#( especially the deeper ones. those are the gems when they get unearthed. )

[gazelessmenagerie]

Broly: I don’t monologue like my father.

Also Broly: -Goes into semi-monologues/a straight up monologue-

#|| Tag: OOC #|| Tag: Shitposting #|| Character Study: {Broly} #( DONT MIND ME. I ABOUT SNORTED THINKING OF THAT. ) #( he really does monologue if he's... eh shall we say /pushed/ in the right way? ) #( he doesn't make for a great conversationalist bc that just wasn't expected of him and he listened to more than enough ) #( long winded plans and lectures by Paragus. ) #( to just naturally dissassociate when he's being barked at for whatever reason. ) #( just habit for him. at times its actually not done out of maliciousness than just getting bored and falling back to that /passivism/ ) #( i mean its not like anyone picks up on it unless he actually tells why he does that but fat chance of that. ) #( he's about as closed as a book that has teeth on it and bites when its opened. ) #( but aflsdjg eh. he can have some interesting thoughts if he's coaxed the right way. ) #( would go on minor little ramblings over something he found particularly interesting or at least give great detail to how he'd kill someone #( the apple doesn't fall far from the tree afsjg ) #( its just.. both a rarity and a privilege to hear him speak his thoughts out without locking them behind one barrier or another. ) #( especially the deeper ones. those are the gems when they get unearthed. ) #( can't say what those thoughts are bc he's still pretty much developing them on his own. ) #( he's got like fifteen-twenty ish years to catch up on with that even if its just him laying in bed and thinking about.. ) #( idk..... how wierd earth's fruit is. ) #( if a fishing net had a hole it in it... does it have more holes or fewer holes..? ) #( .... has he ever had the chance to just squeeze someone's head hard enough their eyes popped out..? ) #( you know.. just /Broly Thoughts (tm) / )

[kansascityhappenings]

Odom fired from University of Missouri football program

Barry Odom (Getty Images)

ST. LOUIS – The University of Missouri fired head coach Barry Odom Saturday morning after four seasons at the helm of the Tiger program, where he compiled a 25-25 record in charge at his alma mater, according to the St. Louis Post Dispatch.

Missouri just completed a disappointing  6-6 campaign in 2019, which began with observers thinking a 10-2 record was possible.

Odom had what was seen as an easy schedule, scored a recruiting coup with Kelly Bryant’s transfer from Clemson to take over at quarterback for Drew Lock, and had an NFL-caliber tight end in Albert Okwuegbunam, among other key returning players.

Instead, the Tigers lost the season opener at Wyoming and later lost five straight, as Bryant played through knee and hamstring injuries.

Okwuegbunam struggled to stay on the field. Receiver Johnathan Johnson missed three games in a year that could have seen him become the program’s all-time leader in receiving yards. Linebacker Cale Garrett’s torn pectoral muscle ended his senior year midway through the season.

The final punch came just days before the season finale against Arkansas when the NCAA denied Missouri’s appeal of sanctions imposed after the school reported a tutor and student-athletes in several sports were involved in academic fraud. The ruling upheld a postseason bowl ban first announced in January and also reaffirmed recruiting restrictions and scholarship penalties.

The postseason ban also meant the athletic department would lose out on at least $8 million in bowl revenue sharing from the Southeastern Conference. For a department which operated at a deficit last season and generally lags its conference rivals, the finances of the NCAA ruling had many thinking Odom, who was under contract through 2024, would be secure for at least another year since his buyout alone is $2.5 million before hiring another coach. But on the day the appeal was officially upheld, MU Chancellor Alexander Cartwright announced the school would loan the athletic department the lost bowl money, and when asked how the NCAA situation would affect an evaluation of Odom’s future, the athletic director was quick to point out that the two issues were separate from one another.

Odom deserves credit for building a positive culture in his program. In the face of the NCAA sanctions, seniors could have transferred with the ability to play immediately. None did. Winning the finale, even against a depleted Arkansas program playing out the string, when his players had just found out they wouldn’t play in a bowl game, is to his credit.

While historically Missouri has not been a program which fires coaches who win six games in a season, Sterk just decided Odom was not the person who could build and maintain a top 25 program.

***

Odom was hired in a turbulent period. The MU campus was embroiled in protests in the fall of 2015 tied in part to the racial climate there. Those protests reached the football program, which briefly boycotted in support of a student who was on a hunger strike. The system president would soon resign; the campus chancellor in Columbia stepped down amid a power struggle. Gary Pinkel would then announce his retirement at season’s end after acknowledging a cancer diagnosis.

In stepped Odom, a Tiger fixture since his playing days under Larry Smith, and later as a Pinkel assistant. He certainly knew the terrain in Columbia, but he was doing it now as a college head coach for the first time. He went 4-8 in his first season but followed that with back-to-back bowl appearances in years 2 and 3, becoming just the fourth MU coach to do so in two of his first three seasons. While Odom inherited Drew Lock on offense and key players like Charles Harris and Terry Beckner, Jr. on defense, he also faced recruiting challenges. When Missouri moved from the Big 12 to the SEC, Pinkel moved recruiting resources more heavily into areas like Florida, Tennessee, and Georgia, relying less on Texas and Oklahoma, where MU had unearthed many of the gems which helped Pinkel reach Big 12 championship games and later SEC title games in 2013 and 2014. Odom’s staff reopened those pipelines.

At the same time, in-state recruiting also had challenges. Odom’s staff targeted 10 players in the state’s class of 2018, seen as one of the best in Missouri’s history. Only one ended up committing to play in Columbia. While Odom managed to get Division I talent from the state and metro KC and St. Louis, he was unable to land the kind of players who also had offers from the likes of Ohio State, Oklahoma, and Notre Dame. It’s part of the reason Odom only had one win against a ranked opponent in four seasons.

2020 Vision

Jim Sterk now gets to hire his first head football coach at the University of Missouri. We have no idea who might be on the short list of candidates every AD keeps when it comes to football and basketball coaches. Here are five possibilities:

Mike Norvell: The Memphis coach would be an attractive candidate, but is also likely involved in searches at Arkansas and Florida State, which got a head start on the entire coaching carousel by making in-season changes and will likely have deeper pockets.

Mike Leach: The Washington State coach would be interesting. He would also be expensive, but his offense would score points and the former Texas Tech head coach would keep lines of communication open with high school recruits and potentially open up the West Coast.

Sonny Dykes: He interviewed for the job when Odom was hired. Dykes was at California at the time, was fired, and has since landed at SMU, where he’ll take the Mustangs to a bowl game in his second season there. He’s a former Louisiana Tech coach who has history in the SEC recruiting footprint.

Willie Fritz: He’s is in his fourth season at Tulane, where he has the Green Wave bowl-eligible for the second straight year. His first head coaching job was at Central Missouri, where he went 97-47 in 13 seasons before later moving on to Sam Houston State and Georgia Southern.

