#but i do that in the end that’s not what defines an artist’s legacy or how they end up remember

[bandsanitizer]

.

#/nbh #to be deleted #alison speaks? #sometimes I feel like more recent fandom and whatnot doesn’t completely grasp that while charts and sales and all the numbers on that end #showcase a certain level of impact etc to music and how far they’ve reached or whatever #i think a lot of what makes an artist good or what showcases their impact is how the influence the genre or medium or whatever #that they are a part of that ultimately sure you can set all the records but records can be broken and beaten all the time #hell even fandoms try to outdo their previous selves #but i do that in the end that’s not what defines an artist’s legacy or how they end up remember #that charts and streams and sales sure make for a good artist and often go in hand with other impacts #but i see people be like why are X so nervous of meeting less famous X? and it’s like #they’re meeting the people that came before them in the industry #people that shaped sound or writing or some other approach #perhaps people that influenced themselves as artists #and when it comes to stuff like that? the impact of artists on those levels? it’s not about who had the most no1s or the fastest to x views #it’s how you change things. it’s the impact. the footprint that you make #and i think idk sometimes it important to recognize that? that yay they got x million views or streams or no.’s but it’s like #what are they doing as artists to be great artists? what are they doing to grow art? to change it? #i’m not saying all art needs to be some political or social whatever #or that streams and numbers aren’t a large part of success in current industries #but sometimes i think people overlook the impacts artists have and how it’ll end up being less about break number records #with some quantity that will probably be broken and taking a step back to look at the impact on people. the messages they’ve had. #what they attempt to do with their art.

[rthko]

please define camp. I see it said so much to describe anything.

@sougeeee Camp is an an aesthetic sensibility most famously described by Susan Sontag in her 1964 essay, Notes on Camp, where she disclaimed that "to write about camp is to betray it." The term has long been popular in queer circles, but exploded in popularity online with the 2019 Met Gala, themed and named after this essay.

Here are some characteristics of camp:

Camp is failed seriousness. I think a lot of uses of camp lately emphasize the silliness and lightheartedness but play down the melodrama and passion. Sontag writes here that camp "finds the success in certain passionate failures." Failure is a common theme in queer aesthetics and worldviews; as Quentin Crisp said, "If at first you don't succeed, failure may be your style." Writing about performance artist Dynasty Handbag, José Muñoz described the "failure" of her work as "not an aesthetic failure but, instead, a political refusal."

Camp is innocent. The camp that is most satisfying to Sontag is not trying to be bad on purpose but dead serious in its grandiose intentions: "naive" camp. To do it on purpose is what she calls "camping," and this is what the Met Gala in 2019 ended up being. As it's been said on here, Karlie Kloss's claim that she was "looking camp right in the eye" was accidentally closer to camp concept of fabulous failure than the look itself. Admiring camp is not to point and laugh but to sincerely appreciate it. Sontag writes: "Camp taste is, above all, a mode of enjoyment, of appreciation - not judgment."

Camp is artifice. It involves a love of the unnatural and exaggerated, and this explains why most drag is not simply female/male impersonation. There's an undue association between femininity and artifice, especially when it comes to trans women, lesbians, working class and racialized women (Julia Serano most famously writes about this as part of the basis for transmisogyny). While it's important to challenge this, some have taken the approach of playing with this in a tongue-in-cheek way. In her essay "Rogue Femininity," Elizabeth Marston writes: "let's say that femme is dispossessed femininity. It's the feminity of those who aren't allowed to be real women and who have to roll their own feminine gender."

Camp is apolitical? One of the first points in Sontag's essay is that "To emphasize style is co slight content, or to introduce an attitude which is neutral with respect to content. It goes without saying that the Camp sensibility is disengaged, depoliticized - or at least apolitical." In a way I agree. This sort of detachment is why George Santos the right wing politician was obviously abhorrent, but George Santos the former drag queen and fallen diva was, unfortunately, very entertaining. Since Sontag wrote this essay before Stonewall, it must have been hard at the time to see any overlap between camp and politics. But as the examples I've chosen so far might show, I do see a political angle, and a political discussion to be had over which expressions of art and being are considered unnatural or unserious. For instance, Black queer art like the bejeweled collages of Mickalene Thomas and the exuberant sculptures made of trinkets by Nick Cave address the racial angle in the demarcation of high brow and low brow.

There's a legacy in queer politics that calls for a sort of hedonistic, bejeweled extravagance for all. Jules Gill-Peterson writes about the transfeminine travestis in Latin America, and a term they use,mujerisima. The English translation is less glamorous--"extremely woman" or "the most woman"-- but to Gill-Peterson this represents a vision of racialized, working class anti-austerity and anti-assimilationist sensuality and glamour. In A Short History of Transmisogyny, she asks: "What's wrong with being extra? Abundance might be a powerful concept in a world organized by a false sense of scarcity."

So for an in-depth description of camp, I still recommend Sontag's essay for its insight and cultural impact. She's right to address the association between camp and homosexuality, but the association between failed seriousness and excess with marginalized subjects doesn't stop there. So I hope people realize camp is not an irony-poisened, "doing it ironically" hipster thing, but a perspective and way of life to find real joy and freedom in.

[evilbihan]

A guide to writing Tomáš

This is a Bi-Han centric blog, but I really want to talk about the mischaracterization of Tomáš too because it irks me to no end and I believe he deserves better. Not to mention that most of his mischaracterization usually comes at Bi-Han's expense as well.

Tomáš is not the sad, broken, overly sensitive crybaby the fandom likes to portray him as. Every time I see yet another version of the same fanart where poor Tomáš is bawling his eyes out and running into Kuai Liang's arms because Bi-Han was being "mean" to him, I immediately unfollow the artist. Tomáš is a grown man, it's disgusting how the fandom keeps babying him. Not to mention it's getting boring and on top of that, it's completely wrong characterization of both Bi-Han and Tomáš. In the scene where Bi-Han snaps at him, Tomáš barely even bats an eyelash. He looks confused and annoyed if anything, not heartbroken, and he certainly doesn't break down in tears either. Tomáš literally chose to talk back to Bi-Han, he's not afraid to say what he thinks, which is proven by the fact that he even confronts Liu Kang for letting his family die. Tomáš is courageous and he stands up for himself. This man watched his entire family get murdered in front of him and chose not to let it haunt him. ("Their ghosts no longer haunt me.") Of all three Lin Kuei brothers, he's the one with the highest emotional maturity, choosing not to let emotions cloud his judgement, unlike Kuai Liang (blind anger/hatred) and Bi-Han (frustration). Tomáš is so much stronger than people give him credit for. He's not some damsel in distress that needs saving and he definitely doesn't need Kuai Liang to defend him, especially not from Bi-Han who respected Tomáš and his skills enough to let him join them for important missions when he had everyone else in the Lin Kuei at his disposal. It's awful how some fans deliberately paint Tomáš as weak and Bi-Han as cruel, so they can make Kuai Liang look better.

A lot of the traits that define Tomáš are usually taken away from him in fanfics and fanart and given to Kuai Liang instead. Tomáš is the loyal, brave and kind brother who wants peace above all else, who wants his brothers to reconcil, who is truly selfless and respectful, even towards some of his foes. Believe it or not, Tomáš is not the "soft" brother. He chooses to be kind and fans mistake it for weakness. Despite being angry at Bi-Han, Tomáš doesn't want vengeance against him. He wants his brothers to stop fighting, for Earthrealm's sake and because they're family. Tomáš might be the youngest of the brothers but he's wiser than them. He has seen enough death and bloodshed to know no one will come out of this war as a winner.

Tomáš used to idolize Bi-Han, not Kuai Liang. Bi-Han, who is known to be cold and ruthless. As I said before in another post I made, Tomáš is no less ruthless than his brothers. He is not sweet and innocent. Just like Bi-Han and Kuai Liang, he was trained to be a lethal and stealthy warrior. Even before joining the Lin Kuei, Tomáš was a hunter. He grew up in a family of hunters. Listen to his taunts at the end of each round and the way he giggles while performing one of his fatalities. Tomáš enjoys hunting, he enjoys the thrill of it.

There is no part of the story or any intros that indicate that Kuai Liang and Tomáš were ever close before their falling out with Bi-Han, but it is said that Tomáš used to admire Bi-Han. I don't know why the fandom made up the wholesome bond between Kuai Liang and Tomáš because of that one scene in which Kuai Liang conveniently tells Smoke that they're brothers because he needed him on his side. Kuai Liang doesn't even bother interrupting when Bi-Han reprimands Tomáš. He even questions Smoke's resolve. What brought them both closer are a few shared ideals, such as the wish to honor their father's legacy and continue their duty of protecting Earthrealm. Kuai Liang is now the only family Smoke has left, which is why he's doing everything he can to prove worthy of his trust. He calls himself the Shirai Ryu's second in command, he's the one who recruits Hanzo, he's supportive of everything Kuai Liang does and never contradicts him despite having different opinions than his brother, possibly out of fear of losing his family yet again.

