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pitchsidestories · 5 months ago

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treat you better (2) II Ingrid Engen x Mapi León x Reader

part 1 I masterlist I word count: 1438

a/n: Hi, we hope you'll love part two as much as part 1 and thanks to @briggtea for sending us the idea for the oneshot.

You stumbled upon that podcast snippet accidentally while scrolling bored through Instagram while your girlfriends were getting ready for bed in the bathroom of the hotel room you were staying in. Nights before big Champions League games always made you feel a bit restless. It was a queer podcast about sports you enjoyed, that’s why you clicked on it, but you couldn’t stop watching it when you noticed the guest was your ex-girlfriend.

In the scene the host asked her grinning:” How would you rate y/n on a scale from 1 to 10?”

“Maybe a two if I’m being nice.”, your former lover replied with a smug smile on her lips, you wished you could take away from the fellow footballer.

“Oh wow, seems like you got an unpopular opinion here, the internet goes crazy for her.”, the interviewer whistled impressed by the reply of your ex-girlfriend.

“The internet’s falling for her looks. She’s not that great to be with.”, she shrugged.

“So, the rumours are true, you two were together?”, the host curiously lifted an eyebrow at her.

“Maybe. All I can say is that she wasn’t very committed.”, the football player answered laughing which was obviously a blatant lie. After all she was the one who cheated around in London not the other way around.

“That’s bullshit!”, Mapi yelled furiously before ripping the phone out of her hands to throw it on to the bed.

“Babe.”, Ingrid tried soothing your Spanish girlfriend with her calm voice.

“She’s basically gaslighting her!”, the defender protested enraged, shaking off the hand the Norwegian had laid on her shoulder.

“Maria, relax. I know she does, and we’ll prove her wrong on the pitch tomorrow.”, you told her calmly.

“On the pitch? She’s going around spreading rumours about you when she was the one who cheated on you!”, Mapi snorted angrily.

“No, you don’t understand, amor. She’ll hate losing against us.”, you pointed out.

“I believe you that, but I’d like to hurt her in in more ways than just that.”, she hissed, sounding almost like Bagheera when he was ready to fight whatever caught the cat’s eyes.

“I appreciate it, but trust me, she’s not worth it. Come on we should go to bed.”, you assured her in a soft tone.

“Fine.”, the Spanish player sighed, exhaustion was catching up with her. Quickly she and Ingrid laid down, you were in their middle.

“Sleep well, my loves.”, Ingrid gave each of you a good night kiss.

“Good night, girls.”, you whispered, once again feeling very lucky to have them in your life.

“Night.”, Mapi mumbled, already half-asleep. Sleep took the three of you in quick succession.

You tried to focus on yourself as best as you could while you got ready for the game. Ignore the noise, forget about your ex. There was just you and the game in front of you.

Even the chatter of your teammates faded into the background until something touched your elbow.

“Y/n?“

You looked up to Alexia studying your face.

“Yes, Capi?“

“Do you feel ready?“, she asked.

You watched a small line between her eyebrows as she frowned.

Nodding once, you replied: “Ready and focused.“

“Good.“

“Don’t worry.“, you assured her and forced yourself to a smile.

Alexia shook her head, considering you: “I just don’t want you to do anything stupid out there.“

“I won’t. You know I’m not the type such behaviour.“

“I’m just saying…“

You sighed, locking eyes with her: “Promise.“

This seemed to relax your captain. She nodded slowly and then clapped her hands: “Alright, let’s win this then.“

“Please.“, you agreed. You refused to imagine your ex cheering with her teammates.

Ingrid squeezed your hand as she passed you: “Come on.“

“Coming.“, you smiled back at her.

Mapi appeared on your side right as you were about to walk out on the pitch. She nodded into the direction of a very familiar ponytail: “There she is.“

Apparently, she had felt your gaze on her because in that exact moment, she turned around and flashed you a bright smile.

You swallowed hard as she walked towards you, all innocence: “Hi.“

“Hi, good luck.“, you answered plainly.

“You’ll need it more.“, she smirked.

It took you a lot not to roll your eyes about her arrogance. Instead you shrugged: “I think you’re wrong about this.“

You jogged onto the field to warm up, leaving her behind to watch.

The first half of the game remained calm as you had expected. Both teams testing the waters, not risking too much that early in the game. Barcelona had more chances but had not used them yet. You know you had to be more clinical in the next fourty-five minutes.

In the second half, the whole game changed. It got rougher, more aggressive and you had your problems with that.

It was more than frustration, it was pure anger. Your exes smug grin, the unnecessary fouls by the other team, the unsuccessful attacks. You just wanted to scream.

You took a deep breath and gathered yourself, there was no use. You had to stay focused.

It worked until the seventieth minute. Chelsea was on attack but Mapi won the ball easily. She hesitated for a half a second before passing it to Lucy.

Your ex saw this moment of hesitation as an opportunity. She wanted to win the ball back with a slide tackle but her timing was off. She crashed into Mapi, her studs colliding with your girlfriends ankle.

Mapi was on the grass, screaming in pain while your ex got up, unfazed by the incident. There was not even an apology.

Ingrid was already kneeling beside your girlfriend when you ran over to them.

“Shit.“, the Spanish defender cursed under her breath.

“Mapi, are you okay?!”, you asked her deeply worried.

“Yeah.”, she answered through gritted teeth.

“I swear she did it intentionally. I’m going to.”, you begun.

But a firm, big hand prevented you from walking up to your former girlfriend.

“No, you’re not doing anything.”, Alexia interrupted you, her voice dripping with determination.

“Stay calm and carry on, y/n.”, Marta added.

“But.”, you started.

“Score the winning goal for us.”, Aitana suggested with a wink, hoping it would stop you from doing something stupid.

“It doesn’t work like that, Aitana.”, you reminded her.

“Maybe it does.”, she replied encouragingly. While your gaze followed a hurt Mapi who got subbed off. A spark of extra motivation hit you when you saw that. Maybe the Catalan midfielder was right about that.

It was the last minute of the game when your chance arrived to turn the draw into a win, Caroline played a cross to you which you only had to head in with your head. It was a goal, Barcelona has won once more against the English team.

Aitana jumped into your opened arms.” See? I told you so.”, she cheered.

“There’s no fucking way.”, you could hear your ex-girlfriend scolding, shooting mad glances at you from afar, but you couldn’t care less.

As the referee blew the final whistle you sprinted to the bench where Ingrid and Mapi were the first to pull you into a group hug.

“We won girls!”, you laughed happily.

“You were amazing.”, the Spanish defender whispered proudly into your ear.

“And your goal was amazing.”, the tall dark-haired woman beamed at you.

“Thank you. Have you seen her face after I scored?”, you wanted to know from them with a hint of malicious joy.

“She deserved that.”, Mapi noted.

“How are you feeling? Her foul looked bad.”, you suddenly remembered, looking concerned at your girlfriend.

“I’m okay. She went right for the ankle, but it’s not too bad.” she calmed you.

“At least that.”, you let out a sigh of relief.

“Don’t worry about me.”, the heavily tattooed woman said.

“Come on, girls, time to celebrate that win properly.”, Ingrid intervened smiling.

“Yes, y/n deserves it.”, Mapi agreed smirking.

“And we make sure she gets her reward for her great game and her bravery.”, the Norwegian continued delighted.

“Oh, we’ll.”, your other girlfriend shared a knowing glance with her.

“Girls.”, you blushed listening to their words.

“We’re just proud of you.”, Ingrid declared.

“And we’ll show you how proud later tonight.”, the defender winked.

“We can’t just leave now.”, you protested, pointing to the rest of their teammates who were still celebrating.

“No one will notice trust us.”, the Scandinavian argued.

“Alright, let’s go.”, you give in, knowing fully well that your girlfriends would always treat you better than your former lover. And the night had just begun, it was set to be unforgettable.

#ingrid engen #ingrid engen x reader #ingrid engen imagine #mapi leon #mapi leon x reader #mapi leon imagine #ingrid engen x mapi leon x reader #woso x reader #woso #woso fanfics #woso imagine #woso community #woso one shot #woso oneshot #barca femeni #mapi leon x ingrid engen x reader

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nhlclover · 24 days ago

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𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐔𝐂𝐊 𝐊𝐈𝐃

madeleine chase x will smith

will goes on a podcast and reveals to the world his gushing crush on pop star, madeleine chase (wc; 1.11k)

༉‧₊˚. ꒰ notes! ꒱ this is lowkey inspired by how tate mcrae and cole sillinger first got together + what will said in a podcast about tate mcrae (literally every man is obsessed with her and so am i)

au masterlist

It had been about a week since Will had moved to San Jose and he was… settling. California was very different from Massachusetts and everything was new. From the weather to the people, everything was unfamiliar to Will. His teammates — another new thing Will was getting used to — had been nothing but welcoming. They had been showing him around the area and making sure he was settling in well—especially the Marleau family who were taking him in for his first year in San Jose.

He appreciated their efforts, even though the move was still overwhelming at times. The sunny, warm weather of California was a stark contrast to the often chilly and unpredictable climate of Massachusetts, and it was both a blessing and a challenge to adapt to. The culture here was more laid-back, and people seemed to carry an air of casualness that Will wasn’t entirely accustomed to.

In the midst of all these changes, he was dealing with the start of the hockey season, which brought on a lot of commitments. Despite today being a rest day from all of the beginning of the season media, Will was sitting in the Empty Netters podcast studio. Will had met Dan and Chris, the two hosts, a while back, promising them he’d come on when he got signed by the Sharks. Months later, Will was fulfilling his promise.

“Alright, Will, welcome to the Empty Netters pod! Glad to have you here,” said Chris.

“Thank you for having me,” Will said, smiling politely.

“So, you've been in San Jose for what—about two weeks? How’s the transition going? It’s gotta be a change from Massachusetts." Dan asked.

Will nodded, leaning into the mic a bit. “Yeah, about that but it feels like longer with everything going on. It’s been go, go, go since I got here but California’s great. And everyone’s been super welcoming, especially the Marleau family. They’ve really helped me get settled.”

Dan grinned. “Yeah, you got blessed with your living situation for your first year. I mean Patrick Marleau is a legend.”

“Not bad at all,” Will chuckled, relaxing a little. “They’ve been great. Showing me around, and introducing me to some good spots to eat. I’m trying to figure out the whole California lifestyle.”

The conversation flowed easily as they touched on his early career, what he was looking forward to with the Sharks and a few lighter topics.

“Okay, Will, to end this interview we just want to do some rapid-fire questions, alright? So these are just random.” Chris asked.

“Yeah, ok, sounds good,” Will replied.

“Great, first question,” Chris said, glancing at his notes. “What's your favorite movie?”

Will thought for a moment, debating between the movies he loved. “I'd have to say 'Good Will Hunting'. It's a classic and, well, it's set in Boston. Reminds me of home.”

Both Dan and Chris nodded appreciatively. “Nice choice,” Dan answered. “Alright, next up: what's your go-to comfort food?”

“Probably a good lobster roll,” Will replied instantly. “It's practically a staple back home.”

“A lobster roll from Cape Cod sounds fucking delicious.” Chris agreed.

“Alright, final question,” Dan says. “Who is your celebrity crush?”

“Madeleine Chase,” Will says without hesitation.

Both Dan and Chris burst into laughter at Will’s quick answer, his cheeks turning a light shade of pink as he realizes his eagerness. “Damn, you were ready for that question,” Chris says through laughter. “Can you expand on why she is your celebrity crush?”

Will chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck as he tried to gather his thoughts. “I mean, first of all, she’s gorgeous. I keep seeing photos of her performing for Taylor Swift in Europe and… whew.” Will answers, getting another chorus of laughter from the podcast hosts. “But also there’s something about her vibe. She seems really down-to-earth and genuine. I’ve seen her in interviews and she’s got a great sense of humor.”

Dan grinned. “Sounds like you’ve thought about this a lot.”

“Yeah, maybe a bit,” Will admitted, laughing. “But, you know, it’s hard not to admire someone like that. She’s got the whole package.”

“Quick, favorite song of hers?” Chris asked.

Will didn’t have to think much before answering. “Close To You. It’s just such a fun song to listen to.”

“If you have a message for Madeleine that we might be able to get to her at some point, what would it be?” Dan asked.

Will chuckled, questioning if he really wanted to it all out bare on this podcast. “Answer my DM,” he said, confidence lacing his tone.

“No way you’ve DM’ed her.” Chris laughed.

Will simply shrugged, laughing along with the two brothers. Dan leaned in with mock seriousness. "Alright, Sharks fans, you heard it here first—Will Smith’s got game both on and off the ice."

As the podcast wrapped up, Will thanked Chris and Dan, and they walked him out. His agent was waiting, jumping straight into talking about his schedule, but Will wasn't really listening. He was still stuck replaying the last part of the interview in his head.

Did I really just say that? His mind replayed the last part of the interview—talking about Madeleine Chase with no filter, like some lovestruck kid. He cringed inwardly, imagining how it must have sounded to anyone listening. He could already hear the ribbing from his teammates once this went live, and he cringed. His agent's voice was just white noise now as Will’s thoughts spiraled, imagining the potential fallout.

Answer my DM. The words bounced around his head like an unwelcome reminder of how he’d opened himself up for a joke. What if she actually did hear it? He wasn’t sure what compelled him to be so bold, especially considering they didn’t know each other. Will had always been reserved, especially in public settings, and now he felt like he'd let his guard down too much.

“Will? You listening?” his agent said, snapping him out of his daze.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m here,” Will replied quickly, though he wasn’t. He pulled out his phone, hovering over the podcast's social media page. Maybe I can ask them to cut that part out… no, that’s ridiculous. It’s too late. He forced himself to put his phone away, trying to focus on anything else but the possibility of his comment blowing up online.

Will sighed, rubbing the back of his neck as he tried to shake off the doubt. Maybe it wasn’t that bad. They laughed, so it couldn’t have been too cringey… right?