Bronco Mendenhall: The Virginia head coach bears watching, thanks to some important relationships. Sterk has strong ties to the Bennett family, having hired Dick as basketball coach at Washington State, and then his son Tony to succeed him. Tony Bennett later left for Virginia, where he and Mendenhall have worked together in the Cavalier athletic department since Mendenhall arrived in 2016 from BYU. Mendenhall has Virginia bowl eligible for the third time in his four seasons in Charlottesville. He could be perfectly happy in the ACC, especially in the Coastal Division where he doesn’t have to worry about Clemson annually. But an endorsement from the Bennetts would go a long way. Mendenhall also worked at New Mexico as Defensive Coordinator under Rocky Long, who Sterk later promoted to Head Coach while at San Diego State.

Whoever is hired won’t need black and gold-colored glasses to see a path back to bowl eligibility next season. The Tigers host Central Arkansas, Vanderbilt, Eastern Michigan, Louisiana, Kentucky, and Georgia at home. They go on the road to face Tennessee, BYU, South Carolina,  Mississippi State, and Florida, closing out the year with Arkansas at Arrowhead Stadium. Arkansas will have a new coaching staff, and there’s a possibility for new staffs at Kentucky and Mississippi State.

from FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV | News, Weather, Sports https://fox4kc.com/2019/11/30/odom-fired-from-university-of-missouri-football-program/

from Kansas City Happenings https://kansascityhappenings.wordpress.com/2019/11/30/odom-fired-from-university-of-missouri-football-program/

[lovehaswonangelnumbers]

New Post has been published on https://lovehaswonangelnumbers.org/energetic-navigation-28-october-3-november/

Energetic Navigation 28 October – 3 November

Energetic Navigation 28 October – 3 November

By A Gift From Gaia

Progressively speeding up as we move deeper into the Solar Minimum and yet we have barely begun, the energy we find ourselves in is transforming those consciously aware rapidly, moving through realisations and releases almost hourly compared to how it was not so long ago when “things” would take “time”, of course, we realise that the “time” we took was again part of what required releasing and by releasing the lower aspects of this energy spectrum, the weighted time of the human linear way, it became Divine Time which simply showed the love within the energy, the light, and offers perfection in every moment. To exist in Divine Time is to be in a space of complete surrender, it’s a space where judgement would be self-sacrificing and defense creates internal wounds, Divine Time is the higher conscious view of Saturns playing ground and once you acknowledge our Lord and the rules on the gate he will gift you with the most magical experience as you release the restrictions of the lower octave programming we came to accept and be ruled by.

Breaking Free is a theme of energy that we have been surfing all this year, releasing from the Devil Tarot Card that represents the Capricorn energy, but as we know the Devil represents the low octaves of the human, the machine, the blind and so to use the old unconscious ways of the fear spectrum such as defense and judgment, blame and shame allows those loose chains to remain in place, those chains are not fixed, they are easily removed and so the choice to remain has always been yours.

The resistance creates disharmony, release brings magical celestial harmonics and with these Mars square Saturn and Pluto transits that are now reactivated for the next couple of weeks, the Mars square Saturn lined up yesterday and the Mars square Pluto is heading in now, we are continuing to learn how to ride this wild stallion, although perhaps some have mistakenly picked up the wild bull as it went charging past, see that’s a little different energy, the stallion holds heart, he can be tamed, the bull on the other hand doesn’t seem to hold the ability to connect, has no care, just wants to charge his angry self into every obstruction, and will eventually burn out his energy and most likely refuse to move for quite some time.

Both patterns, both rides are super important, those choosing the charging bull will no doubt learn to catch a ride with the stallion next time around and by that phase the chances are the bull will have allowed you to observe why you chose him, that the walls you had built up around, caked in unconscious belief systems posters and flyers to keep the truth of the wall hidden behind pretty dreamy pictures and fluff dressed in pity MUST come down.

This energy however you choose to move through is evolving us, taking us on lightspeed travels, zipping parts of our minds back into our ancient self, to retrieve data required for the now, and yet the next minute we are travelling with the ancient future self to receive the confirmation because the gems being retrieved are often beyond imagination and require boosts to fully understand the resonance and the codes held.

This means MORE raising of the physical body vibration, more listening to its requirements and acting in the moment as opposed to the old ways of waiting/weighting, which only ever slows us down, ignoring the most subtle signs of the body, even so much as making the request for thirst or hunger dissolve and opting for avoidance tactics signals to the body a lack of interest, a lack of unconditional love, there will be no self healing until EVERYTHING the body says is understood and innerstood, meaning we act upon everything, in the NOW because the now is the space in which we choose, now is The Creator of the ever evolving you.

This Mars energy we are experiencing is such a powerful clearing and creative energy if you understand how it behaves, and once that is understood we realise it is simply our own energy, emanating out from within and using the power of creation to highlight where our creation is not in harmony with our highest aligned timeline, and he is showing us the wounded masculine in its process of healing, as he is hot on the heels of the feminine, Venus, who is just one step ahead, Mars is focused, he is heading out of the underworld where he has been hidden behind the sun and he is now making the most out of this journey, fully aligned, fully committed to begin to unify with the feminine, the wounded masculine within is ready to support, ready to place his energy where it matters, within, to show his Queen her value, the true twin flame within, is ready to merge and become One very powerful light force energy.

What makes this more magical is that Saturn holds no expectation and the lesson is to realise it is the motion that matters, holding the awareness and making steady positive steps, in fact any speed or idea of rushing, pushing or charging ahead will only create an experience to understand patience, and again to step back into the flow of Divine Time allowing this to form so it can show you all the magical light gems along the way, and we don’t want to miss a single one, every light gem is so ridiculously valuable especially during this Dark Moon energy we have been surfing leading into todays Scorpio New Moon, which is opposing Uranus in Taurus, there is the bull again and he is acting rather jumpy with Uranus on his back, taking random turns, bucking and spinning, this is pure expect the unexpected energy, and for the cosmic surfers this is likely to bring a whole heap of new ideas and ways to underpin the new physical body vibrational upgrades you have been focusing on, this is something I noticed just a couple of days ago as myself and Reese, my son, have been adding some rather new and interesting things to our diets to assist on his road to recovery.

I would also like to just say a massive thank you to everyone who has been donating and sharing our fund, you have all encouraged him MORE than I could have imagined as he is now listening and open to trying natural ways to heal himself, a few days ago he would refuse ALL, didn’t believe anything would work other than the meds, we have so many new things and we are sharing them together, and yarrow tea seems to be quite a favourite. We had so many messages and a whole list of things to try which I read out to him, and talked to him about and just that, just by those messages of love from you all out there has helped him open up to receive and try more things to support this disease. We do have an awfully long road ahead of us though and we will still require some extra support as I am paying privately for Hydrotherapy sessions and so if these energetic navigation reports assistance you in anyway could I please ask for a small donation to the Help My Son Walk Again fund I have set up on GoFundMe (link below), however if you would rather donate through Paypal please do so using the email address – [email protected] or hit the link paypal.me/agiftfromgaia

What has been interesting to See in this is that there is a reflection of weakness, whilst I don’t have Ankylosing Spondylitis I have become aware we do have weakness in the same area which is why we are now healing this as One body, he is afterall a future version of myself, his template was created during times of dis-ease and of course this becomes the baseline frequency of his genetic makeup, so it makes sense we do this together.

