videos of people talking about easter eggs or just fun small details, or even not-so-small details, and i just learn new things every time, and i even often get to go see those things for myself in game if i so please

and almost everything in the game has some sort of backstory to it, or lore relevance somehow, and like... the information just never ends. its just not something where you go to the official website and read some character bio pages and youve learned basically everything there is to know about it. theres more characters than you can even comprehend in this game

anyway, as one of those guys to likes to learn practically everything about something when i really like it, its just a breath of fresh air

[oflgtfol]

remember when trump was impeached. i literally completely fucking forgot about that

[roguestarsailor]

thoughts on a court of mist and fury *spoilers*

***** lots of spoilers folks *****

- MY GIRL FEYRE IS READING!! SHES READING LIKE REGULARLY AND CASUALLY IM SO PROUD

- RHYSAND MY LOVE I TAKE BACK ALL THE BAD THINGS I SAID IN BOOK ONE AND YOU ARE A BABY THAT NEEDS TO BE LOVED AND PROTECTED AND DESERVE PEACE AND QUIET AND MORE LOVE

- tamlin needs therapy like pronto; we dont stan a unsupportive partner and partner who is unwilling to share pain!! CANCEL TAMLIN 2020

- rhys popping up during the wedding scene was *chef’s kiss* and i noticed that he didn’t “claim” her as he said he would for like three months after everything. i suspect he was being a good person and literally letting her live her life. also for loving someone, tamlin was super chill and just kind of let her go??? idk i thought there would be more of a fight??? when feyre was literally like why are your claws retracting man?? fight for me??? hello??? but then again rhys is definitely more powerful than tamlin and probs some unspoken laws and such between high lords i guess ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ anyways tamlin aint shit

- page 296-298! fucken shook me to my core. that self awareness, that confrontation, she identified the core of everything and it was such a turning point and im just so proud of her!!! She's recognizing her traumas and is healing!!!!!!!!!!

- yeah i immediately ship cassian and nesta; i hope she fucks shit up in the next book  😀 😀 😀 😀  

- maybe az and mor are truly the slowest of slow burns   ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

- i pictured pollution from good omens as how Amren is suppose to look like

- rhys is such a strong leader and im just -- baby deserves all the love. He's really good at plotting. He really made feyre learn all these things so they can nurture their love but also be a strategic advantage its interesting that even tho theres love there he still treats her like a weapon

- the joy in his rhys eyes when they winnowed into his regular ass town house that feels super lived in. and his friends banging on the door like he isn’t the feared night court high lord that he is. that was so refreshing to see that hes a regular person and not that high lord man who lives in a near empty mansion. he puts on a mask for everyone but he himself is just a regular fae.  

- reading about the peace that velaris was able to live through was beautiful. i imagined a city like san francisco with the hills and views of the ocean but kind of like the peace found in super small towns or cities in asia; maybe even some european cities (which is prob where this location is inspired by but i haven’t visited many euro cities). the scenes of ppl dining out, making art and music and just chilling is so lovely esp given our current pandemic. art is so treasured there and im like thats the epitome of a great society isn’t it? being able to do things because you just can without the pain of financial insecurity, civil unrest, etc. i definitely would love and die and for a society like that. its just so wonderful. i was filled w happiness while reading those scenes. :)

- rhys and his inner circle taking feyre out into the town and just being casual. nobody treats them like theyre royalty or anything special. theyre just a regular group of friends who enjoy hanging out. its super nice and nostalgia inducing esp during this pandemic when friends are so far away and not like it used to be.

- when rhys immediately saw how under weight and dead freye looked when she was in spring court -- AND IT WAS THE FIRST THING HE SAID TO HER WHEN HE SAW HER THROUGH THE DOOR WHILE TAMLIN DIDNT FUCKEN NOTICE

- i also take back my frustrations in book 1 when freye always wondering around the grounds in spring court esp during calanmai. i thought it was because the author needed to move the story forward but its just freye. she doesnt sit still and now that shes w rhys, we are seeing soooooo many things about prythian and thats beautiful. tamlin was truly a hinderance huh

- rhys sent her music when she was in the cell in Under The Mountain which was found in velaris. maybe he wasnt risking a lot but he just showed her a glimpse of the forbidden world right under aramantha’s nose holy shit he saved her from destruction!

- when rhys had his nightmare and feyre came to comfort him and kissed him on the cheeks and gave him such tenderness made my heart sing~

- rhys is literally opposite of tamlin is soooo many ways. RHYS DID THINGS OUT OF LOVE, WHILE TAMLIN DID THINGS FOR LOVE. everything from how rhys made sure feyre can grow into who she is meant to be, to how he introduces her to his friends and how he interacts w everyone in his court, how he handles pain, everything is so different than tamlin. tamlin feels pain and just bulldoze over things, doesn’t think about how his actions are hurting others even as he is hurting. he doesn’t talk, he doesn’t share, he doesn’t try to get himself or feyre out of this misery and just sees threats everywhere and hits them. he was also supper passive honestly. no doubt hes riddled w guilt and grief but can’t figure out how to handle it so he uses feyre as his crutch where if he can “save” her he will be free smh

- rhys PAYS feyre!! HE GAVE HER FINANCIAL INDEPENDENCE AND RESPECT FOR HER WORK!! THE INDEPENDENCE THAT TAMLIN DIDNT FUCKEN GIVE.

- THOSE NOTES THEY SEND TO EACH OTHER SINCE FREYE CAN READ AND WRITE NOW

- Ianthe was sus from the beginning!! i knew it!! although i did bet she was gonna sleep w tamlin on the side. But she's a lot worst so we don't like her either

- the throne room scene was steamy af this time its fine because there was ~consent~ and also because we see the dynamic and growth between the two and how they work together. this was great although I was kind of like pls get a room tho

- RHYS SMILING!!! FEYRE AND RHYS LAUGHING TOGETHER UGH I LOVE THEM SO MUCH

- THEY ARE MATES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! FEYRE AND RHYS FOUND EACH OTHER AND HAD SO MANY SHARED TRAUMAS AND WORKED IT OUT TOGETHER AND GREW TOGETHER AND LEARNED ABOUT EACH OTHERS QUIRKS AND ITS JUST LOVE IN ITS PUREST FORM UGH THAT SCENE WHERE RHYS WAS CRYING AND FEYRE HEATED UP FOOD FOR THE BABY AHH MY HEARTTTTT  MY WHOLE ENTIRE HEARTTTTTT IS BURSTING WITH LOVEEEEEE

- LUCIEN AND ELAINE HOLY FUCK WHAT A LEFT FIELDER i hope this is the push that will propel lucien to defy tamlin. going back to the contrast between how tamlin vs his court and rhys vs his court, rhys has a group of unwavering loyal friends and are treated equally esp letting them joke around so much and it feels like a casual group of friends hanging out. tamlin has just as much loyalty from lucien but theres still a power structure that tamlin maintains. luciens words doesn’t have much weight whereas rhys’s friends do. both tamlin and rhys have so much power and sway and similarity in traumas and tragedy but both execute things completely differently. tamlin only wants to upload what he is familiar with, maybe what he thinks his father wants whereas rhys actively tries to think of something better, to change the system regardless of how hard it is.