Still, the uncertainty weighed on him. California was supposed to be a fresh start, but at that moment, Will couldn’t help but feel like he’d already stumbled out of the gate.

#`✦ˑ 🤍 𓂃⊹ CIWYW au #madeleine x will #will smith hockey

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raayllum · 2 months ago

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Transcript of Aaron Ehasz Interview (Sept 2024)

Podcast link here. Transcript down below with bulk under a read more.

R: Alright so welcome back to the Wordswithdragons podcast, and today I’m joined by a very special guest, the co-creator of The Dragon Prince, Aaron Ehasz.

A: Hello, thank you for having me today. Glad to be here.

R: Thank you so much for being here. Um, yeah, so, as we semi touched on, it is the 6 year anniversary of The Dragon Prince this September 14th.

A: Yeah.

R: Do you have any thoughts, reflections, feelings about the show having gone on for this long and being such a big part of people’s lives?

A: I mean for starters, it’s really hard to believe it’s been on for six years. Like that seems insane to me. Cause it seemed like we had — Justin and I had been working on it for so long before it finally came out because we had worked on the story and then gotten feedback, and help in improving that pitch and bringing it out and we had it set up at Netflix, and we had to — we wrote the pilot obviously, and we didn’t know where we were gonna produce it, and found Bardel. So there was so much time between even just starting to think about it and when it came out.

R: Yeah, cause that was like 2015, right?

A: Yeah, I guess we started the journey in 2015 and we got with Bardel by the end of 2016, and it got released evidently in 2018, so... Yeah, yeah, cause I remember even we were writing kind of the end of season 3 when we had that panel with Marco and named the character after Marco.

R: Oh yeah.

A: The character [chuckles] from the first episode, we only had an opportunity for him to say his name out loud in that last episode because we were writing the ending while we were showing the episodes for first time, so. Anyway, that’s my reflection, it’s great it’s been six years.

R: Yeah. I know The Dragon Prince has been a really like — both life changing and I think, like, life affirming experience for a lot of people, myself included. So we just really appreciate everybody’s hard work on the show and are very excited for season 7 and hopefully beyond as well. As well for any future projects that Wonderstorm comes out with, like Bonders sounds amazing.

A: I feel — well first of all, thank you for saying that it’s life affirming, that’s such a nice thing to hear about something you’ve worked on, but I also agree that Justin and I feel a ton of gratitude for the whole team and the work and heart that everyone put into making this. I think people wanted it to be meaningful and special and that takes a certain kind of energy and vulnerability to build something like that, that you share, and our whole team really did give that in building the show.

R: Yeah. I think for sure. I think that’s like, um, I was even — I was rewatching some of the show earlier for — for a parallel, and it was the scene between Avizandum and Zubeia when she goes to him in like her kind of corruption dream semi-nightmare, and obviously that’s such a heartfelt, touching scene, and it’s always so strange. Because on the one hand, you should hate Avizandum, he killed Sarai and Rex Igneous has rightful criticism of him, but then you watch that scene of him and he really did love his family, so I think the show being able to draw out those strong, conflicting emotions for so many of the characters is one of the reasons why it connects with people to the degree that it does.

A: And that’s one of the themes you probably see in the show — just gonna make a quick —

R: Yeah, yeah for sure.

A: Avizandum, which is that being a good dad can make up for awful lot of [R laughs] monstrosities, as long as you’re doing it in the name of being a good dad. I’m joking, uh. Of course, yeah, Avizandum was always meant to be a complicated figure like many of our characters.

R: You mentioned that you guys have been working on — I think season three during this panel with Marco, or Marcos, and I remember, I think you’ve said before that the seasons get worked on concurrently, that there’s a decent amount of overlap.

A: Yeah.

R: I’ve always wondered, because we know — obviously, I’m a big Rayllum fan — but I’ve always wondered, cause I know they weren’t originally planned, and then you guys were boarding season two when you were like, “Hey, maybe this should be a thing,” and then probably like shifted and tweaked things or changed things to write more towards that in the future... Um, I’ve always wondered, if there was time, like at that time, to go back and change anything in season one for them, or the season one that we see was just like that?

A: I don’t recall there was time to change season 1 — that does happen because we are working on things in parallel because we are working on something in the script and then some time later we are working on the later stage of production, like an animatic, and we’ll be able to kind of give notes or even make changes with the knowledge of what’s coming, so that has happened. But in the case of Rayllum, I don’t think so. I mean, I think — again, I remember...

R: It was a while ago, yeah.

A: We were rekindling, or when we were realizing that something was being kindled between them, it was watching an animatic so that shouldn’t have informed our writing of season one, but our later stage stuff. But we weren’t trying to force anything so it got in there naturally and I don’t think we went back and changed anything.

R: Yeah, that’s what I’ve always — they had those kind of vibes to me from like episode two and three, obviously season two brought a lot more people on board, but I was always curious. Cause in season one, like, I think, it feels so natural, it feels so organic, and like I’ve shown — one of the things I love about Dragon Prince is it’s a great way to connect with friends and family and you kind of catch up with each other like through the show, of “oh have you seen the new season yet?” and that sort of stuff. And so when I’ve shown the show to like my brother-in-law, who is not plugged in at all, he also kind of picked up on it in season one, so I’ve always been curious.

A: You know, what else, I’ll even say, I think we initially, intentionally planned they weren’t going to be a couple. We were like “Oh yeah, no, they’re—”

R: Friends, yeah.

A: Friends, with different views of the world and they journey together, and we don’t want them to be a couple. We’re not — we’re definitely not targeting it. I think we were intentionally not targeting it, and then it was “too bad creators! [R laughs] We’re going to fall in love despite everything you’re planning.”

R: Well, that very much I think even fits what they represent to each other, of like you don’t have to do this path that you think you have to do...

A: Yeah.

R: You can be something new. I always kind of felt like Ezran and Zym were — felt very kind of like designed as foils, as like a pair, of like through Zym, Ezran learns more so like how to grow up, and they’re both like the princes who will be king, and then Callum and Rayla also kind of felt sort of like developed as a pair, in terms of like — he needs to gain more confidence, she’s pretty confident on the surface.

A: Yeah.

R: She needs to learn how to open up, he’s really good at being open especially in the beginning.

A: Right.

R: So I was always like...

A: He needs to be murdered, she needs to learn how to murder someone.

R: Yeah! They complete each other, yeah. Uh... Some other questions that I had [rapid typing]. So I guess, maybe, I have some questions that are more season specific, in respect to time, but I also had like more general questions.

A: Okay.

R: So, one of the things I’ve always love in general and really love about The Dragon Prince is its like use of philosophy and like its deeply interested in ethical and moral questions, and presenting some answers for some of them, but like are those the right answers? We don’t know.

A: Right.

R: So I know King Harrow’s choosing of Lady Justice’s blindfold is a pretty apt comparison to John Rawls’ Veil of Ignorance—

A: Yes.

R: Of, you know, you strip away everything that you could have, like advantages, disadvantages, and think, would the system work for me? Which has been useful when I’ve like, had to tutor students in philosophy actually, but I was curious, were there any like philosophical concepts or ideas that people really, or you really, wanted to work into the series? ‘Cause we have a lot of trolley problems.

A: Right. Um, probably. I mean like, I should say, I was a philosophy concentrator in college so I absorbed a lot. Things like Rawls, I had a class with John Rawls, and thought that was a really interesting concept and I liked including it, and I thought we can include it in a fun way, the idea of justice. So other philosophy probably makes its way in, it can makes its way in accidentally or subconsciously, so nothing specific right now comes to mind. I will say, as with kind of Avatar before this, I don’t like to have — I’m not trying to have a right answer, ever. I’m trying to have the characters have a deeper understanding of what they’re struggling with, and y’know, move in a direction of deeper understanding, so if anything, it’s more interesting to me to see conflicts between maybe philosophical approaches that are different and see how — Oh well, this has these kinds of results, and positives and negatives, and this has... so that the audience can have a chance to say, “Oh well okay, I have some thoughts on that,” or “here’s what I feel,” and that’s why sometimes I think we see the fandom actually kind of go back and forth—

R: Yeah.

A: On — around characters and people’s choices, and things like dark magic or Viren, which are controversial, are things where like, I do not have a strong point of view on... the kind of binary right or wrong of... Viren in the long term. He’s made a lot of wrong choices and he’s made a lot of choices for good.

R: Yeah.

A: He is an arrogant and power hungry person and he’s also a caring and loving father and someone who wants to have a positive impact on the world, right, like?

R: Yeah.

A: So those conflicts play out in him. But similarly, I think with maybe most of the philosophical ideas I can think of, I’d rather get to like a place where everyone just has a chance to entertain those thoughts and ideas and struggle with them, or hold them in an authentic way, and then can come to their own conclusions and feelings. I mean, I have some deep feelings about like, the world, and how can people be optimistic or not pessimistic or—y’know, what it means to hold onto hope or what it means to try to move past conflict, and I have beliefs that there are conflicts that get so you know, kind of sewn in, that they feel they are impossible to untangle, and especially if the game you’re playing is who started it, or who did the worst thing, where you can’t just ever untangle it. You can’t ever find a right or wrong, so how do you get past that? That’s one of the questions I was hoping Rayla, Callum, and Ezran would try to—

R: Figure it out.

A: Struggle with. Anyway, I’m giving a very long winded answer—

R: No, no.

A: That’s the philosophy that comes to mind. If something comes to mind for you, you can bring it up and I can go, “Oh yeah, that was probably influenced by so-and-so.” [R laughs] Or maybe not.

R: Well, one of the things I loved about season six was kind of — you see, even... One of the things I thought was really interesting was we see, not quite like that return to trolley problems, but we see Aaravos at the end of season 5 is telling Viren you have to make the sacrifice so that you can live, and then we see Rayla tell Callum, “Hey, if the choice ever happens, you also have to sacrifice me,” for — so Callum can live, but also for like the greater good and that sort of stuff. And then you have Kpp’Ar, who — I love Kpp’Ar, I think he’s terrible and interesting and I love him.

A: Awesome. He is — we’ll learn a little more about him in the future, but yes.

R: And obviously when Viren’s like, “A child will die,” and this is a kid that Kpp’Ar would’ve known, and we see in The Puzzle House that he loved these kids, and whatever is up with the Staff is bad enough that Kpp’Ar’s like, “Okay. I’ll make that sacrifice.” Which feels very much in a way like he’s given up on dark magic, and to a certain degree he’s both given up on the mindset of dark magic, and maybe also hasn’t given it up in the same way. Like I love that — Claudia, you know, obviously, puts Viren above all else, is she always right to do so? Maybe not, but we get why she’s doing it, that’s a hard thing to say. And then we have Callum, who also seems inclined to put Rayla above all else, and because we like Rayla more, we’re like “Yeah, he can do that, it’s okay for him to do dark magic for her, that’s fine,” even if there’s also like, consequences. Cause most characters in the show, like you said, everybody kind of wants the same thing, they wanna have a positive impact on the world, they want to protect their loved ones, but what constitutes that world, what they think is a positive impact, or who they want — how they protect those people, that’s all very malleable and can fluctuate. Viren says “Claudia, you’re on the wrong path,” and we’re like yeah, he’s right, and Karim says the same thing about Janai, like the exact same thing, and we’re like, well he’s wrong.

A: Yeah. I mean a lot of things come to mind when you’re talking through that, but one is there’s often a conflict between rigidity and rules and some kind of compassion, or emotional decision, and those decisions are hard, right? Like I dunno, maybe Kpp’Ar should’ve said, “Okay just this once, it’s Soren,” or not, I don’t know. I mean obviously Kpp’Ar had taken himself to some deep horrible place and he really had, actually. And was like, “Okay, dark magic is just corruption when you start and keep going down this path, but this Viren’s kid so I don’t know.” One of the things here, I think there’s a relationship between — you know, sacrifice plays a role here. Sacrifice and thinking about generations and generational conflict and thinking you know maybe in a way I think is interesting. I think about the beginning of season 6 when Claudia has done all of this and sacrificed another life but also sacrifices some of her soul or whatever to save her dad and he’s like “No no! This is not the way! A parent is supposed to do this for a child but never the other way around,” right? And there’s something to that I find interesting which is — it’s almost the inverse of children having the opportunity to start anew and break cycles, parents potentially have the opportunity to make sacrifices that don’t pass by burdens onto their kids, but sort of like that’s the mirror I see a little bit, in terms of how do you have generational change and evolution? It’s somewhere in younger generations being able to not get stuck on conflicts and burdens, but also the older generations recognizing that they may have to be the one to take the — and this is I think a natural... I dunno, it’s something I think about a little bit and came to mind when you were talking. So we’ll see more about what is the meaning of sacrifice and when — when do you... trade? Yeah.

R: Yeah.

A: Side note on sacrifice. You’re familiar with Game of Thrones? You’ve watched all of Game of Thrones?

R: I’m decently familiar, yeah.

A: Okay.

R: And if not, I can have Kuno explain it to me later, so.

A: One of the things I love about the sacrifice Ned made, that we didn’t realize he’d made until I think the very end of the series, we realize — a sacrifice to his kind of reputation, right? And I’m talking about him representing Jon Snow as his bastard to protect him, right? Think about that, that’s a sacrifice, he had to go through the anger — he didn’t tell his wife the truth, he didn’t tell anyone, because it was the only way to protect the child, and as a result he lived with — even though the truth is that he was a really honest, good, or evidently he didn’t go cheat on his wife, he sacrificed that part of his reputation to protect Jon, at least how I see it. I think things like that are kind of interesting. I dunno.

R: Yeah. Yeah, I think it speaks to that idea of — one of the things I love about Dragon Prince is it’s so much about choices.

A: Yeah.

