mossfvcker

[end-area]

Andreas: There are sound theological reasons to preserve this book.

Sister Illuminata: More sound than the condemnation from three bishops of Paris?

[manuscripts-dontburn]

Prisoner of Night and Fog

Author: Anne Blankman

First published: 2014

Pages: 432

Rating: ★★★★☆

How long did it take: 5 days

Though the first part seemed aimed at younger readers and I was ready to plough through many YA clichés, this is, in fact, a really well-written, solid historical fiction. Anne Blankman has certainly done her homework and her fictional character of Gretchen Müller, her sadistic and unpredictable brother and her seemingly weak mother are woven so seamlessly among the real historical characters I actually stopped reading at one point to look them up (and confirm they are indeed fictional). True, the inevitable romance was... well... inevitable from the first chapter and personally, I thought more time and character development would have made our heroine´s journey even more interesting and suspenseful. However, the moments which are meant to be disturbing ARE disturbing, the points meant to be creepy ARE creepy and I also very much appreciate the considerable historical accuracy backing the whole plot. Also, the fact that this takes place quite a long time before WW2, merely hinting at what is to come, rather than presenting the most overused - and overwritten - conflict and horror of the past century. Definitely a book more readers should try if they are at all interested in historical fiction that is written well.

A Supernatural War: Magic, Divination, and Faith During the First World War

Author: Owen Davies

First published: 2019

Pages: 304

Rating: ★★★☆☆

How long did it take: 10 days

Fascinating in focus and yet very tight and even sparing in style, this is a very interesting book that serves well to provide yet another piece to the puzzle of the social history of the First World War. My only major critique would be this: certain parts felt like encyclopedic entries which left one "hanging" - wanting more information but either there isn´t any or the author has decided not to include it. The author himself, too, acknowledges that white Christians were far from being the only ones entangled in the fighting and does mention beliefs and superstitions of other nationalities and faiths, but half a chapter does not do them justice. In other words, this study could have - and should have - been longer, because it calls to us through the ages with everything that is human, naive, fragile and hopeful.

To Be Taught, If Fortunate

Author: Becky Chambers

First published: 2019

Pages: 135

Rating: ★★★★★

How long did it take: 2 days

This was both beautiful and rather depressing. Becky Chambers has impressed me before and she has managed to do it again - on 135 pages of this novella. Her talent as a writer, her imagination and her sensitive treatment of the human psyche is undisputable.

Death of a Romanov Prince

Author: Terry Bolland, Arturo E Beéche

First published: 2018

Pages: 240

Rating: ★★☆☆☆

How long did it take: 2 days

Unfortunately, this book was a huge letdown. The Konstantinovichi branch of the Romanov family have always had a special place in my heart and I jump at every piece of literature that concerns them - there are few in the West! Arguably Prince Oleg was the most promising of the last "imperial" generation and I definitely appreciate that somebody tried to bring attention to him. Sadly, this publication suffers from the same weaknesses as any of the books published and edited by Arturo E Beéche: A great number of typos and mistakes within the text. Amateurish formating. Sometimes the original photographs were very small and they are so enlarged you cannot see anything since they are very pixelated. Information and quotes are repeated numerous times. But those technical things could be forgiven if the text had value. I am sad to say that there is very little new information - on the contrary, the book takes such a broad scope to cover various relations and palaces (without providing pictures of what is being described) that it has no time to go in-depth at all. Case in point: there is not a single reference to the homosexual tendencies of Oleg´s father and uncle, even though their sexuality greatly affected their lives. The book spends time listing German and Russian and Greek relatives and mentions Oleg´s intelligence and good character but nowhere does it present any evidence of it. This is not an insightful biography I had hoped for. It is an encyclopedic, sterile and confusingly put together attempt at.... what exactly? I don´t even know. A great opportunity wasted.

The Good Bee: A Celebration of Bees – And How to Save Them

Author: Alison Benjamin, Brian McCallum

First published: 2019

Pages: 192

Rating: ★★☆☆☆

How long did it take: 4 days

I very much appreciate the intent with which this little book was written and it certainly holds some fascinating information and helpful tips. At the same time, the text does not flow too well and reminds one more of a textbook rather than something that would truly inspire one to take up bee-keeping. I suppose I just wanted something else out of it than what it gave..

Hesse: A Princely German Collection

Edited by: Penelope Hunter-Stiebel

First published: 2005

Pages: 287

Rating: ★★★★☆

How long did it take: 2 days

A well-put together catalogue, introducing just the right amount of information and full of beautiful, high-quality photographs.

The Forsyte Saga

Author: John Galsworthy

First published: 1921

Pages: 752

Rating: ★★★★☆

How long did it take: 7 days

See my full review HERE

Girls of Paper and Fire

Author: Natasha Ngan

First published: 2018

Pages: 384

Rating: ★★★☆☆

How long did it take: 6 days

I liked the possibilities and the setting more than the final execution and plot. Other than that I just feel like I am too old for this kind of books. So maybe the problem here is me, really.

Lucia: A Venetian Life in the Age of Napoleon

Author: Andrea di Robiland

First published: 2008

Pages: 384

Rating: ★★★★☆

How long did it take: 3 days

I have learned long ago that I am most open to gaining new knowledge through the stories of individual women. By looking through the eyes of Lucia I have finally understood the mess which was Northern Italy before, during and after Napoleonic times and I got introduced to an interesting lady. Definitely a win for me.

Pohorská vesnice

Author: Božena Němcová

First published: 1855

Pages: 181

Rating: ★★★★☆

How long did it take: 4 days

Když jsem se konečně přenesla přes nářečí i slovenštinu, když jsem přestala kroutit očima nad tím, že celý příběh je o nedostatku komunikace, dokázala jsem ocenit krásný obraz českého venkova, jak jej Božena Němcová zachytila. A konec mne dojal oproti všemu očekávání.

Hitler's Hangman: The Life Of Heydrich

Author: Robert Gerwarth

First published: 2011

Pages: 433

Rating: ★★★★☆

How long did it take: 5 days

Perhaps not the most exhaustive, but still very informative biography of one of the worst humans ever. The terrifying thing about him was especially the fact that he was so average and unremarkable in every single thing - and then he rode the storm and changed to always be on top. The author´s style is very readable and he manages to strike the chord between the academic and more personal tone well.

The Wife Upstairs

Author: Rachel Hawkins

First published: 2021

Pages: 290

Rating: ★★★☆☆

How long did it take: 2 days

I am not big into thrillers but this got me sold on "Jane Eyre inspired". It was quite good, though this type of writing does not make me crazy.

Conspiracy of Blood and Smoke

Author: Anne Blankman

First published: 2015

Pages: 416

Rating: ★★★☆☆

How long did it take: 3 days

A sequel to Prisoner of Night and Fog, this was solid, unfortunately it was not as good as its predecessor. The first book is about a girl waking up to the world, finding cracks in what she has been taught all her life. It is about her deciding to think for herself and how this affects her life and relationships. And since it is pre-Nazi Germany, these changes in her thinking are very dangerous. This second book, on the other hand, is primarily a detective story without a pay-off, and way too many things are spoon-fed to the reader or feel convenient. I also felt that most of the book followed a theme of "we know where to find information - we go get it - Nazis get there at the same time - we somehow manage to escape." On the other hand, if something did work, it was the romance. Passionate, devoted and loyal, and yet mature and believable.

The Empress of Salt and Fortune

Author: Nghi Vo

First published: 2020

Pages: 121

Rating: ★★★★☆

How long did it take: 1 day

Lovely and breathing of history and legends. Modest in length, rich in the story.

The Library of the Unwritten

Author: A.J. Hackwith

First published: 2019

Pages: 440

Rating: ★★★★★

How long did it take: 8 days

First of all, as an author who is yet to finish any of her projects, I felt RUDELY called out by this book! Second of all, this is an absolute blast. An adventure with a heart, characters you cannot help but care for and so, so witty and clever in using mythology and even Biblical stories. Brilliant work!

Mansfield Park

Author: Jane Austen

First published: 1814

Pages: 584

Rating: ★★★★☆

How long did it take: 3 days

I suspect that my enjoyment of Jane Austen novels usually comes with how interesting her heroines are. And so when I was given Fanny Price, who for the first 200 pages merely breathes and observes, I was almost less than excited. But once I was willing to understand Fanny was not there to amuse me, she was there to provide a comfortable, quiet place among the bustle of feelings and happenings of others, who only later recognize how much she herself was interwoven into their lives. Mansfield Park does not have the wit and comedy of Emma or Pride and Prejudice but stands on the ground as solid as Sense and Sensibility. It was slow and perhaps even a bit too long, but I enjoyed it a lot.

[cctinsleybaxter]

2019 in books

The year’s contenders for the good, the bad, and the rest. I used to make a list of the ten best books I read all year, a tradition encouraged by my mom as far back as high school, but out 2019′s twenty-six mediocre offerings it didn’t really come together. Instead I’ve decided to break my ‘honorable mentions’ category into three subsections that I hope you’ll enjoy. In order of when read, not in order of affection:

Honorable mentions [books I liked; 3+ star material]

The Fifth Season by N.K Jemisin was given to me as a Christmas present last year, and I wasn’t sure how much I would like it since I don’t really do high fantasy. Rules need not apply; I loved the world building and narrative structure, and the characters were so much better than I’m used to even when their arcs seemed familiar at first glance. I guessed what was going on with the formatting maybe a little too quickly, but even then it was emotionally engaging and I was eager to keep reading and see what happened next. Haven’t devoured a book that way in years.

