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fantastica-daily · 3 years

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Richard Elfman on his new bizarro comedy - Aliens, Clowns & Geeks

By Staci Layne Wilson

When it comes to cult science fiction movies, Forbidden Zone stands tall. Richard Elfman's 1980 Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo vehicle was a one-of-a-kind film zooming down on a one-way street to a whacky conclusion that’s stayed in the minds of schlock cinema fans ever since. His latest film, Aliens, Clowns & Geeks is an equally wild and expressionistic indie featuring Austin Powers' Verne Troyer in his last role, promising that Aliens, Clowns & Geeks is the antidote to mainstream and a breakneck cure for the run-of-the-mill.

“I was fortunate to have my dream cast on this one, including Verne Troyer (Mini-Me) as my demonic clown emperor–his final film role,” says Elfman. “Our ninety-minute film has seventy-five minutes of driving music by my brother Danny (Elfman) and acclaimed animation composer, Ego Plum Guerrero. Along with Danny’s to-die-for clown and alien music, Ego added a Latin element with the band we play with, Mambo Demonico.” The score was composed by Danny Elfman, who wrote the theme song to The Simpsons, the music to The Nightmare Before Christmas and did the singing voice of Jack Skellington, and won six Saturn awards.

"Eddy Pine (Bodhi Elfman) is a jaded actor dealing with the cancellation of his series," reads the official synopsis. "To complicate matters, he wakes up with the key to the universe stuck up his ass. Apparently an alien Clown Emperor (Verne Troyer) is in hot pursuit of this, as are his rivals, the Green Aliens. Professor von Scheisenberg (French Stewart) and his comely Swedish assistants, the Svenson sisters (Rebecca Forsythe as Helga, Angeline-Rose Troy as Inga), come to Eddy’s aid. If only Eddy hadn’t fallen for Helga, and then the aliens manipulate his mind to confuse her with Inga! And when the mad little Clown Captain (Martin Klebba) steps on the gas and shifts his spaceship into fourth gear, all hell breaks loose.”

We had the opportunity to sit down with Richard to ask him about his movie.

Q. To what do you attribute your enduring interest in clowns? And why do you think they’re so fascinating to people in general?

As I’ve always said: “To be born a male redhead is to be born into a clown suit.” Hence my carrot-topped brother Danny and I have always had a fascination with clowns. Coupled with our wicked sense of humor and a love of the horror genre, it was an easy morph into thoughts of creepy clowns. Just like dolls and puppets—yes, I’m speaking Anabelle—clowns can have something “surreal” about them. Bill Skarsgard’s Pennywise really nails it. And I laughed my head off at Killer Klowns From Outer Space. (And we have honk-honking shit-load of killer clowns in my new film).

Q. How did the idea for Aliens, Clowns & Geeks come about? Is it similar to The Forbidden Zone?

Joined-at-the-hip. Yes. And no. Forbidden Zone is basically a surrealistic “human-cartoon” set to musical numbers. So I was working on Forbidden Zone 2, a thematic extension of FZ but on a much grander scale. I did a successful crowd-funder to develop the project, then, with the help of my producers, raised about half the budget. They asked me if we could do something quick (and cheaper) in the interim to keep the momentum going.

So I basically locked myself in my roof-top writing garret with a box of cigars and many bottles of whiskey and banged out my Geeks script over the next three weeks.

Geeks is utterly zany and music-driven, but it’s not a “singing musical” so to speak like FZ. It has surrealistic elements, thanks to my insane special effects department--and a little help from Hieronymus Bosch—but I would describe Geeks having cartoony elements rather than being a total “human cartoon” as FZ was…if that makes any sense. (And please don’t try!)

Q. Tell us about the multiple roles played by your family – and do you have role as well? What was it like working with your family – any funny stories?

My son Bodhi Elfman—a serious dramatic actor with 100s of credits--did a great comic turn as Eddy, the lead; a bitter out of work actor who wakes up with the key to the universe stuck up his ass. He also played the ass-kissing clown (literally) on the space ship plus the green alien network executive who orders the destruction of Earth. My wife Anastasia played multiple roles, everything from a nun to a carny slut. She also danced and choreographed the cabaret burlesque numbers as well as played a clown…until she got sick from the chemicals inside the clown mask and had to throw up—after we got the shot, of course--committed trouper that she is. When I met Anastasia she was a ballet dancer with a “day job” at a horror fx shop. She can dance with a broken toe but seems to have developed a sensitivity to certain shop chemicals.

I played a clown as well and almost threw up from laughing. I must say Geeks was a fun show to work on (my greatest joy is creating a sense of fun) and the actors and crew had serious trouble keeping from laughing as I directed in insane clown attire. What a fucking visual!

And brother Danny—what can I say? As an independent (hence lower budget) film maker it helps when your little brother in Mozart.

Q. Tell us how you ran away and joined the circus.

Actually, The Grande Magic Circus--a French musical theatre company. 1971, I was twenty-one, visiting the Festival of New Theatre in Montreal. I ran into a scruffy Parisian street troupe. They had something though, a charisma, an élan, whatever-- it attracted me. Director Jérôme Savary needed a percussionist—et voila, that was me! I persuaded them to give me several minutes onstage at the festival doing my comedy/horror piece set to an Eric Satie’s Gnossienne. When I “killed” the pianist in a pool of blood the audience was shocked. And they loved it!

Then, back in California, I went to see Marcel Carne’s masterpiece Les Enfant de Paradise , a three hour film set in the Paris theatre scene of the 1830’s. I exited the theatre, stopped, turned around and went back in and saw it again.

A few months later I received a letter from Jerome. Peter Brook, famed director of London’s Royal Shakespeare Company was backing the Magic Circus in a large Paris theatre. Would I like to join them? Bloody hell!! Hence, I ran away and joined the “circus.”