But what this experience has been showing is exactly how this all works, how when you release all fear and restriction, when you listen to the requests of the body, when you care more, when you prioritise Self and plug only into that which nourishes, which incorporates all feeds that enter the field, then the experience becomes nothing short of enlightening and therefore rapid, the moment you release the push and the need what transpires is the flip, the rise and the expansion into new healthFULL experiences and by using the signposts being delivered by our celestial map it becomes an incredibly INjoyable transition.

The Scorpio New Moon energy takes us in deep, it allows so much to be seen and released to begin yet another transformative week that sees us welcoming in the backwards dance of Mercury in Retrograde, we are dredging the pool of Scorpio, we are digging away at the bottom and there will no doubt be more data to be found as ancient relics are unearthed giving us yet more clues as to why we find ourselves here and from these clues we will soon realise new paths opening up for us to journey.

This Mercury Retrograde is coupled with a solar wind prediction, we await the codes heading in and I will be back to translate. Stay present in the heart angels and open into pure acceptance for how the guidance moves us.

Please place a 💙 in the comment box to keep the heartbeat of A Gift from Gaia alive in the body of Facebook and please share the post or invite those you feel will resonate to this space, one small action can change the entire dynamics of a reality, you may just be turning on the light for someone lost in the dark.

Here is the GoFundMe page to support my son Reese and his healing, it is essential we get him walking now as we are already facing irreversible damage.

gf.me/u/v8gqjy

Thank you All 💙💙💙

*****

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[thesimplyluxuriouslife]

252: The Characteristics of Being a Late Bloomer, and How Embracing This Gift Could Change the World for Everyone

"By necessity, we late bloomers are on a different, more challenging trajectory. As we travel through life, we encounter obstacles like the push for conformity, the oppression of groupthink, and the pains of self-doubt. But . . . in all these challenges, we find our hidden treasure. We unearth our individuality. We see that a path to excellence, to reaching our true potential, is available to all of us. Within these challenges lies our true power, our covert talents and secret advantages as late bloomers." —Rich Karlgaard, author of Late Bloomers: The Power of Patience in a World Obsesses with Early Achievement.

Unsurprisingly, the new book by Rich Karlgaard spoke to me and offered an abundance of reassurance and exhilaration. If the comments on IG a few weeks ago when I posted an excerpt from the book are any indication, you are or will be as well.

Especially as Americans we greatly celebrate, strive for, and thus put pressure upon ourselves, and either unconsciously or consciously, to figure out our path early, to achieve success quickly and when we don't we make faulty assumptions about what we can contribute which can erode our self-confidence and potentially prevent the gem that resides within us all to be discovered and then shared with the world enabling us to find deep, lasting inner contentment.

Karlgaard's new book is worth reading in-depth, from cover to cover as he delineates the obstacles that our culture currently needs to address with historical details, new studies, multiple anecdotal examples of how indeed the "late bloomer" simply needs time, patience and awareness to blossom at their own time, as well as the most difficult support to refute findings - neurology.

So while I will encourage you to read the entire book, in today's episode/post, I wanted to share with you the characteristics that you might find yourself identifying with when it comes to being a Late Bloomer and not realizing the gift of opportunity you have given yourself to enjoy the rest of your life.

15 Characteristics of a Late Bloomer

1.Curiosity is the late bloomer's fuel

"By its very nature, curiosity demonstrates an independence of mind."

To keep on blooming throughout the entirity of our lives, forever remain curious.

2. We are predisposed to be compassionate

"In facing the ups and downs of life, many late bloomers gain a greater sense of compassion. They show greater reflective thinking, diminished ego-centeredness, and a deeper appreciation of others' challenges."

Because late bloomers have faced struggles along the way, have refrained from conforming at the expense of our social connections and acceptance into "the group", we can more easily put ourselves into the shoes of others, we are more empathetic.

3.Better leadership skills are developed

Due to elevated compassion, workers view leaders more favorably, and combined with "authenticity and integrity", this trifecta of skills "improves retention and employee performance".

4. Resilience is developed and strengthened

"When it comes to developing resilience, the regulation of emotions gives mature people an advantange over the young: 'There is a naturally learnable set of behaviors that contribute to resilience. Those are the behaviors that we gravitate to more and more as we age'."

5. Emotion regulation is easier which cultivates a calmer demeanor which leads to more effectiveness and better relationships

"Our brains are driven to seek calmness as we age. Columnbia University social psychologist Heidi Grant Halvorson claims that calmness is central to happiness . . . research has long established that calm leaders are more effective".

Late bloomers naturally develop the skills necessary to find calmness if we choose to keep exploring, learning, listening and observing what works and what does not. This is where our curiosity helps tremendously leading us to the blooming stage of our lives that is authentic and unique to each of us.

6. Extensive insight

"Our insights are the result of us drawing on our full mental library of experience, patterns, and context, yielding an idea of extraordinary value."

Karlgaard explains that "the right hemisphere [of the brain] matures in childhood; the development of the left is consistent with the development of the prefrontal cortex, which is not fully mature until the mid-twenties". Due to the left-side's difference in development compared to the right, it takes time for us to see the connection of the awesome or unique events, sights and experiences of our lives and make sense of how we can utilize them in our unique way.

7. Navigation of life's ambiguity becomes easier

"Perhaps this is the perfection defintion of wisdom: reasoning and cognition based on knowledge and experience".

In other words, we are not born wise, but so long as we choose to be curious, continue to be life-long learners, we begin to build it. "Wisdom is the ability to see the layers of light that were harder to see when one was younger". And consequently, we have the opportunity to hone our intuition as to how to best navigate our journey even with the unknowns that are presented.

8. More easily determine what's important versus what's trivial

To piggy-back onto #7, because we have acquired knowledge about the world over time and have made the conscious choice to continue to learn, we are then better at discern patterns faster and jump to logical solutions more quickly.

9. A desire to cut the apron strings with your parents

"To fully bloom, we must declare our independence from our family. That doesn't mean we must reject their love . . . it means only that we must reach our own conclusions about what does and doesn't support our blooming."

Creating a healthy culture in which to bloom is analogous to the proper soil and conditions for a plant to flourish. Each plant will need different types of soil, different amounts of sunshine and shade, varying temperatures - some extreme, some moderate, and it all depends on the plant. Unlike the saying, "bloom where you are planted", we should instead get out of the soil we have been planted in and explore to discover where we truly thrive.

10. Adult peer pressure is real, and if you've felt it and tried successfully or not to not succumb, you may be a late bloomer

"Some of this [peer group] influence can be healthy and positive, as when we join a hiking club or sign up for a program to quit smoking. But not every peer push leads us to a better version of ourselves; not all communities support growth and positive change."