Tomáš is a very curious and open-minded person. Unlike Bi-Han and Kuai Liang who are both equally disgusted by the idea of fame and stardom, Smoke seems eager to play a part in one of Johnny's movies when Johnny suggests giving him a role in a film he made. He's also the one reaching out to others to try and bond with them, to make friends. He tells Raiden that he wants to visit Fengjian, he asks other characters questions about themselves etc.

Tomáš is without a doubt traumatized from what he's seen and been through. Similar to Bi-Han in the previous timeline, Smoke is concerned that he's tainted by evil due to his nightmares about the Enenra. Ashrah reassures him that her kriss can't sense any evil, but there's a chance he might still become corrupted.

I hope this makes sense and will help writers and artists out there to portray Tomáš more accurately in their works. Too many people in the fandom have a wrong idea of who this character is.

#tomas vrbada #mk smoke #bi han #mk sub zero #kuai liang #mk scorpion #mortal kombat 1 #mortal kombat #mk1 2023 #mk1

[chroniclesofamber]

Zelazny's 'Shadows', NyCon 3, The Statler Hilton, September, 1967

"Literature, of necessity, contains shadows"

[O]ne of his most crucial self-critiques was [Zelazny's] decision that he was “overexplaining” to the reader and should instead “avoid the unnecessarily explicit” and not “go on talking once a thing had been shown.” In a speech given at a 1967 science fiction convention he elaborated on this insight, declaring, “Literature, of necessity, contains shadows … A writer never writes an entire story … You live part of it yourself.” He went on to identify these shadows, gaps that the reader fills in, with the fabled “sense of wonder” that, to science fiction readers, defines the texts they love:

“Writing involves your taking everything in through those little cryptic bugs that crawl across the page and construct things around them. This is where that strange thing called ‘sense of wonder’ comes into play … It sort of enfolds this shadow area. Into those shadows you project those things you are looking for.”

Krulik considers this determination to avoid overelaboration “a central philosophy” of Zelazny’s writing. But what Zelazny posits in his speech, and what remains foregrounded even in a linear, plot-heavy work such as The Chronicles of Amber, is that readers experience the magic of shadow, and thus the sense of wonder, through language. Readers can imagine the streets, the plumbing, the business models of Amber as they see fit; the “emotional archetype” of the fantasy novel derives from Corwin’s story and how he tells it — both the worlds themselves and the ellipses that lie between.

Just as the reader experiences Amber through Corwin’s voice, the fate of Amber lies in Corwin’s hands, even after he decides he doesn’t want to be in charge any more. The outcome of the first half of The Chronicles of Amber comes down to learning who among the scheming, self-involved members of the royal family can master the Pattern — can, that is, control and focus their actions to execute a careful plan in order to achieve a goal.

"...the Pattern I drew to the sound of pigeons on the Champs-Elysées..."

By walking the Pattern, Corwin regains his memory and Dara assumes her true form; by failing to master the Pattern, Brand is defeated; by failing to repair the Pattern, the patriarch Oberon is doomed. And when Corwin gains access to the Courts of Chaos, enabling his ultimate victory, he does so not through the old, broken Pattern but by making a new one, a process that calls forth memories of a happy interlude in his past — on Earth in 1905 Paris — even as it demands an excruciating precision:

“I did not meet with the physical resistance that I did on the Pattern … a peculiar deliberation had come over all my movements, slowing them, ritualizing them. I seemed to expend more energy in preparing for each step — perceiving it, realizing it and ordering my mind for its execution — than I did in the physical performance of the act. Yet the slowness seemed to require itself, was exacted of me by some unknown agency which determined precision and an adagio tempo for all my movements.” (542)

Could there be a better description of the act of writing? If Zelazny began The Chronicles of Amber struggling to find his preferred artistic path, he ended the series’ first half with a reminder of the difficult requirements of both creative process and practical accommodation, and, arguably, a more mature vision of both. For Corwin, if Amber is not what you thought it was, it is well worth preserving. If the Pattern you thought was your legacy no longer works, the only thing to do — the only way to defeat the forces of Chaos — is to draw a new Pattern of your own.

— Cox, F. Brett, “A Series of Different Endeavors 1972-1979”, Roger Zelazny: Modern Masters of Science Fiction, 99-101, Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2021

#chronicles of amber #roger zelazny #the chronicles of amber

[starry-blue-echoes]

Have a few queries/plot bunnies regarding the Jonaplat AU:

When Jotaro uses Star Platinum to sketch the Egyptian fly from the spirit photograph of DIO, is that using Jonathan's artistic talent or Jotaro's?

What are Jonathan's thoughts on the Speedwagon Foundation?

One of JoJo's defining traits is his capacity for sympathy and a mindset where he tries to imagine the consequences his actions would have on other people, even if they appear to be enemies. Would there ever be situations where he refuses to obey Jotaro out of principle?

Would Death 13 interfere with Jotaro's dreams about Jonathan's life? Could the *opposite* happen?

Given that his mental fortitude and ability to withstand fear are the main reasons Speedwagon decides to join him, his averse reactions to fire must really be messing him up, huh?

Would Jonathan be able to communicate with other sentient stands? The only one in Part 3 I can name off the top of my head is Anubis (who actually could be an interesting avenue to explore the implications of WHY Jonathan was reborn as Star Platinum, depending on how similar Anubis' predicament is. Crack Idea: Anubis + Hamon-induced soul restoration/redemption like with Bruford = Luck & Pluck 2.0? الحظ والنتف? lol)

should i have maybe spaced these questions out in separate asks?

So in order:

1)Definitely Jonathan’s but it was boosted with his new incredibly precise vision and speed. I image that as he was studying to be an archeologist, Jonathan probably learned and practiced how to make sketches of real things quite a lot and was pretty good. Nothing extraordinary but definitely on par for the course. Of course, now as a Stand his drawings got a significant bump in queslity because he can now do and see things a human never could

And to add more to the drawing thing….. what if in their down time when they’re in hotels Jonathan ends up drawing a lot. Of Danny, Erina, Speedwagon, Zeppeli, the Stone Mask, countless things from his life. This also ends up weirding Jotaro out because these are the people from his dreams, yet he’s never seen any of them before. Jotaro might even hide the drawings or decide he’s going to deal with it later because right now it isn’t a priority. He doesn’t throw them away though, just keeps them folded up in an inside pocket in his jacket

2) He’d be very proud of what Speedwagon was able to accomplish with his life and that he’d been able to make a legacy for himself that was able to persist long after his death. He’s happy that at least Speedwagon and Erina were able to live in comfort after he was gone (also slightly unrelated but I’m pondering on whether or not to do Jonaeriwagon for this AU just because fjdbgjdbf)

3) Honestly? I don’t think he would that much. While Jonathan does sympathize and feel empathy, he also would know the importance of defending one’s self and loved ones, and he’d get really attached to Jotaro and Co and that protectiveness will probably override his sympathies. He wouldn’t be outright cruel though, just fighting as much as he needs to in order to keep everyone safe.

The only times Jonathan would likely hold back would be if the person is already well and beat and wasn’t too much of shitty person. The more smug, genuinely cruel and otherwise vindictive the person, the less he’d be willing to show them sympathies. For example, Polanreff. He was honorable and accepted his defeat, so Jonathan would see no issue with saving his life and him eventually joining the team

4) Oooooo I didn’t even think of that. This time around Star Platinum would actually be able to be brought into the dream because Jonathan would also be technically asleep, but unlike how Kakyoin brought Hierophant into the dream like in canon, Jonathan would be just as trapped as the living humans because Death 13 Dream Logic. Death 13 would probably being him into the dream out of general curiosity because this has never happened before

5) Y e a h. Jonathan hates his new fear, especially because of how crippling it can be at times, double especially because of how it affects Jotaro. And it’s going to be REALLY bad during the entirety of Italy because from Jonathan’s perspective he’d just died and didn’t have time to fully process that whole thing

6) You’re right, the only sentient stand in Stardust was Anubis, but that’s also definitely very interesting. While I’m not sure about other Sentient Stands, given Anubis’s mental link with the person holding the sword it could definitely be possible for him and Jonathan to communicate. And you’re right, we never actually learn….. really anything about Anubis, so a team up could be an interesting possibility

7) It was no issue answering them like this, feel free to do either

#WOW that’s a long post #joestar platinum #jjba #jojos bizarre adventure #phantom blood #phantom blood spoilers #jjba part 1 #stardust crusaders #sdc #jjba part 3 #jjba jonathan #jonathan joestar #jjba jotaro #jotaro kujo #jjba speedwagon #robert e.o. speedwagon #jjba erina #erina pendleton #jjba polnareff #jean pierre polnareff #jjba kakyoin #noriaki kakyoin #hierophant green #death 13 #jjba anubis #anubis #sb answers #glassesfreekjr

[mymarifae]

sighs... i adore the finale of mlp: friendship is magic so much. there was clearly a lot of love put into those last three episodes, and you can just feel the writers and the artists fondly bidding these characters one last farewell, y’know? it’s the (bitter)sweet ending this special show deserved.

