#and so for taylor to get to be this part that is even particularly idiosyncratic amongst that....scintillating. mwah | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

imanes · 5 years

Note

did u like the raven cycle? i picked it up a few years ago but couldn’t get into it but i often trust ur opinions on books so maybe i’ll give it a shot if u think it’s worth it!

i read the raven boys and the dream thieves a year ago and as far as i’m concerned i’m not particularly interested in continuing the series. it’s not bad, and in many aspects it is very decent magical realism (or very very low fantasy) YA series. i think there are some interesting friendship/relationship dynamics and that most characters are well crafted and complex. it’s probably an ideal book for people who like character-driven stories rather than plot-driven stories. so i’ll say that it has all of that going on lmao.

the reasons why i won’t pursue my reading of this quartet is that i think it never manages to land on its feet quite right by the end of each book, and that worries me for how the series will be wrapped up. the conclusions of both books fell horribly flat. as i said, it is more character-focused than plot-focused but there IS a plot going on, albeit a slow on, and it does pick up enough momentum to make me look forward to how it is going to be concluded by the end of the book. but on both occasions, i was left with a feeling of frustration and emptiness because it just didn’t feel well executed and satisfying in any way.

book two was also quite confusing in terms of how it is written. i had to read the prologue and the epilogue three times in a row each to finally unravel whatever the fuck the author was saying. i enjoy straightforward prose à la brandon sanderson and i love lyrical writing as much as the next laini taylor appreciator so i’m not peculiar in terms of authorial voice and i can appreciate most idiosyncratic styles for what they’re worth. but stiefvater’s overly complicated and flowery authorial voice veers on off-putting on some occasions. the meat of the story is not necessarily written in a distracting manner but she has her moments sometimes and they give me headaches lmao.

so yeah all in all i don’t think she can conclude a story to save her soul and she spends too much time worrying about making things pretty rather than substantial. if you couldn’t get into it a few years ago i wouldn’t necessarily encourage you to pick it up again if you’re expecting for the plot to really ramp up to an exciting conclusion but if you’re willing to follow the story for the sake of its characters rather than its slow-building plot then maybe you’d like it better now! as far as i am concerned, by the end of dream thieves (book 2) i was like “what is even the point?” and the worst part is that i am sure that i would love 90% of blue lily lily blue but the last 10% will frustrate me so much that i’d abandon the series once more so i don’t bother for now! i have too many seemingly more exciting book series to look forward to at the moment. that’s my review i hope it is somewhat enlightening and also i’d like to quickly thank you for putting so much trust in my opinions akjdlkjgd

#Anonymous

4 notes · View notes

groovesnjams · 5 years

Video

youtube

[[ GROOVES N JAMS S.O.T.Y. 2018 ]] [ nO. 17/50 ]

“Party for One” by Carly Rae Jepsen

DV:

I’m even less clear now than a year ago on where Carly Rae Jepsen’s career is headed; while “Cut to the Feeling” was mismanaged to commercial irrelevance despite unexpected popular support, “Party for One” came packaged with a decent social media rollout and a video designed to be repurposed into gifs and memes, but an apparent failure to promote it anywhere besides those social channels. Which meant it didn’t even chart in the US, which meant her management has attempted two separate “debuts” of a second video: “Party for One” is getting the worst parts of the rollouts for “Feeling” and “I Really Like You”, from management that seems to think it’s still possible for Carly to replicate the success of “Call Me Maybe”.

She won’t do that, probably ever. And I don’t expect her promo to start making sense anytime soon. But that makes it all the more impressive how Carly’s songs continue to have the consistency of a pop star who knows exactly what they’re doing. “Party for One” is sonically immaculate and lyrically fraught, a complex exploration of emotion packed into the strict, simple structures of a pop song. “Tried to let it go and say I'm over you/ I'm not over you, but I’m tryin”, she sings in one particularly great bit of enjambment. There and throughout, Carly’s delivery is irrepressible: her growth as a vocalist post-Emotion has been fascinating to track through her feature work, and “Party for One” sounds like the payoff. She’s developed from one of my favorite writers to one of my favorite vocalists as well, warm and fantastically emotive. I have no idea how she fits into the current pop landscape - and the answer may be that she doesn’t - but man am I glad we’ve got her here.