To break free from our peer group, even when we don't know why it feels uncomfortable or wrong (but we know it does), is not easy and it takes great inner strength to do so. However, it does become easier because we eventually begin to feel more in tune with our true selves, we feel a burden lift, we feel our energy surge because we are no longer trying to be or do something that isn't truly in line with what we can offer the world.

11. Societal pressure to conform is limiting to our true potential

"[Today's media] also promote cultural, racial or gender biases, either through stereotyping roles and behaviors, or under- or overrepresentation of minorities. And repeated exposure to media content can lead viewers to begin to accept media portrayals as representations of reality."

From the media's portrayal of how to socially engage, what dating should look like, what children should be doing at certain ages based on their gender, the values are repeatedly shared and included in endless amounts of media such as video games, movies, television, newspapers, magazines, books and radio, and since it is a passive medium, unless we are critical thinkers questioning everything we receive, it is easy to accept what is applauded as normal and what we should adhere to regarding our life's journey.

12. Letting go of comparisons

"Mass media ask us to compare our body shape, sex life, marriage, house, car, family and community to unattainable television versions of perfection. Social media ask us to compare our own commonplace or even boring reality against the curated accounts of how absoutely wonderful someone else's life is — people we know!"

When we stop comparing and start celebrating, we liberate ourselves and enable the opportunity to observe our own awesomeness without the outside world's close-minded criticism or limited acceptance.

The author shared something that I think is worth sharing here as a reminder that there are many paths to success, to reaching a goal, to attaining contentment. He writes, "There are always many ways to achieve a goal, gain expertise, or find success. In sports or music, they are easy to see . . . But it's not as easy to see multiple paths for success in most endeavors . . . [which leads to confusion. As a result,] we default to following norms and take the road everyone else is taking". And these paths to success have as much to do with professional "success" as well as personal "success". Your definition of a life of contentment, as I have said many times before on the blog and in my books, will most likely be very different than mine, but that doesn't mean we both cannot feel the contentment that is spoken about and written about that provides deep satisfaction and peace.

It is important that we all recognize that each of us will bloom at a different time.

"Each of us deserves the opportunity to bloom in our own way."

When we do this there are many invaluable benefits:

1.We protect ourselves, and others we encourage to bloom, in our own time from the consequences of disappoitnment or failure. (this doesn't mean there won't be bumps along the way, but it reminds us that it takes time to understand where we are headed and why)

2.We learn how to work with self-doubt and let it be our superpower.

"To bloom, we all must learn not to fear self-doubt but to embrace it as a normally occurring opportunity for growth and improved performance . . . The key to harnessesing self-doubt starts at the very core of our individual beliefs about ourselves . . . self-efficacy".

3. We strengthen our self-efficacy

Self-efficacy is an individual's confidence in their ability to accomplish what they set out to do.

4. Obstacles begin to be seen as opportunities to grow rather than road-blocks

"While you may feel a general sense of self-doubt . . . [you] proceed anyway".

5. Improved positive self-talk

"Positive self-talk can improve our performance by helping us regulate our emotions, thoughts and energy".

When we begin to see skill-sets that render positive results, we are more likely to invest in them. For example, positive self talk leads to more confidence, a strengthening our self-efficacy and thus improved performance with whatever task is in front of us. And so we continue to practice positive self-talk and it becomes stronger with this skill rendering more positive outcomes.

6. Stronger, healthier relationships

When you bloom, gravitate toward those who celebrate your blooming, and for those who initially are not, give them a moment to understand why your blooming makes them uncomfortable. Depending upon the person, they may not realize that their discomfort with your growth is a reflection of their disappointment in what they feel they could have achieved but didn't. This is all about them. Some will grow from this and remain in your life, others will not, and you will need to move on. But all of the skills you have acquired and applied will help lead you toward building not only healthier relationships with others, but a healthier, less critical relationship with yourself.

7. Excellence will arrive when you let your curiosity take over

"When [curiosity takes over], a sense of exploration also takes over. I get in the zone, and I go for it. I feel pulled, not pushed — pulled by a beautiful power I cannot explain."

8. The courage to repot when necessary

"When it comes to repotting, late bloomers have a distinct advatnage over early bloomers. We're naturally curious and resilient. We're not afraid to follow a different path or break free of convention. We genuinely want to see what's around the corner or over the hill. These late bloomer strengths enable —even propel— the change we need to find the right people and the right place to help us thrive."

Once you have a clearer understanding of who you are and what cultures and communities are best suited for you to bloom, you will have strengthened, as was mentioned above in the first list, an awesome skill set. This skill set will be your bedrock for being able to repot when and if it is necessary.

"We need to give ourselves a break. We need to recognize and celebrate the fact that we're all different, with different skill sets, developmental profiles and backgrounds and that each of us will forge a different path toward blooming."

Being a late bloomer is most certainly something to celebrate, and when we "change our story, we can change our behavior and even our life".

Let me leave you with this lasting thought from the book that resonately powerfully with me:

"If we're not forced to conform to standard timetables for success, we can —and will—bloom on our own schedules. And we can do it with a deeper sense of mission and a greater feeling of contentment. What we accomplish in the marathon of life depends on our persistence, our patience, and an ability to see ourselves as we really are. Our cultural obsession with youthful talent, with early achievement, distracts us from this simple truth. . . . our late bloomer power is different. It is the power to renounce what's supposed to happen in life and intead embrace what actually happens in life, with its ups and downs, twists and turns. It's the power to explore and experience, to be an individual. It's the power that comes with knowing and valuing ourselves."

Petit Plaisir

~The Gown: A Novel of the Royal Wedding by Jennifer Robson

~read my review and reason for recommendation here.

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[eternally-yours-24]

The Trial (part 1)

The second the ship had shrunk into the pink and purple twilit sky, Pearl had been determined to get Steven back. The others were immediately hopeless. To them, Steven was gone, and there was no way they were ever going to get him back. “That little snake of a Ruby stole our ship,” Amethyst had growled. “We’re stuck here. He’s gone.” But Pearl had refused to believe this, refused to give up. She had promised Rose she would protect Steven at all costs. She would not let her down. She had almost built a spaceship once. She could do it again. The others were on board (except for a “yeah, but then you almost killed Steven” comment from Amethyst, but whatever.) “Steven will be put on trial,” Garnet said softly but stoically, in that way only she could. “We have to take any opportunity we have. It’s risky, but Steven is worth it.” They immediately warped to the barn, the flash rousing Peridot and Lapis from their early stargazing. “Steven is in trouble, and we need your help,” Pearl told them. “We have to build a spaceship.” Unearthing her old blueprints from the cluttered barn, she began to gather parts together, Peridot’s knowledge of more advanced space travel helped tremendously. The small green gem had agreed to work with her without a single snarky comment or even an eye roll, her hands trembling slightly as she welded and hammered and connected wires. She was worried about Steven too, although she tried to hide it. They all were.