but also, while the writers bring twilight and her friends’ story to a very clear end, they (pretty masterfully, if i do say so myself) leave room for equestria’s story to continue. everything was set up for generation 5 to showcase how equestria and the lands beyond have evolved and how twilight’s legacy lives on!

so i’m just kind of flummoxed by how it’s... not.

like. generation 5 wants to be its own thing, and that’s fine. but it also desperately wants to be this seamless continuation of generation 4 and it’s like. um. you can’t be both, man. in its attempt to juggle both of these ideas, it just completely fuckin’ retcons 9 seasons of worldbuilding and development.

where are the winter spirits (not using their canon name because Naur)? you know, the ones that feed off of animosity and fighting? where are the dragons? the hippogriffs/sea ponies? the changelings? the griffins? the yaks? where is the crystal empire? how have 0 records of twilight’s literal School Of Friendship survived? how are there not even simple legends about nightmare moon and her defeat, or tirek and his defeat(s), or chrysalis, or anything?? how has all that world-defining history just been lost?

where is star swirl and the other pillars? ... ok granted they’re probably not immortal but again: not even a whisper of their legacy has remained?? what about celestia and luna? or starlight glimmer’s!?!? out of all the most powerful ponies equestria has ever seen, you mean to tell me only the image of twilight and her friends has stuck around . and that like Two ponies (sunny and her dad) are familiar with them.

where the fuck is discord*

(* comics i have not read are not being acknowledged atm. because really - a character with literally unlimited magic who is deeply tied to the mane 6 and would have been dedicated to maintaining their legacy and protecting equestria for eons to come should have come up in the movie/show by now)

why am i supposed to care about opaline when season 9 of fim ends with two of the most spiteful, interesting antagonists the show has ever introduced (i love cozy glow and i think she’s a fascinating character and i wish the show had more time to dive into why she’s like that, but i’m reluctant to put her on tirek and chrysalsis’ level. she’s like 11) are encased in stone, and since we know that sort of magic-stone-imprisonment is not permanent...? like ??? get this random (and frankly, Ugly) alicorn out of my face i want to know what happened with THAT before you go trying to establish any new Big Baddies

i wouldn’t have as many issues with a new generation/make your mark if it wasn’t determined to cling to fim as its foundation. but since it is.......... what the fuck is going on. why are you paying homage to one of the best iterations of my little pony when you can’t even keep the worldbuilding straight for 2 minutes

#welcome to your bimonthly Millie Talks About Rainbow Horses For 10 Minutes For No Reason session #LIKE. LISTEN. mlp will always be special to me and i am trying to find it in me to love generation 5 and i CAN'T BECAUSE ??!?!?!!? #i may be extremely biased to fim. but on an objective level generation 5's writing is a fucking mess #i watched make your mark like last month and OHH MY GOD. THE PACING IS A NIGHTMARE. #the basic plot lines and ideas for character development are sound! and i enjoy the ideas for exploring magic and cutie marks #i'm admittedly intrigued by misty and her lack of a cutie mark and her relationship with opaline would be a good commentary #but the execution of everything is FUCKED #like even if i set aside all my grievances with the major retconning. they are breaking like every basic rule of writing ever #i don't understand what direction they're trying to take this thing in and i don't think they know either 😭 #anyway. see y'all again in march

[camerongrn]

chromatica - lady gaga

lady gaga's sixth studio album 'chromatica' marked her return to her dance-pop roots after the failure that was joanne. this album, released in 2020, follows the formulae set up by early 1990s house and dance music, taking clear inspiration from ballroom cultures. this concept-driven record adopts this persona of an otherworldly cyberpunk-like setting; chromatica, a distant planet where people come together through dance. the tracks really impersonate this theming, all being dance-focused with this playful and colourful sound. this concept-driven album feels like the perfect evolution for a legacy artist such as gaga.

if i could use one word to describe the themes explored in this album, it would have to be 'fun'; it is such a healing album. although gaga discussing pain and suffering throughout the album, it is always turned on its head in a positive manner. gaga's attitude on this record is that of someone who wants to make others happy, she explores these ideas of inner struggle and failure set to dance beats. despite her suffering, gaga uses pop as an antidepressant on this album, and i really applaud that. the instrumentals really back up this narrative. synth. synth, synth, and even MORE synth. synthesisers are the main voice for this album, they appear to do all the talking. bloodpop uses these bright melodies to provide a perfect backdrop to gaga's voice, they blend together amazingly. gaga really thrives in these dance-pop albums. i have to also give props to this albums interludes, they are AMAZING and really help to build this world of 'chromatica'.

my favourite track will always be 'babylon', THE album closer. this track discussing gaga's public perception, dismissing the gossip, really encapsulates the albums overall sound. its this playful nod to grace jones and the b52s all while doing its own thing. the piano, the sax, the chants; they all create this movie-ending scene of dance and party despite worries, chromatica to a T. the wordplay in babylon is also incredible: "talk it out, babble on/battle for your life, babylon". despite being a infectious dance track, babylon is also a unique demonstration of gaga's underrated lyricism.

overall, 'chromatica' is definitely a part of my top 3 gaga albums. what is there not to love? gaga returns to her roots with this album after her frequent detours during the late 2010s, coming back with an addictive play on house and dance music. moreover, the concept of this album is so interesting, it's a shame she didn't get to explore it more due to covid. however, this is by far one of the 2020s more defining albums, with the era still going on today with the announcement of her chromatica ball film. nonetheless, chromatica is a great addition to gaga's catalogue and a must listen.

favourite track: babylon

least favourite track: 1000 doves

spotify link: Chromatica - Album by Lady Gaga | Spotify

★★★★★ 5/5

#lady gaga #chromatica #music #2020 music #music review #music recs #pop music #Spotify

[septembersghost]

Sometimes it feels like people like to pat themselves on the back for dissing Elvis because it’s the cool thing to do

I’m the anon who deleted TikTok btw. I was tired of the same repetitive comments about Elvis and decided finally to delete that annoying app LOL.

i'm not sure what you saw on the clock app, though can guess it was probably the same stuff that's said on twt, but any reason you feel to get rid of that app, or anything that's stressing you out!, is a good/valid one.

when it comes to e, between misinformation, misunderstandings, and decades' worth of caricatures and this almost prideful disdain towards him - the origin of which i can't quite figure out? - he's been an easily mockable and reduced figure. like even beyond, idk, judgment of his struggles and addictions and health, or the massive volume of tabloid accounts, or the cardboard camp of impersonators, or the feeling some seem to have that he was too excessive or gauche, or define him by vegas as a kind of sideshow, there are some, i've come to find, that outright reject the idea he was in any way a serious artist. the article i read recently...basically posited he wasted his entire life and talent, in a way that was so cruel and dismissive of everything he ever did after sun records. things i can't even fathom saying about a person. ("success corroded and finally destroyed a budding talent who might have achieved so much more than just celebrity. He might have been an artist...by 1958, when he was inducted into the U.S. Army, his beauty and his creativity were behind him. A few brief echoing rays of the glory that had been might suddenly shine through, yet the sun had all but set." seriously? he was 23 years old in 1958! it's a complete erasure of nearly half his life. and it's particularly jarring as some of what's said in that piece is astute and well-written, yet some of the rest of it...i refuse to even quote.) he created so much wonderful music later, but it routinely gets ignored. (plus he wasn't a songwriter, as if that invalidates his astonishing musicality and gift of interpretation and arrangement). the movies, and critical view of them due to what they are, unfortunately do not help. this embarrassment surrounding him, the sense that his talent was squandered and his legacy tarnished, mixed with misperceptions of his character, is so ingrained in the pop cultural zeitgeist that there are always going to be people set to take him down a peg or deride him or shake their heads rather than lend any sympathy for how and why things unfolded as they did.

that video analysis i shared about the film mentioned him as this sort of quintessential american tragedy, the hollowness of the dream gone wrong, even though he was still trying so hard up to the end, still sharing that love with his audience, and i think sometimes we're uncomfortable looking at tragedy and illness and exploitation, so it's easier to ridicule or blame or turn into a joke. i also think his sincerity and emotion as a performer, the movement that came to him naturally that he couldn't switch off, the unique ways he utilized the power of his voice, read as, for lack of a better word, cringeworthy, to many, because society at large struggles with raw expression. a combination of factors thus make him an easy target. he's that halloween costume, spangles on a jumpsuit and what they erroneously view as shlocky music, or he's the worst perpetuated things, but never real, never explored or offered understanding. it's lousy and disheartening, but it unfortunately is what it is. (i can imagine only a fraction of why this stuff used to upset lisa marie the way it did.) i don't require people to be perfect to care about or be touched by them. human beings are not saints. he was flawed, he had a temper, he certainly misstepped, he made choices along the way that proved to be destructive. he was also generous and gracious and forgiving and compassionate, kind in a way that embraced people and made them feel seen and like they belonged, in a way that's still radiant in recollections, and in what we find in ourselves too.

catherine martin recently said, "elvis is a humanist. he believed in people and kindness and connection, and i think he wanted to use music to bring people together." he'd say, "i'm just a singer. i'm nobody special. do you think they'll remember me?" he always marveled that people came to see him, and held fast to that idea that the happiness and love in that connection of the music was worth something. as my friend wrote to me, there's a lot of dreck out there, but it's boring. there's no fire there, no passion. without the fire and passion you can't even get elvis at all. meanwhile, here we are, nearly fifty years later, on technology that didn't even exist while he lived, still finding reason to remember him, to wax poetic about him, to connect to him and to one another, to find that same joy and solace in the music. i have to believe that matters so much more. some of this other stuff is just useless clatter, you know? there's music and there's noise. i'll choose the music every time.