- tamlin you dumbass. He didn't learn from amarantha. He again let his pride fuck over a bunch of other ppl. He shat on amarantha and fucked over his court. Now he fucked the rest of prythian and human world by bargaining w the king. Smh goodbye tamlin

- I straight up knew the queens were bad!!! I knew they had to be plotting something. The sixth is "ill" my ass.

- LADY OF THE NIGHT COURT LETS GO FEYRE AND WOOWW WE STAN A MAN BREAKING TRADITIONS AND SUPPORTING EQUALITY

- when hybern was destroying velaris. I WAS GONNA THROW HANDS BRO. I'm glad we saw the extend of how powerful feyre could be and how she was clever and we can really see how she's completely different from before. She has bite and fight in her and it's so refreshing!

- how about we let az and cassian live in peace. Those boys had to deal w the blunt of literally everything. from being the only shield in valeris to poison/hurt wings against the king, just beat up all the time 🥺

- suriel is their version of a wikipedia

--

I read all 600 damn pages in like 2.5 days and I was loving it the entire time! My heart sored when feyre and Rhys were getting close and starting to break down their walls and really connect. This was a truly good enemies to lovers, slow burn tale and the drama is so great. There were good stakes that changes a character and their behavior and a good balance of action and excitement but at the same time so many little moments that let u see the character and how they interact w each other and the world. a lot of big plot moments, slice of life moments, a bit of romance and comedy. overall, an amazing book but super long. thus far this is my favorite book and im hoping the rest of the books can be just as charming and lovely but not too heart breaking. i hope rhys and feyre makes it. i cannot predict what to expect in the other books in the series (isn’t there gonna be 8 books total???) 

[cromulentbookreview]

Swipe Right for Darkness

I guess this book is a companion to a different trilogy that I haven’t read? Also why didn’t I figure that out until after I was well over 200 pages in?

And by that I mean: Courting Darkness by Robin LaFevers!

Courting Darkness is told from two alternating perspectives - Sybella, a lady-in-waiting to the Duchess of Brittany and member of a group of assassin nuns who worship Death, and Genevieve, an initiate to the Assassin Nun Club previously sent to go undercover and spy on the French court. It took me way too long to realize that, at the time in which this story takes place, Brittany and France were two separate places. I do not know a lot about French history (see: all my prior posts in which I mention the years I wasted learning German) and so if you, too, don’t know much about medieval French history, you might want to do a wikipedia refresher before you start. Medieval history is not my strong suit. I’m more of an early-modern history person, you know, 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries. My knowledge of Medieval anything has basically been ruined for me by a combination of Shakespeare and Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

Anyway, back to Courting Darkness. Genevieve is in a bit of a pickle since she and her fellow assassin nun/spy/friend Margot have been sent away from the French court to live with this lecherous count near Cognac, which is a town, not just booze. (Things I also should have studied before I read this book: a map of France. Which one’s Brittany again? It’s...in the North, right? I’m a moron). There’s been no word from their Death-worshiping Assassin Nun Convent about what they should be doing, and Genevieve is worried the convent may have forgotten about them. To pass the time, she starts chatting with a prisoner who’s been stuck in an oubliette and left to starve to death.

Meanwhile, Sybella is having her own problems. Her family, for one, sucks. Her awful brother Pierre is trying to steal away their sisters, both of whom are currently being fostered/protected from Pierre by Anne, Duchess of Brittany. Meanwhile, there’s been this whole thing between France and Brittany, which only just ended when the Duchess agreed to marry King Charles of France. Great, no more war, right? Only the King’s sister, the Regent (and only ever referred to as such because her name also happens to be Anne...lots of Anne’s back in ye olden times) is the absolute worst. So Sybella, aside from being a badass assassin/death-worshiping nun, has to contend with her awful family constantly trying to steal her sisters away and her duties to the Duchess, now Queen of France and her awful new sister-in-law. If only there were some insiders to the French court for Sybella to consult! Like those two spies sent by the convent a few years back to act as moles...whatever happened to them? 

Unfortunately, as hard as I tried, I could never fully get into Courting Darkness. The pages didn’t fly by for me - reading it felt more like work. I can’t pin that on the book itself though because I don’t know how much of the backstory I’m missing - should I have read the His Fair Assassin trilogy first? Probably. Definitely. I mean, I have them on my kindle. I’m constantly surprised by the number of books I have on my kindle that I’d forgotten were there - it’s like getting a present in the form of something you bought but then forgot about. Anyway, Courting Darkness was described as the first in a duology, as though it were a separate series that just happened to be set in the same world...only, to me, it seemed a lot more like this was the fourth book in the His Fair Assassin series. Which is perfectly fine - I mean, reading this has bumped the His Fair Assassin books a little further up my Kindle TBR pile (currently the same height as Denali).

(Also things I should have done: brush up on my close-to-nonexistent knowledge of medieval history). 

I see nothing wrong with having books that are set in the same world but are separate stories - Leigh Bardugo did this with her various Grishaverse books, but my gripe is that the stories need to be truly separate, to the extent that a moron like me can start Six of Crows without having read any of the other books and with zero idea of what’s going on but still be able to understand and enjoy the story. With Courting Darkness, I felt like I’d picked up the fourth book in a series. There was a lot of me being like “whaaat’s happening right now?” I blame the publisher, honestly - this really should have been marketed as a continuation rather than “the first of a duology.” 

I also blame my sketchy knowledge of medieval French history. What do you mean Brittany and France were once separate? I mean, sure I know all about the Holy Roman Empire, but France? Ehhh.... 

Anyway! Courting Darkness! The writing is good, the story starts a bit slow but as the tension builds things get more and more exciting. How do you find your mole if the mole thinks they’re no longer active? Old-timey spycraft for the win. And, even though I’m a class-A didn’t-read-the-books-moron, I still enjoyed the story after quickly skimming through the other books - ultimately, if you’re a fan of the original series, then you’ll definitely want to check this out. 

RECOMMENDED FOR: Fans of the His Fair Assassin trilogy

NOT RECOMMENDED FOR: Those who haven’t read the His Fair Assassin trilogy or who know nothing about medieval French history.

RATING FROM SOMEONE WHO HASN’T READ THE OTHER BOOKS: 3/5

RATING BASED ENTIRELY ON WRITING AND STORYTELLING: 4/5

RELEASE DATE: February 5, 2019. So...uh, a few days ago. Hey, get off my back, this book was long and I’m easily distracted. I’ve been off my game when it comes to getting the point of an “advanced” copy.

FRENCH RATING:

[jasonvtodd]

Hi, could you recommend some great tv shows? The more the merrier, I'm really desperate for anything GOOD.

