#word of honor ep 02

[santacoppelia]

The (long) meta about Good Omens, the Ineffables and free will

I know I wrote a very brief sketching of this ideas as soon as I finished watching season 2, but right now I have some time and the idea has been marinating, so I decided to come back to it.

I studied almost all my life (even university) in Catholic schools, so Theology was one of those things I had to study a whole more lot than I would have expected (being the agnostic I am, it is).

I won't bore you all with a lot of theory, but one of my favorite things about those theories was understanding the difference between "human dignity" and the value that spiritual creatures (such as angels in all of their presentations) have. One of those differences, that has already been mentioned in season 1, is the possibility of free will.

"Free will is reserved to human beings, it makes them distinct from any other creature and is a fundamental aspect of their dignity. Being able to perform free actions is a distinctive trait of humankind". (Quotes because these are not my words, but a very liberal translation from a catholic site I'm not going to link because why would I?)

What about angels? Well, according to one of those classes I took 20+ years ago, they are created, as humans are, with a personality, emotions, and are even more intelligent than humans. However, as free will is a special gift of grace to humanity, angels are created with sort of a "one-use ticket" of free will: they can choose to dedicate their full existence to honor God, or they can choose to FALL *cackles*

That, apparently, didn't happen in the "Good Old Days" (before Luzbel). But legends... I mean, theological studies, say that Luzbel "filled with Pride" and after that some angels decided to follow that same path... and, oh, well, you get it. One of my favorite teachers even said that it was not Pride but Envy what made Luzbel fall: envy for humans and their apparent protagonism (Rings any bells from ep 02 01?)

So... What does this have to do with Good Omens, with our Ineffable pair, and specially with season 2?

For starters, our humans:

Free will was what Adam Youg used during season 1 to stop the Apocalypse altogether. And what Anathema decided to use when burning the second book of Agnes Nutter prophecies.

Free will is why Nina and Maggie tell Crowley "you and your partner have been messing around in our lives... We're not a game, we're real people".

Now, to our Ineffables.

Well... Crowley is an authentic master of free will. We have seen him "thinking by himself" all over the series: he is creative, decides when to obey and when not to, chooses his own clothing, decides when and who to help. In that measure, he is absolutely different to any other creature of the spiritual realm.

Aziraphale, on the other hand, started as a standard angel: intelligent, compassive, perfectly aligned with the instructions that come from "above"... But after meeting Crawley (intentional "a" here, I'm not counting their first encounter), he starts "second guessing" his orders.

This season was a full journey around how being with Crowley has given Aziraphale the possibility and the ability to explore free will. If demons and angels have sort of a "simplified moral code" (obeying is all there is, "like bees", sides are clearly labeled, good kind do good deeds, bad kind do bad deeds), having free will implies undestanding all the complexities of not having such a clear cut, simplistic moral.

The Job story represents the start of a real change in status for Aziraphale -questioning the real impact of their actions, being able to feel real empathy for human suffering, and even discovering the pleasures of the flesh... when eating *winks*. It is also the only time we hear God in this series, and... God gives no answers. Not even to Job, who receives a "when you are able to do what I can do, then you can come question me" (now imagine how the happy, friendly redhead angel who created beautiful nebulas was received when he arrived with "some questions and suggestions" during Creation)

"The Resurrectionist" minisode builds over these ideas. Crowley teaching Aziraphale that notions of "good" or "bad" are not as clear cut as they seemed while not having real free will, how to put a decision in a human scale and not in a divine one... And ends with Crowley putting up with the consequences of his good actions, which he is trying to minimize while talking with Aziraphale nad before being taken. The next we will know of Crowley will be in the "Ducks have ears" scene, when he asks for holy water.

So... Crowley has the gift of free will. Has had it since the beggining of time, has defended it both from Heaven and Hell, and has been trying to share it with Aziraphale for the last 6,000 years, with medium results.

That's one of the reasons why the last exchange between them is so, so hurtful. After all that has happened, Crowley expected to find Aziraphale more than ready to "break the chain" and excercise his own free will, together. Aziraphale, however, is ready to "make his own decisions", but not yet to totally leave his old morals behind. And he decides against Crowley, and doesn't notice he is deciding against himself there.

That would have to do with his alignment (and their character development arc) but I'll leave that for a further meta, as I've been writing for HOURS here.

[shouldiusemyname]

*Current* ask game

Yay! Thank you @rocketturtle4

Current time: 02:55 PM

Current activity: Working on my lesson plans for tomorrow, chatting with my support group, and mentally preparing for the inevitable ep.4 Brain Rot that follows today's ep of Only Friends. Oh! also listening to the OF OST.

Currently thinking about: Supposed to be thinking about vocabulary, but actually thinking about songs, lyrics, and the OF connection courtesy of @plantsarepeopletoo (I love it!) hence keeping the pic @rocketturtle4

Current favourite song: That's an impossible question and I refuse to answer it! However, I will say this:

Currently reading: My students' schedules and their panicked messages mostly...

Ccurrently watching: OH SO MUCH! (wonder how long I'll be able to keep this up) Minato s2, The Jungle, Only Friends, LoA, Stay With Me, Hidden Agenda, Taikan Yoho, Be Mine SuperStar, Dangerous Romance, I Feel You Linger, Jun & June.

Paused on: To Sir With Love, Word of Honor, UMG, Our Dining Table

Current favourite character: Hand down SAND! Most of the time I feel like I wrote everything coming out of this boy's mouth. Does this mean I actually like myself? Interesting...

Current wip: Lesson plans for the year (cos I did shit this summer) + OF Sex Post (currently only in my head and some in my notes, but it will be a thing!)

tagging: @magpie24601 @nerdybunnydestiny if you want!!

Also double tagging @thegalwhorants @plantsarepeopletoo - tag me in yours cos I want to know 👀

[teamsarawatshusband]

Word Of Honor - 1st watch insta thoughts - Episode 2

Here’s Episode 1

Okay, before I get started with the episode, thank you so much for your likes and kind words and explanations. Thanks @averageace​ for letting me know that ghosts aren't necessarily dead. And thanks @ pretty-much-obsessed for letting me know it's not xianxia but wuxia. K, no cultivators. Got it!

Oh, just for future reference: I love when you guys help me out in the comments with understanding stuff like this! As long as you don’t spoil the story, I'm super grateful for all the genre info and cultural insights <3

Anyway, here we go!

Episode 2:

Oooooh, it was smirky guy who stopped the whip. And everybody is watching. How embarrassing.

I kinda like purple girl. She's so feisty and sassy.

Ok, the kid wants to make friends with alcoholic tanned tragic hero lord guy. He's in town to buy pastries for his mom, that's so cute. I need a shorter name for alcoholic tanned tragic hero lord guy. Anyway, the kid gives him a bookmark like a key to where he lives. Alright.

So smirky guy really did recognize the fighting. Oh, Four Seasons Manor is a sect! Ok, ok. And that's their fighting style. Was smirky guy once a part of them? Still so mysterious.

The kids are singing about the 5 lakes. That seems to be important somehow.

K, alcoholic tanned tragic hero lord guy wants to hitch a boat ride. And the old man looks like the old guy who got the 7 nails last time, but he's probably not, i'm just bad with faces again.

Yooo, does alcoholic tanned tragic hero lord guy have so much silver? Yeah, I wouldn't trust him either, old man. Oh, smirky guy intervenes. And now the old boatman wants to do the ride.

Whoaaa, nice scenery with the water and the blossoms and the music. I wanna go there.

So, now he's at mirror lake manor. Was that the kid's place? I forgot.

Wow, that boatman is really something, shouting out his insults as alcoholic tanned tragic hero lord guy is simply standing on the dock. Can't he be a bit nicer? LOOOOOL, yeah, so now he really dashed without paying, that's what you get for being rude.

But shame on tragic hero lord guy.You should always pay your debts. Tsk, tsk, tsk.

Whoaaaaa, the blossom trees. I'm in love. Tragic hero lord guy flies over them in slo-mo.

And when it's not snowing, it's raining petals. Why is there a boat on dry land? Is that gonna be important?

Ooooh, fan fight! Must be smirky guy. Yusss! And now they're dancing.

Oh, and now smirky guy is being poetic. Dude, you sound like you’re crushing on him hard, man. Alcoholic tanned tragic hero lord guy isn't having any of it, lol.

There's two guys talking about war in the next scene. One of them is the dad and the other a son. Is that our kid from before? He seems older. I hate being bad with faces. Oh, he's not the kid. He's his older brother. And apparently there's one more brother even. I'm gonna get them all confused so much. Ugh

Tragic hero lord guy gets to stay in a woodshed. And likes it. I mean... whatever makes him happy, I guess.

Ooooh, back at the palace, I remember the helmets of the soldiers. And there's the guy who took tragic hero lord guy's job and... the other, like... boss guy. Maybe a king or an emperor. New at the job guy talks about... stuff. He's killed people. And seems proud of it. And now he's talking about a children's song. Oh wait, is that the song that alcoholic tanned tragic hero lord guy noticed earlier on? Oh, the song is connected to the glazed armor. Got it.

Ooooh, they sent a spy after tragic hero lord guy. So that's why he went into hiding.

Back in the woodshed, either the alcohol was bad, or tragic hero lord guy is having issues with the nails thing. His veins are moving and it looks disgusting tbh. And he's kinda... fuming. Literally. Looks like he's got a bad smell. And now he's... trying to meditate the smell away?

Oh, there's a fire outside.

Why?

Oh no, it's the red guys with the masks again. They're killing people.

Ooooh, tragic hero lord guy jumps into the fight, alright. OMG, I LOVE THAT TREE IN THE BACKGROUND!!! It's so pretty.

I want it.

Somebody is trying to sneak a kid out. Possibly our kid. Not sure. And the red guys are following them. Hmm.

Oh, a bird. Tragic hero lord guy calls it a sparrow and a spy from the window of heaven, which... okay, but it's definitely NOT a sparrow. Maybe it's just a not so good translation.

Aww man, and now my tree's on fire! :(((( Why can I never have nice things? :(

Now it's raining yellow paper thingies. They kinda look like those smiley potato chips thingies that you can get in the freezer section at the supermarket.

Oh, they're weapons from the red guys. And the guy who's trying to sneak the kid out... is that the boatman?

Oooh, tragic hero lord guy jumps in. If that WAS the boatman, then he's getting paid alright. Heh.

Ok, wth? Swords are not supposed to be that bendy. That does not look like a good sword. How are you gonna stab anybody with a wobbly, shaky weapon like that?

And smirky guy is sitting on the window sill watching the situation unfold like a supermodel waiting to be called onto the runway. Instead of... like... HELPING?! Wth?

And he's an alcoholic too? Hmm

K, that was a short stay, they're back on the boat

Eww, the red guys cut of somebody's arm. Wait, is that the dad from before? And the others are... the kid's brothers? Maybe? Oh, whoever they are, they're supposed to have the glazed armor, and the red masked guys want it. And they're gonna kill them all? That's brutal, man.

But if they ARE the kid’s brothers and they’re about to die, then at least I won’t get them confused, so there’s a plus side.

Anway, alcoholic tanned tragic hero lord guy, the boatman and the kid are in some dusty place. And the boatman is savage as fuck. He wants his money, lol. I like him.

Oh no, so much information. I'm so bad at this. So the kid is supposed to hide at 5 lakes, but doesn't want to. And somebody saved somebody, I have no idea. I wanna know if alcoholic tanned tragic hero lord guy is gonna go meditate again, because it looks like he wants to.

And now the potato smileys are flying in again. Great. I'm never gonna unsee the potato thing now.

Anyway, alcoholic tanned tragic hero lord guy who seriously NEEDS A NAME(!!!) is getting smelly again. And the kid wants to defend them all and instantly drops the sword. That does not look good.

So many red masked guys.

LOL, alcoholic tanned tragic hero lord guy needs 15 minutes. To smell better, maybe.

Wow, the old boatman is a good fighter, but he stands no chance. Are he and the kid really the ones supposed to fight, while tragic hero guy is being smelly and smirky guy is still chilling who knows where?

See the stinky fumes?

Whoa the kid is willing to sacrifice himself for alcoholic tanned tragic hero lord guy. Who is just as surprised as me. And if it weren't for somebody intervening, they'd both be dead. Who is it?

Yooooooooo, purple girl coming in to the rescue. Of course. Need a job well done, leave it to the woman.

Wow, she's so badass. And the kid and the boatman are helping too. Alcoholic tanned tragic hero lord guy went back to meditating.

:O There were two nuts!!! I saw them!!! Is nuts guy one of the red masked guys?

Oh, NOW alcoholic tanned tragic hero lord guy is starting to fight. Probably smelled the nuts and got into it.

LOL, wth? Now that he's done fighting, he faints? And THAT's when smirky guy shows up? To catch him? And alcoholic tanned tragic hero lord guy wakes up again instantly to fight.

Lololol, wth? Smirky guy is like "Heh, you cute, let me wrap your sword around us." ;)

Maybe the wobbly bendy sword is a flirting technique and actually does serve a purpose.

He has really long fingers too.

Just saying.

Aww, would have been a cute moment if the boatman weren't deadly hit. And now he's smelly too. Wait, do smelly fumes mean doomed to die?

Ohh, he's gonna make him adopt the kid, isn't he?

Alcoholic tanned tragic hero lord guy drops a name, and says he's Zhou Xu. Is that his real name? Feels like smirky guy would probably recognize him if he gave his real name. But also maybe not. I know nothing. And smirky guy is mysterious as fuck. But I’ll take the name,because it’s shorter than the one I gave him.

Boatman is still a bit rude, threatening to curse Zhou Xu’s ancestors if he doesn't take care of the kid. Aren't they cursed already? Anyway, boatman can't know that.

Ok, old boatman has died and the kid is adopted. Cool, cool.

Oh, some fighter guys in nicely pleated skirts... who are they? Are they the guards of the manor? Are they there to help the kid? Whoever they are, they came too late and they set off fireworks.

Ok, smirky guy introduces himself. Wen Ke Xing. Oh boy, I hope I can remember that name.

Why is the kid dizzy? Did he get hurt?

Now they're discussing about the bread and nobody's willing to eat first while the kid is empty handed and very clearly hungry as hell. I feel so bad for him.

Why does smirky guy come across so snobby? I wanna like him.

Wow, they finally give the kid some food and now HE's refusing to eat it as well.

Purple girl is the only person actually getting fed tonight.

I mean, she deserves it. She fought the hardest.

Oooooh, smirky Wen Ke Xing guy is onto Zhou Xu lord guy. First stares him up and down while he's resting (lusting much?) and then flat out asks if he's in disguise.

Oh and the kid IS hurt. And smirky Ke Xing is the only one to realize too. He's redeeming himself. A little.

Zhou Xu lord guy doesn't want him to touch the kid though. Why?

Oooh, they're dancing again.

LOL, purple girl gets it. I saw that smile. I bet she's a shipper. What is the ship name? KeXu? ZhouXing? I literally had to scroll up and reread the names. We should just call them smirklord.

Okay, end of episode.

What did I learn? Names were dropped.  Zhou Xu lord guy has adopted the kid. Smirky guy is called Wen Ke Xing. He comes across a bit shady and pretentious and also flirty. Very flirty. But Purple girl is cool, and she trusts him so he must be kinda cool too. Still don't know who they really are and what they want. Like any of them. So far, I like the kid and purple girl best. I hope they all travel together to bring the kid to... wherever he's supposed to go.

Goals for future episodes: Find out who nut guy is. Learn the freaking names reliably. Find out people's connections to each other.

[nimata-beroya]

Hi! After rereading Rough Awakening (which is amazing btw) I hope you'll have someday the time to continue it (no pressure!) Since you also are a SW Rebels fan I'm interested in your opinion with regards to the parallels between SW Rebels - The Honourable Ones and especially the last two episodes of TBB season 1. Do you think they could be used to predict Crosshair's journey because of the heavy analogy between the used tropes? Thank you and stay safe!

Oh, hi, nonnie! Sorry for the very, super, extra late reply 😅 You sent this months ago and I didn't reply right away. I was having some RL issues to deal with but I'm here now.

Thanks for the compliment 🥺🥰💕 and this wonderful question. It's not often that I get an ask but I love them.

First, YES, I definitely will continue Rough Awakening! 100% certain. When? Um, that's what I'm not so sure about. I write like one (1) sentence when I open the document every so often, and other ideas on my head pester until I write them down and force me to push aside my old ones. You know, typical shining new idea syndrome. So it'll take a while 😅 Next chapter is halfway done. There's hope, tho! I'm hyped after watching the season 2 trailer so that should motivate me to continue 😆 And don't be shy to pressure me. Gently and kindly but hold me accountable. Please, I beg you. That's what I need.

Second, oh dear nonnie, you have no idea how much I love your question! I remember the first time I watched the TBB finale and how much I screamed in that scene. The Deja vu to The Honorable Ones (which is my fave ep from Rebels) and the parallels are too strong to ignore. I believe that yes, it's a possible sign that Crosshair will get his redemption eventually. Those parallels are what have me if not happy, at least not mad, at the writers for making Crosshair go back to the Empire. 

If I'm honest, I like the idea of him staying Imperial a bit longer more and more as time passes. Because despite the fandom's desire to have Cross back with his brothers, it makes sense story-wise that he's not. I know it sounds like a sacrilege, but hear me out! There's a difference between Kallus' and Crosshair's mental and emotional states at that point. Bahryn for Kallus, it was the moment he hit rock bottom; he had no other way to go but up after that. Kallus realized how insignificant he was to the Empire, it was the last straw, the last in a series of moments during all season 2 that led to that realization. If you rewatch Rebels' late season 1 and all season 2 you can notice those things (that at the moment seemed like nothing) that made a dent in Kallus' loyalty to the Empire. Had he not those previous moments, I think the story would've been very different. Zeb pushed Kallus over the edge but Kallus was already on the brink, even if he didn't admit it to himself. But Crosshair… 

Crosshair is not nearly there yet. He's (rightfully) hurt because his brothers never came for him (although I understand why they didn't). He feels betrayed by them, so he gives his loyalty to those who gave him the illusion of being loyal to him. He doesn't see that he's deep in a -pardon my French- shit pit. He's deep in it but not at the bottom yet. So he's in such a precarious situation right now. I'm so eager to see how his deteriorating relationship with Rampart is going to go, and how things will go with ES-02 because neither she nor Rampart trusts him anymore (I'm sure of this despite Rampart praising Cross in the season 2 trailer). Now, it's when he's going to see how true Hunter's words are, that he's nothing but a number to them. How long will Crosshair take to actually see, to admit that to himself? I don't know. Probably more than I'd like to and he'll do horrible things in the meantime, unfortunately.

Although after watching the trailers for season 2 I have my fingers crossed 🤞for some of Cody's doubts to rub on him next season. I mean, we could say that Cody is one of the few if not the only Reg clone Cross respects. There's a tiny possibility for Cross to see that even the freaking Marshall Commander of the army starts questioning the Empire's motivation and ultimate goals. Do I believe that it will change Crosshair's mind 180 degrees right on the spot? Nope. Not even close. But it might plant the seed for future consideration. It'll be another of those necessary moments in Crosshair's journey. I'm hoping that he eventually will see it and reach out to his brothers. 

I might add that Wrecker was right on calling Crosshair out for not contacting them after his "chip removal" (you know my position on the chip status since you've read my fic), as much as Crosshair was in roasting Hunter for abandoning him. I don't want to hear arguments about Crosshair couldn't do contact them because he'd been found out. I say that's BS. Because if it's true that the chip is gone and he was capable of coming up with all that scheme of bringing the rest of the batch to Kamino and into the training room on the pretenses of capturing them when he intended to bring them into the fold, to protect them, to save them (because it's in plain sight that he desperately wanted to be reunited with them), he very well could have sent a tiny little encrypted message to them instead of doing all that theatrics. Because regarding IQ, intelligence, cleverness, and all its synonymous, after Tech, Crosshair.  Nobody can convince me otherwise. This is probably a moot point since the chip is still in (watching the longer trailer at the SW celebration confirmed it for me) but I digress.