#anonymous #letterbox #elvis presley #i was a dreamer

[f3ralblog]

Why Everything Isn’t and Shouldn’t be “Jazz”

I came to Pittsburgh and learned more about jazz music than I had ever anticipated learning, thanks to the rich history in the region and the stories the music itself tells. Musicians like the great Roger Humphries, Dwayne Dolphin and Ahmad Jamal who both exist in history and propel the music today. Artists like Mary Lou Williams, Stanley Turrentine and Billy Eckstine who exist through performance and the retelling of stories, in a language that can be heard, felt and explored universally: jazz.

I love the music. Unequivocally - it speaks to me on a level that very little does. It’s intellectually stimulating, emotionally charged and present-facing by its nature. Improvisation, as a form of expression, changed my life.

But when I read the word “jazz,” in publications or in descriptions of music, I can’t help but believe that the word has been diluted. The work of countless Black artists, and over a century of art, has morphed into a catch-all for music that isn’t well understood. Or soothes you during your morning commute. Or literally just contains a saxophone.

An entire American history, forgotten.

There is music that is jazz, and there is music that is not. If it’s confusing for you, great, because this train of thought haunts me daily. I don’t think I can easily define jazz music. I hear with my own ears the influence of jazz in music today and every day. The general understanding, though, is that music that developed from jazz deserves a cavalier shove under the same umbrella. That could be fine for all of the other genres. Not that it is, but that it could be.

Not this one. Not the pioneering, uniquely American achievement that is jazz music.

Pittsburgh loves its generalizations. WDVE and rock music? Synonymous - everyone knows that! They just know rock music, you know? Media and journalism - same thing right? Television news is completely unbiased! Their sources - infallible! Indisputable!

Not this one. Not the pioneering, uniquely Black American achievement that is jazz music.

My band, Feralcat and the Wild, has been called jazz. And well...I don’t think that’s quite it. More like a hyphenate. It’s easy to hear that jazz music has inspired so much of what I make. I just don’t think my work fits into that same umbrella. The wisdom of all of his past lives are available to him, but ultimately the impact Aang makes is on his present. Yes, I’m comparing myself to the Avatar, the Last Airbender.

It’s like I keep getting pulled back into a meeting that I’m desperately trying to escape from.

I think I wish, like any lifelong learner would, that more folks saw what I see in the music. I see innovation, and a bold, never-ending legacy of evolutionary storytelling. In my own lessons, I implore my students to dive into the details of the music; an effort to develop critical thinking and a historical context for the impact of black Americans on music in the 21st century.

I immediately think of Robert Glasper, who popularized blending hip-hop with jazz and soul. He has gone on to win several accolades for his work, which both takes clear direction from and diverges from “jazz.” Glasper doesn’t call the music he creates “jazz”. In a NYT interview with Nate Chinen, writer of the book Playing Changes: Jazz for the New Century, Glasper said “A lot of the time I prefer not even to say ‘jazz,’ because technically I do more than that.” He, like so many contemporary artists who have studied jazz extensively, works within his medium to ultimately evolve from jazz music.

Might I suggest using descriptors like “jazz-inspired” or “jazz-influenced” instead? Maybe use more specific sub-genres to create a clearer picture: free jazz, jazz fusion, bebop, swing, post bop, and cool jazz are all wildly different means of describing improvisational music based in jazz harmony.

Perhaps go deeper, and try to understand what about the music you’re listening to made you think of jazz. Are there rhythmic feels derived from Carribean and African musical traditions? Is there noteable individualistic expression? Are there references to the “Great American Songbook?” Use those words to describe the music you’re hearing; unless you can draw a clear line between the sounds you hear and the legacy of Bird, or Miles, or Lady Day, or any historic jazz figure. Even then, be that specific.

Jazz is dead - reborn, not resurrected.

If it lives, it lives to preserve history. If it lives, it is through its everlasting impact on the evolution of the arts.

#jazz #music industry #gatekeeping myself #instrumental

[x----tine]

Last month, the exhibition Beautiful Fish in a Man-Made Pond was hung across the historic Wolhstetter house in L.A., the home originally designed for the arms strategist who inspired Stanley Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove. The group show, presented by Amity, features artworks whose subjects beget other memories and associations, which the artists have tried to reimagine through a contemporary lens. This is the case for Cristine Brache and Łukasz Stokłosa, whose paintings focus in on the storied legacy of Playboy bunnies and the palatial estates of Europe’s former aristocrats, respectively. Their paintings are animated by the same morbid fascination with things that have an objective aesthetic value, but are haunted by sad and broken histories. “It feels beautiful, even if it is horrible too,” says Brache, who’s also publishing a book of poetry with Wonder Press this Summer. ” It’s important to remember that there are both sides in that image. It’s both bad and good, so it’s always your place to decide which side you are on,” echoes Stoklosa. After the group show opened, the two artists got on Zoom to talk about the how their works intersect, the disturbing legacy of Ludwig II of Bavaria, and the outbreak of demonic nun possessions in France that continues to fascinate Brache.

———

CRISTINE BRACHE: I was really happy to be introduced to your paintings. They’re very beautiful.

ŁUKASZ STOKŁOSA: I love your works, too. 

BRACHE: The work is pretty haunted on both ends. 

STOKŁOSA: Yes, and we often use similar sources. You also use vintage footage, right? 

BRACHE: I generate my own. For some of these recent ones I used A.I. I was referencing the older film stills and then making them look how I wanted using the aesthetic of the still itself. But the work is very cinematic in terms of storytelling and frames, in order to really capture a feeling.

STOKŁOSA: Yeah. So, we have that in common.

BRACHE: Yours feel a bit noir.

STOKŁOSA: Yes. It starts from this dark movie feeling, this foggy, shadowy aesthetic. Usually I use a brighter background and then recreate it on canvas. Basically, combining some footage I found, and then recreating it in the aesthetic I want to achieve on canvas. 

BRACHE: Do you have a solo show now in Dallas? 

STOKŁOSA: Yes, I do.

Photo courtesy of Cristine Brache.

BRACHE: Congrats. For that show, does it all feel like one made-up movie in your head? 

STOKŁOSA: The title of the exhibition was borrowed from the movie, Cries and Whispers, by [Ingmar] Bergman. The atmosphere of the exhibition was inspired by the movie, and I often work like that.

BRACHE: Do you like movies a lot?

STOKŁOSA: Yes. At this show in L.A. there’s going to be a painting from the TV show, Dynasty.

BRACHE: Oh, cool.

STOKŁOSA: It’s of the cake from the wedding. I watched it when I was a kid, so it kind of defined my aesthetic choices, this flamboyant, super wealthy interior and designs. Then I watched Marie Antoinette by Sofia Coppola, and it brings me this feeling that the spaces we visit, the palaces and museums, are not only these beautiful objects we look at, but have very dark stories behind them. But it starts from movies and pop culture.

Łukasz Stokłosa, Dynasty, 2024, oil on canvas, 40×30 cm.

BRACHE: Cool.

STOKŁOSA: I see that you have one of your works behind you. What’s the subject?

BRACHE: It’s continued from my series that I did at NADA in December, which was starting with Dorothy Stratten and the Playboy Bunnies. That one’s called Purple Bunnies. I used A.I. to change the image and colors. The symbol of a woman in a bunny suit is very particular. I love Dorothy Stratten, and her biography is so tragic. I was thinking about how people perform, and I use the word performance very loosely, but the performance of how we exist on a day-to-day basis, the different layers of strata that we have with our own privacy in our own personal lives, then what goes out to the exterior. Like, she was always smiling and super happy but then at home, it was a horror. That dynamic is something I’ve been thematically mining since I started making work. When I look at the image of a woman in a bunny suit, it’s obviously manufactured for straight men. It started this mass objectification of women in this specific way that didn’t really exist before Playboy. But it looks very beautiful, so it’s complicated. But those are encaustic works. I work with silk and ink, and then I embed the silk and encaustic, and then paint oil layers on top of that. So it’s a combination of different media. And encaustic makes silk turn transparent. So the ink then floats in this one-millimeter layer, and then on top of that is the glaze. It refracts the light in a vibrant way that looks different from regular oil paintings.

STOKŁOSA: When you were talking about these beautiful images of the bunny costume, it reminded me of working with gay pornography, because I also paint these paintings with boys. It’s very similar because we have those very sexy, beautiful situations, but you know what is behind them. But I usually always use vintage porn for my work. And the interesting thing is that, at one time, that was the only place where you could see men kissing on screen, and it was accessible. So it was a place of liberation. But on the other hand, you have this exploitation of people who were basically forced to do that because of a lack of money. It’s both a feeling that something is wrong, but also that it’s so interesting and beautiful.

