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flowerxguts · 9 months

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Hi I just wanted to say I loooveee your ocs so much 😭😭😭 they’re actually so cool and silly and awesome and im honestly going crazy 😭😭😭 your writing is really amazing !!! I’d love to hear more

i hope you know you literally just became my best friend with this ask.

THANK YOU SO SO MUCHHH AAAAHHHHHHHHH i’ve never had anyone who wasn’t already my friend comment about my ocs so this is so so special to me literally thank you so much for taking the time out of your day to read my fic + send me this it means so much to me AAHHH you just made me week <33333

my entire page is dedicated to my ocs so if you’re interested you can always scroll!! i post metas + snippets of fics/ ficlets + and a lottt of art. i’m always open to asks and explaining things because i’m well aware i don’t have a big explanation post with all my ocs and their universe (i’m working on that trust) honestly i’m open to any asks ever you can request anything you want and there’s a 99% chance i’ll do it

here’s an older fic of mine i never planned on posting (it takes place a few years before What Are We Gonna Do Now? which acts as a parallel of their relationship in this fic) in appreciation of your ask <33

——————— ‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾ OC FIC ☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙ ————————

“Eleanor?”

Dion can hear Damiens voice coming from behind him, the sound of footsteps accompanying. He doesn’t move from his hunched position over the roofs railing, not even to glance an acknowledgment to his friend.

In all honesty, Dion had heard him when he was climbing up the fire escape, but chose to blatantly ignore it, avoiding the inevitable emotional probing questions for as long as possible.

And Damien was, in fact, asking one of those questions. He was asking “what’s wrong?” or “what are you thinking about?” in a round-about way where he asked if the obvious answer to the question was right.

Usually, it would annoy Dion a bit, but tonight he is almost grateful that he doesn’t have to say her name himself.

Damien comes to stand next to him, leaning against the railing of the roof just as Dion is. He is looking at his friend expectantly, waiting for a direct answer. Dion just grunts in response, flicking the end of his lit cigarette.

Damien seems unphased by this, still determined to be there for him.

“She was your kid, man.”

Something within Dion aches, a heart string snaps. Eleanor wasn’t his daughter, not in her eyes.

He grimaces, an ugly feeling washing over him “She wasn’t my kid; She was my sister.”

Was.

He can feel the look Damien is giving him before he even looks over. Dion is lying. Anybody who ever met him would know this. After little delay he dares to dart a glance to his left and is immediately met with a pitiful look, raw with emotion.

He can’t find it within himself to argue, so he lowers his head in grief, resigning whatever rebuttal he had at the ready.

“Yeah. Yeah, I know.”

“You raised her.” Damien states, still attempting to back up his claim. He reaches over Dion, grabbing the cigarette for a moment.

Dion snorts, staring down to the sidewalk in front of their home, the gate is locked because no one else is coming home. Everyone who lives here is present. He scrunches his nose in disappointment, “Clearly not with enough common sense.”

Damien frowns. “You’re being hard on her, Dee.”

Neither say anything for a moment. Dion doesn’t want to talk, not really, but Damien’s here now to do just that, so he might as well not fight it. He’s too exhausted to anyways. And at least Damien had the decency to leave him alone for a few hours beforehand.

Dion’s ears twitch at the sound of a heavy sigh after about a minute or two of silence. The cigarette is returned to his hand and he’s grateful.

“…I’m not saying I agree with her, but…”

Damien pauses, looking at Dion as if though to test the waters. Dion is looking at him, open to hearing what he has to say, but now it seems as if he can’t get the words out.

Damien bows his head, voice much quieter than before, “I mean, if Elizabeth was right and our mom was… not how I remember,” he swallows, afraid at the very notion that he had twisted his own memory. Hesitant to admit the possibility that his sister could’ve had some justification for what she had done.

“…and she came back to me after all those years, saying she’s changed and wants another chance…” Damien looks up at Dion before continuing, pursuing eye contact. Dion can’t help but notice that his eye bags appear more prominent in the nights ambient lighting. He looks younger, smaller.

Desperate, his mind supplies, he needs you to understand this.

“I’d still fall for it.”

Dion’s aware of how his face changes, how he furrows his brows and his jaw hangs open in shock.

The declaration took him by surprise.

The truth is he doesn’t know the full extent of what Elizabeth had claimed about her and Damien’s mother, but to say that even if Elizabeth’s alleged justifications for killing their mother were true, that Damien would still risk it for a chance, was no less than horrifying. Dion’s thoughts run rampant, trying to fully digest the information and apply it to his sisters own situation.

Even after all the horrible things their mom had done, a childhood of nothing but neglect and drug use, choosing to ignore the way all her convict boyfriends would look at her daughter, barely even glancing in their direction, Eleanor had been hanging onto hope that she could have a mother. She wanted someone, older. To hold her, soothe her, teach her how to get by in the world. Someone who would love her unconditionally.

He had done all those things. He had raised her. There’s no reason she needs to run to anyone else for those things, he wants to scream.

Dion feels a surge of energy, but before he could shake his head and begin arguing, Damien cuts him off, turning his head away to hide his face.

“Fuck, man. What kid wouldn’t do anything to see their mom again? What person wouldn’t?”

“Me.” Dion spits, anger boiling to the surface. “I wish I’d gone the rest of my life without ever seeing her.”

Damien sighs, hands curling into fists. He is still not looking at his friend, head still turned off to the side. Something in his tone is pleading.

“Dion you knew your mom. Know her. Eleanor doesn’t. You protected her from it. And now she’s old enough to make the choice herself to stay. How old was she when you left with her?”

“Eight… maybe nine.” He responds thoughtfully.

When he looks to his left his eyes meet Damien’s.

Something within him clicks.

Damien had been in Eleanor’s situation in a way.

Dion had made the choice for Eleanor at the time. To take her away. When she was younger she didn’t want to leave, but she had listened to her older brother, because what else could she do? She trusted him, even if he hadn’t given her a reason at the time. She never really knew the reality of what their situation was because Dion wouldn’t let her. He did not regret that. Not in the slightest. But he can’t lie and claim that he’s denied his little sister the right to know their mother.

Damien’s older sister had taken their mother away, stealing the chance to know her entirely.

Damien understands Eleanor even better than he does in this circumstance, and it stings. While Damien and Eleanor’s situations weren’t the same, they bore similarities in one key factor: their older siblings hadn’t let them know their mother.

He wants to say that seeing the pain on Damien’s face now twists something in him. That the reminiscent plea in his eyes, the begging to be understood, reminding him so much of a younger version of Eleanor, makes him regret taking her. He stares, trying to change his own mind to no avail. He was right in what he had done. He knows that. He had to be right.

His eyes start to water, a new memory fizzling to the surface of his mind.

“The last thing I said to her was that she can’t come back.”

Damien gives a sympathetic smile, his tone is warm when his responds, “You didn’t mean that though, did you?”

“No, I didn’t. Not anymore.” He states. He had said it out of a place of childish anger.

“Well, she’ll come running back and when you see her you’ll hold her in your arms and it’ll all be forgotten.” The words are kind, spoken so softly they make the hair on the boys arms prick up.

“No.” Dion shakes his head, eyes downcast to the ground. He can’t forget this. Because he knows the voice in his head that keeps begging, after everything I sacrificed to save you, please stay, even after Eleanor has gone, will never go away. “I’ll take her in my arms but i’m not going to forget this.”

Damien isn’t smiling now, but the look in his eyes is still kind, “That’s enough.” he replies earnestly.

Dion doesn’t look at his friend. He stays silent, stuck in his head. His last interaction with his sister hadn’t been kind. And if somehow their mother was able to stay clean for her, would that be it? Would that be how it all ended between them?

“Hey,” Damien’s voice is so gentle you’d think he was talking to a wounded animal. He reaches out, warm palm pressing against the nape of his friends neck. His fingers wrap lightly around the base, thumb running over the shaved portion of his hair.

The physical connection pulls Dion from his spiral.

“You did everything you could for her. You protected her, but some things you just have to learn on your own. It’s out of your hands.”

After a moment his friends touch retracts and a long-forgotten cigarette is plucked from his hand.

“…I’d take the bitch to court if I could.”

It’s the truth. If he could have custody, have the legal justification to tell his mother that she has no right to the child he raised, he would. In a heartbeat. Even if it meant his life would never be his again.

It’s not like it ever was in the first place, a voice in his head muses.

He swallows, feeling guilty, because he knows he didn’t mind that. He’d give up his childhood a millions times, relive it all, if it meant Eleanor was safe, here, with him and not with her.

Damien barks a laugh, clearly not as emotionally preoccupied as Dion. He quickly slaps a hand over his mouth, then continues in a lighter tone.

“Yeah, the day we have enough money for a lawyer and aren’t living paycheck to paycheck.”

“Paycheck.” The statement is more than laughable to Dion, pulling him from his contemplative state, and causing his lips to curl into a disbelieving smile. “You’re a fucking dealer.”

“Okay,” Damien all but scoffs, though there’s a humored twinge he can’t seem to separate from his voice. When Dion glances Damien’s way he can see that he’s fighting a smile, trying his best to look dead serious. He fails, miserably so, breaking out into a full-toothed grin. It’s infectious. He meets Dions eyes, continuing, “well then, when my small business takes off, don’t expect me to pitch in.”