R: Like one of the things I really really liked about season 6 was that, you know, Callum is like, “Okay, I’m going to get myself purified, healed of dark magic,” and Rayla was his light, which was very validating, cause I had noticed in season two there was like some framing so I was like well “Maybe, maybe” you know? And then slowburn buildup but it was — I think that was a great moment that really paid off. And he’s told “if you ever do this again, it’ll corrupt you completely.” And whether he will or won’t — I personally think that he will, but spoilers, you know — but whether he will or won’t, I think it’s really nice because now whatever choice he makes, he’s making with the full context, of what this would do to him.

A: Yeah.

R: Whereas in season two, yes he was making his choice to do dark magic then, and I don’t necessarily think he would make a fundamentally different one if he had known what it would lead to, but there’s a different kind of awareness. Like I always of it would’ve been so easy to have Harrow not know that Viren was going to kill Zym, cause that’s such an easy way to kind of let Harrow off the hook of well Viren went off and did this on his own, and Harrow had no idea, and blah blah blah, right? Cause we like Harrow, he’s a — again, he’s a good dad, we’ll forgive a lot. And instead, it’s not his idea but he’s fully aware, he signs off on it. And I think constantly pushing characters to make hard choices — kind of like what Ezran says, “these aren’t dreams, these are choices.”

A: Yeah.

R: You can choose love, you can choose to make... It’s something that makes all the characters feel so fully developed and interesting, so I always appreciate that you guys push them to make the hard choice.

A: Yeah. Cool. Thank you.

R: One question I did have is, uh, Karim is one of my favourite characters.

A: Okay. Unusual person. A lot of people hate — or love to hate...? I love him too.

R: I also love Kasef, so I think I just kind of love everyone, because I’m like well, they’re really interesting. I feel like [Karim’s] arc was one of the things I loved most about season 4 because you can see him really wrestling with his choices and I love watching him fail, cause that’s kind of all he does, so that’s always fun. But I am really curious obviously now he’s been betrayed by Sol Regem, Katolis is in ashes and maybe they’ll blame Karim for that cause Sol Regem is like — dead, and now, presumably his only hope is going to be that his sister doesn’t execute him on the spot?

A: Yeah.

R: So is there anything you can tease about Karim’s arc in season 7?

A: Yeah, so — so it’s not just Karim, there’s an army of people who betrayed Janai, and — and...

R: What do we do?

A: Yeah, what do we do? That will be something we’ll have to see them grapple with pretty much right away in the season. Especially cause [Karim’s army] showed up for this battle where they were never even — they were just planning to sweep up the ashes afterwards, so when they didn’t get the dragon support they needed, I suspect they lost really quickly.

R: Yes, yeah.

A: So uh... Yeah, but basically as of the start of season 7 — all of them are prisoners of Queen Janai and the question is — what do you do with that? What do you do when you have an entire army and your own brother who betrayed you? And so that’s — we’ll find out.

R: Yeah. [Laughs]

A: But yeah.

R: Yeah. Another question I had going forward was Terry and Claudia obviously I thought had a really beautiful relationship arc, particularly in season 6, and we saw in season 4 the lengths he’s willing to go to for her, and how Terry, I think, is a great example of how there’s a lot of character traits where we think “oh, if you’re a selfless, helpful, accepting person, you’re a good person,” and I feel like Dragon Prince does a really good job of how, Rayla’s selflessness can be great but it can also be kinda bad, or, um, Terry can be super accepting, maybe a little too—

A: Yeah.

R: —accepting sometimes, right? So I feel like at the end of season 6, it will presumably be him, Claudia, and Aaravos for a little bit now that he’s out of the prison. And it feels like maybe Terry might hit a breaking point?

A: Here’s what I will say — Terry is a really special character and if you watched him, he’s so good, and what we’ll find out is, he is — there is an episode called TRUE HEART and he is someone who has a true heart.

R: Oh that’s so sweet.

A: It’s very impossibly rare and special — but also we all understand what a true heart is in some way and we’ll learn a little more about that. But yeah, the question of what will Terry do, what can he do, is difficult because he has a very strong sense of right and wrong, but he has a very deep capacity for love and he loves Claudia with all of his heart. Where does that present an impossible conflict, it may... we’ll see a challenge.

R: Yeah. Yeah, for sure.

A: I’ll also throw in like I sometimes see some parallels between Terry and Uncle Iroh—

R: Yes.

A: Though Uncle Iroh I think has a very different journey. Iroh is kind of a recovered problematic person who now has some wisdom and enlightenment, so in terms of the difference between the purity of a true heart versus where Iroh is more of a later stage enlightenment, the love that they have for the kind of complicated person that they are with is similar to me. And the way that they both sometimes have to, or don’t have to but...

R: Choose to?

A: You have to give that person the space — you can’t force them to choose right or wrong, you can be there with them, you can try to guide them, you can — but ultimately you have to give them the space to fail, and eventually, you may have to turn your back on them.

R: Yeah.

A: At some point. I don’t know. But um yeah — I still see them as connected characters in my mind.

R: I think I can even see some of that with even the way Callum is with Rayla, like season five onwards, of like “I’ve hit my turning point, I’m not mad at you anymore, and you can steal my key, you can lie to me, and I’m not going to have you open up to me out of guilt or obligation, I want you to tell me what’s going on when you want to tell me what’s going on, and I’m going to give you the space for that.” So I think it speaks to that unconditional love that I think—

A: Yeah.

R: —a lot of the characters are blessed to have. But I do see the Terry Iroh connection. So another thing that I thought was really interesting was — obviously next season is dark magic, and I’m very hopeful that maybe we’ll learn more about the origins of dark magic or Elarion, even.

A: Great.

R: Because I know when I was watching Sol Regem burn down Katolis, it made me think of what might’ve either happened or almost happened to Elarion in the past, you know?

A: Yeah.

R: Even down to Ziard and Viren both die, kind of deflecting and trying to save people, with the same staff, you know, and how the cycle continues to just always repeat itself over and over again. And if there was like — yeah, cause burning down Katolis was a massive shakeup, you know?

A: Yup.

R: And what maybe the process was there, with the — Aaravos seems like he’s trying to repeat the cycle of like “Oh I’m going to take down the dragon monarchy or I’m gonna use that vacancy to my advantage, and mess with the Sunfire elves.”

A: He has a specific vendetta against Sol Regem, obviously, but it’s one where he has played it out in... What’s certainly meant to be implied, even though we’ll find out more later, is that one of the great mysteries of Sol Regem’s life is that his mate disappeared and he never found her. He’s the freaking Dragon King, and she disappeared. And though we don’t know how or what happened, while she was buried alive. He killed her. He didn’t even realize it, somehow. Somehow, Aaravos manipulated him into killing her, and he doesn’t — I dunno, I assume Sol Regem does understand when it must have happened, but that moment, it’s like an impossible — it’s meant to be just...

R: Awful.

A: He’s tortured him for 1000 years or whatever, without him knowing he was being tortured by Aaravos, and now he’s given him the mercy/cruelty of knowing the resolution to the mystery was that he killed her. And one of the things that worked well with that was that, we had sort of said Sol Regem can smell the truth from a lie, so he has the horrible curse of being able to know this is the deep dark truth. So I dunno, I think um, are we going to find out more about that? So, if we can eventually get the Book Three novel out [R laughs], we will find out more about that.

R: I did wonder, I was like “Maybe this is something that was gonna be in the book three novelization.”

A: Yes, we will find out more in the book three novel, it may be a year or so before unfortunately. And then I don’t think we’re gonna get too deep into that in season seven, that’s part of — it is involved in what we’re thinking about as the third arc, understanding and resolving the third arc, is gonna go a little deeper into...

R: Some of the history, yeah.

A: Some of the stuff that happened with Sol Regem. But yeah, no, I — it’s enjoyable to have these figures like Aaravos and Sol Regem who are ancient and operate over the course of centuries and are incredibly powerful, yet they can’t — or at least Aaravos, they can’t conflict directly as easily, and so Aaravos has played this really complicated game. Anyway, but yes Sol Regem is part of that, but there’s — there’s more, there’s more people who — beings that took from him. He feels that Leola was unfairly punished and that that was — you know, he sees a future and he has something... All this time, a burning — it’s the twisted form of his love, in which he’s full of hate right now to the beings who brought this about. Obviously, Sol Regem played a role because he’s a rules dragon.

R: Yeah, yeah.

A: He is the one who betrayed her to the Cosmic Council ultimately — but how do you punish the Cosmic Council? That’s a bit more complicated.

R: Yeah. No, I remember finishing season six and just being so impressed with the story. Like, taking that direction, and almost doing a lot of recontextualization, because it’s one thing to have like your worldbuilding where “magic in the story works like this” and it’s just very kind of like hand of God, you know? Like oh — cause the magic system has always been unfair, that’s why we have Callum, you know? It’s another thing to say we’re going to have characters in the story who are responsible for it being unfair. And now we’re just going to have that in terms of conflict and themes of destiny. We have about seven, ten-ish minutes left I think.

A: Probably seven, if that’s okay?

R: Yeah. Of course.

A: I’ll throw one other thing in there, which is that — cause characters experience things that change them: has Aaravos experienced — I’ll phrase it as a question, even though probably the answer is here, has Aaravos experienced much that has changed him in the last — since the death of Leola? I mean certainly some things, and is what’s happening now changing him in any way? Is it satisfaction, is it the relationship with Claudia, and what does that mean to someone? That’s a question that I think we’ll have to watch play out a little bit.

R: [Intrigued] Okay. Yeah. One thing that I really liked about Leola’s character was I felt like she had pieces of each of the main trio in her? Of this very helpful innocent well meaning child, kind of like Ezran — and I have also always seen Ezran as autistic as well cause I know that Leola canonically is — and then you also kind of have the whole oh she gave / helped humans have primal magic, which obviously Callum has. And even just being this young elven girl punished for her compassion and mercy, that felt a lot like Rayla. And when making the choice for Leola to be Leola, was that something intentional or like the choice for it to be a child rather than another loved one?

A: It was very intentional that it was a child... And we talked through other versions of Leola that could’ve been, in other ages, genders, relationships with Aaravos that an important person was lost. Some of the things I liked about the way, Leola both as a child, children are the cycle breakers.

R: Yes, yeah. I think it was the strongest choice.

A: And in particular also, the idea of coding her autistic was a little bit like not as cued to kind of accept the social order and the order of things, but actually more open in a way to in what some people see as like — something that’s broken which is not taking those cues, something else about that — not being bound by it that allowed her to have compassion that crossed the line in terms of the perceptions of what the Cosmic Order needed to be in it — but it made her more, both as a child and an autistic person, to make that choice and do what she did that changed everything.

R: Makes a lot of sense.

A: [Her being a child] also frames it with some innocence obviously right? It’s not calculated, it’s kind.

R: Yeah.

A: So I dunno.

R: Yeah. Yeah, I’ve been curious about how Ezran might be challenged now that Runaan is back in the picture.

A: That’s a great question. That’s a great question. I mean, it’s so weird, it’s like no one even asks that, it’s like “Cool,” Rayla’s like “I’m gonna go get him. Awesome! Runaan’s back.”

R: Yeah I’m like either — either Callum is like “Ezran will be totally fine with it,” and Ezran is probably not going to be fine with it, or maybe Callum knew that maybe it wouldn’t be great, and kept it under wraps. Yeah, I’m so excited for that like trio, potential broyals conflict, so...

A: Well, I mean, Ezran is a very special kid and he’s very positive and kind and forgiving and all of this. But we’re talking about, Runaan is back.

R: Castle’s destroyed.

A: Katolis is rubble. Where does that leave him?

R: Yeah.

A: You know? I mean — so I’m excited about that part of Ezran.

R: I know the fandom is really, really excited for Ezran to get to be — not that he hasn’t always been complex, but to get to be like messier, of letting his emotions maybe get the better of him and that sort of thing. So people are definitely hype for that, for — cause I feel like season six really brought home a lot of things for Soren, and it seems like season seven is going to do a similar thing for Ezran, so that’s — that’s really exciting. Um, with our final couple minutes, I wanted to see — do you have any questions that you want fans to ponder or to be thinking about?

A: Um... Gosh. I don’t think I have anything specific that we haven’t talked about, but you know. On some level, like, you know how do you take the tragedies and conflicts that we all inevitably face repetitively and relentlessly and kind of learn to move forward in hope and optimism? I think that’s more of a question of like how do you personally learn to process — all the kind of bullshit in the world, and process it, and still move forward as a kind, connected—

R: Measured person.

A: —hopeful person? That’s a challenge we all face in our lives, so that’s like...

R: Yeah. Well, I think the show does a good — really good job at asking and challenging that — that question. Uh, yeah, I think — I think that’s our time for today, uh. Thank you so much, this was...

A: It was my pleasure.

R: This was a lot of fun.

A: It’s always my pleasure reading your theories and your—

R: [Gasps] Oh my gosh.

A: Honestly, I came on today and to tell the truth [R laughs] a little bit intimidated.

R: Oh my God.

A: You’re so—

R: I also felt intimidated [laughing] so don’t worry.

A: You’re so insightful and articulate, that I almost am like [R laughs] what if they catch me that there’s something not as smart in the show as I thought it was?

R: Oh my gosh, no, you’re fine.

A: [Overlapping] So anyway, I really enjoy what you write—

R: [Overlapping] I’m also a writer so I know what it’s like to be like “I did this subconsciously,” it’s — yeah.

A: I love what you instigate in the fandom and the kind of conversations you support and engage in. I’m a huge fan of yours, so.

R: Oh! Thank you so much, that’s so sweet. Um. And I am a huge fan of yours.

A: Yay. That’s a great way to end a podcast.

R: That is a great way. Okay. Alright, well thank you so much, hope you have a great day, great week, uh, and — yeah. Okay.

A: Alright, and I’ll see you soon, we’ll do this again sometime, I hope.

R: Yes! Yeah. Okay.

A: Alright. Thanks again. Alright, bye.