BRACHE: Right. It’s such a compelling feeling, to position yourself between those two spaces. Being able to hold both things that are in direct opposition to my constitution is very complex. It feels beautiful, even if it is horrible too. But comfort in discomfort is very important. Otherwise the world becomes very boring, very fast. It also betrays humanity because we all have that range within us, in some capacity. 

STOKŁOSA: Yes. It’s important to remember that there are both sides in that image. It’s both bad and good, so it’s always your place to decide which side you are on. Sometimes, it’s impossible.

Cristine Brache. Talent Showcase. 32.75 x 26.25 x 1 5/8”. Oil, ink, and encaustic on silk and wood.

BRACHE: Yeah. Sometimes it depends on my mood, too. It’s like, “Today I’m tired of feeling objectified, and I feel all of this is violence, and I don’t like it.” But then other times, it’s like, “Oh, please objectify me..”

STOKŁOSA: Yeah. I feel the same.

BRACHE: That’s normal. Nobody wants to be objectified all the time. I don’t enjoy that, but sometimes it feels nice to be an object of someone else’s affection. 

STOKŁOSA: Again, it’s this public and private situation where sometimes you are forced to be in public, but you don’t want to be. 

BRACHE: Yeah, you put on the mask and perform it.

STOKŁOSA: So again, we are back in Versailles. You have to be public as a queen, but you’re this ordinary person who has feelings too. It’s not only the beautiful gold front, it’s something behind those horrible stories.

BRACHE: It’s what it takes to make that industry of the castle operate, to make it function on that very high standard of living at that time in particular. Do you have a favorite queen or king that you’re most obsessed with?

STOKŁOSA: I was obsessed with Ludwig II. He ruled in Bavaria in the late 19th century and he was responsible for those fairytale castles in the Alps. One of the Disney castles was inspired by him. It was a very tragic story because he was insane and very shy and probably gay. He was building all those palaces only for himself, he avoided people altogether. Eventually, he was killed by his servants, they drowned him in the lake.

BRACHE: Oh, wow.

STOKŁOSA: I was obsessed with the castles. Some of them were built with very modern techniques but look medieval. One was a copy of Versailles because he was obsessed with Louis XIV. It was basically a monument for him. 

Amity exhibition Beautiful Fish in a Man-Made Pond at the Wohlstetter house designed by Josef Van der Kar, photograph by Evan Walsh.

BRACHE: Have you been there?

STOKŁOSA: Yes, a couple years ago. It’s on an island. It’s an exact copy of Versailles.

BRACHE: That’s wild. Personally I’m obsessed with The Devils of Loudun from France in the 17th century. Ken Russell made a movie about them called The Devils, and there’s a Polish movie about the same nun called Matka Joanna. Her name was Joan. There was a case of possession in the convents and it was an epidemic, way before the Salem witch trials. But French possessions were way more sexual than the Puritanical ones of America. So this nun, Joan, supposedly signed a pact with the devil, Grandier, the mayor of the town. There was a sex pact, and then she started behaving like she was possessed. I mean, she was for sure possessed, but I don’t know by what. 

STOKŁOSA: By herself maybe? I watched this Polish movie about her, it was based on the novel by Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz [Mother Joan of the Angels].

BRACHE: Aldous Huxley wrote about it too. That’s the book that Ken Russell’s movie is based on. Ken Russell’s is the campy version, and then the Polish version is more elegant.

STOKŁOSA: Yes. It’s from the ‘50s or ‘60s, it’s black and white. 

BRACHE: Yeah. I spent some time in Poland. My ex is Polish, so I was in Szczecin and Krakow. I never went to Warsaw. 

STOKŁOSA: I’m from Krakow.

BRACHE: I liked it there.

STOKŁOSA: When was that?

BRACHE: 2011. A long time ago now, just after my graduation. What’s your favorite part of Poland?

STOKŁOSA: Krakow, of course. It has everything that I need. There is an airport, so I can go everywhere. The architecture is nice, and it’s varied in different parts of the city. I have my friends there, so it’s a good place to live. How long have you been in New York? 

BRACHE: I’ve been here since COVID, really. I moved from Canada. I was in Canada for four years. Before that, I was in London. I did my master’s there, and before that, I lived in China for two-and-a-half years. Before that, I was traveling around Europe. I was squatting in London, and I was squatting in Greece, and I hitchhiked from Athens to the center of Turkey, and I lived in Turkey for two months. I basically left the US with two-grand and bought a one-way ticket. 

STOKŁOSA: Whoa! That’s great.

BRACHE: Yeah. I wound up in China, and I was so broke when I got there. It was crazy, but it was a really great experience. That’s when I was in Poland as well. I spent a lot of time in East Germany and Berlin, all up and down Dresden and Leipzig. I drove through the Alps, and I went to Gruyere in Switzerland. That place also looked like Disney World. It was beautiful, the little villages. It looked fake to me, but it was real.

Cristine Brache, Almost Blue. 14 x 17.5 x 1 5/8”. Oil, ink and encaustic on cotton and wood, 2024.

STOKŁOSA: Sometimes all those castles and palaces look fake. You mentioned Dresden. For me it looks like a castle or palace from Beauty and the Beast. 

BRACHE: It’s crazy. What are you showing in Los Angeles?

STOKŁOSA: There’s going to be one picture from Dynasty and the other is Armor from Vienna. It’s renaissance armor and it’s gold shiny objects. For me it’s about masculinity and oppression and the situation when you’re wearing this metal object and it’s defining your position and shape of your body. It’s very oppressive but on the other hand, it’s so beautiful and shiny and you are this prince on the horse.

BRACHE: That’s funny. I’m understanding Jed [Moch’s, the curator] thinking more with putting our paintings in the same room, because I am showing those bunny works. The bunny suit is definitely a kind of armor. They used to tie the corsets so tight. I mean, my work’s very feminine and yours is very masculine, but it’s masculine in a soft way. It’s like a non-toxic masculinity. People usually think of masculinity as toxic nowadays, but it’s very beautiful, too. When it’s not toxic.

STOKŁOSA: Yes. Both masculinity and femininity are defined by the same oppressive rules of society. We both are victims of that.

BRACHE: For sure. There’s definitely toxic femininity, too. There’s a yin and yang between our work. 

Amity exhibition Beautiful Fish in a Man-Made Pond at the Wohlstetter house designed by Josef Van der Kar, photograph by Evan Walsh.

[followfire]

So I intended to do a small analysis of Jean’s Sea Breeze Dandelion skin, but then it turned into a longer (yet incomplete, there’d be more to say) analysis of Jean’s skin AND default outfit (here by default I mean both Favonian Devotion and Gunnhildr’s Legacy, as it is more about comparing them with the summer skin)…

But before I start with the actual analysis I wanted to tackle……. I feel obligated to complain about those designs first…… :) …… As much as I love this game, I have a lot of anger and frustration inside me concerning some Genshin character designs :)

Jean is visually nerfed.

Some things about her design were made just for fan service purposes, there’s no other explanation. Some things don’t even make sense. Jean is a knight, the leader of the knights, even. Character designers were tasked to design a knight. What did they think about first? …Hmm armor? Yes, let’s put some of it, like… on her hands… ok that should be enough… and then… A low-cut neckline. 

ಠ_ಠ 

What is the second thing we should think about when designing a knight? Oh I know! High heels.

ಠ_ಠ

There is absolutely no narrative purpose behind those choices. It doesn’t make sense practically speaking, and it doesn’t even suit her personality.

And I know we could argue that it’s because it’s Genshin’s artistic direction, that’s what they do, they tend to show a bit more skin than necessary, that’s what they want their game to look like. But the reason I find it so frustrating is that I think it really does a disservice to some characters, where other (male) characters don’t have to suffer from it.

The reason why I say that Jean is visually nerfed is because she doesn’t look as strong as she should when compared with Diluc for example. Jean and Diluc are both presented early as potentially the strongest fighters in Mondstadt, and the two pillars and protectors of the city. But when you put them side by side, Diluc is visibly taller, buffer, stronger, plus he’s got action cutscenes, which Jean doesn’t have. Jean is a twig, compared to him, and the high heels really don’t help in that regard. They tell you that Jean is strong, but they don’t show you.

Then again, maybe it’s not that big of a problem as I think it does fit them in some way… Diluc wields a greatsword, he jumps into a fight screaming “retribution!!!”, he’s more likely to use violence as a means to solve his problems, whereas Jean is more pacifistic and her most defining strengths don’t lie in her abilities in battle. But still! She does possess those abilities in battle! But the way she is presented to us, compared to Diluc, doesn’t help to understand how strong she is. If you put Jean and Diluc side by side, you might not think that they’re equals. You might think that Jean and her high heels are not as fitted to protect Mondstadt as Diluc is.

And then the skins arrived.