The Periodic Table by Primo Levi has been on my list for a while; as a memoir told through short stories it’s hit-or-miss, but so worth it. I especially loved getting to read his early attempts at fiction, and the chapter Phosphorus regarding his first real job as a chemist in 1942 (his description of his absolute disgust at having to work with rabbits, the feel of their fur and the “natural handle” of the ears is a personal favorite.) This excerpt is one I just think about a lot because it’s full of small sweet details and so kindly written:

“[my father] known to all the pork butchers because he checked with his logarithmic ruler the multiplication for the prosciutto purchase. Not that he purchased this last item with a carefree heart; superstitious rather than religious, he felt ill at ease breaking the kasherut rules, but he liked prosciutto so much that, faced by the temptation of a shop window, he yielded every time, sighing, cursing under his breath, and watching me out of the corner of his eye, as if he feared my judgement or hoped for my complicity.”

Slowing Down from Mouthful of Birds by Samanta Schweblin is a one-page short story, but I’m including it because it’s the best in the book and one of the better stories I’ve read in general. I won’t spoil it for you since it’s more poem than anything else (and you can read the whole thing here.)

A Short Film About Disappointment by Joshua Mattson deserves to be lower in the order because it’s like. Bad. But I couldn’t help but have a self-indulgent kind of love for it, since it’s a book about white boy ennui told through movie reviews. It definitely gets old by the end (one of those things where you can tell the author lost steam just as much as his leading man), but parts of it are so well-written and the concept clever. 80+ imaginary movie reviews and psychosomatic possession by your traitorous best friend. 

The Gone-Away World by Nick Harkaway has one of the greatest twists I’ve ever read in a novel, and no that’s not a spoiler, and yes I will recommend it entirely on that basis. It does its job as a multi-year sci-fi epic; reminds me a lot of Walter Moer’s early stuff in that it’s a bit Much(tm) but still a good mixture of politics and absurdity and absolute characters. Tobemory Trent was my favorite of the ensemble cast (but also boy do I wish men would learn how to write women.)

My Only Wife by Jac Jemk is a novella with only two characters, both unnamed, a man describing fragmented memories of his wife. It has me interested in Jemck’s other writing because even though I didn’t love it she writes beautifully; reading her work is like watching someone paint. The whole thing has a very indie movie feel to it (no scene of someone peeing but there SHOULD be), which I don’t think I’ve experienced in a story like this before and would like to try again. 

Mentions [books I really wanted to like but my GOD did something go wrong]

Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou is the most comprehensive history we have of Elizabeth Holmes and her con-company Theranos. It’s incredibly well-researched and absolutely fascinating, but veers into unnecessary pro-military stuff in one chapter (’can you believe she tricked the government?’ yes i can, good for her, leave me alone) and carries an air of racism directed at Holmes’ partner and the Pakistani people he brings onto the company. Carreyrou works for WSJ so I don’t know what I expected.

Circe by Madeline Miller was fun to read and goes down like a glass of iced tea on a hot day, but leaves a bit of an unpleasant aftertaste. It says a lot of things that seem very resonant and beautiful but ultimately ring hollow, and the ending is too safe. Predictable and inevitable. 

I was also bothered about Circe’s relationships with Odysseus and Telemachus as a focal point, not because they’re father and son (Greek mythology ethics : non-committal hand gesture) but because it’s the traditional “I used to like bold men but now I like... sensitive men.” Which as a character arc feels not unrealistic but very boring. You close the book and realize you’re not nine and reading your beat-up copy of Greek Myths, you’re an adult reading a New York Times Bestseller by a middle aged straight white woman.

Reservoir 13 by Jon McGregor could have been the best thing I read all year and I’m miserable at how bad it ended up being. The concept is excellent; a thirteen-year-old girl goes missing in a rural English village, and every chapter chronicles a passing year. I knew it would be slow, I like slow, but nothing happens in this book and it ends up it feeling like Broadchurch without the detectives. Plus, McGregor, you know sometimes you can take a moral stance in your story and not just make everything a grey area? Especially with subplots that deal with things like pedophilia and institutional racism?

Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl by Andrea Lawlor is about a twenty-something who moves from Iowa to San Francisco in the 90s and explores gender and sexuality through shapeshifting. It was something I really thought I would like and maybe even find helpful in my own life, but I couldn’t stand a single one of the characters or the narration so that’s on me! It does contain one of my favorite lines I’ve read in a long time though:

“And anyway, weren’t French boys supposed to be like Giovanni, waiting gaily for you in their rented room and actually Italian?”

Dishonorable mentions [there’s no saving these fellows]

The Butterfly Garden by Dot Hutchinson was supposed to be a fun easy-to-read thriller and what can I say except what the jklfkhlkj;fkfuck. It very quickly goes from ‘oh hey I read books like this when I was 15’ to ‘oh the girl who intentionally gets kidnapped by a wealthy serial killer is accidentally falling in love with his son and can’t stop talking about his eye color now huh.’ I felt like I was losing my mind; why did grown adults give this 5 stars on Goodreads.

The Beautiful Bureaucrat by Helen Phillips is supposedly surrealist horror fiction about working an office job in a new town, and reminded me of that rocky third or fourth year when I really started hating Welcome to Night Vale. All spark no substance, and even less fun because you know it’s going nowhere. I’ve also realized this past year that I cannot stand stories about women where their only personality trait is the desire to have children. People will throw the word ‘Kafkaesque’ at anything but here it was just insulting. 

The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai alternates point of view between Yale, a gay man living in Chicago in the late 80s and watching his friends die, and Fiona, the straight younger sister of one of those friends now looking for her erstwhile daughter in 2018. It was nominated for the 2018 Pulitzer, and part of my interest was in wondering how we were going to connect the plot lines of ‘the personal cost of the AIDS crisis’ with ‘daughter lost to a cult.’

The answer is that we don’t. The book is well-researched and acclaimed beyond belief, but it is SUCH a straight story. Yale’s arc is fueled by the drama of his boyfriend cheating on him and infecting them both, Fiona is painted as a witness to tragedy and encouraged to share their stories with her own daughter. “You’re like the Mother Theresa of Boys Town” one of the men complains bitterly of her, and the claim goes undisputed. It’s a story that makes a lot of statements about love and families and art that I feel we’ve all heard before to much greater effect.

[dxmagedrose]

GET TO KNOW THE BLOGGER!

Tagged by: my lover @hammurabicomplex​ I’m tagging: anyone and everyone who wants to pick this one up! share with the class if you feel like it! tag me in it!!

PRESENTING. RANDOM DEEP DIVE WITH INDIGO-MUN AT 2AM ;

FIRST NAME Good fucking question… It’s (sort-of) currently Dylann! I was Kieran before that, though; it’s still used as one of my first names and I’m not used to Dylann quite yet bc I’ve just started using it. 

Indigo is one of my middle names though, and I’ve used it as an online handle elsewhere forever so I use it here now!  [ Fun etymology facts: Dylan(n) is a mythology name generally meaning “born of the wave” (aspiring diver & a water witch at heart). Kieran means “little dark one” bc of my love for horror, && I chose Indigo bc as a kid to be it was neither boy (blue) or purple (girl) and was both and neither as well as my absolute favorite color as this vibrant ass mystical color. ]

STRANGE FACT ABOUT YOURSELF hmmmmm…. I’m a horror lover at heart, so as a child (I wanna say 12), I was walking through an antique store (I have a few cool finds, I considered putting my other one as the fact tbh) and I turned the corner and I saw these two dolls staring back at me at the foot of the stairs of this antique building. my blood froze, and i felt my stomach drop. i got actual, physical goosebumps stumbling across these two creepy dolls staring back at me in the corner, and i couldn’t leave the store without them. perhaps the little painted porcelain boy would be somewhat spooky by himself if it wasn’t for the terrifying lidded gaze of the porcelain girl with the hairline fractures and slightly open lips. i cant look at her. i dont really find dolls scary, I like to find the spookier ones ones, and she makes me paranoid as hell. i keep her face covered and her up in my closet except for when i bring her out to show her off proudly as the spookiest thing I have but……. i dont really collect dolls anymore.  even thinking about her brings a fearful tear to my eye.  i don’t like to think about her for very long, but that’s why I’m so fucking proud to own her. ( YES — I’m THAT white person in the horror film )

TOP THREE PHYSICAL THINGS YOU FIND ATTRACTIVE ON A PERSON hhhhh a beardy jawline, high cheekbones, crooked canine teeth >:3c

A FOOD YOU COULD EAT FOREVER AND NOT GET BORED OF b.l.t.’s with avocado. ahhhh. my mouth is watering just thinking about it, oh my god. just a bit of salt and pepper???

A FOOD YOU HATE barbecue anything, i hate the taste of bbq sauce, you keep your nasty black goo to yourselves at the grill. twice in my life i have presented with barbecue pizza and both times i cried literal tears. why would you do such a horrible thing to a person? what kind of a monster are you? how do you sleep at night?!

GUILTY PLEASURE the sims. constantly. always. i’ve sunk thousands of hours into my households. oh also uhhhhhh i run two 80s horror blogs, one being a shitpost blog with occasional art of mine and one gremlin fanfic ship blog for horrible, terrible self indulgent fanfics i’ll get the courage to finish writing & post so i can be cancelled on tumblr for at some point. NO, i won’t link them. as i pretend they’re even all that hard to find, within a day i was found on both by someone i admire here a lot :’) ilu bby thnk u eternally for supporting ur local horrifying dumbass wtf

WHAT DO YOU SLEEP IN the same clothes i’ve been wearing all day usually, my sweats & long sleeve raglans or my hoodies. i like being cozy day & and out. and ugh. efoort. just throw me in a blanket in a cool room and im out.

SERIOUS RELATIONSHIPS OR FLINGS serious relationships with some openness or poly. i wish i could fling! just not exactly easy for demisexual autistics lmao.

IF YOU COULD GO BACK IN THE PAST AND CHANGE ONE THING ABOUT YOUR LIFE, WOULD YOU AND WHAT WOULD IT BE I think I would be adopted by my grandma as a kid. It would save me some trauma but mostly I think it would get my autism diagnosed way earlier and save me angsting all these years of wondering why & thinking it’s my fault I’m struggling so much and so loud and affectionate and different in a world that i didnt fit in the same way. 