What I'm trying to say is that, beyond his rightful emotional pain for being abandoned, Crosshair is a very intelligent person with the capacity to see the truth of things, and it's my sincere hope he's on a rocky road to redemption (my only caveat is that it does not end with his death. I hate that trope. Especially when we have Kallus' example. It's possible and 100% satisfactory to have a redemption arc that ends in a happily ever after). Of course, that hope is a cautious one at best because, despite his intelligence, Crosshair's very stubborn, and also we're talking about clones and Star Wars here, so I know how it is. 

TL; DR. Yes, I think the parallel to The Honorable Ones is a strong sign of Crosshair's redemption arc. I can't wait to see it. It's going to be so angsty and heartbreaking but so good.

Nonnie, I hope this satisfied your curiosity and my inbox/chat is always open for more questions and discussions about all Star Wars. Don't be shy to reach out. I also hope you have a wonderful day. 💚

[elsarah]

Favorite clips of s5

Thank you so much @smblmn​ for tagging me, I love the idea! While the season as a whole was kinda underwhelming, it was full of amazing clips and I do have a lot of favorites. Here’s my top 10 and a few honorable mentions. I tend to have one favorite clip by episode, except for episode 8, which I REALLY didn't like. I didn't rank my picks, I'll just list them chronologically.

And since I didn't have the opportunity this season, I'm also making gifs to illustrate my picks :) I need the practice, as you can see.

Ep.1: Samedi 0:25 - Le choc

One of my favorite things this season has been the symbolism and the metaphors around sound and silence. In the first episode, there were 2 occurrences: Arthur seeing Noée for the first time underwater at the pool and him looking in the street as snow falls and slowly realizing he's gone deaf. I thought this was an amazing idea and that it gave disability more depth and beauty.

And that look at the camera in the last seconds… And the piano music… It was so chilling.

Ep. 2: Jeudi 20:59 - La nuit de

Globally, the scenes at the association were my favorites, even though I have a complicated relationship with them. Before shooting started in October, someone from the crew promised they would invite me on set during the filming of these scenes, but they ended up breaking their promise. I try to be as drama free as possible on the internet so I didn’t talk about it publicly but now that the season has ended I’m like “Why should I bottle this up, I’m not the the one who screwed up and I’m still hurt about it”.

The first time I watched that clip in January, I was heartbroken. Not just because of the missed opportunity but because I realised I never got to experience what Arthur did; there was no association for me, no one. But I still have a really soft spot for this scene because it's just gorgeous. The aesthetic is incredible and I totally understand what Arthur feels (minus the alcohol). Overall, as bittersweet as it is, it's probably one of my top 3 scenes this season (and it looks like it's one of David's too, this man has great taste). I can’t help but feel for the teenager I was and I wonder how I would have felt watching it then.

Ep.3: Vendredi 13:12 - Check de frérot

Arthur and Basile's friendship was one of the highlights of this season, heck Basile WAS the highlight of this season. Basile and Arthur never shy away from hugs and I'm living for it. I'm so looking forward to see more of Basile in season 6 (since I guess we'll see more of his relationship with Daphné). I loved seeing him be so well-intentioned, despite his usual clumsiness. Seeing Paul in a more serious register (for instance when Arthur lashed out at the boys in episode 6) was delightful.

Ep 4.: Lundi 19:02 - Les entendants

This one also belongs in my top 3. This is the representation I was looking for when I learned Skam France would tackle hearing loss and deafness. It doesn't come in the same package for everybody, and I love that they tried to show it through so many different characters. The situations described here are universal among deaf people.

On a more personal note, I loved that the extras were actual deaf people and sone of them well known. The lady interpreting is Jennifer Lesage-David, co-director at IVT, and she helped David and Niels a lot this season. And the girl speaking about her relationship with her dad is Lulu, she has a YouTube channel with her sister where they raise awareness about hearing loss. The instagram post that was published that day also featured a lot of people I more or less know.

Watching this clip was an experience in itself. I was attending a conference that night about deaf TV archives. The clip dropped 2 minutes before it started and I had to wait for it to end to finally watch. It was excruciating. Also, half the staff of IVT was there and I actually ended up watching the clip in front them. There were like "Wait? Jennifer was in Skam?".

Ep.4: Vendredi 20:43 - Ma vie a changé

While I'm still sceptical about Noée falling in love with Arthur so quickly (this sign song is unambiguous), I think this is one of the most beautiful scenes in the whole series. I don't care very much about this being romantically coded, I just choose to focus on the sign song, because I'm so happy they featured deaf visual arts.

My friend and I spent hours trying to decipher what the song could be about and our interpretation differed a lot from Winona's original text but we loved doing this. David was curious to see how my friend would understand it (especially the part where Noée signs a growing love which she cradles) and he was so happy when she understood it right.

For those interested, here’s what we interpreted (roughly translated into English):

Like two souls lost in the storm, Swayed by the tide, Never really seeing each other Until ours eyes meet. Something is growing inside me, something new, That sets my heart beating. You take off my mask and the truth in your eyes, Fills my heart. Look at me, I also see you.

Ep.6: Mercredi 18:31 - Un simple bout de métal

Also one of the scenes I was expecting the most this season, especially when it transpired that Noée was a bit radical. Her letter echoes my own fears and I thought it was really on point. Arthur admitting he needs her made my heart melt, he's so lucky to have met her. And Winona was amazing in that clip.

Ep.7: Vendredi 20:31 - Sourd dating

Just like for "Un simple bout de metal", I was also expecting that scene. I like that they made Noée and Camille voice their opinion like both faces of the same coin. It was a great way to address cochlear implants as they're a sensitive topic in the deaf community. I think this is one of the most shining example of the research work they did. They could have just stopped at Noée’s letter. But since they had deaf actors like Lucas, who is also implanted and has faced prejudices from radical Deaf people in the past, they had to show implants were not evil and that the situation was more complex than just “Doctors who want to act as gods”.

Learning Noée’s backstory was also interesting, although I didn’t expect her to be an "ex-implanted" deaf. She explains that she learned sign language at the association, which can't be more than 3-4 years ago (and if you look closely in ep 3, when Arthur checks the website, she says she joined the association at its beginning), but there's no way Noée would have that proficiency in sign language in just 4 years of practice. Winona's fluency in sign language is clearly that of someone who grew up with it. I loved being able to notice these subtleties.

Like all the clips at the association, it was a joy to watch because of the atmosphere and the sign language. The deaf extras were lovely. I actually got to meet a few of them last month and had an amazing time with them.

Ep.9: Vendredi 20:17 - Choisir pour toi

Coline. singing. Do I need to say more? I like that both Noée and Alexia had their shining moment and as clumsy as the story got, I appreciate that the writers didn't try to pin one girl against the other and make one superior. Noée had her sign song and Alexia her own composition. And both were breathtaking. What really gets me in this scene are the colors. I'm a sucker for aesthetics.

And of course, it was great to see Alexia stand her ground and break up with Arthur. I have nothing but respect for her and I'm team Alexia + happiness all the way.

Ep.10: Lundi 10:04 - La même vie que vous

When Melchior, Laura and the brochure subplot was introduced, I was a bit wary because their introduction scene was really, really awkward (it wasn't very well tied at first). By their second scene, at Arthur's place, I was sold. It was great to address accessibility and show that there's no point putting people with disabilities in the same bag, because there are hundreds of them and the needs are different. What doesn't change is our wish to live our life at the fullest, just like abled people. And this scene was precious. Seeing Arthur endorse this new part of him and support his peers was everything.

Ep.10: Vendredi 20:47 - Le meilleur des mondes

I'm still very emotional about this scene. Like… I don't know what to say, the music still sends shivers down my spine.

Honorable mentions :

Ep.1: Mardi 11:59 - 3, 2, 1,…

One of the only things Robin told me about the season when I met him at IVT was that the first clip would drop on New Year's Eve at 11:59 p.m.. That date became a beacon during fall and oh you wouldn't believe how much I waited for that clip to drop and how much I was looking forward to it. And it freaking delivered. The atmosphere, the tense music, that first shot on the loudspeaker, the confetti clogging it gradually… That teaser was a masterpiece.

Ep.2: Like… the whole episode actually. The alarm clock concept was genius.

Ep.4: Samedi 10:15 - Nouveau style

One of these gorgeous clips without dialogues that still say lots.

Ep.5: Samedi 10:03 - Maîtriser le langage

Oh my, this one was so relatable and a joy to watch. Camille explaining that sign language and mimes are different, Arthur being that dimwit asking about swear words and being told off for speaking… Kuddos to the deaf extras who had to pretend they didn't know any sign language, it was so funny (looking at you, Enzo).

Ep.6: Samedi 8:30 - Mythos

Seeing Arthur lashing out at his friends was cathartic. He roasted them so well, I wished I had his ability to speak so well when I'm angry. A+ work.

Ep.6: Dimanche 14:41 - Envie de rien

Alexia being the real MVP, as always.

Ep.7: Samedi 2:15 - Pool Party

It’s strange, because even though a lot of the story went down in this particular episode, it must be one of my favorites, like… tied with episode 2. It has probably a lot to do with the fact there were mostly deaf characters and that they had so much fun together. It’s something I can relate do, the sheer joy of signing the night away, which is something I didn’t get to experience until very recently.

As gorgeous as the underwater scene is, I'm not a fan of Noée and Arthur's almost kiss. I picked this scene because I love the moment of sheer joy that follows; everyone joining in the pool and having fun together. And of course the rise of Camika. I know it's a bit convoluted to have the two openly gay guys fall for each other first time they meet but… it just worked so well.

Ep.9: Mercredi 21:34 - Frère

This clip was about to make the top 10 cut when I remembered about another one and I had to remove it. Just Basile being lovely Basile.

Ep.9: Jeudi 17:30 - T'es pas tout seul

This clip was so important, bless the nurse and bless Jérôme. I wish Jérôme was my audiologist, to be honest.

Ep.10: Samedi 13:39 - Maman

Arthur's mom was so lovely and I'm so sorry she had to go through this shit with her trashcan of a husband. I liked her relationship with her son and her reassuring him he's not like his father was very soothing. I wasn’t the biggest fan of Arthur at the end of this season and I appreciate he’s well looked after after what he went through.

Ep.10: Jeudi 17:46 - Recommencer

Just like "Nouveau style" from ep 4, it's another one of these silent clips that has lots of meaning. Arthur putting back his glasses, slowly accepting his life won't be the same and that he has to move on. Except now things are clearer. Skam France love its symbolism and while sometimes it's very poorly done (like the love triangle emphasizing on Arthur's balancing between two worlds), more often than not it's very compelling.

Now I want to rewatch everything, so see you soon I guess :)

[fizzingwizard]

I wanted to do the Kizuna countdown these guys made but I uh forgot. And I’m gonna forget again before friday because I tend to pass out after work and dinner. Sooo... I’m just gonna do it all right here right now, since it’s the last weekend before Kizuna!

First thoughts when Kizuna was announced:

“Holy shit they’re making another one!? How long will they try to squeeze every drop of nostalgia out of us? Because as for me I’m pretty sure that well is bottomless soooo can they just go on making new Adventure movies forever and ever?”

Expectations for Kizuna:

Based on what I’ve heard it kind of seems like the Digimon sequel we would have expected... but got Tri instead. I really enjoyed Tri, though it was far from perfect, so I’m not sure how to feel about Kizuna! But I’m really excited to see the kids as adults trying to balance adulting, their dreams, and the things they care about in their daily lives.

A headcanon/theory you’d like Kizuna to make canon:

Can’t think of anything, sorry.

Expectations for the new characters:

New girl has a butterfly in her hair. She’s probably a harmless guide/informant type. New guy looks strict and apparently is rather blunt. But my guess is he’s not the big bad either... maybe distrusting of the digital world though. There’s probably more to both of these guys but Idc as usual, I only care about my children.

First Digimon memory:

Was a 10 year old Pokemon fan. All 10 year old Pokemon fans thought Digimon was a rip-off (how were we to know it was actually the older of the two, and already part of an established monster tradition in Japan!). We were also obsessed with Pogs and had fights over Pogs on the playground, which I think says a lot about our mental state.

My bro rented some Digimon VHS from Blockbuster (fuck yeah 1999!) and it was the whole Devimon saga. I scoffed and then sat down and watched with him. Then I was freaking HOOKED. I turned on the TV to see the new eps, but actually the show was starting back at reruns before moving on to the Myotismon saga at the time, so I got to watch the whole thing from start to finish in chronological order. I cried buckets when the final episode aired and mourned for weeks.

Favorite Adventure series:

does this mean Adventure or 02? or including Tri? Anyway the answer will always be Adventure. That’s nostalgia central for me. A lot of it was pretty straightforward storytelling, other seasons did more creative stuff, but I think that’s to be expected - this series built the foundation for all that. And it’s great in its own way. What I particularly liked was always the whole “kids trying to figure shit out on their own” bit. For a kids’ show, they actually did it pretty well. Usually kids in that situation act just like really competent adults and don’t really struggle. Digimon certainly had that too, but it let the kids be crybabies, be selfish, be ignorant... it was really about their personal growth and that’s why they got to be kids as well.

Favorite Adventure Chosen Child (older 6):

Taichi!! Do I even need to explain myself? I will anyway. I didn’t care about him much when I was ten. For a long time I didn’t have a favorite character. It was Yamato for about thirty seconds, and then it was Takeru for about two years. After 02, I rewatched both seasons, and suddenly realized Taichi was Everything to me. I never really went for leader characters, never liked brash, brainless, bring-the-brawn types, or stern, distant ones, cold except when showing their passion for their mission.

But Taichi isn’t like either of those. He has bits of both - he can be brainless, and he’s pretty brash, but he’s calculating too. I liked that mix, but mainly I liked that he just seemed like a regular kid who the others were naturally drawn to as a leader because he was Mr. Get-shit-done. The older I get, the more I appreciate that proactive factor in people. Sometimes you just need someone to say the thing that’s on everyone’s minds. It can be scary. So I feel gratitude when someone takes the lead when I can’t. I think that’s how the other kids felt towards Taichi - for all his flaws, he kept them going, he didn’t let them waffle and miss their chances. I like him for a ton of other reasons too but I’ll end there for today!

Favorite 02 Chosen Child (younger 6):

Takeru. He was my original fav and I really really wanted to see him be awesome in 02. Unfortunately, he and Hikari didn’t really get much development. (They still made out better than all Frontier kids not named Kouji, though.) But I loved his anger issues and his facing his trauma. They should have done so much more. I really wanted him to bond with Ken over the fact that they’d both lost partners... I loved seeing older Takeru in Tri, the trauma issue came up again when he was the first one to realize his partner was infected. I’ve never been so moved by a crying plush doll lmao. Also his fashion sense, woot.

The runner-up is worth a mention since she wasn’t part of the original Adventure group and therefore could be considered my true 02 fav - Miyako. I loved the nerdy glasses girl because I was a nerdy glasses girl. I wasn’t as outspoken as Miyako, but I could go on and on about things I liked. I loved how pure and flawed she was and I loved her inner sense of right and wrong and her frankness. It’s refreshing when so many characters hide their true feelings. And I loved her and Hikari. Hikari and Miyako are the true girl friendship in those series. Sora and Mimi are nice but didn’t get the same level of development. Of course, I headcanon they were all awesome girlfriends.

Favorite Digimon partner:

This is an IMPOSSIBLE question, I love ALL OF THEM. I can’t pick one.

Gabumon: the way he and Yamato don’t need words, he just understands him, and when he doesn’t, always assume the best and gives him space. Their connection through music. And the way Gabumon will tease him especially over Taichi XD Gabumon keeps Yamato in line.

Gomamon: the way he is just what Jou needs, someone to keep him positive. I’m anxiety-prone myself and one reason I love my job working with young children is they make me see the bright things that I used to be able to see all the time when I was a child. I never really wanted to grow up. I think Gomamon is that for Jou, the child in him he doesn’t want to let go of, and doesn’t actually have to, because we take that part of us into our future.

Tentomon: because was he not MVP of the YEAR in Kokuhaku!?!?!?!?! That was amaaaaazing. Also he is easily the funniest Digimon and I love how he brings out the affectionate side of Koushirou. Again he’s exactly what Koushirou needs.

Patamon: Because he’s cuuuuute!!! and gives Takeru something to nurture and protect while also protecting him. Takeru, the youngest, who needed to be protected but also needed to grow, got a Digimon with those exact same qualities. PERFECT MATCH.

Hawkmon: I always loved him paired with Miyako. He was my favorite 02 partner. He was grumpy and irritable yet caring with Miyako, basically the compass she needed when she felt panicky. And he was COOL. Like he had the best evolutions lol. And as the only male/female partner set (I know Digimon don’t have true genders but this isn’t a made up thing either), there was a slightly different dynamic, like Miyako needed someone a bit more her opposite than other Chosen, to help push her in new directions.

Agumon: He gets honorable mention in particular because of Tri! But also because of 02. In Adventure, Taichi didn’t have a strong grasp of what it meant to raise his partner. He and Agumon saw each other as equals - which they are - but you do see a shift in that balance as Taichi gets older. Agumon is very powerful, but very child-like and thoughtless. In 02 and Tri, we see Taichi taking care of him much more like a big brother with a young brother. In Adventure, they just played together and wound each other up. What this means is Taichi’s grown up to be quite the caretaker, out of necessity - his partner is a bit high maintenance compared to the others! And caretaker isn’t usually the quality that jumps to mind when you think of “anime protagonist” or even leader. So I LOVE it. Also, Agumon struggles to express big concepts. But he can express really important things in simple ways, and Taichi needs that simplicity when his head gets all muddled with complexity. We definitely saw that in Tri. Agumon is kinda the Doraemon of Digimon, lol.

And I love literally all of the others and could go on about them for ages. But I’ll stop here. Will continue the countdown (er, I guess I can’t call it that when I’m doing it like this) later.

[alexthegamingboy]

Toonami Weekly Recap 05/02/2020

Paranoia Agent EP#02 - The Golden Shoes: Yuuichi "Icchi" Taira, a formerly popular sixth-grade schoolboy, starts being bullied at school for his red hat and golden skates which strongly resemble those of Lil' Slugger. The only person he can confide in is his personal tutor, Harumi. Icchi comes to believe that Shougo Ushiyama, a fatter, less sporty pupil who is running against him for student council president, is the one masterminding the bullying. He accuses Shougo aggressively, but someone takes a picture of their confrontation and texts it to the whole class. Shougo defends him, much to Icchi's embarrassment. Meanwhile, the detectives continue to question Tsukiko, who is now witness to two attacks. They also question Yuuichi. Icchi's birthday comes, but nobody comes to his party except his mother and tutor. Shougo attempts to comfort Yuuichi who just gets angrier, hoping Shougo will be the next victim; almost immediately, Shougo is attacked for real. Eventually Yuuichi goes insane with egopathic delusions of reclaiming his fame before being attacked by Lil' Slugger himself.

My Hero Academia U.A. School Festival Arc Season 4 EP#85 (22) - School Festival Start!!: It's 9:00 AM, and Present Mic announces the start of the U.A. School Festival. As Hound Dog catches a scent somewhere in the forest, Deku faces off against a Love-powered Gentle Criminal to determine who will be able to make their dreams come true!

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind EP#24 - Notorious B.I.G: The group manages to secure an airplane after escaping Venice, with Abbacchio using Moody Blues to fly the plane by replaying its pilot. As they prepare to leave, a hostile Stand user named Carne approaches them on the runway, but Mista shoots and kills him. During the flight, Giorno discovers that Carne's Stand Notorious B.I.G, a flesh-eating blob, has activated after his death and has attached itself to Giorno's right arm. Mista shoots Giorno's arm off, but Notorious B.I.G, which tracks its foes by their movement and then absorbs their energy, attacks the Sex Pistols, severely injuring Mista. Narancia attacks with Aerosmith, but he too is targeted and injured by Notorious B.I.G. Deeming Notorious B.I.G to be indestructible, Giorno forces it to latch onto his remaining left arm, then manages to dispose of it by severing his arm and sending it out of the plane. Since Gold Experience's powers come from its fists, Giorno can neither fight nor heal the wounds of himself, Mista or Narancia. Bucciarati relays the attack to Abbacchio and takes the wounded inside the turtle. Alone, Trish is approached by Notorious B.I.G, which was chasing the quickest-moving object nearby, that being the plane itself. The Stand doesn't pursue her when she remains still, instead approaching one of Giorno's throbbing brooches, which is in the process of transforming into one of Giorno's hands. Trish realizes that Giorno had created a brooch replicating one of his hands before cutting his arm off, which when attached could allow him, Mista and Narancia to recover.