And don’t get me wrong, I like Jean’s skin. It is pretty and there are interesting things to say about it. I just think that if we’re going to have only one skin per character, it is a pity that Jean’s be a beach outfit. She could have had a stunning ceremonial knight outfit, for example, or a cool full armor outfit, but instead, she ends up with a beach outfit, because she went to the beach once in her life! Meanwhile… Diluc’s skin is extremely cool and makes him look even more like a warrior than he usually does. :)

I’m just saying that all characters are not treated exactly the same way… Jean doesn’t even look comfortable with her skin in game!! It’s like the person who wrote Jean just received a skin, realized it wasn’t fitting and tried to send it back, got denied and had to make do.

That being said, we can now talk about the designs themselves :)

(disclaimer: I don’t have Jean (i’m dying inside t-t) so I don’t have her design right under my eyes everyday as I would like to…)

Jean’s default outfit

Jean’s outfit is simply a knight’s uniform. There doesn’t really seem to be a “uniform” per se among the knights (playable ones, at least) as everyone has their own version of the thing, but it’s as close as a uniform as can be. It’s all about being a knight.

She has the golden marks that give off a royal vibe, to signify that she is a leader of the knights. That aspect is also supported by the other colors: she wears a lot of white, which goes with the “white knight” aspect of her character, but also a lot of dark blue, and I think it’s because too much white could make her look a bit naive. A darker color strengthens the feeling of maturity and authority, as it almost looks like a blazer or a formal wear like the thing you’d wear in an office to look professional.

She has the dandelion brooch thing, probably as a symbol of her title of Dandelion Knight.

She has a kind of belt, that is dangling sideway… Which is obviously meant to be a sheath but as she doesn’t need one, it is kinda useless and makes it look a bit like a crooked belt holding her Vision, but still, it is a knightly thing.

Everything is practical, everything is a knight thing. There is nothing personal to see, it’s a uniform.

Except for the black ribbon in her hair, that somehow doesn’t fit that much with the rest. It doesn’t say “knight” like the rest does, nor does it feel particularly practical. I might be spinning my wheels on this, but it seems to also be discretely set apart by its color: I kind of feel like the expected thing to do would be to have the ribbon the same color as the rest of her outfit, so dark blue, but it’s actually a slightly warm black, almost reddish? And it’s rather strange to have it be a different color, that she doesn’t even have somewhere else on her. I don’t know it it’s just me not seeing it right. The ribbon oddly feels like a personal choice. (and it does reflect the softer, warmer side of Jean. You don’t understand Jean if you only see a knight with authority.)

Jean’s summer skin

So first and foremost, it’s important to note that it’s not Jean herself who chose this outfit, but all the people who appreciate her who teamed up to create it for her (Barbara, Lisa, Kaeya, Diluc, Amber, Albedo, Klee, Noelle).

Also, she still has the ribbon. A lot of things were tossed aside, but not the ribbon. It’s not the same one though, but it still makes it look rather important and well-affectioned.

Her outfit is stil mostly blue, but it’s not the same blue and it conveys a completely different vibe. It’s become a more humble, calmer blue, with no trace of the authority that she used to harbor.

There is a small ornament in the shape of a turtle. There hasn’t really been a definitive meaning about it, but the way I see it, it could have a link to the pet tortoise Jean talked about during the archon quest, where Diluc said he used to have one too. So it could be a reference to her/their childhood and days when things used to be simpler. Also, I really think a turtle or a tortoise is a fitting animal for Jean. Her constellation is a lion, but the thing is… she doesn’t want to be a lion? She is a lion because it’s her duty, but I think a tortoise also fits her personality and the fact that she’d rather be a shield than a sword. So really I’m going a bit far with it, but I headcanon it as a really sweet thing that could only be added by people who know Jean for who she is personally and not just as a knight, and know what she genuinely likes.

There is a flower pattern drawn on the outfit, that looks like a windwheel aster, a typical Mondstadt flower. But there is no dandelion. The dandelion would be Jean’s flower, but it’s also the flower that represents her duty as the Dandelion Knight. The dandelions are said to carry people’s wishes, which is exactly what Jean is all about: carrying all mondstadters’ wishes. The windwheel aster, on the other hand, doesn’t have any duty of the sort. It’s just chilling in the wind! It looks like a toy. It totally makes sense for all the people who participated in the making of the outfit to decide to put the dandelion aside, and replace it by a funnier, less duty bound flower. They do want it to be a holiday outfit after all.

Then there are the roses sewn by Lisa. Erm… Roses have never been used as a symbol for Jean, so it is still there as a symbol of Lisa. On Jean. Lisa deliberately decided to sew her roses on the outfit… On Jean’s thigh… I don’t know it’s kind of hard not to see any romance insinuation here but you know, historians will say they were best friends

There is one element that I’m not sure what to think about though… It’s the chain to which her Vision is attached. It used to be a small chain on her default outfit, that didn’t really look like a chain per se, just a metallic thing to hold her Vision… but here it really looks like a chain. All the other things are ribbons and flowers and light and breezy things, and then there’s a chain. I don’t know why. The only thing I could think about is that Diluc also has chains on his outfit and later his skin, so maybe it’s Diluc’s aesthetic that made its way there, like Lisa with her roses but why though? It feels kinda counterproductive to the whole vibe of the thing…

Soooo… As much as I dislike the idea that the only Jean outfit we get could be a bathing suit… I have to admit that the meaning behind it with everyone making an effort to toss aside anything that has a link with responsibility and duty is very heartwarming ( •̯́ ^ •̯̀) It shows what Jean’s colleagues and friends think of her: they respect her as a knight and leader, but they appreciate her as a person, and they wanted to give her something that she would never indulge by herself.

And I really like how her two outfits complete each other, with the skin being a holiday outfit with all duty related elements removed, thus showing how much everything on her usual outfit is actually meant to be about knighthood and responsibility and nothing personal.

#Genshin Impact #Jean Gunnhildr #Knights of Favonius #enim #can I still say that I dislike Jean’s skin or have I lost all credibility? #I don't dislike it I'm just mad at it

[randomlyritchie]

Hold Your Head High! 👑👑👑

One thing about my Grandma, she has never allowed herself to be defined by circumstance (at least not that I can see). My Grandma was never able to get the good jobs & so she cleaned houses. She always has told me about how she would look her best for even jobs like that. She eventually went on to be a nanny. But she was never defined by not being able to have these posh jobs. Her & my Grandfather definitely had their share of struggles, but she was never defined by that either. My Grandma is a woman that loooves herself. And the definition of who she has been simply lies in her just being herself. Today the thought ran through my head that I am not what I do. I’m just myself. Nothing happened or anything. It just ran through my head. I think it’s so easy to get caught up in what it is that you do or have in so many aspects of life. The longer I live, the more I just want to be defined by how I treat others & just am experiencing life. I’ve worked long enough to see people be on top & then lose it all years later. Life can feel like such a game of show & tell. But the one thing so many of us don’t want to show is who we really are. Ever since I was a little girl, I have always wanted to help people. I truly love loving on others & just being kind in my own way. When I think about how I would like to be defined, it’s for how I helped other people’s lives. And not in a toxic way. But for everything I’ve been through, I just naturally have a heart to love others. I used to actually hate that about myself on some level. But now I just try to be true to it. While I never want to be defined by my art, I do feel that at my core I’m an artist. I feel most alive if I am creating. My exhaustion is lighter if I’m creating something. I get energized by art. So, I just feel like it’s a part of me. But even in that, I can’t be defined by how successful I am at even getting works done. At the end of the day, we are all amazing individuals worthy of love for who we are. We are fed so many false narratives so young that it’s hard to wash it all away. I feel the pinch of it at times. But I have to remind myself that I’m always gonna be that girl. And you are too…that girl, that guy, that they/them, that individual. I just want to be know as Autumn. And hopefully I can being known for changing a time in people’s lives. Because to me that’s really what it’s all about. Leaving behind a legacy of love. 🥰🥰🥰

This is my song to get myself hype (of course it’s jazz so it might not be your thing). But just take the title & feed it to yourself. You have to love who you are in spite of what you may think you are not. And you also have to ask yourself if you’re evaluating yourself authentically. Is this what you want…or what you think the world wants of you?