Yes! I’d love too :) 

Ok so no order but…

Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003) - yes its old school late 90′s, yes its one of those shows like charmed and other shows from that kinda era where when you watch it you gotta remember that for its time its ok for a shitty ass werewolf costume to not be laughable XD i meann. you can laugh at it if you want liike i do but id also fight to the death for it. also probably one of the only great/good things that has come from joss whedon. it has so many layers, so many things that even though its a supernatural based show… it deals with a lot of real life issues and mirrors them very well in a different unique way. also it was the first time they showed you a f/f relationship on tv properly and in depth, willow & tara, who shatter my heart just thinking about them ok. this show was the first tv show i ever got into when i was younger and started collecting the dvds every time i was out shopping i’d go searching down any seasons i could grab. honestly, 20/10 would recommend, always holds a special place in my heart and ive lost count of how many times ive watched it so theres that

Supernatural (2005-current) - like buffy, this show was the second show that i got heavily into. look. just ignore the fandom, watch the first 5 seasons when it was actually good and quality, and cry over swan song (finale of s5) which is the end of the show yes (cause look the creator kripke, only ever planned for 5 seasons and so he left after swan song cause he set out what he wanted to do. they should have ended it there but they didnt sigh) honestly the relationship between dean and sam.. their brothership is like… everything to me ok goddamn those boys would and have died for each other and i love them so very much. it was the first fandom i got into too online and lool honesly sorry if i have any mutuals who are spn blogs (fairly certain i dont though) but that fandom is insane, ridiculous and way too much so  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ take that on board but please dont dismiss this show because of it, which is really what everyone else does these days but i cant even really be mad

Band of Brothers (2001) - ok… so… im about to talk about three shows (this one is one of the three… part of the hbo war trinity) which honestly mean a lot to me as well… but also cause of how heartbreakingly real they are and how important i think it is for everyone (who is ok with gore/violence/death etc) to watch as it is a part of history that happened and many men who gave up their lives so that we could all be where we are today. band of brothers is about history of easy company (and others) which were part of the 101st Airborne Division and their mission in WWII Europe and there part in it. its based on stephen ambrose band of brothers book and im just going to steal something from wikipedia here All of the characters portrayed are based on members of Easy Company. Some of the men were recorded in contemporary interviews, which viewers see as preludes to each episode. The men’s identities are not revealed until the finale. and honestly… is just such a masterpiece and all the actors took their roles very serious. they had to all go through a intense bootcamp with an instructor who did it for a living training all sorts of divisions and here i cried about it here before honestly if you want more info on it/more pain/reasons to watch it… go to @thomasflint cause this is getting long and i havent even expressed 5% of my proper feelings regarding it…. but when i rewatched it i was just yelling/crying nonstop via text to hira to the point where it was basically like she was watching it with me and then sh ewas crying too isduhfjdhf this show will ruin you man

Generation Kill (2008) - josh ray person is a piece of shit and id die for him the end

ok im joking only not really. but no ok this is marines It is based on the 2004 book of the same name by Evan Wright about his experience as an embedded reporter with the United States Marine Corps’ 1st Reconnaissance Battalion during the 2003 invasion of Iraq annd ive finally got my hands on the gk book, im not even halfway through reading it… and im so livid of how much they took from the book, word for word they did everything on point and its so great and all these boys from all these shows mean everything to me so im being repetitive here but… i love all these dipshits so much goddamn aisduhf all their dynamics are great and unlike band of brothers & the pacific… their commanding officers are going to get them killed for all the stupid shit they pull and have basically no experience compared to the men they’re supposed to be leading but these guys… my marines of gk.. are badfuckingass ok. like i was reading about the shit they have to go through and the screening process basically and god these guys?? i just?? click here and basically just read the first page of chapter one and the first two sentences on the page after it i just iaushd godd my guys ausdh also again, ask hira ( @thomasflint ) i quote josh ray person too much. if you ever hear me saying yeah homes, we pimpin �� ya, blame ray. again, like all these hbo war shows i could write essays on why i love these shows but ill try talk about other shows too hi

The Pacific (2010) - 

#drink everytime emily says that

ok so this is during ww2 and the story of a group of marines who fought against the japense in the pacific and again, all based on real people who went through this themselves. once again, all the dynamic between the men in spite of what they’re going through makes it worth while… dont talk to me about eugene ‘doc’ roe or webster with his choclate oh ok wrong series thats bob but they should be mentioned ok or hoosier and his attatchment to a blanket and cuddling a dog to save it from being blown to shit or snafu opening shit for his boyfriend or never forget how fucked areyou now and ok since we’re sharing songs… gory, gory what a hell of a way to die and ok liike i am not really doing these shows justice by properly talking about them but aoisudh i just think they should all be watched if you have the time and dont get triggered by gore/death/violcen/etc (probably google for an extensive list of triggers but those are the main) or go get hira to yell at u about them too cause she will happily do so. and ok so these videos have spoilers buuut https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HW1vxHrug7I and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjhspHQGZLI ha ahahah im now bawling cheers hira you dickshit 

Black Sails (2014-2017) - no seriously just ask @thomasflint​ im getting tired of yelling  here iasduhfb shes the whole reason i fell into this gay pirates path with all the badass women and im so emo over flint and his lover isudhf 

ok so im too lazy now to cry about more shows in detail (though i do love so many more ok tv show junkie hi) but the next ones are still favourites and quality tv my friend

Sons of Anarchy (2008-2014) -A man in his early 30s struggles to find a balance in his life between being a new dad and his involvement in a motorcycle club.

Smallville (2001-2011) - A young Clark Kent struggles to find his place in the world as he learns to harness his alien powers for good and deals with the typical troubles of teenage life in Smallville, Kansas.

Warehouse 13 (2009-2014) - After saving the life of the President in Washington D.C., a pair of U.S Secret Service agents are whisked away to a covert location in South Dakota that houses supernatural objects that the Regents, an Authority above and outside any government, have collected over the centuries. Their new assignment: retrieve any lost objects and investigate reports of new ones.

In the Flesh (2013) - Four years after the Rising, the government starts to rehabilitate the Undead for reentry into society, including teenager Kieren Walker, who returns to his small Lancashire village to face a hostile reception, as well as his own demons.

Justified (2010-2015) - Old-school U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens is reassigned from Miami to his childhood home in the poor, rural coal-mining towns in Eastern Kentucky.

Nikita (2010-2013) - A rogue assassin returns to take down the secret organization that trained her.

honestly anything that is bolded here is worth looking into. hopefully there’s something that catches your eye here, otherwise jsut hmu if you want more information/emily crying about something

[isaacathom]

ok this is actually a fun bit of writing here, even if the preceding shit was kinda garbage

tl;dr this bitch has to rant about this stupid book because i naively want to learn something about my family’s history and this is the only fucken way to do it

‘When he discovered he had to work to help provide for this instant family of a large flock of children, ‘Mick’ showed his true self and devotion to the family.

Within a year of the marriage, he left the fold, leaving his wife to fend for herself in the daunting task of raising her children.’

like.aside from just being kinda awkwardly worded (he bangs On and On about how his mum was the 11th of 11 children like fuck i get it its a big family, holy shit) i think thats just. a good concept there. the space really sells the punch. wouldve been better if we hadnt been told beforehand that Mick was a cunt, yknow. but thats nice

also lets keep going. ‘6 step brothers and 4 step sisters’ theyre actually her Half Siblings. they all share the same mother. theyre related. she’d be step if she was adopted, which she was not, because if she were, surely we wouldve been told about those circumstances.