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Functional Recovery Training Arc EP#26 Finale - New Mission: A few months earlier: Following Rui's death, Kibutsuji summons the remaining five Lower of the Twelve Moons. They enter a massive space warped and controlled by a demoness with a biwa. Kibutsuji has altered his appearance and aura to that of a woman, so they don't instantly recognize him. They kneel once they do. Kibutsuji declares he is disbanding the Lower Ranks, deeming them worthless. It is always the Upper Ranks who kill Hashiras and remain alive, while the Lower Ranks keep changing members and dying. He sets about killing them for various reasons: Lower Six thinks disrespectful thoughts (Kibutsuji reads his mind, an apparently new ability), Lower Four tries to pleas she isn't thinking about fleeing when she sees a Hashira (she refutes what he says), Lower Three attempts to flee in vain (Kibutsuji catches him), and Lower Two says he can do better if he is given more of Kibutsuji's blood (which is ordering Kibutsuji). He asks for the final Twelve Moon, Lower One Enmu, for his last words. Lower One considers it an honor to die by Kibutsuji's hands and thanks him for killing him last as he got to witness the agony of the other five. Deeming that the right answer, Kibutsuji infuses Lower One with a large amount of his blood to strengthen him and says he'll give him more blood if he can kill Tanjiro. Present Day: A Kasugai crow wakes Tanjiro, Zenitsu, and Inosuke with an assignment - go west to the Infinite Train, where casualties are increasing, and slay the demon there. Tanjiro encounters Genya from Final Selection while walking, who has a larger and more muscular form, but Genya goes out of his way to bump into and then ignore him. Tanjiro visits Aoi, thanking her for helping him, but she tells him not to. She claims to have survived the Final Selection by luck, and that she was too cowardly to go into battle, but Tanjiro says it doesn't matter since she helped them and he'll carry her feelings into the battlefield, touching her. He also says goodbye to Kanao, who flips a coin to determine if she should talk to him. When the coin lands right, she tells him goodbye and explains she uses the coin to decide things she hasn't been ordered to do, since she can't decide for herself. Tanjiro takes her coin and says if it lands heads she'll listen to the voice in her heart and make her own choices and flips it. It lands heads. She asks how he made it do that since she didn't see him cheat, but Tanjiro smiles and says it just did and he would have flipped it as many times as he needed for it to land heads if it hadn't. Just before the boys leave, Tanjiro sees Giyū and thanks him for helping with Nezuko. Not sure how to talk with him, Giyū tells him to thank him by doing good work, which Tanjiro promises. The boys make it to the train station but Inosuke mistakes the Infinite Train as a beast and ruler of the land since it's so mighty, though Tanjiro says it may be a guardian spirit. Zenitsu calls them country bumpkins, telling them it's a train. They attract the attention of police and flee, deciding to hide their swords. Their organization isn't recognized by the government, which doesn't even acknowledge that demons exist, so they must keep a low profile. They outrun the police and jump onto the train as it leaves. Tanjiro has brought Nezuko, determined that they won't be separated again. On the train with them are Rengoku and the Lower One of the Twelve Moons.

Black Clover: Elf Tribe Reincarnation Arc/Vs. Word Soul Devil Zagred Arc EP#115 - Mastermind: Rhya has a flashback to the massacre. Rhya had allowed the elves to believe they were betrayed by Lumiere, the brother of Licht's human wife, Tetia, when in fact Rhya knew Lumiere was innocent but hid the truth so the elves would continue to hate humans. Ronne places the stone in the altar, revealing he was actually possessed by a Devil named Zagred that now rises from the land of the dead. He reveals to Patri that he was the one who convinced the ancient humans to massacre the elves. Yuno saves Rhya and Patri but his magic is useless against the devil that can use Word Soul Magic, meaning anything he says becomes reality. Asta and Mimosa arrive and while Asta and Yuno try to fight together they fail. Zagred reveals he was the one who cast the forbidden spell to resurrect the elves, not Licht, and the war between humans and the Eye of the Midnight Sun was all part of his plan to regain his original body. Asta and Yuno succeed in wounding him, but he heals instantly. He further reveals that when the owner of a four leaf Grimoire is filled with despair, as Patri now is, it transforms into a five leaf Grimoire. His first attempt created Asta's Grimoire 5 centuries ago, but he was prevented from claiming it for himself, but now with Patri's five leaf Grimoire in his possession he has the power to rule the world. Now filled with ultimate despair Patri transforms into a Dark Elf and randomly begins attacking everyone. Zagred departs leaving Patri to kill everyone for him.

Slightly Damned Page 961: https://www.sdamned.com/comic/961

[nuclearblastuk]

BLOOD EAGLE | RELEASE OFFICIAL VISUALISER FOR 'WALL OF HATE'

BLOOD EAGLE | RELEASE OFFICIAL VISUALISER FOR 'WALL OF HATE'

Denmark based death metal band BLOOD EAGLE unleashed their album 'To Ride In Blood & Bathe In Greed' unto the world on November 22, 2019 via Nuclear Blast.

Today, the band release the video visualizer for 'Wall Of Hate' off part III of 'To Ride In Blood & Bathe In Greed'. Watch the video here: https://BloodEagle.lnk.to/WoH

The band comments, "What time is it? It’s grind ‘o clock! This song is about one of the biggest political controversies of all time. A true monumental failure for humanity. 'Wall of Hate' is a portrait of a xenophobic, warmongering presidential candidate, spreading fear and terror - which by no means deserves a mention. In the famous words of Barney Greenway 'Make love, not war' - we support that and hereby spread the grinding gospel."

Order 'To Ride In Blood & Bathe In Greed' digitally or stream the 3 EP's here: bloodeagle.lnk.to/ToRideInBlood Listen to the band's new tracks in the NB New Releases Playlists: http://nblast.de/SpotifyNewReleases / http://nblast.de/AppleMusicNewReleases

The album was produced, engineered, mixed and mastered by Tue Madsen at Antfarm Studios. All artwork was created by Rune Stigart.

The band comments, "We are honored to have signed with one of the world's leading record labels, Nuclear Blast Records! The excitement level of BLOOD EAGLE finally finding the right home to release new material, is higher for us than we can ever express. There are people who want to hear this band, as was evident in the reaction to our performances on multiple European festivals in the last couple of years. We are excited and grateful to be working with the guys at Nuclear Blast, as they strongly will help facilitate and take the EAGLE to the next level.

On a musical note, we took all our inspirations from NAPALM DEATH, BOLT THROWER, MORBID ANGEL and a tad (like 2%) of MASTODON and threw them into the musical cooking pot. The result is our new release, 'To Ride In Blood & Bathe In Greed' which was released as three EP's in September, October and November. Out on Nuclear Blast Records."

More on 'To Ride In Blood & Bathe In Greed': 'Feed On The Blood Of Man' OFFICIAL VISUALIZER: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRI8omrnxHI 'Unsung Zeros' OFFICIAL VISUALIZER: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Hz2uf_smcw 'Impact Irreversible' OFFICIAL VISUALIZER: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVeI0wMH3oY 'Doctrine Of Death' OFFICIAL LYRIC VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8N9HKdVHDg 'Kill Your Tyrants' OFFICIAL VISUALIZER: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adaQYsNsHjk 'Eyes Sewn Shut' OFFICIAL LYRIC VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=giQ5lnJ1lPY 'A Life That Rots Away' OFFICIAL LYRIC VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXxegYnmx-w

'To Ride In Blood & Bathe In Greed' track-listing:

Part I 01. Feed On The Blood Of Man 02. Unsung Zeros 03. Impact Irreversible

Part II: 01. Eyes Sewn Shut 02. Doctrine Of Death 03. Kill Your Tyrants 04. For Those Who Remain

Part III: 01. A Life That Rots Away 02. Worship The Wolf 03. Wall of Hate

----

BLOOD EAGLE is a death metal band comprised of former members of VOLBEAT, MNEMIC, HATESPHERE, ILLDISPOSED and RAUNCHY, founded by two ex-guitarists, Franz Hellboss and Mircea Gabriel Eftemie (formerly of VOLBEAT and MNEMIC). After playing for years in their own respective bands, the two guitarists decided to team up and consolidate their passion for punk, grind and death metal alongside their best friends and touring partners. The band surfaced and raised traction for the very first time in 2013, by releasing a 3-song EP for free download, recorded at the Antfarm Studios with Tue Madsen (MESHUGGAH, BEHEMOTH, THE HAUNTED) at the helm. Playing select shows and festival appearances, the band kept writing material but never released it to the masses, until five years later.

So what do you get when you throw NAPALM DEATH, BOLT THROWER, MORBID ANGEL and a  dash of MASTODON into a musical cooking pot? The answer is; BLOOD EAGLE. Glorified by the metal media as a Danish "supergroup" consisting of metal veterans, according to the band there is nothing super about it, other than their good friendship and love for old school death metal. BLOOD EAGLE is an unstoppable force, launching their long-awaited debut album in three parts: 'To Ride In Blood & Bathe In Greed' I, II, III via NUCLEAR BLAST RECORDS.

BLOOD EAGLE is: Michael Olsson | Vocals Mircea Gabriel Eftemie | Guitars Franz Hellboss | Guitars Mikael Ehlert | Bass Morten Toft Hansen | Drums

www.facebook.com/bloodeagle.dk www.instagram.com/bloodeagle_dk www.nuclearblast.de/bloodeagle

[coghive]

GFM Announce Additional Fall Tour Dates

Vibrant girl group GFM is gearing up for an extensive Fall tour alongside hard rock heavyweights FOZZY with support from No Resolve. The tour is in support of the band’s Rockfest Records 2022 debut EP “Framing My Perception.” The long run of shows starts in Columbus, OH on September 8th with a pit stop for a massive appearance at Blue Ridge Rock Festival on September 11th. The tour continues with a string of headlining home-state shows in Florida then treks throughout the midwest and east coast until October 10th in Virginia Beach, VA. The band is thrilled to hit the road to show off their sing-along melodies, signature matching outfits, flying cupcakes, and unforgettable stage presence. “We’re so excited to be heading back out on the road with Fozzy! We’ve heard it’s extremely rare for a band to go out a second time with them, so we’re very honored to be given this opportunity!” – Maggie, Vocalist of GFM GFM (Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh) is not your average teenage girl band, these three metalhead sisters are heavy and loud, and triumphantly taking on the stage with a genre of their own, which they have penned BEAUTYCORE. Formed by the English sisters Maggie (Bass and Vocals), CJ (Guitar), and Lulu (Drums) in Jacksonville, FL, GFM is a band set to break boundaries. They’re bringing life back to rock and metal and giving heavy music fans of all ages a space to thrive. The sisters’ musical journey began in 2016 when they worked on their first album Identity Crisis with producers Jake Jones and Justin Forshaw (We as Human). In 2017, the girls went on their first U.S. tour and the demand was so strong for GFM that they went out again the following year on another U.S. tour, finishing out the season with their first trip to Germany for the Loud & Proud Fest where the band was met with thousands of loving fans. GFM’s live show is unmatched as the trio comes alive through iconic wardrobe designs and unparalleled charisma. They have shared the stage with artists such as Motionless In White, Breaking Benjamin, Demon Hunter, A Day To Remember, Disturbed, Halestorm, Chelsea Grin, and more. 2020 marked the iconic release of their most beloved EP to date: “Operation Take Over” and the unveiling of their “Bones” live video. Throughout the last couple of years, word of mouth has created major buzz for their song, “Give Me A Sign,” which has reached 519k streams and they have a total of 2 million overall streams on Spotify. As a band of faith, they hope to encourage listeners to keep fighting as they are not alone. GFM’s song “Taking Over” was #1 on the Christian Music Weekly Charts for 4 weeks in a row. Their song, “Graveyard of Identities” was #6 on Billboard Christian Rock Charts. Their song “On the Inside” was #9 on the Billboard Christian Rock Charts. In 2022 the band was discovered by wrestling phenomenon and rock royalty Chris Jericho. This led GFM to their next chapter – a personal invitation from Jericho to join Fozzy on a nationwide tour. With new music hitting the airwaves including their “Framing My Perception” EP and a national Fall Tour on their itinerary, “operation: take over” is in full effect. Fall 2022 GFM Tour Dates: - Sep 08 Columbus, OH - Sep 09  Louisville, KY - Sep 10 Flint, MI - Sep 11 Blue Ridge Rock Festival - Sep 12 Grand Rapids, MI - Sept 15 Bloomington, IL - Sept 16  Hobart, IN - Sept 17  Milwaukee, WI - Sept 18  Cincinnati, OH - Sept 19   Charlottesville, VA - Sept 23  Tampa, FL * - Sep  24  Sanford, FL * - Sep 25  Jacksonville, FL * - Sep 29  Charlotte, NC - Sep 30  Richmond VA - Oct 01  Baltimore, MD - Oct 02  Syracuse, NY - Oct 03  New Bedford, MA - Oct 05  Clifton, NJ * - Oct 06  Harrisburg, PA * - Oct 07  Poughkeepsie, NY * - Oct 08  Albany, NY - Oct 09  Philadelphia, PA - Oct 10  Virginia Beach, VA *No Resolve and GFM Read the full article

[nicamon606]

I was gonna do it anyway 😉 but SINCE YOU ASKED...O;-) I’m gonna reply here instead of Twitter because limited characters are so fucking annoying!

Now... I’m not sure of my own list but most of the scenes are, of course, the same you picked, just in a different order for the reasons I’m gonna try to explain... I hope I’ll be able to put them in what I believe is the correct order...🤔😵

Honorable Mentions

I think I’m gonna pick the HM in order too!!Just to complicate my own life!😵And,to differenciate them from the “real” TOP 10, I’m gonna put them from best to “worst”.

01)Toni Smelling Shelby’s Shirt

SO-HEARTBREAKINGLY-CUTE!!!!!!🥺🥺🥺🥺

This is something I would TOTALLY DO in a situation like that!!😭💘It happened to me IRL to smell something that had the scent of the person I currently had a crush on, including my own clothes (for example after being hugged... it never happened to me to switch clothes with the people I was in love with.. expecially because I was NEVER reciprocated and they never knew I was in love with them.. some of them may have guessed it but I never told them “officially” 💔). This scene is just so painfully relatable!!

02)Toni Stroking Shelbald’s Head

I think it’s just so cute!>w< I disagree on liking the Shelbald look, as I will say later, but for Toni it was the perfect thing to say in that moment and it was so nice and she probably meant it too.💞

Also, we are so used to see Shelbald in Badass Mode 😎 but the moment she locked eyes with her beloved Toni she became all shy and awkards and it’s adorable!X//-3

03)Toni’s I Love You

As incredible as it is, I decided that this scene wouldn’t make the TOP 10 and this is 1 of the cases in which I’m not sure if I should put this scene here or I should replace it with some other scene from the lower positions of the official TOP.😵

Anyway, the reason I put it here is that it... resonates “wrong” with me for a couple of reasons.

1st of all, the fact that it’s so far from Shelby’s ILY scene. I know there’s a reason and it makes perfect sense, but the thing is, after such a long pause between one scene and the other, it’s like I’m not “in the right mood” for hearing it anymore and so, to me, it results more awkward than romantic. And keep in mind that, after watching the season for the 1st time, I’ve always been rewatching the “director’s cut” version of S2 (the director being me!;-P) which means ep 2x06 for me goes from almost 1 hour to BARELY 13 MINUTES!!! And STILL the hiatus feels excessive.

2nd of all, again, there’s a pause between Toni’s “every single fucking day after” and her “I love you” that’s just a bit too long. It feels unnatural. It’s probably not, because she STILL needed to “convince herself” to say those words out loud, but, from a viewer’s perspective, it makes the whole scene, again, too awkward.

A positive thing about this scene is Erana’s blooper in which she declares: “I’m crying!😲” and I reply: “We know, honey, we saw your teary eyes!>;-3”

04)French Fries Shoni

This-frame-is-so-friggin’-cute, WHY IN THE HELL DOES IT LAST LESS THAN 1 SECOND?!?!>O<#

Seriously, what went wrong with the editing here???!!!😵It’s LITERALLY a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it case and it doesn’t make any fucking sense and it’s so frustrating and annoying!!!!

Side Note: look who are the other couples who are sleeping pretty close to each other... a little hint.. they’re NOT the Leatin...!😏💕

OK... on to the TOP 10...

10)I Never Won’t Love Her

First of all let me say I ADORE Sheltin’s BROTP and them being detectives together!!🤩💕I also love Fatin’s prayer for some reason I can’t explain(given I am an atheist). I’m re-listening to it randomly even without rewatching the whole scene and I’m trying to learn it by heart even if I don’t own the written lyrics. I’m just copying the sounds Fatin makes.🙏

I must say it’s probably for the best that I don’t understand what she’s actually saying, though, because, since it will FOR SURE be something about God, I’m pretty sure I would find it cringey, since I don’t believe in any god and so I find it silly to ask them for help or to praise them in general (it already happened to me with the jewish song “Venisgav”.. I downloaded it because I liked it, but as soon as I found out that the lyrics’ translation was: “God is supreme and is on it's own. God is on it's own on that day. And Jacob stayed on it's own and a man wrestled with him until dawn came.” the whole thing became quite cringey for my atheist ass!X-S). But the scene still resonates different than the scenes with Rachel 

because, even if I know Shelby was coming from a good place and I know it makes PERFECT SENSE for her to try and comfort/help a grieving person in that specific way, it’s still morally if not wrong at least ambiguous to try and convert someone to your religion in a moment of desperation. It’s a manipulative tactic and Shelby is performing it even if she doesn’t realize it, just as she’s applying her father’s passive-aggressive attitute in more than 1 occasions, for example in 1x06:

“There is no hate in my heart. I just feel sorry.../” (BULLSHITS!!!>O<# You just told her you believe she will end IN LITERAL HELL...if that’s not hate I don’t know what is!!!!!😡💢)

and in 2x04:

“I’m just a little disappointed.. NOT IN YOU... alright? Just... just the work.” (Ok, but I did the work so if the work is disappointing it means what I made disappointed you, which means I disappointed you. The work didn’t just make itself!X-P)

Anyway... sorry for the digression.

My point is I’m a fan of the whole “segment” involving Detective Sheltin, but when it comes to this specific moment

apart from not being a fan of Shelbob’s look (again.. big fan of Pirate Shelby but, just as for Shelbald, I admire her from an attitude point of view 😎 not an aesthetic one!) this scene has been completely RUINED for me by the Leatin shippers (you included, sorry!🙏) that keep mistaken this reply

for a romantic one. And look, I KNOW nothing’s sure yet, you may be right in the end, Leatin might actually be a canon thing, but the point is CURRENTLY it’s not. And it’s FUCKING ANNOYING to see what is clearely meant to be a SHONI scene ROBBED by another ship! It’s not even the coexistence itself that bugs me, this is literally all the fandom’s fault! Because the Leatin shippers (not all of them, of course, but some of them!) not only are so arrogant to presume their ship is canon just basing on smoke signals (which is something I can well understand and I myself have done in the past with Swan Queen), not only they DEMAND the writers to make them canon even if that might have never been in their original plans (again, been there done that with Swan Queen), but they keep repeating that Leatin is a ship SUPERIOR to Shoni and HERE is where I draw the line!😠You can subjectively like a ship more than another, even a crackship compared to a canon ship (AGAIN... Swan Queen VS Craptain Swan and Adultery Queen... I KNOW what it feels like!!!!!), but the difference here is these ships ARE NOT RIVALS! You don’t NEED to trash one to substain the other!! For Swan Queen Shippers it’s INEVITABLE to talk bad about Craptain Swan and Adultery Queen and viceversa because 1 ship cannot exist along with the others!! BUT WE ARE NOT ENEMIES!!! Why do you feel the NEED to say Leatin is SUPERIOR to Shoni like the only way to make sure they become canon is to INVALIDATE the ship that was SUPPOSED to be canon FROM THE VERY BEGINNING???!!!>O< Again... I came to almost dislike this scene that was supposed to be a Shoni scene because the Leatin shippers literally ROBBED us of it with ARROGANCE!X-(((

09)Martha

Just like for Toni’s I-love-you scene, my problem with this one is too many things look “off” to me. 1st of all, I’m sorry, I’m-again-not a fan of this specific haircut/look for Shelby. Yes, it’s iconic, but I personally don’t like it.

