#and liking Peter's lyrics enough to research them a bit

[meta-squash]

I did a long thread on twitter analyzing/interpreting You’re My Waterloo for the fun of it, but it was mostly for the amusement/interest of myself and like one other friend on there that likes The Libertines. So I figured I’d transcribe it over here where people might get more out of it? Since it was a twitter thread, the sentences might be a bit weird and stilted, by the way. So:

I'm glad they waited to record Waterloo until 2015. I feel like any other time would have been wrong. I know Peter was playing the slow version back in at least 2007 but I think it would have been sad in a different way if they had recorded it before 2015. Like, in 2015 it's just a straight up love song that's slightly sad because, well, it's Peter. If they had recorded it before I feel like it'd have been a love song with resentment wound through it.  There's just a lot of emotion in that song and if there's one thing Peter is really really good at doing, it's Emoting Intensely. But it's not just Peter, the piano is so beautiful and the strings are beautiful and Carl's guitar solo is Intense. It's all A Lot. Like, of all the songs that Peter has written about Carl, about their relationship and career and experiences together, THIS is the one where you can feel most strongly the near-obsessive type adoration. So I’m glad they waited to record it properly when they were friends again (also I’m mildly surprised that it was Carl’s suggestion to rerecord it). Anyway.

Fuck the first verse of this song is a lot. This whole song is a lot. I mean it starts off with such a sad sentiment, it's almost a warning? "You'll never fumigate the demons / No matter how much you smoke." You can't smoke away sadness no matter how much you want to. Bitterly ironic, considering the sorts of things Peter ended up smoking etc to chase away demons, the types of extremes they both went to above and beyond just trying to fumigate. But anyway. "Just say you love me for three good reasons / And I'll throw you the rope." It's just so fucking codependent. So intensely obsessive and codependent. There was a quote, I think maybe from Roger Sargent?, about Peter crying outside a venue in like 2002 because even then he was scared about losing his friendship with Carl to the Something Bigger of fame. This feels like a desperate bid to hang on to that love. But also like Peter is so intense. Every video of interviews where he's sitting next to Carl or gigs when they're friends or reunions or whatever, he just wants to be in Carl's space and have Carl's gaze and his attention and stuff. Like a cat that sits on your work.

Again, a digression. Oops. I said I was in a mood. It's so interesting that while it's definitely a love song To Carl, the only direct mention of Love is asking for love From Carl. It's like he's working on the assumption that his feelings are obvious (they are) and desperately wants reassurance or reciprocation.

"You don't need it / Because you are the survivor / Of more than one life" We know the origin of this is apparently Carl's dead twin brother. But also the offering of a rope only to reassure that no, you don't need it is just so...I don't know...sweet? Especially because while "throw you the rope" is obviously a symbol of rescue it could just as easily be a noose. Except that it's neither. Because he doesn't need it. Because he can survive fucking anything, because they love each other--he hopes. It’s like, if you love me as much as I love you, I’ll try to help you, even though I know you don’t need me because you just need to realize you can do it on your own. "And you're the only lover I had / Who ever slept with a knife" The interview where they talk about this line is so funny. "No it's not about us. But Carl did sleep with a knife and the line about being a survivor is about Carl having a dead twin and Peter saying he was the twin reincarnated. But it’s totally not about us." Anyway. Ugh just so much of this song seems to be about Peter being Super Obvious and open about his love for Carl and Carl being more closed off. Carl being the only lover who slept with a knife; he'll accept the love but he's wary of it and wary giving it.

(By the way by love I don't necessarily mean Romantic or Sexual love. They clearly adore each other one way or another, that's obvious enough. But Best Friendship love is 100% a thing.) (However, the Judy Garland line is so funny to me because "Friend of Dorothy" was a secret code for gay men for a while. And considering the amount of queer literature etc Peter references in everything, there's no way he didn't know this.)

I can't really go in depth into the Tony Hancock line since I really don't know much about Hancock and I know that it was a real touchstone for Peter and Carl. But it plus the Judy Garland line feels like a "neither of us have ever really had a home, but we found one in each other" thing. Which is. A lot. Especially with the "until the dawn" bit, because a main component of so many stories about them from other people is the two of them staying up for days together writing and adventuring and just doing stuff and no one else being able to get in their little bubble.

I love the "ahh" after "Stone the crows" and the way the music starts to swell. It's obvious that the next verse is the Important One. And it is. There's the story about Peter crashing an event at the Old Vic while Carl was ushering to tell him they should be writing together and everyone who's there are dicks. But it's also like...so many layers of what is success and what is appreciation and how do you express love. I assume the flowers are not from his show, that he's collected them from the stage after someone else's show. But it's reusing tokens of mostly empty/superficial/performative appreciation--the tradition of tossing flowers on the stage--as a token of genuine love. Sitting through an entire performance, watching someone else's success and dreaming of being there and then using the token of appreciation for that person to instead give it to the person you yourself appreciate and love and want to succeed with. It's like a promise, a "we'll get there." But also another act of desperation because he's been sitting there for hours. Carl wasn't there to receive the gift and wasn't there to write with him. But he's been chasing words around on the page--the love-words to this song or the words to another one?--and he needs Carl there to really complete it, needs Carl there to hear it. It's very much in line with Peter yelling that they should be writing. This intense "Please be with me please accept the way I express myself please complete my incomplete bits please like me as much as I like you" etc.

And then the chorus which is so interesting. I desperately wish I understood the Gypsy Lane and Stanley Park references. I think Stanley Park is a footie reference but I’m not sure? I'm trying to do all of the interpretation off my own brain and not use the notes on the Genius website or anywhere else but I wanted to see if those two references here had been crowdsourced. Apparently both Gypsy Lane and Stanley Park are places he spent time in his childhood (and I called it on the football reference, yes!). Which is. Wow. Okay. And then there's Waterloo which is a whole thing in itself. It's Waterloo as Waterloo but also Waterloo Station. So Carl is able to be Peter's Ultimate Defeat, the thing that has the ability to ruin him. But also Waterloo Station is near the Old Vic where Carl worked & would go to theatre bars, so it's also a place of familiarity. Since I don't know anything else about the Gypsy Lane reference, I can only assume it's also a place of comfort and familiarity. So Peter's admitting to Carl's power over him, ability to hurt him, but offering to comfort him in return. (Important for later.)

"I'm so glad we know just what to do / And exactly who's to blame" I love this line because it knows it's wrong. Especially in 2015 but maybe even in the early days. They bounced blame back and forth between them for YEARS. Not to mention all the outside bullshit. And obviously they didn't know what to do. The Waterloo/Stanley Park is another reference to a familiar place and a power to hurt/offer to comfort moment. I wish I knew if there was some sort of proper football reference here (aka a QPR reference since that's Peter's team) but I know absolutely nothing about sport so idk.

"Well I'm so glad we know just what to do / And no one's left / Stumbling around / Tumbling around / Fumbling around / In the dark" The way Peter sings this sounds so hopeful and sad at the same time. It's interesting to know this line was written way, way back. Like, this song was apparently one of the first ever songs they demoed. The demo is a lot more frantic and less romantic but jesus christ. The way Peter sings it now it's like he knows that was just an unconscious self-fulfilling prophecy. Like, no, they absolutely were left in the dark, hurting each other over and over and not being able/willing to place blame or to communicate. Except now, in 2015, they're not anymore. (and especially not now in 2021). But it's also another desire for comfort. Like, Peter's offering the comfort here. But he's also just confessed the power to hurt that Carl has. So this is also a "are you going to offer me comfort the way I've offered it to you?" sort of question. 

And then there's the solo which. Woof. It feels like a response to Peter's words. Like reaching out with sound. Like a shoulder-squeeze or a hug in response, something nonverbal that’s really trying to catch up and match up to the intense emotions in the words. The music crescendos and the solo is literally waves of notes that roll up and down and up and then it crashes down but lands so softly at the feet of the chorus.

And then we have equal footing, sort of (and Carl as Jesus again). Carl is still Peter's Waterloo, his ultimate defeat (or his place of comfort). But now Peter is Carl's Calvary. Which is the place where Jesus was crucified. Peter’s been offering comfort to Carl, but suddenly Peter has power over Carl. It's like...veneration and threat at once. Carl's Jesus, the savior, but also if he doesn't love Peter, Peter has the power to crucify him (or at least threatens to have that power). Or it's another portent: Carl could be Peter's savior, except that everything falls apart and Carl ends up hurt instead. They both end up hurt instead. So then they're on equal footing.

Which brings them to the "Well I'm so glad we know just what to do," which feels a little sadder but also a little more confident than the other two. The answer is in the "Everyone's gonna be happy / But of course." They need to work to figure out how to make each other happy, how to be comfort rather than hurt. It's not that simple. It never is. The "But of course" is a sarcy acknowledgement of how difficult that actually is. But it's also that sort of quiet hopefulness that yeah, maybe soon we'll figure it out and everyone will be happy and will get to say "of course I'm happy" about it.

#i also did one for the Heart Of The Matter video if people are interested #the libertines #peter doherty #carl barat #apologies to the people who have been in this fandom for ages i apparently like diving straight into the deep end #when i get to a subject I like to learn EVERYTHING about it and totally immerse myself very quickly #i've known the basics of the libs story for a while now just from being into mildly related bands #and liking Peter's lyrics enough to research them a bit #but when i get into something new i do all the research on it as quickly and intensely as i can #also i'm just having fun #analyzing literature/lyrics/etc is what i like doing for fun #(PS I do most of my Libertines blogging on my other blog jesuisgourde)

[kjmsupremacist]

Felix sweet boy baby angel but Christopher Bang is literally Satan? Idk if you saw but Hyunjin ratted him out on live and said the lyrics for Red Light were toned down. I don’t want to know. I don’t. He was already talking about edging and I don’t want to know. He can keep his Scorpio Venus and his Sag Mars away from me and everyone I love. I would give anything to know his rising if sign. It’s giving Earth but there’s so much air in his chart it’s hard to be sure. 🤖

i am so happy you sent me this ask because i have been looking for an excuse to talk about red lights. I sent leon and margot a seven minute long voice message when i was doing my research for my red lights-inspired fic like that's where i'm at.

First, yes, I saw Hyunjin's comments! that's what chris gets for trying to say hyunjin wrote all the lyrics in the first place. nice try, chris. also, his scorpio venus is SEXY. i won't be taking criticism on this opinion.

Now. Please see under the cut if you want to watch me dissect Red Lights -- both the lyrics and the MV.

so, credit where credit's due--I skimmed this and this reddit posts while I was doing my research.

now. we all know that on the surface, this song is about sex (and specifically bondage and edging—that much is clear). but, ah, how's the saying go? "everything is about sex except for sex, which is about power"? sure.

yeah, it's meant to be sexy. they did that for us and im still not sure if I want to kill them for it or thank them with my life. BUT, as they mentioned in the howl in harmony video, it's primarily a song about obsession.

The first reddit post does a great (albeit kind of aggressive) breakdown of the lyrics, where it becomes really clear that they're talking about the relationship they have with their work and the relationship they have with fans. In essence, the song is about how they want to give their lives and all their time to making more content for fans so that they will continue to receive love from us. The red lights are actually the recording light on a camera (hence the line “set the mic up”).

And so a relationship like the one depicted here is dark and intense, and yes—passionate and driven by love—but ultimately, it consumes itself in the vortex of its own desire, and then peters out into a sort of blank monotony—learned through repetition, a habitual reflex instead of a true reaction.

Then, the second reddit post goes on a deep dive of some of the symbolism seen in the MV—specifically, the use of kink. This is where it gets really fun.

We mostly see Hyunjin in shibari-style bondage. OP posits (and I agree) that he is meant to represent passion without discipline. The shibari ropes are tied messily (and so therefore dangerously) which is perfect for representing how often kink (and other obsessions) can devolve—you plunge in headfirst, but you are directionless except for the insistent tug in your gut that cries for more, more.

Chan, on the other hand, is seen primarily (esp in solo scenes) bound by heavy chains. He represents discipline with no passion. In the Howl in Harmony video, I believe he mentions that after a long day of practice, he'll still find himself in the recording studio, even though he's tired. He does what he has to on autopilot, because he knows he must, because it’s the only thing he feels he can do.

If Hyunjin is mania, then Chan is depression. The chains are GREAT symbolism because this dutiful march towards burnout and beyond is, as the lyrics suggest, stemming from a desire to keep receiving love (from fans)—that if you just work hard enough then no one will ever leave you. You wish to bind the person (or people) you love to you, but in the end the bonds only weigh you down.

So then the part where they’re tied together, back to back, at the end, shows when passion and discipline come into balance. And that’s creation for the love of creation while still maintaining a respect for yourself, the art, and your audience. (or idk. maybe they just thought we'd like to see them tied to one another. and they were right).

It's also fun because while we see Hyunjin and Chan both assume positions of domination and submission, it's clear Chan is meant to be the “dominant force” here (hence discipline). The reason we do see instances of Hyunjin in power (choking Chan, standing over him on the table) is because any somewhat healthy d/s relationship involves first the surrender of power. The dom is only perceived to be in power because the sub first relinquishes it them. So. You know.

I will say I'm not sure what to say about the edging theme (BNKSJDF) besides the obvious—almost giving you what you want, but not quite.

And finally, this is not part of either of those two reddit posts, but I was ENTHRALLED by the use of mirror and mirror-esque imagery throughout the MV and in the choreo. I love mirrors as a symbol so we're going to talk about that, too.

First and most obviously, it may be a bit on the nose. In art, mirrors and reflections are often used to show that there is a deeper meaning than what is clear on the surface. So this might have just been hyunchan going "hey! it's not just about sex!"

but I think there's more to it than that. Mirrors are often used as a vessel of truth—in some Chinese myths, for example, mirrors can repel demons, as they will show a demon’s true form. Or see the Little Mermaid—though Ursula managed to change her outward appearance, she was caught in her lie when another character (sebastian, i think?) saw her reflection in the mirror.

Additionally, one’s reflection used to be thought to contain one’s soul—which is why mirrors were covered in the home of person who had just passed, so they would not be trapped as a ghost in the world of the living.

For this reason, mirrors are often also considered dangerous. Think of Narcissus, for a start, who fell in love with his own reflection and sat at the water's edge, pining, until he fucking died. Or consider the following quote (which I love) from Fernando Pessoa:

“Man shouldn’t be able to see his own face – there’s nothing more sinister. Nature gave him the gift of not being able to see it, and of not being able to stare into his own eyes. Only in the water of rivers and ponds could he look at his face. And the very posture he had to assume was symbolic. He had to bend over, stoop down, to commit the ignominy of beholding himself. The inventor of the mirror poisoned the human heart.”

We use mirrors to watch ourselves watching ourselves (and the Margaret Atwood who lives in our heads cries “male fantasies, male fantasies! You are you own voyeur!”). We perform for the mirror—often what we see in the mirror is not actually how we are seen by others! We think we may find truth there, when in reality it is a distortion. Ties itself up really nicely, I think.

In any case, this really goes well with the theme of obsession in the song—staring in the mirror asking, what do others see? What is wrong about me? What can I do better? The idea of looking in the mirror to seek what others see, both positive and negative, is common throughout. And I think their use of mirrored choreo (esp when it seems like one of them is the reflection!!), as well as mirror placement on the set of the mv, and ESPECIALLY the lovely bit at the end where they both stand staring carefully at their own reflections, all work to drive that theme home.

and i don't even know how to touch on all the color symbolism (when it changes between color and b&w?? the palette being overwhelmingly yellow and red and black???), or the lens filters (warping, blurring, etc), or the way they superimposed pieces of the video on top of other pieces, or the use of that one stark white background—without writing a fucking dissertation (and this is already a ridiculously long post) so i'll just stop here.

This is all to say, maybe what they meant was that the lyrics were a lot more aggressive about these themes and they were asked to tone them down to keep it neutral.

or maybe they're just sexy, sexy motherfuckers and their managers bonked them on the head and sent them to horny jail.

#obviously that mirror quote is a little stupid but at the same time i do think it's so real. like so real. #anyway this is very long but I HAVE SO MANY THOUGHTS. #this is what i was doing a few afternoons ago.... just compiling this. #just... meta hours with xiami #stray kids #bang chan #hyunjin #red lights #mail #🤖 anon

[antialiasis]

Morphic: the Musical

The Thousand Roads forums have a fanfic music thread. While I don't really do those kinds of threads usually because I don't really listen to a very wide variety of music and generally have a hard time associating music that already exists with unrelated fiction, one of the questions in it is this:

Talk about what would happen if some Broadway hit-maker scooped up your fic and turned it into a script. What songs would be in it? Describe a dance number/dance battle?

And immediately, the musical analysis glint lit up in my eyes. This question was presumably intended in a lighthearted jokey sort of way - imagining some fight staged as a dance battle, a hypothetical Broadway hit-maker doing the adaptation. But that's not enough for me, say I! Musicals are a good and interesting medium for serious fiction that I care about and I am going to serious this up.

See, to me, the musical format has two major strengths as a narrative medium. The first is that it can explore the inner worlds of characters in a pretty unique way. Characters get to monologue in a sort of heightened, non-literal manner, intensified by music: we can learn what they're about, what makes them tick, what's going on in their heads in a particular moment, in a way that wouldn't really make sense presented as actual inner monologue in another medium. The music aspect itself then adds a layer to it that's impossible to replicate in any other.

The second strength of the musical format is that it's really good at highlighting recurring themes, parallels and contrasts. Reprise the same melody, the same lyric, a parallel but opposite lyric, and you've instantly connected two things together. Is there a character arc? You can highlight what has changed. Are there two characters going through something similar? You can draw that out. Is there a recurring theme throughout? Use a recurring lyric, a recurring melodic phrase! Nudge the viewer into forming connections! Delicious! And you can do subtler things on the music level itself - particular instruments with particular connotations, recurring motifs...

So naturally I decided I should think up what a musical adaptation of Morphic would be like. It'd be a fun exercise in putting all my thoughts on musical adaptations into practice, but also an interesting way to help sort out some of my thoughts about characters arcs, etc. for the actual Morphic rewrite. And in the process, I may have gone slightly overboard. I regret nothing.

(I'm about to spoil most of the fic here, if this wasn't obvious)

Morphic: the Musical - tracklist

(Note: this musical is not sung-through; there are regular non-musical sections with regular dialogue in between. Morphic would almost definitely not make for a good sung-through musical.)

Act I

[Intro song] (Brian)

A monologue by Brian at the TV studio as he tries to work through what to say, how to explain or justify any of this (which conveniently serves to exposit to the audience as well as introduce his character). He makes nervous false starts and cuts himself off, starting the verse over each time, and through these false starts we learn what's going on, that the press has been calling them Pokémorphs, that this was all Dave's idea, that alcohol was involved, that it was meant as a basis for further research, that there were never supposed to be *children*, that he doesn't know what he'd even do with a kid, that Dave roped him into going on this show because he couldn't.