The two boys break out in a fit of laughter from the shear ridiculousness of the claim. Damien shushes him, clapping his arm and looking back towards the fire escape. The cigarette they’d been passing back and fourth rested between Dion’s fingers, burnt close to nothing. The low embers heat creeped up to the older boys fingers, though he didn’t stub it out. He sighed deeply, relishing in the pain a moment, breathing in and out. In and out. It grounded him, cleared his head.

The quiet drags on, and the air settles heavy around them, all previous joy having been fleeting.

In the distance what is likely a prostitute can be heard calling out to men, attempting to entice them with crude language. There’s loud laughter from nearby bars, as well as yelling, bar fights likely. Sirens, though relatively quiet, can be heard ringing from somewhere farther North.

For a moment, Dion almost thinks maybe it’s for the best she got out of here, and it hurts.

“I thought you promised Morgan you’d stop dealing.”

There’s a beat of silence, then two. Damien seems hesitant to answer. There’s a huff, not quite a laugh, but an exhale with some form of humor.

“I promised her I wasn’t going to be ‘fucking stupid’.” The way Damien says the words, there’s evident affection, but also very evident quotation. Hell, Dion can practically hear Morgan saying it. “Money is good right now. It’s getting us by comfortably.”

Dion doesn’t respond. Silence falls between the two once more.

The mood shifts gradually, an unspoken agreement of the conversations conclusion is reached.

Neither move for a minute or so, soaking in the others presence, the cold February breeze biting at their skin.

Dion continued looking out mindlessly at the town, his eyes having long blurred. He was too stuck in his own thoughts to care to refocus them. A million thoughts all following the general consensus of Eleanor was really all he could think.

While his conversation with Damien may have concluded, it didn’t mean he was able to stop thinking about it.

He’s pulled from his thoughts as his friend reaches over, wincing slightly as he grabs the burnt-to-nothing cigarette, stubbing it out on the rusted railing.

“Alright, I’m going to head in. Gotta get back before Morgan completely takes over my side, that is, if she hasn’t already.” Damien states with some degree of casualty.

Dion wants to smile. He does. He wants to give a knowing look to his friend, hell, make fun of him for how domesticated he is. But he doesn’t. He stays staring out at the illuminated town. One his sister was not in.

He registers the sound of receding footsteps, but still doesn’t make an effort to move. Mulling over the conversation, a thought suddenly rushes forefront to his mind.

“Damien.” he hears his voice before he can even think.

“Yeah?”

The brunette stops and turns around, curious.

“Are you using?”

They both understand wordlessly what he means: Are you shooting up? Because honestly Dion could care less about his friend getting high.

He turns his head back, eyebrows knit together. He chews on the inside of his cheek, fear bubbling inside him.

Damien’s face is straight. It’s rare to see him with an expression completely devoid of humor, or at least of a softer emotion. The air between the two is tight and all of a sudden it seems twenty degrees colder. Dion knows these words are heavier than a ton of bricks. He wishes he didn’t have to ask the question at all. He trusts him, but not enough to be sure he can help himself. Because if he is dealing again, who’s to say?

“No. I’m not.”

“Good.” Dion says, because there’s nothing else he can say.

He’ll take the words at face value. The last thing he can deal with right now is Damien losing his shit. If he was able to think before her spoke, maybe he wouldn’t have asked. But he asked. He wouldn’t have been able to sleep if he didn’t ask.

“Do I need to worry about that?” Damien asks, curtly nodding towards the stubbed out cigarette.

Dion follows his eyes, feeling his teeth automatically clamp down harder on his cheek, blood festering.

Of course he would notice.

There’s still no trace of emotion on his friends face, only an earnest look that reaches his eyes in a way that makes Dion feel sick. He wishes he could say that Damien was just saying this out of a place of anger, that he was only insulting him because he was the first to ask are you still an addict. He wishes he could say no.

“I wouldn’t dwell on it.”

Damien clicks his tongue, eyes roaming over Dion skeptically.

For a moment Dion is worried that he isn’t going to get out of this. That instead of grieving alone Damien wouldn’t leave, looking over his shoulder the whole night. Waiting. Maybe in silence, maybe with mundane conversation. Staring at the inside of his bicep when he thought Dion wasn’t looking, like any minute the scars would magically revert back to fresh wounds, start bleeding again.

“Well, you know where to find me.” Damien sighs, defeated.

“Yup.” The response is automatic, mindless. He feels relieved for a moment. He wants to care more, to appreciate his friends concern, but he can’t find it within himself right now.

“I’m serious, Dee. You wake my ass up if you need me.”

Dion pushes himself up a bit, no longer leaning his full weight on the railing. He hopes the action will mean something to Damien, that standing on his own two feet will somehow prove that he doesn’t need a crutch right now.

One hand remains on the bar of the railing.

“I promise.”

He’s finally looking at Damien head on, eyes fully taking in the worried look on his face. His friends lips are taut and lines have formed between his eyebrows. Damien’s shoulders are slouched in a defeated manner Dion can’t stand. Guilt washes over him, he looks down, unable to meet brown eyes. For a moment he considers, a million different options run through his head. He settles on one after a fair few seconds of deliberation.

Dion gives his softest smile back. He means it.

Damien nods, the smallest bit of relief finally tainting his lips.

He disappears to the side of the old building without another word, swinging himself over the edge and climbing down the fire escape.

Dion waits to hear his friend’s shoes hit the cold concrete of the buildings floors with a familiar thud, but no such sound comes. His eyebrows knit together after a moment of unpredicted silence. He didn’t hear a splat, meaning his friend thankfully hadn’t fallen off the side of the building, but why was he so quiet? It takes him a moment to piece together the logic, exhaustion slowing him down, but he exhales in amusement as he realizes: Morgan was sleeping.

It makes sense now. The hand over his mouth at his own abrupt laughter, shushing Dion’s, his overall hushed tone. Damien didn’t want to wake her up.

He really is in it bad.

Once he confirms his friend has safely made it inside, Dion rubs his eyes, the full weight exhaustion coming over him. He yawns, looking out at the town again, resuming his position.

The I love you is unspoken.

#tw: referenced/implied sh #jesus i never realized this was so long #anyways anyways #i’m working on fics 24/7 (i have like 10 started and some of them are like 90% of the way done)#so i’ll make sure to post them now that i know you’re interested!!#i’d say i hope you don’t think im weird and strange after this but weird and strange is such a wonderful thing to be so instead i hope you #enjoy it #<3 #talk to me whenever!!!#->#oc fic #oc: dion #oc: damien #oc: eleanor #oc: morgan

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444names · 2 years

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hobbies + emotions BUT similar to "bilbo"

Ading Adner Afting Agice Aging Agity Aics Aief Ailisc Aing Airs Alding Aling Allety Alorse Amarts Aming Amming Ammism Amping Ance Ancess Anch Ancing Ancity Andess Anes Aness Aning Anism Ante Aphy Aright Arking Armety Arspe Arts Assing Aston Ation Autere Auton Awell Awing Bacing Badism Baling Ball Bation Beage Beago Beery Bilis Bilt Bing Bingon Birse Bleery Boares Boart Boary Bodef Boort Brosc Buise Calf Canise Card Cary Catill Cating Ching Chvolf Cling Coft Coing Colart Colf Coll Colles Colley Comy Cony Corell Coross Cort Coss Cost Couphy Coute Cred Crent Cress Croarm Croast Croll Cron Crones Crypt Cult Curts Cycley Cycoll Dandow Dang Daning Dant Dard Darity Dart Debary Delar Delint Dell Delt Deng Deon Deping Derner Dery Dess Dight Ding Dingef Dion Disc Discur Dism Disoll Divent Dower Drafti Drappy Ecting Elay Elry Embass Ement Emess Emet Emon Eness Entern Enting Ention Equete Euphy Eury Exaste Exathy Excia Excing Exhi Exhing Fang Fanity Fant Faston Fasult Fate Fation Feepre Fery Feth Fics Fing Fism Fispe Fite Fity Flogy Fooder Fooke Fooker Foom Fort Foss Fruse Gamety Garde Glad Glarts Gler Glest Gling Glity Goll Gong Gonge Grunt Guing Gung Gunspe Gunt Guss Gusy Haph Happy Hation Helass Henes Hent Hines Hiness Hing Hoch Hock Hockey Hority Horts Hoss Humilt Huming Hung Hunt Huntme Hurby Hures Icking Icling Ingo Ining Inling Ireds Ires Irria Ishite Jigern Jight Jogy Joll Jong Joving Jubt Judogy Judowe Jugby Juming Jumpy Karts Kating Kation Kaying King Knes Kning Knity Lading Lard Larm Larmy Larts Latint Layang Leass Lecomy Liall Ling Loarad Loga Logy Loning Louton Loving Lucing Lunsm Lunt Macing Making Maleag Mall Mards Mati Mating Maying Mening Ment Menvy Miling Ming Morong Morts Mount Mouphy Moust Nego Nesion Nespoi Ness Nowing Ophy Ordge Orking Orring Orts Pacing Paing Pando Pash Pating Pering Phing Ping Pingon Plecs Poing Poking Poll Polley Polove Poly Porag Port Ports Poting Potong Pred Predo Pring Puting Ques Quill Raging Rating Reag Realon Redow Reds Rego Reldi Relry Rese Resion Ress Rete Revull Rewing Roarm Roing Rolf Ross Runes Sading Sadis Saing Sancy Saning Saphy Sating Sation Satort Scgo Scoi Scolo Scomy Screst Scubt Scull Scur Sebadi Sent Serige Shelia Shing Shkey Shom Shomy Shoss Siling Sion Skarts Skeer Sket Skety Sking Slity Snes Soaph Sockey Soft Soll Splon Sques Staing Stass Sting Stion Ston Stres String Sult Surfis Surry Suss Swing Swirs Taing Tair Tairry Taless Tall Teriet Thing Thlogy Toning Torice Toring Torts Tourry Trath Treass Trell Tria Trient Tross Unhort Unning Unsilt Unting Untion Uress Urfing Vacars Vating Viness Ving Wating Wation Werapt Whami Whing Woomy Woraft Woring Wormy Wort Worts Wria Wrics Wrism Yogy Zeaser Zemary Zess

#444names #444 names

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quilloftheclouds · 5 years

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Character Inventory Tag

Tagged by @bookenders and @writingonesdreams! Thank you for the tags, mates, I always enjoy these “bolding” ones~

RULES: What does your character keep on their person? Bold for always, italic for sometimes. Then, tag some mutuals!