#tdp #the dragon prince #podcast #cast and crew #wordswithdragons #aaron ehasz #transcripts #interviews #s6 #arc 2 #transcription

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jokeroutsubs · 23 days ago

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[📝ENG translation] 'My Parents Gave Me a Strong Sense of Identity'

An interview with Bojan Cvjetićanin.

Original article written by Teja Roglič for Ona plus, published 05.11.2024. English translation by @kurooscoffee, review by @weolucbasu, proofread by IG Gboleyn123.

Full article and Spotify link under the cut 👇

🎧 Article available in audio form on Spotify.

Last year’s craze at Stožice, summer festival performances, the Eurovision Song Contest, international success. And then everyone asks, what could be bigger, what could be better? But as the band Joker Out releases their new album, they consciously follow the motto "I want less". Singer Bojan Cvjetićanin explains why: "This is our home, this is our base. If we don’t feel good at home, we can’t feel good anywhere. We need to rediscover love in our base, that’s what we told ourselves."

With the song Bluza, you’re returning to love. Why?

We went through a lot. The songs we released after Eurovision dealt with the most acute situational changes in our lives—touring, exhaustion, questioning ourselves. Now, it’s time to have a bit of fun again. And there's probably nothing more beautiful than being in love. (smiles)

I’ve been looking into people’s stories, into the lives of those around me, seeking beauty.

What did you discover?

That I enjoy writing about love the most. When you write from a place of uncertainty, it’s nice to get those feelings out; when you write about love, you search for timeless beats within yourself, not something that’s only fleeting. I write about the ideals of love I held as a child, and in the future, I’ll see how these have either evolved or fallen apart.

It's best to write about love...

When you have a broken heart.

Your Eurovision song was more socially critical, though it might seem, at first glance, to be about joy. In it, you say: "We won’t take part in your games or your divisions." Did the song’s message reach people?

Undoubtedly. A lot has changed in a year and a half, not only personally but also in terms of our views of social issues. For the first time, we've connected with young people from abroad. It was fascinating to see how connected the fans from different countries became, encouraging each other, learning new languages—even a lot of Slovene. The desire for peace and unity is very strong at our concerts, so our messages have touched them. But of course, you can never reach everyone. (smiles)

You mention changed perspectives with regards to society. Have any ideals been shattered?

Many ideals have crumbled. In school, learning about war, it always seemed odd to me that the world could just go on at the same time, despite the ongoing disruption in the system. Now, I see that we have access to all the information, that we see and hear what’s happening, that we witness an influx of people coming from regions where this is happening, yet everything literally carries on as usual.

War has become more of a trend on TikTok or Instagram than something people feel hurt about. This makes me very sad.

A lot of ideals that have shattered relate to the life of a musician. We’ve achieved things we could only have dreamed of—not just as kids; even two years ago, what’s happening now would have seemed impossible to me. But the ideal that’s crumbled is this one: I don’t always know how to appreciate what I have.

On tour, I often slipped into negative thoughts, didn’t appreciate everything happening to us. This links to the idea that this kind of life is easy, that as a successful musician, you only have fun. This, of course, isn’t true; it’s incredibly exhausting, both mentally and physically. I could go on until tomorrow, listing everything that’s fallen apart, but fortunately, a lot of new things have also come to be.

You’re the idols of generations; do you feel pressure because of that? After all, you’re still young guys too…

No. We already lost the childlike joy of music because we had to start working so much so early and get to know so many new systems. If we also take on the responsibility of raising generations of kids, we could truly fall into a black hole.

We need to be role models, but we can’t shape our work around that. On the upcoming album, there’s a song, 'Muzika za decu' ('Music for children'), which touches on this very point. We want to convey that we’re not addressing generations who think all younger people are lazy bums who only hinder the world’s progress. We’re addressing everyone who is young enough at heart to believe in a better world, a brighter tomorrow.

Photo: Vita Orehek

More and more musicians are stopping concerts at large venues when fans are in distress or overcrowding happens. You too?

Absolutely. This summer, we constantly stopped concerts if people were packed tightly indoors or out in the sun. We handed out a lot of water from the stage, and I even paused a concert if some listener (m.) was treating another listener (f.) disrespectfully. A concert is a safe space; there’s no place there for infringing on the rights of others.

That’s an interesting topic I wanted to touch on anyway. So what is the rock ‘n’ roll world of the new generation like?

It’s a lot better. I’m glad we’re not a group of drugged-out dudes living only for today. Carpe Diem really means seize the day, but for us, that doesn’t mean picking every fruit that exists in the world. Waking up healthy and energised, wanting to go to a concert, being open to meeting new people, our fans, being creative...

That’s what it means to seize the day. Sure, sometimes we go on a trip, we do have fun too. But I’m glad that sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll aren’t our guiding principles in the band. When we watched the documentary about Mötley Crüe, we saw how they started with heroin and opiates and ended with smoothies and fruit. Well, we’re already at the fruit and smoothies stage. (laughs)

“We’re constantly building a relationship that gets deeper every day, even though it seems like it can’t get any deeper,” you told me before the Stožice concert, as I was stunned when you said you were going on holiday with the guys right after the concert. How much do you invest in relationships within the band? We know it’s sometimes challenging to nurture a relationship between two people, let alone five.

This is like a partnership with five people. Except for intimacy, all the other elements of partnership are there. We’re companions. We often live together, work together; the dynamics are demanding. I talk a lot about this with fellow musicians. Recently, I was talking to Mr. Vlado Kreslin, and we concluded that being in a band requires a touch of madness.

Even if it ends someday—nothing is guaranteed—I know I have four lifelong friends. We exist as friends even beyond the band.

Success demands hard work; you’ve told me before how sure you were of your path in the band, of your decisions, and how hard you worked to achieve what you have. And we’re back to the topic that some might say your generation isn’t hardworking, that you’re quick to say what you won’t do at the work place...

The young people I know could hardly be described as not hardworking. I’d rather say we’re diligent, and the drive to work comes from the strong pressure that you need to achieve a lot very quickly, or else you won’t make it in this world. As for them being quicker to say no... Maybe they know they can’t live that way if something doesn’t work. And to live is very costly.

Young people feel they don’t have to stick rigidly to one profession, that they can change courses, jobs, and find something that suits them. We’re far from the days when the son was a blacksmith because the father was a blacksmith, and the daughter stayed home as a housewife. But we also have to know that there’s more and more uncertainty, precarious work.

If Gen Z is the way it is, I wouldn’t attribute that to the generation itself but rather to the Boomer generation. Everything that makes life harder for us isn’t the product of our ideas and actions. But it’s also true that sometimes, you need to stop, think, and make a decision. I’d like to do something today, something different tomorrow, but that’s not realistic. When you’re bombarded by choices from all ends, you have to make decisions. If there are three shirts in a store, I’ll pick one; if there are 250, I might end up buying sneakers instead. (laughs)

You performed at a concert aimed at contributing to the best possible care, treatment, and support for women with gynaecological cancer. You probably get invited to participate in quite a few charitable events; how do you choose them? This concert likely wasn’t a hard choice, as both of your parents are doctors...

My father is a gynaecologist, my mother is a pediatrician, so naturally, when I got the invitation, I immediately thought my dad would be happy if I could perform there. Otherwise, I choose events based on two criteria: whether it’s something important and whether I’m home at that time. I've often had to turn down an event I would have really liked to participate in simply because I wasn’t here.

Life has taken you all over in recent years. What have your parents given you that has stayed with you and has been proven most useful today?

They gave me a sense of normality. I'm an ordinary person who takes everything in moderation. I didn’t become a hedonist, nor did I give in to the patterns that the environment might impose. They gave me a strong sense of who I am and what I am, unconditional self-confidence, and self-respect. And the certainty that I’m never alone in anything.

Recently, the dramaturg Nina Kuclar Stiković and I talked about how Generation Z might be the first to actively work through its traumas, though she noted that taking on such responsibility across generations is a huge task. In the end, you might even feel worse. If you only become aware of your baggage but can’t overcome it, it can feel even worse than if you had never been made aware of it at all, she said. What do you observe around you, in your own generation?

Mental health has never been as openly discussed as it is today. I know many people who go to therapy. It’s actually strange that mental health was never treated before, that this stigma existed. If you have a cold, you stay home, you also heal a broken arm. Today's generations have managed to break free from these shackles. The individual is becoming increasingly more important.

People are working through the things in their minds. And this bothers many people from generations who suppressed everything and unleashed their traumas onto others. I often think how unfortunate it is that we don’t practice everyday therapy in our surroundings. Everyone surely has someone whom they trust. We talk about all sorts of things, but we never ask each other how we are and share that honestly. Now, I do this with a few friends, and it’s really nice. I go to my friends for therapy. (smiles)

Nina also mentioned that patriarchy has wronged not only women but men too. It’s unfair that men couldn’t show emotions and always had to be strong. It always helps if you can share your feelings with someone. What do you think?

The Neanderthal perception of masculinity is passé. We can all first tell ourselves, and then tell others, how we feel and what’s going on in our heads.

This summer, you performed at festivals. Now you have a new album, and you’ll be performing at various venues again, with tickets quickly selling out. It's a carousel that never stops. You mentioned earlier that you caught yourself maybe not appreciating it anymore. What do you do now to keep that from happening?

For the tour that’s coming with the release of the new album, we consciously followed the motto, "I want less." Last year, we played in Stožice, before that in Križanke. This year, we toured Europe, and everyone was asking us what big thing we’re preparing next. But we were only talking about how nice it would be to play at Ljubljana's Cvetličarna again.

Pass by Maribor too, go a bit to the clubs in the Balkans, and that’s it. This is our home; this is our base. If we don’t feel good at home, we can’t feel good anywhere. We told ourselves that we need to find love in our base again. I’m glad we recognise this, that we’re not just banging our heads against a brick wall. The purpose of this tour is simply to enjoy it.

A few years ago, you told my colleague Robert Rebolj, my fellow journalist, and your fellow musician, that you’d like to have kids while still young. Yet you also say that you're in a period where several of your ideals have collapsed as you look at the world around you. Does the desire still remain?

When I said that, I was thinking I’d have my first child between the ages of 28 and 30. Then Robert told me that having a child young doesn’t necessarily mean that. (laughs) I see it now, too, as some of my friends already have children, and some even their second. My calendar no longer just has friends’ birthdays, but, for instance, the first birthday of a friend’s child. (laughs) Yes, I think a lot about how this world is in many ways not what I imagined it would be, but I guess it’s always been that way throughout history—things have never been ideal. I think everyone, in every era, has felt the world is going to- hmmm, well, that’s how it seems to me too. (laughs)

#joker out #jokeroutsubs #bojan cvjetićanin #bojan cvjeticanin #Spotify #jo: bojan solo #source: onaplus #year: 2024 #og language: slovenian #type: article #jos: podcast

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maxverstappendaily · 9 months ago

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Julien Fébreau in @idreau_'s podcast on Max Verstappen:

"You see we talk a lot about Verstappen, people say to me 'He's so arrogant, he seems so... He's not like that outside the car!

I swear he's an extremely nice person outside of the car. Like Vettel, very well brought up, very well educated, he's someone who already looks you in the eyes and says hello... That's not the case for everyone!

Verstappen, every time I meet him in a paddock, if our eyes meet, a little sign, a little smile. We don't need to hug each other... It's ultra polite!

When you do an interview in the paddock, the time to set up the microphones and the lights, it's someone talking to you, it's not someone on their phone saying "Is it starting?" No ! He's talking to you."

#max verstappen #formula 1 #red bull racing #f1 #max

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sweettomyhoney · 11 months ago

Note

personally i would love to read a fic where y/n catches an assault charge for fighting a reporter who said something outta line about her man lmao

𝕂𝕟𝕠𝕔𝕜𝕠𝕦𝕥- 𝕄𝕒𝕥𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕨.𝕋𝕜

𝙿𝚘𝚟: 𝚈𝚘𝚞 𝚏𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝚊 𝚛𝚞𝚍𝚎 𝚛𝚎𝚙𝚘𝚛𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚍𝚞𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊 𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚟𝚒𝚎𝚠 𝚊𝚏𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚢 𝚖𝚊𝚔𝚎 𝚗𝚎𝚐𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚟𝚎 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚜 𝚊𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝙼𝚊𝚝𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚠.

𝙰𝙽: 𝙸 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚔 𝙼𝚛. 𝚃𝚔𝚊𝚌𝚑𝚞𝚔 𝚒𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚖𝚊𝚗 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜.

Prof read is a no/ this is a long one

———————————————————

Matthew knew what type of woman he had on his hands from the day one. You were sweet, kindhearted and loving. You were the girl of his dreams and his family absolutely adored you. After all, you did have a temper that only a Tkachuk could love. You were a perfect match for Matthew.

On the other hand, you were a force to be reckoned with. If someone even dared to test your gangster you would give them exactly what they dished out. You were a very protective person, especially when it came to Matthew, or the people that you loved. You were not afraid to get your hands dirty if need be. And today was not the day for someone to want to get on your bad side.

Moving from Calgary to Florida was a huge transition for you and Matthew. But, the both of you knew as long as you had each other everything would be fine. Sadly, ever since you’ve gotten settled in the state it seems like the chaos had not stopped. From unpack, adjusting schedules, getting settled at work, time difference, dealing with new people, and Matthew traveling, it was overwhelming. Now, your main concern was making it through family media day.

Today was the first family day for Matthew with his new team. Since you are now Matthew‘s wife, that ment your day would be filled with nonstop interviews from different local media outlets.For the most part things went smooth, until your last interview with a reporter from a hockey podcast you were not familiar with.

You made your way to your designated interview room hoping to be joined by your husband. As you took your seat ,you were informed it was a solo interview due to Matthew needing to meet with the NHL Network. Then a older blonde women entered the room.

•“Mrs. Tkachuk! it is so nice to meet you.” She said with a smile.

• “Hello it’s nice to meet you too” You reply happily.

• “You are even more beautiful in person.” She said now shaking your hand.