[Dave song] (Dave)

This musical properly introduces us to Dave via Jane walking out on him followed by this song, wherein he contemplates chucking baby Jean out the window. It's a dark rock song with big emotional contrasts and raw lyrics that is almost definitely my favorite song in this musical in the hypothetical reality where it is an actual musical and I didn't write it, because I am me. Probably starts with a couple slower lines of desperate disbelief before launching into wild anger about fuck that fucking whore, followed by what I will be referring to as the everything-is-shit verse (please bear with me), just a general cynicism rant about why the world is a shitty place not worth living in, followed by him wildly fantasizing about killing his infant child. What a delightful human being that I adore. The song ends abruptly, he's standing there staring at her in his arms for a moment, then he silently goes to feed her. On the soundtrack you probably might think he just did it.

Fatherhood (Brian)

A montage song covering the timeskip, which probably reprises [Intro song]. Brian initially has no idea what to do with his new squirming horrorblob child and is convinced he will screw it up the way he tends to screw up everything. Makes a couple of false starts again, but then gains confidence as time passes as he genuinely bonds with Gabriel and legitimately thinks he's a pretty amazing kid. There's a repeated line along the lines of that Gabriel's a weird, weird kid, but he's his, initially in a tone of "oh god I'm responsible for him what do" but towards the end is said with pride and fondness.

[Villain song] (Isaac and Jacob)

A duet between the two brothers, exploring what makes them tick. Isaac is all about this heavy pressure and sense of responsibility, originally imposed by his father, that he continues to impose on himself. He's been appointed to take over leading the family/cult and was raised with that constantly in the back of his mind as his future, and he believes that they're God's true righteous people and he cannot go wrong. He has dreams with some regularity that he interprets as visions from God, as he has been encouraged to since childhood by his father. When he has one about murder, it frightens him but he sees it as basically a divinely-appointed mission.

Jacob privately doesn't really believe any of that. He is trapped in this cult and goes through the motions but is not actually driven by any of the things that are driving Isaac. He's fairly quiet for most of the song - as Isaac is going on about his vision, Jacob has a line here and there obliquely challenging it, but Isaac has an answer for everything, and he doesn't press it, instead moving seamlessly on to suggestions for how he should do it. Jacob gets a quiet variant of part of the everything-is-shit verse from [Dave song], expressing the same kind of cynicism in a more reproachful, apathetic way - all in his own head, of course.

Just Like My Hero (Jean and Will)

Jean sings about how she is just like her hero, Sarah Hooter! Starts off describing how they look the same, moves on from there to how she will torch anyone who's mean, etc., just like her hero. Halfway through, Will joins in, and it becomes a counterpoint duet: Jean may be immature and ridiculous, but he deeply wishes he was confident and adored and nothing would get to him, and he admires and envies that about her. His just like my hero has a bit more of an ironic vibe, he'd hardly properly call her his hero, but he looks up to her more than he'd normally admit nonetheless.

Storming the Castle (Jack and Gabriel)

Jack and Gabriel are playing a D&D game with their friends, arguing about the best course of action. Jack is eager to waltz into the bad guys' fortress, storm the castle, while Gabriel urges lying low, says they're too weak. Jack wants to take the leap and try it; Gabriel insists no, we're not taking the leap, it's stupid. "It's brave!" Jack counters. (In the end, Gabriel gives in and they go ahead with it, and it goes fine.)

Unique (Mia and Lucy)

Mia and Lucy play one of their games. The song is about how Lucy needs someone like Mia to challenge her and let her actually indulge her powers, which are otherwise unsettling to people and she's ashamed and self-conscious about them, while Mia needs someone like Lucy to get a real outlet for her hunter's instinct. The word the lyrics are built around is unique; by being the precise way they are, they are each the only person who can provide this for the other.

Mia doesn't sing. She speaks her lyrics in her usual monotone, not even rhythmically. They also don't rhyme. It's technically a duet but really it's just Lucy singing and Mia talking.

[Peter/Katherine song] (Peter and Katherine)

A counterpoint duet between the siblings, contrasting their experience as Pokémorphs. Peter can pretty easily hide that he's different and be treated mostly as a normal kid, and feels free in his privilege, not confined quite the way the others are, able to be a bit reckless and incautious. Katherine, meanwhile, has a very different experience, being extremely noticeably different, getting stared at, and struggling with basic activities, and feels a huge sense of responsibility weighing her down, worrying about Peter and grounding him and reining him in. There's a lyrical contrast involving something something bird freedom plant rooted down something.

Brian's Death (Isaac and Dave)

This is one of those mostly-instrumental pieces that they include on the soundtrack anyway, but Isaac gets a couple of sung nondiegetic lines in here, a sort of frantic excitement, realizing in a brief panic that he shot the wrong guy before rationalizing that God must have planned it this way.

Dave is probably also in there screaming and attempting to call the police, because I am always in favor of screaming and panicking on musical soundtracks.

The Funeral (Gabriel and Jack)

Begins with Gabriel at the church during the funeral, singing about his vague discomfort being there, but slowly becomes increasingly frantic and anxious, working up to a breakdown where he exits and finally manages to cry for his dad. There's a verse about little things, how they ordered pizza the night before he died, etc., culminating in the bit about him having been in the middle of this mystery novel and never getting to learn who did it; the verse trails off quietly there, backing instruments gone, as Gabriel breaks down. Jack follows to comfort him.

Act II

[Montage song] (everyone)

A montage of the days after the attack, where everyone gets a couple lines about how they're coping, scared and grieving.

Dave's lines are like, spoken slightly too desperate annoyance at having to do some work that Brian didn't get to finish, or rebuking somebody who asks how he's doing by saying he barely even knew Brian. He is not singing along with this kind of grief-porn bullshit, fuck you.

[Villain song II] (Isaac and Jacob)

The brothers come up with a new plan. Isaac is agitated, reprising some of his bits from the original villain song in a quicker, more frantic tempo, while Jacob picks up the slack, walking him through a new idea. Isaac takes to it with conviction and goes back to the original melody/tempo, talking again about his God-given purpose. Jacob does not join in with any of that, only with the bits about the actual plan.

The Kidnapping (instrumental)

I'm just going to say this is on the soundtrack too and contains panicked Gabriel noises because I want it to be.

Storming the Castle Reprise (Jack)

Jack tries to rally the others for a rescue mission, echoing the D&D game from Act I. The lines about storming the castle and taking the leap make a reappearance.

Just Like My Hero Reprise (Jean)

Jean, on the bus, miserably contemplates how she is unlike her hero. Again, it begins with a verse talking about how she looks - not a thing like Sarah Hooter anymore - but then moves on to how she's scared and pathetic and running away, unlike anything a hero would do.

Church Sequence (Will, Jack, Mia)

A single track, largely instrumental/dialogue/sound effects, with a couple of brief song snippets:

- Will reprises "Just Like My Hero" as he wills himself to go on. He is cut off mid-line as he is shot.

- Mia slits that guy's throat and she actually sings a few words, for the first and only time, before she is also cut off mid-line by a gunshot. The line is something about, like, warm blood in her face or the guy's satisfying death throes, reprising part of the melody of "Unique".

Strong (Gabriel)

Gabriel discovers his powers. Starts slowly, calling back to the bits from "Storming the Castle" about lying low, being weak. But as the song continues and he makes his discovery, the tempo builds, and he starts reprising Jack's bits instead: he is strong, taking the leap, storming the castle.

Perish Song (Lucy)

Another brief reprise of "Unique", distorted and deafening and terrifying, mourning her sister.

[In the Hospital] (Jack and Gabriel)

The two of them work out their feelings about what happened. Includes Jack going "It was stupid" (i.e. the rescue mission) and Gabriel responding "It was brave", echoing the bit where they said the opposite in "Storming the Castle". Jack blames himself for how it all turned out, feels stupid and weak, while Gabriel actually felt kind of awesome. (This is also calling back to their opposite bits of "Storming the Castle".) They end with a shared duet verse as they realize they've both got that same innate desire to fight and win. Possibly calls back to the weird, weird kid line from "Fatherhood".

Eulogy (Dave)

Dave's eulogy for Mia (which also touches on Will, but this is Mia's funeral). It reprises "Unique". There will never again be anyone like the two of them, two of the only truly unique people on this Earth. (And, while he doesn't say it straight out because hahahaha, he needed Mia, too).

Taking the Leap (Jack and Gabriel)

Jack's suicide attempt and his swirling inner turmoil as he tries to talk himself into taking the leap once again. Gabriel, of course, comes in with don't take that leap. Am I overusing this one line by putting it in like half the songs in this thing? Well, who's going to stop me.

[Peter/Katherine song reprise] (Peter and Katherine)

The two of them contemplate indefinite house arrest (in contrast to the freedom Peter's enjoyed most of his life) and Katherine's failure to stop all this (despite her sense of responsibility). In the end, they both find their own ways to accept the new state of things and support each other through this.

Finale (Dave and Jean)

After Dave breaks down on his couch and Jean comes in to ask what's wrong, Dave sings a reprise of the everything-is-shit verse, going over the many things he's angry about, because that is the only emotion involved here clearly. At the exact point where Dave's song originally went from there to fantasizing about throwing her off the balcony, Jean throws her arms around him and sniffles "It'll be okay, Dad," and after a stunned "What? Jean, I'm--", he continues with a slow, hesitant *inverted* reprise of the everything-is-shit verse, "Everything'll be fine", constructing a little fantasy reality for her (and himself) where everything turns out all right in the end. It's backed by, like, a simple, quiet, slower piano rendition of the original melody, and trails off at the end, never quite coming to a satisfying conclusion before he tells Jean she should go back to bed.

#morphic #musicals #I spent far too much time thinking about this #except it was also exactly the right amount of time

[generalblizzarddreamer]

Book recommendations based on your Hogwarts house!

A/N I’ve been watching a lot of these videos on youtube and it inspired me to make this post! I hope you enjoy. I love Harry Potter and the fandom but just to be clear I don’t support J.K Rowling and her trans/homophobic statements and the fact that she is ruining the series by adding more to it.

Ravenclaw house 💙🦅(my house)

The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown

This book just screams Ravenclaw to me. The cults, the science, the research, the history, the small facts on the Smithsonian... literally everyting except the characters themselves and the plot is real. There is so much knowledge to be gained from reading this book and the plot is thick and exciting. 

Strange the Dreamer duology by Laini Taylor

Another book that screams Ravenclaw... Strange the Dreamer and the world and the culture is so thick and is presented in lyrical and intelligent word play that any self respecting Ravenclaw should definitely give this book a try. You will not be disappointed! I know I wasn’t! The main character (Lazlo Strange) is also a Ravenclaw so that is always a perk. 

This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone

This book is like a well thought out chess game. The writing styles that the two authors develop is addicting and the letters going back and forth between the two character is so intriguing. There so much strategy and wit in this book that I had to put it on this list for Ravenclaw. 

Wendy Darling by Colleen Oarkes

I love this book so much. I think it’s a book that is worthy of Ravenclaw just because of it’s creativity and the twist that Colleen Oakes put on Peter Pan. I think sometimes we forget that it isn’t just wit, wisdom, and knowledge (although this book is definitely witty and has some wise messages) that Ravenclaws value but also creativity. 

Bonus book: Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. This book is the most Ravenclaw book ever. Need I say more. 

Gryffindor ❤️🦁

Lore by Alexandria Bracken

The plot is tense, most of the characers are Gryffindors, book praises bravery, cowardice is something that is punishable ad frowed upon... the list goes on and on. Lore is filled with high stakes and brave acts that Gryffindor’s will admire.  

Legendborn by Tracy Deonn

It was so hard to put one of my all time favorite books in here just solely because it’s not my house (that was not a dig on Gryffindor please don’t attack me). Bree is such a Gryffindor and does so many of the things I can see the golden trio doing. High stakes, daring acts, Gryffindor cast, a Griffindor x Griffindor relationship, perfect for any Gryffindor looking for a book full of twist and turns and bravery. 

The City we Became by N.K Jemisin

This one gives me Gryffindor vibes for the same reasons the other ones do (thrills, daring acts, Gryffindor characters etc). Except for one thing. This book could have easily been placed into Slytherin since the main character uses his cunning to change his identity according to what city he is in at the moment. But I put this book here because I think it shows how Gryffindor and Slytherin are two sides of the same coin. 

Raft by S.A Bodeen

This one was a bit of stretch. Raft is a bit of a unpopular book, I’ve seen people say it was just meh, or bad. I actually really enjoyed this book though and I think how the main character (Robie) deals with being stranded and jumping out of a plane to survive gives me Gryffindor feels. I also think Gryffindors are the kind of people to enjoy a good survival book. 

Bonus: The Hunger Games

Slytherin 💚🐍

Vicious duology by V.E Schwab

Most (if not all) of the characters in this book are so cunning and ambitious and determined to meet their goal that makes it such a Slytherin book. Vicious also makes you question morality and the characters motivations that Slytherins will appreciate this book even more because of it. Bonus: V.E Schwab is a Slytherin. Just saying. 

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

I don’t know what about this book makes me think “Slytherin” but it does. Maybe it’s because it’s about using magic in a cunning way to win, the characters, the main characters mentors (although I think they are both definitely Slytherins). But this book screams Slytherin to me, just for unknown reasons. 

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

I don’t really think I need to explain why this is a Slytherin read so I’ll just put one character name: Kaz Brekker. Kaz is such a Slytherin. He uses cuning and resourcefulless to pull off crazy heists, blackmail people and get what he wants to survive a gang ridden city. And he he put up a calm face even though he may be freaking out on the inside through everything, never revealing his full plan. I feel like these are all such Slytherin things to do, not gonna lie. 

Ash Princess by Laura Sebastian

Oh boy, I could right pages and pages on why I think this is a Slytherin book but I’ll stick to a mini paragraph. The “Ash Princess”, Theodosia, uses cunning and strategy to take back her kingdom. She manipulates to get close to certain people to achieve her goal. And even though she doesn’t necessarily think that these are good things to do, she recognizes taking her kingdom back and acheiving her goal is more important.  Sound like a certain house? 

Bonus: Son of a Witch by Gregory Maguire (So many Slytherin vibes in this book)

Hufflepuff 💛🌿🦡 (I had to put a plant just as a nod to the Hufflepuff common room)

Dash and Lily’s Book of Dares by Rachel 

This. Book. Is. So. Cute. I didn’t put this in here just because it was cute though, after reading it, it gave me so many feels and Hufflepuff vibes that I had to put it here. 

Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay 

Just going to say this: Hufflepuffs are great finders. This whole book centers around a girl finding her brother. She shows loyalty because she travels around the world to find him. Does that seem extrememly Hufflepuff-y or is it just me? 

Guardians of Childhood series by William Joyce

Hear me out, every Hufflepuff has an inner child as well as a badass inside them, they aren’t all soft (Tonks is proof). The guardians are protectors of children (as the title indicates) but they also kick butt. I think Hufflepuff’s of all ages will enjoy it, and yeah it’s a kids book but to quote C.S Lewis; “someday you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again”. 

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Ok though, but Pride and Prejudice could fit everywhere on here. Lizzie is a Raveclaw, Mr. Darcy is a Hufflepuff, Mrs. Bennet is a Gryffindor (she gives me Mrs. Weaseley vibes. Especially in the 2005 movie), etc. But I’m putting it here because it’s such a Hufflepuff thing to ship Mr. Darcy and Lizzie (seriously though every Hufflepuff I’ve met say that this is their OTP). Just read it and watch as it become your OTP too.  

Bonus: Peter and the Starcatchers by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson

I do not own any of the pictures used. 

#books #book #bookblr #studyblr #light academia #light academia aesthetic #dark academia #dark academic aesthetic #hogwarts #hogwarts house #hogwarts house aesthetic #ravenclaw #ravenclaw pride #ravenclaw books #ravenclaw book recommendations #ravenclaw book recommendation #slytherin #slytherin pride #slytherin house #ravenclaw house #slytherin book recommendations #slytherin book #slytherin books #ravenclaw book #slytherin book recommendation #gryffindor #gryffindor book #gryffindor books #gryffindor pride #gryffindor book recommendation

[i-am-just-a-kiddo]

Fic Writer Interview Meme

tagged by dear @vishcount 💕 am sending you a lot of love because you are doing amazing, even if it doesn’t feel like it. don’t be so harsh on yourself. and thank you for the tag, I did my best. 

tagging @cortue, @intyalote, @the-cloud-whisperer, @not-saying-revolution-but and every writer that sees this and wants to do it! 

I was rambling again so there’s the usual cut

name: here just kiddo please - iamjustakiddo on ao3

fandoms: just for shits and giggles am gonna try and list all the fandoms i’ve written for? roughly chronologically speaking, my first fic was for Kuroshitsuji and the we go to Harry Potter, SKAM, Narnia, Sherlock Holmes (unpublished), Peter Pan (unpublished) - I don’t write for any of these anymore? except for Narnia which I might return to when the mood hits. I’ve written a ton for BTS and The Untamed, and still wish to write more for Nirvana in Fire. I’ve also written for Winter Begonia, Hwarang and YYY: The Series. Current WIPs are Word Of Honor, The Sleuth of Ming Dynasty, Original Sin - none of those will probably see the light of day. I’ve also had thoughts of writing for Killer and Healer, Strangers from Hell and Avatar: The Last Airbender.

two-shot: hmm I guess my two oneshots for YYY could count as a two shot? am not sure, but I simply had different ideas and seperated them instead of writing one coherent oneshot.

most popular multi-chapter fic: my BTS Mafia AU Take Me Into Your Skin. I’m quite proud of this one because it was my first ever multichaptered story back when I wrote it in 2018 and it turned out to be over 160k words long, which is just wild? I guess I cringe at it a lot and I would change a lot about it now, but am still proud of it because I had a lot of fun and am still fond of the story. (Statistics - Subscriptions: 144 / Hits: 18319 / Kudos: 519 / Comment Threads: 83 / Bookmarks: 295)

actual worst part of writing: everything currently. I feel a little bit like an imposter doing these games right now, cause I haven’t written anything that I’m truly proud of recently (or like, this past year I guess). This slump is very hard to get out of.  Under normal circumstances, the worst part of writing is when I know what I wanna write but it doesn’t come out? and when every sentence just sounds horrible and not at all how I imagined. Also the physical act of writing is difficult because I get tired so easily and when I don’t manage to get into hyperfocus and a nice flow, it’s just exhausting. 

also coming up with summaries, fuck that. 

how you choose your titles: i’m very basic and usually use some quotes or lyrics, but recently I’ve been trying to be more creative with my titles? I need to exercise that because I truly wanna learn how to come up with my own titles that sound nice. I suck at them so much 

do you outline: absolutely. my memory sucks badly so I always try to keep an overview in my notebooks because I can’t trust my brain to remember all the important details I come up with. Working with notes is also so freeing because I’m free to do anything I want and don’t need to worry about actually writing it? I like having visuals for my stories so it feels like an anchor I can hold on to when I’m lost.

ideas you probably won’t get around to, but wouldn’t it be nice: oh boy this is difficult, because I don’t have specifics for any of these ideas and that’s why I never get around to do them? I guess bringing my Wen Kexing and Wang Zhi character studies into shape is the most doable project rn. I would also love to finish my Original Sin fic because I really want to write a proper case-fic with actual plot but am just so stuck on that and too stupid for my own criminal cases so currently I’ve put that on hold. 