And Toni is even worse in the sense that it’s awfully OOC for her to be dressed like a “woman” instead of a “tomboy”

and yes, this is a dream, so it’s justified, but it still makes Toni fall victim of what I call the Cinderella Trope which is that trope that wants EVERY-SINGLE-FUCKING-FEMALE-MAIN-CHARACTER to dress differently (and for “differently” I mean “more feminine”) at least ONCE during the course of the story (usually during Prom or some similar stuff) and every-single-fucking-time to be percieved as MORE BEAUTIFUL compared to her “regular version” when I usually disagree strongly with this. I usually prefer the “casual” version, I HONESTLY find it more good-looking and yet no character EVER agrees with me and that’s fucking frustrating!X-(

👎

👍

👎

👍

👎

👎

😨😨😨

👍

👎

👍

(No,this is not Toni, this is Laura AKA Lolly from the movie “The Changeover”.)

👎

👍

👎

👍

(OK, Cordy doesn’t need a Cinderella Moment, she’s always gorgeous, both subjectively and canonically, but the point is I like her more during a regular day of school than during a freaking ball!)

Also (sorry again for the long digression... I thought it would have been easy to write this post and it’s taking me HOURS... I probably started around 09:15 PM and it’s currently 11:15 PM!😵) the 1st time I saw that scene I was confused because A)I haven’t recognized Toni!😅It took me a while to realize it was her!😵 B)Shelby was singing a love song about Martha... only later I found out that was a real song that already existed!!😅But, once again, even if it’s all perfectly contextualized and justified by the fact this is a dream, the fact the song is a real song and the fact the 2nd lost person Shelby was talking about was 99% for sure Martha, a part of me still wishes she sang a cover version with the name “Toni” instead.💞To a Tomboy Toni, of course (bless whoever made this fanart.. I’ve already thanked you on Twitter, but I’ll do it again!💕).

At the end of the day, I am much more moved by the behind the scenes of this scene than the scene itself, with Erana having a bad day on set and literally feeling suddenly OK and “at home” the moment she locked eyes with Mia. I mean, you can SEE it, you can FEEL it even if you don’t know the backstory, but once you know you’re like: “Oh, yeah, it makes perfect sense and it’s beautiful!!😍💕” I sincerely hope their wonderful friendship lasts forever.💌

I mean, LOOK AT THIS FACE... SHE’S TEARING UP and you can’t see it from still pictures but she also opened and closed her nostrils and that’s not something you do while you’re acting... everything in this moment screams REAL LIFE FEELINGS and that’s AMAZING!

But I don’t rewatch this scene often also because everytime I do, that song gets then stuck in my head forever!X____X (BTW, we all want the full Mia’s cover!🎶)

Side note: I want an explanation for THESE FREAKING EYES!!! They’re amazing 🤩 and creepy 😨 at the same time and there’s no way that’s not CGI so they MUST mean something and I WANNA KNOW!!>O<

(Geeze... I’m just done with position 09 and it’s 11:40 PM already!X___X)

08)Shelby Has a Complicated Relationship with Branches

Do I need to say more?🤭

This scene is just so tender... apart from the branch parallel, look at the way these 2 I-Just-Broke-Up-with-You idiots look at each other!!🥺🥺💞

Plus, I always love whenever Toni’s eyes look almost golden due to the light because I parallel these 2 (among the others) to Sanzo and Goku from “Saiyuki”, who are 1 tall and blonde (Sanzo) and 1 short with tanned skin, brown hair and golden eyes (Goku).

And Sanzo is the reincarnation of Konzen, to whom Goku once said: “You remind me of the Sun!😍🌞” because of the colour of his hair and... it’s a complicated and BEAUTIFUL story, you should all go checking it out!! (Anyway, as I wrote in the fanart, the attitude of the 2 boys is basically switched compare to the girls because Goku is the one who’s always happy and optimistic and super-friendly with everyone while Sanzo is moody and diffident and annoyed and pissed all the time!;-P)

07)Fire Scene Dot’s Birthday

This one is pretty low because even if it is a super-tender scene

it’s again ruined for me by a couple of things. 1st of all the song I don’t particularly like and 2nd-you guessed it-the Leatin shippers!X-P Who always notice THIS Leatin moment...

...but somehow always fail to acknowledge this Dotin moment!!😤

To be clear, I don’t really think neither Dotin nor Leatin will actually become canon, but if I have to choose a crackship, I’ll go Dotin all the way!💕

EDIT: I realized JUST NOW while editing the post, that I eventually DIDN’T put in the TOP the scene I like and rewatch much more often compared to this one 😱 which is Dot’s birthday party!!

OK, so, to keep things more simple for me, let’s just say all this is to say my N°07 position is Dot’s party and the Fire Scene goes among the Honorable Mentions!;-P And the reason, apart from the Leatin problem (that I DON’T HAVE in this scene... I actually got a very cute Dotin embrace instead!💕Bless you, Fatin, for that.😘),

my OTP can LITERALLY not separate for 1 second...not even to do limbo 🤦‍♂️, you girls are C-R-A-Z-Y and I’m loving you for that!!😂💞

06)Off to War

Unlike you, I’m more of a fan of the little off-to-war moment 💞

than of the scene of the branch falling itself. And, for the upteenth time, the main reason is an editing problem that makes the scene feel off to me. In this case, the fact Shelby’s timing for hugging Toni seems totally unnatural.

The branch falls...

...the Leachel jump up...

...Martha jumps up and yells: “TONI!éOè”...

...and only then Shelby hugs Toni.

Like.. what the heck were you waiting for?!? For the camera to go back on you?!? Answer: YES! And it’s so damn obvious cos this 👆 is not even the 1st frame we see! The real scene looks like THIS! 👇

After we already had the Leachel moment and the Martha moment, Shelby was still a mile away from Toni, like what the heck?!?!

Side note: watching a piece of this scene during the S2 official trailer made me notice the scar on Shelby’s elbow and now I wanna know how she got it (just as I wanna know how Toni got her nose scar) and I’m upset because I know I never will.X-<

05)You’re so Beautiful

I am fond of this scene cos of Toni’s GORGEOUS big sweet eyes

and because of something that shouldn’t have happened.

The 1st time I heared this line

as you can guess was on Instagram in English and I obviously couldn’t wait to hear it in the actual episode in Italian. Only when I finally watched the ep on Amazon Prime... there was no line!😱Toni said the “Captain Obvious part” but when she was supposed to say: “You’re so beautiful.” she just moved her mouth without actually pronouncing a word!😱You could hear the background music but the line had simply DISAPPEARED!😱And the same of course happened in the episodes I was able to find in streaming for free. LUCKILY for me I was using my free month period on the official website and I kept checking until one day I found out they somehow fixed the thing and the line was finally there, but it was unbelievable and outrageous and scary as heck and now everytime I hear Toni saying: “Ma sei bellissima...!” in Italian I get all emotional because my brain and my ears are still not completely used to be able to hear that line in Italian.😊🥰💞

04)Black Parade+Faith Crisis

This scene has obviously several good parts in it... the amazing musical transition, Shelby touching her lacking cross...🥺

...THE MOST SEXY SHONI KISS WE EVER GOT...🔥🤩🤤😵🔥

(Side Note: many people noticed Shelby putting a hand on the tree so that Toni wouldn’t bump her head, I, for some reason, am a sucker for the movement she does with her hand in this moment... 👇)

...and the conversation that follows (bonus: Toni’s heartmelting puppy eyes 🥺).

The downside is that, in order to have that conversation, Toni had the brilliant idea of cutting the kiss short

and even if she was 100% right in doing it, that bacius interruptus will never not be fucking frustrating to experience!X_____X 😣

03)Shelby Frenzing About Dot’s Birthday

Alright.. this is another complicated scene to describe. 1st of all, I know it’s technically not a Shoni scene, but you included the “fucking sexy actually” bit and so you kinda “forced me” to talk about the whole thing because I consider this scene and that one to be basically the 2 parts of the same scene, but the fact is.. I’m more of a fan of the 1st than the 2nd.

And now it comes the complicated part, which is explaining why. The 1st thing I could say is that, being asexual, I’m rarely a fan of scenes or even just speeches that revolve around sex... they tend to make me pretty uncomfortable and this does not make an exception. I’m literally Martha in that moment, who’s laughing and is genuinely happy for Toni but at the same time is like: “UGH! Stop it!X-P Cringe!>///<”

Other than that, there’s the fact Toni is being all happy and calm and trustful when WE KNOW Shelby has done something that will FOR SURE cause the Shoni troubles sooner or later!X”-((( 💔

I mean look at this face! Even if we didn’t know or we forgot about the boat thing (which I did the 1st time I watched!) it’s painfully obvious she’s feeling guilty about something! And it was super-obvious even in the previous scene, so much so that I imagined to be there with the girls and basically telling Shelby the same thing Fatin implied with her divorced dad analogy, but in a much more straightforward way.

Shelby: (Is frenzying over Dot’s party) Me: “What’s wrong, Shelby?🤨” Shelby: “Nothing! Nothing’s wrong, why?😁” Me: “You’re behaving like when you were on the plane, before this whole mess began.” Shelby: “I’m just excited for Dottie’s birthday and I’m trying to do my best to give her an awsome party!😁💕” Me: “IT’S A MASK. It’s like you’re feeling guilty for something you’ve done and now you’re trying to over-compensate without telling us what this is really about.🤨” (At this point Shelby probably tries to reply but sounds less convincing) Me: “You did do something!__! What have you done, Shelby?” Shelby: “Nothing...!😅” Me: “(Getting up and putting myself in front of her) WHAT HAVE YOU DONE, SHELBY?!?” Shelby: “NOTHING!” (I look at her for a while) Me: “Alright, Shelby. For the sake of Dot’s birthday I’ll pretend I believe you. I just hope that whatever this is (looks at Toni) it’s nothing too bad.X-(” (Sighs and composes himself) Me: “So... do you need me to do something? You know.. apart from.. going all Leah?;-P” (Shelby also composes herself, smiles like nothing happened and gives me a job to do) Me: “(Military salute) Aye aye, boss.”

So both the scenes have this little problem of me not being 100% able to enjoy them because I know something bad is going on with Shelby, but, on the other hand, if we forget about this “detail” for a moment, the 1st part compared to the 2nd it’s so much more funny!! 🤣🤣🤣🤣

-Fatin&Shelby debating about the need for the champagne(and SARAH giggling at it... because let’s face it, that was 100% Sarah and that’s a blooper that made into the cut because right before that Leah was pouting and right after that she’s pouting again like nothing happened!).

-The gesture Shelby does while saying “but for all of us”. -The Divorced Dad Energy Vibe exchange. -“Does Dot even like surprises?_?” “She hates surprises, end quote!:-P” “OK, let’s stick with the surprise! Alright? (Crazy eyes) Today’s about Dottie, we shall give her exactly what she’ll learn to love!😁💝” -Leah getting out of Shelby’s way.🤣🤣🤣I’m generally not a fan of hers, but in this scene she’s just hilarious.💙

-“Cultural appropriation, I’m not even mad at it.😄” -“(Crazy eyes)SWEET BABY JESUS,18 on the 18!!!😃🤩” -The twist with the wirst she makes here (I don’t know why, but I LOVE IT 😂)!

-“I delegate, you figure it out.U^U” -(Specifically in the English version)“OK, Rachel 👏 Martha 👏 BABE! 👏🐷 On your FEET! 👏”

-“SIGH, what have you done?:-P” “I have unleashed some sort of party coke fiend!:-P”

-Bonus: the perfect transition (that I cut from the director’s cut version but it’s still perfect) from Shelby talking about the piñata and Seth hitting the tree with the branch.

Let’s face it: this scene is a comedic masterpiece.😂😂😂

02)Literally this Entire Scene!

Side note: “Are you really trying to put me in pants, long sleeves and high sock?” “Uhmm... nnoo.. I-I’ve changed my mind about that...😏” (In “Spongebob” Narrator Voice”) “10 days later...”

Anyway... back to the perfect scene...!💖

(For some reason I love Shelby’s finger under Toni’s chin...🥰)

And the following scene it’s a literal miracle because as I said before I’m asexual and usually from pretty to deeply uncomfortable with the sex scenes... but this one managed to feel not like a sex scene but like a literal making love scene.💞It’s probably a combination of the song+the slow mo... I don’t know, all I know is that is perfect and I love it and I never avoid to rewatch it (unlike other scenes, including some Shoni ones)...🥰🥰🥰🥰

(Thanks to the fandom for making me notice the lip-bite...🤤)

(Toni’s ponytail passing over Shelby’s neck...😵)

How can their faces be SO DAMN CLOSE to each other and somehow not feeling (to them or us) weird or uncomfortablel????

Side Note: I love how Erana accidentally bit Mia’s lip as a blooper and then Mia “took her revenge” by biting Toni’s lip as Shelby in the actual scene!😈😏🤤

The only complains I have about this scene are: A)that they cut into the boys’ scene too soon, before the song was over and not even to a silent moment.. they IMMEDIATELY made someone talk OVER the final piece of music... whoever decided that YOU-ARE-AN-ASSHOLE!!!!!😡🤬💢In my director’s cut I was able to solve that problem BUT, since the scene I had to put next to that it’s the one where Leah is making that awkward sexy voice (remember how I generally feel uncomfortable around anything sexual?), I can never relax through the whole scene... I always have to get my guard up towards the end and be ready to remove the audio before she can speak!X-[ B)That Martha is literally in the way of our Shoni scene. The 1st time I saw it, it didn’t bother me.. it’s actually a pretty cool parallel, but, when you’re re-watching ONLY the Shoni scenes and this is 1 of your favorite, to always have Martha 3rd wheeling is really not ideal!:-P It doesn’t bother me much but.. it’s a little flaw in an otherwise perfectly fluid scene. C)Once again... the fucking fandom. More specifically those who complain because: “tHeyRe So DiRtY!1!!1!😫” WHO-THE FUCK-CARES???!!!!!>O< It’s the most romantic scene of the whole damn show, don’t ruin it for me by making me think of the girls’ dirty nails, I CAN’T CARE LESS!!!!X-O

01)FINISH HIM!!!!!

This scene simply has EVERYTHING!🤩

It starts goofy and cute...🥰

...it continues becoming the most fucking HILARIOUS/absurd thing ever...🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

(Side Note: you girls never really pee! You can never hear the sound of it! You’re clearely faking it!🤥🤥)

And then suddenly... time stops in a heartbeat!💖

And you know there’s something wrong and you also can perfectly guess what it is because you know Toni and you know her trust issues and, most importantly, her damn self-hatred...🥺💔

...but she smiles and kisses Shelby and for another brief moment your heart and your brain pretend that it’s all right...💞

...but then Toni makes you (and poor Shelby 💔) snap out of it and it reminds you that NO, it’s NOT all right...

...and that YES, she IS a fucking walking ball of self-hatred and she needs to be protected at all costs... first and foremost by HERSELF and her own low-to-the-ground self-esteem!!!!!😭💔

FUCKING-MASTERPIECE,this scene.❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️

And, once again, the credit doesn’t go only to the clever writing, but expecially to those 2 wonderful friends that are Mia&Erana 💕 because this scene and its spontaneity are the result of these 2 goofballs laughing on their own “almost about something else” while casually repeating their lines!;”-D

OK, it’s 02:15 2:45 AM and I can’t even post this long-ass thing directly because I need to check if I made any mistake or forgotten anything (I surely hope not considering how much I fucking wrote!X_____X) so I’m gonna save the draft and go to sleep and tomorrow I’ll check and post the final version as soon as I can.😴

EDIT: I did infact forget several things, including that last paragraph about Mia&Erana and I had to fix some minor details that took me FOREVER because Tumblr is a stupid asshole that forces me to re-write the same thing over and over before actually making it appearing in the post (including the very last sentence of this bloody post!!!!!)!

Anyway, it should all be ok now, I’ll post it like this and hope for the best.🤞

TOP TEN SHONI SCENES OF SEASON 2

Here it is, folks. The definitive ranking of the top ten Toni and Shelby scenes in season 2. Anyone who disagrees is a fool. A FOOL!!

Kidding. This is of course a totally subjective list, based on a number of factors, but ultimately coming down to what scenes mean the most to me. This is a shippers list, and as such, certain heartbreaking scenes might not make an appearance. Doesn’t mean I don’t think they’re important or well done. They’re just not going to be the scenes I keep coming back to for sustenance. 

SPOILERS FOR SEASON 2 (of course)

But before we get in to the list proper

HONORABLE MENTIONS

These are moments that are too brief to be proper scenes, but I couldn’t just leave unmentioned

First, what adorable goofs they were at Dot’s party, not able to be out of contact for longer than 5 seconds

Next, the little caress Toni gives Shelby as she tells her she’s not off to war.

And last Toni smelling (and even maybe kissing) Shelby’s sweatshirt while she tries to deal with ILY

OOF. Love that so much it almost made the full list. What did make the cut? Let’s get into it.

10. “Fucking Sexy Actually”

Toni simping over Shelby gets most of the attention here, and it’s understandable. It’s crazy and delightful to see Toni “I will cut you” Shailfoe listen to her girlfriend go full “Your work is bad and you should feel bad” and look her with giant hearts in her eyes. But there’s two other pieces that make this scene for me. One, her describing how safe she feels with Shelby.

But most importantly, her finding Shelby in full bossy party planner being “fucking sexy”

This to me fully confirms that she must have found Let’s Do An Icebreaker Shelby sexy as well. And that is delicious.

9. The Tree Falls

Worry is at the top of my list for shipping tropes, so seeing Shelby grab Toni like she was afraid the tree was still going to take her made my heart flutter. I do wish it was played out a bit more with some suspense and drama, but I have to love any scene that starts with this image.

8. “Most Perfect Moment of My life

I love everything about this scene, with all the girls. Leah and Rachel rocking out. Dot getting into it. Martha dancing. Fatin looking at Leah with adoration. But of course, for me, it always comes back to my girls. Toni looking at Shelby with that sweet love sick smile, and Shelby cuddling into her after confessing how amazing it all is to her. Perfectly suited for a moment that would make you understand how someone would be less then eager to go back to Dave Goodkind after being in this group and this love.

7. “I Never Won’t Love Her”

A little bit of a cheat here, as it’s more of a moment then a scene, but hearing that Shelby cannot and will not stop loving Toni, regardless of what’s happened, is too beautiful to let go.

Plus,

It gave us canon Leatin (or at least a mighty big seed for it)

6. April Come She Will

Just a beautiful scene, set to one of my favorite songs. We start with Worried Shelby

which leads to this beautiful image

which in turn leads into one of the best love making scenes I’ve seen in a good while, dirty hands not withstanding.

And honestly, I love that it starts with this goofy ass image.

These two are so unwilling to not be in contact that they’re walking like they’re in the goddamn Wizard of Oz. I love it

5. “And Every Single Fucking Day After”

The returned I love you may have come late, but it’s still so frigging beautiful. First, we get Toni declaring her intention to love Shelby for the rest of her life, in a perfectly Toni fashion.

Then two “I love you’s” and a happy teary Toni

I did not expect to see Toni tear up with happiness this season. It almost makes up for the pain that comes. Almost.

4. The Black Parade

First off, amazing use of transition and soundtrack. Second, it’s a return of the angsty kisses that began Shoni, but with added intensity and tree shoving action

But after that, the difficult discussion that follows is just as important and includes the utterly heart melting image of Toni trying not to smile too much when Shelby states she has no doubt about them.

And while it’s marred by what comes later, Toni comforting Shelby as she breaks down is so good to see. For a little bit, she was excatly what Shelby needed, and Shelby was exactly what she needed

3. Martha

This is probably a more decisive scene then most. Even I have some issues with it. (Still not sure how I feel about femme Toni). But the core premise, and the acting and vocals involved, will never not move me.