•“I’m Carla. Media Manager for the Panthers and I wanted to introduce you to your interviewer today.” She continued.

Before you could even get a word in, a much younger brunette entered the room.

•“You’re the new WAG I need to interview right?” The brunette said coldly.

•“Yeah that is me, and my name is (y\n) btw.” You replied confused.

•“Not important we are here about Matthew anyway.” She replied with an eye roll

•“Matthew will not be joining us for this interview.” Carla introjected.

• “Great! Another interview with an air head.” The brunette muttered under her breath.

• “Excuse me?” You replied taken back.

• “ Well! I will leave y’all to it!” Carla said quickly before leaving the room.

• “This is going to be fun!” You said to yourself sarcastically.

You then made your way over to your designated seat. The camera crew made sure that your mic was on,and that the lighting was working for you. Once everything was good the interview started.

•“ 3.2.1… Action! ” The camera man counted down.

• “ Welcome back to the Hockey Babes Podcast! I am Brianna! Today I am joined with the new Mrs. Matthew Tkachuk!” The brown haired reporter said enthusiastically.

• “Oh so you have a name? Brianna is it?” You said with a smile.

• “Yes! That is me.” She replied with a hair flip.

• “But anyway! Let’s get into the questions shall we?” Briana said sharply.

• “ We shall.” You replied trying to play nice.

• “So (y/n) what is it like marrying into the most hated NHL family?” Brianna said with a smile.

•“ Excuse me? Hate is a strong word don’t you think?” You replied taken back.

• “ Well it’s not like you married into a truly classy family like the Nylander’s. The Tkachuk’s do have a reputation for being white trash.” She said with a laugh.

“Is this bitch for real?” You thought to yourself. What type of interviewer asks a question like that. You were trying so hard to keep your patience. Luckily, It was the last interview of the day. All you needed to do was get through this last thing, then you were back with your loving husband. You continued to answer the question as calmly as possible.

• “ I do understand that my husbands family has a reputation for playing rough. But, white trash is the last thing that they are. Also, if you were good at your job you would know what WE Tkachuk’s are pretty close to the Nylander’s . My husband was drafted the same year as Alex. Also, his former team mate Auston Matthews now plays on the same line and team as William. So, I am pretty sure if we weren’t classy we wouldn’t be as close as we are.” You said confidently.

•“ You keep telling yourself that.” She replied laughing it off

• “So how did you and Matthew meet exactly?” Brianna continued with a snarky grin.

• “It was after he was drafted. I work with nonprofit organizations with the goal to make sports accessible to everyone. I have worked with Nike, Adidas, Reebok, and Dicks Sporting Goods. I met Matthew when the Calgary Flames volunteered to work with at risk kids. I have been in love with him ever since.” You replied reminiscing on the very moment you knew Matt was the one.

•“ How cute! Got to make up for the lack of talent he has somehow. Glad to see you have a working brain as well!” she said light heartedly.

•“ What do you mean by that?” You replied getting angrier by the second.

•“ I mean you are with the less successful brother. Brady is the youngest captain in the NHL. And tell me what exactly Matthew has accomplished?” She remarked doubling down on her rude comments.

“ You know what? I think this interview is over!” You said angrily as you stood to take off your mic.

“Aww…Did I make the Air Head mad?” Brianna said antagonizing you.

Before you could think, you lunged at her your fist connecting with her face. You grabbed her hair and pulled her out of her seat. You were full on twirling on this hoe.

• “YOU WANNA TALK SHIT LIKE A BITCH THEN IMMA DOG WALK YOU LIKE ONE!” you said dragging her across the floor.

• “ RIGHT BITCH! WRONG IDEA! DON’T EVER TRY TO BAD MOUTH MY FAMILY HOE!” You screamed as security and Matthew proceed to try a pull you two apart.

•“ Y/N IT’S OKAY! IT IS OKAY! YOU GOT HER! IT’S OKAY” you heard Matthew yell as he held you back from going at her again.

As Security dealt with Brianna, Matthew walked you to the medical room. You took a seat on the patient table. Matthew tried to calm you down as best as he could. You had a few scratches, so Matthew decided to find some things to clean you up. When you were calm enough, Matthew asked you what exactly happened.

•“ Baby what happened? Are you okay?” Matthew asked you wrapping his arms around you.

•“ NO! I am not okay! I just spent the last 45 minutes listening to my family be bad mouthed by a random podcast bitch.” You said brokenhearted.

• “ WHAT!” Matthew replied now upset at what he was hearing.

• “ YES! That bitch was talking about how the Tkachuk’s are white trash. How you are not successful cause you’re not a captain yet! And a bunch of other shit about my intelligence!” You told Matthew getting upset again.

• “ That is fucked up! I’ll take care of whatever bullshit comes next okay?You don’t have to worry about that. But,I want to make sure you are okay?” Matthew said concerned.

• “Well I just whooped her ass, so I guess I’m good” you said brushing your tears away.

• “ You did get her pretty good babe. Maybe you are a Tkachuk after all. I should take a few fights lessons from you. ” Matthew said cracking a grin.

• “ Matthew shut up!” You replied rolling your eyes.

• “ What? All I’m saying is that my father would definitely be proud of you.” Matthew replied causing you to crack a little smile.

• “ You think?” You asked looking at him with a raised eyebrow.

• “ I know for sure my little hot head.” Matthew continued leaning into kiss your forehead.

• “ Now you lay back and rest I’m going to sort this all out. Then we will be on our way home.” Matthew added giving you another forehead kiss.

• “ You don’t think I’ll have to deal with the police right?” You questioned him before he left the room.

• “ No way! The most that will happen is needing to pay a fine. Also you know I have a Fight Fine Fund. Triple F for short .” Matthew reassured you with a slight laugh.

• “It is the NHL after all.” You said laying your head down on the padded table.

Matthew managed to sort some things out for you. The most you had to pay was a fine of 8,000 bucks. This was a standard financial investment for Matthew. The man had 100k stocked for fines he might rack up during the season. Brianna on the other hand, was prohibited to conduct any future interviews with the Panthers. In the end, never mess with a woman who is in love with a man like Matthew Tkachuk. You will end up with your ass beat.

PS: I HOPE THIS DOSE YOUR REQUEST JUSTICE 😘💪

#matthew tkachuk #matthew tkachuk smut #hockey #nhl #hockey tea #nhl imagines #black nhl imagines #nhl plus size imagines #florida panthers #Florida Panthers imagines #matthew tkachuk imagine #matthew tkachuk x reader #nhl wag #nhl imagine #nhl x reader #nhl players

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sineala · 3 months ago

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I subscribe to the newsletter of an author I like who wrote a book about 9/11 and the War on Terror and the security state in the US and how it led to the election of Trump, and it's all very serious but apparently the author is writing an Iron Man comics series. I don't read the comics, and a lot of what I know about them comes from your fic, so I'm honestly not sure how much fanon vs canon knowledge I have. 😂 But the series sounds like it might be interesting I think? The author talked about it in his newsletter today. (This link should work. Probably.)

https://www.forever-wars.com/iron-man-how-to-blow-up-a-pipeline-succession/

I am actually really excited about this run! I try not to get excited about new Iron Man runs because chances are high that my hopes and dreams will be crushed, and I know that just because someone writes, say, stunningly excellent non-fiction, it is not a guarantee that they will be great at writing fiction at all or superhero comics specifically (cf. Ta-Nehisi Coates on Cap), but judging by everything Spencer Ackerman's been saying in interviews, his run sounds like it's going to explore a lot of interesting themes.

The post you linked links to an AIPT podcast that he was on a few days ago to talk about his new Iron Man run. For those of you who don't listen to podcasts (this is also me), the Iron Man subreddit has what seems like a fairly comprehensive summary of the interview, and I am really looking forward to the run. Issue #1 apparently hits stores on October 23.

But I will tell you why I am actually now really excited about this run. It's not relevant to anything about the comic itself. I am nonetheless very excited.

Last month, after he was announced as the new Iron Man writer, in order to hype up his run, he posted an offer on his blog: if you add the run to your pull list, and you email him proof that you're pulling his run and include a snail-mail address, he will mail you some cool Iron Man stickers.

I eventually got around to doing this last week. I was assuming he didn't actually pay attention to any of these emails so I dashed off a couple sentences about how I was looking forward to his take on Tony because he'd posted a photo of the Iron Man comics he was reading for research and several of them were among my favorites. And then I went off to get bagels.

By the time I had come back with bagels, twenty minutes later, he'd written me a very nice reply substantively engaging with the content of my extremely off-the-cuff message -- geez, if I'd known he was going to be actually reading them I would have put a lot more thought into it, you know? It was very kind and I was not expecting it.

He spelled my first name wrong in the reply, despite it being in the email header and also the name I had signed the email with.

This happens to me a lot. I have a first name that is very common in a lot of languages, but none of those languages are English. I'd say there's a 50-50 chance that a native English speaker will spell or pronounce my name wrong. This is unfortunate, because I live in the US and mostly interact with native English speakers. (My wife @lysimache immediately knew how to pronounce my name. I mean, it wasn't why I married her or anything, but I feel like it was a big plus on a personal level.)

If I have to give my name for something, I will reflexively spell it. The second-to-last time I voted, they'd switched voter lookup to you giving them your name rather than you giving your street address, which was a surprise that filled me with dread. My wife was in line ahead of me and she was completely finished voting by the time the poll workers had finished correctly spelling my name. (The last time I voted, I just handed them my ID, which is not required in my state, but I really wanted this to go faster.) I went to the doctor last week, and when they called my name in the waiting room, they said it wrong. I corrected them. They said it differently wrong a couple minutes later. I corrected them again. They said it wrong again. At that point I gave up.

(If I could think of a name I liked better that I was absolutely sure that most people could spell and pronounce, I would change my name. I still have not found one.)

So, you know, I'm used to it. It happens. Frequently. I was not at all surprised that he spelled it wrong.

He then emailed me again to apologize for spelling my name wrong. Like, immediately. One minute later. He said he was sorry and he knew a lot of people with a similar name.

Dude. Nobody does that. Nobody actually apologizes. Especially not in an email to a rando like me. He did not need to do that. At all. I was not expecting him to do that. He did that. I was honestly touched. No one bothers to do that. But he did.

I got my stickers in the mail yesterday.

I have redacted the portion of the note that has my name in it, but he absolutely spelled my name correctly.

Mr. Ackerman, sir, I hope your comic sells a million copies.

#replies #celticjade13

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inchidentally · 9 months ago

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New podcast on Fast and the Curious! Lando It sounds like it really was just the one day in Perth! Lando said he made eggs for everyone the morning after they arrived and was left to do the washing up! The "illegal stuff" he mentioned in the F1 interview was riding motorbikes without proper protective kit 😂 He mentioned how he and Oscar have chats every race weekend about what they expect and their own debriefs afterward. (I'm sure most teammates do this but Andrea said that he likes how much they work together so it must be pretty special!) Him being hard on himself is about having high standards for himself which he feels is what's made him who he is today. He likes staying out of the chaos of contracts and changing teams. Said again how comfort for him is important because honesty and trust is better at a team where he knows people. They talked about how much people adore Lando and he said how much he appreciates it and still isn't used to it. He thinks he has the best fanbase. 😊 They said he seems genuinely happy and he really did! Oscar He'd had a flapjack that morning! They said how Oscar was the first "thing" they'd ever recorded and he clarified that he's human - so cute 😊 And he is their most frequent guest! Said he felt more settled and comfortable as opposed to the second half of 2023 hitting him "like a train" with how busy it was. Feels better now he knows what to expect. He pretended to get upset when they said they wanted to see Lewis win 2024 WDC 😂😂 Fred Vesti had told them that Oscar decided to stay away from the Alpine twitter drama (35:20) by playing chess with him since they lived next door at the time! His wisdom teeth gave him problems through the season and he should have had them out twelve months before. Oscar does not call his car a "she"! The only reason he called a car "Silvia" because his mechanics wouldn't let him leave until he named it 😂 He said that he and Lando will always work hard to help the team to get the most out of the car ❤️ While it's nice to have compliments he knows neither compliments or criticism will make him drive better so he just needs to stay focused.

Fewer teeth = weight saving 😂 That's it! Very cute and they both sounded super happy despite the weather!

anon you are an absolute blessing bc I had no idea when I'd be able to listen to that all the way through !! Lando being the one to make eggs for Daniel and Martin AND then doing the washing up is not what I'd ever have expected aksgfsagflajfs but Oscar talking about flapjacks and chess and wisdom teeth absolutely is goddd I adore them so much ??

thank you for writing this up <3<3

#submission #landoscar #mctwinks #twinklaren #not putting in their indiv tags bc ppl get real mad lol #landoscar podcast #the fast and the curious #testing 2024 #they're literally opposites attract

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wingsoverlagos · 8 months ago

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This is a fun collection of quotes from the Let It Be Beatles Interview with Mark Lewisohn conducted on August 20, 2018. This is mostly for @mythserene's enjoyment, but it's also a fun lil supplement to this comment by @talking-perfectly-loud on a post by @anotherkindofmindpod, which includes some revealing, deeply salty quotes by Lewisohn from an episode of Nothing Is Real.

The below soundbites focus on Lewisohn's feelings towards the Harrison estate, particularly Olivia, though Lewisohn also lets us know that he considered suing George at one point. Italics used to indicate tone; bold font is added emphasis by me.

This is from ~1hr8min into the interview, after a discussion of Mal Evans diaries. Here's a partial transcript:

"No, no, Olivia Harrison doesn't want anything to do with me at all. Yeah, so it's very frustrating because I just want to make the history better and better and better and more and more correct, especially more and more correct in terms of balance on all four Beatles, but whatever."

This is a longer clip (6:26) from ~1hr23min in the original interview. They're discussing Lewisohn's falling out with Apple/the Beatles/George in particularly, which came about because he was falsely accused of bootlegging, or something like that. He's told a few variations of this story.