An idea that I’ve had for years now is a Sokka/Suki/Toph future fic? I would ignore what happens in LOK and for some reason I’m stuck on the thought that I want to explore this OT3? I want to explore how in their adult lives, they would fit together and especially how Toph could work as addition to the relationship Sokka und Suki have? I would love to explore the individual relationships they have with each other but I’m also very nervous about it because I’ve never written for ATLA and I don’t know if I can explore this properly. 

another idea that’s been on my mind ever since Singularity dropped is a taegi Dorian Gray AU? I’ve already done a little bit of research about 19th century Korea and Korean portrait paintings because of course, I would wanna make it as historically accurate as I can manage but honestly, I feel this project is quite hopeless. I think I also have very conflicting ideas about how I should do this and if it’s even a good idea to realise. 

Recently I’ve been thinking about writing a slow-burn enemies to lovers adventure story because I have Cravings. I don’t know if this would be an original project or some type of AU for some fandom, but I just really want to write about two people on opposite sides clashing together and having to work together, forming a reluctant bond and just. exploring the progress of that? Maybe there would be horses, probably historical, or maybe fantasy? I have no idea, I just wish I could write something like this some day. 

callouts @ me: stop being pretentious. not everything needs to be existential dread. don’t project all your issues into every character you write. not every sentence you write needs to be a Masterpiece and sometimes less is more. bring more structure to your stories instead of just aimlessly drifting. learn grammar for god’s sake.

best writing traits: i have no idea sorry. maybe that I heavily rely on my empathy? but i  truly do not know.

spicy tangential opinion: I don’t have any spicy opinions I think? Just do what you enjoy. Write what you want, you can worry about what to with it after. If you want to get rid of thoughts just do it. Don’t think about how it looks to other people, because unless you show it someone, it’s your art. It’s okay if it takes time, even if it’s frustrating. Pressure doesn’t help with creating art so maybe allow it to grow organically. is this spicy enough yet? don’t let people tell you you are less of a writer because you do things differently. there are methods, ideas, guides, advice - but there shouldn’t be rules to what makes you writer. everyone works differently. and to everyone who struggles - i know it sucks but as long as you find joy in writing, it’s not hopeless. sometimes things need a break or sometimes it needs a different shape and that’s okay ❤ did I reach the level of spiciness required here? 

summing up, I just wanna send strength to all writers out there because oh boy do we need it! and sending a lot of gratitude to all the fic-writers out there that have made my nights and days more enjoyable by sharing their passion. 

#thank you dear #i know we are both frustrated lately but we will get there #i believe in you #and i try to believe in myself too #it's fine #and doing things like these might be motivating? #or bring things into perspective #anyway #here i go #tag game #personal #writing

[ollyarchive]

Interview

Olly Alexander on success, sanity and It's a Sin: 'All those hot guys. I loved it!'

Simon Hattenstone

The Years & Years frontman is starring in Russell T Davies’ new drama about the Aids crisis. He talks about bulimia, his ‘dark’ clubbing days – and how he learned to enjoy filming sex scenes

Mon 11 Jan 2021 06.00 GMT

Olly Alexander was so certain he was destined for success that he saw a therapist to help him prepare for his future fame. It was 2014 and his band Years & Years had just signed to Polydor when he visited the shrink.

“I said: ‘The album’s coming out and I really want it to be successful,’ and he said: ‘What happens if it isn’t?’ I said: ‘Well, that’s not an option because I have planned it in my diary since I was a teenager.’”

That diary was less about chronicling the present than a series of promises he made to himself. “I planned my life till I was 25. I would be a famous musician ’cos musicians were the coolest people in the world. The biggest thing in the list was buying my mum a house, and I did that. That was the coolest thing to be able to do with my money.” He smiles. “That was the coolest thing ever.”

Now Alexander might well benefit from another visit to the shrink because he’s about to become a lot more famous. He stars in It’s a Sin, the brilliant new TV drama by Russell T Davies, about a group of young gay men living and dying through the Aids epidemic in the 1980s. The five-part series is funny, vibrant, sexy and heartbreaking.

This is by no means the first time Alexander has acted – he has appeared in the TV series Skins, films such as Bright Star (about Keats), Gulliver’s Travels and Great Expectations, and on stage in the West End alongside Judi Dench and Ben Whishaw in Peter and Alice; a pretty impressive CV. But with It’s a Sin, he knows he has struck gold. “Some actors would wait their entire careers and not get such a good role,” Alexander says, and he’s right. Davies has made a habit of creating groundbreaking TV series (Queer As Folk, Bob and Rose, Torchwood), and this is his best yet.

Alexander’s character, Ritchie Tozer, is an aspiring actor/singer who has just moved to London from the Isle of Wight in search of fame, fortune and a good shagging. He embraces his new freedoms with promiscuous abandon, while also struggling with his sexuality. Ritchie is equally cocky and vulnerable, lovable and insufferable.

Although It’s a Sin takes place in a time before Alexander was born, he says there are so many ways he relates to Ritchie’s life. There is one crucial difference – whereas Ritchie is secretive, Alexander is an open book. If there’s anything to tell you, he’ll tell you, even if he is embarrassed a second later about his indiscretions. It’s an endearing quality, and one that makes him great company.

We meet in his agent’s east London office in December, when Tier 4 restrictions are yet to kick in. Alexander is a boyish 30 – half punk, half catwalk model, with orange hair, earrings, multiple rings, stylish khaki trousers and a handful of inky tattoos. He is garrulous and giggly with a huge toothy grin.

Like Ritchie, Alexander was a stranger to city life when he came to London. He was born in North Yorkshire, went to primary school in Blackpool and Gloucestershire, and a comprehensive in Monmouth, south Wales. He was a natural performer who wrote his first song at the age of 10. “I performed it in my year six assembly.” Can he remember it? He squirms. “Yeah!” Let’s hear it then? “No!” Oh go on! “OK, OK. ‘The leaves are falling outside my window. I’m lay here all alone,” he sings quietly, in that delicate falsetto. He giggles, blushes and continues. “And now I’m a knowin’, the way it’s goin’, we won’t last for ever, for ever my love.’”

Wow, those lyrics are pretty sophisticated – and melancholy. He giggles again. “Oh thanks. It’s about unrequited love. Doomed love. I was getting in early on my themes. I had a bit of help from my dad.” He wrote it after experiencing his first pangs – for a boy in his class.

At secondary school Alexander was a victim of homophobic bullying. He responded with elan. “I would still come to non-uniform day in eyeliner.” Did he fight back? “Sometimes I would scream. I was not a good fighter. We did rugby a lot at my school – a Welsh school. The one time I scored a try, on the way back to the changing room the two popular boys from the year put their arms around me and said: ‘Well done, Olly,” and I was like: ‘I can’t believe it, this is it!’” He pauses long enough for me to get a glowing feeling. “Then they tripped me up and pushed my face into the mud. That was hard to live down.” After that he never went to another games lesson.

When he was 13, his parents separated, and from then he was brought up by his mother, events organiser Vicki Thornton (his real surname – Alexander is his middle name). His father had been a talented but disappointed singer-songwriter who made a living marketing theme parks. Although he gave young Olly a lifelong passion for adventure rides, there were tensions between the two of them. After his parents split up, he broke off contact with his father. When Alexander became successful, his father tried to rekindle their relationship via Twitter. Alexander wasn’t impressed.

With the sod-you eyeliner and supreme belief that he would make it, he sounds incredibly robust. So what else was in that teenage diary? “Pppprrrr.” He blows his lips as if feeling a sudden chill. “It’s a bit dark. I used to write that I really wanted to be skinny.” He exhales deeply. “My mantra was always: I’m not going to eat this again, I’m not going to eat cake again. I’m never going to eat pasta.” He was barely into his teens when he became bulimic and started to list the things he wouldn’t eat. Actually, he says it was worse than that. “I was writing down: don’t eat, don’t eat, don’t eat. Did he have a weight problem? “I was a little chubby at primary school, but no.” What does he think it came from? “It was something I could control. I felt very out of control in the rest of my life. I was struggling with my sexuality, my parents were divorcing, and I wanted to punish myself.”

I want to give him a hug, but I’m not sure he would appreciate it, particularly in the pandemic. Why did he want to punish himself? “It was self-loathing. I didn’t want to be gay. I was convinced I was the reason my parents were splitting up.” He never considered that their divorce may have had nothing to do with him.

He started to cut himself, too. Has he still got the scars? He points to his upper arms and thighs, “because people can’t see there. I was deeply ashamed of doing it. I wanted to hide it.” Are there many scars? “No. A friend saw a plaster on my arm and jokingly asked if I’d been cutting myself. After that, I was so embarrassed that I mostly stopped doing it. Bulimia carried on well into my 2os, but it became less and less frequent. It’s really hard to hold down any kind of job if you’re throwing up food all the time, and ultimately you have to choose.” It becomes a full-time occupation? “Yes, it’s all you think about. And you’re doing so much damage to your organs. I got taken into hospital once with my mum because I had this irregular heartbeat, which can happen through constant purging, and that really scared me. I thought I’d done something irreparable to my body, and my mum was so distraught. She couldn’t understand why her son was throwing up all the food she was trying to give him. She found out because I hadn’t cleaned the toilet properly.”

After studying performing arts at Hereford College of Arts, he moved to London and was liberated. He had a heady time of it – more drugs, clubbing and sex than even he had hoped for, while also getting regular work as an actor. But there was a downside. He saw friends struggle, sacrifice themselves to excess, fall by the wayside. “Everything was about going out and connecting with people at the clubs. I had a great time, but it was also a dark time. A lot of people took too many drugs. A few friends attempted to take their lives and one succeeded. That was devastating. You can see how easy it is for a party lifestyle to turn into something negative.”

Alexander has a strong survival instinct. There was his destiny to fulfil, the house to buy for his mother. He still struggled with his mental health, so he cut down on the destructive stuff. Today, he says, his main drug of choice is the antidepressant sertraline. “I was worried about longterm use, and the doctor said: ‘Well, the latest research shows it can promote neurogenesis, and I was like that’s the coolest thing ever.” Neurogenesis is the process by which new neurons are formed in the brain. “She was basically saying antidepressants are giving you superpowers, and I was like: ‘Amazing, I’ll keep taking them for ever.’” He starts giggling, and he can’t stop. “Neurogenesis – ooh, I love that. I’m going to be neuro-supercharged.”

Years & Years formed in 2010. Founder member and synth/bass/keyboard player Mikey Goldsworthy heard Alexander singing in the shower and asked if he wanted to become lead singer. When Alexander joined, Years & Years were a five-piece band, before shrinking to an electropop trio (Alexander, Goldsworthy and fellow guitarist and keyboard guru Emre Türkmen). Alexander, the main songwriter, has an ear for great sweeping choruses (think Sam Smith meets Pet Shop Boys with a dash of New Order). Their first album, Communion, went to No 1 in the UK, while the song King topped the singles chart and its follow-up, Shine, reached No 2. Many of their songs are about yearning and doomed love – particularly on their second album, Palo Santo – just like the first one he wrote aged 10.

Alexander also became known as an LGBTQ campaigner. He made a documentary, Growing Up Gay, for the BBC in which he talked to his mother in a tear-filled exchange about coming out; he also interviewed people about struggles with their sexuality, the pressure to be promiscuous and take drugs, and addressed schoolchildren about homophobia and mental health problems. Does he think of himself as an activist? He shakes his head. “It does a disservice to actual activists. There’s a tendency to use that word for anyone in the public eye speaking up about any issue. Going into schools and talking about mental health isn’t activism. I like doing that. If I can be helpful, I want to help.”

The week before we meet he was named celebrity of the year at the British LGBT awards. He doesn’t know why – he says he didn’t do anything in 2020. “Maybe they heard about my upcoming role and got in there early!”

He says he has learned so much from making It’s a Sin – not least about acting, and how tough it can be. “Doing an acting job where you have to turn up every day is really challenging. I was so used to my musician lifestyle, which is usually: get up late, get in a car, get driven to an airport, get on a plane, fall asleep, arrive somewhere, get driven to the venue, roll out of the car and do the show. It was too much like hard work every day. I thought I’d got past this!”

We see a lot of Alexander in It’s a Sin – in every sense. He gets more than his share of sex scenes, and says it was fascinating being taught how to do them properly. So he enjoyed them? “All those hot guys. That aspect I loved! And going into it I thought, I’m going to have so much fun doing this, I’m a confident-ish guy, love having sex, it will be great.” That’s so refreshing, I say, to hear actors admit they enjoy sex scenes.

Ah, well, he says, it wasn’t quite that simple – he initially became self-conscious. “I broke down into hysterical tears, like ‘don’t fucking touch me’. I found it really hard.” Then the intimacy coordinators got to work on him. “They were a life-changing experience. Intimacy coordinators are there for safety ’cos there’s a lot of shit that can go wrong between what a director wants and what an actor wants, and boundaries being crossed. They’re there to rehearse everything beforehand with the director and the performers. You talk about animals you might imitate, the sounds you make.” He pays tribute to intimacy coordinator extraordinaire Ita O’Brien, who introduced the Intimacy on Set guidelines in 2017 and worked on Normal People as well as It’s a Sin. “Anything with sex in it, she’ll be involved. She’ll be on all fours at one point, saying: ‘Now I’m going to be like a cow and moo in ecstasy.’ She’s amazing, amazing, amazing.” And yes, he did start to enjoy the scenes.

Did he find them arousing? Now it’s my turn to blush and I apologise for the question. Did he start to enjoy it too much? “No, that’s what I want to know. What if someone gets a hard-on – how embarrassing would that be? Ita said: ‘It’s natural and normal for certain body parts to get excited and if you get an erection that’s absolutely fine, but it’s not appropriate for the workplace.’” He adds a caveat: “Depending on what kind of job you’re doing. And she said: ‘If that happens, you just take a time out. So you’re all there thinking, OK, how embarrassing – because you say time out and everybody knows it’s because you’ve got a hard-on. Hahahhaa!” Did he have to take a time out? “No!” Did anyone? “Not to my knowledge.”

Who did he have most fun with? “I’d say best kiss was the guy who plays Ash [newcomer Nathaniel Curtis]. Great kisser.” And the best shag? “Sexual simulation,” he corrects me. “Best sexual simulation was Roscoe [Omari Douglas, another relative newcomer].” Has he told them? “It’s all coming out in this article, Simon.” And I can sense him calibrating what he has just said. “It’s going to ruin my standing!” But a second later he changes his mind. “No, that’s a compliment right? I compliment them both. Hahahaha!” And he laughs giddily.

I ask about the future. You sense he’s not sure where to go from here, acting-wise – that it can’t get any better than It’s a Sin. Fortunately, he owes the band an album’s worth of songs. He had them done and dusted before the pandemic. “But all that time in my flat going insane made me realise I didn’t like any of the music, it didn’t feel relevant. I just wanted to start again, which is what I did. Now it’s almost ready – again.”

It will be only their third album in seven years. “I know,” he says. “It’s embarrassing. Ariana Grande has had about five out in the time we’ve done one.” In the meantime, he says, Türkmen has had one baby, with another on the way.

What about his own love life? “It’s pretty dire.” Sex? “I’m hopeful to have more sex … it’s very difficult in the age of Covid if you’re single. I actually tried to lock someone down who would be my ‘friends with benefits’ sex buddy, because I saw that Holland were advising people to do that. In the first lockdown I said: ‘Look, we can just have sex with each other. I trust you, you trust me, we’re not together, but this is an arrangement. I’ve not had sex in six months, what do you think?’ But he said no. I was quite upset. So yeah, not a lot of sex in 2020.” For a split-second, the puckish Alexander looks forlorn. Then he grins his toothiest grin yet. “But I’m hopeful that it will pick up in the new year!”

It’s a Sin is on Channel 4 on 22 January at 9pm

#olly alexander #years & years #years and years #yearsandyears #articles #guardian #interviews #itsasin #boys #acting #television

[regrettablewritings]

Preferences: Guilty Pleasures

Characters: Okoye, Lucifer Morningstar, Dewey Finn, Peter B. Parker, Ahkmenrah

Okoye

Okoye is straightforward and stony upon first impressions. And, admittedly, even afterward. The only real difference is that, if one gets to know her better, they might find shock in the fact that in spite of her appearance, she Dora leader actually likes sweets. However, it’s not sweet things in general that Okoye feels guilty for enjoying: It’s Starbucks.

Starbucks is the antithesis of everything Okoye is associated with: Supremely un-Wakandan, a chain establishment, and overall just not worth the absurd cost. Not to mention superbly unhealthy when compared to the rest of a fighter’s typical diet. But yet you can bet that every time she needs to go out of the country or off-continent, there’s an invasive shout for joy at the possibility that she might be able to get her hands on a Frappucino (followed by an internal scolding).

She can’t even explain exactly why she likes it; there are plenty of good, even healthier sweet things back in Wakanda -- heck, back anywhere else!

But it’s a bit like when someone craves the cheap taste of school pizza over a legit pie cooked in a stone hearth: She just loves the sugary sweetness, the application of whipped cream to an already tooth-rottingly saccharine icy drink, the addition of chocolate. But Bast, she also hates it. But ever since T’Challa practically shoved a grande cup of caramel frappucino into her hands, she hasn’t felt entirely the same.

Against her better judgement, she’s more or less unintentionally tried 45% of the menu drink-wise. She doesn’t particularly care much for the food part of the establishment, though if she should ever find herself in one during the fall, she might indulge in a chunky slice of pumpkin bread under the conviction that it’s healthy enough for being gourd-related. Never mind that it’s just a cinnamon mixture with more sugar than actual pumpkin-derived anything.

Really, of all those mentioned on this list, Okoye is the one who probably feels the most disappointed in herself whenever she indulges in her guilty pleasure: It’s a betrayal to her patriotism, to her dignity, and to her attempts to eat healthy. But damn, if this type of betrayal doesn’t taste so addicting . . .

Lucifer Morningstar

The thing about Lucifer is that it’s actually a bit hard for him to feel any regrets over liking anything; he’s the Devil, after all, so his whole thing is about embracing the things that make you feel good. And even besides that, he’s mostly managed to skate by in his time on Earth by categorizing things as Stuff He Likes, Stuff He Tolerates, Stuff He Doesn’t Bother With, and Stuff Humans Seem to Enjoy But He Doesn’t Quite Get. It’s a tad restricted of a system but you can’t argue with results.

However, just because something is difficult doesn’t mean that it’s impossible. The Devil can, in fact, recognize absurdity in liking certain things. Hence why, to a point, he’s fallen prey to his own bizarre pleasures: The Devil has guilty pleasures, and it’s in stupid YouTube videos, Vine, and TikTok.