My most high fantasy-esque character is likely Dione, so let’s go with the sea witch who was actually born in the Middle Ages!

➳ BAG

➳ WEAPONS

➳ APPAREL

➳ HEALTH + MAGIC

➳ STEALTH

➳ TOOLS

➳ PROVISIONS

➳ PERSONAL

Tagging~ @ardawyn, @nemowritesstuff, @runningonrain, and anyone else who’d like to do it!

#tag games #writing games #character inventory #character inventory tag game #writeblr #writeblr community #oss #one siren's soul #dione #look at all the magic junk she has on her ALL THE TIME #like seriously the inside of her cloak is just COATED with pockets #and she has a belt full of them too #dione and her pockets #also hey she has a DART?#where'd she get that???

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qccpafmaf · 6 years

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PERFORUM ROUND TABLE DISCUSSION - SEPTEMBER 22, 2018

By Saima Desai

“My grandmother told me that the only time she remembered hearing Lenape was in songs that her grandmother would sing while they were making baskets,” Vanessa tells us, “and they would only do it at night.”

We’re halfway into a conversation on “Performing Alterity.” On the stage are six Black and Indigenous performance artists: Thirza Cuthand, Raven Davis, Vanessa Dion Fletcher, Dana Michel, Harold Offeh, and Adrian Stimson.

The panel’s moderator, John G. Hampton, told us that the panel was about the differences and similarities between everyday performances and artistic performances of self. Predictably, John began with Judith Butler’s idea of performativity: performativity is a “stylized repetition of actions,” John tells us. “Gender is constructed alongside your sense of self through the way you live your life, your daily performance of self, and that’s informed by social norms and structures that you grow up in.”

But this is a panel of brown and Black queer people. The panelists understandably don’t seem interested in discussing white queer theory.

Instead, the conversation turns to languages. John, Raven, Vanessa, and Adrian introduce themselves in their own Indigenous languages before switching to English. Later, we’ll learn that Thirza has taken a few Cree language classes, and Dana never learned Patois. Harold knows only enough Akan to be embarrassed when he visits Accra.

There’s a sharp, new sadness I found in adulthood. It’s the sadness of not being able to speak my parents’ language. My parents gave up on sending me to Gujarati language school after years of dragging my sulky, whiny ass to Sunday classes. All my friends got to go to ballet lessons on Sundays. I was stuck in a suburban classroom that smelled like the inside of a cupboard, with a teacher who rewarded up for proper conjugation with those biscuits you give to teething babies.

Today, I can nod and smile and speak in simple two-word sentences. I can I can spell my name and nothing else, the letters shy and childish. I’m embarrassed to speak to my motapapa, my grandfather. I feel shame – not just the shame of failure, but the shame of failing at something that should be as natural as breathing.

“She’d be lying at night, hearing these songs, and that was the only exposure she got to her language,” Vanessa continues. “[… My grandmother’s parents] wanted the kids to learn English, as a survival mechanism, and also to hide from the Indian Agents and the government.”

Indigenous languages were literally beaten out of children in residential schools, and outlawed by white colonizers. For others of us, whose people have also lived under colonization, our languages were wiped from textbooks, deprioritized, shamed, silenced, or simply forgotten.

Today, there are very few speakers of the Lenape languages, Munsee and Unami. There are only two fluent Munsee speakers, aged 77 and 90. The conversation turns briefly to a fire that destroyed 20 million items at Brazil's National Museum earlier this month. Among the items lost were audio recordings of Indigenous languages that are no longer spoken.

The news sends a shiver of fear through me. I wonder if, hundreds of years into the future, my family’s language might be endangered like that. If its connection to this world could ever be so tenuous that the string could be snapped in one go.

Vanessa continues: “But when I feel that deep sadness at the lack of access I have to my language, I think: not all moments in the past or present or future have to be ones that are through language. There are always moments of silence and moments of communicating physically and visually. Even though I will always mourn the loss of my language, for myself and for everybody, I can still have experiences that are outside of that loss.”

Later, Dana Michel will tell us that she never learned Patois from her parents: “it was deemed ‘not proper’ to pass it on to your children.” She often feels a lack of connection with her history, she says, but there are ways in which our bodies hold and speak that history. Family members tell her that she’s a lot like her grandfather – a grandfather she met maybe twice in her life.

“There’s a way of history and heritage being passed down without our knowing,” she muses. “Or a certain kind of knowing.”

“We’re becoming more aware of intergeneration trauma, so then logically, intergenerational wisdom…” she trails off.

Vanessa’s performance, on Wednesday, used porcupine quills, Wampum belts, and menstrual blood to probe the outlines of a body – physical and cultural. At one point, she filled her mouth with porcupine quills, and then walked around the Regina Public Library pulling quills from her mouth and handing them to strangers.

“Porcupine quills were used before glass beads or embroidery – to tell stories, to adorn our bodies,” explains Vanessa. “Porcupine quills would be put in your mouth to soften them before they would be sewn into clothing.”

“When I learned that, I thought: ‘I’m never going to speak the words that I want, I’m never going to have all the ideas that I want. I’m never going to be able to hear or sing the songs that my grandmother heard falling asleep at night. But I can still put this quill in my mouth, and I can feel the same thing that people in my community have felt forever.’ And that’s something that hasn’t been interrupted by colonialism.”

In my voice recorder, all the panelists hum softly in agreement. I think of the sharpness of a mouth full of quills, of jagged shards of words you’ll never speak, shattered by colonization and displacement.

“I think that’s the beauty of being an artist, and being a performance artist,” begins Adrian. “That we create our own language.”

PERFORMANCE - VISITING THAHAB - NABIL VEGA - SEPTEMBER 22, 2018

by Saima Desai

This story begins with a delayed flight. It’s fitting, for a performance about 9/11.

Because of their flight delay, Nabil Vega’s morning performance has been cancelled. Instead, I make it to the Dunlop in the evening for the second part of “Visiting Thabab.”

I am the only South Asian or Arab person I can pick out in the audience. That’s not at all unusual for the Regina art scene, but I feel a little bit smug about it today. I expect I’m better positioned to understand the art than anybody else in the room. Who better to write about a performance on what it is to be a brown femme in post-9/11 North America than me?

Nabil emerges under a sheet of gold fabric that drapes to their thighs. They silently stand or crouch in front of each audience member. I watch the audience members steel themselves for eye contact with this eyeless apparition – when their turn comes, some smirk, some squint, some adopt an air of practiced seriousness.

Nabil leaves, returns with a plastic bag full of gold glitter that slithers between their knuckles as they pace the room, casting a protective circle around the space. They wade into a red kiddie pool in the center of the room, sit wide-legged on a stool, and begin combing a tangled clump of dark hair out from under the gold sheet, eventually letting it fall into the pool.

Grasping for meaning, I think of the importance of hair for Indian women – as a tool of intergenerational care, a locus of beauty, a site of vicious gender control. I remember my own long ponytail I once cut off, eventually working up to shaving my head to a buzzcut. My parents were – still are – livid at my boyish cut.

Then, Nabil crouches in the pool, ripping at a seam at the side. Silently, and almost imperceptibly, the pool begins to leak water – I don’t notice it until audience members start nervously lifting their shoes out of its spreading path.

The water picks up glitter as it spreads, gilding its edges. There’s something sinister about this silent, unstoppable crawl of water, bordered with gold, fingers reaching towards our toes. It looks like the spread of a virus, or the march of a colonial army across a map. I think of Harsha Walia’s concept of border imperialism, which "links the politics of borders to global systems of power and repression, systems which find their roots in ‘othering,’ colonization, and slavery.”

I don’t understand the performance.

I don’t understand what it means to be a brown girl in post 9/11 North America.

After, I ask Nabil when their second performance will be, and whether it’s a continuation of the first. I’m not sure this is true, but I tell her I “really liked” the first one. I guess I really liked that a brown queerdo was making art – but I couldn’t tell you any more about what I liked about it. Haltingly, shyly, I tell them that I found their performance “more opaque” than I expected and that I was still “grappling with the symbolism.” It is my way of very quietly screaming, “I don’t get it! Why don’t I get it? Don’t I – a brown girl living in post-9/11 North America – deserve to get it?” I stop myself before actually asking Nabil to explain any of the symbolism – but anyways, they have already darted off to help a volunteer wrestle the now-flaccid kiddie pool into a bucket. When they hefts it off the ground, it looks like a dead body, still sagging with water.