The first 3ish minutes give some flavor and backstory. Some choice quotes (they're at about 2:50, 4:35, and 5:42 in this clip):

“To the day he died, George blocked me, and Olivia blocks me in George’s name, and so it still carries on.”

“I’ve never, ever leaked, and that was why it was so galling to be accused of being a bootlegger. George Harrison accused me of being a bootlegger to my face in front of a whole film crew, the bastard. I mean, really. A horrible, horrible thing to do. I really should have done him for slander, and in fact at one point I was tempted, believe it or not. Because, you know, I’m a professional, I’m on a shoot, I’ve got a whole unit with me, and he’s accusing me of being a bootlegger in front of everybody, which was- he had no evidence for because there wasn’t any, but that didn’t matter. He was accusing me without evidence, and it was wrong, and um, you just have to put up with these things. These people, they can get away with murder. Celebrities, you know?”

Lest we think George was wilding out solely because of the bootlegging, Lewisohn helpfully clarifies that it was also Paul's Fault:

“The irony of that was that I actually had started off really well with George. I knew George from ’87, personally, and we’d had nice times, and it was- one of the things that flipped it was when I began working regularly for Paul.”

This was the part of the podcast that really took me aback, from around the 1hr43min mark. There's some chatter about Let It Be (the film), and then Lewisohn goes off once again about Olivia Harrison. He's quite impassioned, and then seems to make a conscious effort to talk himself down.

“I don’t know Olivia Harrison. I’ve never met her, which makes her- just- [angry] blocking of everything I do so ridiculous, because she doesn’t even know me. But if, as it would appear, she’s taken it upon herself to perpetuate George’s wishes, which is something that you might expect a spouse to do when their partner’s died, if the partner says, ‘Don’t ever allow this’, then she would take it as her duty not to allow it.”

This is followed by some hedging.

There are several other choice tidbits in this two hour Lewisohn marathon, but Olivia Harrison was foremost in his mind. But don't worry, guys, he's not biased!

#george harrison's last words were fuck mark lewisohn. hare krishna #CONFIRMED #olivia harrison get behind me #next substantiative post coming soon #just a bit of fun for now~#mark lewisohn #tune in #lewi-sins

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sweet-marvel · 9 months ago

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Julien Fébreau in @idreau_'s podcast on Max Verstappen:

"You see we talk a lot about Verstappen, people tell me 'He's so arrogant, he seems so... He's not like that outside the car!

I swear he's an extremely nice person outside of the car. Like Vettel, very well behaved, very well educated, he's someone who already looks you in the eyes and says hello... That's not the case for everyone!

Verstappen, every time I meet him in a paddock, if our eyes meet, a little sign, a little smile. We don't need to hug each other... It's ultra polite!

When you do an interview in the paddock, the time to set up the microphones and the lights, he is someone who talks to you, he is not someone on their phone saying "Is it starting?" No ! He's talking to you."

#max verstappen #f1 #oracle red bull racing #formula 1 #I'm not surprised but some people need to read that

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nalyra-dreaming · 1 year ago

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aah, I wish Jacob had been allowed to talk more about 'truth and falsehood' on the show. I know he was never gonna give specific spoilers, but it seems some fans are still in denial about Louis being an unreliable narrator at all. The fact that these kinds of discussions were happening behind the scenes suggests the cast knew from day 1 that something about season 1's narrative was false or misleading, they just didn't know exactly what.

Yeah.... I saw some posts around^^. (And the podcast host also pointed out that Louis was an unreliable narrator...)

I mean, it kinda feels like some kind of "gag order" has dropped away, because Jacob (and Sam) have been very blunt about that (and the Loustat relationship) in the last few interviews, but actually the fact that they all were discussing (and therefore knowing) what was true, and not is, actually, nothing new:

"Whenever I talked about something that Louis had said or that was in the script, because this show is Louis’ recollection of events, Sam would just be like, “Lie. Lie. That’s a lie. Did that happen? Is it real? Didn’t happen that way.” Very unhelpful for my preparation. [Laughs] I got really icy about it a few times. “I don’t want hear this. I have to believe something is true.” It’s nice be able to believe what you’re saying."

That's from October '22.

So the fact that he is, in fact, an unreliable narrator (or misremembers) and the reason why he changes some things stands in the room with him...

Like, if you watched the first season, and heard Daniel calling bullshit again and again, and saw him literally destroy the narrative of the last part and did not get any of the hints that are strewn throughout the show... then you simply haven't been paying attention.

And I know, there's so many layers. So many other - important! - stuff to focus on. Racial conflicts, patriarchy, power dynamics, cheating. The list goes on. But ultimately... this will be their - Lestat's and Louis' - love story, and this has been re-iterated in these last interviews, as well as that they're following the books, and... well.

POV changes, revisits and changes of perspective (and being called out for lying, too) are part of the books.

It's just that some fans don't want to apply this to Louis, for representative reasons I believe.

But... as Jacob put it so nicely in one of the last interviews:

"Something that can get misunderstood about representation is that all representation has to be good representation. It's important actually that we don't show a queer couple as a monolith or a Black character as a monolithic thing. I love that the show is willing to explore the multitudes of that relationship."

A lot of fans don't want to see the "bad" in Louis, or Claudia for that matter (and I use "bad" here very loosely, because there are no "bad", or, for that matter, "good" vampires in the chronicles). The hate I've gotten for pointing out weaknesses or simply flaws in the narrative, or when their behavior didn't make sense to me - or when I interpreted it differently in the light of later books... was off the charts at times. And I fear a lot of people will have a very hard time with the shifts that will come in soon.

But... they've been hinting at that since the beginning. And yes, they've obviously known, too. (And I would argue they would have needed to know which scenes would be revisited - and, honestly, Jacob's comment above does hint at that, imho.)

#Anonymous #asks #ask nalyra #amc iwtv #iwtv #amc interview with the vampire #interview with the vampire amc #iwtv amc #iwtv 2022 #interview with the vampire #lestat de lioncourt #louis de pointe du lac #loustat #representation

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beautifulterriblequeen · 7 months ago

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I recently listened to Hot Brown Morning Potion Podcast's Deluxe Elf Interview again, and with more seasons and insight, something new popped for me.

It really doesn't sound like Ethari is from the Silvergrove. The village is described as being very shadowy and goth, perfect for Runaan and full of assassins. It also seems to be the only Moonshadow village that's quite this way.

With Ethari dressing so differently, sounding different (more on that in a tic), and having a very different personality, I don't think he grew up in the Silvergrove. He's not really a gothy kind of guy. It seems far more likely, as in some of our old headcanons, that he moved there when he married Runaan, or thereabouts. As an adult, anyway, with his accent in place.

About accents: this is a new thought I have not heard anyone say but it just hit me while writing this post: if Rayla and Ethari both came to the Silvergrove from outside it, then maybe the Silvergrove Accent is British.

Runaan's assassin team have a mix of accents, and it makes sense that not all assassins come from the same village but they would go there to train with the best of them. But my favorite detail is that Andromeda has a British accent. She's a local! Which means I can dovetail this hc with my "Andromeda and Runaan are half siblings and Lujanne is their mom" headcanon.

Further thoughts: if Ethari moved to the Silvergrove for Runaan, I'd love to see them both leave. Literally and metaphorically. Let's get Runaan living in a nice soft place that fits Ethari next time they need a village to live in. I think it would be good for both of them.

Ethari cries easily. He wept alone from stress over Lain and Tiadrin and Runaan's mission, and he cried silently, covering his own mouth as if even the mere sound of sorrow is not allowed in the Silvergrove, when Runaan's lotus sank.

The Silvergrove is where Ethari moved, for love. But every choice has a cost, and it's whatever you're giving up at the same time - whatever you cannot simultaneously choose. Ethari seems to have given up some things that were important to his emotional health. I'd love to see them settling somewhere that allows for more expression of individuality, for both their sakes, or at least that Ethari has spent the past two years in some kind of place where he could have that for himself.

An emotionally open and stable Ethari could fix me. I mean Runaan. 😇

#tdp #ethari #tdp meta #tdp speculation #runaan

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jokeroutsubs · 9 months ago

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Audio + CC link: https://youtu.be/ulyrcg0Fmqw

ENG SUB: JokerOutSubs x RADIOAktivno collab: 'Umazane misli' Album Presentation

We are very happy to have been able to collaborate with Boštjan Najžar from RadioAKTIVNO podcast (Facebook, YouTube), who very kindly reuploaded the removed video on YouTube again and agreed to collaborate with us by adding subtitles!

Below you can find the transcription of our translation of the interview, which originally aired on 23.11.2021, on Radio Prlek/RADIOAktivno YouTube channel.

Everyone: We are Joker Out.

Bojan: And you are listening to RADIOaktivno.

Boštjan: We've heard 'Gola' by Joker Out, from the album 'Umazane Misli'. Today with me on the RADIOaktivno show on Radio Prlek all the members, Martin, Jure, Kris, Bojan and Jan.

Everyone: Hello.

Do you have any dirty thoughts?

Jan: Every day. Yes, more and more. That's what connects us, that's what's always stuck with us. I think we're born with dirty thoughts. We've just released that on a CD.

Now you have finally made them public.

Bojan: Yes, it took a while, but these dirty thoughts have changed in the last two years, since the album should, in theory, have been released originally, they have evolved a lot. And they have evolved in such a way that we are now really very happy with them. So, yeah, the physical form is finally with us.

Anyway, Joker Out, you've been playing your cards successfully for a few years now. Are there many Jokers in the game?

Kris: Yes, there are exactly five in the game, right? Each one special in their own way. That specialness and dirty thoughts, as they say, unite us, too, don't they. I don't know what else to add to that.

Do you play cards?

Jure: Do we play cards? No. Socially, we don't play cards. No.

Bojan: We’ve actually never played cards.

Jan: We were at the casino last time.

Bojan: Hey, we were. And on average, I think, we were in a deficit, just two euros in total, or four.

Jan: Something like that.

That's a good result.

Bojan: Really good.

Kris: So kids, don't go to the casino.

Bojan: Yes. You will always lose.

Five Jokers, well connected.

Martin: Seems pretty well connected to me. We kind of complement each other nicely in what we create and what we do. What else can I say? Well, if there are only two Jokers in a deck, here we have five. Kind of.

Bojan: Like the Power Rangers.

Jan: Yes. Power Rangers. Power Rangers. Power Out. Joker.

Bojan: Is there a pink Power Ranger?

Jan: Joker Rangers.

Martin: There's a pink Power Ranger.

Bojan: I am the pink Power Ranger. Bojan.

So does each one choose his own colour, or is it assigned to a particular member?

Kris: Yes, I think basically the colour is assigned based on his character and temperament. So maybe pink really suits Bojan, yes.

Kris, which one for you?

Kris: Yes, I don't know which Power Rangers are left.

Bojan: Red, yellow, green.

Jan: You can have one of your own.

Bojan: Black.

Kris: Is Jan the black one?

Bojan: Jan is the black one.

Kris: Jan is the black one, right.

Bojan: Jure is the yellow one, right?

Jure: Am I the yellow one, or what?

Kris: Is he the yellow one?

Martin: Nooo.

Bojan: Yes, I don't know, is it?

Kris: I would say, the green one?

Jure: Green.

Kris: Jure is...

Bojan: Green.

Jure: Well, come on.

Kris: Hey, what's left, red and blue still, Jurko?

Martin: Yes, yes.

Jan: Jurko is more…Martin is more the blue one.

Kris: Well, I'm the red one and Martin is the blue one.

Power Rangers are always in action, are you always in action too?

Martin: Yes, especially lately, I think, that we're pretty much in action. Well, from all points of view, musical and others, socially. What else can I say on this topic?

Jure: There's a big thing in the works right now. So, we have to split up the tasks and that's it, yes.

But there's a lot of "sweet" work now?

Jure: Yes, yes and no, right?

Bojan: If you interpret it that way, it's much easier. If you tell yourself that it's "sweet" work, then many things that originally are not directly related to music, but are just things that we have to do along the way, to be successful, it could work, after all. We have a lot of "sweet" worries, we often have worries that we would like to or be able to give to someone who tolerates them better than we do, or just not have them.

Kris, were you going to add something else?

Kris: I just wanted to say that there's a lot of sweet powder as well. To get this, the context of one of the songs will come in handy.

UMAZANE MISLI

Gola' was the opening track, the second will be the title track for the album, 'Umazane misli'.

Bojan: Yes, 'Umazane misli' is one of those extremely upbeat, good-mood songs, which was kind of our attempt at Brit pop and we feel that it was very much the beginning of a certain vibe that we would like to maintain. It's also a very particular song because it was sung by one of my classmates from college, who had never sung or stood in front of a microphone in her life, so it has that touch of naivety. So yes, a very beautiful song that I hope we'll listen to.

Umazane misli' by Joker Out's album with the same name. You are a five-member band, I read online, you started from the ruins of Apokalipsa, in 2016.

Bojan: Yes, on the ruins of Apokalipsa and then Buržuazija (Bourgeoisie). These were the two bands that kind of broke up and then formed this current whole. Except for Jurček, Jurček joined us this January from the ruins of many other bands where he was forged.

But Buržuazija is still active. So you have taken away a member from them?

Jan: Yes, they got replaced. I mean, no matter what, Buržuazija always finds a way to its position.

Kris: True. The class struggle continues.

Jan: But, yes. I mean, this is a band that's replaced every member five times, at least, so...

Bojan: They're really a living organism.

Jan: Resilient. They're resilient, yes.

Martin: That's the question, right, if you replace every part of the boat, is it still the same boat?

Bojan: No, it's not the same boat, but it is a very good thing for Buržuazija, because I would say they are in the best possible shape right now. Maybe I dissed Jan and Kris with that, because it wasn't so good when they were there, but yes... Great band, still, or rather now.

Kris: Yet I 'Still' ('Vedno') enjoy it.

Jan: Yes, that.