‘[his mother] easily met that high standard as she was a very pretty young lady’ please dont perv out over your fucking mother you pig of a man. also you would hope ‘jock’ (his name is fucking robert but ok, Jock) was interested in more than how pretty Nellie was when they got together, right......... like there had to be more to it. am i naive? perhaps

‘scottish clan gordon’ the what. but we arent gordons???? are you. are you hundred percent sure. are you positive about this. are you sure thats why your name is gordon. alright buddy

‘according to buzzy’s story’ please never refer to yourself in the third person

‘hotels rarely burn down’ ?? i dont buy that at all. my guess is this famous hotel (which.... you didnt name so ok)

ok so theres a picture in here of my dad standing at some random gate, and he says its the same gate as a picture of his dad..... where is THAT picture??? this picture means nothing without that historic context, and it feels hollow if the actual picture isnt there.

granddad you dont. you dont need to wikipedia article dump me information about glasgow??? i mean sure, cool, id rather just be reading the wikipedia article.

jesus christ. so hes talking about his dad, right. who he’d technically set up earlier by saying he came to melbourne at 19. before he launched into a whole thng about his mother and shit. and suddenly hes come back to his dad to explain that his dad (so gordons grandfather) used to beat him! and its like, wOAH, where the fuck did that come from??? shit dude. thats rough. but he just mentions it suddenly out of nowhere. oH JESUS actually. sorry. i misread (yknow, because its written like shit). he means.... his brother??? right, he means his Brother Robert, was beaten by his dad, also named Robert, who was the one who came to melbourne aged 19. ok. ok that makes slightly more structural sense but ooof. ouch. poor robert (the younger). in my uh, defence, this book is written awful and i've never met robert? (my.... understanding is that he probably died before i was born? like with mary, who i dont recall having met either)

ok uhhh ‘most of the gorbal’s tenemenets were eventually demolished by the wise founding fathers many decades later, in the 1980s’ the WHOM. this isnt fucking america, this is scotland, what in the actual fuck are you TALKING about????????????????????????????? ‘modern day replacement improvements and architecture designed to achieve, what?’ fucker they were trying to fix the mistake they made in crowding 90k people into the fucking gorbals. maybe they didnt succeed (they didnt) but they were trying, it was naivete rather than fucking malice, you bitter old fuck. like, you visited in the 1980s.... and published this book in 2007......... without thinking to check back......... like hey maybe theyve gotten better? (newsflash - they fucking have) sooo... fuck

‘could the [my family] be related? [to the mcdonalds]’ yes??? we literally are. theres no question of that. being a sept of clanranald, we are Literally related to the fucking macdonalds. you absolute buffoon. yea its distant, and maybe thats your point, but when combined with you launching into this giant diatribe about rhw Campbells for shit that happened long ago, it seems youre picking and choosing how close ‘related’ is. we are. literally. related to the macdonalds. also it wasnt thought up in glasgow, they were from fucking new hampshire. but sure. 

‘his sheila wife of his’ excuse me?

‘so the name was related to a buzzing bee i suppose’ ? i still dont get it. like, he then explains that apparently his twin sister had difficulty saying Brother, so she called him Buzzy. that makes sense to me. i can understand that. but the buzzing bee thing? not sure i follow, given the prior context he provided. i dont get it. this is written like garbage. theres no structure. we went from jumping forward in time to the birth of my uncle Dale (my dads older brother) and suddenly we’re talking about Mick’s running career and gordon’s childhood! what the fuck happened.

‘coupled with the bigoted attitudes that were rife during those periods’ says the man who got angry at a black (i THINK, mightve been a separate story)  frenchman who couldnt speak english in France because ‘we saved them’. fuck off. youre just like them, you old codger.

also hes decrying his grandfather mick for being ‘no true irishman’ even though micks dad was full irish? by that exact same metric i can call my grandfather no true scotsman, because his dad is full scottish and thats it!!! you fucking fool. no true irishman, holy shit, how little self awareness could this man have.

‘then excessive drinking liquor isnt for me’ but is Is for your wife, is it gordon??? drinking wine when shes on antibiotics??? fucking incredible. god theyre. theyre so stupid.

‘not proceeding as a scholar as i could have’ you literally admitted like 5 pages ago that your twin sister was Far smarter than you, but sure! ~scholar~. if you were meant to be a scholar surely you wouldve bounded back from missing days with a vengeance. youre talking complete tosh.

im confused why theyd be doing bombing drills in South Yarra.... in preparation from a japanese air raid.... like im sorry, if the people north are doing their jobs, theres no physical way they couldve gotten to south yarra....... but ok. thats not his fault i just think thats strange.

im 110 pages in and he hasnt actually gotten to the point where he meets eleanor??? aside from a few time jumps forward and a brief mention of ‘meeting her in a milk bar in south yarra’ so like. hoi vey? the fuck.

oh jesus thats. thats a heavy thing to just chuck in the middle of a sentence??? like ‘oh yea after Skete the next scout leader was a paedophile who abused me and the others’ wwwOooahhh there buddy back up. what???? holy shit. ouch. thats. thats rough.

‘absolutely belted this poofta bastard’ yknow what? fair. id also beat the fuck out of a pedo with my boot. thats Relatable. good going on that, i suppose.

ooh thats full third person, weird.

one thing that is definitely kinda interesting, and very telling about his relationship with his family, is that he only ever refers to Nellie as ‘mum’, but refers to Mick as, well, Mick! rather than ‘granddad’ or anything of the sort. like its just sorta interesting when you get this big family photo and Nellie is the only one not called by her first name.

‘returning to those earlier days’ NO! FUCKING MOVE FORWARD IN TIME YOU GIT!!!! holy shit i just want to read about new fucking shit.

......... so like, at some point while playing footy, an opposing player kicked him in the leg and caused a fractured tibia. so a few weeks later... one of gordons friends took a mark on that player and kneed him straight in the head, with that player never playing again. and he’s PROUD of that!!! he’s proud of his friend for ruining a guys footy career. like yea, the guy was a dick, he broke your leg and it was at least partially malicious, but like........... you fucked him up????? hardcore?????? a straight up ruination. but go off i guess.

its interesting that he doesnt go even remotely into eleanors history beyond the fact (so far) that her father Leo didnt say much but was a good dude. then again the books all about him soooo fuck it i suppose.

‘recognition of our scottish heritage’ eleanor isnt scottish tho. shes irish. shes an o'donoghue. what the fuck. like yea naming them dale and glen is a ‘clever’ nod back to scotland (i actually do think thats cute and clever, joking aside. its the exact sort of ‘clever’ shit i love pulling) but............. shes not scottish. unless we’re waiting for volume 2 all about eleanor.

hE USED TO LIVE OUT HERE??????? IN SPRINGVALE????? fuck me. no fucking wonder we live here, huh, jesus. that. certainly explains something, i suppose. like ‘if you were raised in holbrook and YOU were raised in thomastown, why do we live in knox?’