Later, I show up outside the Dunlop art gallery in downtown Regina. Nabil is already outside, under their gold sheet. I watch as they crouch in the middle of Scarth Street and light the first blue smoke bomb between their feet, rich indigo clouds rising like bubbles in a glass. Seeing the smoke, people begin to filter out of the afterparty, gathering at a distance around Nabil. The drunk people at the bar across the street start shouting at us.

Nabil takes off towards the bar, and we begin to follow. Gary, the director of QCC, chases them, muttering “I told them they needed to take someone with them, for protection.” I glance nervously at the drunk white guys at the bar, still yelling. Do white men not know than whenever they yell – excitedly or belligerently – my whole body fractures into little triangles of fear? I’m shot through by that same fear for Nabil, which is really a fear for myself – another queer brown femme walking home alone at night past a bar of drunk and yelling white guys.

They turn, stop, stand in the middle of the darkened street, set off another haldi-yellow smoke bomb, study us. Under the rippling gold sheet, in absolute silence, with the smoke rising like a prayer, they look like a ghost.

I think of the other brown ghosts of 9/11:

Balbir Singh Sodhi, a Sikh man originally from India, murdered at a gas station in Arizona on September 15, 2001. He was the first fatality of the post-9/11 backlash against Muslims and those perceived as Muslim. His killer also shot at a Lebanese person and an Afghan family’s house. In 2011, the Arizona legislature tried to remove Mr. Sodhi's name from their state 9/11 memorial.

On the same day, Waqar Hasan, an immigrant from Pakistan, was murdered in a grocery store in Texas. He was the second fatality. Three weeks later, his murderer would kill Vasudev Patel, an Indian man.

Two weeks after Hasan’s death, Abdo Ali Ahmed, a 51-year-old Yemeni man, was shot to death outside his convenience store. Two days earlier a note reading, “We’re going to kill all you fucking Arabs,” was left on his car windshield.

I was only six when 9/11 happened. I couldn’t tell you where I was when I heard the news – probably in my Grade One classroom. I’d be lying if I said I felt, at the time, even the slightest shiver of what 9/11 would come to mean for people who look like me. How it would change entire regimes of race, of state violence and systematic dehumanization, of wars and geopolitics, of displacement and migration. The exhaustion of being “randomly selected” for the thousandth time at airport security.

I think of the way I walk faster, clamp my teeth around my tongue, tighten my heart when I pass a bar full of drunk white men, yelling. The times I thought I might become another brown ghost.

I think of the way my skin looks under lake water, so brown it’s just a little gold.

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paulisded · 4 years

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Live Ledge #406: Best Albums of 2019

This was another great year in music. So great, in fact, that many hours were spent narrowing down the year's release into the standard Ledge format of the 40 best albums of the year. In particular, it was a year that really saw a resurgence in anthemic power pop. It was also a year that saw a number of psych-rock bands so widely expand their sound and songwriting that a two-record set was necessary. Here's my list, and look for another similar post featuring the great reissue and box sets of the year.

1. Mikal Cronin, Seeker. Every year there is a record or two that deserves to find an audience outside of its typical subgenre. This year it’s the latest by Mikal Cronin, a stunning record that retains the psych-rock template of his past yet showcases a giant leap in songwriting. This record should be all over mainstream rock radio.

2. Bob Mould, Sunshine Rock. After a handful of records featuring dark, ferocious rock closer to his Husker Du days than his more poppy records with Sugar, Mould’s latest finds him possibly as close to happy as we’ve ever seen him. Ok, maybe happy is too strong of a word. Whatever it is the attitude is different, although still accompanied by his trademark buzzsaw guitars.

3. Pernice Brothers, Spread the Feeling. The most welcome comeback of the year. Every band featuring Joe Pernice seemed to acknowledge one major influence missing from most Americana bands and that’s his love of ‘80’s college rock. Just imagine a country-tinged power pop band that clearly loves Echo & The Bunnymen, The Smiths, and Lloyd Cole.

4. The Muffs, No Holiday. Such a tragedy. Two years ago, Muffs leader Kim Shattuck suddenly found herself unable to grip a guitar. It turned out to be ALS. Determined to finish one last album she gave all she could even as she quickly deteriorated from the disease. Eventually she was leading recording sessions while connected to a breathing tube. Sadly, she died less than two weeks before the release of one of the band’s best albums.

5. Purple Mountains, Purple Mountains. Purple Mountains was David Berman’s first project since the demise of Silver Jews in 2019, and it was a stunning display of his quirky songwriting skills. Unfortunately, the personal demons that had always been present in his art turned his big comeback into a tragedy, as he took his life just weeks after the record was released to glowing reviews.

6. The Resonars, No Exit. In a year that saw power pop rediscover its balls, The Resonars proved they always had their share of testicular fortitude. And it’s all the work of one man, Matt Rendon, who has over the last two decades created six albums of this sort of catchy but raucous power pop.

7. Kiwi Jr., Football Money. Power pop’s closest relative just has to be jangle pop, and both genres are at its best when the songwriting is as catchy as a late ‘70’s Nick Lowe single. There’s hooks galore on this Toronto band’s debut release.

8. Wand, Laughing Matter. There’s always been a bit of a fine line between psych and prog, and those lines have definitely narrowed in today’s crop of prog-rockers. One proof is the return of the double album, which every psych band seemed to release in 2019. The strongest record of that sort may have to be Wand’s fifth record, which succeeds by actually stripping back their sound a bit.

9. Wreckless Eric, Transience. It’s been a real treat to see the resurgence of Eric Goulden in the last few years, as album after album have ranked as his best ever. The latest sort of comes closest to his solo performances, as he lays tracks and tracks of both clean and enhanced acoustic and electric guitars over backing tracks laid down by Amy Rigby, Cheap Trick’s Tom Petersson, jazz horn player Artie Barbato, and The Rumour’s Steve Goulding.

10. Tim Presley’s White Fence, I Have To Feed Larry’s Hawk. Presley reportedly spent four years recording what may be the masterpiece of his career. How to describe the finished product is not easy, though, as various influences and sounds flow in and out of each and every track, yet there is an intimacy here that makes it feel like Presley just whipped up this musical cocktail in one long, intense evening.

11. The Cowboys, The Bottom Of A Rotten Flower. Good old punk-influenced straight up rock and roll. Nothing more, nothing less. And when it’s as good and as catchy as this it doesn’t need to be anything else.

12. Twin Peaks, Lookout Low. Five years ago, this Chicago-based band’s fabulous record Wild Onion was described by one of the band members as heavily influenced by Exile On Main Street. This record’s classic rock influence appears to be the first two records by The Band. That’s not to say they sound anything like either the Stones or The Band. No, in this case there is a laid back feel to their guitar-based indie rock that feels as if it’s straight out of a Woodstock basement.

13. The Dates, Ask Again Later. Garrett Goddard has been a member of a number of bands over the years, including King Tuff, Personal and the Pizzas, and The Cuts. His first record heading The Dates may have just topped anything else he’s ever worked on in the past. The melodies and hooks just melt in your ears, and the musical accompaniment throws The Byrds, Big Star, Shoes, Smithereens and seemingly a dozen other bands into the greatest blender ever invented.

14. Wilco, Ode To Joy. After Tweedy’s pair of solo acoustic records, I think I was ready for a full blown rock and roll Wilco album. It has been a while, right? Unfortunately, Ode To Joy comes off as a full band version of those solo records. Don’t get me wrong. It’s good. It’s very good. It just wasn’t what I needed from a 2019 Wilco album.

15. Guided By Voices, Zeppelin Over China. Another year, another trio of Guided By Voices records. Their second wind as a band has been nothing but stunning, as evidenced by this double album of almost nothing but anthems.

16. Tijuana Panthers, Carpet Denim. Every year there seems to be a new band that showcases elements of surf rock in their punk-influenced lo-fi garage sounds. What a shocker to find out that this is their sixth album! What sets them apart from others like them, besides the strength of their songwriting, is the ocassional elements of doo wop harmonies. Who knew that The Buzzcocks and Dion could co-exist in the same song?

17. Peter Perrett, Humanworld. After no new tunes for over 25 years, we now have two records in three years by the former leader of The Only Ones! Like 2017’s How The West Was One this record succeeds simply because Perrett isn’t trying to recreate the glory days, nor is he attempting to jump on current trends. Instead he accomplishes what real artists do, which is to create a sound that fits the song.

18. Frankie and the Witch Fingers, ZAM. Another great psych rock double album that incorporates and combines all sorts of atypical influences, including kraut, prog, and even a little funk.

19. Sweet Things, In Borrowed Shoes, On Borrowed Time. It may be hard to find a more varied rock and roll album than this debut record, as it jumps around from blues to soul to country to glam rock. There’s cameos by Alejandro Escovedo and members of The Uptown Horns. It’s the most ambitious trashy garage rock record I’ve heard in quite some time.