In only a couple of hours, with their combined efforts, they had a spaceship. It looked just like the one Pearl had attempted to create almost a year ago, but bigger, stronger, and equipped with more gadgets. “It’s pretty well-constructed, considering it was a total rush job,” Peridot said, examining it closely. “It still isn’t much, but it should get us to Homeworld and back.” That was all they really needed. Cramming into the ship, they took off, breaking earth’s atmosphere and barreling right into space. Pearl sat staring blankly out of the large glass dome. The millions of glowing stars blurred together as they rushed by. She tried to focus on them, on the illusion created by their movement, that they were slowly swelling and melding into each other, becoming one racing white streak. But her thoughts seemed to be racing even faster. Thoughts of Steven. Thoughts of Homeworld. Thoughts of her past.

Garnet had said there was going to be a trial. Almost all of Homeworld would surely be present, especially for something as huge as the capture of the infamous Rose Quartz.

And if almost everyone was going to be there, then she would certainly be there. She was the queen of Homeworld, after all.

It wasn’t just her cruelty that had caused Pearl to rebel. Though she’d be lying if she said that it didn’t play a very specific role in her decision. White Diamond was a ruler that had shown no patience for weakness, being the only flawless gem in existence, both in her mind and everybody else’s. But it had been something bigger than that, deeper than that, that had truly given her the courage to break free from White Diamond’s iron grip. It had been her inability to fit inside the polite, subservient mold Homeworld had created for her the second she emerged from the ground. She never was like the others. She remembered Yellow Pearl, though sassy and arrogant, would go completely out of her way to serve and satisfy her Diamond. Blue Pearl was timid and docile, hands folded delicately in front of her, Pink Pearl boisterous and immature, but never spoke unless she was spoken to. Who knows what had become of her. But Pearl was always yearning for something more. For the ability to talk when she wanted. For the ability to travel when she wanted, where she wanted. For independence. But a Pearl who had any thoughts of her own was considered wrong. Broken.

“A lost, defective Pearl,” Jasper had sneered.

That was truly why Pearl had followed Rose so easily when she’d swooped in to save her. She didn’t have to worry about trying to force herself into that pretty little box. She didn’t need to. Now, however, Pearl was terrified. She didn’t even want to imagine what their pleasant reunion would be like. Those cold unforgiving eyes burning with disdain as they rested on her, an enormous white hand lashing out to crush her into dust with a single smack…

“Everything will be alright.”

Pearl jumped when she heard Garnet’s voice. She had been so consumed by her thoughts that she hadn’t heard her walk up. It was amazing how silent the fusion could be sometimes. “I know what you are thinking about,” Garnet continued. “And I know you are concerned. But you shouldn’t be. Everything will work out in the end.”

“But how do you know for sure?” Pearl asked, her voice rising into a slight whine. All the apprehension and fear and uncertainty were tightening into a ball in her chest. There were things that could evade even Garnet’s precognitive abilities. “What about Steven? Will we ever even see him again? And what about…White Diamond?” The name was almost inaudible as it left her nervous lips, as if simply uttering it would summon her. Garnet rested her large warm hand on her thin shoulder. Pearl could feel the round hardness of her gem pressing lightly into her skin. She glanced up, but is unable to catch sight of Garnet’s eyes beneath her visor. “I just know,” Garnet said slowly, “That whatever is meant to be, will be.”

…

Homeworld’s courtroom was enormous.

The Crystal Gems were huddled just outside the grand entrance, completely hidden by the shadows cast by the flickering lights. Gems of every shape, size, color, and rank were inside, talking quickly and urgently, their jumbled voices bouncing off the cavernous walls. At the very front of the room were glowing stairs leading up to a vast marble stage consisting of four chairs. One of them was occupied by Yellow Diamond, looking as strong and dignified and golden as ever. Blue Diamond sat in another one. Most of her face was concealed by her large draping hood, the chair beside her noticeably vacant. And, perched stiffly in the middle, slightly above the other two, was White Diamond.

Pearl found herself unable to take her eyes off of her former superior. She was different but exactly the same simultaneously. It was if time had somehow, impossibly, aged her. Deep sockets of shadow had formed beneath her eyes, as if someone had carved them out with a spoon. There seemed to be lines around her mouth that hadn’t been there before, and her long, almost skeletal hands never seemed to stop moving. She incessantly tapped her sharp, curved fingernails on the arm of her chair. The gem on her forehead, its placement matching her own, seemed to have lost some of its shine. Pearl heard a gasp from behind her. “It’s White Diamond!” Peridot gushed quietly. “She hasn’t been seen or heard from in millennia! This is truly legendary!” The others turned to glare at her, and her mouth immediately clicked shut. “We need a plan,” Garnet whispered. “We can’t just barge in there.” Amethyst nodded. “I agree. But what…”

All noise ceased. It was too quiet. Unnaturally quiet. Pearl strained too see what had caused the sudden silence, but there were too many gems around and she was too far away. There was a noise that resembled a door slamming, followed by footsteps. Strong, heavy ones and light, fast ones. Gems pushed and shoved each other, all of them trying to see who had just entered. An Amethyst in the crowd moved out of the way just in time for Pearl to see them—Aquamarine gliding in, her wings glittering, that smug grin permanently plastered onto her round face. She gave a self-satisfied twirl in the air as two other figures slowly came onto view behind her. One of them was Steven. Her Steven. Her wonderful, smart, precious Steven, restrained by the bulky Topaz fusion and being lead right up to the Diamonds. His expression was blank and his posture was straight, even with the three massive beings glaring down at him from their spot on the stage. Pearl was shaking. It took every ounce of control she had not to burst right in there and yank him out, away from the torture he was surely about to face, rescue him from being punished for something he didn’t even do. But she had to be smarter than that. She had to wait until the perfect opportunity.

Topaz shoved Steven forward. He was handcuffed, glowing chains wrapped around his wrists. A single tear was slowly sliding down his dirty cheek, the only sign of any emotion on his face. Yellow Diamond squinted down at them venomously. “Why have you brought us some human?” she demanded. “You said you had captured Rose Quartz.” Pearl’s eyebrows rose with surprise. She had been expecting White Diamond to speak first. Gems huddled around the stage, and she nearly lost her view again. “This is Rose Quartz!” Aquamarine’s shrill voice rang out. “She said so herself. She made a rather large show about it, turning herself in and all. I saw her gem. I even saw her shield!” Yellow Diamond still looked dubious. “This creature does not look anything at all like a Rose Quartz,” she said, her growing irritation evident in her voice. “We asked you to collect humans for the zoo, not waste our time with your trivial delusions. Your only chance to redeem yourself is to return to earth and complete your very simple task before I decide to punish you for failing to do anything useful and wasting our time. You are a disgrace and I will not tolerate this sort of ridiculousness again.” She was angry now, almost yelling. Aquamarine seemed to be shrinking into herself. Her mouth got wider and wider with every word. White Diamond still remained silent, though her fingers seemed to flutter faster with ever-growing impatience. If the situation had been different Pearl would’ve almost found the whole thing comical. “But she is Rose Quartz! She is!” Aquamarine’s foot kicked at the air, like a child throwing a tantrum. “I don’t want to go back to earth. I think you are the one who’s delusional! I know I’m right!” She was pouting now, whining. “I’m always right! I can prove it, you–”

“SILENCE!!!”