MG:

I’m not as pressed by the shitty, scattershot promo -- maybe she’s a proxy for Ariana Grande? -- since I’ve checked out on, like, mainstream culture but I can say for sure that it never would’ve mattered to me. “Party For One” was one of a scant handful of songs I listened to as close to immediately after their release as I could. Try as she (the royal she, here) might to obscure any success or broad resonance, she’s achieved those things because she works on such an intimate level. She is the party for one and you are that one. Each and every one of us who listened to that song first thing in the morning or last thing before bed is the one. That’s what the music video is about, too. We are never alone, only by ourselves. I think in focusing with so much scrutiny on why Carly Rae Jepsen is not Taylor Swift despite being an artist Swift clearly looks to for inspiration (or, melodies) we miss the fact that Jepsen is managing something so much more unique. She is a pop star who thrives without attention. Everything she does is capable of saturating (and that’s why it sometimes does saturate) but without ever possessing any trying. I think the thing behind the curtain that we’re not supposed to see is that Jepsen really is making idiosyncratic pop music that only she can divine. There’s no conflict between her marketing and her work.

#gnjsoty2k18 #party for one #carly rae jepsen

0 notes

funnythingshere0-blog · 6 years

Text

3 'Funny, Strange, and Provocative' New Plays You Need to See

New Post has been published on http://funnythingshere.xyz/3-funny-strange-and-provocative-new-plays-you-need-to-see/

3 'Funny, Strange, and Provocative' New Plays You Need to See

For lovers of adventurous new plays, Clubbed Thumb’s annual SummerWorks festival is a must-go. The six-week festival (May 19–June 30) of new plays has garnered quite the reputation for championing exciting new voices in theatre and acting as a launchpad for “weird and peculiar” works which may not get support elsewhere.

So what makes a play a “Clubbed Thumb ” play?

“I sometimes say, ‘unusual stories unusually told’,” says artistic director and co-founder Maria Striar, who started the Off Off-Broadway incubator and production company with a group of friends 23 years ago. Their mission then, still holds true today: the organization supports plays that are “funny, strange, and provocative.” “We know it when we encounter it,” says Striar.

This year is a particularly exciting year for Striar, as every show in the series has touched one of the organization’s development programs. In addition to SummerWorks, Clubbed Thumb offers year-round support to early-career and mid-career playwrights via writers’ groups, a directing fellowship, commissions of new plays, and new play workshops through SuperLab, its partnership with Playwrights Horizons. (Larissa FastHorse’s The Thanksgiving play, which was developed through this program will have its world premiere at Playwrights as part of the 2018–2019 season; Tin Cat Shoes, debuting at SummerWorks, also came out of the program).

The playwrights and directors of this season’s three SummerWorks plays tells us what makes them a bit weird, and why you should check them out this summer at its home at The Wild Project.

Tin Cat Shoes, Performances run May 19–29

Trish Harnetiaux [Playwright] My play is about… How quickly we can acclimate to outrageous circumstances. It’s funny, strange, and/or provocative because… It mirrors how real life works, which is absurd and messy and unpredictable. I’m obsessed with theatre that is… Unexpected, honest, and funny at the same time. I’m a playwright because… I was tricked. But I’m glad I was tricked because I’m not sure there is another creative process where, if you hit the jackpot with your collaborators, you are able to create both an unforgettable experience and a nice piece of literature at the same time. Other plays of mine you might know: How to Get into Buildings, Welcome to the White Room, Weren’t You in My Science Class?, and Bender and Brian (a tale of Breakfast Club fanfiction).

Knud Adams [Director] Some work of mine you might know: Torrey Townsend’s The Workshop [softFocus]; Justin Kuritzkes’ Asshole [JACK], and Eliza Bent’s Aloha, Aloha, or When I Was Queen [Abrons Arts Center]; Julia Jarcho’s Every Angel is Brutal [Clubbed Thumb]. Come see this show if you love… Clubbed Thumb. This might be the epitomic Clubbed Thumb play: It’s deeply funny, strange, and provocative. Also, come see this show if you love shoes, outings, animals, teamwork, Guys and Dolls, David Lynch, game theory, chaos theory, or nachos. When I read a new play I look for… A physiological response where I’m simultaneously stunned by its intelligence, itching to begin working on it, and sweating because it seems impossible. I’m particularly inspired by plays that capture authentic human experiences within appropriately radical forms. I’m driven to make theatre that is… Lately, I’ve been most interested in speaking truth to power—which means, as a director, excavating truth from every moment (even when those truths are uncomfortable), and as a producer, getting the work seen by the powerful. I’m a director because… I’ve always been a jack-of-all-trades. I had planned to be a writer or sculptor, but then I got lonely. I tried my hand at set design, but then I got greedy. Theatre demands all of my instincts and talents—it’s the Gesamtkunstwerk.