After he finally drank the Kool-Aid and got himself a smart phone, it was only a matter of time before Lucifer fell down the rabbit hole that is YouTube prank videos and strange uploads about nonsense and animal humor. It was also only a matter of time before he found himself stumbling into Vine compilations. The Celestial is terrifically mystified by the creative power of humans, managing to tell entire stories and peak comedy in only a span of seven seconds. But he’s also quite loathe to have realized it’s been long defunct by the time he’s discovered it.

He’s even more loathe to find himself making references in his daily life: He has actually quietly blurted out, “I sure hope it does” in response to seeing a Road Work Ahead sign, causing Chloe some confusion (and Lucifer lots of embarrassment). He has referred to a culprit as “Jared, Age 19″. Since discovering Vine, there has been at least one night wherein he and a bed mate were sitting there with barbecue sauce on his tiddies, but that was by sheer coincidence.

But eventually the Vine compilation well dried up, and the inevitable transfer over to TikTok happened. And Luci honestly doesn’t know what to make of TikTok. He would describe it as Vine’s Molly-addicted cousin based on its obsession with dancing, but the dances are so stationary that even that doesn’t seem quite right. The videos on the platform are also much more . . . bizarre. And some of them admittedly trigger a fight-or-flight response in him, to which he always chooses the third option of freezing if only so he can keep watching the train wreck unfold before his eyes.

The trouble with TikTok, he’ll admit to himself, is that it’s not as easy to find iconic content the same way he could with Vine. However, this isn’t to say that he hasn’t found anything worth watching over and over and over again . . .

(Let’s just say the “Wolf Pack Compilation” lives in his head rent-free, and he’s both too amused by it and too overwhelmed by its vibe to try and evict it.)

Dewey Finn

Dewey is . . . a special case. Given that he associates messy living and indulging in one’s pleasure a part of the rocker lifestyle, he’s generally quick to embrace whatever makes him happy. He’s very upfront about his interests and is arguably almost incapable of feeling shame. But it’s in there: Deep down. No, not in himself -- in his Spotify. Specifically, a Spotify account made on an email he never uses because it was made specifically to create this separate, uber secret playlist.

One marked “Actual Musical Bops.”

Dewey hates musicals: They’re cheesy, uninspired, gaudy, ridiculous, totally aimed at chicks with weird fantasies that he could never aspire to, and the music is just overall unimpressive. And yet, somehow, against his music elitist nature, a handful have managed to slip through the cracks. At the very least, a handful of numbers have clawed their way past his defenses and into his ear, where they now live rent-free.

In spite of his best efforts, the problems are that he’s a New Yorker, so it’s inevitable that he hears a song or two; and also that, as an instructor (to wealthy New York tweens whose families can afford frequent tripes to the Great White Way, no less), he’s definitely going to wind up hearing about some shows and their stand-out numbers: Against his will, he knows the lyrics to “My Shot”; he has cried in the secrecy of his apartment to “When I Grow Up”; in the never-necessary reason he needs to remember how many minutes there are in a year, he sings it inside his head; hell, he’s even found himself trying to figure out the electric guitar riff from “The Phantom of the Opera” during his down time.

What’s all the more embarrassing is that, given how he presents himself as a music elitist, there’s just no way he can come back from this if anyone were to know. He has to catch himself when he finds himself humming “Johanna” in the teacher’s lounge. He scowls at himself when he can’t sleep and gives in and starts playing “No One is Alone.” He wants to kick his thick ass every time he realizes he’s excited to have stumbled across a “slime tutorial” on YouTube, this one with better quality than the last. The reason he actually put a password on his phone wasn’t out of privacy like a sensible person would, but out of a need to make sure that no one ever found out that he had downloaded the entire Beetlejuice soundtrack, including jankily-recorded songs that never made it to the official cast recording for whatever reason!

And should anyone ever find out about any of this, Dewey has a plan: “Oh, I’m doing research. I’m studying these songs so I can give the kids a lesson on what not to do as actually competent musicians.”

But the lesson would never actually come. Mainly because he keeps prolonging his “research” . . .

He’s also developed a bit of a soft spot for My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic due to some students gushing about it, but he would rather sooner die than ever be associated with the term “brony.”

Peter B. Parker

Peter is at a point where he’s too tired to really care about the idea of guilty pleasures. The way he sees it, there are bigger priorities at stake than worrying about someone finding out about your love of some hokey activity or food or form of entertainment.

Besides, he’s a New Yorker: There’s way weirder stuff for people to just not pay any real attention to. Hence why he thinks nothing of his bizarre eating habits. And no, this isn’t referring to his disastrous appetite: This is about his tendency to eat food with his hands. Foods that, well, he really should probably utilize eating utensils for.

To be fair, this habit has always existed in him in some form or another, especially since, as Spider-Man, he often needs to eat food on the go. But during the time he spent living the life of a depressed bachelor, it came out in full force. On the rare occasion he wasn’t eating a food that deserved to be eaten by hand, he often found himself loathing the idea of doing the dishes afterward. There would be days he’d feel only slightly less depressed; enough to make a box of Kraft Mac n Cheese in the pot, but not enough to avoid cutting out the middle man.

He’s thankful the craptastic apartment wasn’t also see-through because if it were, he’s positive his neighbors would’ve thought they were bearing witness to a man’s breakdown as he wept into a pot of macaroni and cheese, his hand full of the stuff, while wearing a Spider-Man costume. (And, to be fair, they actually would be.)

In addition to this, there were also those nights where he would be prepared to actually tuck in to a plate of spaghetti, only for some crime going on elsewhere in the city to drag him away. By the time he’d return, the plate would’ve been cold and his energy too depleted to want to even dream about cleaning more than he already had to.

The great news is that he’s thankfully done a 180, now able and willing (if begrudgingly) to clean up after himself. But bad news is that this feral man will still eat a fully-loaded baked potato like an apple. In a park. In front of women and children. He’s just too tired to care anymore. He’s aware of the guilt in this as a concept, but he’s also aware that he needs to take whatever happiness he can get out of whatever he does. And if that means eating everything by hand, then so be it!

Ahkmenrah

Funnily enough, Ahkmenrah doesn’t seem to experience much of any shame for enjoying the things most might feel the need to hide: He’s constantly curious and has missed out on a lot over the centuries, so why should he feel bad for wanting to indulge in them? Celebrity gossip is just a more fun version of the palace gossip he’d grown up hearing as a boy; reality TV is like watching a play, but with much more fights, less deaths, and more faulty romances; and sloppy meatball subs are like a feast for a man of his time!

Besides, he’s a king: Kings shouldn’t have to feel embarrassment over what the common folk might think.

And yet . . . It took some time, but eventually Ahkmenrah did experience it: Guilt in his pleasures.

He couldn’t even recall where it had all started. Maybe he was searching for more content to swallow after the most recent season of his new favorite show had ended? Whatever the case, he wound up biting off more than he could chew when he stumbled upon . . . fanfiction.

The adorable yet sad thing is that he didn’t even think anything of it at first. It wasn’t until he brought up a ship he’d invested his last few nights awake exploring on the computer: Nobody knew what the crap he was talking about, so of course he felt the need to explain it. But the more he talked, the more perplexed his friends looked. And the more he could feel his cheeks and ears burn.

Oh, he thought. Is this . . . embarrassment? Is that what this feels like? Oh, this is just foul.

Thankfully, nobody pressured him to keep talking about it, but the poor king sure as heck didn’t feel much of a desire to talk any further about it. But he needed to talk to somebody about his newly acquired “feels” as those online were calling them.

Joining fanfiction-oriented sites was the next obvious step, of course, but he’s experienced mixed feelings about it: On one hand, it’s nice to talk with people who share similar views and excitement about a fictional couple. But on the other, the digital wars that have broken out both disturb him and bring out the worst in him.

Like, of course there are bigger things to deal with than whether or not So-So is better off with Him-Ham, but if you truly think that Blah-Blah and Himhaw are a healthy relationship, then you can go do a service and bury yourself in the desert sands to provide substance to the hungry beetles with your flesh --

Suffice to say, a lot of the guilt in this pleasure seems to come from the fact that Ahk can get a little too emotionally invested if the work is really good. He tries to limit his interactions to commenting and praising certain works, and encouraging content creators. However, he’s also contemplated contributing his own pieces of fiction to the fandom . . .

#okoye #lucifer morningstar imagines #dewey finn #peter b parker imagines #ahkmenrah #okoye imagines #lucifer imagines #dewey finn imagines #ahkmenrah imagines #regrettablewritings #spiderman into the spiderverse imagines #spiderman itsv imagines #spiderman imagines #i tried posting this on my phone and it literally fucking deleted EVERYTHING #anyway @staff: the fuck is up? fix that shit because now i literally cannot post SHIT on my phone from my laptop #preference #preferences

[sparkwhorunswithwolves]

“The next day Scott apologizes to Allison, who’s a little bit upset. But hey, Scott’s a werewolf, so I mean, what are you gonna do, say no?”

//

Of all the things that confused me for a long time, among the most confusing was Scott/Posey Stans’ simultaneously held beliefs that Scott McCall would be the bestest werewolf ever and yet somehow remain a toxic human disaster worthy of pity. All the things that make Scott McCall that disaster – his insecurities, his lack of empathy, his bigotry, his hypocrisy, his abusive tendencies and behavior, his possessive instincts – also make him an absolute horror as a werewolf.

How many times did Scott lash out in anger at people he professed to care about just because they didn’t do what he wanted them to do? How many times did Scott lie and conceal important information from others for his own benefit? How many times did Scott’s mother, girlfriends and friends complain about not being able to help if they don’t know? How many times did Scott charge headlong into situations with no plan whatsoever solely focused on fulfilling his own emotional needs? If it wasn’t for Stiles and Derek, Scott would have been killed off by the hunters and by Peter Hale after exposing his own kind during one of his jealous fits/dick measuring contests with Jackson in Season 1. If it wasn’t for Stiles and Derek, Scott would have hurt Allison and killed Jackson out of jealousy.

Scott knew that becoming a werewolf gave him the power to protect the people he cares about (which includes managing their image of him) and the power to force said protection on them. Teen Wolf S5A and B proved that Scott McCall will lie and manipulate and cheat and gaslight and commit premeditated murder to keep things under his control until he can’t any more; then he’ll explode, whine, throw another one of his self important temper tantrums, and attempt to blame others for his own failures. Why do you think Scott McCall’s body count is higher then the villains’?

Remember how Scott reacted when he found out that Isaac liked Allison? Isaac was a goner the moment he interacted with “HIS” woman. Scott never ever had the slightest hesitation (or any regret) about physically punishing him. Dead man walking. In fact, the only reason Scott stopped abusing Isaac in front of Melissa was because he started preying on the new girl on campus and, quoting Tyler Posey’s own words, “Kira is a good distraction for Scott.”

Perhaps that’s what Scott stans mean when they wax lyrical over how much of an incredible wolf and ‘true alpha’ Scott makes in self-insert Scott McCall Supremacist fan fiction after self insert Scott McCall Supremacist fan fiction: they admire how many innocent people Scott murders and how many abuse victims Scott maims, abuses and violates while working out his delusions of grandeur, pathological jealousy and emotional issues.

Scott McCall had that 10-episode span where he plotted/conspired with Deaton and Gerard Argent against Derek Hale and his Pack behind everyone’s back; which culminated in self proclaimed hero and ruler of Beacon Hills Scott violating Derek’s boundaries, bodily autonomy and consent and committing premeditated attempted murder just because: “He threatened my mom! I had no choice!”

And yet, the Scott McCall defense squad trolls are adamant that Scott immediately flipped an emotional control switch and resolved all his issues. Of course Scott McCall wouldn’t lash out and savagely attack the moment his friends chose to kick his whiny ass to the curb for good or suggested that Scott didn’t have the right to make their decisions for them. Nope! Ice-cold control. Clear loyalties, superior morality and leadership skills. A good, nurturing friend, boyfriend and werewolf and a true blessing to the pack. /sarcasm

While canon shows us that Scott McCall is a flop wolf (even his only beta Liam and his girlfriend Malia called him a failure to his face in Season 5), everything in canon confirms that Stiles Stilinski would make a magnificent werewolf. Born Wolf Peter Hale has always known this – that’s why he offers Stiles the Bite in Season 1 and then shamelessly admits that he NEVER stopped fantasizing about biting/turning Stiles in Season 6.

In conclusion: if Teen Wolf had revolved around the Hale Pack and family and werewolf Stiles and/or Dark Stiles & Void Stiles like viewers wanted, it would have been a better and much more interesting show than whatever Scott/Posey crap-show we got (and it would have lasted longer, too.)

The Teen Wolf writers and producers should have killed Scott McCall off in Season 1 Episode 1 and replaced him with Vernon Boyd or Kira Yukimura instead.

~•~

https://princeescaluswords.tumblr.com/post/623259473284399104/another-thing-fandom-claims-a-story-about-the#notes There. Fixed it for you canon and reality wise @ princeescaluswords

---

Ohhh, do I have opinions about… all of those things. So, in no particular order:

Hale pack; Hale pack 2.0; werewolf Stiles; pretty sure I answered Boyd as the MC before; Kira; 

Did I ever actually post that TW would have to deal with fundamentally different themes if Stiles/Allion were bitten instead or did I just go nope NaNo project?

Okay, let’s see, how would a show that actually focused on worldbuilding, werewolf dynamics/culture outside of “I’m the alpha now”, and pack-as-family be more interesting than a show about what is either the most hilariously bad excuse for a Good Guy™, or an unsatisfying good guy turned villain story that didn’t realise that we were actually interested in the character’s lives outside of Scott?

With the Hale pack 2.0, the show would be about rebuilding that, about human and werewolf norms clashing, and finding a middle ground that isn’t “you’ll heal/werewolves made them do it”.

Because TW does have so much potential for all those things, but Scott’s not interested in them unless it directly affects or benefits him; but we never see non-abusive pack dynamics.

And this might just be because I grew up with wolfblood/still haven’t finished the order, but actually seeing that kind of pack bonding/history outside of “let’s save the day” is so much more interesting. 

-

Werewolf!Stiles is interesting, because I can and have seen it both ways with a pretty even split?

(I’ve also answered Stiles saying yes to the bbite at least twice now, and that answer hasn’t changed. Unless it’s time travel. post5a/b Stiles asking Peter or Derek for the bite would be hilarious.)

First off, “Stiles would kill everyone he lies about giving a shit about!1!1!” is absolutely hilarious, given that Scott was the one who tried to kill Stiles, hurt and only didn’t kill Jackson because Derek and Stiles interfered, hurt Isaac, because of “control issues”. But sure, Stiles is the one who would kill everyone on sight. /sarcasm

Okay, so. Stiles wants to be part of this world, does everything he can to learn about it and knows when you can’t do something because werewolves. He has also shown that he’s willing to make sacrifices (skipping the lacrosse game in 1x9(?)/Eichen House in 3b/the relationship with his dad) if it meant keeping people safe, because he knew not doing those things would hurt people more than they could benefit him. 

(Meanwhile we have Scott “being bullied” into playing lacrosse/not caring if The Darkness™ hurt anyone— Isaac or anyone at school/lied to his mom, Allison, Kira constantly. Go figure)

Other than that, I honestly can’t tell how much control I would want canon!Stiles to have. Because with fic, I could go either way, for obvious I need to fixate on something other than adhd and werewolves, please, reasons, but canon? I don’t think perfect control on at least the first full moon is something that's actually possible given, you know, canon. And depending on if you go with Stiles being bitten instead of Scott, it’s not a particularly interesting story. 

But everything in canon suggests that he would be self aware enough to know that, and not go to a party like a certain other person I will not name here. 

-

But that’s one of the main— issues I have with this line of thinking. It’s always how would this compare to Scott. You always outdo the other, when you can’t really compare it in the sense they are both very different people, who are going to handle the same situation very differently. Scott’s go to response when Shit Happens is to avoid it for as long as possible by distracting himself with school/lacrosse/gf of the season; while, despite for that throwaway line, Stiles always needs to be there— he researches werewolves, stalks Theo, helps the Hales. 

As I said before, neither is the most thought out or safe option, both are a normal response, but you can’t— It’s hard to compare them because Scott got bitten “because of” Stiles, and didn’t have any how to werewolf 101 he really listened to. While with Stiles it’s either a) him getting “himself” bitten that night and being excited about it, b) him wanting the bite, knowing what to expect, with a lot less trauma, c) getting bitten without consent but with that understanding of what is happening. 

-

Now, Kira’s story is something I would pay good money to actually see done right. Because can you imagine of they did kill off Scott in 3a, and Kira had to navigate a) BH’s drama, b) coming into her own powers, c) actually dealing with not being fucking told about that, and d) not being fucking lied to end just getting yeeted into the desert?

#teen wolf #anti scott mccall #at least this one is under 1k lmao #idk if this makes sense my brain doesn't like words atm #on a completely unrelated note I'm two scenes from Werewolf Yoda™ #and I can't wait to actuall write that tomorrow #Kira's part would have gotten longer but words are hard #and while wolfy stiles/hales have been an interest for a while #going into detail with her would be a whole new narrative that would completely screw over my nano #also who doesn't want domestic werewolves? #submission

[tell-me-when-ur-ready]

This Thing Called Love (part one)

Summary: When Shawn meets dancer Kellie in Toronto, he falls for her—hard. But Kellie has an invisible disability and thinks it’s impossible that someone could really love her the way she is.

Author’s note: I have multiple chronic illnesses that are similar to Kellie’s, but I don’t have the same exact health conditions she does. I’ve done lots of research, but I apologize if I get anything wrong!

Warnings: tiny bit of language

Word count: 1,400

It was May and only 11:00 in the morning, but it was already blazing hot by the time Kellie Martin stepped into the Toronto coffee shop for a drink. She flipped up her sunglasses and looked around; it was a Wednesday, and the place—a sophisticated (and expensive, she noticed with a grimace) yet homey café with green plants springing out of every nook and cranny—was busy.

“I can take whoever’s next,” the barista called, and with a quick glance at the menu, Kellie stepped up to the counter to place her order.

“It’ll probably be a few minutes,” the barista said when Kellie had finished paying, and Kellie nodded her head; that was fine with her. She wasn’t really focused on her coffee order, anyway—instead, she was mentally rehearsing her competition piece for the weekend, going through lyrics and steps and beats in her mind.

When Kellie’s name was called a few minutes later, she picked up her coffee and food absently, too out of it to even notice the predictable misspelling of her name. Music was still playing in her head, and she was chanting steps under her breath. Her mind was in the dance studio, not the coffee shop—that is, until she collided with something big, warm, and soft and felt a splash of hot coffee land on her chest.

“Shit, I’m so sorry,” said a familiar voice. Kellie looked up and blinked, unable to process what she was seeing. Shawn Mendes was standing in front of her, his phone dangling from his hand and one curl dangling over his forehead, wincing apologetically at the brown stain on her white shirt.

“Let me get you a napkin,” he said, turning toward the counter. He grabbed a fistful of napkins and held them out.