The word felt like a smack in the face, bursting right out of White Diamond’s powerful throat and resonating throughout the entire room. Gems cowered. Pearl’s legs went weak and almost gave out from under her. Her head spun with dull panic. That voice. Oh god, that voice. She thought she’d never have to hear it again, so commanding that it seemed to crawl right under your skin and chill you to the core. Even the ground beneath them seemed to have given a slight tremor. She felt Amethyst’s and Garnet’s arms around her waist, strong, reassuring. She almost pitied Aquamarine now. She knew all too well what it was like being on the receiving end of White Diamond’s fury…

Aquamarine was whimpering. Sweat oozed down her face, and she shuddered, the tips of her wings quivering. Steven appeared to be slightly dazed. Even the other two Diamonds seemed to have straightened in their chairs. “Don’t you dare speak to a Diamond that way!” White bellowed. Her hand twitched, as if she wanted to reach down and swat at Aquamarine, like an insect that had grown irritating. “Do not even think opening your mouth again without permission. Now leave my presence immediately.” Aquamarine nodded, so fast her head was a blur. “Y-yes M-my D-diamond.” She spun around to leave. The Crystal Gems glanced at each other in relief. They hadn’t believed the little brat. It would be much easier to rescue Steven without having to face the Diamonds. This was almost too good to be true.

“Wait!” Steven cried, and White Diamond’s silver eyes immediately snapped over to him. Her ashen face made her appear almost sickly in the eerie green light. “Aquamarine was right. I am Rose Quartz. And I can prove it.” No, Steven. No! Why are you doing this!? He closed his eyes. With a loud, deep sigh, he reached down and lifted up his shirt, revealing his shining pink gem in all its glory. Blue Diamond jerked forward, yanking her hood back. Her face was twisted with anger, her eyes wide as if she couldn’t believe what she was seeing. “It is her,” she gasped, speaking up at last. “I’d know that gem anywhere.” She stared straight down at Steven, eyes filling with tears. “Why?” she demanded through teeth clenched with hatred. “Why did you do it?” Steven said nothing. He still held his shirt up, his own eyes watery. Pearl and the others were too stunned to move. “Why did you take her away from us?!” Blue Diamond screamed. “Blue, that’s enough,” Yellow Diamond said, reaching out in an attempt to comfort her sister. White Diamond hadn’t moved. Even her fingers had stopped tapping. “Rose Quartz. You despicable, impudent thing. I should personally shatter you where you stand,” White said quietly. She didn’t even sound angry anymore, but she was somehow even more frightening now. Her pale lips pulled back in a sneer. “But that would be too merciful.” Blue Diamond stood up. Her large eyes stared straight at Steven. Never had Pearl seen so much anger in anyone’s eyes. Steven met her burning gaze evenly. “I want to know what she thinks we’re going to do with her,” Blue Diamond growled. “Because I’m going to do something worse.”

#steven universe #fanfiction #wanted #pearl #white diamond #blue diamond #yellow diamond #rose quartz #garnet #amethyst #peridot #aquamarine #su homeworld

[miseensceneofthemind]

The Good, The Bad and The LP: Maestro Morricone

Unpacking the deadly score to THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY.

Welcome to The Good, The Bad, and The LP, a column dedicated to the alluring world of film scores and soundtracks on vinyl. Join me, as I take a deep dive between the grooves and look at some of cinema's greatest marriages between sound and vision. As the name of this series suggests, scores and soundtracks of all types are up for discussion; the weird, the wonderful, and even the downright bizarre are on the metaphorical table, or more aptly in this case - turntable.

So without further ado, let's drop the needle and get to spinning...

The subject of this first instalment is one of my absolute favourite film scores and funnily enough the very inspiration for the name of this here column – Ennio Morricone's majestic score to Sergio Leone's 1966 Italian Western, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. This soundtrack album was a surprise hit and a testament to Morricone's refreshing, unorthodox take on the western score, staying on the charts for over a year following its release and peaking at number 4 on Billboard's pop album chart. Leone's third and final film in what is affectionately know as the “dollars trilogy,” follows Clint Eastwood's enigmatic 'Man With No Name' (the 'Good'), the steely mercenary 'Angel Eyes' played by the inimitable Lee Van Cleef (the 'Bad'), and a charming miscreant on the run by the name of Tuco, played by legendary character actor Eli Wallach (the 'Ugly'), as they form uneasy and shifting alliances in a race across a Civil-War torn America to find a stash of buried Confederate gold. Culminating in one of the most iconic showdowns ever committed to celluloid, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly would not only retroactively stand as one of the pinnacles of the Western genre, but the score would come to typify the sonic palette of the Western in popular culture thanks largely in part to the eclectic, slightly askew and endlessly inventive score by Morricone, the apex of which can be heard in the film's instantly recognisable theme - *WHISTLE* - outside of the terror inducing theme to Jaws, you would be hard pressed to find a more iconic use of two musical notes in the history of cinema.

Here is a little anecdote for you, and full disclosure – I love Westerns something fierce: this album was actually the first film score I ever purchased on vinyl! Not too shabby for a first film record if I do say so myself! In 2012, I went to visit my good friend who was living in Melbourne at the time, James Buttery (a noted vinyl enthusiast who I highly recommend you check out, especially if you want to hear about some fantastic hard to find New Zealand releases). My purpose for visiting (other than to spend some time with one of my pals) was to see Japanese experimental noise rock trio, Boris, and scope the numerous record stores Melbourne has to offer in the hope of unearthing hidden gems I may not have otherwise encountered in little ol' New Zealand.

Unfortunately, things weren't looking too promising on the record pickup front – nothing in particular captured the heart of my music loving soul, let alone the somewhat diminutive but earnest heart of my pocketbook. Don't get me wrong, my enjoyment of the trip did not solely hinge upon successful record store finds, far from it! However, wouldn't it be nice to find treasure? To be the Indiana Jones of vinyl collecting (a 'recordologist' if you will) in the thick of a grand yet complicated adventure, when just as all hope seems lost, an artifact of unspeakable beauty and significance comes into your possession? Well, maybe not as enthralling or roguishly dashing as Mr Jones, but certainly as passionate when it comes to the thrill of the quest. So, you could imagine my heart stopping dead in its tracks upon flicking through a stack to see the faded red frame of an album cover I had coveted since before I had even owned a record. “Surely, it couldn't be,” I said to myself, trembling as my hands lifted this holy grail from its resting place. There, in all its glory, was the record. It was as if time slowed to an incomprehensible haze of euphoria, and strangely, fear; if I didn't get it then, would I ever chance upon a copy again? I don't think I've parted with money faster in my entire life.