ARE YOU AN AFFECTIONATE PERSON when i get drunk i text people how much they mean to me in my life. does that answer your question? ahhh. i’m sometimes a cuddle monster with friends, i message people with long texts about how much they mean to me, but I sometimes really don’t like to be touched at all. 

A MOVIE YOU COULD WATCH OVER AND OVER AGAIN FLYPAPER.  F L Y P A P E R.  FLYPAPER.  FLY, and, I can’t stress this enough, fucking PAPER. ( Though also Whole Nine Yards and both Re-Animator & Bride ). I have watched Flypaper already like, 5 times this week and I’m still not done, and the other movies have been on repeat for days in this household within the last year. In the past it has also been Donnie Darko & the new Nightmare on Elm Street.  roast me.

FAVORITE BOOK White Fang by Jack London. Have I actually ever finished it? No. Do I still own a copy I’ve had since childhood thru multiple dogs eating it, taking it to and from school, and highlighting and circling all the best parts of chapter one ever since I was a kid and it was too hard of a book for me to read? You bet your ass. If I ever need inspiration I just reread chapter 1. Although one of my other favorites was Broken Monsters by Lauren Beukes. But White Fang is like, a weirdly personal text. We stan London’s writing in this household.

YOU HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO KEEP ANY ANIMAL AS A PET, WHAT DO YOU CHOOSE FENNEC FOX!! I used to daydream about having my own named Shiloh when I was a lil kid. they’re adorable little things and i am obsessed. i mean, gimme any fox and im happy, marble foxes, red foxes… but I was obsessed with fennec foxes. Also tbh ferrets. I want a ferret.

TOP FIVE FICTIONAL SHIPS [IF YOU ARE AN RP BLOG, YOU CAN USE YOUR OWN SHIPS AS WELL] Rosa & @ninetyscnds‘s Luke, Rosa & @iimpulsivity is already screaming my name, Rosa & Constantine, Jesse & Andrea from Breaking Bad, and the joker and harley of 80s sci-fi Dan & Herbert from Re-Ani.  I am but a simple opossum. 

PIE OR CAKE Pie! I’ll take both pumpkin & melty apple over cake. also, cheesecake is more pie than cake soooo, pie wins.

FAVORITE SCENT my dogs / my blanket. :’)  It’s the most grounding smell in the world. 

CELEBRITY CRUSH oliver jackson-cohen, i’m fucking GAY and im angry about it. there i was, minding my own business, and i saw that asshole in a certain SHIRTLESS GIF and it AWOKE SOMETHING IN ME. dont talk to me about it, holy shit im obsessed with beardy men now god fuckkdafjaask i hate him why did he make me this gay i was perfectly fine being into girls but NOOOOOO him and his dumb hairy chest and sweet rugged face and I——  I also am obsessed with the archaeologist & television personality Josh Gates and may or may not be considering making a fan blog for him bc idk if my anthropology docuseries host is Dad or Daddy but i love him lots

IF YOU COULD TRAVEL ANYWHERE, WHERE WOULD YOU GO I would go on a dive with anthropologists and archaeologists doing fieldwork research in the ancient cenotes of the Yucatán Peninsula. My actual dream job, catch me crying & fantasizing about being underwater documenting Mayan skulls given as offerings. Fuckkkk, I love anthropology so much!!  take me anywhere in the world to immerse myself into culture & archaeology.

INTROVERT OR EXTROVERT Introvert. I have a real life friend I see roughly once a month, and that’s it. Plenty of online relationships, I’m chatty, message me all day every day. but i dont do people well.

DO YOU SCARE EASILY I used to! Really bad. I don’t as much anymore. I do get paranoia a lot still. Having therapists telling you that the FBI could be outside your house watching you through your windows will kind of nervous. ( no google results for: yes hello fbi i am a writer please dont put me on watchlists i just have research i need to do for this idea im working on, would you like to try again? ) I have nightmares nightly but not they never make me afraid, they just make me feel like crap. jumpscares and loud noises and seeing people reaching into their pockets dont set off as many brain alarms anymore tho!! progress haha.

IPHONE OR ANDROID I like my android better bc of capabilities but meh

DO YOU PLAY ANY VIDEO GAMES My mom, her husband & I play COD for family game night, and Silent Hill is my life’s blood. I’ve sunken hours into Sims & Skyrim, and Norman Jayden from Heavy Rain is my #1 fictional character in existence, why do i love the druggie babies

DREAM JOB Oh… You’re asking me to pick? I’d love to be an anthropologist doing work out in the field. Underwater archaeology is peak, but I’m also heavily considering being a body recovery diver or police diver. I’d love to see myself in uniform someday, if possible. Just the thought makes me teary eyed & proud.

WHAT WOULD YOU DO WITH A MILLION DOLLARS fund my person creative & educational endeavors. get myself a spooky ass abandoned house to make my own home to create in, and travel to the world’s best dive sites. just live a mild life of education, creation & exploration. that’s the dream TM.

FICTIONAL CHARACTER YOU HATE dr. hill is a gross and whiny lil bitch this post brought to u by the miskatonic crew, how is everyone here an even worse bad guy than herbert west precious dan excluded talk shit get hit tho john winchester from spn and both walter white & todd from breaking bad are all in my crew of hated characters. i jusT…   the reani novel is difficult to read because i have to deal with this old sack of shit.

FANDOM THAT YOU WERE ONCE A PART OF BUT AREN’T ANY LONGER Supernatural :-)

… AND THIS CONCLUDES A DEEP DIVE WITH INDIGO!! //

[calliecat93]

Callie Reviews: TMNT 2012 Season One (Part Three)

(Part One) (Part Two)

Here is where we look at the season as a whole. For this, I will be looking at four things: Animation, Voice Acting, Characters (Heroes, Villains), and Story. I’ll be going more into depths about some stuff I skimmed over here as well. So lets dig in!

Animation

This is the Turtles first CGI show... okay yeah the 2007 movie was CGI, but that was a movie. When I first heard this, I was reluctant as I felt like 2D was becoming more and more of a lost out. But the CGI was really good! Mind you it looks a tad bit dated now as every season they pushed more and more to improve it. But still, it’s very well done. I can’t recall any point where I thought it looked bad or cringy...aside form when they wanted you to cringe anyways. What helps is that the show does add in some 2D elements, There’s the comic-style flashbacks of course, but even past that. They use these anime-like quirks like the sweatdrop, blushing, wide blank eyes when reacting in shock, vein burst when a character is angry, all these tiny little things that give it a more cartoony feel. I can’t recall any other Nickelodeon CGI shows that were doing this prior, so it helped it stand out among the other shows.

Another plus side? The character designs. Aside from a few background characters they re-colored, none of the important characters look the same. Like I know that some don’t like April’s design, but at least they gave her and Karai their own distinct character designs. Then there are the Turtles. Something I don’t like about the upcoming show is how much.. accessorizing they add in to make the Turtles look distinctive. 2k12 kept it very simple. Different heights, eye color, shade of green, and of course body build. For example Donnie, the genius who is mroe invested with machines than training, is both the tallest and most slender. Raph, the strongest, is the most buff and Mikey, the youngest, has larger eyes and freckles to show his child-like nature.And even with Raph,a ll four boys have kind of high school athlete-like builds. Nothing over the top like say... the Michael Bay films. Basically, I can believe that these guys can do the ninja-like agility more than I can with the overly buff, giant versions that have been used.

When ti comes to the mutants, the animators get creative. There are so many unique mutant sin the show. Snakeweed, Spyder Bytez, Dogpound, Fishface, Splinter, Leatherhead, all the mutants have their own unique design that work for them. They also know when to get creepy, like with the mish-mash... thing... from The Alien Agenda. That was disturbing as heck, and it’s not even the creepiest one they come up with! Oh just wait for next season, haha... but yeah, mutant designs are great!

Now the settings are kinda... meh. I mean The Lair is cool, but it’s mostly just either the the Lair, the New York landscape, Shredder’s lair, or an empty warehouse most of the time. It’s nothing really... creative I guess is the right word. We also don’t explore new York much, mainly settling on skyscrapers as the setting. It’s understandable why since New York is the setting, but still it juts gets kind of boring after awhile. But for what it’s worth, they do try to do creative stuff when they can like in Baxter’s Gambit with the black and white screens.

And of course, there is the fight choreography. As I said before, it’s fantastic. All the fights in the series are fluid, well-paced, and fun to watch. If I had to give some examples off the top of my head, there’s New Friend, Old Enemy when the Turtles rise form the water. The mix of black and red is absolutely perfect. There’s the first fight against Shredder in The Gauntlet which despite the boys getting constantly knocked down by Shredder, they give it everything they have. It looks freakin’ badass. Then there is any Splinter fight scene. There’s not many, only about three in this season (It Came From the Depths, I, Monster, The Showdown two-parter) but they are excellent. I said that the Splinter vs Shredder fight was the best and nothing after ever topped it, right?

So yeah, if I was going to rate the animation on a 1-5 scale...

Rating: 4.5

Voice Acting

The series was voice directed by veteran Andrea Romano, so you know that the performances are gonna be solid. As far as casting goes, they got in a LOT of big names both in the voice acting industry and out. There’s of course Greg Cipes (Mikey), Mae Whitman (April), Nolan North (The Kraang), Kevin Michael Richardson (Shredder), Phil Lamar (Stockman), Clancy Brown (Dogpound) and of course Rob Paulsen (Donnie). Rob’s casting was actually a pretty big deal as along with being a veteran with nearly 30 years of experience, he was also the voice of Raph in the original 80′s show. So getting him back even as a different Turtle? Yeah... that’s pretty big!