Then today, Jure, you are actually the youngest member, joining the band?

Jure: Oldest member but youngest in the band, yes, I think.

In experience with Joker Out, I mean.

Jure: In experience with Joker Out, yes.

Bojan: He's the only one with a sweater on, so actually, kind of, the levels balance out.

Jure: I try to get on your level.

Have you received him nicely?

Kris: Absolutely. He's fitted himself in so perfectly into our band that I actually sometimes forget that we've been together for... - Just... - ...less than a year.

Bojan: He still has to adress us formally and eat at a separate table.

Jan: He did make us a really great roast once, so that's when we finally accepted him into our band.

Bojan: True, yes.

So you also have entrance exams in the group?

Bojan: Informal ones.

Given that Jure is cooking a roast to enter the group, what did the others do then to get in?

Martin: That is only for the members of Joker Out to know, right? Something like that.

Anyway, we first got in touch in 2017, Kris texted me then that you had a song, if it could be presented on the radio. If we could do an interview, but then Kris immediately left Bojan holding the bag.

Kris: Yes, that's when I, I don't know, I think I got lists from my mum of 30 music editors and we wrote to everyone when we released our first single 'Omamljeno telo' and I was genuinely surprised and I thank you, for even answering, so thank you very much. I really did, however, leave Bojan holding the bag at the time and still, I would do it again. That's just the duty of the frontman, or how should I say it? He has privileges and duties.

Usually the frontman is the most exposed member of the band.

Bojan: Yes, that's just kind of how it goes generally, but I will say that we have, especially in the last few months and in this final process of making the album, greatly expanded the public exposure of the whole band. And I personally would like to see this be brought to the maximum level, if possible, so to say, to be as exposed as possible. Not only because I find it to be right, but because I also sometimes feel like not going to every single thing.

VEM DA GREŠ

The next song will be 'Vem, da greš'.

Kris: What can I say about this track, listen to Bojan's sufferings.

Bojan: No, we have one interesting thing about 'Vem, da greš'. Vem, da greš' had three forms. It was a very slow balladic song at the beginning, but it kind of got on our nerves during the recording process and we didn't know what to do. We ended up speeding it up a lot. Mark Pirc, our video producer, had to edit the whole video again and shorten it by one minute, because we'd also shortened the song. Jan recorded the last guitar parts two hours before we sent the song to be mixed, so two months of work was practically in the trash, in such a bombastically short time before the mix itself.

Kris: May I add, it doesn't look to me like it was all garbage, because we would never have come up with this in the last four hours if we hadn't done that two months before.

Bojan: But Žarko clicked 'move to trash', 'delete'.

But then it was left in the bin anyway?

Bojan: It was left in the bin, yes. And also on his old computer, so we'll never hear that stuff again, even if we wanted to.

You've been accumulating experience on stage for quite some time, from various competitions and things like that.

Kris: Yes, it's true, as soon as we formed as a band, we also started looking for gigs, because we knew it was the only way for people to actually hear our music and feel it. Because what you see on YouTube, maybe doesn't capture you as much as live music. And there are, basically, at least for young bands in Slovenia, quite a lot of opportunities to show off, various competitions and bands battles and so on. And we've entered everything. Even when we weren't playing well, we thought we were better than everybody and we went to play. And basically, well, apart from showing off to the audience, you also get to know a lot of the young music scene, with whom it's very good to link, and I think that this has also helped us a lot in the long term.

What has it given you?

Martin: First of all, I think that these opportunities make it possible for young bands to come out of some kind of closed space, where they feel comfortable since they practice in front of each other and create some music to perform and show what they've been creating for the audience and let's them see how the audience reacts or, especially, how they don't react to your music at the beginning and it gives you some first experiences that are very important for then performing in front of larger audiences on bigger stages.

How is it, being in such competitions or opening for a more famous band that has stage experience behind them?

Jan: The first time we played as the opening act for Big Foot Mama in Domžale, I kind of felt so privileged, I was, I think, so privileged to be able to take part in it. So without going through that and being an opening act to bigger bands, also you can't become what they are now. So, 25 years ago, yeah. So, yes, it was interesting to feel a really big stage for the first time, right. And now we're kind of almost used to it, I think.

Kris: Do you know the song 'Garbage Hip Hop?'

Today it's different when you're the one on stage.

Jure: I don't know, I don't know if it's different. I think you have to make the same effort. You have to make the same effort. Maybe, okay, now people, people maybe percieve the opening act and the main band a little differently. But still, if you play what you what you agreed on, if you have good energy, communicate with people, it doesn't matter whether you're the opening act or the main band.

Bojan: Are you going to tell me that you don't feel a thousand times sexier on stage right now, than you did then? Don't lie.

Jure: No, no, I don't know if I do. No. I mean, I'm at the back, I'm the drummer, it's the same to me.

Bojan: Drummers, poor drummers, they never see the crowd and they can't even be seen on stage. But we'll buy you a pedestal, my dude, three metres high, dude, for everybody to see.

Jure: Lights.

Bojan: Then you're gonna see.

How do you feel as a singer now, when you're the frontman in a band and you have an opening act, compared to when you were the opening act?

Bojan: Yes, it's really one of those interesting leaps that we actually can't believe has already been made, I will say, honestly, as if we were just now realising that we had come to this point that someone is our opening act. We really do have a lot, a lot of work to do. But we are very happy to do a concert and there's somebody else before us. But we know that this role was ours, literally, for the last four years and we have always welcomed it with the greatest joy and pride. And it's a must on every musician's journey, so, yes, we're looking forward to a lot more opening acts, and hopefully as many as possible, that then will be back as the main ones, in the future.

To make the competition fiercer?

Bojan: Absolutely, I think that without good and healthy competition, there is no scene at all. So the more musicians we have, that are growing and that people are listening to, the more we will have an audience that wants Slovenian music.

PROTI TOKU

Is 'Proti toku' next?

Jure: Proti toku', that's a new song, yes. We finished this one together, right? After I joined the band. So, this is one of the latest ones. I don't know what else to say, 'Proti toku'.

Kris: Okay, so 'Proti toku' is the first track, you're going to hear from our new album and it's brand new. It's actually fairly well known amongst our audience, because we've been performing it for at least three years, I believe. But it's in a completely new format because we turned it upside down three times in the studio and we hope you like it.

Considering your music, are you a rock band?

Martin: We're definitely a rock band. By the way, we discussed this just yesterday, how as young performers, well, we are still young performers, but in the early days, we didn't know exactly how to define our genre. When we were asked what our genre is, and we were maybe a bit thoughtless, or you could say thoughtful, when we replied that our genre was 'Shagadelic' rock and roll, which is still what we all agree on.

And if we translate that, what is that supposed to mean? We know that there are many different kinds of rock.

Martin: I don't know how to translate that, as somehow...

Bojan: Fuckable is a literal translation. Fuckable.

Then we know which audience you are targeting most.

Bojan: Yes, everyone who is looking for...

Kris: Middle-aged males.

(laughter)

Jan: I mean, yeah, yeah, we are rock, right? I mean, rock isn't just leather trousers and beer, it's also smart clothes and beer.

Bojan: It's the eternal question of defining who is rock and who isn't. In our band there are three electric guitars, a bass and drums and I think the sound of our guitars is distorted. I don't know what else people want from us. Now, the fact that we're young, obviously, objectively speaking, girls find us charming, obviously degrades us into not being rock or something, according to many people. But sorry, not sorry, Guns N'Roses will never be on our setlist.

Were you in a dilemma at the beginning about what to play and which direction to follow?

Jan: We definitely were. I think we have quite different musical backgrounds. At least I was a little bit more metal at the beginning, which didn't really suit the other members, because Bojan doesn't sing "raaah". His voice is more delicate. Then, yeah, we explored a little bit, experimented some more with funk, but it didn't work out, because we just aren't... that funky, well, but... So, yeah, in a bit of a roundabout way we've reached this Shagadelic style, which we still hold on to.

How many adjustments were there at the beginning then? And brainstorming, different ideas, ways of looking at where to go and how to move forward?

Kris: Ugh...

Others: We still do that a lot. - It still happens.

Kris: That's constant. It's always present. It's a shouting match and the loudest one... No, no...

Bojan: And if you shout the loudest, you win.

Kris: Yeah, yeah. No, but seriously usually we had very different ideas, but somehow we at least let everyone speak their mind, and if it was really bad, it was just... Like that, the rest... But if anybody had a half decent...

Jan: Why are you looking at me now? (laughter)

Kris: Sorry... (laughter). But if anyone had a half decent idea we were like, okay, let's go and try to develop it and somehow we've always found a joint thread, invariably.

Would you also take a vote when you create then? To vote, like in a democratic fashion?

Jure: No, we don't, we don't take votes.

Bojan: Žare has this...

Jure: Yes, we do understand and know each other enough, so we know exactly which buttons we can and can't push.

Bojan: Our opinions don't really count, because in the end, Žare has the last word.

The producer has it then.

Bojan: Right, yes. We often bring the arrangement and then after 25 seconds we're faced with dissaproval and a horrified look on the face of Žare Pak, so we have to get back and rehearse ASAP.

The expression says it all.

Bojan: It tells it all. All of it, all of it.

Jan: And the vowel, right?

Bojan: He uses a vowel, ə... - əəə...

Several members: əəə...

Martin: Which we hear quite often in the band, right?

Bojan: Now we can write a book called 'The Thousand and One ə'. And Žare, we'll basically take Žare's, we'll write a whole book out of one ə.

After all, the Slovene language also has several e's.

Bojan: There are more, but believe me, Žarko probably knows even more of them.

DOPAMIN

Next up will be 'Dopamin'.

Martin: Dopamin' is a very exciting song from the album, because it's quite different from the others but it's still Shagadelic and it's ours and you can hear that. Although we kind of went out of our comfort zone creating it and what's particularly interesting to me, it's how well the fans have embraced it. So let's listen to 'Dopamin'.

Kris: Dopamin' is actually the best song to play after this whole rock 'n' roll debate we just had. It's a song that was essentially created two weeks ago, let's say, to completion. We had already been working on it with no real progress for a year and a half, because we, I had lots of different lyrics, this is actually a song I wrote, lyrics and melody for the most part, the only one on the album, and there was constant back and forth between Bojan and me, who's going to give in and when will the final version of the song be good enough.

Bojan: Yes, I would like to say that I am extremely happy, that Kris's debut made it onto the album and I'm not apologising to him one bit for any rejections that may have come his way, because they've led to a great song.

You have ten songs on the album, is there more material, is this a selection?

Jan: Yes, we've written at least 70 thousand songs in our life, but...

Martin & Bojan: They're cherry-picked.

Jan: They're cherry-picked, right. It's the cream of the cream of the crop. Well, yes, there is already more material coming up for the next album, which will be released at some point we've written at least one song.

Bojan: And a half.

Jan: One song and a half, yes.

Martin: Which won't pass the ə-test, right. The ə-test we were discussing earlier, so we'll see what happens.

Bojan: People always want to know how many E's are in their food, but we're interested in how many ə's are in Žare's answer.

There can be a lot of ə's in the studio with this technique.

Bojan: Loads.

Although I do miss some songs from your ealier period on the album. Have you separated then those perfect beginnings from the more recent period?

Bojan: Yes, actually we said that we would like this album to sound cohesive and represent our choices for example which period defined the Joker Out people know now. We have many songs that were part of our beginning, and we're not ashamed of them at all, but we feel that maybe they stylistically and sonically don't belong on this tangible product we have in front of us now. But we're discussing how and in what way we can put them into, if possible, physical form, and present them to the whole of Slovenia.

How do you go about creating then? Do you have a dedicated person who does the music? who writes the lyrics, or do you work together?

Bojan: I mean, people from the label usually come in, bring all the material...

Jure: And the money.

Bojan: We go to the photoshoots, pose and smile, do some interviews.

That's what most listeners think, but I know that's not the case.

Martin: I have one comment. Yes, this, this label is the Cultural Arts Association Joker Out, isn't it?

Bojan: Yes

Martin: Kind of. This label takes care of the whole creative process, finance and everything else, really, so we're pretty much the ones to blame for our own fate.

Kris: Right, in fact, this is how our creation process flows, as far as music is concerned, we all work together. You can start a song by, let's say Bojan or I can start making a framework for the song, with the lyrics and the melody, or someone could bring a melody on guitar to the rehearsals, a groove on the drums, like, a chord progression and we just build from there and then usually Bojan will write some lyrics over it and the melody and then we build it up until the producer screws it up, as we've mentioned a couple of times today and then we try to glue the pieces back together somehow.

Bojan: We're doing a mosaic, through and through.

Kris: Yeah, yeah, right, right. But in the end, the suffering is always worth it, obviously.

So gluing is popular with you, too.

Jure: Gluing is popular? Yes, it is. I mean.

You take a little bit from this song and cut up the other one.

Jure: Exactly. We can't do without it, yes. But it's more Žare's job, it's what he does.. We put together some stuff when we rehearse, we think it's nice, we record it, we're like, okay, smashing, let's go to the concert and let's promote it. And then we get to the studio our plans crumble..

Martin: As a label we have everything ready, but then we're just not on the same page as our producer.

Bojan, then you're the one who's responsible for the lyrics?

Bojan: Yeah, most of the lyrics on the album are mine, yeah.

Jan: Or the main culprits for the lyrics are the girls, who captivated Bojan in our favour.

Are there many of them?

Bojan: Well, you know how, I'm fascinated by, not only by the girls, girls as well, of course, but I'm fascinated by everyday things, a glimpse of... Every single glimpse of the world can fascinate you or disappoint you. When I write it's more often out of disappointment than out of fascination. But yes, I think there is a lot of inspiration around us.

BARVE OCEANA

Next up will be 'Barve oceana'.

Jan: The next song is 'Barve oceana', yeah. It's a song which has the colours of the ocean. Well it's also a song, that's undergone quite a lot of changes. At the end we added one genius synthesizer sound.