20. Cherry Pickles, Will Harden Your Nipples. As their bandcamp states, “one guitar, two drums, the basement band you always wanted to start”. This trio proudly combines all sorts of “outsider art” into a minimalistic sound that would certainly impress the namesake of the record’s best song “I Still Miss Lux”.

21. Ty Segall, First Taste. The prolific singer/guitarist was a bit quiet this year, actually. Well, for Segall a quiet year is one that only features a studio album, a live album, and a box set of outtakes. What makes his only new record of the year stand out is that there reportedly is not a guitar to be found on it! No, it’s not a synth-pop record. In fact, it ultimately isn’t that much different than what we’re used to hearing.

22. Pale Lips, After Dark. Gotta love snotty, hook-driven garage-punk that’s clearly inspired by major doses of The Muffs and The Ramones mixed with spoonfuls of surf and Spector-era girl groups.

23. The Darts, I Like You But Not Like That. This record was not what I expected. At all. Who would have predicted that Alternative Tentacles would put out such a sexy collection of horror-punk?

24. CTMF, Last Punk Standing. Nobody has so proudly hosted the flag of ‘60’s garage-punk as Wild Billy Childish. Well, “proud” is probably not the correct word to use, as Childish is as cantankerous as The Fall’s Mark E. Smith. Yet he consistently puts out records full of simple yet catchy guitar anthems, and this one is no exception.

25. Jordan Jones, Jordan Jones. What happens when you take the pop/rock highlights of ‘70’s AM radio and ramp it up a bit with power pop energy? You get this wonderful debut record.

26. The Mystery Lights, Too Much Tension! A melting pot of different styles rarely mesh well, but this New York band’s second album somehow manages to roll in and out of genres. A synth track leads into a homage to the Stooges which is then followed by a ‘60’ dance party. How do they get away with it?

27. Juliana Hatfield, Weird. It’s only fitting that an album dominated by a theme of being a lonely introvert would be created by one artist playing almost every instrument. That’s the case of the latest Hatfield collection of originals, and it’s one of the best of her career.

28. Kevin Morby, Oh My God. Rolling Stone recently described the Kansas City native as a “secular guy with a spiritual side”, and that’s never been more evident than on his fifth album. RS goes on to compare this record to Dylan’s gospel years but it’s actually more similar to a record like New Morning, where Biblical imagery is referenced but not necessarily the main topic.

29. Drahla, Useless Coordinates. Post-punk also made a comeback this year, and one of the best purveyors of that sound is this trio of Wire fanatics. And like Wire there’s a bit of a ferocity in this record that’s missing in much of their post-punk cohorts.

30. Gino and the Goons, Do The Get Around. Take Chuck Berry, The Sonics, Motorhead, The Ramones, The Stooges and a few other “rawk’ legends and toss them into a blender and you get the dirty sound that Gino and the Goons have mastered over the course of five records. You know what you’re getting from these guys, but they always deliver.

31. Young Guv, Guv I & II. The side project of Fucked Up guitarist Ben Cook could be described as a lo-fi tribute to bands such as Big Star and Teenage Fanclub. But then out of the blue comes a synth tune that’s almost danceable. It’s just part of the charm of this double record.

32. Ravi Shavi, Blackout Deluxe. Some records are sleepers. They don’t work the first time you hear them. They may not even work on the fourth or fifth airing. Then suddenly you can’t stop listening. That’s the case with this new wave-influenced, Prince-obsessed, garage rock group.

33. ATOM, In Every Dream Home. Just like the previous record, ATOM didn’t work for me at first. Then suddenly I had to race to the stereo to crank up the volume. What changed? Well,it helps when the musicians are Australian indie rock heavy weights led by Crime and the City Solution’s Harry Howard.

34. Geoff Palmer, Pulling Out All The Stops/Brad Marino, Extra Credit. (Tie) I can’t possibly vote for one of these records to be higher than the other. The pair both were members of the The Connection and The New Trocaderos. Both of them are veteran power pop performers who have written more than their share of catchy tunes. And both may have put out the records of their careers.

36. Honey Radar, Ruby Puff Of Dust.. A lot of reviews of this Philly band compare them to Guided By Voices, but I honestly don’t understand why. Yet it’s what made me check them out, and I do appreciate their fuzzy psych-rock sound.

37. Titus Andronicus, An Obelisk. Produced by Bob Mould and recorded at Steve Albini’s Chicago studio, Titus’ sixth album is their most straight ahead to date, although as always leader Patrick Stickles’ lyrics are open to interpretation.

38. The Dream Syndicate, These Times. While most band reunions never result in worthwhile albums (or any new music at all), there are instances where the second run rivals the first. That’s the case with these leaders of the mid-’80’s “Paisley Underground”, and it’s mainly because they refuse to just rest on their laurels.

39. Jesse Malin, Sunset Kids. The teaming of Malin with Lucinda Williams may seem like a head scratcher, but it actually works! Not only does Williams produce the album, she duets with him on a handful of the album’s tracks. The end results may be quieter than a typical Malin album but the tunes are also as strong as a typical Malin album.

40. More Kicks, More Kicks. Haven’t I said that this was a year for great power pop? Here’s another one. This time it’s a UK group, and like the others I’ve highlighted there’s nothing wimpy here. It’s pop music that absolutely rocks.

After listening, please go purchase those tracks you enjoy! You can find this show at almost any podcast site, including iTunes and Stitcher...or

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE SHOW!

Note: Tracks from the albums listed above were presented in reverse "Casey Kasem countdown" order. In two instances (Darts/Pale Lips and The Muffs/Purple Mountains), songs were erroneously flipped in error. I apologize for this mistake.

1. More Kicks, I'm on the Brink

2. Jesse Malin, Room 13

3. The Dream Syndicate, Bullet Holes

4. Titus Andronicus, Troubleman Unlimited

5. Honey Radar, Cornflake ESP

6. Brad Marino, Broken Record Baby

7. Geoff Palmer, All The Hits

8. ATOM, No Future

9. Ravi Shavi, Riding High

10. Young Guv, She's A Fantasy

11. Gino And The Goons, Pills In MY Pocket

12. Drahla, Gilded Cloud

13. Kevin Morby, OMG Rock n Roll

14. Juliana Hatfield, Staying In

15. The Mystery Lights, I'm So Tired (of Living In The City)

16. Jordan Jones, Rumors Girls

17. CTMF, You're the One I Idolise

18. Pale Lips, Some Sort Of Rock n' Roll

19. The Darts, Don't Hold My Hand

20. Ty Segall, Taste

21. Cherry Pickles, I Still Miss Lux

22. The Sweet Things, Dead or Worse

23. Frankie and the Witch Fingers, Purple Velvet

24. Peter Perrett, Love Comes On Silent Feet

25. Tijuana Panthers, Path of Totality

26. Guided by Voices, Your Lights Are Out

27. Wilco, Everyone Hides

28. The Dates, pictures with rene

29. Twin Peaks, Laid In Gold

30. The Cowboys, Female Behavior Book

31. White Fence, I Love You

32. Wreckless Eric, Strange Locomotion

33. Wand, Walkie Talkie

34. Kiwi jr., Murder in the Cathedral

35. The Resonars, The Man Who Does Nothing

36. The Muffs, No Holiday

37. Purple Mountains, That's Just the Way That I Feel

38. Pernice Brothers, Mint Condition

39. Bob Mould, Sunshine Rock

40. Mikal Cronin, I've Got Reason

#scott hudson #live ledge #realpunkradio #best albums of 2019 #indie #garage #punk #psych

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thunderheadfred · 7 years

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If you're looking for a distraction and because I'm also curious, what are your top 5 favorite movies and why?

You know, movies used to be like my raison d'être, and in recent years I’ve gotten really cynical about the whole Hollywood machine and just… buhhh. IDK. SO, this isn’t going to be an especially recent or well-researched list (because I haven’t watched many new films recently) but I’ll try to just kinda list them off the top of my noggin, mostly based on how many times I’ve seen them…

Brazil - (dir. Terry Gilliam)It’s beautiful, it’s funny, it’s uncomplicated yet sweeping. Everything I love about visual storytelling wrapped up into one spectacularly cheesy package. And that theme song. Dang.

Beetlejuice - (dir. Tim Burton)This movie is maybe-probably-objectively not that great when you write off its nostalgic value, but the number of times I’ve watched this just as background noise, as comfort food, as something fun and bright and distracting??? that number is frankly… disturbing. Also, this makes for a very close three-way-tie with the Addams Family and Nightmare Before Christmas for all the same “I-was-a-teenage-goffic-girl” reasons.

Titanic - (dir. James Cameron)Celine Dion single notwithstanding, I watch this movie at least once a year. No apologies. Yeah, the script is trash, but HOMG it’s a costume drama mashed together with a disaster movie and there literally is no better combo in the universe so fuck nuanced dialogue and multifaceted character development sign me THE FUCK UP THE SHIP IS SANKIN’

Star Wars - (dir. *cough* George Lucas)Any of them. Even the ones I don’t like. Throw a dart at a corkboard full of Star Wars movie posters and gratuitous theme park merchandise and I’m already there with popcorn and a ten-hour lecture about how much I love Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Prince of Egypt - (dir. Brenda Chapman, Steve Hickner, Simon Wells)This film is a goddamned work of art. All the well-funded bank-breaking 3-D animation in the world can’t change my mind. Give me one more studio-backed 2-D animated film of this caliber before I die and I’ll consider - consider - not permanently haunting the premises of Walt Disney feature animation studios in Burbank. (yes I know this movie was made by Dreamworks that’s not the point)

#wafflesrock16 #wow look at that I'm box office garbage #fred answers

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katiewattsart · 5 years

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DYSTOPIAN CITY LECTURE

William Hogarth, Gin Lane,1751

In William Hogarth’s 1751 print Gin Lane, a drunk mother neglects her baby, which falls to its death in a stairwell. Another mother doses her child with alcohol for a bit of peace. The men are blind drunk and skeletal, pawing their last rags to fund their gin habit.