For all of the talk given to the reasons why people gravitate towards records in modern times (many of which are highly subjective), one thing that is hard to argue is how the medium lends itself beautifully to artwork; it's just something that you don't truly get with other physical music media such as compact discs or digital releases, and let me tell you – the album art for The Good, the Bad and the Ugly , painted by illustrator and collage artist Fred Otnes is a sight to behold. Laid out with the evocative colour palette of a tequila sunset, the cover is adorned with a painted depiction of the three titular characters of the film above a battle scene from the war; of note, Clint Eastwood's character is literally stepping down into the the battle scene from a position of power, simultaneously foreshadowing the involvement of these characters getting dragged into the conflict, and also suggesting the violent and tumultuous emergence of the new west in the wake of the American Civil War.

Although the original United Artists release doesn't contain the entirety of the score as featured in the film, what is included is a tight representation of its many musical highlights . The two copies I have in my collection (because let's be honest, one is never enough when it comes to holy grails), were released on The United Artists Records label – one is an original 1967 US pressing that I accidentally stumbled across a few years ago in Auckland's Real Groovy in one of those divine moments gifted by the universe; the other is the aforementioned Melbourne discovery, a 1968 UK first pressing. Both pressings sound absolutely fantastic – turning the volume up reveals an energised sonic palette, with the authoritative low end of thunderous percussion and orchestral strings carrying enough power to shake the foundations – let's put it this way – The Man With No Name and Tuco would have had no trouble blowing a bridge up with this record in place of dynamite. The mid range and high-end reveals a raggedly gorgeous bite, particularly evident in the electric guitar sound, with its glassy distorted sting contrasted arrestingly against the background orchestral arrangement.

Much like the film's visuals, so much of the aural charm comes from the imperfections of the medium, recording environment and technology employed, which we'll get to in practical recording terms a bit later. Sergio Leone's use of Techniscope, an inexpensive film stock that exhibits a more pronounced film grain when enlarged to Cinemascope projection size, resulted in a visual image that gave a gritty toughness to the presentation. The uncanny knack Leone had for framing actors with amazing faces attained a whole new level of lived in dirt and grime when coupled with the added grain texture; facial hair stubble on-screen exhibited a coarseness that suddenly gave the illusion that one could light a match when struck against it. This film was mean and dirty visually. Comparatively speaking when compared to what came before, to borrow a parlance, “this ain't your daddy's western.” Similarly, Ennio Morricone's score was unlike any American Western score that had come before it.

As the main title theme to The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, encompasses so much of what makes the entire score unique, I am going to pull apart some of the more idiosyncratic elements that I find to be, well, just darned right clever as a set of spurs that enter through the window instead of the door, to paraphrase a man by the name of Tuco. As is widely noted, Morricone's main musical motif, *WHISTLE,* inspired by the howling sound of a coyote, is a shared theme of sorts for all three main characters, and as such, is wonderfully categorized by three distinct sounds: For Blondie, a.k.a. 'The Man With No Name,' this motif is played by a flute, for Angel Eyes, an ocarina, and for Tuco, by human voice. Now, this is a seemingly simple thing to have in place, but it is what each sound represents and evokes from a character standpoint that makes it brilliant.

Morricone scores the credit sequence instrumentation as such, to get to the core of who each character is immediately before the narrative even begins. With the choice of flute for Blondie, Morricone uses a light timbre, rather chirpy instrument played in a higher register to represent The Man With No Name's inherent goodness. The tail end of this musical phrase, is punctuated by the sound of a harmonica, using traditional western aural iconography to telegraph Clint Eastwood's character as signaling the coming of something familiar, yet somehow different... he is, the new west.

Here is where things start to get rather excellent. For Angel Eyes, Morricone employs the pure and natural sounding tone of an ocarina, an instrument I am sure many of you gaming fans out there are familiar with due to a little known title called The Legend of Zelda. This instrument has a slightly fuller, deeper timbre than a flute and is played an octave lower than what was used for Blondie. The simple act of making Angel Eyes' part of the theme sound deeper than Blondie's, both in terms of instrumentation and register, very clearly and literally delineates Angel Eyes as being lower than Blondie in a moral sense. In the scene that introduces Angel Eyes as 'The Bad' not far into the film, the ocarina motif is  punctuated by the dastardly twang of a low register electric guitar. Angel Eyes becomes a mysterious and elemental force of nature, deadly and not to be trifled with. Already in a short musical space, we can vividly see the characters in our mind's eye.

When it comes to the character of Tuco, Morricone takes a bit of a risk and employs human voices to underscore the fact that Tuco in many ways, is the most human character of the trio – rough around the edges, endlessly fallible, and yet somehow endearing as heck. One can't help but cheer Tuco on – sure, he's a bastard, a scallywag, a good fur-nothin' rapscallion, but there's a complexity to him – a grey area that escapes easy classification, neither good or bad, and harder to pin down – more messy and chaotic. If that's not human, I don't know what is. When one initially listens to the human cries of 'AAAHYEAAAHYEAAA,' it is very tempting to dismiss it as being utterly ridiculous. I mean, it's hilariously startling compared to what precedes it, but that's the point – it's joyous, strange, and replete with a cackling kind of energy, which is most definitely Tuco to a capital 'T.'

Sergio Leone worked very closely with Eli Wallach in the creation of the Tuco persona, suggesting a great affinity for the character. Tuco in fact is the only one of the three leads we get to learn about in more than passing detail. The sequence where Tuco confronts his brother, catholic friar Father Pablo, reveals an underlying sadness and regret. Later in the film in an emotional scene which effectively juxtaposes on screen violence with music (hello there rabid fan of this film, Mr. Quentin Tarantino), Tuco is tortured to the mournful sounds of captured soldiers performing outside the room of interrogation to mask the sounds of abuse within. The coyote howl may be indicative of a wild animal, a potentially dangerous one at that, but beneath the teeth, the snarls and the bravado, remains a painful, plaintive cry.

So, in the main theme, we have our three characters covered, sharing the same motif inspired by the solitary call of a coyote, but represented individually by having different instrumentation. Another central presence in the film, is that of the soldiers of war. Here, Morricone uses trumpets played in rapid, staccato like-fashion to evoke the rousing charge of battle. In an example of Morricone's lateral approach to score, he uses the cacophonous sound of spring reverb to sonically stand in for the conflict of war – the rattling sound that is heard during the trumpet solos of the main theme, is quite literally produced by kicking a reverb tank, a spring loaded contraption used by electric guitarists in the sixties to produce the lush, wet sound of the surf guitar genre. Talk about the old western genre getting a kick or what!