Then you have more well-known on-screen actors, like Sean Astin (Raph) and Kelly Hu (Karai). Now they both actually have very solid VA-ing careers and still do voice work to this day, but if you’re say... a Lord of the Rings fan and known Sean only for that, this may entice you. The newcomers to voice acting are Jason Biggs (Leo), Christian Lanz (Fishface) and Hoon Lee (Splinter). There’s also guest actors like Jeffrey Combs (The Rat King) and Roseanne Barr (Kraang Prime), so a solid mix of professional voice actors and a few newcomers. The result?

The voice acting is fantastic. Like even as the show goes on and you see more and more mixed reception, the acting is NEVER one of the things you see go down. If anything, it is one aspect that continues to improve episode by episode. All four Turtle actors do an amazing job conveying their characters, able to go from comedic to dramatic in a split second. I’d say that out of everyone, Hoon Lee impressed me the most since he’s the only one aside from Biggs (and... e’ll talk more about him next season) I hadn’t heard of. And he gave a very solid performance. Everyone did. Even for just minor characters like Pulverizer (Roger Craig Smith... yes Pulverizer is Sonic the Hedgehog) or some of the villains like Snake (Danny Jacob who voices King Julian outside the Madacgascar films) or Spyder Byte (Lewis Black), they convey their characters perfectly. Like Black’s character is a rude slob you want to punch, and he does such a great job in making you feel that way!

So yeah, you got a strong cast, a veteran voice director, and a crazy group of characters for them to voice. All of them nail it. And just wait, this is only the S1 cast. Wait until you see who they bring in for future seasons!

Rating: 5

Characters

As I said in Part One, this is the best part of the show. I know a lot of people who fell off TMNT as it went on, but still kept interest because of the characters. To me, this is always the most important part of storytelling. Yes having a good story itself is important, but a good story will be nothing without likeable characters to move it. A cliched story may be annoying, but if the characters are likeable and strongly written, people are usually more forgiving because they care about the cast. This show is no different. To this day, the thing that kept me attracted to the show was the Turtles, April, and Splinter and what they’d get into next. All of them have strong personalities that get you to care about them, or at least see where they’re coming from. I could gush about each of them one by one... so on we go!

Lets start with Mikey because he is the least developed this season... and most of the show sadly. I’d even say that his focus episodes dropped massively in quality after this season as he was forced mroe and mroe into the comedy relief/designated victim/little brother role. It’s a shame too because this season did an excellent job in balancing out both the comedy relief and the more innocent side of the character. Mikey is the most naive of the brothers and the least serious among them. It’s not to say that he can’t take situations seriously, it’s just that he’s more easy-going and fun-seeking than the other three. His biggest problem is his inability to focus and goof around, which has caused several instances of accidentally setting off alarms. 

While not the best of the four, Mikey is a talented ninja and the best at going off just raw talent. He doesn’t think through fighting moves, he can just go with the flow and be perfectly fine. His strongest skill hpwever is his empathy and desire to make friends. While this has backfired on him before, like in New Friend, Old Enemy, where Bradford used and then kidnapped him for a trap, Mikey is incredibly non-judgemental and open-minded. It’s why he could befriend Leatherhead so easily in It Came From the Depths. He saw that the Kraang were attacking him and decided to simply talk to him like he would anyone else, even pointing out that maybe LH only acts like a monster because that’s how he was treated for so long. Mikey may not be book smart, but he’s very emotionally smart. As I said, Mikey’s character sadly devolves into annoying comedy relief as it goes, but for this season he had a strong start. No meaningful development aside form slow progression on paying attention (Parasitica being the final payoff... also if you’re afraid of wasps then avoid that one), but his character is strong enough to carry him through.

Raph is the brawler of the group and the quickest to anger. Hie’s the strongest fighter and incredibly confident... unless he has to deal with bugs. His biggest flaws are his both his anger and his jealous towards Leo. The first half of the season has Raph frequently back-talks and argue with Leo all because he got made the leader over him. For example, in Never Say Xever he is unhappy with Leo using mercy because bad guys don’t deserve it. Leo does eventually use the more Raph-like approach when kidnapping Bradford... and it fails miserably. What saves them? Leo’s act of mercy causing the Purple Dragon to repay the favor sand saving their shells. While he does slowly get a better grip on his temper once Splinter tells him of how dangerous it can be (Turtle Temper), it takes until New Girl in Town for him to overcome his jealousy once and for all. It’s very well done too by having Leo finally get fed up and give Raph what he wanted. Ultimately Raph can’t handle the pressure once things get rough and comes to understand both what Leo deals with essentially every day and how his own actions made it worst.

After that, Raph becomes the perfect example of a follower. While he’s still question Leo, he has good reasons for it, like everything involving Karai for instance. But he actively looks out for him more and stops mocking him outside just brotherly messing around. And even during that point, while Raph could be an insensitive jerk, he does love his family and will make amends when he goes too far. When he mocked Mikey wanting friends in New Friend, Old Enemy, at the end he comforted him after the fallout with Bradford and assured him that he’s a good person. When he mocked Donnie’s crush in Operation: Break-Out and led to Donnie going on a mission solo, Raph was worried about him, realized that he way too harsh, and tried to make amends by giving Donnie all the credit once back home. While Raph doesn’t conquer his temper completely, over the season he does get a better grip on it, can admit when he goes to far, became overall nicer, and by the end is a much better person. It was good stuff!

Donnie is probably the most... divisive of the four. Not because he’s badly written per say. He’s intelligent, but also high-strung and prone to stress. He’s not a bad ninja, but because of his focus on machinery, he’s the least skilled. The two episodes that focus on this are Metalhead and Monkey Brains. Metalhead has an admittedly meh plot where he gets sick of his bo staff and therefore creates the robot Metalhead to act as his weapon. The ‘meh’ plot is IDT it addresses the message of ‘the weapon doesn't make you a good fighter, you do’ very well, ut still Monkey Brains does a much better job, demonstrating Donnie’s tendency to over-think everything and how that is detrimental in a fight. By the climax, he’s able to get himself to rely on his instincts against a mind-reading villain (we’ll get to him later) and kick his ass.

Then there’s The Pulverizer episodes, which are the most interesting but sadly don’t go anywhere after this season. It has Donnie accept Pulverizer as an apprentice of sort, mainly so the kid can have some form of self-defense if he’s going to put himself into danger. It’s ultimately ineffective, but mainly because of Pulverizer wanting to rush and not listening properly. The most important part though is Splinter telling Donnie that by doing this, anything that happens involving him after will be his responsibility. Which we see in The Pulverizer Returns where Pulverizer decides ot let the Foot mutate him to gain awesome mutant powers. Donnie tries to save him, but sadly he fails and Pulverier.. it’s not pretty. While Donnie does still save him after, he’s left with the guilt of ultimately failing his student. I’ll go into mroe about how horribly the writers wasted this next season, but here? It was interesting to give Donnie this plot since you’d expect t to go to say... Leo. I think it really worked for what it was worth and let us see a side of Donnie outside just being the smart one.

So with that said, why is he divisive? Well... it’s because another major part of his character is his crush on April. He doe snot... manage it well, to say the least. He is rather, well... stupid and kinda creepy with it. But I do want to point this out. Yes, it is annoying but I think there’s a good reason for it: he’s an awkward teenager. Yeah him asking her to feel his goosebumps (Metalhead), accidentally calling her ‘his April (The Gauntlet), accidentally saying awkward things when she acknowledges him (pick any episode) are incredibly facepalm worthy at best. And yeah, they should have done better setup than have him just find her pretty when seeing her once. However he does genuinely care about her and int he premiere, he was driven more because he saw an innocent girl scared and was unable to help than his newfound crush. The feelings are genuine and Donnie being awkward about is because... well, Donnie is awkward in general and he does slowly improve. Honestly I’ll have mroe to discuss about this next season cause haha... boy is THAT a clusterfuck. But ultimately while Donnie can be annoying, overall it’s pretty bearable and he has plenty of positive traits to balance it out.

Finally, we get Leo. He’s the group leader, but unlike the past series where he pretty much grew up with that role, here he gets the role halfway through the first episode. He starts as a goody-two-shoes with a mischievous side who had a very basic view of leadership. He see sit as a position of authority, greatness, and unstoppable. That’s not to say that he doesn’t take the role seriously, he does. He devises plans, does his best to keep his brothers focused, and frequently asks Splinter for advice on how to best do things. But he also frequently uses cheesy one-liners and does his best to be as over the top with his heroics as possible, thinking it’s cool when it isn’t. It gives Leo a more naive feel to him, someone who is serious but also is still a teenaged kid who has a lot of learning to do.

The pressures of leadership are Leo’s primary focus as a character. While he has some doubts, the biggest blow to his confident comes in The Gauntlet after there massive defeat against Shredder. The following episode has him unsure of if he can properly lead the team and feeling guilty when things go wrong. But the ultimate meltdown comes in New Girl in Town where Raph finally pushes him too hard and he quits. He’s realized at this point that leadership is not like it is on TV. it’s unforgiving, stressful, and you’re gonna be the one facing the consequences when things go wrong. His difficulty dealing with this is what attracts him to Karai. She’s fun, does whatever she wants, and doesn’t care about the rules. She offers him a form of freedom that he hasn’t had before. It’s why he tries to get her to change sides, he doesn’t want her to be an enemy. Unfortunately things end badly between them this season, but you can see where Leo is coming form no matter how naive he was about it.

Leo evolved a lot over the season. He went from a naive teenager who quoted old TV episodes to a serious, determined leader who was willing to do whatever it took to get his team through. He never quit being optimistic and he does still have his stress with leadership later down the road. But the season is about him easing not the role an understanding the weight of that role. It’s very easy to feel bad for Leo because he tries incredibly hard, but he doesn’t receive a lot of gratitude or payoff, and he just has to accept that. By the finale, he’s willing to make the ultimate sacrifice to ensure both success and his family's safety... something that becomes a bit of an issue in later seasons (looking at you Space Arc). I’d say that because we got to see Leo actually having to come to terms with the role, it makes this imo the best version of the character. We actually have to see him accept the role and how he hate show it limits his free time, something IDT the past versions really did. And all while having this dorky, idealistic side that keeps him likable and all the mroe relateable. Overall, I’d say that the leader in blue was handeled very well here!