OHHHHH HERES THE FRENCH THING!!!! OHHHH HERES ONE OF THE FRENCH THINGS. OH BITCH behold

so granddads being a dick, as usual, and he’s on some tour in paris. and the tour guide launches into a long thing about the glory of france, like french history and the fighting record, etc. and granddad calls out and tells him to knock it off, because ‘our australians died by the thousands for your country’

i. eh... uhh............... is he. is he aware? of how many french people died???? for france?????? how many????? il tell you how many - apparently 1.44% of the total population of france. thats 600000 people. how many did we lose? around 35k. thats, uh, a smaller fucking number. than the amount of french people. who died. for fucking france. you fucking idiot.

it kills me. is he gonna include the french speaking one too???

oh hell that sure is a picture of my father. good heavens. holy shit my brother really does look like him. thats uncanny, man.

‘one son Scotty’ his name is Scott, actually. not scotty. but cool, i got a really small shout out, weirdly BEFORE my older cousins did???? oh dear is he gonna talk about my uncles divorce actually. oh god. thats. thats terrifying to consider. oh, cool, he didnt in that small section, hopefully it doesnt come up haha (i can only IMAGINE what sort of vile shit he’d say about cathy)

also, ooh, more nuggets on grandma’s family. her dad was a freemason! thats cool.

ooh! he was the president of holbrook shire council! thats kinda neat actually.

ooh! the glenndale motel actually still exists! thats cool as hell. not that granddad told me that i just googled it

OHHH ITS THE FUCKING FRENCH SPEAKING STORY OH MY GOD

Ok first off ‘i slammed my fist into the counter and said very calmly’ yea no fuck that, youre fucking lying. theres no way you slammed the counter and spoke calmly. you almost definitely abused this poor french metro worker who, being a French Man living in France, is not required to know english. you fucking babboonnnnnnnnnn

apparently he nearly fell off a mountain innnnnn geeermany? austria, austria. and as he mentions my dad pulling him back up, he words it as ‘stopping me from falling to my final destiny’ what fucking wording IS that. my god.

uh well ok thats. about it i suppose. there was a big hullabuloo about like, hotels and shit, and there was probably some racism about Islanders in there (like i find it hard to believe there wasnt but im not gonna go back and double check, because this book reads like absolute garbage). but eh. yea?

uuhhh so that was an Adventure, for sure

[comicteaparty]

July 20th, 2017 CTP Archive

The archive for the Comic Tea Party chat that occurred on July 20th, 2017, from 5PM - 7PM PDT.  The chat focused on There Was a War by aislinn e.

Featured Comment:

Chat:

RebelVampire

Good day everyone~! This week’s Comic Tea Party is now officially beginning. Today we are discussing There Was a War by aislinn e~! (https://tapas.io/series/TWAW) For those new to CTP, discussions about the comic are freeform, so please feel free to bring up whatever you wish. However, every 30 minutes I will be dropping in a discussion question to help those who would like a prompt. These questions are totally OPTIONAL to answer so pay them no mind if you wish~! Remember, constructive criticism is allowed, but the primary focus here is to have fun and appreciate the amazing comics that the community makes~! Each chat a top comment will be picked and featured on an ad for this chat, so let’s have a great discussion~! With that said, let us begin with this first question~!

QUESTION 1. What is your favorite scene in the comic so far and why?

mathtans

I knew that would be the question, and yet I'm having trouble picking something out. The explanation of vanishing into the underworld and seeing God I found amusing, perhaps I'll choose that.

RebelVampire

i really liked that scene. that was a pretty funny line. but i also liked that scene because i think it showed a more human side as it were to her captors in a way. especially with the more recent page where one of them is trying to apologize.

mathtans

Yeah, that's true, it made them more than the faceless guards (though I'm horrible with names...). And the "she wasn't there!" was amusing too in the discussion.

The apology thing in the latest update surprised me.

RebelVampire

really? im more glad it went that way because from the beginning i felt they werent awful guards persay. especially cause i feel like a big motif of this comic is about a lot of people doing tons of stuff they dont want to do for the war. and i often got the impression the guards are not particularly fond of participating in the war either. just gotta do what they were told.

mathtans

Oh, I'm glad it's going that way too, just I hadn't figured on the discussion going there somehow. I guess, while I don't know the legend that this is based on, I'd thought it'd be more focussed on the humanizing of the main characters.

War sucks. I wonder if the war in the title references the one that nearly wiped out the tribe to the south...? (I might have misinterpreted things.)

RebelVampire

well to be fair i think its more messing the entire war. cause they are still very much at war. i think its using past tense cause of the prologue. cause its framing this as a story thats being told almost. so in a way the entire story is a flashback you could say.

mathtans

Valid point.

Even if it's not necessarily active (though I guess it must be, for Balor to have been brought out), neither side really understands the other. So tensions are high and things can erupt at any time.

I wonder to what extent Cath can see the future.

RebelVampire

yeah i feel like her powers are a bit vague. but probably intentionally so. i get the impression she cant see very far into the future tho and i feel like a lot of her power is probably going to be based on her ability to interpret

mathtans

Yeah, not very far, and maybe only if she's thinking about it? Unless it's something key?

She must be able to teleport too, since she did a lot of travelling and yet was still able to get back to the pool. But maybe it's a thing where she can only get there.

I'm not up on my Irish mythology. (I think it's Irish?)

RebelVampire

idk. idk how based on mythology its supposed to be. if its irish definitely out of my expertise.

and maybe tbh i find their camp layout hard to understand XD

like ok the pool is underground but whats its relationship with the rest of the area

mathtans

I remember in the Q&A a mention of mythology and when I looked it up I think it was Irish.

Yeah, I haven't really put much thought into where things are.

I get a bit taken in by the art style, the sort of flowing down the page, like it's all a bit nebulous anyway.

Not a bad thing, btw. In my opinion.

RebelVampire

yeah i think a lot of the pages at least take super advantage of the scroll format. particularly the scene where balor falls down into the pool for the first time. cause you really get the impression of balor falling down into it

mathtans

Oooh yeah, that'd slipped my mind.

Something about the art that's really cool, that I only really picked up on when I peeked at the mythology - Balor has an evil eye. And here it's his left eye, which is always in shadow or closed. Only his right eye's "normal".

And my gendering sucks, those should probably be "her" and "She".

I don't remember if the original Balor was male though?

RebelVampire

i dont think so cause they refer to balor as princess and daughter.

mathtans

Okay, the site where I looked it up talks about a "he". Maybe I just looked up the name and ran into totally the wrong myth. The "evil eye" thing seems to fit though.

RebelVampire

oh wait do you mean original balor as in a mythological one? cause i didnt know such a balor existed XD

mathtans

Yeah, there's an original Balor in Irish Myth. Seems to be a guy. With an evil eye. Don't know if this is related.

RebelVampire

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balor

mathtans

I got curious after reading the Q&A.

RebelVampire

thanks wikipedia

mathtans

So could be a different take on that story, or could be the internet only knows one version of a mythology that's much broader.

RebelVampire

more likely a different take

but this explains the framing of the prologue

QUESTION 2. Cethlenn and Balor reveal the humans and the Fomor have vastly different ideas on how the war started. Humans believe the Fomor eat people and destroy their settlements, while the Fomor believe the humans were tricked by their gods into warring with them. How do you think the war started? How will these differing viewpoints be relevant to the story?

mathtans

Truth's probably somewhere in the middle, I suppose....