#Youtube

[fmhiphop]

The World Mourns Sudden Death of South African Artist Costa Titch

On Sunday, March 12, Costa Titch appeared to pass out after his set, shocking fans worldwide. Despite the lack of details at the time, it was later confirmed Costa Titch had indeed passed away. And today, the world mourns the loss of yet another South African rising star. Who was Costa Titch Titch was a young and promising 28-year-old artist full of ambition. The enterprising and hungry artist, also known as Costa Tsobanoglou, began his career as a dancer. As soon as he felt it was his time, he jumped. Taking the leap paid off for him. According to CBS News, one of his more recent releases, Big Flexa, was a considerable measure of his promise. As the source notes, The video, showcasing an amapiano subgenre of house music that combines jazz, house, and lounge, garnered more than 45 million views on YouTube. https://youtu.be/8g0v2SDe6MU Titch: An Artist Set Apart Titch's distinctive flavor and ability to blend what All Music defines as a "mix of Afro-pop, trap, and hip-hop with indigenous South African languages set him apart." When talent and artistry mix, one thing is sure: it serves as a force for propulsion in a cookie-cutter world. The undeniable talent of Titch caught the attention of another industry figure Akon, who achieved massive success on the global music scene. The signing of Titch to his Konvict label cemented Akon's belief that he had something special. Costa Titch and Akon. Image Source: Instagram After the news of Titch's death swept the internet, this is what Akon had to say,  "I remember when Babs played me his record for the first time. I was convinced that he would make an impact in this world. He had a vision I knew would take over the music industry globally and was on his way to doing that when God's plan intervened. " An Impactful Death His death has undoubtedly impacted many, and it's hard to comprehend how someone with so much promise could leave the world so soon. This is only magnified not only by his tenacity but by the symbolic nature of his path. The Conversation notes, "As a white man who embraced African hip-hop culture, Costa Titch symbolized the rainbow nation aspirations of South Africa–a term coined by Archbishop Desmond Tutu to refer to different ethnic groups living and working together and moving past apartheid's brutality. Blazing His Path  Titch started as a dancer, but his dream was even greater. After 2017, he was determined to realize that dream. And although he didn't get the opportunity to see that to completion, what he accomplished stands as an example. People rarely live to the fullest, exploring their passions until the end. Akon sums it up best, "It's a sad day, but what makes me feel better knowing he died doing what he loved doing the most in this world. God bless you, COSTA." So today, FM Hip Hop sends its condolences to the family, friends, and community who are now mourning. Long live the legacy of Costa, and may his life continue to stand as a tribute, prodding others to live life full-out with no brakes. Written by: Renae  Richardson Read the full article

[noloveforned]

normally with the start of a new semester i'd be starting a new theme but there are so many great sibling bands that i think we'll keep rolling with it for a few more weeks so tune into wlur tonight at 8pm to see what family we visit next! in the meantime you can catch up with last week's show below... or just stick around after tonight's show to hear the rebroadcast at 10pm!

no love for ned on wlur – september 16th, 2022 from 8-10pm

artist // track // album // label sparks // this town ain't big enough for the both of us // kimono my house // island daniel romano's outfit // genuine light // la luna // you've changed blondie // out in the streets (betrock demo) // against the odds, 1974-1982 // numero group loobs // box elder // word to the wise // poison city deerhoof // my lovely cat! // my lovely cat! 7" // joyful noise clamm // bit much // care // chapter music zig zag // i care about you // i care about you digital single // psychic hysteria shantih shantih // cheers bye // winter in september // wild honey the woolen men // why do parties have to end? // why do parties have to end? digital single // eggy david nance // stone dead forever // if you're hungry, you get fed cassette // western the paranoid style featuring patterson hood // i'd bet my land and titles // for executive meeting // bar/none lou reed // perfect day // i'm so free- the 1971 rca demos // legacy spirit fest // anohito // live at import export cassette // moone claire rousay // soft as i can // wouldn't have to hurt you cassette // mended dreams mac mccaughan // dawn bends (piano) // the sound of yourself (acoustic versions) // merge booker little and his quintet featuring max roach // strength and sanity // out front // candid charles rumback // three ruminations // seven bridges // astral spirits peter brötzmann and keiji haino // a landscape never glipsed before is on the verge of manifestation (excerpt) // the intellect given birth to here (eternity) is too young // black editions brodie west quintet // inhabit i // meadow of dreams // ansible editions defunkt // strangling me with your love // defunkt // hannibal domi louna and jd beck featuring anderson .paak // take a chance // not tight // blue note sudan archives // loyal (edd) // natural brown prom queen // stones throw jid featuring yasiin bey // stars // the forever story // dreamville morris day // love sign // color of success // warner bros. alex van pelt // snowfalls in july // global crush // kidderminster young guv featuring bobbie lovesong // she sparkles everywhere // guv iii and iv // run for cover let's whisper // the thing that defines you // the in-between times // fika jeanines // after all // latest light 7" // market square the boys with the perpetual nervousness featuring mary lou lord // isolation // the third wave of... // bobo integral quivers // i just wanted to see you so bad // if only 7" // ba da bing!

#wlur #radio shows

[letterboxd]

In Focus: The Mummy

Dominic Corry responds on behalf of Letterboxd to an impassioned plea to bump up the average rating of the 1999 version of The Mummy—and asks: where is the next great action adventure coming from?

We recently received the following email regarding the Stephen Sommers blockbuster The Mummy:

To whom it may concern,

I am writing to you on behalf of the nation, if not the entire globe, who frankly deserve better than this after months of suffering with the Covid pandemic.

I was recently made aware that the rating of The Mummy on your platform only stands at 3.3 stars out of five. … This, as I’m sure you’re aware, is simply unacceptable. The Mummy is, as a statement of fact, the greatest film ever made. It is simply fallacious that anyone should claim otherwise, or that the rating should fail to reflect this. This oversight cannot be allowed to stand.

I have my suspicions that this rating has been falsely allocated due to people with personal axes to grind against The Mummy, most likely other directors who are simply jealous that their own artistic oeuvres will never attain the zenith of perfection, nor indeed come close to approaching the quality or the cultural influence of The Mummy. There is, quite frankly, no other explanation. The Mummy is, objectively speaking, a five-star film (… I would argue that it in fact transcends the rating sytem used by us mere mortals). It would only be proper, as a matter of urgency, to remove all fake ratings (i.e. any ratings [below] five stars) and allow The Mummy’s rating to stand, as it should, at five stars, or perhaps to replace the rating altogether with a simple banner which reads “the greatest film of all time, objectively speaking”. I look forward to this grievous error being remedied.

Best, Anwen

Which of course: no, we would never do that. But the vigor Anwen expresses in her letter impressed us (we checked: she’s real, though is mostly a Letterboxd lurker due to a busy day-job in television production, “so finding time to watch anything that isn’t The Mummy is, frankly, impossible… not that there’s ever any need to watch anything else, of course.”).

So Letterboxd put me, Stephen Sommers fan, on the job of paying homage to the last great old-school action-adventure blockbuster, a film that straddles the end of one cinematic era and the beginning of the next one. And also to ask: where’s the next great action adventure coming from?

Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz and John Hannah in ‘The Mummy’ (1999).

When you delve into the Letterboxd reviews of The Mummy, it quickly becomes clear how widely beloved the film is, 3.3 average notwithstanding. Of more concern to the less youthful among us is how quaintly it is perceived, as if it harkens back to the dawn of cinema or something. “God, I miss good old-fashioned adventure movies,” bemoans Holly-Beth. “I have so many fond memories of watching this on TV with my family countless times growing up,” recalls Jess. “A childhood classic,” notes Simon.

As alarming as it is to see such wistful nostalgia for what was a cutting-edge, special-effects-laden contemporary popcorn hit, it has been twenty-one years since the film was released, so anyone currently in their early 30s would’ve encountered the film at just the right age for it to imprint deeply in their hearts. This has helped make it a Raiders of the Lost Ark for a specific Letterboxd demographic.

Sommers took plenty of inspiration from the Indiana Jones series for his take on The Mummy (the original 1932 film, also with a 3.3 average, is famously sedate), but for ten-year-olds in 1999, it may have been their only exposure to such pulpy derring-do. And when you consider that popcorn cinema would soon be taken over by interconnected on-screen universes populated by spandex-clad superheroes, the idea that The Mummy is an old-fashioned movie is easier to comprehend.

However, for all its throwbackiness, beholding The Mummy from the perspective of 2020 reveals it to have more to say about the future of cinema than the past. 1999 was a big year for movies, often considered one of the all-time best, but the legacy of The Mummy ties it most directly to two of that year’s other biggest hits: Star Wars: Episode One—The Phantom Menace and The Matrix. These three blockbusters represented a turning point for the biggest technological advancement to hit the cinematic art-form since the introduction of sound: computer-generated imagery, aka CGI. The technique had been widely used from 1989’s The Abyss onwards, and took significant leaps forward with movies such as Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), Jurassic Park (1993) and Starship Troopers (1997), but the three 1999 films mentioned above signified a move into the era when blockbusters began to be defined by their CGI.

A year before The Mummy, Sommers had creatively utilised CGI in his criminally underrated sci-fi action thriller Deep Rising (another film that deserves a higher average Letterboxd rating, just sayin’), and he took this approach to the next level with The Mummy. While some of the CGI in The Mummy doesn’t hold up as well as the technopunk visuals presented in The Matrix, The Mummy showed how effective the technique could be in an historical setting—the expansiveness of ancient Egypt depicted in the movie is magnificent, and the iconic rendering of Imhotep’s face in the sand storm proved to be an enduringly creepy image. Not to mention those scuttling scarab beetles.

George Lucas wanted to test the boundaries of the technique with his insanely anticipated new Star Wars film after dipping his toe in the digital water with the special editions of the original trilogy. Beyond set expansions and environments, a bunch of big creatures and cool spaceships, his biggest gambit was Jar Jar Binks, a major character rendered entirely through CGI. And we all know how that turned out.