 “Thanks,” Kellie said dumbly, juggling everything she was holding so she could dab at her shirt. She felt like she was moving on autopilot. She had just quite literally run into Shawn Mendes—what were the chances?

 “I’m so sorry about that,” Shawn said. Kellie shook her head, tossing the napkins (which hadn’t helped much) in the trash.

 “It’s okay. It was really my fault. I wasn’t watching where I was going.”

 Somewhere in the back of her mind, another Kellie was sitting back with arms crossed, sagely nodding her head and congratulating real-life Kellie on acting so cool and composed when Shawn Peter Raul Mendes was in front of her (yes—she knew his full name).

 She expected him to end the conversation then, to walk past her and place his order and go back to his life. But he didn’t. Instead, he shoved his phone into his pocket and kept looking at her, his gaze open and earnest.

 “What did you get? I’ve never been here,” Shawn said next, nodding at the cup and the bag in her hand (against her better judgment, she’d gone over budget and gotten two things because it all looked so good).

 “You’ve never been here before?” she asked, surprised. Toronto was his hometown—she figured he would know his way around all the coffee shops.

 “Nuh-uh. It’s pretty new. And I’ve been traveling.” He paused and looked at her more closely, his eyebrows scrunching together. Someone brushed past him and he moved over a few steps without taking his eyes off of hers. “Do you live here?”

 Kellie shook her head. “I’m from Atlanta. If you couldn’t tell.” She didn’t think she had a southern accent, but other people regularly informed her that she did.

 “Well, I could definitely tell you’re not from here,” he said, a quick grin flashing across his face. “So—what’s good?”

 “Oh! This is just a latte and this”—she shook the bag dangling from her fingers—“is a gluten-free brownie.”

 “I don’t eat gluten either,” he said, eyes lighting up a little at something they seemed to have in common. “Doesn’t it make you feel so much better?”

 And that was it—Kellie was out. She forced a smile, but the warning bells were going off; she was done. She tried to paste a polite look on her face, but Shawn must have noticed the change in her manner. As she tried to pull away and end the conversation, he reached out, fingers briefly brushing over her forearm.

 “Hey, what are you in Toronto for?”

 “A dance competition,” Kellie said reluctantly, turning back. Yes, it was Shawn Mendes and no, his comment hadn’t been that bad—but she’d been traveling all day yesterday, she could feel the beginnings of a migraine pushing at the corners of her vision, and she just wanted to go back to her hotel room and be alone.

 “Oh, really?”

 He perked up, and Kellie felt herself warming to him a little.

 “Yeah. I’m actually—” She paused, suddenly feeling a little shy. “I’m competing a lyrical dance to In My Blood.”

 She’d spent every night she could in the studio the last three months, his voice in her ears, the city lights twinkling outside, trying to jump and twirl and dance away the pain and confusion. Which is why it was so strange for him to be standing in front of her now, flesh and blood, all 6’2” of him (she was 5’7” and had never felt so short). She shared such an intimate relationship with his music, she’d kind of forgotten he was a real person.

 “No way!” He laughed. “That’s so cool. Good luck.”

 Kellie nodded and smiled her thanks, and there was a beat of awkward silence. She glanced around the coffee shop, still bustling—she noticed a teenage girl staring at her and Shawn—and was about to try again to make her escape (what was she even doing, standing here holding a full-on conversation with Shawn Mendes?) when he spoke again.

 “Hey, I’m—well, this is kind of a secret, but I’m filming a music video in a few weeks and I need dancers. Do you… well… could I have your number?”

 He blushed a little when he said it, and Kellie raised her eyebrows, his gluten-free comment forgotten. This was getting interesting.

 “You’ve never seen me dance,” she pointed out. “You know nothing about me. I could be an ax murderer, or—”

 He scoffed. “I highly doubt—” but she went on, talking over him.

 “—or just one of your millions of fans who says she can dance because she took a year of ballet when she was a kid,” Kellie finished.

 Shawn shrugged and spread his hands, a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. “Fair enough,” he said. “But my team will be looking at lots of dancers, I’m sure, and we might as well throw your name in the ring. I mean, I guess they will. I’m not normally involved in that stuff, but—”

 “Then why are you doing this now?” Kellie said, a half-genuine, half-confused and exasperated laugh slipping from her lips.

 “Just give me your number,” he said with a sheepish laugh, a slight flush rising on his cheeks.

 “Fine.”

 He typed her name and number into his phone and said he’d get her in touch with the right people on his team; Kellie, ready for this bizarre conversation to be over, said she wouldn’t keep him any longer and sidled away. And finally she was out of the coffee shop, striding down the sidewalk with her forgotten drink in hand, back to her hotel and dance and her real life.

 Did she want to see Shawn again? Um, yes. Absolutely. But was there any way she could be in his music video—or, a tiny voice added inside her as she remembered those hazel eyes and the one curl that kept flopping over his forehead, be with him any other way (not that that’s what he had in mind, because he was Shawn Mendes and she was a random girl from Atlanta)?

 No—there absolutely wasn’t, even though it was what she wanted most in the world. And that hurt. A lot.

 Before she’d reached the end of the block, her phone buzzed. She pulled it out of her pocket.

 Would you want to get lunch before you leave town? To talk about the music video?

 Kellie let out a huff of breath that was half laugh, half disbelieving snort and glanced back at the little white coffee shop on the quiet Toronto street behind her.

 What the hell was happening?

#shawn mendes #shawn mendes imagines #shawn mendes fanfiction #shawn peter raul mendes #shawn mendes blurb #sm #shawn mendes fic #shawn mendes imagine #chronically ill

[anagentinwriting]

To Catch a Thief - Part 14

Summary: Being an FBI field agent was your dream job but having been stuck behind a desk for most of your career you’ve almost given up. Fortunately, a series of robberies with minimal evidence forces you to assist a team in the field to help solve the case. But when the only thing left behind is a series of song lyrics, will you be able to find the perp? Or will the number of obstacles and lack of evidence keep you from solving the case?

Pairing: Peter Quill x Reader

Word Count: 2811

Warnings: Angst, Language, Fluff

To Catch a Thief Masterlist / Main Masterlist

You hit the ground hard and turned around noticing Peter wasn’t moving. “Peter,” you croaked, crawling over to him. “Peter!” You start to shake him forcing him to let out a groan. “Oh, thank god,” you breathed, resting your head on his chest.

“Calm down, sweetheart. I’m fine, it’s not like I got shot or anything,” Peter chuckled, making his chest vibrate. He places his hand on your back slowly rubbing up and down. You turned your head on his chest to see Peter grinning at you. “Cutting it a little close, don’t you think?” Peter piped up with his eyes drifting from yours to the doorway. You whipped your head around to see Gamora and Kraglin with Ronan laying on the ground dead. Wait. What? How?

“Sorry. The Collector and his Trinkets were a squirmy group to get their cuffs on, but it’s done. At least the two of you did good with distracting Ronan,” Gamora replied, holstering her weapon. Kraglin walked over to Ronan kicking his leg to make sure he was dead.

“I’m good at improv. Thought about a dance-off, but decided on a different route,” Peter replied, standing up and reaching down to help you up off the ground.

“What the fuck happened? You arrested The Collector and his minions. How did you two get in here?” You asked, staring at them with narrowed eyes.

“Did you forget about Peter’s earpiece?” Your eyes widened as it dawned on you. “All the way here he was telling us what to watch out for and what path to take. As for The Collector, T’Challa helped us out like he promised,” Gamora smiled, walking over to the paintings nodding at them with approval. You tilted your head sorting through her explanation before something dawned on you.

“Peter, you’re a fucking idiot,” You turned toward him, poking him in the chest. “Why would you push me out of the way? You could’ve died. And why didn’t you tell me the plan?”

“Sucks to be in the dark doesn’t it,” he teased. “As for pushing you out of the way, I wanted to make sure I could do this again.” He put your hands on your hips and pulled you close to him.  He leaned down and kissed you, again. His lips were intoxicating against yours like he was the perfect drink you didn’t want to set down. You leaned into him wrapping your arms around his neck pulling him in closer. He moaned in your mouth sending a shock up your spine and goosebumps to your skin. This time this kiss wasn’t going to be your last.

Kraglin cleared his throat from beside you forcing you two apart. “Why don’t we put some pressure on that wound, so you don’t bleed out.”

“Wound….what wound?” You pulled away from Peter to see his shirt sleeve covered in crimson red. “Peter your arm is bleeding.” Lifting his shirt sleeve, your eyes flashed to the small bullet wound on his upper bicep.

“Huh...would you look at that? That blue bastard shot me.” He rotated his bicep to get a better look at it. “It doesn’t even hurt.”

“It’s the adrenaline, but once it wears off you’ll be a world of hurt.  And from the looks of it, you still have the bullet lodged in there,” Kraglin said, examining his arm.

Kraglin hands you a clean cloth and a small bottle of vodka from his bag.  You cleaned the wound as best you could and tied the cloth snug around his bicep. Peter watches you the whole time unable to can’t keep the adoring smile off his face. You rolled your eyes tying the last knot to hold him over until we get him to a hospital.

“Do you want to see this necklace? I mean, we did come all this way.” Kraglin asked, standing next to the pillar and the goblet.

“He’s right, we did come all this way,” you agreed with a shrug. “We should at least check it out.”

“I agree with my girl.” Peter nudged you on the arm.

“You’re all are idiots. Valkyrie wanted this stone locked away.  She knows what this stone is capable of and I don’t think it’s a good idea to mess with something we don’t understand.”

“Well, you’re outvoted, so let's figure out how to open this other secret passageway.” Peter clapped his hands together, wincing at the sharp pain shooting up his arm.

Kraglin pulled a two-liter bottle of water from his bag and started pouring it into the goblet. “I may have an idea. Valkyrie wanted blood to flow into this, but what she might not have known roughly two liters of water weigh the same as a half gallon of blood. Now, a half a gallon of blood is the amount you can lose before the body hemorrhages and dies. So, as long as Valkyrie was going by weight and not viscosity this should open the door.”

You don’t know how Kraglin knew this random bit of information, but then again, you didn’t know much about him. He was good at keeping up with current events, random facts, and connecting things together most people might miss.  He wasn’t good at research or profiling, but he didn’t have to be. His strengths outweighed his weaknesses.

Kraglin dropped the last drop of water into the goblet. The mechanism started to tick like it was calculating the weight as the goblet pushed the mechanism down.  The floor in front of the pillar started to recede back creating a dark secret passageway.

“Kraglin does it again.” Gamora patted him on the shoulder. You smiled at him and he nodded in your direction.

You shined your flashlight into the passageway before descending down the ladder on one of the sides.  Peter went in after you followed by Kraglin and Gamora. You beamed the light across the room and spotted the necklace on a headless bust.  You stepped closer to it and noticed this necklace wasn’t like the others in any way. It was a choker instead of sitting loose around the neck, and it didn’t have addition jewels on it, instead, it was only the Soul Stone. It laid in the center of a gold plated chunky choker consisting of engraved lines and symbols around it. It was a simple necklace but captured the orange stone's beauty.

“Interesting. A choker. Did you know the Ancient Egyptians would often put jewelry on the parts of their body they felt needed protection. The throat being the obvious choice along with the head, wrists, and ankles. Crazy enough they believed it gave them special and protective powers,” Kraglin informed.

Looking past the necklace there was a message from Valkyrie in Xhosa:

Ndiyakuvuyela. Uyenzile. Wonwabile? Ngaba ufumene yonke into oyifunayo, okanye ulahlekelwa yinto yonke okanye wonke umntu kwinkqubo? La matye angenza iimangaliso zenzeke kodwa zingonakalisa abantu ubomi. Ndiye ndafumana isandla sokuqala, ngoko shiya okanye ukufa kwakho kuya kuba ngamatye. Valkyrie

“Does anyone here speak Xhosa?” Gamora asked, shining her light around the room.

“Yes,” a deep voice said from behind everyone. T’Challa stood behind us scanning the message before reading it aloud. “Congratulations. You made it. Are you happy? Did you get everything you wanted, or did you lose everything or everyone in the process? These stones may make miracles happen but they can also ruin people lives. I have experienced first hand, so leave it or your death will be by these stones. Valkyrie.”

“Where is she? I thought she would be in here with the stone.” You asked, glancing around the room. The only thing in the room was the bust with the necklace and an exit door.

“She’s right where she wanted to be buried next to the one she loves,” T’Challa answered your question.

“Omf.” Shuri jumped off the ladder helping Meredith down from behind her. Shuri was carrying the five necklaces around her arm but they were no longer broken. How did she repair them so fast?

“Peter, your mother wanted to... Oh, this one is gorgeous. It would look amazing on me right, brother?” She grinned, admiring the necklace. He looked unamused by his sister, forcing you to smirk. “I would rock this. Oh my god, is this vibranium? Wow! She did wonders with it.”

“Shuri, we’re leaving it here,” her brother piped up.

“What, why? Orange is totally my color,” she pleaded, reading the message on the wall. “Oh yes, I understand. I trust her judgment, I mean she knows what these stones can do.”

Meredith came across the room wrapping you in a big hug. Your arms stayed by your sides not knowing what to do. She squeezed tighter until you gave in and wrapped your arms around her.  Peter watched the two of you with a huge grin on his face.

You forgot what it was like to get hugged by a mother.  It felt so warm, comforting, and safe. You squeezed your eyes shut to relish in the moment before she pulled away and held you at arm's length.

“I’m sorry, that was forward.” She held out her hand to shake, which you took with a welcoming smile. “I’m Meredith Quill and you must be the neighbor my son can’t shut up about.”

“Does he ever shut up though,” you quipped, forcing Meredith to giggle. You peeked at a blushing Peter standing behind her staring hard at the floor. “But, yes I am the neighbor, he can’t shut up about. YN LN.”

“This is so cool!” Shuri shouted with excitement.  “The necklaces are glowing. Even the etching on the collar is glowing.” You watched as the glow from the Soul Stone weaved its way through the engravings on the collar making it shine brightly in the dark room. “I wonder what this means?”

“Legend says when Valkyrie stole the five stones she also took away their glow.  You see, they work better together as a team. They can’t perform miracles alone, but as a team, they’re more efficient. If or when these stones were ever united they said it would be unimaginable,” Kraglin informed.

“Is this a good or bad thing?” Peter asked, staring at the shining stones.

“The legend never went that far.”

“Why can’t we destroy them?” Gamora questioned, raising a brow.

“Many have tried, and they didn’t live long to tell about,” Kraglin explained.

“Then, we should leave and return these necklaces back to their rightful owners. It’s not a good idea to leave them all in one place since we don’t know what the outcome could lead to.”

Everyone agreed it was best to leave the Soul Stone necklace behind and it’s what Valkyrie would’ve wanted. Besides, it was best to leave something alone that couldn’t be explained then mess with something you knew nothing about. You didn’t know if you were the only one who felt it, but when the necklaces started to glow you felt at ease.

When you returned to the States about a week ago, you and Peter picked up right where you left off, but things were a little more than friendly. He also returned your birthday vinyl to you, and it hasn't left your record player since; he did an amazing job with it. Although you and Peter have been hooking up, neither of you haven’t even mentioned your true feelings towards each other. You were beginning to feel like that moment in the cave never happened, and it was all in your head.

Gamora and Kraglin returned the necklaces back to their rightful owners, and The Collector and his Trinkets were awaiting trial. The Collector was being charged with a long list of crimes including but not limited to murder and theft. The case was closed, and your first case was in the books.

Tonight there was a celebration party at Trash Panda, and you promised the others you’d take everything to lock up until the trial. You were putting the last bit of evidence away when you noticed Peter had two copies of his debriefing. One dated the same day as yours and the other was the following day. How did you not know Peter came in the next day? Why didn’t Kraglin or Gamora say anything about it? Out of curiosity you put the disk into your computer and clicked play.

“State your name?” Gamora voice asked not seeing her in the frame.

“Peter Jason Quill.”

“How did you find out YN was on the case?”

“Oh, we’re going that far back.” Peter raised his eyebrows pursing his lips.

“We need to cover all the bases?”

“Let’s see I first got suspicious when she brought home a box labeled Infinity. Then, she invited me over to her place after I picked her lock.” He winked at the camera. “And that’s when I saw the book Rare Gems and Stones from Around the World as well as the lyrics I left behind scribbled on a piece of paper.”

“You befriended her. Was it to get close to her or to keep tabs on the case?”

At first, it was to keep tabs on the case. The Collector and his Trinkets found out she was an agent on the case and my neighbor. After I got back from Norway, they wanted me to get closer to her.  I tried to get information, but she never told me anything. After a while, I learned more about her.  Like, she grew up in the foster system after her parents passed away and has been raising herself ever since.  Everyone she trusted after that ended up betraying her. She even went as far as running away when things got bad or frustrating.  I could relate to what she was going through because that could’ve been me if my mom died when I was little.”

“Do you care about her or was that an act, too?”

“Are you asking as an agent or as her friend?”

“As her friend.”

“Yes, I care about her. She’s an amazing woman. I turned myself in because I didn’t want to put her through having to arrest me.”

“How thoughtful of you,” Gamora quipped out of frame.

“Thanks, I think,” Peter smirked, running a hand through his hair.  “I want her to know I do care about her and I wasn’t lying about that.”

“Of course. Would you say you’re in love with her?”

“Whoa, love. Love is hard. Terrifying even,” he said, staring hard at the tabletop. “Could I see myself falling in love with her? Yes, and I may already be well on my way.” He looked back up to Gamora, biting his lip. “This feels more personal than another debriefing.”

“Oh, it is. This is more for mine and Kraglins benefit. We need to protect our teammate.” Peter waved at the glass behind Gamora acknowledging a hidden Kraglin. “She does care about you, and I want to make sure you don’t break her heart.”

“That’s the last thing I want to do.”

“Good. She doesn’t know about this personal line of questioning I am delivering to you. But, I will make sure she knows you may be an a-hole, but you’re not 100% a dick.”

“Couldn’t have said it better myself.”

“Wait...what,” you exclaimed, staring at yourself in the black computer screen. “Peter’s falling in love with me. Do I feel the same? Am I even ready for this type of commitment?”  You put your head in your hands shaking it. “No. no. no. You’re not. No. I can’t be. Am I?”

You leaned back in your chair rubbing your fingers on your forehead.  What is love? It’s a song by Haddaway, but that doesn’t answer anything.  Sure in the song, he is trying to get this one girl, but she doesn’t feel the same, and he keeps getting hurt. Is it love or a crush? Is that what you're feeling? A crush or is it love? The only time you’ve seen what real love looks like was from your parents. You don’t even remember what that looks like?

“Oh my god! What am I doing? I’m deciphering my life with song lyrics now,” you groaned. “This is solving nothing.”

Your trust issues have always gotten in the way of your relationships. Every time you let someone in they would let you down, so you gave up on relationships and chose to focus on your career. With all the hell Peter put you through, you still trusted him. He may have manipulated and deceived you, but he also saved your life. Is that what love is? Sacrifice. Willing to give up something valuable for something that means so much more to you. Did Peter mean that much to you as you did to him? Were you open to getting hurt if this doesn’t work out? Or do you do what you do best and run.