RebelVampire

but back to what i was saying, if this is a diff take on the myth, i feel like the prologue is saying "yeah here we have this myth about how evil balor was but nope the truth of myths are not easy."

mathtans

That makes sense. I like when things are made not easy. ^.^

Interesting that Fomor don't have magic, and humans do. I wonder if that played into the start of the war.

As to viewpoints, pretty obvious that the humans have bought into the propaganda, based on that guy in the cart. Meaning emotions will beat out "truth", if there can be said to be a truth.

It was good to see him, to start seeing that side of the story too.

I also confess, I'm a bit shallow, and like the brighter colours. ^_^

RebelVampire

i do like that the comic is a big more vibrant now.

i think humans having magic at least partially explains why they even stand a chance against the fomor

mathtans

It provides a contrast between the worlds well.

RebelVampire

since the fomor are huge

mathtans

That's a good point. Explains why they feel the need to pull out Balor every so often too, why they can't handle it, and why they try to remove the magician humans.

RebelVampire

in all honesty i kind of feel like its the humans fault the war started cause i feel like they sent the first blow. cause i believe theres some truth to the story balor tells in song. so the humans probably did show up, got spooked by the first fomor they saw, and killed that fomor out of fear. and then the fomor were mad and retaliated. and then things escalated

mathtans

That would make sense. Though there's also different tribes of Fomor, who probably look better or worse - do you remember if it was said whether it started in the South? Like, maybe they're the scarier ones and it's all racism from there.

RebelVampire

i think the song mentioned the war starting in the south

so it could be theyre scarier seeming

ok its more vague

it says "son of the South East"

mathtans

I suppose I could look this up. -.- Oh, good for you on checking. And now they're headed North, so people could be seeing what they expect, not differentiating the different types.

Like, even the guards are different, one has more prominent teeth, I think?

RebelVampire

yeah. although the fomor just may have vastly more genetic differences than humans by comparison. but it could in large just be an issue of racism at play.

mathtans

Well, now I'm looking up Fomorians...

RebelVampire

haha you have me at a disadvantage cause i usually dont read Q&As. but thats just bias from doing reviews every month cause i cant really base story judgements on outside info.

mathtans

Yeah, that's understandable. Plus you have a lot to read as it is, I don't always go through an entire archive. Though I did in this case.

Looks like humans weren't the first to challenge Fomorians in legend. Huh. I'm learning stuff.

Kind of tangential to what's going on here though.

(Previous challengers died of "an epidemic".)

Anyhue. War. What is it good for? I suspect one of the protagonists, if not both, are doomed to die... but maybe that brings peace?

RebelVampire

the description for the comic mentions that the story has a sad ending. i get the distinct impression that they both die...and then the war continues. forever. cause if we assume it follows the legend and balor somehow leads the people, someone will just replace balor. although i feel like if balor dies the fomor will be at a huge disadvantage

mathtans

That's true. They won't have their ace in the hole (uh, kinda literally) any more. Maybe the whole point is the humans win, because that's where we're at now, and history was written by the victors.

RebelVampire

QUESTION 3. Throughout the comic so far, Balor’s main conflict is being used as a tool of war due to the evil eye curse Balor possesses. Why do you think Balor has this curse? Is it truly a curse or is something larger at work? Do you think Balor will somehow get rid of the curse of the evil eye and gain freedom?

mathtans

Oh, that's a good question. Pretty sure he won't gain his freedom, in fact I somehow feel like he's gonna end up using it in a tragic way. But I don't know where he got it from. Particularly if the Fomor don't use magic.

I'm usually pretty good at offering theories, but I'm kind of drawing a blank. Maybe because I feel like a proper theory would take from the mythology.

Oooh, thought. Maybe the curse comes from something she's GONNA do. Like, she gets cursed back into her past/from her birth because of something that happens later. In a "brought it on yourself" sort of way.

Ugh, and my gender pronouns are all over the place.

RebelVampire

lol thatd be trippy but possible for something mythology based.

granted im not sure its a curse. i like to think like some unknown power wanted to give the fomor a little advantage

cause of how far the war has gone

mathtans

Humans might have the power to curse, is the thing. Though that's a good point, maybe she comes by it "naturally", so that there's an equilizer.

Sometimes I wonder what the "gods" are thinking.

(Like, not just with this comic, but in general.)

I wonder if there's a way to counteract it. That hasn't been found yet.

Not in terms of a cure so much as something that can be done to stay alive... though a cure might be interesting too. Even if I suspect it would be a deception of some sort.

RebelVampire

there is a cure. its called death.

/shot

joking aside i hadnt considered that maybe it was a curse from the humans

which would be hilariously ironic

as it brought about their own destruction

mathtans

Well, there's that too, ouch. Yeah, or a curse from the human gods, meaning the fomor aren't wrong in saying the humans are being coaxed deeper into this war.

"Please kill all these types, we'll even make them extra powerful to give you a reason to fear them."

RebelVampire

im really curious as far as the story goes how involved the human gods are involved. like...weve never seen one so are they even real in this story? cause while the existence of the fomor leads to the idea that of course they must be, theres room for doubt. so rather than the gods themselves manipulating the humans, it was evil humans saying "oh yeah the gods told us this stuff." and since the war is so old no one remembers enough to question it

mathtans

Oooh, that's a really good point.

Word of mouth causing more problems, much like the way things got played up for that farmer who wasn't even there.

(I keep calling him a farmer, I don't know why, he was just in a cart and had a place nearby... I'm horrible for stereotyping...)

I'm reminded of the "subtle flirting" "less subtle flirting" thing though, that was amusing. I like the occasional amusement particularly when things are a bit bleak otherwise.

RebelVampire

yeah im glad this comic does have some of the lighter lines throne it to keep things from being soul crushing.

the farmer person (cause might as well continue stereotyping) made me laugh just cause of how wildly crazy that version was in a way

although that scene made me really hmmm at cethlenn's origins because she seemed a bit spoiled by not being afraid of the war

mathtans

I guess I saw that as youthful optimism.

Maybe she thinks her magic can protect her too.

RebelVampire

it could be youthful optimism. could just be her personality too. she's a bit spunky. i mean she did recently sneak into balor's cell and is like "yeah w/e its cool im cool were all cool."

mathtans

Hah. That's true. It makes her a pretty good counterpoint to Balor, might explain why Balor's happier around her.

Maybe that's also the source of the initial fascination, to some extent.

RebelVampire

probably. tho to a degree im sure its balor just clinging to something to keep sane. cause balor's life is pretty depressing.

mathtans

Truth.

RebelVampire

QUESTION 4. The comic focuses quite a bit on the developing relationship between Cethlenn and Balor. However, the themes of war and its effects are always looming in the background. What do you think the ultimate fate of the two will be? Will they be able to stay together or will they eventually be found out and torn apart in the spirit of their war torn lands?

mathtans

Yeah, I don't see it ending well. One or both dying. Just... it's war, and I get this tragic vibe.

Romeo and Juliet (or Juliet and Juliet, I dunno).