Bojan: We used this weird organ belonging to Žare from the '70s.

Jan: Žare's organ from the 70's, pardon me.

Martin: From Sweden.

Jan: Yeah, does anyone else have anything to say?

Bojan: Was that all you had to say, because...

Jan: I don't know, dude. What would you add?

Bojan: Yeah, 'Barve oceana' is one of those songs, that conveys, I'd say, not discontent, but more of a concern about the direction our society is heading in. Our consumption is increasing and very few people ask themselves what they can give back. It's about a certain desire to distance yourself from the material towards, let's say, the more elemental realm.

You've won several music awards recently, in the last two years, I believe?

Bojan: Yes, in 2019 we were awarded the Golden Flute for Newcomer of the Year. In 2020, we received the Golden Flute for Artists of the Year. This year, our song 'Umazane misli' also won the Radio Maribor and SI Frišno Award the favourite song by audience vote in the previous year. I don't know, did we win any other awards? Except...

Martin: Yes, there's one coming up. So, the publishing house Cultural Arts Association Joker Out, will be honouring Joker Out with the most Shagadelic record of the year award, so we're expecting it and looking forward to it. (laughter)

And you'll probably get a plaque as well, a gold or diamond record for record sales.

Martin: That's right, because that's what the label would give to the band. So we haven't decided on the colour yet, we're considering platinum, diamond. But we're going to discuss it at the label and then present it to the band, something like that.

What do such high sales mean?

Martin: Yes, it means that basically the CD as a product is not just for listening to music, it's also an experience for the listener. We've put a lot of effort into the design of the CD and I think it's a good looking tangible product. But at the same time, the listeners support us by buying it, so we're very grateful.

Is it just storefront sales or does it include digital sales as well?

Bojan: Digital sales as well. Actually there are some standards applicable, in terms of how many streams count as an album sold. We, of course, do not follow them in any way, because we're self-published and we can totally get away with it. So when Martin said, we're going to give ourselves one award, I believe we'll be handing out many. It is because when people come to our place, it will look like we've already got decades of awards behind us.

Earlier, you also mentioned that you participated in the Frišno Fresh festival and played with the Big Band. How did that feel, when your song actually got a whole new arrangement?

Bojan: It was phenomenal, because we, I'll say, we're all fans of the musicians, who were in the line-up. Maybe Jan's words after the concert or during the concert would best describe what it meant to us.

Jan: Yes, I listened to the band perform this song and I've been a long-time fan of Primož Grašič and Blaž Jurjevčič. And when I watched Grašič, let's say, as he played my piece, I got... It was just a special, special feeling. It was just... Yes, exactly.

Bojan: Emotional.

Jan: Emotional.

Bojan: Please don't cry Jan, it's okay. We're wiping away tears, it's okay.

But overall, all the compositions sounded very good.

Jan: Yeah, really, I mean, those are really world class musicians, kudos to the arrangers and the mothers who gave birth to them. So, yeah, basically, I just didn't see it coming. But it was refreshing to hear these songs, we hear on the radio on a regular basis in a slightly more jazz-like style.

Did you have a part in making the arrangements?

Bojan: No.

Kris: Yes, in fact, technically speaking we did, because we noticed that they took the original arrangement and incorporated certain harmonies into the new one. Which is actually quite an honour for us. That such accomplished jazz musicians...

Bojan: They weren't above it.

Kris: ...incorporated our amateur harmonies into their grandiose compositions.

METULJI

Metulji' is next.

Bojan: Metulji' is a song that was written, let's say, at the same time as 'Omamljeno telo'. In 2017, that is. Our biggest issue with this song was, that it had a very Yugo-nostalgic rock feel to it, which was not the sound we wanted. We just didn't know how to manifest what we heard in our heads. and that's why we decided at the time not to record the song. And that's why we only recorded 'Omamljeno telo'. But now this song has got, as far as I'm concerned, exactly the sound I always imagined, and I didn't know how to recognise it or explain it. Daniel Bogataj joined us for the arrangement, and another violinist (f) who... Daniel did the arrangement for strings and also recorded most of the string sections. So the song is very special, I'll say, as far as our album is concerned, it has a slightly more classical feel to it and it's also my personal favourite.

The promotion is already behind you, as you can read online, the response has been great.

Kris: Yeah, in fact it's hard to believe, that it's really all over. I, I believe, I speak for all of us here, when I say that I haven't really gotten down to earth yet from the whole thing. It has been quite an incredible experience. Both nights, the energy was high, Cvetličarna was packed. Who would have thought? Certainly not us five years ago.

Jure: We had no idea even back in September. In the middle of September we were, we were like Cvetka, we know it's happening, we can start renovating our place now. So we started to renovate the place, all of it, and then it was the end of September, okay, we were clearly lagging. So we had to find a new rehearsal place, so we were able to rehearse at all.

Bojan: Because of how many metres of timber we do now have in our place waiting for us?

Jure:Yes, far too many cubic metres of timber. We installed drywalls, the whole thing. We were filthy and then we had to sit down and pick up the instruments. And we had to rehearse and work for the whole month. It was really exhausting.

Now then, while you're renovating the place, or your rehearsal space, do you have dirty thoughts as well?

Jure: We had dirty hands.

Bojan: Hands, yeah.

Martin: And everything else.

Bojan: Sweet powder and white dreams. The was a lot of dust, because we had to sand the drywall, it was all over the place. And we ended up painting it white so it became a kind of... a shiny white space, our white dream. So, yes, we will also have a new rehearsal space soon and we'll personally and we'll personally invite you to the opening, so we can talk a bit, record something, you can see all these mighty accolades.

That's what I'm interested in, yes, to take a photo and release it to the public, into the world.

Bojan: Absolutely. I think the world needs to see it. It's imperative.

Do you already have a designer(f) for the awards?

Martin: Actually, we don't have one yet. But I promise we really will do our best with these awards, so maybe another band will join our label eager for the awards. We can also make some additional plans with them.

Jure: But that would mean some serious money, you know.

Others: Money talks.

Martin: Money talks, let's just put it that way.

Kris: When we sign the contract, we can go for a beer together.

Bojan: The only negative thing, I have to add, about applauding yourself in self-publishing, is that you pay for the awards yourself. So, we borrowed a lot of money as a band for these awards, but it's all worth it for the glitz and glamour.

Will the other band coming to your label, be called Joker In then?

Martin: Yeah, we'll see about that.

Jure: A wedding band, you know?

Martin: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Bojan: That's what they are, for weddings. A medley of Dalmatian songs, yeah. A six-hour repertoire, no biggie, and you can hire us from next April onwards, thank you.

Martin: Kidding aside, we've already received these kind of requests. For Dalmatian songs, weddings and stuff.

Bojan: Oh, yeah. I once made a joke on Val 202, when the host asked us about our repertoire, how many songs we performed, and I jokingly mentioned, that we also play a medley of Dalmatian songs, and then we received a couple of requests in the mail for birthdays and weddings.

Martin: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Jure: Oh, my.

When you're conditioning, you need to get as fit, as, let's say, the musicians out there on the rafts in Belgrade who play for eight hours straight without taking a break.

Bojan: But for the moment, I'll just say, that as far as the rafts go, we only ever go there to party. Otherwise, yeah, we've played once or twice with other bands at the same event and when the guys told us, how long their setlists were, we realised, that with one gig, they actually perform as much as we do in month, so...

Martin: But the guys also benefit financially, don't they.

A SEM TI POVEDAL

The next one will be 'A sem ti povedal'.

Kris: A sem ti povedal' is another exciting track from our album.

Bojan: They're all exciting...

Kris: Come on, they're all exciting songs, especially the exciting ones. It's special because it perhaps has the hardest sound...

Martin: It's dark, dark.

Kris: The hardest, darkest amongst all the songs on the album and for an extra touch of eroticism Erazem Grafenauer has recorded a classical guitar intro.

I've read somewhere that this is the most anticipated album of the year.

Bojan: Yeah, for us it is.

Jan: Yeah.

Bojan: We've been busy making it.

And last but not least, for the fans.

Bojan: There's absolutely a lot of people who couldn't wait for this album to be released.

Jan: Amongst others, the five of us.

Bojan: Amongst others, the five of us, most of all, definitely our parents. But, unfortunately, there were, unfortunately, the circumstances didn't allow us to get the album out sooner than we did. And we're glad we've released it now and that we have been able to introduce it to the world with these two concerts. So we have no idea if it's the most anticipated one. For us it was absolutely the most anticipated. But we hope that if this one wasn't, the next one will be.

You've placed yourself on the cover in colours.

Jan: Yes, in the colours of the ocean and the Power Rangers. Yes, we went to shoot that cover or the cover photo to a mansion.

Bojan: To Rogaška Slatina..

Jan: In Rogaška Slatina, yes. Jan Pirnat took the photo. So, yeah, basically this light beam represents our path as it bounces off various walls and eventually finds its way to the top.

Bojan: Plus, there is another explanation, that this beam basically represents the dirty thoughts that confront us, penetrate through us, and are then projected out into the world.

To the audience.

Bojan: That's right.

Otherwise, you also invest a lot in video production. In fact, you seem to support every single with a video.

Kris: Yeah, it seems to me the only right thing to do is to support every single with a video. Even if you don't, if we didn't want to, it's the modern standard. And many people might disagree, that we invest a lot in video production.

Martin: But we do.

Kris: We are making a huge effort. And the main thing is when we do videos, we also like to be involved in the actual writing of the script. and deciding what it's going to be about.

Jan: Every time we draw straws to see who's next, who's going to sacrifice a kidney for the production.

Bojan: Exactly. That's exactly it. We are missing a few kidneys in the band because of these videos.

Can your music be accessed via Facebook or in another way, through your website?

Martin: Our music is actually accessible, we've tried to make it accessible, it's virtually everywhere on the internet and through Facebook, Instagram, now even on TikTok. Maybe the label will consider, if it's worth releasing a TikTok single, because that's supposedly popular right now. Anyway, it's something to think about, but it's exciting. And we have a website, we're putting a lot of effort into it ourselves, to make it as organised as possible and appealing to everyone. Since the other day, you can also buy our CDs, T-shirts and sweatshirts and everything else to support the band, so we don't have to sacrifice as many kidneys in the future.

Kris: If not, there are also Russian torrent sites. Everything is available there as well.

Bojan: Besides, we sing in the Cyrillic alphabet,right?

But with advice like that, there will actually be one golden or platinum record less.

Kris: Yeah, what can I say, we have ourselves to blame.

Martin: Well, we also have one more record for torrent listeners, So basically, we are on trend, it seems to me, in this respect.

Kris: The ones from the Russian websites, are in this red and gold, very communist style, this...

BELE SANJE

Next up is 'Bele sanje'.

Kris: Yeah, that song, when we perform live, Bojan always mentions that it's about nightlife horrors. So, listen up.

To conclude, will you be applying for EMA?

Bojan: Hey, is that a girl, or what?

Bojan knows the girl quite well.

Bojan: Honestly, there hasn't been serious consideration of applying for EMA. Maybe if we ever get carried away. But it seems to us that now that Måneskin has won it would be a bit, how do you say, tacky, imitative, for us to give it a try now. Like, now it's an obvious recipe for victory. So we are waiting when the next extreme will emerge, that's totally the opposite of our band, and win Eurovision, and next year we'll apply.

Jure: Well, we would need some support. No, not for going to EMA...

Bojan: 100 million euros.

Jure: You've got a new piece of music and... You put on a show... and that's where it ends.

Bojan: That's it. Let's say 100 million euros of support would be lovely. If we can manage.

Martin: We'll ask the label to pay for it.

Jure: Or if you buy the merch, well, maybe. Or if someone... [inaudible]

Anyway, as I understand you are already creating new material?

Jure: We are creating new material. If not with guitars, then at least in our minds. So... It's forever bubbling in the depths of our ever-dirty minds.

Anyway, I guess, now you're aiming for as many stages as possible, and the listeners are welcome to check the schedule on all the social media sites...

Martin: And on the website

... because it can vary from day to day, right?

Kris: Yeah, at the moment, we have a lot of interest for our gigs up to the end of the year and we hope we'll be able to have I'm knocking on wood, 10 to 15 concerts more and it will basically serve as...

Bojan: A mini-tour.

Kris: A mini-tour for the 'Umazane misli' album launch. We begin... a couple of days ago we performed at Rakičan castle, it was awesome.

Otherwise, again, as Martin says, we should mention the website, because you're one of the few bands that still maintains it.

Martin: Right, but it's interesting that we set up this website as some kind of vital inconvenience, and it turns out that people really like to visit the website where you can always find information, where in your vicinity we are going to perform in the near future, and all other relevant news.

OMAMLJENO TELO

We will end with the song 'Omamljeno'.

Jan: Its full title is 'Omamljeno telo'. It's basically our earliest track on this album, which you can tell from Bojan's slightly more boyish voice.

Bojan: And Tomi Meglič impersonation.

Jan: Yeah, right.

Jan: ♪ For you ♪

Bojan: ♪ to conjure up... ♪

Jan: But yeah, I think this song is excting because, it is the same now, when it is released, as when it was created, on one of the first ever rehearsals.

Bojan: It's the only song actually, we brought into the studio and that's exactly how we recorded it.

Jan: We knew exactly what it should be and that's how it remained.

This is our final song. Jan, Bojan, Kris, Jure and Martin, thank you, for being guests on the RADIOaktivno show at Radio Prlek. Have a successful and most productive future.

Jan: Thank you very much for inviting us.

Others: Thank you.

Bojan: Thank you very much for the invitation, we wish you the same.

Kris: We will come again sometime.

Martin: We hope to be back with you soon.

I hope so.

Martin: We do too, thank you.

-~-~-~

Transcript + translation by: drumbeat and @varianestoroff, ENG review by IG Gboleyn123, CC by drumbeat, Tumblr transcript by @kurooscoffee.

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