How Charles Dickens Saw London

Charles Dickens soaked up the scene here too, but saw something utterly different. Passing through in 1835, he observed “streets and courts [that] dart in all directions, until they are lost in the unwholesome vapour which hangs over the house-tops and renders the dirty perspective uncertain and confined.” There were drunken women quarrelling—“Vy don’t you pitch into her, Sarah?”—and men “in their fustian dresses, spotted with brick-dust and whitewash” leaning against posts for hours. Seven Dials was synonymous with poverty and crime, a black hole to most Londoners...

Williams argues effectively that ‘country’ and ‘city’ are not fixed archetypes so much as social constructs whose development is directly related to the growth of capitalism as a dominant economic mode.

Cities are seen today as the bastions of capitalism. But Williams argues that capitalism was first developed and mastered in the country beginning among the aristocratic landowning class of the 16th century.

The city was inextricably linked to this process as the center of trade and banking which these landowners depended on to consolidate wealth. As populations exploded as a result and necessity to fuel industrialized labor, the city transformed from a place of "civilized social transitions”of the wealthy to a den of overcrowded squalor in the popular and literary mindset. Consequently, the shrinking country became a nostalgic retreat of the bourgeois class and a location of travel to be enjoyed and observed by the wealthy.

In other words, the division that we are used to today (country = backwards but beautiful/city = progressive but ugly) is not actually a permanent reality but a constructed reality of the dominant landowning class. The meanings of both have shifted to serve the dominant narratives most useful to the ruling class at the time. Alex Laser

Published 1975 by Oxford University Press (orig.1973)

Film of Raymond Williams’ 1973 book of the same title which traces images of ‘nature’ and ‘town’ through 200 years of English literature. The connections Williams establishes as he traces the history of Tatton Park near Manchester - ‘an almost perfect example of how the English country house has influenced if not dominated our images of the country’ - are often startling and the film’s style continually illuminates the overall argument. All of the details taken from writers, painters, landscape artists and from 19th and 20th history of major urban centres are placed within a framework of class-based economic history - ‘the country and the city are parts of an interacting system dominated by a single class’- and the result is a unique TV essay. Michael Dibb, the director, has worked well with Williams to ensure that every image, every snatch of sound-track plays its part in the structure.

City provides an accessible yet critical introduction to one of the key concepts in human geography. Always at the heart of discussions in social theory, the definition and specification of the ‘city’ nonetheless remains exclusive. in this volume, Phil Hubbard locates the concept of 'the city' within current traditions of social thought, providing a basis for understanding its varying usages and meanings through a critical discussion of the contribution of key authors and thinkers. Written in a lively and accessible style, the individual chapters of City offer a thematic overview of four dominant ways of approaching cities: * as lived-in places * as imagined spaces * as networks of association * as technologies of flow. Drawing on a diverse range of literatures and case studies, the book spells out the importance of a geographical perspective on the city, suggesting that it is only by bringing these different ways of mapping the city together that we can begin to make sense of cities.

Mark Dion- Tate Thames Dig, 1999

Cabinet of Curiosities (1690s) by Domenico Remps,Florence

Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford

‘Otherness’ and the City

Josephine Baker- Berlin, Paris and New York- 1920′s

Metropolis, Fritz Lang, 1927

Fortunato Depreo, Skyscrapers and Tunnels (Gratticieli e tunnel), 1930 (detail)

Dystopia

- An imagined place or state in which everything is unpleasant or bad, typically a totalitarian or environmentally degraded one.

Blade Runner, Ridley Scott 1982

Hunger Games 2012

Lori Nix, ‘Mall’ 2010

Lori Nix, “Laundromat at Night,” 2008

Lori Nix, ‘Beauty Shop’ 2010

Gustav Metzger, Historic photographs: No. 1: Liquidation of the Warsaw Ghetto, April 19-28, 1943, 1995

Gustav Metzger, Historic Photographs

Gustav Metzger Kill the Cars, Camden Town, London 1996, 1996/2011, exhibited at New Museum

The Truman Show

Jim Carrey in The Truman Show directed by Peter Weir, 1998

References:

https://img.kingandmcgaw.com/imagecache/3/0/si-303179.jpg_maxdim-1000_resize-yes.jpg

https://thumbs-prod.si-cdn.com/xpCWe3WNIx5Xc1AwgixNU4_ZWdk=/fit-in/1600x0/https://public-media.si-cdn.com/filer/Sketches-by-Boz-Seven-Dials-631.jpg

https://blackwells.co.uk/jacket/l/9780701210052.jpg

https://www.mikesouthon.biz/portfolio/the-country-and-the-city01title1

https://www.tate.org.uk/art/images/work/T/T07/T07669_10.jpg

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/5a/f4/3c/5af43c218709876f17b503ba860d2140.jpg

https://www.tate.org.uk/sites/default/files/styles/width-600/public/thamesdigdisplay01.jpg

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/82/Cabinet_of_Curiosities_1690s_Domenico_Remps.jpg

https://www.experienceoxfordshire.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Pitt-Rivers-Museum-Exhibits-36-1340x1005.jpg

http://thehistorychicks.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/JB-Charleston.jpg

https://i2.wp.com/pages.stolaf.edu/musicalgeography/wp-content/uploads/sites/648/2015/10/Josephine-Baker-940x705.jpg?fit=940%2C705&ssl=1

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/57ab44d32994cadd0f3c895d/57ac972f46c3c4d37f361990/58c80c2ddb29d6e875944b68/1491514730250/Metropolis-1927-di-Fritz-Lang-4.jpg?format=1000w

https://i1.wp.com/italmodart.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Grattacieli-tunnel-depero.jpg?resize=663%2C456

https://cps-static.rovicorp.com/2/Open/Warner_Home_Video_892/Program/63068/_9by13/_derived_jpg_q90_410x410_m0/26293605_Blade-Runner-The-Final-Cut_p1.jpg?partner=allrovi.com

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMTM0NjQ4OTgyNV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwOTU2MzQ4Nw@@._V1_CR0,60,640,360_AL_UX477_CR0,0,477,268_AL_.jpg

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/55d77558e4b05e2874c32d03/55d77d9de4b0f1c90e96510f/55d7a41fe4b04198b2025d97/1458395428152/Mall.jpg?format=1000w

https://clampart-cijwnnxfk.stackpathdns.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Laudromat-at-Night-980x783.jpg

https://clampart-cijwnnxfk.stackpathdns.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Beauty-Shop-980x735.jpg

https://uploads7.wikiart.org/images/gustav-metzger/historic-photographs-no-1-liquidation-of-the-warsaw-ghetto-april-19-28-days-1943-1995.jpg

https://uploads3.wikiart.org/images/gustav-metzger/historic-photographs-jerusalem-jerusalem-1998.jpg

https://designobserver.com/media/images/NewMuseum_GustavMetzger_ByBenoitPailley_1LR_525.jpg

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2019/mar/02/handsworth-photography-project-self-portraits-birmingham-john-reardon

https://media.vanityfair.com/photos/5b16a04623f287081510eaa8/master/w_768,c_limit/the-truman-show-anniversary-lede.jpg

#phot103

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mastcomm · 4 years

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12 Pop, Rock and Jazz Concerts to Check Out in N.Y.C. This Weekend

JOANNE BRACKEEN AND UGONNA OKEGWO at Mezzrow (Feb. 14-15, 7:30 and 9 p.m.). A leading composer and pianist in jazz since the 1970s, Brackeen has a piano style based in neatly angled patterns and harmonies, and darting melodicism. She keeps your ear chasing her notes in many directions, even while the center of gravity remains firm and rhythmically grounded. A National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master, Brackeen appears here with Okegwo, a stalwart upright bassist who has accompanied some of jazz’s finest bandleaders. mezzrow.com

VINICIUS CANTUARIA AND JESSE HARRIS DUO at the Iridium (Feb. 18, 8 p.m.). With his hushed strum on the guitar and his low croon — both insular and inviting — Cantuaria is an excellent match for the songbook of Antonio Carlos Jobim, whose music he covered on his most recent album, “Vinicius Canta Antonio Carlos Jobim.” These qualities also make him a logical partner for Jesse Harris, the guitarist and vocalist best known for his collaborations with Norah Jones (he wrote her breakout hit, “Don’t Know Why”). 212-582-2121, theiridium.com