A/N: Just when you think things are going to work themselves out. There is one more part left, what do you think is gonna happen? Is Peter worth sticking around for, or will she ask Yondu to be reassigned to a different field office? Find out next week and as always thanks for reading!

#peter quill x reader #peter quill #peter quill reader insert #peter quill au #peter quill image #star-lord x reader #star-lord au #star-lord #marvel #marvel fanfiction #marvel au #gotg #guardians of the galaxy #chris pratt #guardians of the galaxy vol 2 #to catch a thief

[rhonamay13-blog]

history about music videos

Lately I’ve been researching a lot about music videos and thought it might be interesting to post a small and incomplete history of the wonders of this medium. The objective of the post is to briefly outline its evolution and provide visual references to better comprehend where we are today.

This is only an introduction to future posts that will deeper analyse the topics of: music videos before television, the influence of early Russian cinema in what we commonly see nowadays as the norm for music video (and I would love to do a post on each director and their specific characteristics).

I’m very biased towards certain directors that create a personal vision through works that span multiple artists and years. Thus I will only marginally focus on very known directors that mostly developed the mainstream music video aesthetics.

I divided the post in 4 eras to simplify the reading. They are by no means official divisions and do not in any matter convey the complexity of such a rich and diverse history. Feel free to jump to whichever interests you the most. This is how I divided the post:

Early era

Sorting out what is what

Video killed the radio star

The rise of the directors

The Youtube Era

With that out of the way, turn up the volume, close all tabs, and let’s board on the history of music video!

The early era (? – 1965)

The first news when music first merged with film was in 1894 when a sheet music publisher hired electrician George Thomas to synchronise a live performance with a magic lantern that would show projected images. This became very popular at the time and if you ever have the chance to see a magic lantern in a museum it will surely blow your mind. The quality of glass plate photography is still far beyond any digital projection available today.

1927 – The Jazz Singer

If you were working in the late 20s and 30s in Hollywood your life was certainly going to change. The silent era of cinema was beginning to fall and a whole industry that was still developing its own language had to renovate itself and start from zero on how sound could integrate the films. At the time lots of film theorists claimed that cinema ended at this transition. For others this was a necessary step to endure through and to try to understand how sound could affect the moving image.

The Jazz Singer was the first film to sync audio and image. This meant that for the first time you could actually see a music performance that wasn’t live! Up until then you could only hear your artists, see a picture of how he looked like or be lucky enough to see them live.

1930 – Crying for Caroline (Spooney Melody)

The Spooney Melodey series were the first to introduce the concept of short-films mixing live-action footage of the performer. It was shown at the movie theaters before the main presentations. So now you didn’t actually need to see a full feature talkie to here music and sound, you could see the performer playing in quick segments of a music! Magic!

1958 – Le poinçonneur des Lilas (Scopitone)

The iPhone of 1958. If you dreamt of watching music videos outside a movie theater the inventor Serge Gainsbourg had the newest gadget for you – the Scopitone! During the 60s these jukeboxes started popping-up all over bars and nightclubs around Europe and in the US.

A jukebox that played 16mm film synced with audio (technology invented for the WWII) was the rage of the 60s. Francis Ford Coppola even lost a small fortune by heavily investing in a Scopitone competitor in the US, and Robert Altman directed a short Scopitone film also.

In questions of film language the Scopitone brought a very interesting dimension to the table and is heavily linked to the the video era and small screens like our iPhones– framing and preparing for a small screen. We see almost no wide angle shots and instead focus on more medium to close-up shots of the artist playing, something that had to be planned since the screen will be crammed in a corner with lots of people around it.

Sorting out what is what (1965-1974)

With film technology and 16mm getting a little bit cheaper and more accessible, the growth of broadcast television and consequently the rise of pop culture the late 60s and early 70s was a time of exploring all these new phenomenons as a way to promote the music artist.

1965 – We Can Work it Out (The Beatles)

Considered to be the first music video to broadcast on television. The Beatles were already making some very popular full feature movies and were looking for a way to promote their record releases without having to make in-person appearances (primarily the USA). The concept is fairly straight forward and was meant to blend in with the television shows that were being made at the time.

1966 – Paperback Writer (The Beatles)

Together with the director Michael Lindsay-Hogg music video starts its baby steps to distance itself from the recording of live-perfomance and start exploring more options in the cinematic language realm.

1966 – Subterranean Homesick Blues (Bob Dylan)

The precursor to the lyric video?

1967 – Strawberry Fields & Penny Lane (The Beatles)

Long live the director Peter Goldman! Finally we start seeing some avant garde and underground techniques that were already being used for decades in cinema in a music film.

1968 – Interstellar Overdrive (Pink Floyd)

With the path being open by Goldman and his films for The Beatles, artists and labels start to finally interact more with experimental filmmakers. As a result music films start consolidating itself as a valid platform for more audacious experimentations in the aesthetic realm. What was previously only relegated to art houses is now being seen by millions of people.

1968 to 1974 – The era of experimentation in film

Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, David Bowie, The Kinks, etc. I’ll leave this whole era to another post since there are so many things happening here to briefly explain. Free from constraints of promotional requirements (thanks Beatles and Goldman again!) and open to experimentations this was one of the most interesting eras to explore how music and film worked together.

Video killed the radio star (1974- 1992)

The endless possibilities of video revolutionises how music video are made and open up a door for endless possibilities. Together with the creative opportunities a whole new platform rises to once and for all kill the radio star.

1974 – Bohemian Rhapsody (Queen)

The music video that practically invented MTV 7 years before its launch. This song is “widely credited as the first global hit single for which an accompanying video was central to the marketing strategy”(Fowles, Paul (2009). A Concise History of Rock Music. Mel Bay Publications, Inc. p. 243.)

1980 – Ashes to Ashes (David Bowie)

The most expensive music video made until then, and also one of the most iconic. Bowie’s interest in exploring a more complex nature turns this film a stepping stone to deeper layers of meaning in music videos.

1981 – MTV LAUNCHES – Video Killed the Radio Star (The Buggles)

The first music video aired on MTV prophesizes the impact that it will have in the music industry. Music videos become one of the main platforms for new artists to gain attention and for consolidated artists to show their latest works. The DIY video approach that initially inundated the MTV in the early 80s soon fade toward huge production budgets and an era where music video cost more than feature films.

1983 – Thriller (Michael Jackson)

Premiered worldwide on MTV, Michael Jackson and John Landis bring back the idea of blending films with music video (remember the Beatles feature films from the 60s?).

The rise of the directors (1992-2004)

Almost 10 years after its launch MTV in November 1992 began listing directors with the artist and song credits reflecting the fact that music videos had increasingly become an auteur’s medium. Directors like David Fincher (that in the 80s were making music videos) focus on directing feature films while a whole new breed of young and talented directors take the scene to express their unique vision.

Spike Jonze

What I personally love about Spike Jonze is how good he explores the american visual vernacular (TV shows, ad campaigns, B-movies) turning them inside out and also how in his works body movement surpasses choreography to take a life of its own. Both themes come from the director’s natural interest and the dichotomy between his persona Spike Jonze and his real name Adam Spiegel.

Adam Spiegel grew-up in Maryland and is part of the family that runs the catalogue business Spiegel (a multibillion dollar company founded in 1865). Nevertheless this never stopped him from pursuing his passions. He got nicknamed Spike Jonze in a BMX shop where he worked and ended up moving to Los Angeles to work on a skate magazine directing skate videos, and after directing music videos and films.

In his work we can see both Adam Spiegel through his references to the american imaginary and Spike Jonze, the free-spirited skateboarder kid where movement reigns.

*If you’re interested, this article is quite good on who is Spike Jonze.

1994 – Sabotage (Beastie Boys)

Beastie Boys didn’t feel like going through a major production and opted instead for Spike Jonze and his low budget idea of going around LA in a van shooting a music video without any license. The result is one of the most iconic music videos from the 90s in a throwback to the traditional cop American television series.

1994 – Buddy Holly (Weezer)

Weezer in Happy Days (a tv show from the 70s)?  My favorite Spike Jonze music video. Mind bending in the 90s and still today.

1997 – ElektroBank (The Chemical Brothers)

If one video clip was to sum-up the intermingling between Jonze’s influences and main themes this would be it–the perfect american imagery boiled-up with the body movement as a form of liberation.

1999 – Praise You (Fatboy Slim)

The body movement as the main vehicle of expression! Jonze literally cuts to the basic putting himself in front of the camera together with the invented Torrance Community Dance Group.

2000 – Weapon of Choice (Fatboy Slim)

The same concept as Praise You, just a little bit more elaborated.

Michel Gondry

The director that turns his dreams into imagery. The master of visual techniques Michel Gondry manages to blend reality with dreamlike imagery and a quirky and unique sense of humor into his music videos. The images created by Gondry resemble an invention where the viewer is invited to peep into its inner workings and see how the mechanism turns.

1996 – Sugar Water (Cibo Matto)

One of the signature styles of Gondry is how he plays camera movement and mise-en-scène to create mind bending concepts.

1997 – Around the World (Daft Punk)

Around the Wold is considered by Gondry as the music video he most likes and we can see why– It packs all the elements that he got famous for, the visualization of the music through choreography, a minimalistic set design and dreamlike imagery that later became his signature.

1999 – Let it Forever Be (The Chemical Brothers)

Now blend great mise-en-scène, analog camera movements with VFX and the choreography that and set design that made the director famous two years before and you have Michel Gondry at his best!

2001 – Star Guitar (The Chemical Brothers)

Everything seems normal until it’s not. Till today the idea of how he came with the idea of transforming the view from a train into an audio waveform surprises the spectators, and is a marvel of modern music video.

2002 – Come Into My World (Kylie Minogue)

One, two, three… Kyle Minogue simple stroll through the plaza turns into an oppressive oversaturation of everyday life.

2002 – Fell in Love With a Girl (The White Stripes)

Gondry goes back to being a kid making lego movies fun again!

Other directors

The list of brilliant directors goes on for this period. As covering everyone is just impossible I list a few examples of some that distinctively marked the era with their personal style.

Chris Cunningham – Come to Dady (Aphex Twins, 1997) & All is Full of Love (Björk, 1999)

Dark electronic distopic futures was the mark that Cunningham brought to the end of the 90s.

Floria Sigismondi – Little Wonder (David Bowie, 1996) & Beautiful People (Marilyn Manson, 1996)

Her sensibilities and jittery camera movements gave light to dark textured worlds always lurking in a deeper part of our minds.

Hype Williams – Sock It 2 Me (Missy Elliot, 1997) & Gotham City (R. Kelly, 1997)

The director that almost single handedly created a whole aesthetic for the R&B and Hip Hop music videos. Joining ludicrous concepts with a materialistic approach, Hype Williams is one of heaviest influences to the contemporary music videos.

The Youtube Era (2005-?)

Although you could find music videos on the internet since 1997 it was in 2005 when Youtube launched that the whole music industry had to change. Paired with the fact that MTV by mid-2000s largely abandoned showing music videos to air reality tv shows, Youtube became the home for artists and directors to explore new concepts and reach out to a worldwide audience.

The mid-2000s started to feel like when MTV first launched. A focus on new ideas made low budget music videos go viral and unshackled from the censorship of broadcast television. Ideas that weren’t possible to be broadcasted before started appearing in music videos.

Combine all these factors with the prices of digital cameras going down and the quality of the images produced going up, resulted that by the end of the first decade indie filmmakers could produce images similar to high budget blockbuster movies.

All this comes with an explosion of music videos. Thus never so many videos were produced and the sheer mass of new videos released each day made it even more important to figure out narrative and commercial ways to reach the audience.

Below I select only a few of the directors and music videos that best exemplify some key concepts from the times we are now living.

Ok Go – Here it goes again (Ok Go, 2006)

If Youtube had a son and he became a band it would be Ok Go. The band is probably the example of how a group that nobody ever listens to gets famous single-handedly by their music video (I may be exaggerating seeing that they already had a modest career since 2002). Since their first video in 2005 A million Ways turned into a youtube viral the band has been burning their brains out trying to figure the new head turning idea for the next video clip, from treadmills to a single take zero-gravity fall in a Russian plane.

Ace Norton – Hustler (Simian Mobile Disco, 2007)

Ace Norton have been routinely applauded for their combination of curious imagery and bizarre optical illusions, all of which are likely to elicit more than the occasional double-take. And while an affinity for practical effects, analogue formats, and a largely handmade aesthetic have helped characterize Norton’s output in the past, recently his work has taken on a more narrative quality as can be seen in his recent fashion films.

Romain Gavras – Born Free (MIA, 2010)

Romain Gavras was directing music videos and films since 2001, and got on the map with his music video for Justice. It was Born Free that established his directorial style– the roughness of street and ghetto life with high energy images and a handheld documentary style camera (maybe it’s the influence of his father Costa Gavras and his political movies like Z?). A 9 minute long film that would be hard to pass on any television and stirred the media when it was first launched on Vimeo due to Youtube restrictions at the time.

Although Gavras has now risen to international fame his directorial style is clearly visible through his new films.

DANIELS – Houdini (Foster the People, 2012)

DANIELS is the collective name of directing duo Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert. They’ve established themselves with an incredible body of work that combines very physical comedy, bizarre choreography, and an irrepressibly immature charm. Taking a crazy idea to its extreme and making it cohesive during the whole music video isn’t a easy task, and that’s one that DANIELS have mastered to the point of making a whole feature filmwith the same key concepts that they have worked on their music videos.

Emily Kai Bock – Yet Again (Grizzly Bear, 2012)

Bock developed a style centered very much on powerful emotional character studies, such as the struggling figure skater in her video for Grizzly Bear (above). With a storytelling ability that allows her to switch between music video and documentary seamlessly, her style has taken her from strength to strength as she delves more into narrative with each video. Her recent work for Arcade Fire on “Afterlife” saw her team up again with cinematographer Evan Prosofsky to create a moving portrait of a father struggling to raise his children.

Hiro Murai – Never Catch me Flying (Flying Lotus, 2014)

Hiro Murai’s background in illustration and visual effects means his videos are full of incredibly subtle tricks and motifs, forcing your eyes into every inch of the screen just to make sure you’ve taken it all in. While this alone is enough to make a strong impression, when combined with such compelling visual concepts as he is known for, the results are nothing short of mesmerizing.

Nabil – Hunger of the Pines (Alt-J, 2014)

Nabil Elderkin came to notoriety as a director through his frequent collaborations with Kanye West. Since then, Nabil has become one of the most exciting music video directors of his generation, evolving from still to moving images, creating memorable videos for artists such as Frank Ocean, John Legend, Antony and the Johnsons, Bon Iver, The Foals, and The Arctic Monkeys. With a gorgeous cinematic aesthetic, a strong narrative voice, and more than just a dose of magical realism that binds his work together, his videos never fail to captivate.

The Future

Since 2005 there wasn’t any groundbreaking revolution that significantly changed the way artists distribute music videos so it’s quite hard to predict the future. Last year and mainly in 2006 Virtual Reality technology started reaching consumers around the world. Nevertheless it’s still hard to quantificate its impact since the prices are so high and many are worried that it will be only a fad, and will quickly go away or stay in limited enthusiast circles.

Now more than ever it’s harder and harder to sort through all the crap that is constantly published and find those precious gems that really engage you in a more profound way. Services like Vimeo Staff Picks have gained lots of popularity, and being selected may define the success of your video gaining a wider audience since on Youtube it’s harder to find good quality content.

Thus maybe the future is creating better curation tools to bring to light and to the public music videos that otherwise would be lost. Maybe it’s VR, HDR technology, argumented reality or maybe it’s just something that hasn’t come up yet. The only way to know is now waiting a couple of years while checking out the latest music videos being released 🙂

Obs.: Since it’s impossible to write about every important music video and director please leave on the comments anything that I might have missed.

[mss4msu]

Happy 100th Birthday Steven!

Summary: The Avengers decide to throw Steve a 100th birthday party.  The theme is throwback, but no one wanted to research the 1930s, so they decide to do the early 2000s. Cap is introduced to a new decade of culture, and he and Bucky are particularly taken by Lil John’s “Get Low”.

Words: 1871

A/N: This one goes out to @221bshrlocked because she hyped me up that this would be a hilarious idea. I’ve decided I’ll be making a series of “Steve and Bucky are introduced to various pop culture things that are dirty, but they don’t know that”. This one is fluffier than my fluffball of a dog (future ones may get smutty, who knows?).

“Alright gang, it’s Cap’s BIG birthday next week, so we should get started on planning his party.” Tony had called together a meeting of all the Avengers except for Sam, Bucky, and Steve to put together a surprise bash for Steve’s 100th birthday. You had all voted that telling either Sam or Bucky would mean the surprise would be ruined, so the trio was being kept in the dark.

“I still think we should have rented out the Natural History Museum so he could party with all the other fossils. That’d really be a throwback party,” Nat remarked. The group had also decided the theme of the birthday should be a throwback. Of course, you’d all been so busy on missions no one had had the time to research the early 1900s, so it was decreed that the early 2000s would be used instead.

“Well the old man wanted to have a low-key birthday, so I figured a large public space wouldn’t be a great place for that. I’m not trying to start another Civil War over a birthday.” Tony replied. “Rhodey has a busy week of ‘Iron Patriot’ appearances (it’s 4th of July, I’m not calling him War Machine), so he has divided up tasks for everyone. Bruce, Peter, and I are on decorations. Wanda and Vision, you can prepare the food. Clint and Scott, you’ll be in charge of keeping Steve, Bucky, and Sam busy day of so we have time to set up. Nat and (Y/N), you’re in charge of music. The guest list is just us; the Wakandans are busy doing outreach programs about cultural appropriation, which is fitting for this time of year, and Thor is on some other planet. Alright, everyone know what you’re doing? Great, then go do it!”

Everyone split up and spent the week secretly organizing everything for the party. You and Nat spent hours crafting the perfect Spotify playlist, not wanting to leave a single jam out. Finally, it was the day of the party. You woke up just in time to join Clint and Scott’s in the chauffeuring of Bucky, Sam, and Steve to the big Fourth of July parade. You knew you could slip out later to come back and help everyone set-up, but Steve had been asked to be the Grand Marshall of the parade and you wouldn’t miss it for the world.

“Happy Fourth of July!” you winked at Steve as you got in the car. He rolled his eyes at you, waiting for the follow up. You just stared at him in response for a few seconds, not wanting to give him satisfaction to early. “Oh right! And happy birthday Steve!”

“Thank you!!” he beamed. The parade lasted longer than you had hoped, but it was worth it to see Steve at the head of the parade, an embodiment of everything America should be, and slightly restoring your faith in the country.

“So, you guys want to go get ice cream?” Scott asked when you met up with Steve following the parade. “I know a Baskin Robbins nearby!”