 It’s the closest we’ll ever get to a canon AU on this show. And while the dream aspect of it might foil some of the lovliness, it’s still Shelby singing about her love to Toni. That is just unspeakable powerful to me.

2. “Every Drug They Warned Us About”

I said it back in my episode notes, but this is such a great reintroduction to my girls. Cuddled up, looking at each other with that pure, fresh love. Shelby describing the bliss of being with Toni. Toni, in typcal fashion, teasing her for it, but not without letting her know how she feels.

The honest conversation about guilt and god. The “You Are So Beautiful” and this sight.

Look at her. LOOK. AT. HER.

1. “FINISH HIM!”

This is the scene I cannot stop watching. The pure bliss before the storm.

First, I love just how loose and goofy Toni is here. Stealing kisses from Shelby while teasing her for it.

Her voice sounds so much looser and high then I think we’ve ever heard it. She’s not trying to be tough or controlled. She’s had so many walls broken down and is just being free with the girl she loves.

The two of them are such ridiculous idiots in love here, even calling back the pee motif that’s followed them from ep 1. Never thought I could find that romantic but here we are.

And then it leads, of course to the I Love You.

There was a lot of speculation of where the first ILY might come…in an angst filled moment, in a deeply romantic time, after something serious had occured. But I’m really glad it came where it did. One of the biggest reasons these two love each other so much is they feel free with one another. And showing that through a Mortal Kombat fueled goof session is actually a really lovely choice to me.

And yes, it ends with the angst of Toni not saying it back. But i think that’s part of what makes it such a perfect scene. Toni and Shelby wouldn’t be Toni and Shelby without angst.

Alright, what are you thoughts? What rankings do you totally disagree with? What’s your number one? What moments did I miss that should have made the list? Let me know!

[mousieta]

I posted 1,164 times in 2021

178 posts created (15%)

986 posts reblogged (85%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 5.5 posts.

I added 276 tags in 2021

#dmbj - 53 posts

#mousie watches cdrama - 37 posts

#mousie watches kdrama - 29 posts

#the devil judge - 29 posts

#atots - 26 posts

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#farscape - 22 posts

#love and redemption - 20 posts

#ultimate note - 18 posts

#winter begonia - 17 posts

Longest Tag: 106 characters

#the truly hilarious part is its a tiny fandom istg 4 years of my life on something no one is going to read

My Top Posts in 2021

#5

2021 Dramas Watchlist

Reviews will be added as they’re written but I like to let some time elapse between finishing a show and writing up my thoughts. Also any tag I use for the show will be linked here.

Currently Watching

Hospital Playlist 2

The Tasty Florida

Bad Buddy

Strangers from Hell

The Red Sleeve

Boys over Flowers - Thailand

(D)ropped/ On-(H)old

(D) Word of Honor (thoughts to ep 11)

(D) Fish Upon the Sky

(D) The Rebel (tag) (thoughts thru ep 4)

(D) Nobleman Ryu’s Wedding

(H) Ever Night (tag)

(D) The King in Love

Completed

Dramas

Gaya Sa Pelikula (tag) (review)

Ashes of Love (tag) (review)

Hello Stranger (tag) (review)

Go Princess Go (tag) (review)

The Uncanny Counter (review)

Hikaru no Go (review)

I Told Sunset About You (tag) (review)

I Promised You the Moon (review)

Love and Redemption (tag) (review)

A Tale of Thousand Stars (tag) (review)

Lovely Writer (tag) (review)

Ultimate Note (tag) (review)

See the full post

19 notes • Posted 2021-03-20 17:05:10 GMT

#4

See the full post

21 notes • Posted 2021-08-17 15:28:48 GMT

#3

See the full post

22 notes • Posted 2021-06-23 02:09:53 GMT

#2

See the full post

23 notes • Posted 2021-08-04 02:47:13 GMT

#1

2021: Drama Rankings - In Progress Shows

Stranger 2 (2/16)

Year: 2020 Country: Korea Platform: Netflix Look, I know this one is going to be good. I just know it. The whole cast of season one has returned and I cannot *wait* to see Lee Joon Hyuk be an absolute cockroach of a terrible human being. Bae Doo Na and Jo Seung Woo are also amazing and season one was so, so good, riveting and gripping.  I watched the first two episodes and know we are going to be in for the same in this one. However, I just haven’t been in the right mood to immerse myself in it just yet. So I’m waiting for the right time, hopefully sometime next year.

Hospital Playlist 2 (5/12)

See the full post

31 notes • Posted 2021-12-27 03:16:36 GMT

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[ch-ch-ch-cherrymagic]

I posted 609 times in 2021

1 posts created (0%)

608 posts reblogged (100%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 608.0 posts.

I added 400 tags in 2021

#light on me - 106 posts

#atots - 58 posts

#cherry magic - 56 posts

#a tale of thousand stars - 45 posts

#color rush - 27 posts

#tgcf - 25 posts

#word of honor - 23 posts

#mr. queen - 21 posts

#dreamcatcher - 20 posts

#mr queen - 19 posts

Longest Tag: 126 characters

#“i know daon is going to try to win you over this ep!! there’s too much time in this ep for you to be saying bold statements!’

My Top Post in 2021

College life is watching the proposal scene of Cherry Magic as your roommate plays Freak Nasty by Megan Thee Stallion on the other side of the room

0 notes • Posted 2021-03-25 02:55:44 GMT

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[perpetua47]

I posted 613 times in 2021

11 posts created (2%)

602 posts reblogged (98%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 54.7 posts.

I added 667 tags in 2021

#the untamed - 234 posts

#cql - 123 posts

#xue yang - 66 posts

#mdzs - 48 posts

#wei wuxian - 41 posts

#fandom - 40 posts

#xiao xingchen - 38 posts

#word of honor - 29 posts

#jiang cheng - 27 posts

#yi city - 21 posts

Longest Tag: 139 characters

#not to appeal to age but if you don't remember what life was like before ao3 idk if you can fully understand unless you do a lot of reading

My Top Posts in 2021

#5

Finished nirvana in fire, headache from so many tears. 54 episodes, March 1- April 1. Honestly would have been faster if my one friend wasn't so busy that she could only put in 6-12 hours a week on watching this. HIGHLY RECOMMEND UGH. I only wish there were more fanfic (that looked appealing to me). Read the first 2 chapters of the novel, the author was also the screenwriter and i hear it's 90% the same, but there's always more details in the book.

3 notes • Posted 2021-04-02 06:18:28 GMT

#4

it’s incredibly hard to make myself block word of honor spoilers, because i don’t give a fuck about the plot and just want the gay. I’ve never before bothered with a show that i care *so little* about the plot of. too many factions, too much maguffin. I’ve watched through episode 7 and i have so little idea what is going on. And this isn’t about cdramas in general! with the untamed and nirvana in fire, i took extensive notes and rewatched the first episodes before i moved on. (wrote down 22 damn names on ep 1 of nirvana in fire, should have gotten a character guide sooner) anyway, i want to see gay gifs, but i will go for the actual best option and block it. there will still be new gay available when i catch up

5 notes • Posted 2021-04-10 00:05:15 GMT

#3

I LIKED EPISODE ONE OF LOKI VERY MUCH. I AM VERY HAPPY.  it is giving me things that i like, my tropes, my stuff, if you hate it or just don’t want to watch it, i completely understand. This opinion is coming to you from someone who cried for two hours over comics kid loki. Someone who did this for halloween in *2019*. (We were doing a comics group theme. But still. Not 2012. 2019.)  But. “Sex: Fluid”. This is the main thing I need from this show. All the psych stuff was exactly what I wanted, I’m just very happy. I’ll tag loki, feel free to filter away!

6 notes • Posted 2021-06-10 04:31:00 GMT

#2

Last night we watched Word of Honor ep 10, and i expect I'm not alone on having some really mixed feelings there! Decided i wasn't going to rec the show until i saw more and could decide how i really felt. Tonight we inhaled ep 11-14 and i want to just skip all obligations to binge this incredibly overdramatic gay. I've also started announcing things i want to see in smut, so that's a good sign.

This is not The Untamed. I am not going to rewatching this multiple times in a year, i might never rewatch it in full - i just don't caaaare about so much of the plot. But I'm having fun enough to want to binge! Catching up to the current subs and having to wait till June or whatever to see it all is gonna be TOUGH.

7 notes • Posted 2021-04-15 09:34:41 GMT

#1

so netflix has many options for the thumbnail they show you for a show, and... netflix knows. THEY KNOW. I haven’t even been rewatching their episodes. NETFLIX KNOWS MY CRIMES. This looks SO GAY. Why isn’t this a whole show. Why. They know I want it.  (read about the thumbnail thing here)  https://www.vox.com/2018/11/21/18106394/why-your-netflix-thumbnail-coverart-changes

8 notes • Posted 2021-01-18 06:27:39 GMT

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[sebyth]

I posted 2,237 times in 2021

223 posts created (10%)

2014 posts reblogged (90%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 9.0 posts.

I added 554 tags in 2021

#practice - 129 posts

#drawing - 123 posts

#studies - 120 posts

#word of honor - 40 posts

#killer and healer - 30 posts

#mixed media - 28 posts

#art journal - 27 posts

#pencil - 24 posts

#markers - 20 posts

#strangers from hell - 13 posts

Longest Tag: 113 characters

#we usually still give our heights and weights in american foot/inch etc even with the metric system being a thing

My Top Posts in 2021

#5

Today's face studies from "Killer and Healer". One of Boss Yu's Boyfrenemy (aka Mr Suspicious Guy), and the rest of Boss Yu. I call this sequence, "In which Boss Yu discovers that he was not prepared for the consequences of his actions".

20 notes • Posted 2021-05-31 23:37:49 GMT

#4

Started watching "Strangers from Hell" yesterday. I'm abut halfway through ep 2 now. I know nothing about the show or story, and am not even sure at this point what direction it's gonna go. It almost feels like there could be a supernatural element (with the whispering and dream sequences) but it could also very well not be that at all.

(side note, I probably will not be doing drawing studies from this show, at least not at this time. Not feeling good about my drawing at all right now in general)

23 notes • Posted 2021-08-03 12:33:02 GMT

#3

Today's face studies are from "Killer and Healer". I'm only a handful of episodes in but it seems like it could be an interesting show. Also looking forward to seeing one of the supporting actors in particular, as he's someone I've drawn in these studies months ago.

23 notes • Posted 2021-05-11 01:06:30 GMT

#2

Finally got through enough of the Shadowlands intro to meet this guy and decided to draw him last night.

29 notes • Posted 2021-03-22 12:34:15 GMT

#1

Today's page if face studies from "Killer and Healer". I just can't stop drawing Boss Yu. Up to episode 31 now.

29 notes • Posted 2021-06-07 03:51:31 GMT

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[christimesteele]

Transcript - Time Talks Ep 40 - Melancholy Joy Mixtape ft. carla joy bergman

Transcripts for Time Talks Ep 40 - Melancholy Joy Mixtape w ...

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

song, melancholy, music, joy, talking, people, melancholic, love, feel, listening, thought, big, play, life, hear, playlist, sad, carla, called, sole

SPEAKERS

Tracy Chapman, Pet Shop Boys, Holy Cole, Sade, Burial, Final Straw Podcast, Bobs Your Uncle, Sole, Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush, SBTRKT (feat. Sampha), Chris, carla, Andre 3000 - Me&My, Time  me, Jason/Maudlin Magpie & produced by A Thousand Vows, chris, Juice WRLD, Nat King Cole., Organized Konfusion

 chris time steele 00:04

Welcome to Episode 40 of the time talks podcast part of the channel zero network. This episode I'm joined by another channel zero network member. My wonderful friend carla bergman. carla is co-author of Joyful Militancy with Nick Montgomery. carla edited the book Radiant Voices and put together the Emma Talks series, and collaborated on the work Pandemic Solidarity. Along with being an author carla is a filmography checkout joyful threads productions. On top of that, check out the podcast carla collaborates on. There's the Silver Threads podcast and the Grounded Futures podcast. These links are in the show notes. For this episode, we had a conversation and put together a playlist on the topic of melancholy joy, sharing some of our stories and the ways we use music to navigate life and living. Thank you to Awareness for the music and here's a brief jingle from a fellow channeled zero network member.

 Final Straw Podcast  00:59

The final straw is a weekly anarchist radio show. It's fucking awesome and you're never gonna hear me say fucking awesome on our show. Because we're FCC regulated, there's a black part of my heart that that just flutters when you when you talk like that. Talk, then more yelling. it's a weird sort of like nice thing in a way but also can get kind of crushing at times the finalstrawradio.noblogs.org

 chris  01:32

I just wanted to begin and say that you're a wonderful writer, poet, curator, conductor, filmographer, author, revolutionary, Joyarchist, artist, kinetic thinker and so much more and just wanted to thank you for doing this Melancholy Joy Mixtape. I was wondering if you could kind of open with what you kind of frame what melancholy joy is? Because when you first mentioned it to me, just the phrase put together a lot of things that in a way that I like sad music and how sad music brought me relief, and how I've been attracted to two minor notes and all that and just the vibe so I really meant a lot to me when you mentioned it to me.

 carla joy bergman  02:14

That's really nice. It's an honor  to be here. Thank you. And I would repeat all that back to you, that you are too - kinetic thinker and Joyarchist, and all that.. thank you means a lot. I'm a bit nervecited as the My Little Pony say, Just give me a second. Yeah, if it's okay if I can give a little bit of a historical story around it because it like everything with me and always has this like, aha moment. So similar. I've always been attracted to sad music. And it was actually we have a radio station in Canada, that's, I guess, a public radio called CBC and did really good shows on it. And there was an episode on this idea of melancholy music, and so I was what's that? And of course, they talked about Joni Mitchell a lot, a Canadian sweetheart. And I was like, yeah, that's real. And they had said the person I can't even remember who was on probably a musician in Canada, but they said, you know, melancholy just means a thoughtful sadness. And I was like, Oh, yeah, that's what I am. I'm like, thoughtfully sad. But as time went on, I went through just stuff that was happening on the global like, collective grief 911 happened, some other stuff, some personal stuff. I really noticed that through all my sad periods of time, I always had a belly full of joy. Best way to describe it, I just, Joy's just really, really big in me. So I thought about a decade later, I I think I tried to create a handle on Twitter, melancholy joy, but I had done a few forums, online forums... And a part of it was because, I had a bit of a judgment that if you weren't melancholic, you weren't paying attention to the world, and but that you could still have a thriving life. So it has a kind of a political resonance to it like it will not even it went beyond music. The story moves into militant joy,  because militant, to me is more has more power, I guess, or more collective power. It's more active than melancholy. But the pandemic hit again, or hit and melancholy really resurfaced in my life. Collectively, I could feel that collective grief. And I was just really attracted again to listen to melancholy joy music and, really listening to your album that you put out this year. reignited that again in me and I think that's why I said sent it to you because I was like, Oh, this is melancholy, joy, music, then your newest one that you've put out.

 chris  04:44

Thank you so much. That's so kind. And I also see the phrase you use of melancholic hope. And that's a really powerful word too. And I think that's kind of what you find in the melancholy joy is this hope of kind of listening to sad music or music that helps you reflect and re energize yourself again, and there's a hope in melancholy, of just even being able to verbalize or feel that you're melancholic is the hope because you're able, then you're reflecting and saying, like, I'm sad, I have sadness and anger. And I'm able to work with those now, and kind of water those seeds to work through problems. And I think that's one thing that music does so well.

 carla  05:30

Yeah, I love that. Nick Montgomery, who co wrote joyful militancy started talking about Empire and joy, and our book, using music as an example. And that Empire has this really loud music that's really loud and drowns everything else out. And when I started, when you asked me to do this show, I was like, Oh, I wonder how melancholy joy music fits into disrupting that, because one of the things that I added to the conversation was that it's, the problem is listening. It's not so much that it's louder. I think that we, all the other music or other sounds are the other ways of talking with each other is there, it’s present. And there's something about that melancholic hope, like you say that it's there. Like the possibilities are there, the seeds are there, and they just need us to water them, as you so graciously said to me once, that I loved. Yeah, so yeah, I love that.

 chris  06:23

Yeah, what you say of how it's there. That's really, I feel the explanation and so hard to explain it with melancholy joy in those terms, like it's something that's there, it's something you can feel, and it's like a vibe, and joyful militancy. I really liked the quote from Glen Coulthard. When you mentioned you all had mentioned that he put his finger on something of sadness and anger and how they often stem from love. And just a little bit of this quote is: "I think that for the somber, melancholic militant, I get it, I understand it, how could you not be, and this is my point, the only way you respond to the world like that is because of some base sort of individual and collective self respect, some love for oneself and others, were the land that you are being violated in a profound way. This produces melancholy, anger, whatever, they're not separable." And I really thought that that whole quote is just powerful. And for anyone who has a book, it's on page 175. So there's no citation violations there.

 carla  07:27

Nope. You can also get the book for free online.

 chris  07:32

Yeah, I wanted to. I really thought that that quote was, he added more to this conversation too.

 carla  07:38

Thanks for finding it. I need to put his whole interview up. It's so incredible.

 chris  07:43

That'd be awesome.

 carla  07:44

Yeah, that's really good. Because we interviewed him, obviously, because he talks about resentment and anger so much. And it was, like affirmative theory. It includes anger and  rage. It's not negation, right, like, negation something else. And so I, thank you for bringing him in. Because I think that's a really important distinction about where melancholy fits into the conversation right now. I worked really hard to not be a melancholic person. So it's like dang, it's back again.

 chris  08:17

Well, yeah, I hope it's like a productive melancholy joy. I mean, that's what I wanted. That's what I really felt with this mixtape. And then it brings up deeper discussions on our end.  And, feelings and, and just other reactions that I feel are productive in thinking deeper about society. And a lot of these things are produced from such a disgusting messed up society, at least with my picks that helped me find ways to navigate through these parts of society. So before we start, I was just going to just give a little intro on why I picked these, a whole foundation of how I picked them. And I just wanted to say that I framed how I picked my choices with assuming that there's a lot of nuances and and I'm sure that's why you picked yours as well, that they have nuances that they're not just the songs but they relate to life, your life and timeline. And I picked these songs for a few reasons. For one, they may sound like they're more melancholy songs, but they bring joy and solace. They are often songs I go to when I feel no more hope or little hope, songs I go to, to recharge, to recalibrate, to keep reminding myself that I'm not going to feel this way forever. And along with these choices, when I'm stressed I often find I get attached to a song and it becomes my crutch. I don't know if you're that way. They become my friend when I'm lonely and alienated, usually from work and ironically self imposed isolation that I often do unknowingly and then realize  ...these were also songs that were some of my only friends during tough times that helped me build me back up again. Hopefully they can be tools for others and spark other discussions, another playlist like this.

 carla  10:02

Oh, that's really beautiful. Thank you. Yeah, definitely some of that. For me the friend part for sure. The helping me move through like, I think melancholy is something that is imposed on us from the conditions of the world we're living in. And I think joy maybe is something that's within us that we can... Ursula Le Guin in the dispossessed talks about it as something that you can't control at all, It just will come in and do its thing and leave. I just really love that distinction. It was the seed for me thinking about joy differently. So yeah, when I think with my playlists, there's a couple things. I physically get affected when I'm sad. So my body gets, I get sick. I can't move. So for me, music has to have an element that makes me move. And I think that joy moves - when I move it moves with me or it moves first. I don't know what you know, is what comes first. But the music definitely, because thinking about like, part of whether it's collective or individually, like we try to find some harmony, and you think about that in terms of music, right? Like, what is that about? Like, what was that? What are we looking for ourselves, when we're not doing well, when were depleted and stagnated? and sad? Yeah, so I think that, that played like a role. I also thought about my personal journey in terms of finding freedom within myself. From stagnant music, what do you call it? First Family, our family of origin stuff that I needed to get away from some of those songs are about that and becoming a parent. I have like a definitely a theme of Don't tell me what to do. And I don't want to grow up. I think all of that kind of fits in. And it's kind of covering up Mushishi

 chris  11:49

Yeah

 carla  11:49

Because it's connected. I have a question for you before we maybe share playlists but I was rewatching Mushishi, maybe you can explain what Mushishi is after people need to but just google it. It's an animation. It's beautiful. Zen Buddhist healer Guy Ginko. But one of the episodes was about I think it's like the second or third one of the first season. I'm not gonna go into details of it because it's a small part of the story but Mushi comes in... mushi are these things that are not human, they are not fauna or flora, they're in between. And it comes into when there's no sound around. It burrows into the human's ears and eats their sound. I don't know if you remember that one. But, so it made me think about like, what is my sound? because I think this is connected to what music I'm drawn to. Because maybe that counterpoint or, or where's the harmony, from my sound to the sound from music. And in the show the woman who talks about it, her sound is lava, which is really intense sound to have to live with, holy. I asked my friend in Japan if it's a Japanese thing, and she said it's not but maybe regionally. I tried to find it, but there's probably not an English translation for it. But it feels pretty human. Like, I think it's pretty pan human probably that we can think about this. So I was thinking about like, my sound feels like if I feel into it, it's like the wind is collaborative. It's like the wind off of like a soft ocean, but it it has to go up into the trees too,  like it's like this.woosh woosh. So when I thought about all the music I picked, I could hear it, I could feel it in it. So I'm curious if you've ever thought of that? Do you have a sound?