A CGI-enhanced Arnold Vosloo as Imhotep.

Sommers arguably presented a much more effective CGI character in the slowly regenerating resurrected Imhotep. Jar Jar’s design was “bigger” than the actor playing him on set, Ahmed Best. Which is to say, Jar Jar took up more space on screen than Best. But with the zombie-ish Imhotep, Sommers (ably assisted by Industrial Light & Magic, who also worked on the Star Wars films) used CGI to create negative space, an effect impossible to achieve with practical make-up—large parts of the character were missing. It was an indelible visual concept that has been recreated many times since, but Sommers pioneered its usage here, and it contributed greatly to the popcorn horror threat posed by the character.

Sommers, generally an unfairly overlooked master of fun popcorn spectacle (G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra is good, guys), deserves more credit for how he creatively utilized CGI to elevate the storytelling in The Mummy. But CGI isn’t the main reason the film works—it’s a spry, light-on-its-feet adventure that presents an iconic horror property in an entertaining and adventurous new light. And it happens to feature a ridiculously attractive cast all captured just as their pulchritudinous powers were peaking.

Meme-worthy: “My sexual orientation is the cast of ‘The Mummy’ (1999).”

A rising star at the time, Brendan Fraser was mostly known for comedic performances, and although he’d proven himself very capable with his shirt off in George of the Jungle (1997), he wasn’t necessarily at the top of anyone’s list for action-hero roles. But he is superlatively charming as dashing American adventurer Rick O’Connell. His fizzy chemistry with Weisz, playing the brilliant-but-clumsy Egyptologist Evie Carnahan, makes the film a legitimate romantic caper. The role proved to be a breakout for Weisz, then perhaps best known for playing opposite Keanu Reeves in the trouble-plagued action flop Chain Reaction, or for her supporting role in the Liv Tyler vehicle Stealing Beauty.

“90s Brendan Fraser is what Chris Pratt wishes he was,” argues Holly-Beth. “Please come back to us, Brendaddy. We need you.” begs Joshhh. “I’d like to thank Rachel Weisz for playing an integral role in my sexual awakening,” offers Sree.

Then there’s Oded Fehr as Ardeth Bey, a member of the Medjai, a sect dedicated to preventing Imhotep’s tomb from being discovered, and Patricia Velásquez as Anck-su-namun, Imhotep’s cursed lover. Both stupidly good-looking. Heck, Imhotep himself (South African Arnold Vosloo, coming across as Billy Zane’s more rugged brother), is one of the hottest horror villains in the history of cinema.

“Remember when studio movies were sexy?” laments Colin McLaughlin. We do Colin, we do.

Sommers directed a somewhat bloated sequel, The Mummy Returns, in 2001, which featured the cinematic debut of one Dwayne Johnson. His character got a spin-off movie the following year (The Scorpion King), which generated a bunch of DTV sequels of its own, and is now the subject of a Johnson-produced reboot. Brendan Fraser came back for a third film in 2008, the Rob Cohen-directed The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. Weisz declined to participate, and was replaced by Maria Bello.

Despite all the follow-ups, and the enduring love for the first Sommers film, there has been a sadly significant dearth of movies along these lines in the two decades since it was released. The less said about 2017 reboot The Mummy (which was supposed to kick-off a new Universal Monster shared cinematic universe, and took a contemporary, action-heavy approach to the property), the better.

The Rock in ‘The Mummy Returns’ (2001).

For a long time, adventure films were Hollywood’s bread and butter, but they’re surprisingly thin on the ground these days. So it makes a certain amount of sense that nostalgia for the 1999 The Mummy continues to grow. You could argue that many of the superhero films that dominate multiplexes count as adventure movies, but nobody really sees them that way—they are their own genre.

There are, however, a couple of films on the horizon that could help bring back old-school cinematic adventure. One is the long-planned—and finally actually shot—adaptation of the Uncharted video-game franchise, starring Tom Holland. The games borrow a lot from the Indiana Jones films, and it’ll be interesting to see how much that manifests in the adaptation.

Then there’s Letterboxd favorite David Lowery’s forever-upcoming medieval adventure drama The Green Knight, starring Dev Patel and Alicia Vikander (who herself recently rebooted another video-game icon, Lara Croft). Plus they are still threatening to make another Indiana Jones movie, even if it no longer looks like Steven Spielberg will direct it.

While these are all exciting projects—and notwithstanding the current crisis in the multiplexes—it can’t help but feel like we may never again get a movie quite like The Mummy, with its unlikely combination of eye-popping CGI, old-fashioned adventure tropes and a once-in-a-lifetime ensemble of overflowing hotness. Long may love for it reign on Letterboxd—let’s see if we can’t get that average rating up, the old fashioned way. For Anwen.

Related content

How I Letterboxd with The Mummy fan Eve (“The first film I went out and bought memorabilia for… it was a Mummy action figure that included canopic jars”)

The Mummy (Universal) Collection

Every film featuring the Mummy (not mummies in general)

Follow Dom on Letterboxd

#the mummy #brendan fraser #stephen sommers #action adventure #fantasy adventure #action adventure film #the green knight #david lowery #dominic corry #letterboxd

[taumoeba]

why the percy jackson movies are good, actually:

1) they just are lol

okay but seriously before i get into this let me address the valid criticisms the movies get.

grover is a racist caricature. it was unnecessary and they destroyed his character to make him comic relief. also NO ONE asked for the weird persephone x grover thing in the first film 🤢

very weird unresolved tension between percy and annabeth... “i definitely have feelings for you, i just cant tell if theyre negative or positive” is top 5 worst lines in cinema. they had no business aging up the characters just to “sex-ify” the film. like we didnt need a gritty/dark version of what is supposed to be a children’s story

they made clarisse skinny 😐

as an adaptation, if you were looking for faithfulness, you didnt find it in the movies. (the musical is a much better adaptation!) like not even the notion of artistic license can excuse chris columbus for changing all that he did. thor freudenthal tried to fix it but by then it was too late. i understand the hatred for the movies based on this. (but at the same time, the sheer level of hate is unwarranted. ill explain later)

????

genuinely cant think of any other reasons they’re bad. i think those cover the main concerns. anyways, HERE IS WHY THE PERCY JACKSON MOVIES ARE GOOD, ACTUALLY:

logan lerman acting king!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! when i tell you that man EMBODIED the character of percy jackson. i know his legacy has been forever tarnished by the bad reputation of these movies but i also know that everyone praises his work in it bc it is truly one of the best things about the films. like he is genuinely talented! THAT BEING SAID. i dont want to see him as poseidon in the percy jackson disney show. i just know that man is tired of being associated to greek mythology fanfiction. support him by watching his other movies instead please

jake abel, acting king number 2. ive said this before but he was ACTUALLY the perfect luke. the expressions. the delivery of his corny lines. this video. literally iconic behavior!

honestly the cast in general. alexandra daddario, nathan fillion hermes, stanley tucci dionysus, UMA THURMAN MEDUSA???!!!

the soundtrack... need i say more? (i don’t, but i will anyways. first movie featured highway to hell, pokerface, tiktok - not the app. the ke$ha song- among others. second movie featured fall out boy. like they didn’t have to go that hard with the songs but they DID). also they made luke listen to classical music while playing chess in his giant cruise ship’s captain’s quarters... perfect characterization!

rick riordan hates the movies and im sick and tired of that man so by default i love the movies. okay but seriously. i understand feeling insulted by a poorly done adaptation of your life’s greatest work, and i understand not wanting to watch something that is based on your writing. but he has made this grudge so excessive that out of spite im about to start unironically endorsing the films over his books. hes written whole essays griping about his hatred for the movies. which at the same time, is just FURTHER ASSOCIATING YOURSELF TO THE MOVIES! a part of me is convinced that as soon as the disney x fox merger happened, he ran to disney headquarters and started begging them for a tv show just so he could direct his anger towards the movies into something productive. like man WE GET IT! YOU DONT LIKE THE MOVIES!!!

they are.... SO funny???????? im pretty sure even if you havent seen the movies youve heard someone quote it? here are some notable ones:

“this is like high school without the musical”

“this is a pen. THIS IS A PEN!!”

“you can’t kill the janitors! those are working class citizens!”

“you’re burning money? we’re in a recession! that’s treason!!”

“tell me those aren’t sharks.” “....those aren’t sharks.”

that scene where tyson is like... olympus!!!! and percy is like... no...we’re in washington dc.....

“hey! what are you doing? don’t walk on my roof.”

“[starts singing It’s A Small World]”

the visual effects are objectively, pretty good

despite it not being a faithful adaptation, the movies have a decent plot. or at least i was still enthralled while watching them? like disconnect them from the books and its still a (mostly) solid story.

or if you dont want to think about the plot at all, just admit that they’re FUN and ICONIC and DEFINED THE 2010s.

you guys are just haters. the percy jackson movies are good and we deserved the titans curse adaptation. end of discussion

#pjo #pjo movies #blah blah blah #u all asked and i delivered. #and to all a good night🙏🏼 #pro pjo films propaganda #100 #pin