“I actually have to head back guys, I forgot the sunscreen this morning, so my skin has become a very patriotic mix of white and red,” you replied. Although this seemed like an easy out to get back to the party preparations, you really had gotten a bit of a sunburn at that parade.

“We could give you frostbite and you’d be red, white, and blue!” Sam joked. You punched him on the arm and got a Lyft to pick you up.

You got back to the compound and couldn’t believe the quality of the decorations. Movie posters of the most iconic early 2000s films, like A Cinderella Story and She’s the Man, lined the hallways. Nokia bricks and Razr phones were hanging from the ceiling, their screens decorated with pictures of Cap. You couldn’t figure out who had taken the pic of Cap with listening to an iPod in a bubble bath, but you were so glad they had. The food tables were decorated in layers of denim, and you felt blessed that Britney and Justin had graced the world with that look.

Everyone was scrambling to finish their jobs, and you and Nat were putting the finishing touches on the playlist, when Scott texted that they were on their way back.

“Alright everyone, places!” Tony yelled, and you all crouched behind the furniture, with the exception of Peter, who had literally gone above and beyond by hiding on the ceiling.

“I know everyone says apple pie is American, but putting apple pie IN ice cream is really taking things to the next level!” you could hear Bucky chuckling as they walked down the hallway.

“What in Sam Hill is this?” The confusion in his voice made Natasha stifle a laugh and you realized he likely had no idea what he was walking into. You had been helping him go through his “things to catch up on” list and you were nowhere near the 2000s. This was going to be a crash course for him.

Steve flipped on the lights to the room and everyone sprung up and yelled, “SURPRISE!” He stumbled back slightly, the surprise working on him.

“Don’t have a heart attack there, old man,” Nat said, punching him on the arm and giving him a hug.

As everyone started enjoying the food and Nat turned the playlist on, you gave Steve and Bucky a tour of the 2000s .

“So what’s with the phones?” Bucky asked.

“Well, the Razr was the classic phone all the ‘cool’ kids had back in the day,” you winked at them, “and the Nokia is a phone noted for being unbreakable.”

“Unbreakable?” Bucky asked, raising his eyebrow at Steve. They both ripped a Nokia from the ceiling, and you yelled for everyone to gather around for a true test of strength. Steve tried with all his might, but even his super soldier strength was not enough for the brick. Bucky tried to break the phone, squeezing it between his metal fingers, but could not cause even a crack in the screen.

“Is Thor coming?” You heard Clint ask. “Maybe his hammer is worthy enough to break a Nokia.”

“Tony, we may have to talk to Nokia and see if we can use this tech in suits or something,” Bruce remarked, taking the phone from Steve.

As the playlist started playing the dancing songs, you and Nat cleared the dance floor, which you had decorated as a giant Dance Dance Revolution mat. Steve and Bucky watched as everyone took the dance floor and started doing the “Cupid Shuffle”.

“Get over here boys!” you yelled. They shook their heads no, so you ran to them, grabbed their arms and pulled them to the dance floor. “Look, it’s easy. It’s to the right to the right to the right to the right, to the left to the left to the left to the left, then you kick, kick, kick, kick, then walk it and turn to the next side!” They watched you, tripping over themselves, and slowly got the hang of it just as the song ended.

“We’ll need to practice that one again I think,” Steve huffed to you.

“You’re tired after that version? I’ve got a more advanced one that involves kicking and dropping it low,” you winked at him, making him blush.

“EVERYONE CLEAR THE FLOOR!” you heard Peter yell. “THIS IS MY SONG!” Everyone moved off the dance floor and cheered as Peter strutted his stuff to Rihanna’s “Umbrella”.

There was more dancing and fun-having when THE song you had been waiting for came on. “Nat, we should have moved this song up the playlist!” you yelled, turning the volume of the speaker all the way up, and sprinting to the middle of the dance floor.

“TO THE WINDOW!!!! TO THE WALL!!!!!! TILL THE SWEAT DROP DOWN MY BALLS!!!!! TILL ALL THESE BITCHES CRAWL!!!!” You screamed, busting a move.

Steve and Bucky stared at you with their jaws dropped.

“UM (Y/N)?” Steve yelled, “WHAT KIND OF SONG IS THIS???” You ignored him and kept dancing.

“WHY THE HELL ARE YOU GOING TO THE WINDOW AND TO THE WALL??” Bucky asked, looking at Steve and confusion and trying to figure out what made the wall better than the window and vice versa.

“AND WHY ARE YOU ANNOUNCING TO THE WORLD THAT THERE IS SWEAT DRIPPING DOWN YOUR BALLS?” Steve screamed, turning red from yelling and from the idea of discussing his privates so publicly.

You were too busy dropping that ass (hey!) and attempting to shake it fast (hey!) and popping that ass to the left and the right (hey!) to answer them. And they became too busy watching you do it to keep asking questions. Eventually they started singing along, Steve feeling all too pleased with himself when yelling “MOTHERFUCKER!”

By the time you were bending over to the front to touch your toes, Bucky was next to you, shaking his butt along to the beat. Steve and Bucky screamed out the last chorus, giggling as they yelled “SKEET SKEET SKEET.” You raised your eyebrow at Natasha, wondering if these two actually knew what “skeet” was, but you quickly forgot as Vision wheeled out a giant birthday cake covered in lit sparklers.

“The fire marshall told us that using 100 candles would be a fire hazard, so we decided to do 35 sparklers, because that’s how old you look,” he said dryly.

“That’s very kind of you, Vision.” Steve blushed.

“Even with super soldier strength, I don’t think you will be able to blow out the sparklers. Perhaps that was a mistake on our part,” Vision stated.

“It looks great, Vis!” Steve cheerily replied.

“Are you getting teary-eyed Cap?” Tony chuckled.

“I’m just very thankful to have all of you as friends and to have been given such a spectacular party. Skeet, skeet to you all!” He said, holding up a bite of cake in a cheers.

“Skeet, skeet!” Everyone replied back, holding back giggles.

For the next few weeks, any training session with Steve and Bucky was set to “Get Low.” You began to make a game out of it, and every time the “all these bitches crawl” lyric came on, you would stop everything, get on the floor, and start crawling towards them. They started having everyone run sprints from the window to the wall, and you regretted ever having introduced them to the song in the first place.

You all found redemption in their new use of the word “skeet”. Nat had convinced them that “skeet” was a new and improved version of “yeet,” and should be used in times of agreement or before doing exciting things. Steve began yelling “SKEET” before jumping off the Quinjet on missions, and Bucky would scream “SKEET” before punching out bad guys. He couldn’t figure out why the villains always got knocked out with a confused laugh. At this point, the joke had gone on for too long to tell them the truth of what “skeet” actually meant. Your only hope was to introduce them to a new catchphrase, and sooner rather than later, before they “skeet”ed the wrong person...

#marvel #happy birthday steve #happy birthday cap #captain america #steve rogers #fan fic #independence day #100th birthday

[literaturemonamour]

The Ten Books I’d Bring to a Desert Island

Since I’d possibly be a thousand miles away from home, I’d like to bring books that will remind me of my favorite reading spot, the place where I feel safe and protected, which is also the place where I’ve teared up on so many books and embarked on a multitude of exhilarating journeys across time and space. I’m going to bring books that will evoke the sense of wanderlust and encourage me to go on a spontaneous adventure on the island and appreciate nature at its finest. (Read More)

The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert

This book is part travel journal and part scientific observation. Kolbert kept me transfixed throughout her entire journey as she visited places that display alarming signs of the sixth extinction. She also brought me closer to our human history by pointing out where did we plunder our planet and the timeline where a species disappeared. It’s an essential book, a perfect candidate for reading on a deserted island where nature thrives and I’d most likely spend the majority of my time exploring its inhabitants and landscape (as well as imagining myself as world-renowned scientist).

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

For me, one of the saddest things about reading is when you read a book too soon, and you find yourself unable to appreciate it fully. I read Things Fall Apart in high school and I dreaded it back then, almost as much as I intensely dreaded every other book that i was assigned to read. I was ignorant enough to remain insouciant and refused to make any attempt to conceptualize it. My mind was incapable of wrapping my head around the idea of proselytism at the time or the clash of cultures, therefore I lacked the true appreciation for Achebe’s masterpiece. I’m definitely going to reread this one soon and being on a deserted island will allow me more time to ponder and reflect back on my thoughts.

The Stranger - Albert Camus

Everyone I know is aware of the extent of my admiration for Camus.This book is the quintessential of French literature. The first time I read it, my mind became so immersive in Camus’ distinctive writing that nonetheless, manages to convey nuances and profound meanings. In the end, the reader is faced with a moral dilemma and left with a plethora of questions to contemplate. Camus explores and highlights the absurdity of human existence and our innate impetus to break away from societal mores.

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn - Betty Smith

A beautiful coming of age portrait of three generations of Irish immigrants living in Brooklyn. I have a profound tenderness for this book as it taught me about immigrant experience and being labelled as an outcast. Francie Nolan remains my favorite little heroine, she has an insatiable yearning for books and voracity for reading that i can’t help relating to her during my childhood years. While this book shatters my heart into pieces, every small moment in it that divulges the vivacity of childhood and the endurance of human spirits during hardships, glues my heart back together again.

Memoirs of Hadrian by Marguerite Yourcenar

I’ve become enamoured with Roman history after reading The Twelve Caesars by Suetonius, despite the account on Hadrian’s life wasn’t included in Suetonius’ compendium of ancient Roman biographies, he was a powerful figure and nonetheless, left a lasting impact on Rome. Yourcenar did a remarkable thing by transforming herself into the emperor Hadrian through letters. She complied pieces of his life and crafted them into Hadrian’s biography. The book is meticulously researched and lyrical to the extent that the reader could easily mistake Yourcenar’s writing for Hadrian’s own writing on his deathbed.

A Whole Life by Robert Seethaler

This book is a hidden treasure. I love the simplicity in words and the depiction of the tranquillity of life in the Austrian Alps. However, despite its beauty and quiescence, a whole life in the bleakness of nature can get incredibly lonely from a lack of human connection. It’s a heartrending portrait of a man, whose life is spent living in a little village in the Alps and the only time he is away from home is when he decides to fight in the war. There’s a plenty of exquisitely written scenes that demonstrate the terror of war and heartbreaking tragedy of loss in the book, even though the protagonist rarely speaks or expresses his feelings, one can easily understand his undertow of melancholy. I felt a strange kind of loneliness while reading this book and a bit choked up at times. It’s a panorama view of human experience in the span of 80 years, comprised of small, ephemeral moments that shaped and shifted our experience and made us who we are.

The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood

I’ve written and raved about this book so many times that some people might get a little tired of reading about it. But this was the book that terrified me greatly as it depicted a dystopian society, where women are regarded as nothing more than a walking-womb. Their only purpose is to serve men and bear children. The brutal, patriarchal regime of Gilead reinforces the mindset that women are supposed to be grateful for what modicum of “liberty” they are allowed to have and they should not aim to instigate any rebellion, lest face with severe punishments. A part of the reasons why this book has come up in a lot of discussions lately is that it’s starting to look more and more like our imminent future, where men aim to control every aspect of womanhood, irrespectively of how women might feel. It’s staggeringly relevant.  

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings - Maya Angelou

I love Maya Angelou. I love her poetry, i love her courage, and most of all, who she was as a person. The first time i heard she read “Phenomenal Woman”, I felt uplifted and invincible This memoir is a testament to her wits and brilliance. A part of it covers the bigotry, racial oppression, and what the world has put her through as a child because of the colour of her skin, and yet she remained courageous and graceful. It was heart-breaking to read about the heinous things that she had to endure in her tender years, but it also serves as a recurring reminder of our innate ability to easily succumb to hatred and bigotry. This book can also be taken as a representation of feminist observation as well. Maya was raised in a matriarchal household of strong-willed women like her grandmother and her mother; through them she built up her own courage and found her voice in books and poetry. Maya challenged societal mores and social segregation and became a revolutionary figure, one that advocates for civil rights. And by authoring a memoir as unflinchingly honest as this one, she gave us the courage to live and rise above hatred. A truly phenomenal woman, indeed.

What We See When We Read - Peter Mendelsund,

A rich investigation on how our brain works when we read. Mendelsund explores the theory that when we read a book and sink into the experience, the performance of a sort begins in our head and we attend the performance. This book offers deep insights into our visualization process and the origin of how we associate our personal experience with the visualization of a book that we’re reading. It’s a riveting, thought-provoking read and the illustrations are simply exquisite.

Adventures in Human Being: A Grand Tour from the Cranium to the Calcaneum by Gavin Francis    

Reading this book was like taking an exclusive tour of the universe beneath our skin. The author examines every part of our body from head to toes and combining his own medical experience as a doctor into it with a blend of mythology and literature. I particularly liked the chapter on blindness, in which he used Jorge Luis Borges whom some of the readers may have already been familiar with, as a literary example by exploring his blindness which wasn’t regarded as a terrible thing, in terms of helping him to create innovative literature through his imagination. Instead of laden the book with medical jargon, he chose to approach each organ in our anatomy with a sense humour tinged with familiarity, in order to emphasize the wonderful uniqueness and complexities, which human body possesses, and illustrates what weaknesses we’re biologically programmed to have in return for these abilities. It’s a magnificent exploration of human condition and our body anatomy.

- Belle

#book #books #bibliophile #book recommendations #reading list #list #desert island question #literature #fiction #nonfiction

[frankensteindotpdf]

All of them (bc why not)

HOLY CRAP HERE WE GO

Harry Potter: How do you want to be remembered?

As someone who made a difference; someone who was kind, sweet, funny, and loving. 

Hermione Granger: If you could meet anyone, living or dead, who would you meet?

Daniel Handler/Lemony Snicket- This man is amazing. He’s my favourite author and I couldn’t even begin to express how much I love him.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle- Another one of my favourite authors. He was insanely intelligent and just sounds like an awesome guy.

J.K. Rowling- Obviously.

Gerard Way- His songs mean so much to me, and his art is amazing…I just love him so much

Dan and Phil- (including them as one fite me) They’re so smart and funny and sweet and I just really really want to meet them.

(that’s just the first few to come to my head)

Ron Weasley: What ice-cream flavours do you love/hate?

Mint Chip is one of my favourites (fun fact! for a while I only said it was my favourite because it was my favourite character’s favourite flavour). I also L O V E cookie dough and cotton candy. I cant hate ice cream broski

Hagrid: If you could breed two totally different animals together, what new animal would you create?

A turtle and a sloth. No specific reason why.

Dumbledore: What is your most treasured possession?

My books, probably. (This includes my sketchbooks)

Voldemort: On the first day of ruling the world, what would you do?

Remove all laws against things people can’t control or that don’t harm others (being gay, bathroom bans, religions, etc.). After that I’d order the wealth of the world to be spread more evenly, as well as the food.

Fred Weasley: If you were told you only had one week left to live, what would you do?

Cry? Then I’d probably read, try to do something impactful, start a fundraiser (people love to donate to dying teens) so the funds could go somewhere important like disaster relief.

George Weasley: If you could read minds, whose would you want to read?

Authors mostly. Also my friends, see how they really feel about me.

Draco Malfoy: Do you like yourself?

I’m working on it? I know I don’t hate everything about myself (even though it feels like it sometimes), and I’m trying to be more positive.

Ginny Weasley: What’s your favorite indoor/outdoor activity?

Drawing and listening to music.

Neville Longbottom: What’s your fondest memory?  

(Oh it sounds so pathetic) Going to Universal? Honestly I was shaking it was literally like stepping right into the movies I’ve been watching since I was 2. I really love the peaceful happy moments spent with friends and my cousins (they live like 10 hours away). Singing and feeling genuinely happy.

Luna Lovegood: What are your favorite lyrics?

Oh there are SO many I’ll just go with the ones I can think of first

“I never let them see the worst of me. ‘Cause what if everyone saw? What if everyone knew? Would they like what they saw? Or would they hate it too?” Words Fail, DEH

“I cry tears you’ll never see. So fuck you, you can go cry me an ocean, and leave me be.” Save Rock And Roll, FOB

“Oh how stupid to think that I could compare to the pretty girl with the butterscotch hair. And I won’t hate you but oh, it stings. How does it feel to be adored by him?” Adored By Him, Dodie Clark

All of Waving Through A Window

And wow that was depressing how about a nice one

“Take my jumper. Wear it, you’ll need it on the train home. And everyone will know that I’ve been loved tonight; a permanent hug from you.” Permanent Hug From You, Dodie Clark

Severus Snape: Of all your pet-peeves, which is the strangest?

Wow there’s a lot…incorrect grammar, being able to hear people chewing, clicking noises with no rythm or beat, people being too physically close…

Remus Lupin: What is your greatest fear?

Being alone.

James Potter: If you were reincarnated as an animal/drink/ice cream flavor, what would it be?

Honestly I have no idea…I have yet to decide on a favourite animal, drinkwise maybe one of those punches with pop and ice cream, and ice cream flavour…uhh is music a flavour?

Lily Potter: Who or what, if anything, would you die for (or otherwise go to extremes for)?

Anyone? People in general, I don’t really see myself as a person anymore, or at least worthy of the same respect and treatment so I’d do a lot for other people and yes, if it came to it, probably die for them too.

Sirius Black: What are your views on sex?

Personally I think it looks like a great thing to be shared with the right person. I think everyone has a right to their own bodies and their own decisions but I personally would have to be with someone for a while first.

Tonks: if you could be anyone else for a day, fictional or non-fictional who would you be any why?

Oh man idek that’s so difficult…..maybe Tonks? Honestly she’s so sweet and fun and CONFIDENT I could totally learn from that. Plus the metamorphagus powers would be awesome. and of course she’s married to remus

McGonagall: What do you believe I am thinking right now?

I think you’re doing the Jared Kleinman Laugh TM because of all the work you’re making me do.

Bellatrix: three words would others probably use to describe you?

annoying, irritating, stupid hopefully sweet, kind and funny

Lucius Malfoy: Do you tend to argue with people, or avoid conflict?

I love debating, but actual arguements happen VERY rarely…I never stand up for myself so the only time I’ll argue with someone is if they’re hurting one of my friends.

Molly Weasley: What do you define as a family?

A group of people who love each other, feel comfortable around each other, and support and bring out the best in each other.

Arthur Weasley: If you could have any career possible, what would it be?

FULL TIME LIBRARIAN, PART TIME TATTOO ARTIST

Peter Pettigrew: If you had to change your first name, what would you change it to?

If I had to, I would put much more thought and research into it but atm probably Beatrice or Elizabeth or something gender neutral

Umbridge: If you could choose, how would you want to die?

I WANT TO BE HIT BY AN AMBULANCE, AND HAVE JUST ENOUGH CONCIOUSNESS TO SAY “SOMEONE CALL AN AMBULANCE”

Colin Creevey: Who inspires you?

Youtubers like Dan and Phil, Thomas Sanders, and Dodie, as well as the members of MCR and authors and artists in general.

Dean Thomas: Are you generally organised or messy?