April is my favorite character in the show, but her writing this season has some issues. Now as a character herself, she’s perfectly fine. She’s an independent sixteen year old and incredibly proactive. Whenever she finds info on the Kraang or about her dad, she looks into it. When everyone is ready to quit in Panic in the Sewers, she’s the only one who actively tries to do something and get everyone else to not give up. When Splinter offers to train her, she accepts it and we see bits and pieces of her progressing. But it’s done realistically as demonstrated in Karai’s Vendetta where it’s very clear that April is nowhere near her level. But it also demonstrates her determination and how she never gives up, getting back up after every blow and at east trying to put up a fight. While she’s forced to sit most things out and does on occasion get kidnapped, she still tries to be an asset and does very well as an intel gatherer. She’s also incredibly stubborn and can get in over her head without thinking things through, like in Metalhead and the finale episodes. But ultimately her proactiveness and need to take action are her strongest traits and what makes her a useful ally.

The issues with April are in the writing of the plot. I already mentioned how the early episodes could have done mroe in having her ease into the group. There’s also after Karai’s Vendetta where despite living with the guys, we don’t see her until the penultimate episode. We see her express hating it in that episode, but we don’t get to explore the fallout of her losing her normal life. In fact we...d on’t see April’s life outside Turtle stuff until next season, and even then not by much. Now of course the show is about the Turtles and you gotta keep the focus on them, but still we get a bunch of ‘show, don’t tell’ problems with April. We’re told things like she’s living with her aunt, but we never see them interact. Hell, IDT April’s aunt is ever mentioned outside the pilot. We also find out that April is the Kraang’s target... and we never see how she feels about it. If she’s scared, if she’s worried. We can assume that she has some stress about it, as indicated when she vents in Karai’s Vendetta, but little to no showcase of how she feels about it. Mind you we don’t with the Turtles either, but still. Still, overall April is a solid character imo.

That brings us to Master Splinter, the best written character by far. Splinter is the perfect balance of a mentor and a father. He’s firm, strict, and not afraid to dish out punishment when it’s necessary. But he’s also gentle, patient, knows how to give his sons proper guidance, and when to let them figure things out for themselves. He’s also snarky as Hell, so it’s good that he has a sense of humor. He’s also a flawed person. He lost his wife and daughter because of hat is essentially a sibling rivalry that went WAAAY too far and his own inability to control himself worsened things. He lost his family and then his humanity, ending his life as Hamato Yoshi. Since then, he’s hidden int he sewers and tried to focus his energy on raising and protecting his sons. It makes letting them go topside difficult, as it is for any parent whose children are growing up. He can make mistakes, like letting his fear control him and press his sons far too hard in Panic in the Sewers, but he can admit those mistakes.

Splintr’s largest plot in the season, outside mentoring the boys and April, is accepting his mutant status and overcoming his fears. Many epsiodes such as the premiere, Turtle Temper, Monkey Brains, Panic in the Sewers and the finale show how much pain the rat master carries and while he’s move don to a new life, it still haunts him. The episode that best displays this however is a filler episode called I, Monster. In it we get this version of the Rat King, the mind reading villain from Monkey Brains, who uses his power to swarm New York. When he senses Splinter, he proceeds to try and brainwash him too. The episode does an amazing job at showcasing all of Splinter’s fears. The boys outgrowing him, his past tragedies, ending up alone, and the Rat King slowly uses all of it to break him down. Splinter fights back, but the thought of the boys moving on without him is ultimately what defeats him until the boys remind him of who he is. He is Hamato Yoshi, Master Splinter, but most of all their father. They need him and always will. Which lets Splinter overcome the mind control and essentially Airbend Rat King through a wall. It was awesome~

Despite that episode being filler, it’s one of the season's best. It is a strong character exploration piece about a father who has gone through Hell and is faced with the fear of his kids not needing him. It is very relatable and makes Splinter all the mroe sympathetic. And we see Splinter truly embody who he is now when faced with the Shredder again and upon learning that his daughter had survived. He went into full rat mode and gave Shredder the beating that we all wanted. And the season ends on a perfect lead in for the next one. Splinter now knows that Karai is his daughter while she was raised to hate him. It’s any parent’s worst nightmare. He now has to deal with that revelation as well as how he’s going to break it to his students. Splinter has some solid growth int he season, something that a lot of mentor figures in cartoons don’t get, and it’s done perfectly. He has his flaws, but is still a strong father figure to his sons. Add that to Hoon Lee’s absolute perfect performance and you have what is in my opinion the best incarnation of Master Splinter in any TMNT series.

While the main cast is strong, the supporting cast and villains are... not so much. There isn’t really a supporting cast honestly. The best we have is Leatherhead, who is awesome. He’s a damaged character. One treated like a monster and tortured for who knows how long. It left him damaged and prone to trauma-induced outbursts. But he is a good person who knows that what happened to him was wrong and can be quite sweet when given the chance. He didn’t have to save humanity, especially since most would scream and run if they saw him, but he didn’t want anyone else to endure what he did. It’s best exemplified with his sacrifice in TCRI, going back to Dimension X and knowing fully well what’ll await him there. But he does so to save his friends and give them the chance to save the Earth. LH is freakin’ badass and I love him!

The villains though are... kinda boring. Most of the mutants, while the designs are cool, are incredibly one-note. Not all of them, like the Rat King is so dramatic and twisted and his VA does such a great job with the delivery that you both love him and want to strangle him. But others like Snakeweed or Spyder Bytez are just... well, evil for the heck of it. The Kraang are the worst though since at least the mutants are only in like one or two episodes. The Kraang are annoying as HELL. They can be dangerous but the redundant speech pattern and all fo them having essentially the same personality (aka none) is so... boring. Min you in Season 4 we kind of get an explanation to why, but it doesn't change how grating they can get. That being said in large groups they can be dangerous and with things like the Technodrome, they’re not to be taken lightly. Still, GAH I HATE THEM!!!

The Foot are somewhat better. Stockman is pathetic and remains pathetic throughout the entire series. Bradford is a pompous asshole. Xever is a little more interesting in that he kidn of was forced to work for Shredder or go to jail... but sadly after that reveal, he reverts to typical henchman status sadly. Shredder is the Big Bad and a no-nonsense leader. He has no empathy and is more than willing to inflict physical violence on his troops if they fail him. He even threatens to harm Karai, his daughter (kinda...) if she questions him. He is a very single minded perosn, his only goal beign to kill Splinter and his students by any means necessary. Hell. he only starts caring about the Kraang when he realizes that they can advance his goal, but has zero issues letting humanity fall to them. Oh, and there’s his glee when Karai tries to kill Splinter. WOrst? THis isn’t even the worst that he does int he show. Oh just wait for next season. JUST WAIT. Otherwise though, while a powerful fighter, he just mopes in his throne for most of the season, but Richardson’s badass voice acting was nice to hear.

The most interesting villain by far is Karai, and Thank God for it. While Leo is a good-good, Karai is a bad girl. She’s laid-back, does what she wants her way, and doesn’t play by the rules. She’s introduced as a competent fighter, but unlike the other Foot she’s more interesting in talking to the Turtles than killing them. I think she did become genuinely fond of Leo, but ultimately she’s going to be loyal to what she thinks is her family. She also started off realizing that there were bugger problems, like the Kraang, that required more attention over the vendetta until the Turtles betrayed her. Then she pretty much went ‘screw it’ and decided to go with the vendetta, which only got worst when she met Splinter for the first time. Still, ti was nice to have someone actually question Shredder and try to be sensible. She’s definite the most well-written of the villains, and the revelation about her being Splinter’s daughter means that there is MUCH more to come for her. Like I said, just wait for Season 2!

Okay, this section was a LOOOT longer than I thought. So I’ll just finish by saying that the villains aren't all that interesting, but the main characters are very well written. They have strong personalities, plenty of room for growth, and their interactions always gel really well. Very well done!

Rating: 4.5

Story

The main plot threads are the Turtles against the Foot, and the Turtles feud against the Kraang. All with some subplots, like Pulverizer and the mutant of the week stuff, and filler episodes thrown in. I say that the plots are handled very well. For example well go with... say two or three Kraang-centric episodes. Then we may or may not get a filler episode before shifting over to the Foot Clan for awhile. It never felt like we got smothered with one faction over the other, which is good. The plots also slowly intertwined and it felt like they came together at just the right time during the last six or so episodes. Hence hwy the finale worked so well, giving some kind of payoff on both ends.

Many of the episodes were very basic and outright bizarre. Like Cockroach Terminator having a mutant cockroach tr to murder Raph... it’s kinda gross, but entertaining! Every episode normally has at least something small that’ll carry over as the story goes along. For example, Donnie built Metalhead in... well, Metalhead and brought him back in the finale, plus it helped him learn mroe about Kraang tech. In Baxter’s Gambit, April finally gets her own weapon and she attempts to use it in Karai’s Vendetta. The episodes all play a part, even if just minor, in the larger narrative and I feel some of the later seasons kind of slacked on that. This season had a perfect balance.

That’s not to say that it was perfect. Like at the end of TCRI, we find out that April is the Kraang’s true target which makes us wonder why... and the next episode is about Raph’s fear of bugs! So TCRI was episode 17, we don’t even mention this fact again until Karai’s Vendetta, which is episode 21. Five episodes later, and even then we get one tiny hint (April doesn't get damaged by mutagen-laced water) and... that’s it. The.show has a bit of an issue with not exploring fallout, which is weird because Panic in the Sewers did and id it excellently. Maybe it’s because they have to make episodes to sell toys, IDK. It doesn't do too much damage, but it makes it feel like they both wasted character opportunities and like there’s something missing. But at the very least the episodes remain entertaining, so there’s that.