JOHN ELLIS AND ANDY BRAGEN at the Jazz Gallery (Feb. 14-15, 7:30 and 9:30 p.m.). It has been over 10 years since Ellis, a saxophonist and clarinetist, and Bragen, a playwright, debuted “The Ice Siren,” a “jazz opera” that in fact owes as much to modern Western classical as it does to jazz. Next month the opera — one of three long-form collaborations that Ellis and Bragen have produced — will finally be released as an album. This concert celebrates that fact, as well as the 25th anniversary of the Jazz Gallery, which commissioned “The Ice Siren.” Ellis will perform the work with an 11-piece group featuring the vocalists Gretchen Parlato and Miles Griffith, and conducted by the trombonist J. C. Sanford. 646-494-3625, jazzgallery.nyc

BILL FRISELL at the Blue Note (Feb. 18-23, 8 and 10:30 p.m.). Each of the ensembles Frisell has in store for this six-day run promises something rewarding. The challenge is deciding which to pick. For the first two nights, this folk-inflected experimental guitar hero will play in a trio with two of his frequent collaborators, the bassist Thomas Morgan and the drummer Kenny Wollesen. On Feb. 20-21, he will be in duet with the expert trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire, and from Feb. 22 to 23 he will present a quintet featuring Akinmusire, Wollesen, the saxophonist Greg Tardy and the bassist Tony Scherr. 212-475-8592, bluenote.net

MWENSO & THE SHAKES at National Sawdust (Feb. 20, 8 p.m.). Hailing from Sierra Leone by way of England, the vocalist Michael Mwenso is undaunted by the tall task ahead of anyone running what’s nearly a full-on performance revue of the sort that dominated American stages 100 years ago. You’re dealing in music, dance, inspirational storytelling, comedy; in terms of the entertainment and the message to be delivered, that’s basically promising it all. Mwenso is up to the challenge; he sings and banters like a carnival barker at a swingers’ club, and he has a plucky young crew to support him. The Shakes include the dulcet-tongued South African vocalist Vuyo Sotashe, the tap dancer and vocalist Michela Marino Lerman, the tenor saxophonists Julian Lee and Ruben Fox, the keyboardist Mathis Picard, the bassist Russell Hall and the drummer Kyle Poole. 646-779-8455, nationalsawdust.org

ELIO VILLAFRANCA AND THE JASS SYNCOPATORS at Dizzy’s Club (Feb. 18-20, 7:30 and 9:30 p.m.). A Cuban-born pianist of immense talent and understated touch, Villafranca will present in the coming week material from two new projects: “Life Stories,” a book of songs he wrote inspired by his journeys through Cuba, Haiti, Spain and New Orleans, and “Don’t Change My Name,” a tribute to Florentina Zulueta, a woman from the African kingdom of Dahomey who was enslaved and brought to Cuba in the 17th century. Villafranca’s band will include the trumpeters Jeremy Pelt (on Tuesday and Wednesday only) and Alex Norris (on Thursday), the saxophonist and clarinetist Roxy Coss, the trombonist Robin Eubanks, the bassist Peter Slavov, the drummer Dion Parson, and the percussionists and vocalists Mauricio Herrera and Lisette Santiago. 212-258-9595, jazz.org/dizzys GIOVANNI RUSSONELLO

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#Entertainment

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dions-doomsday · 6 months

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♫ Milk — Jack Stauber

How was the view from the shelf? // Did you ever believe in yourself?

(this was for a spotify wrapped challenge thing on twitter where i got #74 + Tango :3)

#trafficblr #team ranchers #tango tek #jimmys here too but like just a tiny bit so im not tagging him #this is about double life btw #ranchers are like my roman empire or something #dart (dion art)#i still dont know how to use tumblr #am i doing it right

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dions-destiny · 8 months

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inktober day 4 - dance / shapes (dion oc :3, prompt list by @sapphiibutart)

tarot theme persists becauseim committed

#dart (dion art)#inktober #sapphi's inktober prompts #nobuyuki levesque (oc)#jakob montgomery (oc)#dopverse

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rentscoot · 5 years

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Baisser de rideau sur le salon international d’art de Valmy

art. Le salon a comptabilisé 6 200 entrées sur deux semaines. Un véritable succès.

C’est fini : les artistes ont remballé toiles et sculptures pour rejoindre leurs ateliers disséminés dans le monde entier. Le 25e salon international d’art de Valmy a fermé ses portes, après la remise des récompenses.

L’Association artistique d’Argelès (ARG), organisatrice de l’évènement en partenariat avec la municipalité, se dit pleinement satisfaite. Philippe Llech, artiste peintre de l’ARG, impliqué dans l’organisation du salon, explique : « Nous sommes contents. Nous avons noté une hausse de la fréquentation et en plus, le public a un peu changé : il y a plus d’amateurs d’art et moins de ‘‘promeneurs’’ ». La présidente, Yolande Amichaud, poursuit : « C’est vrai. Cette année, nous avons comptabilisé 6 200 entrées et nos visiteurs se disent comblés. On a beaucoup misé sur les jeunes artistes. Ça a créé un élan, une impulsion et de la diversité. Les gens se sont davantage impliqués, beaucoup ont voté pour déterminer le prix public ». Fatigués par l’activité intense de ces deux semaines, mais heureux, tous deux ont déjà en tête le 26e salon : « Notre souhait serait que les artistes puissent rester pendant la durée du salon. On y réfléchit ! ». Philippe Llech reprend la parole pour déclarer : « Pendant l’installation, nous avons eu la surprise de voir arriver des Argelésiens, non-membres de notre association, qui sont spontanément venus offrir leur aide : pour déballer les œuvres et les installer. Ils nous ont parfois même donné des idées sur l’agencement. Nous tenons à les saluer, leur aide a été précieuse ».

Des œuvres primées

Willem Heijkoop, Jean-Philippe Dion et Solveïg Mulligan ont reçu le prix public, respectivement dans les catégories encadré, sculpture, et non encadré. Le prix de la ville a été attribué à Antoine Mellado. Claude Chaty a reçu le prix de l’ARG.

Les deux invités d’honneur, qui se déclaraient « ravis de l’accueil que nous avons reçu et de l’organisation de ce salon » ont également été récompensés : Lise Dufaur-Mourens par le prix de la ville et Christian Jacques par la médaille de la ville.

Enfin, avant que la partie réception ne débute, une surprise a clôturé cette soirée. Un prix « spécial » de l’ARG a été attribué à Antoine Parra, maire d’Argelès : un fidèle portrait réalisé par Ben Caillous, le jeune artiste parrainé cette année par l’ARG. Apparemment, le premier magistrat a apprécié son cadeau.

Salon International d’Art de Valmy: de belles surprises, jusqu’à la fin

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#Rent Scoot #Location Scooter et Vélo Argelès-sur-Mer

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breakingnewsandsports · 7 years

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Breaking down Alabama’s subsequent nice linebacker

Some issues in life are sure: Evening following day, an indignant remark part on net articles, and Alabama soccer having an ideal linebacker beneath Nick Saban’s tutelage.

The checklist of former greats reads as a who’s who of prime NFL draft picks: C.J. Mosley, Dont’a Hightower, Reggie Ragland, Rolando McClain, and, most lately, Reuben Foster.

Now, it’s time for somebody new to take over. Enter Shaun Dion Hamilton.

***

Saban’s defensive construction has shifted lately. Moderately than play with primarily three down linemen and a joker (a hybrid linebacker/defensive finish), he now shifts between energy packages and velocity packages. However he’s all the time speeding 4.

On the again finish, Saban’s group spends upwards of 80 p.c of its snaps in nickel or dime protection. Such is the state of recent soccer. Alabama’s patented pattern-match protection system requires its defensive backs to all the time maintain the sport in entrance of them, in order that they’ll learn the discharge of receivers and vacillate between man and zone protection.

Each evolutions mixed have put much more emphasis on Alabama’s off-ball linebackers.

Linebackers at the moment are the most important “freak” place on a discipline stuffed with all-everything athletes. They’re requested to do the whole lot.

4 defenders rush, 5 drop into protection, and the linebackers should mop the whole lot up beneath. They have to run with ferocity sideline-to-sideline, flip and run with tight ends or working backs in protection, and knife by means of gaps between the offensive line. Effectively, that’s in the event that they need to play all three downs. And so they greatest play all three downs.

Saban calls for the whole lot. Normally he will get it.

Hamilton is the subsequent man up. He began alongside Foster for a lot of 2016. And whereas Foster went on to ship a commanding season in the course of the Crimson Tide’s protection, culminating in a first-round draft choice, Hamilton noticed his junior season lower quick by a torn proper ACL within the SEC Championship Sport vs. Florida.

Now he’s the highest canine. He’s not taking part in second fiddle anymore. He’s the man.

Athleticism

Like everybody who strains up for the Semi-Skilled Soccer Membership of Alabama, Hamilton is a particular athlete. He’s explosive in small areas and covers floor instantly.

It’s most noticeable when he fires downhill, capturing a spot and penetrating into the opposing backfield.

But it surely’s maybe only when he’s patrolling the center of the sphere and capable of shut on playmakers who leak out of the backfield.

Soccer is now a collection of 1-on-1 matchups in house. You want gamers who can deal with. Breaking down appropriately and taking part in basically sound are of the upmost significance. However neither is a substitute for having the type of devastating velocity that enables a participant to reach on the ball provider earlier than they’ve even had time to assume.

Explosive linebackers who fly sideline-to-sideline don’t precisely develop on timber, however they’re extra available now than they’ve been in any earlier period. The actually particular ones additionally possess the power to flip their hips, seamlessly change instructions, and drop into protection.