RebelVampire

yeah that last one. although they may at least die together. maybe theyll start there own rebellion faction. and try to end the war by going to war

cause logic

mathtans

Hm. I wonder, maybe Ceth dies, and Balor somehow turns her vibe on the Fomor in grief, and then realizes what she's done, and suicide? ... I like the dying together better. o.o

I wonder how long it'll take though. Like, will there be a time skip? They're both awful young here.

RebelVampire

idk. although honestly, im not even sure what the time passage is. its really vague and kind of bothers me. cause it effects a bit how sorry i feel for balor. like has balor been doing evil eye stuff for a few months or a few years? that makes a really huge difference

mathtans

That's true. How do Fomor even age? Was it implied anywhere?

At the same time, I kind of get the idea that when you're effectively in a prison, time becomes rather meaningless.

Oh, one thing I wanted to mention, the language thing with Ceth's real name versus what Balor called her, I thought that was clever and fun too.

RebelVampire

oh thats a really good point. i never considered that the time was intentionally vague because such is the way of prison. thats a very interesting interpretation.

i thought that was a cute scene. especially cethlenn trying to teach balor how to say her name right.

mathtans

Sometimes I'm interesting. It also means we don't really know how long they were playing together in the pool versus being stuck alone. Time expands and contracts depending on mood.

Heh, right. Maybe that should've been my fave scene. (I guess I like the more comedic stuff.)

Maybe the fact that there's drawings on the walls can act as an indication.

RebelVampire

thats true cause balor was putting up a count which im gonna assume was days.

mathtans

Was there a count along with other things? How can you measure a day though, if you can't see any sun? Maybe it was times he got pulled out.

RebelVampire

i think theres a hole in balor's prison tho so im gonna assume balor could see the passage. but to be fair the count couldve been something else. and idk if balor kept up with it.

since i didnt really mention it, i think my fave scene was actually the flashback scene of balor with the older fomor. cause i think it was just a very warm scene that showed the fomor arent always these war torn fighters and i think it gave a really good perspective on the war.

mathtans

I think the light through the hole is only when people are looking for him. But yeah, hard to say.

That's a good point. Important to have, particularly as a counterpoint to the human stuff later.

RebelVampire

yeah although id like to see more of the humans

cause mostly weve just seen them be prisoners or become fried chicken

mathtans

I guess I'm a bit torn on that topic. It'd be good, but at the same time, the more that gets shown the less the imagination can play around.

Just loaded the site again and noticed the chapters are denoted with little "chalk markings", that's a neat touch.

Reminds me of one other praise, the way expressions are done, in terms of the artwork.

RebelVampire

i like the artsy style of the comic in general. now while admittedly its not a style i would go for for personal entertainment persay, i think it works for what the comic is trying to go for. i think overall the art really expresses and hits the mark for every tone and mood it wants to emphasis and show

mathtans

Agreed. Impressive shading. Even the font choice has a Celtic feel to it somehow. Maybe that's just me.

(I think it's the E's.)

RebelVampire

nah i did get that impression too. that there was a celtic feel to the font.

RebelVampire

Unfortunately, the scheduled Comic Tea Party is now complete~! Thank you everyone so much for joining this week’s chat~! That being said, if you would like to continue discussing the comic, we encourage you to do so~! We want to give a big thank you to aislinn e, as well, for volunteering There Was a War for our reading queue. If you liked the comic, please be sure to support aislinn e’s efforts. If you have questions, concerns, or suggestions about CTP, please feel free to PM me, or e-mail me at rebelvampire@startfaire.com.

With that said, next week’s Comic Tea Party will focus on Aether Eternius by Novasiri. Please use this week to read as much of the comic as you would like. Hope to see you next Thursday (July 27th) from 5PM to 7PM PDT~! Until then~! @Novasiri Comic: https://tapas.io/series/Aether-Eternius(edited)

[viralhottopics]

‘I’m like a secret assassin’: Poo Bear on writing for Justin Bieber, Skrillex and Sam Smith

The songwriter aka Jason Boyd has been writing hits for more than 20 years, but his collaboration with Bieber on Where R Now? made him an overnight sensation. It literally changed music, he tells Elle Hunt

You may not have heard of Jason Boyd, better but not widely known as Poo Bear, but youve heard him.

After more than two decades as a songwriter and producer of mostly R&B and pop, his fingerprints are on hits for an array of artists including Usher, Chris Brown, and Lupe Fiasco.

Peaches & Cream by the R&B quartet 112, which spent 25 weeks in the Top 40 in 2001, is one of his. So is Caught Up, Ushers fifth single from Confessions. And Work, one of Kelly Rowlands most successful solo works.

Poo Bear was 14 and still in high school when he co-wrote his first hit, Anywhere, for 112; he is now 38.

He considers his low profile the secret to his longevity; people tire of the same old songwriters and producers. It might not mean that your music isnt great anymore; it might just mean they might just be over it, he says. For me, it was a blessing to stay under the radar so they couldnt really get tired of me … Im like a secret assassin. You dont even know its like, oh, Poo Bear did that.

His star is in fact the highest its ever been, thanks to a boost from a musician whose own could not have fallen much lower. Poo Bear was instrumental in Justin Biebers turnaround from one of the worlds most-loathed celebrities to electronic dance music superstar, co-writing much of his 2015 album, Purpose.

Just weeks after Bieber brought his megatour-stroke-victory lap to Australia, Poo Bear is in Sydney for the world premiere of Afraid of Forever, a documentary about his career, produced by Red Bull.

Softly-spoken and earnest, with the trademark greeting happy birthday (because youre supposed to feel like that every day), he seems a little bemused by the attention.

Poo Bear: Ive watched songwriters, writers, producers, even artists that Ive written hits for come and go. Photograph: Dustin Downing

Ive watched songwriters, writers, producers, even artists that Ive written hits for come and go, he says, speaking to Guardian Australia at the Star casino on Wednesday morning. But to the world, it looked like Justin Bieber was my first success.

When Bieber and Bear were first introduced in Las Vegas in January 2013, they bonded over their shared love of R&B, with Bieber a fan of many of the artists Bear had written for.

Both were raised by single mothers in low-income, religious homes, and both entered the music industry at a young age. As Bieber once put it, they kind of just vibed on a personal level.

Poo Bears parents divorced when he was eight; two weeks later, a tornado destroyed the family home in Connecticut. He and his mother and brother spent nine months homeless before moving to Atlanta, Georgia, for a fresh start made possible by a donation of $4,000 from their church.

Bear signed his first record deal four years later. Bieber was the same age 13 when he was discovered on YouTube by his longtime manager, Scooter Braun.

Braun disapproved of Bear when he first started spending time with Bieber, concerned he was a bad influence at a time when the young singers star was already in a nosedive. (Bear did once characterise his early friendship with Bieber as making bad decisions with a minor smoking weed and getting into trouble.)

[Braun] did try to separate us, and that brought us closer. Over time, I understood it … This was a kid hed been raising since he was 13 if I was in that situation, I probably wouldve been a little overprotective too. (Braun is now Bears manager as well.)

Poo Bear and Bieber eventually collaborated on Journals, an unassuming compilation of mostly R&B singles released at the end of 2013. It was never intended to be a commercial hit, says Bear; Bieber was exercising some creative freedom and taking tentative steps out of child-stardom a transition to which Poo Bear proved crucial.