Rating: 4

Final Thoughts

You know what I like about this series and why I ran it above the other ones? Well it does something that I feel that the previous incarnations lacked: The Teenage Mutant Nina Turtles felt like teenagers. They felt like a bunch of kids truly entering the world for the first time. They screw up, they have problems to overcome, and they don’t always learn it immideatly. Like their cockiness is a frequent pain in the shell for example. But the reason that I like pretty much all of the episodes aside form Episode 11 is because it feels like we’re watching a group of kids truly starting to grow up and learn about how rough life can be. How they have to change, how they have to fix their mistakes, and just become better people. As a nineteen year old who was just staring to figure my life out, when I started the show, that drew me in. I related to these characters so much. I felt like I was growing with them and coming to understand who I was due to it.

It felt really nostalgic to go back over this season. Imo, it still holds up big time. It’s funny, action-heavy, well animated, and the characters are just as enjoyable as I remember. Would I call this the best season? Hmm... maybe. I still have three more to look over. But it was a really fun ride and it got TMNT 2012 off on the right track. Can they stay on it during Season 2? Come back next week, and we shall see!

[mexicodish98-blog]

Mick Jones & Lou Gramm Explain How Diana Ross Inspired 'Jukebox Hero The Musical'

Foreigner is one of those bands whose songs you know, even if you don't own one of their albums. Their success in the late '70s and '80s amassed sales of some 75 million albums and netted nine top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, including one No. 1.

Lou Gramm was the inimitable voice and some-time writer, and Mick Jones the guitarist and main songwriter. Gramm left the band in 2003 (replaced by Kelly Hansen), returning recently to play the odd 40th anniversary show, but is in Toronto, alongside Jones, to see the songs in another form: sung by the young cast of Jukebox Hero The Musical, the title of which is from the pair's smash from 1981's 4 album.

The theater production, spearheaded by Jones, managers Phil Carson and Stewart Young and jukebox theatre promoter Jeff Parry, was workshopped last summer in Alberta and had its world premiere this week in Toronto. It closes Sunday night.

Other Foreigner hits woven into the two-hour-and-20 minute show are "Cold As Ice," "Dirty White Boy," "Double Vision," "Feels Like The First Time," "Head Games," "Hot Blooded," "I Don't Want To Live Without You," "I Want To Know What Love Is," "Say You Will, "That Was Yesterday," "Urgent" and "Waiting For A Girl Like You." See, you know them, right?

It was singer Diana Ross who planted the seed of a musical decades ago based on "Juke Box Hero." Jones wrote the lyric after he noticed a kid in Cincinnati waiting five hours in the rain to meet Foreigner and was ushered backstage to watch the show, but Jukebox Hero The Musical isn't about a starry-eye Foreigner fan.

The book was written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, whose credits include The Commitments and Across The Universe, and tells the dual story of a dying steel factory and two musician brothers feuding over a girl; one leaves and joins the army (Mace Perry, placed by David Michael Moore), while the other leaves and becomes a rock star (Ryan Perry, played by Geordie Brown).

It is directed by Randy Johnson (A Night With Janis Joplin), choreographed and staged by Parker Esse (Shaw Festival's Me and My Girl, Grand Hotel), with music direction orchestration, arrangements and incidental music by Mark Camilleri (Celine Dion, Sting, Eric Clapton, Andrea Bocelli).

Billboard sat down with Jones and Gramm in Toronto before the world premiere. Gramm, who only found out about the production six weeks ago, was less chatty, but we did find out about his plans since retiring from solo touring.

What were the circumstances that led to Diana Ross suggesting "Juke Box Hero" could be a musical? I wouldn't think Foreigner and Diana Ross crossed paths a lot.

Jones: It wouldn't have been a bad combo actually, I have to say [laughs].

Where did you see her that she made that comment?

It was in Atlanta. We were both traveling back to New York and we were in this little VIP area and it was just us in the room. I think it was just pre or post The Wiz [1978]. She was getting involved in theatrical production and out of the blue, she said, "You know, you have a great song. It could work as a musical. It's great idea." It was "Juke Box Hero." I thought, "Wow, she knows that song."

Gramm to Jones: Did Gene [Simmons] tell her that?

Jones: I'm not sure. Did she cover it, you're saying?

Gramm: No, no, I was wondering if Gene Simmons…

Jones: Oh, they were together at that point.

Gramm: Yeah, yeah.

Oh, so maybe Gene played it for Diana?

Gramm: Maybe.

I'm sure there's been many fans over the years that have waited five hours in the rain to see Foreigner. Lou, do you remember this guy being brought into the venue, soaking wet, to watch the show from side stage?

Gramm: I don't actually, no.

Why did he inspire the lyric, Mick?

Jones: This just stood out for me. I took pity on the kid because he had all the albums and had all the stuff to sign and he was drenched to the skin. I invited him back and his eyes went [opens eyes wide, like the lyric 'saw stars in his eyes']. I remember it clearly because it was a little moment, an emotional thing. And I identified it with it a bit.

In what way?

Jones: The dreams that I had when I was that age. I was never one to wait outside the stage door, but just the spectacle, bringing that kid in and we showed him the works. We had him on stage with us. He was on the side of the stage, and he was living the dream.

You've never heard from him since, but there's currently a search to find him. No one has stepped up and said, "It was me? I stood outside in the rain for five hours and you brought me backstage and onstage"?

Jones: Maybe he doesn't even remember it [laughs].

Have you put word out in Cincinnati?

Jones: Yeah, but I haven't heard much about it to tell you the truth. Would be kind of cool [to find him].

Gramm to Jones: Are radio stations looking?

Jones: Yeah, I think so.

How do you start on a project like this? Do you say, "Here is our catalog"? Did you talk to them about what the lyrics were about?

Jones: I had known Dick, and Ian was a personal friend of mine. We got into the songs a bit, trying to build the big picture of where it was going and what the story would try and portray. It wasn't the verbatim story from the song. It was taken into another area. It felt in some way that it really represented us and they were sensitive to that. I knew them quite well and socially and they'd known me.

Do you like musicals? The rock world and the musical theater world are quite separate.

Jones: I go occasionally. I saw the ABBA one, Mamma Mia. I went to see Rock of Ages; there was something about it that exaggerated too much, trying to get reactions.

Gramm: I saw that too. I saw Phantom [of the Opera] and it was spectacular.

Did you have parameters? Don't make our songs too "show tuney." Would that be job of musical director?

Jones: Yes or the interpretation of the actor who is singing. All those things go into account. I'm sure as [the show] proceeds — and hopefully it gets a life of its own — that will develop even more. There's quite a lot of dialogue in it too. The music is the principal.

Mick, you were born in Portsmout [UK], which was an industrial town and naval port. Sting has his musical out now in Toronto, The Last Ship, about the demise of the shipbuilding industry. Does the story of a dying steel factory resonate with you and your family background?

Jones: Yeah, a lot of my family were working class people. And I keep aware of things. I see what's happening in America, for example, what's happening all over the world. There's a tremendous amount of unemployment and nobody seems to have the answer to it. You've got people that have worked 35, 40 years in the job that is their family, and suddenly it's torn apart at that point in their lives when they deserve to be enjoying it. They're victims of corporate greed, the whole capitalist corporate thing that we live in. We've never been a political band. We've never written protest songs [but] I think it's important.

What's changed since the workshop production of the musical in Alberta?

Jones: There's been song additions. One that the director and the producers heard that had not been presented but was on an album that we released a few years back [2011's Acoustique & More]. It was a song ["Save Me"] that I wrote with my step-daughter Samantha [Ronson]. She's a great writer and lyricist. And as soon as the script-writers and the producer heard it, they said, "It's gotta be in the show." It was written in a pop vein, and then when the band got hold of it and the arranger, it completely changed. It's a very poignant part of the show now.

Are there plans to take Jukebox Hero to other cities or even to Broadway or Off-Broadway?

Jones: Obviously, that would be a dream come true. I hope it's going to resonate with people. From what I've seen already, it seems to be accepted. Boy, if it hits Broadway, even Off-Broadway, I'm open to that.

This is a great way for these classic songs that people know — even if they don't know they know them — to get more life.

Jones: That's an interesting thing because over the years we weren't a band that was plastered over MTV all the time. We never wanted to take that kind of direction. We weren't in the glossy magazines so much.

Gramm: Where the image was more important than the music, right?

Jones: In a way, we were quietly very successful. Very often, when people listened to the radio and they hear the songs, they don't remember necessarily [which band it is]. They've got it a little choice of about four maybe — Journey, maybe Boston who were around when we first started, but we have to remind them. Once they hear the first chord, they think, "Oh my god, is that them?"

Jukebox Hero isn't just for your fans. It exposes your music to theater goers and potentially to a newer generation — most of the cast weren't even born then — to revive the catalog or get more juice out of it.

Jones: It is our living. You have to be aware of the opportunities to keep the royalties coming in and all the other responsibilities we have. It's a job, you know? It's our careers and what we do.

Lou, is it true that you're not going to be touring with your solo band anymore?

Gramm: Yes.

Was that spur of the moment when you made that announcement this past December or had you been thinking about it?

Gramm: The announcement was spur of the moment, but the decision had been made a while ago.

Why is that?

Gramm: I'm just at the point now where I'd like to turn my attention to people I love and other things that I enjoy.

What else do you enjoy doing?

Muscle cars.

Buying or fixing?

I have a small collection. I enjoy fixing them and driving them. It's been a passion of mine since before I was old enough to drive. And in Rochester, there's a very short time where you can drive cars where it's not snowing and it also happens to be a time when we're touring the most. So I want to put that time aside.

I read that there's a possibility that the two of you might work on new music, that demos have been sent to each other?

Gramm: Oh yeah. There's a possibility for that. For sure.

Jones: Yeah, definitely. We've been so busy tell the truth. It's pretty exhausting. It's just finding that time when you can take a week somewhere, and even five or six days, just to get together and try and think back to where we were heading with the ideas. I listened to a couple of tracks last week and I definitely heard some ideas in there that are quite valid.