To cap it all off, we have the striking use of electric guitar. Morricone, having come from a background in pop music arranging at RCA records, brought into the score for The Good, the Bad and the Ugly the sound of heavily reverbed electric guitar. This appropriation of a populist instrument into the western genre, an outsider move if ever there was one, is the final piece of what makes this score so memorable. When thinking of Morricone, it's hard for the mind not to jump straight to whistles, human coyote howls, and the twang of a Fender Amplifier cranked all the way up to 10 (eleven being strictly reserved for Marshall amps only – THANKS SPINAL TAP). In Morricone's metaphorical hands, the electric guitar becomes a weapon – sharp, shrill, and bloody deadly. This instrument also becomes the thing that links all men in the film, with its seductive sound cutting though (and ringing out rather obnoxiously over) the orchestra implying the notion, and some may say folly, of power and violence - take the Native American-like chants that are contrasted against guitar in the theme. Leone was explicit in saying that the film was a deconstruction of traditional Western narrative and iconography with its focus on violence and anti-war themes. Morricone seems to have taken Leone's lead in this regard, suggesting an unending cycle of violence in this sonic contrast. The violence of American colonisation that the chants evoke, is challenged by the new emerging sounds of a violent Civil War, represented by the electric guitar. In Leone and Morricone's world of mercenaries, bandits and soldiers, it would seem violence, begets violence.

It would be remiss of me in a discussion of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, to not mention (in my opinion) one of the greatest pieces of music ever put to screen. Cue, 'The Ecstasy of Gold'

'The Ecstasy of Gold,' marks one of the great turning points in the collaborative relationship between Leone and Morricone. Prior to filming, unlike with what transpired making the other 'Dollars' films, For a Fistful of Dollars and For a Few Dollars More, Morricone actually was asked to compose a few of the tracks for Leone to play on set for inspiration. In fact, this process ended up being so successful that every film Leone worked on with Morricone  post The Good, the Bad and the Ugly utilised this method of preproduction composition prior to filming, which is an uncommon practice even today. One of these such pieces was 'The Ecstasy of Gold,' and it is immediately noticeable how much influence the musicality of the track had on Leone's compositional and pacing decisions in the featured graveyard sequence toward the end of the film. The cyclical, escalating nature of the song is reflected on-screen in the frenetic circular panning of the camera, keeping Tuco in focus with the surrounding graves in the background becoming increasingly visually incomprehensible as the sequence reaches its euphoric climax, when Tuco discovers the grave marked 'Arch Stanton.' (By the way, how great a name is Arch Stanton?!?) Outside of the film, the song has become well known in music circles for its use as the introductory entrance music for Metallica's concert performances – say what you will about the merits of Metallica, but they sure know how to co-opt a hell of an epic song for a prelude.

Not a terrible amount is known of the exact details behind the score's recording sessions – we do know the score was recorded in Rome at International Recording Studio (quaint name, I'm sure you'll agree) in 1966, with fellow composer and conductor Bruno Nicolai conducting Morricone's score with the Unione Musicisti di Roma as his sitting orchestra. Accounts of the sessions being hastily arranged as the film was being edited gain weight when considering Morricone's ridiculous scoring output at the time. Contemplate the following: by the time The Good, the Bad and the Ugly was released in Italy in 1966, Morricone had already scored a dozen other projects that year. That folks, is the creative force of a musical sledgehammer (other than Peter Gabriel of course) obliterating all manner of competition. No wonder the man is rightly regarded as an institution unto himself.

I'm going to get into a bit of recording insider talk here, so bear with me! It'll pay off in just a moment, I promise you. Most orchestral recordings are achieved primarily through a recording technique which was developed in the early 1950's called a Decca Tree, named after the record label the practice originated at, Decca Records. In this method, three microphones are arranged in a 'T' shape to make a figurative tree, usually placed behind and above the conductor – when mixed down, the end result is a natural, well balanced stereo sound that wonderfully captures the nuances  and details of orchestral recordings in large acoustic spaces. Other microphones, termed spot microphones, can be added closer to individual instrument groups in order to fill any sonic gaps so to speak, but the core of the sound comes from this Decca tree arrangement. Based on an interview with Morricone's long collaborative recording engineer, Fabio Venturi, and from what was common practice at the time, it is highly likely that the sessions were recorded in this manner. Okay Dan, pretty standard stuff thus far.

So, imagine this if you will: your typical orchestra is arranged in wait, ready to perform, eagerly anticipating the first graceful flick of the conductor's baton, and yet, something is slightly amiss... Let's say, you were a violinist in this session – the title theme begins – you're there minding you own business, waiting for your turn to shine when seemingly out of no where, someone starts to whistle – intentionally – not some nervous new player getting caught up in the melody of the piece, but a professional who was paid to be there. Odd, to be sure to be sure, but nothing that's going to make the pillars of the earth shake. Composing themselves (and yes, that pun is terrible and yet somehow absolutely necessary, if not for anything other than my own amusement), the violinist focuses once more and the piece starts moving along, when BAM – off to the side, the piercing sound of a vengeful surf guitar makes itself known in all its electrified glory. What on Earth is going on here? By this point, the violinist is breaking into a cold sweat. The guitarist has put in their two cents worth, and the main melodic motif returns. Only this time, it's not flutes or ocarinas playing the melody – it's the startling sound of humans, imitating the howling cries of a coyote. The violinist, being the professional that they are, keeps playing, but their mind is no longer of this world, having been shot through the ether into outerspace from a cannon of unfathomable delights (which is incidentally the first and only time you'll hear a cannon be described in such terms - well, that is until the sad but inevitable Good, The Bad and the Sexy parody is made, but that dear reader is a whole other kettle of kittens).

Anyway, the point of that somewhat wordy diatribe was to get across the idea that this recording ensemble had a quirky edge that most other score recording sessions up to that point did not. Having eclectic and unusual instrumentation, and case in point an electric instrument thrown into the mix, adds an extra set of considerations and side effects to the technical process of sonically capturing Morricone's score. The added volume, or as I like to think of it as, pure gumption, pushes the meters – that is to say, the combined room sound of orchestra plus electric guitar when captured by the Decca Tree and additional spot microphones, hits the recording console harder than usual and subsequently saturates the tracking tape machine (hey, remember those?) in a more exaggerated fashion. This saturation, while technically distortion, is aurally pleasing due to its very analogueness. In fact, the imperfections and quirks that the recording methods and technology of the era afforded – the slight presence of noise; the scrappiness of it all; a certain je ne sais quoi - couldn't be a more apt pairing for Leone's beautifully rugged visual swagger.

“So Dan,” I hear you say, “what can you tell me about where I can track this sucker down?” For the digitally inclined who wish to experience the score's majesty this very instant - perhaps for the first time; maybe you've heard it a gazillion times, and just want to pay a casual visit to the house that Morricone built – you can find a couple of different versions on Spotify. They are more or less identical, save for the tracks 'The Story of a Soldier, ' and 'The Trio,' which are both longer on the Italian soundtrack remaster that clocks in at 59 minutes as opposed to the standard Capitol version which is 55 minutes. Either way you go, you're going to be winning at life so don't fret too much!

On the vinyl front, from what I have heard, the recent Back to Black reissue from 2015 is a bit hit and miss when it comes to sound quality and noisiness, but as it goes with these things, give it a spin and trust your ears before you buy if at all possible. If you do happen to come across a reasonably priced secondhand pressing from the late sixties or early seventies in the wild however, don't stop and think about it – lay that money down and walk out with one of the greatest scores ever cut to tape, and put on wax.

Listen on Spotify:

#ennio morricone #the good the bad and the ugly #film score