People always say, I wasnt really feeling Justin, but it wasnt really for them. It was always for kids and little girls. When Journals came out, it opened up the world to this other side of Justin that we never knew existed.

Most Top 40 hits are collaborations between producers, who make the beat, and top-line writers such as Poo Bear, who come up with melodies and lyrics. Photograph: Dustin Downing

At that time, Bieber was almost exclusively known for abandoning his pet monkey to customs officials, spitting on fans from a balcony, and urinating in a restaurants mop bucket.

Theres no time for failure; theres no money for failure, the producer Scott Storch, with whom Poo Bear collaborated closely between 2005 and 2008, says in Afraid of Forever.

Compared to the songwriting-by-committee approach and safer bets such as the Swedish hit-making powerhouse Max Martin Biebers insistence on working with the relatively unknown Poo Bear constituted a risk, and at a time when his future was at stake.

The foundations for Biebers comeback were laid in a whole campaign devised by Scooter Braun, says Bear: The [Comedy Central] roast and everything that was all Scooters idea.

Poo Bear and singer-songwriter Justin Bieber at Poo Bears Grammy Party at Serafina Sunset on February 10, 2017 in West Hollywood, California. Photograph: Rodin Eckenroth/Getty Images

But public relationships could only do so much: it would take a hit to cement Biebers return, and that pressure was on Poo Bear.

The breakthrough was Where R Now?, imagined by Bear as a piano ballad. Then Skrillex turn it into a movie, he says, almost with awe.

Skrillex and his fellow producer Diplo had heard the demo of the track, and expressed interest in it as a single for their upcoming collaboration as Jack .

In their hands, the wistful ballad became springy and cinematic, with a throbbing beat and a dolphin-cry chorus that was revealed to be Biebers voice, digitally manipulated beyond recognition, in a slick New York Times video about its production.

Its influence is inescapable now; in February 2015, when it was released by Jack with Justin Bieber, it was utterly new. It literally changed music, says Bear. It took a while, but it ended up catching on. It was played, oh my God, so much on the radio.

Where R Now paved the way for What Do You Mean?, the lead single off Purpose and co-written by Bieber, Poo Bear and just one other. It was an immediate hit the first number-one of Biebers half-decade career and introduced to the charts the Caribbean-influenced tropical house sound now so ubiquitous, even Ed Sheeran has dabbled in it. (Its like, out of all the people, I would have thought you would be somebody to do something different, says Bear, slightly accusatorially.)

Two more number-one singles followed, while Purpose itself debuted at number-one on the US Billboard 200 album chart. It topped album charts in 11 other countries, and was nominated for album of the year at the 2017 Grammys.

Bieber was back.

It was done, says Bear. Nobody could take it away from him. I dont know about the rest of the world, but America loves redemption. They love giving people second chances.

With the momentum behind Bieber came unprecedented attention for Poo Bear, who gave the first extensive interview of his career to the New York Times in October 2015; at the time, he didnt even have a Wikipedia page.

At the same time, he is under no illusions that he is now a celebrity.

I like going out and having very few people coming up to me because they read the credits and they know, he says. I see my friends who have superstar lifestyles, and its great to have hundreds of millions of dollars, but at the same time, its a sacrifice of your own sanity.

He has, however, quadrupled his pre-Purpose fee in a bid to retain some exclusivity in the face of increased demand. Now he is working with Skrillex and UK singer-songwriter Sam Smith on projects that, he hopes, will throw out the sound he pioneered 18 months ago and which has been widely aped since. (He makes a conscious effort not to listen to popular music: its not inspiring.)

Finally, Ive reached a place where if Im working with an artist, they allow me to just do whatever I feel, he says. Growing up it was like, we want another Peaches and Cream. Then you realise … why would you want a 2001 Mercedes Benz when Im making 2018 Benzes?

Read more: http://bit.ly/2nRVfsl

from ‘I’m like a secret assassin’: Poo Bear on writing for Justin Bieber, Skrillex and Sam Smith

[isaacathom]

the Kingdom of... Lessia? Lissaea? that sounds kinda cool. looks weird as shit, but sounds cool. of course, what the hell does Liss mean.

Lassaea also sounds cool. i dont know is lass- means anything geographically either, because some wikipedia pages wont fucking tell me anything topynymic like for gods saaakkeeee tell me why it was called the Pantalassa ocean, you bum.

oh it DOES tell me but its wholly in greek. i cant read greek. what sounds am i looking at. god, its even ancient greek, buddy. please. ok, the sea bit is Thala? ok, Thalatha, but Thala. Thalassia? ok, thats a bit of an inane name, it literally means ‘sea land’ but if New Zealand can do it, so can I. Thalassaea? thats a bit garbled, i think. but Thala sounds really nice, as a sound combination. and thats like, historically my favourite sort of sound combo, so :D

Thalassia? that will change things, admittedly, since it means the Kingdom will be bordered by ocean, definitely to the south, and possibly to the east. since its land bordered to the north and west by default, since north east-ish is where Adelaide’s home country is, north west-ish is a neutral country, and the west are those guys the Kingdom went to war with. hmm.

Thyssia? that looks like an actual place name, too.... its not, not specifically.

also, fuck, i cant name it Thalassia anyway, theres a place in Greece with that name D: alright. shit. ok.

ok how about instead of throwing noises, i go find something i want the Kingdom to be named for. like, its probably bordered by water on at least one side, because thats cooler, though no guarantee the entirety of its southern border touches the sea. depends on how much land there is. its north and probably west have land. it shouldnt have the word ‘south’ as one of its roots, no matter what language, since then its a lil too blatant of an Australia reference (given Australia means Southern Land, yknow)

it could always be named for a sort of plant, or a geological thing aside from the ocean. are there mountains? hmm..... if there are, theyre probably to the north east-y end, since thats near where Adelaide’s home country is, an if there were gonna be mountains, it’d be dividing them. but that’d also beg the question of why the eastern dudes, the ‘baddies’ would need to cut through the Kingdom to get to it. it’d make more sense to go around? unless ‘around’ has like 7 different countries and thats a lot more legal hassle than just one Big FuckOff Country, right. idk. probably no big mountain ranges, though that doesnt prevent there being SOME mountains, like some isolated big ass hills. could you name a country for like, its bays? like if it has a prominent god damn. fishbowl. big doodad. like port phillip bayy? oh thank god, i didnt misremember the name of the Bay, i am an australia ;v;

but like, you could name a country for a bay, i dont see why not. but if the country had a bay, well, it’d make sense for the Castle to be close to it, wouldnt it? oh, shit! and, also, the Kingdom was probably initially two separate countries, due to the existence of the ‘fort’ that serves as the centre of royalty during the war with the west. so possibly the name could be based off one of those? probably whichever half held the bay initially? though if the bay is so important, it couldve sparked the conflict anyway, like fishing water shit, and it wouldnt really matter who won it because the whole point was that neither owned it outright? yikes. ok, maybe not a bay.

idk. i like Thyssia. but, ofc, it sounds p... greek. nothing wrong with that, and honestly that works.. idk. im conflicted.

yknow, fuck it, that’ll do for now. the kingdom of Thyssia. nice