Source: https://www.billboard.com/biz/articles/8499676/mick-jones-lou-gramm-explain-how-diana-ross-inspired-jukebox-hero-the-musical

[blackbird-brewster]

So, um... let me start by saying that your blog is amazing and some of your posts have been helpful in ways i can't begin to explain. I was wondering if you could give me some advice. My 7-year-old brought home a book from the school library called "Oliver Button Is a Sissy" and it is offensive on so many levels (it's as bad as the title sounds). Can you possibly help me with writing a note to the librarian explaining why it doesn't belong in a school library?

Okay, so I wasn’t immediately familiar with this book but a quick Google search tells me it was originally published in 1979. The Google synopsis says “ A little boy must come to terms with being teased and ostracized because he’d rather read books, paint pictures, and tap-dance than participate in sports.” Which is (as you said) offensive on so many levels. 

I looked up the book on YouTube so I could read it. And although it was probably trying for an inspirational story about being different, it really missed the mark. I have a lot of issues with how the characters (especially Papa) interacted with Oliver. I mean the kids own Papa called him a sissy because he didn’t play sports. 

Let me break this down into bite sized chunks that you may want to include in your letter (or expand upon). 

First of all, the word “sissy” has a heavy history of being used as a slur towards homosexual or effeminate men..Seeing as this book was published in the 1970’s it was still a popular slur used to ostracize any male who didn’t reinforce toxic masculine stereotypes. The word has just as much negative and offensive meaning as calling someone a f*ggot. This reason alone should be enough to take it off the shelves. It is an outdated and disgusting term. If the library wouldn’t have a book titled “Oliver Button is a f*ggot” then they shouldn’t carry this either.

Now let’s talk about specific parts of this story that are very troublesome due to their blatant attempts to reinforce male stereotypes on young readers. The very first page says Oliver doesn’t like to do things “boys are supposed to do”. Is this really a message we want to send our children? That boys are supposed to be one way and girls are supposed to be another? The gender roles of the late 1970s are still present in our culture (just look at the gendered toy aisles or clothes sections at your local stores) but how can we expect to raise a better generation if we keep reinforcing these old ideas? No child is the same. There is absolutely no right (or wrong way) to be any gender! 

A few pages later, Papa says “Don’t be a sissy, you need to play sports!” when he finds Oliver having a great time playing dress up. Again, this child’s father just called him a derogatory and homophobic slur. And again, this implies that because Oliver enjoys dress up, he is not being a “good boy”. It also implies that playing sports will make your father proud of you, which is another gender role stereotype that needs to go. Lots of young boys who don’t want to play sports can feel isolated or shy or think there is something wrong with them, let’s not feed that fear.

Mama seems a little bit better about accepting that Oliver would rather dance than play football. But she still emphasizes that he needs to play sports for exercise. Dancing is very much a sport and takes just as much (if not more) discipline as playing football. Thankfully, young Oliver points that out by saying tap dancing will be exercise. 

The story seems promising around the point Oliver starts tap lessons, I got my hopes up though. When the boys at school take his tap shoes and call him a sissy, the girls come to his rescue. Which is great that someone is on his side but the boys then mock that “you gotta have help from the girls.” Implying that if a girl stands up for a boy who is being bullied, that boy is weak because he didn’t stand up for himself. This furthers the stereotype that boys should be strong or forceful when facing bullies. 

Fast forward to Oliver entering the talent show, again, I got my hopes up. He practiced and practiced and danced his little heart out but he didn’t even win a prize. I’m not saying he needed to win first place (a valuable lesson that winning isn’t everything) but in this narrative I think it would be important to reward his hard work and perseverance. 

When he doesn’t win a prize “Oliver tried not to cry”. Let the child cry! He just lost something that he was working on for a whole month, he gave his best, he is upset. Let him cry! I’d cry. Instead his parents just say “you did a good job, let’s get pizza”. This is a missed opportunity to talk about addressing vulnerability in children who haven’t quite learned life isn’t always the easiest. Sometimes you work really hard at something and you don’t get recognized for your hard work. This doesn’t devalue the efforts you put into it, it doesn’t mean you’re a failure, and it’s okay to be upset. I think I’d rather have a book where the parents take the time to let Oliver express his emotions more. 

Oliver doesn’t want to go to school because he’s so upset. Again, I wish the parents would have taken time to address his feelings and concerns. Instead his Mama just says “You’re fine, go to school.” Which completely invalidates his disappointment.

So he goes to school, and he’s scared. But then he sees the graffiti no longer says “Oliver is a sissy” it says “Oliver is a star” and I guess everything is supposed to be okay now? It really doesn’t address any of the issues of bullying or how Oliver feels when he lost the talent show or opening the dialog of accepting kids that are different than you, rather than bullying.

All in all, this book is very dated in its writing and word choices. It sends a very toxic message to young boys who don’t fit the gender stereotypes. I understand why you, as a parent, would be concerned when your child brought this home. Hopefully the above thought points can help you write to the librarian AND open a conversation with your child about how things SHOULD have gone for Oliver. 

Also, I find when pointing out a problem (having this book in the school library) it is important to suggest a solution as well. Here are some books the library could shelve instead. They all sort of have the overall theme of embracing differences and being proud to be who you are. They just do it in a more modern and less damaging way!

Giraffes Can’t Dance by Giles Andreae - A giraffe is laughed at when he doesn’t know how to dance. But a friend tell him being different isn’t a bad thing, which gives the giraffe confidence and he finds his own happiness in dancing.

Calvin Can’t Fly: The Story of a Bookworm Birdie by Jennifer Berne- Calvin would rather read and learn than fly around like the other birds. But when there’s an emergency his learning proves vital in saving his friends!

Ballerino Nate by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley - Much like Oliver, Nate wants to dance! He takes ballet after seeing a ballet recital. It’s great to have a book depicting boys enjoying dance, despite being teased.My Princess Boy by Cheryl Kilodavis- This one is non fiction. Written by the mother of a boy, much like Oliver, who loves dress up and would rather be a princess than a knight. It really shows how loving and accepting a family (should) be of a kiddo that does their own thing.Leo the Late Bloomer by Robert Kraus- A classic. Leo’s parents are worried because he doesn’t do the things others his age are doing. But it shows how taking your own path and doing things in your own time are important to being yourself.The Pirate of Kindergarten by George Ella Lyon-  Teaches about kids with disabilities! The little girl has troubles learning until she is diagnosed with double vision and gets an eye patch. Instead of letting it hold her back, she embraces her disability and becomes a proud pirate. It’s Okay To Be Different by Todd Parr- Another classic, it’s pretty straight forward in sharing the message that everyone is unique and that is quite alright!A Bad Case Of Stripes by David Shannon- This one comes highly recommended by friends. This story shows the dangers of trying to be someone you’re not just to “fit in”. The little girl keeps changing herself to try and impress others but learns in the end that it’s perfectly fine to be just the way she is.I know this was a bit long winded. I am obviously passionate about this topic for many reasons. I don’t want my kiddo to grow up in a gender binary world of black and white. I hope this helps! Let me know if you need any other advice.

[gemmadunsmoreportfolio-blog]

Misogyny In The Music Industry

           Music has always played a huge part in all cultures, it is rare that you’ll find a person who doesn’t enjoy music and with music being so popular it’s no surprise that many people pursue the music industry as a lifelong career, a huge chunk of those people being female. So, it’s disturbing to realise that the industry has a dark and insidious side that involves the undermining, criticising, bullying and even sexual assault of the female gender. This dark side has been there since the beginning but has only been brought to light in recent years through the use of social media and communities of people who have been through the same experiences being brought together.

           For some reason the media always seems to undermine females, especially in the music industry, they find it hard to believe that a female in the industry can be more than “just a singer”, even for artists such as Bjork, who has been in the music industry for around thirty years. Bjork has co-produced the majority of her albums, but the media always credits the other male producer as the sole producer, even with her most recent album in which she produced 80% of. She admits in an interview with Pitchfork that she has thought about making a map of all of her albums and making it clear who did what but fears it would come across as defensive and pathetic. She finds this frustrating, as she also said in the interview, that no one questions someone like Kanye West on any of his authorship, which is true..

After this interview came out, other female artists who have produced their own work came out with similar stories. Madonna sympathised in an interview with Out Magazine by explaining that when she says that she co-produced a song with a male producer, they will always respond with something along the lines of ‘so he produced it?’ and completely ignore the fact that she also produced it. The synth-pop artist Grimes has also said to The Fader that the media would rather focus on the fact that she is a female other than all the hard work she has done as a musician and producer. Grimes produces all of her own work and also does her live performances on her own, with a laptop running Ableton Live, launch pads and so on, and says that the media and industry professionals are always insisting that she needs a band or she needs to work with outside producers, ignoring how far she has got on her own.

This problem of undermining also runs further than with just female producers, Vicky Hamilton who booked, promoted, and managed bands such as Guns N’ Roses, Faster Pussycat, and Stryper in the 1980’s, said to LA Weekly that ‘till this day she is asked which member of Guns N’ Roses she slept with, all because she managed and lived with the band for a time. Author and journalist Jessica Hopper brought the issue of undermining in the industry to the public’s attention when she tweeted: “Gals/other marginalised folks: what was your 1st brush (in the music industry, journalism, scene) w/ idea that you didn’t ‘count’”. This tweet spawned an avalanche of jaw-dropping responses containing stories of misogyny and more. Some examples of these tweets are; “Stage managing Webster Hall and the DJ’s wouldn’t take any instructions from me without hearing it from my male intern” and “former GM (he’s since retired, new GM is great) at First Ave told me majoring in music in college qualified me to ‘be a housewife’”.