 chris  13:34

That's an awesome question. I love the wind that you're talking about. The wind. I like wind in music. Sometimes I hear that a lot like Kate Bush's music, she creates these atmospheres. And a lot of her songs are about the mountain to go on top of the mountain. I would say a sound that I really resonate with is something I resonate most with is rain. So in a lot of my lyrics I'll use different words for rain like the typewriter rain tapped on the roof or the Fred Astaire rain or something like I'm always trying to get back to rain and I find it comforting and I live in a desert in so called Denver so we don't get a lot of rain. And, I also I like water too, sounds of water I find that calming, in Mushishi really has its soundtrack is very calming to the Anime. And I think it's the episode you're talking about when the mushi is in the pillow and going into people's ears, and the mushi turns into almost like conjis and it's dancing and going into people's ears or something. That one is so powerful. And one thing I really like about Ginko is he kind of does this mutual aid where he's going around town to town just helping people in educating and he's very introverted, he's not the most outwardly kindest person but Ginko has so much love in him. He just has a different way of his love language speaking.

 carla  14:20

Yeah, everyone should watch Mushishi, or read the manga because they're equally as good if you need books.

 chris  15:08

So good. Yeah, I love it.

 carla  15:11

Yeah. And I think, yeah, we could we could do a whole show on Ginko

 chris  15:16

That would be great.

 carla  15:17

Because, ok just real quick the thing I always tell people why they should watch it is because there's no there's no judgment on the mushi or on the person who has it. The only judgment really is the people who don't help the person who's not well, that's the only time I see Ginko get upset with somebody is when they've done the wrong thing in terms of helping somebody, like they've judged them or something. And we could just all embody a bit of that we'd have a better world. You know?

 chris  15:42

Yeah, I love that. I love that interpretation.

 carla  15:45

Also, I need to say because any of my friends who are listening in family, I need to respond and say that rain is like, my favorite thing in the world. I did a whole project called rain. It stood for radical art in nature.

 chris  15:58

I love that

 carla  16:02

Yeah. rain is and I live in a rainforest. So I get a lot of rain. Yeah. So much of my son's music, Zach's music has rain in it. I am with you on that one.

 chris  16:12

That doesn't surprise me. We have so many commonalities.

 carla  16:15

I know.

 chris  16:16

So I'm gonna start with Bob's, Talk to the Birds by Bob's Your Uncle.

 carla  16:22

Okay, so this came out in 1985. I was living in so called Victoria, which is like the capital of British Columbia. And I was 18 just going on 19 and I hung out at a punk bar. With all the punk bands that played there that came through No means No, Dagloabortions, a lot of local people, but also Black Flag came through and so on and so forth. And when Bob's your Uncle came through, it was so exciting. First of all, a woman front person was really quite rare. A woman of color was even more rare in punk. And they were just they talk about joy, but it was also about feeling alienated as young people and poor people. And so it had that melancholic energy to it. And I bought their tape and I had a little yellow Walkman and I played it so much that it died. And she's at she's went on Sook Yin Lee has gone on to be she was like a vj for Much Music, which is the Canadian version of MTV which was really big back, and she was in Shortbus the movie. Now she's on CBC and does other stuff but yeah, I talked to birds I still do. I still talk to the birds.

 Bobs Your Uncle  17:35

SONG: Talk To The Birds

 chris  21:12

I love that song. When I heard this song, it really made me think just like the rebelliousness of school at first. Kind of imagine the teacher and then ditching class and then getting your real class from talking to some birds, or your real education from leaving school and going into nature. Also thought of it as an overarching ideology as well.

 carla  21:40

Oh, yeah, say more

 chris  21:42

Or just, they'll tell you, they tell you to do this, they say do this. But usually everything that they tell you to do with an ideology or hegemony is some form of coercion to get you to start renting somewhere, because you need to have all of these things, but you have to sell your time and your body for money. And people will tell you, well, if you don't have enough money, ideology, and capitalism says well get two jobs, you know, and they are always telling you something that's going to lead to more coercion instead of any form of liberation.

 carla  22:19

Yeah, they're really fun. People should look them up. They have this one song. If I knew  baking a cake or something. It's probably a cover. If I knew you were coming I’d have baked a cake. You know that song?

 chris  22:30

Oh, yeah.

 carla  22:31

 Yeah, they do it really well

 chris  22:33

Anything else you want to add on that song?

 carla  22:36

Oh, just I mean, I think like, the big thing was that they were just, it was just really great to encounter them during a time when punk was really important to me. But alongside that in a city that racism is really, really ramped. I was just everywhere, Victoria is very British. Like you cannot always tell the difference between the skinheads and the punks. So I don't know. They were just really great.

 chris  23:02

That's awesome. Thank you for showing me their music. Okay, so this song is by Organized Konfusion. Who is Prince Poetry and  Pharoahe Monch. And they're, they're an older group. And Pharoahe Monch has turned out to be one of my favorite lyricists when I got older. And Prince Poetry was amazing. And this song is probably one of my biggest go tos when just feeling down or, or depressed or existential. Yeah, that song is just really deep. And it talks about these two fetuses inside of their mother. And they're kind of just rapping about life.

 Organized Konfusion  24:07

SONG Invetro

 carla  24:33

I love that one really speaks to that power of the joy. You know? Despite everything, be curious and dream. I Love it. And it also makes me want to move, which is like my criteria for melancholy joy music.

 Chris  27:44

It's a great beat. I love it. And one of the lines that when I was re listening to this song is by Prince poetry, he says, “overshadowed in darkness where curiosity is my light.” And I just love that bar so much. And it reminded me of our conversation. But like the deeper, like a deeper meaning to this song is I don't know, it just makes me think about mortality a lot. And when my mom was pregnant with me, she smoked. And the whole time I resonated with what Pharoahe Monch was talking about. And he was born with asthma, actually. And I think he struggles with that during shows but is an amazing performer. And then another thing is when my mom I think was about eight, nine months pregnant, she fell down the stairs. And she landed on her stomach. And she was bleeding profusely and she was crying. She's freaking out. She went to the hospital. And the doctor told her that her baby was dead, which was me. And she needed to have it removed. And she was just in shock. So she left the hospital and was like, oh, I'll deal with this tomorrow. And then when she went back to her own doctor, they were like, No, your baby's alive has a heartbeat. So it must have been knocked out or something. I don't know.

 carla  29:15

Wow, that is beautiful.

 chris  29:17

Yeah. crazy story.

 carla  29:21

So my mom was told that I wasn't gonna I was dead too. I wasn't gonna live.

 chris  29:26

Wow. And

 carla  29:30

yeah. She didn't have an accident. I was like, it was just, it was a situation and during labor. And they had to make a decision to save her or me, they chose her because obviously she had four children.

 chris  29:44

Wow. Amazing. Thank you for sharing that story. That's so powerful

 carla  29:50

Well same, I guess we really needed to be here.

 Chris  29:55

Yeah,

 carla  29:55

or wanted to be here

 chris  29:56

Alright, so I'm going to play the next song, which is Don't Give Up by Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush.

 carla  30:03

I mean, first of all, that hug in the video, just the beauty of the like friendship that they have for each other and the intimacy that's just so pure. I tried to post it early on in the pandemic, because I was like, Who else needs to see this all the time? But I kept getting taken down because I didn't have rights to it. But, yeah, it's kind of like an ethos that's run through my life. I even had a campaign during the Thistle days that I went around to all the schools me my friend, I probably shouldn't say whatever, it doesn't matter. We had stickers that said, don't give up quit. Because to me, it's like part of not giving up is not giving up on yourself. And so that means you sometimes gotta quit a whole pile of things. Especially with young people I like to frame it that way. And yeah, this song just when I'm at my like, lowest lowest point I always go to it I mean, I Gabriel is just so important when I was a teen and Kate Bush especially later on... also other people who have performed it with it. I loved it too like Paula Cole, who was his backup singer for years and then went on to her own career. Yeah, just, it's just a it's a it's a love story about friendship. I think a lot of people think it's about a romantic relationship but I mean she she even talks about like what your your your friends we have you we got you, you know? Yeah, somebody on the brink helped remember that friends. It's so good.

 Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush  31:30

SONG: Don't Give Up

 37:22

Yeah, I love this song

 chris  37:24

Yeah, I love this song and I really hadn't really heard it much until you had mentioned it to me. And I've been listening to it all week. And yeah, you're right. It's like a love story about friends. So cool and people need to hear those words don't give up but they also need to hear you worry too much. Just move on with it. So those messages

 carla  37:48

Yeah, and on a personal trajectory like that last part. When Gabriel goes into the big reveal walking across the bridge like that. I listened to that probably on repeat when I was making the decision to leave my family behind. And like I would put it on my headphones and walk over these bridges. Like, act it out, I'm gonna do it, I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna do it. So yeah, just like finding belonging. They talked about that in the song. It's so powerful. And what gets me is that it is still powerful, you know, after all these years, because it's speaking to our alienation from each other. And

 chris  38:28

Yeah, that's how you know, it's, it's so real. I think another thing really cool about Kate Bush, and she actually incorporates her family a lot in her music. You know, her son was the one who encouraged her to go back into performing live again. And then she has him on her last live album. He's singing like three different songs with her. And I didn't know he was the one who made her start doing live shows again, and his voice is awesome, too.

 carla  38:55

Thanks for sharing that I had no idea about that. And of course, as you know, I collaborate with my kids so that..my eldest had everything to do with helping you pick out this list.

 chris  39:07

Exactly. It made me think about that.

 carla  39:09

And that's really nice. And he's actually a huge Kate Bush fan bigger than me, so that's really nice. I wonder if he knows he probably does. Sole actually texted me the other day and said, it must be amazing to collaborate with your kid like, holy shit.

 chris  39:26

This song is by Andre 3000 from OutKast, and he's taken a big hiatus, aside from doing features and stuff. He's been just learning to play the clarinet and diving into jazz more, but he came back and did this song, I believe with James Blake, who did the piano and the song is another song that I go to. It's a heartbreaking song called Me and My To Bury Your Parents.

  Andre 3000 - Me&My  40:05

SONG: Me and My

 carla  43:48

I had never heard that song until I saw your list and it's really sad. But also has this thread of like I can feel the light in it , and the joy. I mean, personally, it may not think about my parents, but it made me think about my eldest brother who died. Who was like my... there's the chorus of me and my and my and they don't say, he doesn't say anything else. Oh, yeah, that. 

 Chris  44:14

Yeah. And when you mentioned that, I noticed today that he goes, me and my mother. At the end, he goes, me and my mother, me and my father, me and my, me and, and then me as he ends it, and I had never noticed that breakdown until today. It was like, gave me goosebumps.

 carla  44:36

Totally.

 chris  44:37

Yeah, and it's such a heartbreaking song. But yeah, you're right. It has this joy in it. It has this nostalgic joy of even though, you know, he had to bury his parents. He has these memories and he has love with them. And as we talked about, time not being linear, so much. That's the beauty of nostalgia and the beauty of music that can conjure those time frames.

 carla  45:01

You have an album called Newstalgia, did you come up with that?

 chris  45:05

Like at the time I thought I did, but I don't know if I really did. Because I think there's even a producer or a rapper that goes by the name Newstalgia

 carla  45:13

Right. Well, first of all, I heard it. And what I liked about it, I think there's an eagle right over my head. PS like, five inches. Okay, we talked about this a lot on this Silver Threads podcast, because I'm really interested in like, grabbing stuff from like, from the past and the future. But making sure we weave it into right now in the present. And newstalgia just captures that in a way that I hadn't really, I didn't have a word for it. I was just like, grab the thread from there and there and make a thing. And that's what I hear in the song. It's really great.

 chris  45:56

Yeah, that was my exact thought with the album. I was like, I’m such a loser. I'm always like, with nostalgia. I'm always going towards it. It's like, but you have to love the present too. And I was like, what if I you know, the present could feel like nostalgia. If you were making those, those memories and those feelings and feeling them as nostalgia feels in the present. I feel there's a danger of just going to nostalgia all the time.

 carla  46:24

Totally. Yeah.

 chris  46:25

At least for me.

 carla  46:26

Same, that's where depression links. lingers. Yeah.

 chris  46:32

Okay, we're going to go to Fast Car by Tracy Chapman

 carla  46:36

We won't play this whole song.. cry. Well, first of all, Tracy Chapman is like, where I really learned my politics. You know, like, you know, I grew up in around a lot of punk music and stuff, but I have a joke where like, there's sex pistol anarchism, and then there's anarchism, right? Or anti authoritarianism or whatever. Anyways, Tracy is like her music just educated me in a way that the other punk didn't - she's just incredible. I saw her live. It was like the best thing ever, outside... And this song as someone who grew up pretty poor in a dysfunctional home and when I met my partner like it's just our song just everything about it. And you know, it is our trajectory like if he could just like give me the foundation I will take us places kind of thing and even after it's been moving together over 30 years and we still like hear it and go it's feels like yesterday, but we had to take this leap of faith together and run away or run towards joy in our life and yeah, it's just I think it's like a pinnacle melancholy joy song because it's a lot of loss wrapped up in it but it's also about freedom and liberation and finding your way.

 Tracy Chapman  48:37

SONG Fast Car

  chris  52:00

I love that song. The way that she goes from narration to heart so effortlessly is just amazing. I love the lyrics so much. And I was wondering when you said that, along with punk because I know you have a history with the punk scene, the different branches that Tracy Chapman gave you maybe with like a political vocabulary or outlook?

 carla  52:26

Right, I mean, I guess it was just, you know, to borrow the phrase intersectionality I mean, that it had also had especially to that album, like it had a lot about forgiveness on it and love. And yeah, finding the path towards liberation versus just always in fighting against or negation. And that was something I really needed.  You know, early on, when my brother was into punk, I used to say, I don't know how you can listen to this. It's just all negative. And like, No wonder you're depressed all the time. Like, you know, I listened to The Police instead. This is like 77/78. So finding her like she had that kind of like, you know, things are bad. Call things what they were, she was, you know, obviously, pointing out the horrors of the world. But within this framework of a container of like love and kindness, forgiveness, that was really beautiful. Like the other song on the album, though. Chris, my partner, when I met him he had played on the guitar. Three of the songs he played and sang.

 chris  53:35

No way. That's awesome.That's so cool.

 carla  53:40

I don't know. What about you? 

 chris  53:42

When I first heard this song, it really brought out a lot of the just the stories that you don't often hear about, of a really just class issues. And of course, race and white supremacy tied into these. But when you hear the the one that really resonates with me is the man who was drinking becauses his body, he felt had no more use, but his he was much too young for how his body looked... that's so powerful, just that, that phrasing of the way that she took it. And it really just made me think of when I worked in the Union. I worked in the stagehands Union for a while, right before COVID or year before COVID. And I was on the carpet duty which was a horrible thing. So I would lay miles of carpet a day in the convention centers for Comic Cons and stuff. And these guys that I worked with that had been there for years, they could only be comfortable when they were laying carpet when they were trying to walk out to the light rail station, it brought them horrible pain to walk and they had their legs had so much arthritis and stuff and these guys weren't even that old. It really, that lyric really resonated with me when I heard this again.

 carla  54:56

Yeah, yeah, the working class stuff was really. It's a big part of why that song works for us.

 chris  55:03

Do you want to add on this?

 carla  55:06

Just that it had the theme of finding belonging again, which was like oh, there's that that's probably what's underneath all of my play song

 chris  55:14

this story behind this song too, that you shared. So I'm gonna play the next song is miserabilism by Pet Shop Boys

 Pet Shop Boys  58:12

SONG: Miserabilism

 chris  59:20

The way I got into this song was actually when I started working from home during COVID. I've been laid off from my other job, and I started at the call center job I was talking about. And this was like a hellacious job in between calls which was usually only about 20 seconds. I would throw on I was like I'm gonna try to get through all these discographies of people I like, and I was like I was going through Pet Shop Boys, I had never heard the song it was on some B-side and I was like this song is amazing. It's because I've always thought that the whole Disney narrative has messed up so many people of this capitalist thing of working hard. There's someone for everyone you'll find love, all these things. They create a golden, a gold plated lust. That is a form of what they call love, and dusted with capitalism or something like that. And when he's talking about just that life will be disappointing and all these things and not having expectations. It's just so well said and comforting. I found, especially while working in a call center.

 carla  1:00:25

Yeah, thanks for sharing that story and re-listening to that and hadn’t listened to it years, but there was a line in it. I think, I  hope, it's in it. Oh, my gosh, it made me think: I wonder if this was some seeds around the melancholy thing of being like wearing it as a badge of honor because it there's that line where just for the sake of it, make sure you're always frowning It shows the world you're got substance and depth. Like I was quite judging of you if people were not melancholy. I was like, You can't be paying, you're just not paying attention. How many people are suffering?

 chris  1:00:58

Yeah, that's actually yeah, that's the third verse. Yeah, it's it's one of my favorite lines, because it's just it's funny for one, but then yeah, it's kind of deep too. And it's like, there's a lot of people who, and I know there's so much to you know, different neuro divergence of sometimes people who smile the most are actually very depressed. I just like how he plays with this whole thing of you have to show that if you see someone frowning,  they understand this philosophy of miserabilism. There's no happy endings just a message to depress and it's so funny and true.

 carla  1:01:35

And it has a beat that makes you move so that the joy can move. Yeah, they always said the great dancy beats. Okay, so now we're going to Nat King Cole. Song Nature Boy. Oh, I didn't have the song on my first playlist. I think first one, I sent to you didn't have this. I do have it on the large original one. But I was on a walk with Zach and  he reminded me that I sing the song all the time.  When I am not doing well. And also because like love was like the thing like you centering everything in love is what actually got you healthy. It's not It's not about the negative and fighting back and Don't tell me what to do and don't want to do this and I don't want to it was all about actually more affirmative and really big fan of Moulin Rouge, seen it more than I want to admit and including seeing it in San Francisco at the Castro with everyone's with a sing along. So the song is just incredible and because there is the melancholic energy throughout it but you know, the message is so short and so quick, but it's everything.

 Nat King Cole.  1:02:44

SONG: Nature Boy

 chris  1:05:10

I think that is just such good advice, this song and I wish I would have heard this when I was young. The the message is so powerful. Oh, you were speaking of the Moulin Rouge

 carla  1:05:36

Actually been there I haven't been inside but I've seen it outside of Paris  - that's really good to know. Have you not seen the movie?

 chris  1:05:45

I'm not in a long time. I haven't No.

 carla  1:05:48

Yeah, it's we have a joke in our family that it's actually Christian that is actually the character not Ewan McGregor but the joke is a Ewan McGregor gave me a call tomorrow that I dumped the whole family. But it's it's really that character just heartache, and so beautiful.

 chris  1:06:09

Love it. And this is the most common song that you you actually verbalize when you're stressed out?

 carla  1:06:16

Yeah. that's one of those things I didn't even know I did it can reflect people you live with reflect back to you did this thing

 chris  1:06:25

I love that your kid collaborated and got this song on here and then got this song into my into my heart in my mind. Okay, so I'm going to now play  Sade - When Am I Going To Make a Living?