Hamilton confirmed all through his junior season that he can just do that: He held up effectively towards each working backs and tight ends in man protection, not merely sitting in a zone and racking up deal with stats.

On the above play, Ole Miss regarded to isolate Hamilton 1-on-1 with their greatest matchup menace, and future first-round draft selection, Evan Engram. Engram’s velocity and body made him an awesome collegiate weapon. Hamilton hung with him stride for stride. The linebacker confirmed good consciousness to show and find the ball earlier than knocking it away.

Isolating Hamilton — or, extra precisely, placing him and a rotating security in a battle as to whose supposed to select a single goal up — was one of many favourite methods opposing offenses selected to assault Alabama’s historic 2016 group. Wheel routes, delays, choices, double-passes, they tried all of it.

Typically it labored. Right here, towards Ole Miss, Hamilton and the rotating security have been caught in a bind. As the protection rotated (a part of Alabama’s “match” precept), Ole Miss faked a toss. Hamilton bit on the run and handed Engram off to the protection, who was left flat-footed because the tight finish darted previous him into acres of house.

Slip-ups in protection have been rare, although. Even when defending an opponent’s precept goal, Hamilton confirmed he may flip and run with anybody.

Beneath: Hamilton exhibits off his personal wheels, together with spectacular fluidity towards one in every of many Auburn wheel routes. And as soon as once more, he flaunts his protection chops — turning and finding the ball over his head earlier than making a powerful play.

Diagnosing and attacking

Though he’s a outstanding athlete, Hamilton’s greatest ability stays diagnosing and attacking. He reads, then fires. And when he arrives, he brings punishing energy.

Turning and working in protection is critical. Firing downhill is enjoyable.

Hamilton is sort of a shifting fireplace hydrant. He’s all of 6-feet, 232 kilos. For comparability, Foster was 6-foot-1, 238 kilos. And C.J. Mosley clocked in at 6-foot-2, 232 kilos.

Hamilton performs in a low stance with a low heart of gravity. That enables him to slide beneath the pads of linemen climbing as much as the second degree. In the event you watch carefully sufficient, you most likely can see him crack a smile as he bench-presses one other linemen out of the best way, who, on paper a minimum of, ought to have the ability to swat the artful linebacker away (lowest man wins, child!).

He slips off blocks, discarding linemen like they’re some type of nuisance. School soccer on the highest degree shouldn’t look this simple:

Hamilton’s lack of dimension exhibits up generally. When his approach isn’t good, and he doesn’t sink his hips, he might be washed out of the run sport by greater and extra physically-imposing blockers. However for probably the most half, he makes up for it along with his mind, arriving in all the proper locations in any respect the proper occasions.

Clearly, working behind Alabama’s all-world space-eaters up entrance makes life a lot simpler for the linebacker. It helps cowl up for any psychological lapses and presents Hamilton house to showcase his ability set. It was the identical for many who got here earlier than him.

Not like others, Hamilton has a uncommon tendency to slink by means of crevices within the defensive entrance. Whereas previous ‘Bama luminaries shared Hamilton’s potential to sit down, learn, and fireplace — with uncommon quickness — few have been capable of dance between blockers with such persistence and guile.

Understanding of leverage

That every one speaks to his total soccer mind — in addition to his smaller body. Hamilton does precisely what Saban calls for: His job.

Whereas he’s a playmaker with game-changing velocity and energy, he doesn’t look to create on the threat of harming the defensive assemble. He stays in his lane and executes his project.

He performs with persistence, even when it seems like his hair is on fireplace. He could also be explosive, however he nonetheless performs the easy duties demanded of him — like firing to the skin shoulder to set a tough edge, fairly than making an attempt to knife inside and undercut a block to make a play.

They’re little nuances important to successful video games. And so they’re what shift Hamilton from a gifted participant to a wonderful one for this group.

The long run

The long run seems vivid. One star linebacker leaves, one other slides into his place.

Right here’s the one phrase of warning: Hamilton performed alongside Foster, however now he’s the alpha canine.

Hamilton should slide over to the standard “mike” spot and choose up the entire pre-snap checks and choices that Foster beforehand did. Right here’s what Alabama’s defensive pre-snap communication system seems like:

As you may see, it’s a lot simpler to be the one of many different linebackers (three in base, two in nickel). They merely regurgitate regardless of the man beside them shouts. That was Hamilton’s function in 2016: Foster’s echo.

Now he possible would be the linebacker accountable for ensuring everyone seems to be aligned appropriately and adjusting the decision when there’s any type of offensive movement or shift. Oh, after which he must go play, with out the luxurious of a future first-round choose by his aspect (or possibly there will likely be, contemplating that is Alabama).

Right here’s what his tasks will appear to be towards a movement that switches the energy of a formation:

Ensuring everyone seems to be on the identical web page, towards offenses which might be going at warp velocity, or not often substituting, is now as essential to Hamilton’s sport as flowing and setting a tough edge because the pressure defender.

Add that to his sport, and he will be a part of the rising checklist of all-time nice school linebackers churned out by the Alabama Manufacturing facility.

#Breaking News

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kellysawesomeblog-blog1 · 7 years

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USER SCENARIOS / PERSONAS

3rd Grade Student

Age: 8

Location: Seattle, WA

Personality Traits: Hypersocial, Competitive, Friendly

What does he participate in? Soccer, Baseball, Water sports

Goals: Get better grades in school.

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Kramer Sims is a third-grader who has been struggling with division and fractions in his classes. His mom looks for a free way to get supplemental help for his classes, something he can do on his own. MathBox has been recommended to them from a teacher, and he starts using it. With the help of his mom he answers the profile questions, sets up an account, and chooses third grade math to start learning. He chooses to take the optional placement test to determine what he should focus on in the app. Due to several incorrect answers about division and fractions, he is told by the app that he should start the lessons halfway through the 3rd grade math curriculum. He takes 30 minutes every day to take lessons from the app.

Returning Adult College Student

Age: 38

Blue Collar Worker

Major: Business

Personality Traits: Hard-working, loving, frugal.

What does he participate in? Pool & Darts, Collegiate Sports, Cooking.

Goals: Get a Bachelors in Business

Frustrations: Not providing ideal life for his family, running out of beer, his favorite sports teams losing.

Values: Family, Friends, Sports.

Chuck is a married man who is going back to school for business. During an intro to statistics class, he realizes that he doesn’t understand some of the core concepts and is having trouble keeping up in class. He looks for supplemental help that he can use to catch up. He finds MathBox in the app store and tries it out. He makes an account and chooses the statistics and business math course. He doesn’t take the placement test so he can start from the beginning. When he has questions, he posts to the in-app forum to get answers. His questions are quickly answered and he continues with the lesson. Chuck spends a little more than an hour every day. He quickly catches up and begins to succeed in his actual class.

9th Grade Student

Age: 15

Personality Traits: Introverted, Creative, Athletic.

What does he participate in? Drama Club, Art Club, Football.

Goals: Get better at math.

Frustrations: Losing in football games, being made fun of, not having a lot of followers on Twitter.

Values: Drawing (but only shows his art to girls he likes), sports, hanging with his friends, bonding with his Dad.

Corbin Bleu is a freshman student at Liberty High School. He thrives in subjects such as Art, English and U.S. History, however, moderately struggles in Biology and Algebra. He already takes tutoring lessons on the weeknights from his math teacher, but athletics are butting in to the group session time slots that he has been attending. He needs to find another way to learn math that is much more flexible and as efficient as learning from a tutor. He discovers MathBox, a smartphone app that quizzes him on lessons that he learned that same day. By taking the quizzes, seeing which ones he got wrong, and reviewing the explanation of how to solve it correctly, he feels much more confident in understanding the same content taught in class.

Mathematics Major at Western Washington University

Age: 22

Personality Traits: Motivated, Introverted, Intelligent.

What does he participate in? Robotics Club, not much else.

Goals: Graduate with Magna Cum Laude.

Frustrations: Getting any grade below a 95%, social humiliation.

Values: School, his family, and his pets.

Jordan Steranka is a mathematics major attending Western Washington University. He wants to be the top of his graduating class, but in order to do that, he has to receive A’s on every single exam for his last quarter in school. To make sure he doesn’t fall behind on the extremely complex topics taught in class, he refreshes his mind daily, for exactly 2o minutes in the morning by using MathBox’s refresher feature. If he feels extra motivated that morning, then he continues on to the series of quizzes that is tailored to the topics he is least efficient in.

Math Tutor

Age: 27

Occupation: High school calculus teacher, Part-time Math Tutor

Personality Traits: Loving, Likes to Have Girls Nights, Care-taker.

What does she participate in? Karaoke Nights at the local bar, pilates, Spin classes.

Goals: Build a family, buy a house, and invest.

Frustrations: FOMO of fun nights out, hates getting dumped, kids canceling on her math tutoring sessions (because she has a social life, duh.)

Values: Whisky, burley men in speedos, secretly writes fan-fiction on Tumblr.

Brooke Dione is a high school math tutor. Part of her strategy is to walk through the MathBox app with her students to help them understand certain content. Depending on what they are struggling with or how far along their skills have developed, she either has them start their lesson on the app from the beginning or take the optional math placement test to skip over content that would otherwise be repetitive.

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