The problem with misogyny is clearly coming from influential people in the industry spreading their sexist beliefs to others. The first example of one of these people is Jimmy Iovine, the head of Apple Music. During an appearance on CBS This Morning, Iovine claimed that women find it difficult to find new music on their own and that they need a soundtrack for when they are “sitting around, you know, talking about boys”. Another example is the popular rapper Eminem, who has basically made a whole career out of detailing how many ways he could cause physical harm to women, with lyrics such as “I’ll punch Lana Del Rey in the face twice like Ray Rice in broad daylight in plain sight of elevator surveillance, ‘til the head is banging on the railing, then celebrate with the ravens” and “sl** you think I won’t choke no wh***? ‘Til the vocal chords don’t work in her throat no more?”. Another is Future and Kanye West, when they made a computer game for their song ‘I Won’, in the game the player plays as both MC’s and the goal is to snag your very own “trophy wife” by throwing gold chains at women on a beach, transforming them into literal trophies. Furthermore, is the UK alternative radio station Radio X, previously called XFM. When the station was in the middle of rebranding themselves, they announced that they were going to be the “first truly male-focused” station, the public responded with outrage to this and instead of trying to save themselves, the station dug in their heels and released a PSA video which stereotyped and patronised women, teenagers, and the gay community.

Because of influences like these, it isn’t even shocking anymore when female musicians are asked ridiculously sexist questions in media interviews that men would never be asked. In 2014, alternative singer/songwriter Sky Ferreira appeared on Brazilian talk show The Noite to talk about her new album. The opening question of the interview, which host Danilo Gentili asked through a translator, was whether people liked her because of her music or ���because of the tits?” gesturing to the partial nudity on her album cover. Also in 2014, pop singer Charli XCX was being interviewed by Giel Beeten on Dutch radio show The Giel Show, when he asked her to record a radio drop saying “good morning in the most sensual way”, before she even had the chance to oblige, he accused her of masturbating as he couldn’t see her hands, she obviously wasn’t doing anything of that nature and responded with “I wouldn’t do that for you”. In 2015 a video of a radio interview with pop icon Ariana Grande went viral on the internet, this interview was at LA’s Power 106 radio station and was with the DJ’s Justin Credible and Eric D-Lux. At the time of the interview, Grande had an upcoming album, a new single, her role on the show Scream Queens, and a duet with the legendary Andrea Bocelli to discuss, but instead was asked questions such as “if you could use makeup or your phone one last time, which would you pick?”. The reason the video of this went viral is that Grande stood her ground and called them out, saying “is that what you think girls have trouble choosing between?” and “you need a little brushing up on equality”.

           In 2014, the news came out to the public that pop singer Kesha had sued her producer, Dr Luke, seeking to void all of their contracts because of how, the suit claimed, Dr Luke sexually, physically, verbally, and emotionally abused Kesha over the course of ten years, Dr Luke countersued shortly after, denying all allegations. The first big decision on this case came on February 19th 2016, when due to lack of evidence, a New York judge denied Kesha a court injunction that would have allowed her to record new music and continue her career away from Dr Luke and Sony, meaning she still owed them six more albums. With this news, the internet exploded with the hashtag #freekesha, as the public voiced their support of Kesha, this included statements from celebrities such as; Lady Gaga, Lena Dunham, Lorde, Ariana Grande, Iggy Azalea, Zedd, Halsey, Jack Antonoff, and Taylor Swift.

           With the subject being so popular during the case, the incident became the cause of more female musicians coming out about their own experiences in the industry, exposing an even darker side of the misogyny going on. In 2015, forty years after her abuse occurred, Jackie Fuchs (aka Jackie Fox) opened up to The Huffington Post about the endless abuse she endured at the hands of her manager Kim Fowley while she was the bass player for the all-female band The Runaways, including a time where he allegedly raped her in front of a room full of people during an after-show party in an Orange County motel room after she had been drugged.  Julie Farman who was a three-decade veteran of the music industry but is now a marketing consultant came forward to LA Weekly after twenty years about the time she was sexually harassed by two members of The Red Hot Chili Peppers in a storage cupboard while working as the West Coast associate director of media and artist relations at Epic Records. Former Secretary of Geffen Records, Penny Muck compared this to the time in 1991 when she filed a lawsuit against the company and its parent organisations for sexual harassment, battery, and assault. She claimed that the executives permitted sexually deviant behaviour, especially from executive Marko Babineau and she didn’t want to take it up with the company directly because there had previously been a long line of women who had filed complaints but the top tier declined to take action. The case was eventually settled out of court for a reported $500 000, while that was only a small payment for a company like Geffen, it still spurred a lot more women to come forward about their experiences.

           When these types of stories come out to the public, it becomes clear that a way the misogyny in the industry can be fought and destroyed is by not being afraid to speak up. An example of this occurring is when Amber Coffman, one of the members of Brooklyn-based band Dirty Projectors, began a series of tweets detailing her experience with music publicist Heathcliff Beru of Life or Death PR and Management, recalling a time in which he rubbed her buttock and bit her hair while at a bar. Immediately an LA-based music publicist named Beth Martinez responded saying that she had a similar experience with Beru, in which repeatedly put his hand down her shirt while driving her home, even after she repeatedly told him not to. This caused dozens of women to come forward with their own experiences with Beru, including; Bonnaroo co-ordinator Martika Finch, manager Theodora Karatzas, producer Shirley Braha, Empire Music’s Christy Merriner, Bethany Cosentino of the band Best Coast, Yasmine Kittles of the band Tearist, and singer/songwriter Chelsea Wolfe. With all these accusations against him, Beru ended up having no choice but to resign his position at Life or Death PR and Management.

           An example of an artist that speaks out against sexism and misogyny is Lauren Mayberry, front woman of the band Chvrches. As Chvrches is a band that emerged from the internet, it is important to the band that they communicate with their fans directly through all of their social networking sites. However, when dealing with the internet there will always be a fair share of hate comments and inappropriate messages, the majority of the ones sent to Chvrches are directed at Mayberry, which she then screen-grabs and posts on her own sites to spread awareness. Some examples of the inappropriate messages she has shared are “this isn’t rape culture, you’ll know rape culture when I’m raping you, b****” and “act like a sl**, get treated like a sl**”. Mayberry accepts that when you are in the public eye there will always be hate, but believes no female should feel violated by comments that range from slightly sexist but generally harmless to openly sexually aggressive.

           Another artist who speaks out is Katie Crutchfield of the band Waxahatchee. During a Waxahatchee gig, Crutchfield jumped into the audience to confront a teenage boy one-on-one after he had shouted derogatory comments at her. This boy didn’t get the message as he tried to kiss her, so Crutchfield had him kicked out of the venue. She has learnt over her many years in the industry that this is the best way to deal with these situations and the only way in which they will listen. Another is Meredith Graves, vocalist of the band Perfect Pussy. During a moment in Perfect Pussy’s set at Basilica Soundscape Festival, Graves read aloud an essay that she wrote on sexism. In the essay, she summed up the difficulties around female identity in pop; mentioning expectations on female artists’ appearance and the notion of authenticity. Lady Gaga has always been an icon for both feminists and female musicians, this became clear when she made her speech for the 2015 Woman of the Year at Billboard Women in Music. Gaga addressed how difficult it is for women in music entering the “boys club” that is the industry and became very emotional when she explained that receiving Woman of the Year meant to her that she was being recognised for her songwriting and legacy instead of her appearance.

           Another way females in the music industry can fight the misogyny is by openly supporting one another. In 2015, a bunch of female country musicians started trending the hashtag #tomatotuesday on Twitter, making a joke out of Keith Hill when he publicly made the comment: “Trust me, I play great female records and we’ve got some right now; they’re just not the lettuce in our salad”. Country-folk musician Brandi Carlile is the founder of Looking Out; an organisation that supports women through music. A dollar from every concert ticket Carlile ever sells goes to this organisation. Another organisation is Shesaid.so founded by Andreea Magdalina. Shesaid.so is a global community of women who work in the music industry with the aim to strengthen support networks, offer partnership opportunities, and provide a platform for female-made content. Not only do the female music artists need to support each other, but the female music listeners do as well. Girls Against is a movement made by five teenage feminists fighting against sexual assault at live music gigs. The movement was created after one of the five girls experienced sexual harassment at a Peace show in Glasgow and it aims to start a discussion between fans, artists, promoters, venues, and security companies, along with offering support to victims.

           In conclusion, there always has been (and still is) a huge problem with sexism and misogyny in the music industry. This problem stems from the media undermining female artists, influential male artists expressing their misogynistic views; whether it be through the media or through the lyrics in their music, and the dark past and present of sexual abuse in the industry. All of this can be fought if victims of it continue to speak up about what they have to face and all the females in the industry continue to support each other, then maybe and hopefully one day, all musicians no matter what gender will be considered equal and no different.

Not Linked References: Annie Zaleski 2015, Music Writers Twitter Feed Exposes Industry’s Harsh Sexism, Marginalization, A.V Club Candace Amos 2015, Eminem Still Hasn’t Changed His Misogynistic Ways – See 5 of his Most Brutal Lyrics Against Women, New York Daily Chris Coplan 2014, Future and Kanye West Turn “I Won” Into a Terrible, Sexist Video Game, Consequence of Sound Maura Johnstone 2016, Kesha and Dr. Luke: Everything You Need To Know To Understand the Case, Rolling Stone Sophie Schilacci 2016, Kesha vs. Dr. Luke: Everything You Need To Know About The Ongoing Legal Drama, ET Online  Caitlin White 2016, Music Publicist Accused of Sexual Harassment By Dirty Projectors Member Amber Coffman, Brooklyn Magazine Lauren Mayberry 2013, I Will Not Accept Online Misogyny, The Guardian Jillian Mapes 2015, Pull the Thread and Unravel Me: Waxahatchee’s Katie Crutchfield, Pitchfork Jeremy Gordon 2014, Perfect Pussy’s Meredith Graves Discusses Andrew W.K, Lana Del Rey, Authenticity, Sexism in Essay, Pitchfork