 Sade  1:07:20

SONG: When Am I Going To Make a Living?

 chris  1:09:56

So aside from this, it has been an amazing song, and I am a big Sade fan, when I was in high school, I stopped playing basketball, and for the school, and I broke my knee and had surgery and then to play basketball. So I started working at the hospital. And I was working at Rose Medical Hospital in Denver. And they had this free jukebox in the cafeteria. And this was one of the albums that was on there. And there was this this woman who I worked with in the cafeteria and in the kitchen and she showed me this song. And she was kind of like my real teacher, she was teaching me through Sade. She was saying, she would always tell me the line that the waste your body and soul if you allow them, and she was an older Black woman from the south, and she was like a mentor to me, she was like you need to do good in school, would talk to me about getting out of there getting out of the kitchen, if I could. So I was a pot washer, was probably there till I was 19, so probably about five years. And the jukebox had all kinds of other annoying albums. And this was the one that was great. I remember they had a Who let the Dogs Out by the Bahama Men, and it was a single, and this one cook he put in the code like six times to drive people crazy. And then we'd have to unplug the jukebox. But I really just learned a lot from this song. This song just has such a powerful message.  

Carla 1:11:14

I love that story. Holy moly. Is that like layers? Yeah, she's amazing, big on the playlist of me, choosing joy over sorrow, really, at that time in 2001. And listen to her a lot. This song is really important for me too, because I was in the restaurant business for years. It's like generational, like my grandmother owned restaurants. And I was really good at it. And I was in Toronto and I was the the owner wanted me to open a restaurant with him in Vancouver and be partners and I was listening not to the song, but to some part of my playlists and other people and just like I'm gonna not be working class anymore which is a joke ,because you can't actually say you're not going to do anymore. But I decided that I had a retirement party. And I've never turned back. I've never worked in a restaurant since I was 35, I think it's just a really important message in there is just an important nuance because people like capitalists, what's that shit line of like, do what you love, the money will follow bullshit. But there's the thing with like working class folks that we do to ourselves where we don't we don't believe in ourselves and I love that in this line. But in that line in the song I think yeah, there's just a nuance in it that it's not about playing the capitalist game, but it's about believing in yourself so that you can find thriving. Yeah, thanks for picking it.

 chris  1:12:49

Yeah. I love that. Thanks for adding that. We're doing the Holly Cole version. So this next song is I Don't Want to Grow Up

 Holy Cole  1:13:26

SONG: I Don't Want To Grow Up

 carla  1:17:00

Yeah, so this song has played a factor, since I was a teenager because the Ramones did it first, much more upbeat, funnier version. Really, I think, the perfect version for a teen to listen to, really resonated. I have fought so called adultism all my life in terms of the rigidity that I seen the suffering and whatever that meant. And then fast forward bunch of years, just after I gave birth to Zach my oldest son in 94. That's around when she came out with this album, she covered a bunch of Tom Waits songs. Which is funny because Tom Waits version is actually the one that resonates the most with me now because it feels so playful and he's older and I don't know I just relate to him more I think but this was really I was really stuck with what does it mean to not want to grow up in this way but be  a parent and i just yeah, I listened to it often and with you know, my baby on my on my chest, thinking about it didn't give in didn't grow up in that way.

 chris  1:18:09

I love those threads that you put through it. Yeah, I do. I think the Ramones is the the you know the most playful and then Tom Waits is kind of the middle, which Tom Waits is what Tom Waits is so good at, of being melancholy and playful and funny at the same time. And then Holly Cole just really brings out, takes takes away that sarcasm and you really just feel the the rawness of the lyrics, which is why I love this version  it's Yeah, it's so powerful, but still resilient at the same time.

 carla  1:18:40

Totally. Yeah. Tom Waits. Exactly. And I originally picked his version because it is melancholic joy. But the story is better.

 chris  1:18:48

No, yeah, thank you for something that all together. We messed around and made a really good playlist.

 carla  1:18:54

Yes. Totally fun. It was Yeah, melancholy joy.

 chris  1:18:59

So I'm going to play the track Legends by Juice WRLD who recently passed away rest in peace Juice Wrld

 Juice WRLD  1:19:06

SONG: Legends

 chris  1:22:15

You can hear Juice WRLD’s, his heart and his music and his his soul and just the vulnerability of mostly  Juice WRLD's music is so powerful and his voice the the beats that he uses too. And I really just resonate to the song because I don't know if it goes back to when my mom was smoking when she was pregnant, but my lungs, they they collapse randomly and actually collapsed four times one right when I turned 18, just back to back and then I had up surgeries. And the top lobes of my lungs had to be removed. And I was going in and out of the hospital for probably about a year or two. So I was always on dilaudid in the hospital, just messed up my head so bad. And then they would give me like percocets and all this. And, you know, it's essentially like battling with addiction of pain pills, just because I was depressed. But I didn't think I was I think that was the scariest thing. It just was like, Oh yeah, I'll take one because I have all these and I have a little bit of pain. And then it was turning into, you know, a hole to dig down that that was a dangerous hole. And I really just relate to what, what Juice WRLD’s talking about in this on top of this. And the things that he struggled with. I know there was another artist that was lost who had a similar vulnerability to their lyrics was Lil Peep. Couple years ago, too. It's just had this amazing way of writing too. And the lyrics that really resonate with me in the song is that I usually have an answer to the question but this time I'm going to be quiet. Ain't nothing like the feeling of uncertainty that eeriness of silence. And so powerful. When I work with a lot of youth in high schools, I know a lot of them relate to juice wrld too, because they're going in school at this time that's worried about school shootings, worried about climate change. So many existential things are already heavy on top of just being in high school, those feelings at the time. So there's just a lot of intersections and things that collide with this song and why I relate to it.

 carla  1:24:25

Thanks for sharing about your story and being vulnerable. I am so sorry. That's a lot to contend with. Glad you

 chris  1:24:32

Thank you.

 carla  1:24:34

Yeah, music really helps, right?

 chris  1:24:37

Yeah.

 carla  1:24:38

I love that song, too. I actually had the same quote pulled out so not surprisingly, I just yeah, I had shared the list with Zach today. And he was blown away that the song was on it. And he was like, Oh, it's just too sad. Lil Peep and they're all dead...Yeah. But yeah, the love for each other, though that comes through in the song. Like about, you know, like the music will live on it's one of the things that writers die to like I'm like, I'm so grateful that I still have their their words to carry me, carry generations, not just me. I really like that in that too. Yeah.

 chris  1:25:17

Yeah, and like one beautiful thing about art is that it literally saves lives. And I know that this song saves lives every day. And that's another thing of just beautiful art.

 carla  1:25:30

Yeah. yeah

 chris  1:25:31

Okay, so this next track is better by Burial. The new song is Untrue.

 Burial  1:25:35

SONG: Untrue

 carla  1:31:15

Feelings, feelings and saw because you girl, man Yeah, there's like many stories for this. I think probably why I I think probably why I chose it is in 2017 I got really sick and was in bed for about eight months. I love to dance. It's how I like how I move through being sad, and I couldn't dance. So I kind of came up with this plan that if I put a record on and laid on the floor, like on the hardwood floor, I would feel the vibrations of the music. And my body would get my Vegas nerve activated. Move. And Zach put on this and yeah, it just became like a healing theme song. Especially Untrue. And then during the pandemic, it just, you know, that feeling of being in quarantine and stuff and being stuck at home like, had a similar feeling even though I could physically dance. So, you know, I just listened to it every day. And I mean, we have all of Burial's stuff. But this is the one that I go to. And then I think I shared this with you. But Mark Fisher writes about a story about him writing this this particular song with his mom and him being really sad. I think if their dog his dog just died or something. And he wrote something, and his mom didn't like it and told him to like, just go make some tea and fuck everybody and do his work, find his passion or whatever. I can't remember the exact quote. It's really good. And that just made me love it even more, because he immediately went and wrote this song  Untrue, and she loved it.

 chris  1:33:02

And then it turned to be his breakout hit right?

 carla  1:33:04

Yes.

 chris  1:33:06

I love his story so much I had never known until you told me it's so cool. So when you started using the song kind of as a ritual for healing Did you notice a big difference right away?

 carla  1:33:18

Yes.  Sorry, the wind

 chris  1:33:19

 It’s fine. This episode is featuring the wind.

 carla  1:33:23

Yes. Which is our sound?

 chris  1:33:25

Yeah. It's a form of music. I mean, I first heard Burial, it was on a Thom Yorke remix and I just love the haunting syntha but it's still dancey and some my favorite type of music, a reason why I love the new wave so much and Trance and some EDM and stuff like that. I love that this pick is on the playlist. So next we're going to a Channel Zero Network friend, Tim who is Sole and the song is called Last Earth.

 Sole  1:34:08

SONG: Last Earth

 chris  1:36:22

So, for one, Sole is one of my favorite lyricists, one of my favorite writers, I don't know how many albums Sole has, it's gotta be, it's in the 20s it may be in the 30s, a prolific writer. And the reason I like this song is it has a melancholy joy to it. It's a lot of Sole's music does, but this is more of a dancey beat. It has William Ryan Fritch, from Sole and the Skyrider band singing with him. Just the beginning bars, so cool, I might be dead, but no flies on me. And he lived in Denver for a while. And we would often go to protests together. And I remember one day we were at one of these protests and he disappeared and he was arrested, kind of just for stepping off the curb for a second you know, the average blocking traffic or something. And the line all up in the cell talking FTP, is just so funny to me, but so Sole at the same time, and so true. And the just the way that he gets into other topics too, he says that's a bad trip, like when whites cross the sea, talking about colonialism, questioning dogma, which is something he does so well with his the way that he intervenes with anarchy and anarchism. And the course to the planet Earth, you don't belong to anyone, we will undo the feudal age. And then he always gets into little sci fi tangents as well like talking about the simulation theory or are we in a projection, and then the playfulness of Sole as well that sometimes he dreams he's flying through space to sees other just all these images of liberation will talking about desecration at the same time, which is I find inspiring and comforting and reflective.

 carla  1:38:07

Thanks for putting the song on. I hadn't heard it. Already adore Tim/Sole. So I had pulled out similar lines as you but I'm the one in the chorus that we will die trying, I love so much because I mean that's that willingness, you know? I think like in all my social media bios I just wrote, I try...  because I think that's like the least we, I mean, it's the most we can do actually. And I think isn't there like a Rebecca Solnit told me this, like, it's actually what an essayist is, like somebody who writes political stuff for the world is at the ideas you try. So just really gravitates to that, so hearing that in the song with that, with those lyrics, I was like, that's the point. That's the whole entire point is to try.

 chris  1:38:53

It really reminds me of the whole, Sole always did the whole détournement of Guy Debord and kind of see this in three parts. So the first one being 50 cent, Get Rich or Die Trying. And then Dead Prez, they kind of did a détournement and they said Get Free or Die Trying and then Sole, kind of Sole is in that vein very much with his music of or we will die trying

 carla  1:39:16

Nice connection. Nice weaving. took what I said, no grounding and grounded it Thank you.

 chris  1:39:27

No way. I didn't even think of it. until you brought it up. So yeah, that's the beauty of collaboration. Oh, you're so nice. You picked our song for the last song, which is I've always loved the monsters by by me, Jason/Maudlin Magpie & produced by A Thousand Vows

  Time (me), Jason/Maudlin Magpie & produced by A Thousand Vows  1:39:58

SONG: I've Always Loved the Monsters

 carla  1:43:26

So I wanted to pick something on the larger playlist too I also just picked something that just came out from Kinnie Starr... I just really wanted to bring it current. I listen to this song more than I'd like to admit it.. thank you so much for creating it both of you. It just. Yeah, it does bring that melancholy joy because it roots me into like a lot of things. I mean, almost every line, it's something that I've like, pondered or thought about, not in the exact same way or not in the same poetic way. But one of the things I'm really trying to figure out is like how to get out of my head and be more present so that I can just live more of a thriving life and so much of my work was about like creating thriving environments and containers for people but then I overworked myself and didn't thrive myself. Then there's just you have that in there and, and on the one hand like, like, the Jason's melody, like, it's kind of this counter to it because it's it's like this dilemma that I have around like more thought is like, takes me way out of presence, but yet your thoughts do untangle it all for me. So anyway, I'm not gonna I'm not gonna put your lyrics back to you.

 chris  1:44:37

I love that. Thank you, it's an honor that you feel that way. And to just give a little bit of context to this song is I had, I believe I've told you the story, but I had recorded this song, and this song talks about death like a lot of my songs which I get made fun of for. I had recorded this song. and it even says the one one day years hard will be beating the the next it might not be. And literally the next day, I got in a horrific car accident, almost died and had internal bleeding and stuff. And then my mind didn’t work that well for a while. It's such a severe concussion. And when I kind of came back to and I was able to write again and work on this album, I wanted to redo this verse, the song and Jason was like, no, that you recorded that. It's like, it almost was your last recording. Like you have to keep it. It's crazy. It's eerie. And maybe he's kind of a macabre person for wanting to keep it like it was but it was a good idea. But then I found out later that he actually wrote the chorus when I was injured pretty much, and he said he was kind of talking about how my mind is it always like can make a lot of connections and goes places so I was like wow, I never knew the chorus had to actually do with me and that he was worried about me when I was injured, so it kind of made, ties the song more together.

 carla  1:46:04

Wow, that is probably what I've like it just has such it's so affectual like it's kinetic. Like I feel it in every way and also like I do a lot of work with my ancestral stuff and you just you cover it all like yeah my my sights.. What is it, my thoughts steal my sight? Oh man. Yeah, my daily. I apologize to my kids and my partner for that.. Yeah. Thanks for sharing that story. And I'm so glad you survived that accident. Yeah. And not to mention the title because we both love monsters.

 chris  1:46:42

Yeah, no, definitely. That was that was the other thing of yeah, always, always love the Yeah, the monsters are not always the heroes of the stories or what's really strange is this last track that I picked by SBTRKT featuring sampha trials of the past is a song that actually was one of the ways I healed after my car accident. I didn't even think about how these lined up. I was I never took a day off of teaching after the car accident, which was a really dumb idea because I was throwing up after a lecture, anytime I use my my brain even if I read a text message, it would make me nauseous. And I was stubborn and took place in this debate I had already said I would go to on fracking, which I was glad I did because the fracking debate was horrible. And I threw up after that too. But this was a song that I would always listen to on the light rail. And it brought me peace and it made me feel free.

 SBTRKT (feat. Sampha)  1:47:45

SONG: Trials of the Past

carla  1:51:15

I really like the songs, how does it help?

 chris  1:51:19

Back to that thing where you say like it's just there, that vibe of this melancholy joy. For one, it's just the beats. I love this like tube synths in the minors in it and then some - Sampha's voice, it's just so soulful, and so calming and poetic. But when I would be on the light rail, and I was trying to get to like the front or the back of the car, and I stand up, and then I would pretend I was flying. And I didn't feel good, you know, because I couldn't really think, so I feel kind of weird too. I felt spacey. So I actually felt like I was flying above the light rail while listening to this over and over again for about a month. And then I love the second verse where he says I was always floating around the city, going with the flow without ever knowing where I want to be. So I got into crazy situations. And a loyal soldier who acts who acts who acts but never asks, that was my favorite line. And I just love that. And I know you and me, we really resonate about talking about questioning and questions.

 carla  1:52:23

I really liked flying on my back, the looking down. Really, really related to that I think it has like it had this sense of like astral projection or something in it. I think there's some kind of like, beyond this physical realm. I mean, that's the joy. I think I pulled from it out of that.yeah

 chris  1:52:44

Yeah, it reminds me of your story about Burial a little bit too, about how you were trying to get the nerve nerve activated going and like that form of dancing. And we had talked about in an email before this on other topics of what music is and music and ableism. And I was telling you about a friend I have who's a non hearing friend, and they told me, they were explaining to me about going to shows and that they enjoy going to shows where they can just feel the bass and the bass in their chest. And just the vibes of the energy of a show and all of those things. And just those things to consider when people are talking about music and ableism and all those things that tie in, and how music is part of everyone's realities.

 carla  1:53:32

Yeah, thanks for bringing that up. It's really important. That's the thing like rhythm. Yeah, even a non hearing person they can feel it in their body. And I think that's really important because that's like I shared that quote. It's Zach's favorite quote the one about like that sound is you can't have music without sound but you can have sound without music and so therefore sound is more important. But it makes me think about that just opening up what sound is and how how we experience it and in even like a harmonic way or harmony way, like that's probably a whole other conversation that I'm probably not the best person to have it with because I don't really understand music, but just even the western narrow version of what music is versus the east. Just continues on the white supremist hegemonic road even what constitutes music.

 chris  1:54:24

Yeah, like always trying to categorize and break things into binaries that are not necessarily. Going back to what you were saying about how you enjoy dance. And that's a way that you're able to express, just yeah, the music of that and just the rhythm of movement

 carla  1:54:42

Even separating that in the West.

 chris  1:54:47

I love that bird

 carla  1:54:48

A little music

 chris  1:54:51

And is a perfect book end because that's how we started it with talking to the birds.

 carla  1:54:55

Yes. Nice. Nice. Did you want to say anything about your larger list before we wrap it up?

 chris  1:55:03

Like the ones that I really picked on my extra was a song that I really grew up listening to which was Respiration by Blackstar. It's talking about the city and the beat by Hi Tek is really contemplated and I love like the poetry of Mos Def (Yasiin Bey). I had Prince on there, which we're both big Prince fans, I have a lot of jazz that was on there like Archie Shepp, big Tom Waits fan like you were talking about. So I had stuff from nighthawks at the diner, which was, you know, kind of a play into our newest album Nighthawks at McCoys, Stevie Wonder is one of the greatest of all time, I just love, everything Stevie does, going back to the hospital when I worked there, Frankie Beverly and The Maze of a co worker taught me about them in the song Joy & Pain ties in so much into this. And then the Priests, I really love the Priests and their music in Earth, Wind and Fire, one of the members from Earth Wind and Fire's from Denver. I am a big Frank Ocean fan as well. New wave, so Joy Division, and I probably end up putting a New Order or someone else on there if we kept going with this playlist.

 carla  1:56:08

Well, I did 13 so you can add a couple more. I'm so excited to share this list. I'm gonna start with the couple that like we're in that we got booted out of the top seven which is Sun Ra, Blue Soul, So I mean, I just, I don't know, I feel like I'm from another planet most of the time, so I really relate to Sun Ra's stuff and, and really get lost in it. And then Sinead O'Connor really, really important. I mean, her and Tracy Chapman, you know, are my political educators. Oh the song that I kicked off right away was for the one that Zach told me to do nature boy, but This is for Life from Luka Bloom. I don't know if you know his stuff, but he's Irish. Just an incredible singer, singer songwriter, and it's really about a song during the troubles where a man or woman fall in love and he gets put in prison because he kills somebody. But they stay together despite it all and it's all about time and how he can't actually watch the moon because he's in jail and it's really really sad but there's like a beauty about it that they commit to life together their love their love is going to transcend this physical distance. Yeah, so and Prince, of course, it was really hard to pick a Prince song. I was really wanting to do something from his early stuff that Purple Rain is the one that had to be and then The Cure. Aw, man, I probably listened to Cure like three times a week because  it's a dance. It's not you know, it is melancholy Joy to the max because it has the beat to dance. But the songs are so sad. Sigur Ros is another, all of it. It's my every time I go on a flight. I listened to Sigur Ros. I love it. The Police's like circa you know, teenager, I just felt completely lonely. It's from their first or maybe their second. I thought it's from the first album. And then I have a couple jazz stuff on there to Steal my Joy from Lee Williams. Do you know that song? So good

 chris  1:58:09

No, no.

 carla  1:58:11

it's about not stealing,  It's like don't steal my joy is actually the song

 chris  1:58:15

Nice.

 carla  1:58:17

Sounds really, really beautiful. And then of course, At Last lost I borrowed from a friend who did a playlist about hope and Rebecca Solnit actually, she had it on there. Because she's you know, sometimes sometimes we have to wait for it. Sometimes there's patience in the fight, in the build. So I thought it was a good one in terms of ending my playlists. Sometimes the Joy has you have to wait a bit.

 chris  1:58:45

I love that.

 carla  1:58:46

They cover them all. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, Walkabout real quick. I love Atlas Sound. And I really wanted the song on the film I made about the purple thistle and I went through a lot of networks to get it but of course, you know, you're in the business. He didn't he doesn't actually have rights to the song so I ended up not using it but yeah,

 chris  1:59:05

on dang. Yeah, I love your extras on here.

 carla  1:59:10

Oh my god. I missed Sour Gout. Yeah, that's my kid. It was hard to pick but I picked the one that resonated the most. He's written a couple songs for me. I should probably have done one of them but had a lot of rain in it.

 chris  1:59:26

Awesome. All right, carla. Well, I'll talk to you soon. Bye

 carla  1:59:30

Bye.