It’s a mix. I want to be organised, and some places of my life are organised (my closet is organised in rainbow order as well as type of clothing) but others are horrible (my room is a dump).

Seamus Finnigan: What makes you laugh?

Youtube, memes….everything tbh

Dudley Dursley: Who is the person you despise the most, and why?

Not gonna say the name but there’s a person I know who basically destroyed my mental state. They insisted they were a friend while shredding any self-esteem I had to bits. They made it nearly impossible for me to talk, telling me “no one cares” “shut up” or “you have no friends” anytime I opened my mouth, which of course echoed in my head when they weren’t around. They terrify me, because I know they can rip down the self-confidence I’m working so hard to build back up with a sentence. And I have to see them every day again. And they’re acting just like they used to.

Vernon Dursley: Who is the most important person in your life, and why?

Gosh this is tough. I don’t really…have a best friend. I used to, years ago. And last year, another person. But at the moment…no one. So that makes it really hard to choose someone. I know it doesn’t have to be a best friend but there isn’t really anyone else, either so…no…one?

Petunia Dursley: How close are you to your family?

Fairly? I feel like I hide a lot though.

Victor Krum: What is your favorite form of exercise?

none probably hiking on a nice cool day in the forest. Or sit-ups. Those aren’t too hard, so I don’t mind them.

Dobby: Are you spontaneous, or do you always need to have a plan?

(FINALLY LAST ONE) For most things, I very much need a plan. Otherwise I panic. If it’s just hanging out with friends, though, I do enjoy just wandering around shopping at festivals or downtown (but there has to be a set plan to get there ha)

#ask #the longest thing ever #this took so long #i hate you #jk jk ily #thanks for asking

[vescoisland]

Daybe's Thoughts on The New Jason Isbell Record, Without Research

H/T to Mr. Thoughts on The Dead

I wanted to like this album. Well, at first I was wary, but by the time they FINALLY released it, after holding it for 8 weeks during national quarantine, the whole time which the record had been finished, mastered and pressed, I had talked myself into wanting to like it. 

  I don’t hate it so much as….

  I WANTED TO LIKE IT. 

  I have a friend who hates slow music. This isn’t the thing where I’m “asking for a friend.” She really says “even fast songs that are actually slow music are terrible.”

  About 86% of the time I 100% agree with her. This is where we get to the heart of my problem with Jason Isbell solo records. 

  This is boring music. 

  I get it, it’s Poignant. Keep mining the purity of the south with a gothic twist. Tell me again how sobriety is hard. 

  Either that or have the courage to be a drunken buffoon – which makes you poetic. 

  Overall this is a boring samey-sounding album, and I would argue his second misstep in terms of music that I’ll return to, after The Nashville Sound, which is a fucking snoozer.

  After his dig in the press about Ryan Adams, I learned that there is a song on The Nashville Sound called “Chaos and Clothes” which is about Ryan Adams. I had to look up the song and listen to it upon hearing the title, because I didn’t have any recollection of having heard it. 

  It’s not a good song.

  Or a remarkable song.

  Despite being about a guy he’s obviously obsessed with, amirite?

  I do like the line about “Death Metal T Shirts” though. 

  Be better if it was The Eagles of Death Metal. 

  Or All Night Drug Prowling Wolves. 

  You were doing a good job of keeping this on track

  Oh yeah, Reunions. New album by Mr. and Mrs. Jason Isbell and The 400 Units

  That’s not fair. You barely mention Yoko Tammy in your song by song review bit you stole from Thoughts on The Dead after Chrid and Chaz made fun of you. 

  AHEM

  Released to much fanfare and press ogling. 

  So much press ogling that I got caught up and started to ogle. 

  In politics there’s The Full Russert. 

  So what do we call Koppleman Pod, Hyden Fawning, New York Times Article and a full length story on The CBS Sunday Morning Liberal Good Time Power Hour?

  “Pay attention to this one Southern guy who let’s you in on the jokes we tell about our neighbors?”

  You’re such a dick 

  I didn’t love any of the songs I heard that were released as a teaser. I thought they were all pretty meh, for pretty much the same reasons.

  They weren’t terrible but they also led me to not pre-order the album. 

  I pre-ordered it but you heard it before me!

  Howzat?

  I ordered direct from the label and it finally just got here yesterday

  Shoulda ordered it from an Indie™ Record Store, from the approved list of Stores Tammy Likes

  Shouldn’t the label be treated the same way? It’s direct from them. No Middleman. More change to jingle in the coin purse between her tits!

  Now you’re starting to sound like me.

  Quiet you. I still haven’t listened. Sorry they changed the rules on my halfway through not releasing their album. They sure weren’t in a hurry.

  It’s a slower pace of life down here, Gar. 

  I hate you – I’m just saying they could have included people like me who ordered direct from the label and gave them more money for her Tammy Tops and his terrible sneaker habit

It’s not about MONEY, MAAAAANNN! They’re supporting indie shops. The Plandemic is wreaking havoc on the economy, and we gotta save the dudes who made enough in banking during the last crisis to open over priced record stores to sell hipster douchebags like us vinyl copies of stuff we used to own on CD. 

  I’m losing patience. You told me you had “some thoughts” on the new record. I accused you of having a weird obsession, to show me you don’t you stole an idea we gave you about a dumb blog…

  Yeah

  I only listened to three of the four songs released before the full record was put out.

  I didn’t listen to Only Children. Keep reading – I guess I still haven’t.

  THE POINT! 

  Oh yeah. 

  The other day, in the run up to the release, I flashed to a long forgotten review of Wilco’s “Summerteeth” from the time it was released that said something to the effect of “Jeff Tweedy still thinks repeating the name of the same over and over is a good stand in for a real chorus” 

  The same might be said for Jason Isbell on Reunions

  What Have I Done to Help? 

            Jesus Christ Trump has broken everyone’s brains. 

This song was written after reading the Mr. Rogers anecdote “Look to the helpers too many times”

            This is better than I thought

            The lyrics are better than I thought 

            It’s too repetitive

            It’s too long 

  Dreamsicle

            Did they make the vinyl orange because of this song?

            Or is it called dreamsicle because they wanted Orange vinyl?

            This is very dangerously close to being a Cracker Barrel country song. 

            Did granddaddy take you fishin? 

            Lightning Bugs?? 

            Where’s Dave Daniels?

  Only Children

            I’m listening to this as I write my thoughts in real time

            I forgot to write anything down here

            Unremarkable

  Overseas 

            The sound is interesting at first 

This is where I can hear what he was talking about in interviews about chasing an 80s sound 

            Whooo boy 

            Lyrics bad

            Chorus worse

  Eyes Closed

            80s Soundz!

            Are we sure this isn’t produced by Ryan Adams?

            Sounds like Isbell cum Kcor and Llor Era DRA 

            Still just repeating the name of the song as the chorus 

  River

            He’s a slave owner?

            CANCELLED!

            OK he’s some kind of rich guy who did bad things to get money?

            But tries to take care of his people?  

            Guilty Conscience Melodrama

            Not the worst song on here 

            Is there a Spanish guitar undertone?

“Wake up staring at my wife”à Fiddle Lick is either self-awareness or a complete lack of awareness about Yoko Tammy. 

I’m gonna go with B, because say what you will about them, he is very dedicated to her and that’s nice to see. Especially after she offered to by McAllan for his not quite relapse so he didn’t have to drink Listerine. 

  Be Afraid

            What Have I Done to Help Redux?

            Two sides of the same extremely repetitive recitation of the song title as chorus coin

            It actually sounds a little like a Truckers song at the beginning

            Morphs into that 80s/Springsteen/DRA sound 

  St. Peter’s Autograph 

            Is this in a higher key than it should be? Is that what they call it? I’m not a musician

WAY TOO SLOW. I heard him talk about this on Koppelman, so I was prepared for it  to be slow. But it’s like not slow enough to be a dirge. Maybe they shoulda made it a dirge?

Nails that folk singer thing where it’s like mumbly and then clear tho.

  It Gets Easier

            I haven’t had a drink in almost a year. 10 ½ months. I’ve had 2 drinking dreams.

            I’ve never really been tempted to drink 

            So this doesn’t ring true to my experience

            DON’T MAKE IT ABOUT YOU 

            Who dreams about anything twice a week? 

            What adult remembers their dreams?

            It’s for effect, you dummy! 

OH, well, the effect it had on me is “I guess I was never an actual alcoholic. Maybe I’m just a real partier?”

This gets to the heart of my question about mining sobriety for too much? 

MEH. AS FUCK 

It’s been remarkably easier to not drink than to make it through this record

That’s a cheap shot! 

I know. 

  Sometimes in reviews and in our terrible internet meme-based culture you have to stake out one side and die on that hill. 

  That’s a mixed metaphor 

  Tammy wouldn’t allow it

  She was gonna be an English teacher before the rack job.

  That’s made up, isn’t it?

  Maybe

  Where were we?

  Oh yeah, I don’t hate this song, or any song on this album 

  I just expect more 

  That’s your problem 

  What is?

  Expectations! 

  It’s True

  I tried very hard to set the bar low, figuring it might surprise me

  Then I read reviews and interviews.

  The one where he talks about over producing his first album really got to you didn’t it? Celebrities – they’re try hards just like us! 

  I like Jason 

He’s witty and funny

And a Great Musician

He’s a good ambassador 

For the region 

For getting cleaned up

For the Bitter Southerner Meets Stoner Dad Who Watches Southern Charm and Likes Expensive Sneakers set

  You mean you?

  OF COURSE!

  I want to like this more

It’s very slow

And doesn’t do much for me

  It’s…….. a Jason Isbell Record. 

  I cued it up again, trying to focus on the sound on my second run through.

  Ya know The Vibe? The thing that you can’t put your finger on that makes a thing a thing. 

  Sure.

  Anyway, my mind drifted to seeing him in concert again.

  The setting was definitely more Lyric Theater than MPAC. 

  The crowd was a lot of selvage denim, beards and elaborate barbershop hair cuts. Work boots, but like, $250 work boots. Belt buckles. 

  Like you’d dress if you were 4 inches shorter and had muscle tone?

  You’re not my real dad!

  A lot of dudes with their eyes closed, singing along to these songs like they’re hymns. Drinking in the “depth” of Saint Isbell. 

  House lights are down. Stage lighting is just a spot on him 

  Don’t forget the soft lighting on Tammy!

  Did you notice I barely mentioned her in the review? She really takes a step back here, IMO. 

  Strangely that might not be a good thing?

  Jesus now you’re a Tammy apologist?

  She don’t gotta apologize for them titties!

  GET BACK TO THE FAKE SHOW YOU CONJURED UP, YOU DUNCE

  Right after he sings “It gets easier”

  He says “But it never gets easy!” and the house lights come up, and his voice goes up 3 notches in volume, and the stoned dads (some of whom are sipping 1-3 canned IPAs) cheer. 

  Rinse Repeat

  JESUS, YOU HATE FUN

  Kind of 

  There’s another song on here

  What?

  Yeah – Letting You Go

  Oh yeah, the bro country sounding joint about his daughter?

  I actually like this and give it a pass for being a cheesy dad song.

If I still drank, I’d cue this up and get weepy!

You just said you don’t think about drinking!

I said I don’t DREAM about drinking!

  You are so fucking awful

  The. Worst. 

  Also, this sounds like something I know. 

  The cadence. The flow of the song. 

  Jesus you do this all the time

  I DO NOT 

  Remember the time you got blotto at Springsteen and insisted that American Land was the same as The Georgia Tech fight song?

  It is!

  It is not! 

Well, it sounded like it that night

  We know, you sang it the whole way home

  I was dreaming about drinking! 

  God you’re a dick, but I’m going to let that one pass before this ends up being 5000 words

  Why does a Dawg know the words to Rambling Wreck?

              We are both going to have to let some things pass if you ever want me to end this

                           ……

    (this sounds weirdly like Seven Years in Michigan in parts)

(the fiddle really ads something)

(Super 8 is still his best song)

      KILL. YOUR. SELF. 

             Check out this episode!

[swipestream]

Sensor Sweep: Classics, Steve Tompkins, Queen of the Black Coast, Gun Ghoul

Culture (Legends of Men): The primary professional association for classicists is the Society for Classical Studies. This was formerly called the American Philological Association. Mary Frances Williams, a Ph.D. in classics, former professor, and an independent researcher, decided to attend this year’s annual conference. There, she witnessed first hand how the classics field is becoming a vehicle for social justice (a.k.a. Marxism). The SCS, as well as academics across the country (and presumably across Europe), is accomplishing this on multiple fronts.

  Fandom (Don Herron): Hard to believe it was ten years ago today when Steve Tompkins punched his ticket. Only 48 years old, hospitalized for food poisoning after hitting Burger King, then out of the blue a heart attack. If they can’t handle a heart attack when you’re already in the hospital, game over.

  Fiction (John C. Wright): Many a fan, this one included, calls Queen of the Black Coast the finest of the Conan stories, in part because of its legendary scope, in part because of its lurid romance, it passages of lyrical poetry, its vivid and bloody battle-scenes, the sense of mystery and adventure, the chilling eldritch visions of ancient eons and shades of the dead, the Viking funeral at the end.

The writing excels on three levels: first, striking characterization gives life to an intimate and tragic romance; second, lyrical world-building conjures a vision of a lost age, cruel but not without its savage beauties; third, a deep and even grim theme dignifies what would otherwise be a mere boy’s adventure tale with adumbration of deep time and an almost Norse melancholy touching the brevity of life, the indifference of the gods.

  Fandom (DMR Books): Steve Tompkins died ten years ago today. I and a few other bloggers will be posting blog entries in tribute to Steve, whom I consider the best “genre” blogger of the first decade in this twenty-first century. Below, you’ll find a very concise history of Mr. Tompkins’ life and hyperlinks to all of his blog entries and online essays. This post is intended to function as a one-stop guide to Steve’s online legacy.

  RPG (Playing at the World): The Illusionist in Dungeons & Dragons was created by Peter Aronson, an early Boston-area fan. In 1975, Aronson submitted an initial description of Illusionists to TSR , who ran it in the fourth issue of the Strategic Review. Then the following year, Aronson’s additions with system for higher-level Illusionists appeared in the debut issue of The Dragon. But Aronson didn’t stop there – he made a number of further expansions and corrections which he circulated informally in 1977, of which the first page is shown above. Today, we’re looking at the complete Illusionist subclass for OD&D as Aronson envisioned it, and the implications it created for “schools” of magic in role-playing games.

  Fiction (DMR Books): Hira Singh was Talbot Mundy’s fourth novel; his second and third novels (The Winds of the World and King – of the Khyber Rifles) are more properly part of the Greater Jimgrim Mythos of interconnected stories and we will discuss them in their own time.  We will also be reviewing the Jimgrim Saga itself (those books whose hero is James Grim) in its own place.  Hira Singh was serialized in Adventure magazine in late 1917 and then published in book form by Bobbs-Merrill in 1918.

  Popular Culture (Kairos): Hang out around science fiction authors long enough, and you get the sense that they’re all crazy.

John Scalzi claims that Donald Trump and the weather conspired to give him writer’s block. Patrick Rothfuss and George R. R. Martin have cited similarly temperamental reasons for not finishing their popular series.

The ancient Romans had a saying, Ars longa, vita brevis. Moderns take it to mean that life is short, but works of art last.

  Popular Culture (Men of the West): This weekend, Captain Marvel defied expectations among traditional fanbase comic book audiences who expected the movie to gross between $80 and $100 million. It seemed as though every indication was there that the movie would tank, due to its blatant promotion of third wave feminism—both in the movie as well as in promotional material. However, the justified critics were wrong to presume the larger society of Americans were on their side, and the movie earned $153 million domestic.

  Authors (Fredericksburg.com): AS THE final weeks of the 20th century drew to a close, much attention was given to the question of what had been the best—the best of the century or best of the millennium? An endless flurry of polls, surveys, Top 10 and Top 100 lists were compiled.

And when it came to the best book or best author of the past 100 years, in poll after poll, survey after survey, list after list, J.R.R. Tolkien was nearly always at the top.

  Comic Books (Jon Mollison): Back in December I took the Arkhaven Comics then new online book store for a test drive.  Wil Caligan’s Gun Ghoul showed up in plenty of time, but personal events made reading a comic centered on death and justice too painful.

Still, Wil’s a good guy who deserves support, so I cinched my belt tighter, sniffed and thumbed my nose like a good Mayberry Sherriff’s Deputy and shouldered my wife through a story of loss, revenge, and redemption.

  RPG (Karavansara): The game in question is called Atlantis, the Second Age, that is a game with a complicated history – there’s at least three different editions that I am aware of: the first by Bard Games (when it was just called Atlantis), the second by Morrigan Press which is the one I own, and recently a new edition was released published by Kephera Publishing (I do not own it, but all reviews are glowing).

  RPG (Tower of Zenopus): I’ve been interested in the Savage Worlds game since the earliest days of its existence – maybe before if we’re going back to Deadlands and the Great Rail Wars days. I played and ran some Deadlands in its original form, picking up pretty much all of the books and the Deadlands: Hell on Earth setting and books as well. I dove into GRW a little later and picked up a bunch of the miniatures and books for that too. I was on the Deadlands email list in the late 90’s/early 2000’s and followed the development of the system as bits came out there – you can see a more extensive version of that info here.

Fiction (George Kelly): I’ve been a big fan of Night Shade Books’s volumes in The Complete Stories of Jules de Grandin series. Black Moon, just published, is the fifth and final volume. Seabury Quinn created a psychic investigator whose cases usually involved weird, occult, and supernatural aspects. For four decades, Seabury Quinn wrote stories that attracted a devoted audience of readers. The stories in this collection bring together Jules de Grandin stories from the late Thirties, all of the Forties, and a couple stories from the Fifties.

  Fiction (Too Much Horror Fiction): Pity poor Robert James Atchison. Living in a California town known as America’s preeminent burial ground, where the dead outnumber the living five thousand to one, he’s a sensitive 17-year-old boy with a fondness for poetry, instilled in him by his dear departed mother, and he actually enjoys reading books like The Iliad for school. He may have good hair, vibrant eyes, and fine features, but all that’s lost on his high school classmates: to them he’s a gangly, awkward-limbed, tongue-tied goof who they’ve nicknamed “Coma Man” with an embarrassing crush on Carla, the prettiest girl in school. He’s written Carla a poem and has two scarlet ribbons to give to her. What could go wrong?

  Pulp (True Pulp Fiction): After having hardly any time for pulp reading for a while I finally got a chance to settle down with this issue of Adventure from from Howard V. Bloomfield’s editorial regime. Despite the cowboy on the cover the lead story is a Georges Surdez novelette, “A Head for the Game.” It’s a change of pace for Surdez in that his usual French Foreign Legion protagonists appear here as antagonists, picking a feud with a commander of Senegalese Tirailleurs.

    Sensor Sweep: Classics, Steve Tompkins, Queen of the Black Coast, Gun Ghoul published first on https://medium.com/@ReloadedPCGames