Wilder Gone, Performances run June 4–14

Angela Hanks [Playwright]

My play is about… Three women with three very different ambitions. It’s about desire, love, ambition, class, survival, the politics of skin tone, and real estate. Also, this play is loosely based off of my paternal great-grandmother’s life. I’m obsessed with theatre that is… I saw a production of Charles Mee’s Big Love at the Signature Theatre back in 2015. My goodness, it was glorious. I cried during the scene when the brides kill their grooms, but one, Lydia, decides not to. She had quietly fallen in love with him. The overall scene was incredibly kinetic and crazed and athletic—there was a lot going on—but my focus shifted to this particular moment because it showed a woman confronting her politics, and her desire, and her humanity, all at the same time. But the thing about it, about that particular moment, is that she was, furtively and inwardly, wrestling with these conflicts, this emotional dissonance. It was not this oversized, histrionic thing; it was hidden. Barely detectable, but somehow gigantic and raw and honest. I’m a playwright because… During the summer of 2003, I was back home in Dallas from college for summer break. I was at the intersection of North Central Expressway and Forest Lane, most likely headed to Blockbuster Video. This dude pulled up next to my mother’s Ford Escort, he indicated to me to roll down the passenger window. I did, and he said, “I got these baby clothes and a camcorder I need to sell.” I was left wondering about the combination of items he needed to sell, and why. The why was serious. His is an existence that is not usually focused on, not only in the American theatre, but in [American] society. I was drawn to that existence. And I wanted to somehow make it matter. I wrote my third full-length play, policies & procedures, based off of that interaction, the following summer. Other plays of mine you might know: Devil Music, Big Tex, and Myrna in Transit.

Margot Bordelon [Director] Some work of mine you might know: Jiréh Breon Holder’s Too Heavy for Your Pocket [Roundabout Underground]; Mara Nelson-Greenberg’s Do You Feel Anger? [42nd Annual Humana Festival at Actors Theater Louisville]. Come see this show if you love… Plays about Texas! A wildly-talented all-black cast! Stories about strong women and desire. When I read a new play I look for… A unique voice, distinctive characters, a strong sense of theatricality, and an intersectional feminist agenda. I’m driven to make theatre that is… Not auditioning to be film or television—that embraces the magic of live-ness! Work that’s earnest, and full of heart and humor, and that is an act of resistance against the values of our current administration. I’m a director because… I love being able to work on all aspects of a production. Theatre is where literature, and performance, and visual art meet. I take a kind of masochistic pleasure in working in an art form that is ephemeral.

Plano, Performances run June 20–30

Will Arbery [Playwright]

My play is about… Three sisters on a porch in Dallas, dealing with a series of hauntings which are linked to the male presences in their lives. It’s about time moving so fast you don’t have time to think. And dying while you’re still alive. And not being able to help the people you love. It’s a delight! It’s funny, strange, and/or provocative because… Funny because the characters love each other and love makes us funny. Strange because the rules are different. Provocative because it’s got, you know, rage, depression, violence, slugs, and breathlessness. I’m obsessed with theatre that is… Impossible to categorize. Funny and sad in the same breath. Idiosyncratically and inevitably structured—so when you talk about how the play is put together, you’re also talking about what the play’s about. I’m a playwright because… I have seven sisters and a lot of voices in my head. I also have a lot of Catholic shame and I think shame is one of the great theatrical antagonists. Mostly, though, I write plays because I love and fear being in the same room as something that is happening now. Other plays of mine you might know are: Evanston Salt Costs Climbing [Clubbed Thumb and Playwrights Horizons]. Otherwise, do you go see short plays at EST? Do you remember one about a man in a diaper who pops out of a trunk? Fact is, having a play in SummerWorks is a big exciting new chapter for me.

Taylor Reynolds [Director] Some work of mine you might know: Think Before You Holla Come see this show if you love… Family dramas that make you question your entire existence and the construct of time. When I read new plays I look for… The moment when a play breaks its own rules. (It’s the best!) I’m driven to make theatre that is… Engaging, challenging, and representative of intersectional identities. I’m a director because… I feel like a secret puppet master, except my puppets are sentient, super smart, and have total agency over their choices.

0 notes