 1:59:32

Thank you for tuning into this episode of the time talks podcast part of the channel zero network. Please check out carla bergman work and support their endeavors. Links to carla's works are in the show notes. Please send me an email and tell me some songs you listen to when you're feeling blue, or share a playlist with us. My email is timeraps@riseup.net. thanks to awareness for the music, share the show around, rate it up and give someone some water. peace.

[toraonice]

Yuri on Ice 2017/02/11 all night event report

I’m back from the event and I’ll write a report before going to sleep, mostly because I’m sure I will not be able to decipher my scribbles when I wake up... It’s not the full talk show since you can’t record it and also I couldn’t possibly write down everything, but I tried to take note of most things, especially stuff that has never been mentioned elsewhere. In the end it became quite long so I guess I was able to get most of the stuff down...

Needless to say it’s my notes, so other people might write about parts I omitted, etc. To be honest quite a few of the things they said especially in the beginning, like what the seiyuu think about their characters, is something I’ve read so many times in interviews that I could almost answer in their place, lol... I was a bit disappointed that one of the questions that was answered is the one about Chris’ mysterious acquaintance, because actually Kubo answered that in Pash already (it’s in the Q&A part I’ll be translating later), and I hoped they would feature questions about stuff that hasn’t been explained yet. Well I guess not everybody reads interviews, but still...

Due to the format of the report you can find my comments here and there, mostly in brackets. Under the cut because it’s long.

I forgot to mention something important: the ones participating in the talk show were Mitsurou Kubo, Toshiyuki Toyonaga (Yuuri), Junichi Suwabe (Victor), Kouki Uchiyama (Yurio).

The talk show was divided into 3 parts: short program, free skating, interviews. The “short program” was mostly them saying basic things like impressions on the show etc, the “free skating” was about curiosities and other things that can be said now that the anime is over, and the “interviews” part was a Q&A (but they didn’t really keep the format for the SP and FS parts..)

I went to the live viewing, not the actual place where the event was held, but in this case there were no differences (no extras in either place). They published a new official picture that you probably have already seen.

After some introductions they started the “short program”, whose first topic was “how do you feel about the character you played?”.

Toyonaga said that he didn’t play Yuuri with his mind but with his heart, so his acting wasn’t really intentional but more spontaneous, in fact he doesn’t really remember how he acted him, what he remembers is mostly because he watched the anime afterwards. He also said that it was an honor to work so close to Suwabe and that they get along well (to which Suwabe initially joked “do we?” but then confirmed, lol).

Suwabe said that especially in the beginning it was hard to grasp Victor’s character because he’s different than ordinary people and also he can’t really relate to him, but after some time he decided that thinking too much was wrong and decided to play him in a “don’t think, feel” way (he really said “don’t think, feel” in English, and I wonder how many in the audience could understand that, lol). So actually, much like Toyonaga, he doesn’t really remember how he acted. It was a very unusual character to play for him.

Toyonaga said that, since when he plays Yuuri it’s really like he’s “becoming” Yuuri, he gets very nervous when he’s asked, for example in events, “say this line from the show!” or “say something as Yuuri!”, because it’s hard to suddenly get into that state of mind. At this point they also mentioned that they recently had to play the characters’ roles again for the collaboration with the browser game “Shingeki no Bahamut” and they sounded amused. (I actually started the game last week for the sole purpose of playing the collaboration event... I’m sure someone will post pics when it starts)

Uchiyama said that Yurio’s hairstyle changed and with that the impression he gave him changed too, but actually he didn’t really change the way he played him.

Kubo also said that she was so busy with the storyboard because of the tight schedule that she also doesn’t remember some things, like how she decided some parts, so actually when she watched the anime she could watch it with renewed feelings, as if she was just a viewer. She also said that some scenes turned out a bit different in the anime than they were in her original storyboard.

After this they were asked which scenes left a strong impression on them when they watched the broadcast.

Uchiyama mentioned Yurio’s lines when he says “pig”, and the part where he’s sent “training” at the shrine and waterfall by Victor. The others laughed because it was like “in the WHOLE series are THESE the scenes that impressed you??”.

Toyonaga said that for Yuuri’s very first lines in episode 1 (before the OP, when he says “He always surprises me” etc) he was actually told at what point of the story Yuuri says it. I mean, Yuuri narrates this part as if he’s looking back on the past, and Toyonaga was told at what point of the story this happens, but he said that he's not going to reveal it and asked that people try to imagine when it is that Yuuri "narrates" this part. (I personally have no idea, though Yuuri doesn’t sound very cheerful so I’d argue that it’s in one of the “tense” moments of the show, like ep 9 or the end of ep 11? But too little elements to judge) They mentioned that because of this narration fans made theories about Victor eventually dying, and Suwabe was like “Victor is alive!! And Makkachin too!!”.

After this Suwabe said that neither now nor in the future he is going to reveal what he thought when acting the scenes in the anime. He said that of course he has his own interpretation and he played Victor based on that, but that since this anime has many elements that can be read in lots of different ways he is not going to disclose his personal views and wants fans to interpret it each in their own way. The only thing he confirmed is that he likes Makkachin, lol. (To be honest, it’s basically the same as what Kubo says, but Suwabe articulated it better. As a side note, Suwabe is a very good talker, always expresses his point clearly and is really careful about what he says and how it could affect who listens, while I think Kubo has a messy way of speaking which is sometimes hard to follow, even in written interviews, and I believe this is what is causing some controversies)

Suwabe also said that, as a viewer, the parking scene in episode 7 touched his heart. Here they mentioned that YOI was featured on the TV Asahi music program “Music Station” on Friday night because this scene was aired too, and they laughed making some comments about how the scenes they showed were “barely ok for prime time”. (It’s because they basically showed scenes like when Yuuri and Victor are with their foreheads touching and Yuuri tells him “please only watch me”, etc, which are scenes that would make anyone misunderstand the point of the show if they don’t watch them within the context... But I swear this time it was better, because the last time YOI was featured on Music Station they showed the scene at the end of ep 7 too... I really wish they’d show more figure skating scenes so that it doesn’t just look like a BL anime about skaters, sigh. By the way this time it was featured because “History Maker” was ranked #11 in a ranking of popular anime/drama theme songs)

Uchiyama said that he was impressed by all of Yurio’s rude expressions like “pig”, and especially when in ep 10 he told Victor “a ring received from a stupid animal is just rubbish”. He said “I’m surprised he could even come up with such a wording at all” (Yurio actually says “kachiku” in that line, which means “livestock/cattle” and in Japanese it’s very much like calling someone an “animal without a brain”). The seiyuu thought he said “kachiku” because he used to call Yuuri “pig”, but Kubo said that actually it was meant to be a pun with “Katsuki” because it sounds similar to “kachiku”. (Though to be honest Yurio is definitely speaking Russian here so he couldn’t possibly make a pun with “Katsuki” and “kachiku”, lol.) Suwabe said that he likes the scene where Yurio tells Lilia “I’ll gladly give you my body and soul if that can make me win”.

Kubo said that in the beginning she inserted everyday life scenes so that the viewers could get familiar with the characters, and though they did their best to make the skating scenes interesting too she was scared that people would complain that they preferred the everyday life scenes, but luckily she didn’t receive this kind of comments. She also said that she likes how Hasetsu is mentioned again various times throughout the show (like in ep 10 indeed).

Here the guy doing the MC, which is also the guy that voiced one of the commentators in the anime and is actually an announcer for TV Asahi, said that when YOI was airing the real GP series was being held too, and that commenting for YOI had just the same feeling as commenting for real TV matches. Kubo said that when she wrote the storyboard she actually listened to sport live commentary on TV and wrote it down to use it as reference for writing the live reporting in YOI.

Toyonaga said that when there were no monologues during the skating scenes he just watched them as a spectator. Actually when they did the recording, apart from the first episodes, the anime footage was not ready yet so they did most of the recording watching Kenji Miyamoto’s footage. Uchiyama said that Yurio’s skating was performed by a woman, and Kubo praised her saying that she was really good.

Toyonaga said that sometimes he had mixed thoughts in his mind when playing Yuuri during the skating scenes, because part of his mind was thinking (looking at Miyamoto’s footage) “I wonder how this turns out in the anime”, but since he had to act he actually had to picture in his head how the scene would turn out.

They mentioned Seung-gil’s costume (the rainbow-colored one) and they all agreed that the gap between the costume and Seung-gil was hilarious. Kubo said that actually when she ordered the costume she thought that Chacott’s designer would create something that would make Seung-gil look like a cool guy, and she didn’t expect it to be something flamboyant like the current one. They said that it looks like it has origami cranes attached to it, and Kubo commented that he looks like “a new species of bird discovered in the tropics”.

Still regarding costumes, they said that the mismatch between Georgi’s physique and his costume was also amusing. The seiyuu commented how Georgi was the most popular character among male members of the staff, but Kubo said that actually later on he was substituted by Otabek, because all guys found Otabek cool.

Regarding the last episodes Kubo said that Nobunari Oda wanted to participate in YOI himself and so they gave him a part, but it happened after the series was already airing, it wasn’t planned from the start. For Stéphane Lambiel it was even more a last-minute decision, because it was really sudden and they had to redraw a part of episode 12 (Hiramatsu did this) to feature him and had to re-record the scene. The episode was going to air on Wednesday, and they called Suwabe a few days before asking him to come back to recording on Monday (yes, 2 days before the airing..) for the scene with Lambiel. Kubo also said that when she mentioned that Victor’s blades are gold because they took inspiration from Lambiel’s he showed them his skating shoes and she was very happy about that.

Suwabe commented how YOI was very popular in the anime event in Taiwan he went to recently, and they all agreed on the fact that it’s really popular overseas. They also briefly mentioned Evgenia Medvedeva but didn’t comment in detail though they were all kind of giggling.

The “short program” part ended here, yes it wasn’t very short.. And they started the “free skating” part.

They asked Kubo how she got into figure skating, and she said that in the beginning she was just a very light fan, like she would sometimes watch it on TV when it was on, but she had a friend who was really into it. She got more passionate after traveling to Europe with Yamamoto to do research for the series. Yamamoto explained her a lot of stuff about figure skating, and it’s also Yamamoto the one who was a hardcore fan from the start. (Kubo praised Yamamoto lots of times during this event and emphasized the fact that many things were her idea. I have the feeling that she feels a bit bad because since she’s the most “visible” one she gets all the appreciation by fans, even though Yamamoto had as big a part in creating YOI if not bigger, since she was the one who originally came up with it and was involved in the making until the end, even after the manga storyboard was completed)

She mentioned that recently she spent 18 days in Europe with Yamamoto, but she pointed out that it’s not for YOI’s 2nd season or something like that, they just had decided that after YOI’s end she and Yamamoto would go on a trip to Europe together. They went to see the European Championships in Ostrava (Czech Republic) and Art on Ice in Zurich. She mentioned how it’s really hard to get tickets for figure skating in Japan while in Europe it’s easier.

She told an anecdote about when she was in Ostrava. She said that she spotted two girls cosplaying Yuuri and Victor (not really full cosplays, just partial) at the ice rink, and after the tournament was over they were taking pictures in front of the rink. When they saw Kubo they spoke to her in Japanese and asked her if she was Japanese (they didn’t understand who she was and she didn’t mention it), then they told her she could take pictures if she wanted, and she was amused because of this curious happening (but she did take pictures). She also said that when she posted on Instagram that she was in Ostrava a person replied to her “if you want I can show you around!”, and when she checked her profile she realized it was the girl that was cosplaying Victor at the ice rink. And she said that she even saw her again on a train when they were leaving Ostrava, but she didn’t have the courage to reveal who she was. (I must say this is quite a coincidence...! I wonder if the girls will find out about this now that Kubo has said it). By the way of course she was really happy to find YOI fans, but she said she preferred not to post the picture online because Japan has different cosplay manners than many other countries in the world and she didn’t want to look like she approved of cosplaying at an ice rink when there’s a competition going on (in Japan it would be super taboo to cosplay at any ice rink, or any public space actually, unless you received a permit to do so).

Toyonaga said that he sometimes receives fanletters from overseas fans written in Japanese and he really appreciates the effort. He was amused by a fan whose letter started out very politely but then somehow turned into plain Japanese (with no honorifics etc). Suwabe said that he too receives letters from overseas and also he receives a lot of replies in other languages on Twitter. Kubo said that currently most of the replies she gets on Twitter are actually from foreigners and she is always worried when she wants to write a pun because it would be hard to translate into another language. She also mentioned how sometimes she gets replies from people saying in Spanish “I can’t understand what you say (because it’s in Japanese)” and she was like “I can’t understand what you say either...!”. (To be honest, I really don’t understand why people send her replies in languages that are not English, especially the ones writing “I can’t understand!”. What’s the point in tweeting that to her?? She isn’t even very good at English, I think Yamamoto is better..)

Suwabe said that he likes how YOI is realistic but it’s not just hyperrealistic and has some fantastic elements in it too, because he said they are balanced very well.

Kubo said that she is very happy about YOI’s popularity but she feels that she didn’t absolutely create it alone and it was the result of many people working together, so now she actually wants to do something to repay YOI for all the good things it brought to her.

After this it was the end of the FS part and the start of the interview part, aka Q&A.

Q: What do you pay attention to when drawing the characters?

Kubo said that first of all she decided to create designs that would allow to distinguish the characters even when drawn in very simple deformed ways (like how she usually draws them in the autographed shikishi). Since Yuuri is the protagonist she created his design so that he would be easy for Hiramatsu to draw. She drew Victor in a very detailed way, but actually in the beginning she didn’t make his eyelashes so visible, because she usually doesn’t make eyelashes on male characters very evident. Victor’s beautiful eyelashes are something that was added in the anime, but she liked it and now she also has fun drawing them like that. Yurio is actually the character that she designed first, and she took inspiration from other male characters with blond hair and light eyes that she used to like, like Rabi from Madou King Granzort and Hyouga from Saint Seiya.

Toyonaga said that indeed in Kubo’s storyboard he could understand the character’s expressions even when they are drawn deformed. Uchiyama commented that he misses reading the storyboard and that he wants more of it (in the audio commentary of the BD vol.2 he also says he really liked reading it). Kubo said that while in Europe with Yamamoto they decided the contents of the short manga that will be given as a present to the purchasers of all the BD or DVD volumes of the anime. She didn’t say what it would be about, but she said that it will not contain all the characters and that Uchiyama will probably like it (so I guess Yurio has a nice role in it). She also vaguely mentioned Barcelona so it might be set around eps 10-12, but yeah it was really vague so we can’t know for sure.

Q: If you were a skater, who would you want as your coach?

Toyonaga said of course he would like Victor, but he also commented that probably sometimes Victor would really get on his nerves because there are moments when it’s impossible to understand what he’s thinking. He also said that he wouldn’t mind JJ’s parents either, but Kubo said that they have a set of family customs, like sometimes you must hug them etc, so if you’re like Yuuri who prefers to be left alone you’d probably feel super uncomfortable.

Suwabe said that Yakov must be an excellent coach because in the end all the best skaters were trained by him.

Regarding Celestino, Uchiyama commented that he was surprised at how he’d say something as blunt as “Phichit has a radiance that Yuuri hasn’t”, considering that Yuuri used to be his pupil. They commented that he has a strong personality and that in the past we also see that he didn’t really get along well with JJ.

Uchiyama also said that he likes Lilia and Yakov, and that when they are together with Yurio they look visually striking, and almost like a family.

Kubo said that in Switzerland she spotted Alexei Mishin (the coach who was very likely the visual inspiration for Yakov) carrying a heart-shaped cushion that they threw to one of his students, and when they were outside he put it on his head, she guesses maybe because it was very cold. The picture of Yakov she uploaded on her Twitter after the talk show is a reference to that, lol.

Q: Who is the man together with Chris?

Kubo said he’s a member of the Swiss Skating Federation and maybe he used to be an ice skater, and for some reason is caring for Chris’ cat (mentioning that he cares for Chris’ cat probably caused people to read between the lines, because many around me were giggling, lol). The character design for him was not really made by her but by the animators. She said that she doesn’t know his name but that since she thinks he resembles Masumi from Glass no Kamen she calls him “Masumi”.

Q: What figure skating technique would you like to perform?

Toyonaga said he would like to do hydroblading (he didn’t know the name, he visually described it and Kubo said the name), and that he wonders how skaters see the surroundings while performing this technique. He also said he would like to know how the world around you looks while you’re doing figure skating jumps.

Suwabe said he wants to do a 100-rotations jump, or a quad axel. He would like to be the first in the world to perform a technique.

Uchiyama said “there isn’t really anything I would like to try myself (and here everyone laughed because really, the way he’s just emotionless about things, without meaning to sound offensive or anything, is just amusing), but I wonder, don’t skaters get headaches when they do spins?” Kubo said that, compared to Western athletes, the faces of Japanese athletes don’t really get red when they spin, like she said that Shizuka Arakawa’s face never turned red. They concluded that it probably depends on the single person’s constitution, on the way they spin and that maybe there are racial differences too.

This was the last question and then they just said the final greetings. In the end Kubo commented about the fact that YOI can be interpreted in various ways and that, even though in interviews they ask her details about the story and so she answers, she actually encourages people to interpret the series how they prefer, without necessarily being influenced too much by what she says in interviews. (And here I remind you something she said in the booklet for the BD vol.1, which is that it’s fine to interpret the series how you prefer, but do not go around saying that your theory is canon. In other words, she is fine with people creating their own headcanons and believing that they are right, but she would prefer that they do not try to force single interpretations onto other people unless they are officially confirmed. The recent Pash! interview actually gave me the impression that sometimes she is forced to point out some things because she sees people trying to convince others that their own interpretations are correct even though they are not supported by official material)

Beside that they all said the usual things about “please support the series because if many people support it maybe there will be a chance to see a sequel, since we all want to make one too”.

Bonus random facts about the screening of the anime (in random order): -For the first episodes they used footage from the BDs, not from the TV airing. -In the cinema I went to people were mostly silent and almost no one used penlights, but lots of people cheered (and laughed) on Georgi and JJ. -During the scene at the end of episode 7 I thought people’s reactions were very realistic, because you could hear muffled screeching, people holding their breaths and going like “ahhhh...”. I thought the audience watching the scene in the real arena within the anime must have sounded like that too, lol. -Thunderous applause when Phichit congratulated Victor and Yuuri for their “marriage” in ep 10. -Not as many people singing along JJ’s song as I would have expected, probably because the lyrics are in English. -People giggling during the scene where we see Chris’ mysterious acquaintance. -The close up shot of Victor’s naked ass from ep 1 on the huge cinema screen: priceless (Chris’ ass too). -All the close up shots of Yuuri and Victor all over each other on the huge cinema screen: priceless and more embarrassing to watch than the ass shots (I mean it in a positive way, lol). -The sound was very nice and you could hear the audience’s cheers much louder than from a TV or PC (for the first time I could hear people screaming “davai!” at Yurio in Onsen on ICE). -Applauses at the end of every character’s performance, and most of the times after jumps as well. -People crying during Yuuri and Yurio’s last FS performance (and some during JJ’s as well). -The OP footage was only shown before ep 1 and the ED footage only after ep 7 (both times they were shown creditless). The “special ED” of ep 10 was shown too of course. No next episode previews.

Unrelated: I received a few questions via private message, I will get to them when I wake up...