Q. Tell us something about your time with the Magic Circus, how it influenced you and also how your brother Danny Elfman joined the show.

I might say that working with Jérôme Savary was perhaps my single greatest influence. The troupe had classically trained actors from the Comedie Francais as well as more Avant guard performers. Jerome was a genius, his material had a sense of Absurdism that really struck me. I would later develop this absurdism in my own fashion. Certainly with my own troupe, the Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo (later Oingo Boingo). By the way, my film Forbidden Zone was essentially our Mystic Knights stage show set to film.

Danny—several days out of high school--showed up at my 5ème, Rue Descartes doorstep with his electric violin. The company violinist was from the Paris Opera. Jerome liked to improvise. The opera guy couldn’t deviate one note from the written score. I believe my brother is Mozart reincarnated. He could follow any improvisation and got the job and toured with us for the summer throughout France. He and I opened the show with him on violin, me on percussion—the first music Danny Elfman ever wrote.

Q. Any other interesting experiences that you and Danny had there?

We were in a Basque town near the Spanish border. If I may digress, I am four years Danny’s senior. I went to a high school in Crenshaw (Boyz in the Hood), Danny ended up at a school with no guns. I was a tough boxer. Danny might be described as a bespectacled science nerd. So it’s Friday night, the audience was really rowdy and restless. My “street sense” knew it was just a matter of time before the fights broke out. We had an Argentine fellow in the troupe, “Katshurro,” nicest fellow. Drunks in the audience picked up on his accent and shouted terrible Spanish insults about his mother. Katshurro stopped mid-performance, his eyes bugging out of head, and he dove right into the audience swinging away. All hell broke loose. Everyone was fighting, sets crashing down. Danny’s glasses got knocked off. Well, and not for the first time, I managed to get Danny out of trouble with both his glasses and violin intact.

Q. Tell us about the cast you assembled – which includes Verne Troyer in his final screen performance. What was he like? Who does he play in the film?

I really had my dream cast. Along with my son Bodhi we had lovely kung-fu kicking Rebecca Forsythe, versatile Angeline-Rose Troy who not only played Rebecca’s sexy Swedish sister, but donned prosthetics to play poor Eddy’s junkie/whore “Mom from Hell.”

Professor von Scheisenberg was played impeccable veteran French Stewart (Third Rock From the Sun). Another great vet was George Wendt (Cheers) as Father Mahoney. Six foot six comic Steve Agee (Sarah Silverman Show, Guardians of the Galaxy) played both a tough cross-dressing bar owner and a stuttering dufis in a chicken suit. Nic Novicki (Boardwalk Empire) played his nasty little-person boss. I was really blessed with a great ensemble to work with.

And, of course, Verne Troyer, our megalomaniac Clown Emperor. What a wonderful talent to work with! He was funny on set, insisted on doing things in spite of physical limitations and he gave us hilarious comic improvisations. Little body. Big spirit. I will certainly miss him.

Q. The music is by Danny and you also have great animation… please give us some details what it’s like to create worlds through music and manufactured imagery.

Danny, along with my band mate--award winning animation composer Ego Plum (Guerrero)—really gave it to us. Seventy-five minutes of music in a ninety-minute film. ♪ ♫ La, tee-da and a boom boom boom! ♪ ♫ Music is essential to everything I do—especially setting the tone of my films. I even play music before I start writing.

As soon as Danny saw our surrealistic Bosch dream sequence and goofy clown rocket ships he agreed to do the score…after he stopped laughing. I play percussion in a quirky Latin band, Mambo Demonico, led by Hollywood’s top tv animation composer, Ego Plum. He and Danny work with the same people, including Oingo Boingo lead guitarist Steve Bartek, who subsequently has done every one of Danny’s film arrangements. Steve and the original Oingo Boingo members all played on our sound track. I must brag that we do have great fucking music!

You know, Danny was a bespectacled science nerd growing up, basically stayed out of trouble. That was my department. Oddly, he wasn’t really into music. No bands, no concerts, no big music collection. Life is funny how things turned out. I showed him a rough cut of Geeks, he laughed his ass off and offered to do it. Yes, I’m very lucky to have “Mozart” as my little brother!

Q. Who is Aliens, Clowns & Geeks for? Do you think movies like this are more likely to find a mainstream audience?

Forbidden Zone may be a “cult” movie but it still plays all over the world--after forty years. Just this past month FZ played festivals in France and South Korea. Geeks is certainly not for everyone—no one falls in love then dies of cancer. But it will find an audience I am sure. Anyone who had fun with Killer Klowns From Outer Space, liked Rocky Horror, even What We Do in the Shadows in terms of a quirky, wicked sense of humor. I also think it will play well in mental asylums…it certainly shall send people there in any case.

Geeks doesn’t fit into the scheme of “modern films.” Actually, the shooting style and underlying three-act story structure harkens back to classic comedies (says the son of a former English teacher turned novelist). The trappings though, are insane and off-the-wall. You might say it’s just my own, goony creation. Love it or hate it, the humor is balls-out outrageous, definitely not for everyone--no one dies of cancer. Geeks is simply meant to be fun for essentially the genre audience.

Q. What’s your proudest moment associated with making the film?

Proudest moment? Maybe finally paying the actors. People say I’ve embraced the indie spirit. I don’t know how much I “embrace” it, so much as am fucked by it, having to work on such a modest budget. Although I’ve been a “hired gun” and directed scripts written by others, Geeks is really the first time since my 1980 Forbidden Zone that I’ve really done purely my own vision. Per John Waters, well, I’d hope he’d have something strong to drink and/or smoke and then laugh his ass off watching it! That’s what it was like creating the film: Drinking scotch and smoking cigars in my rooftop writing garret, laughing my ass off! The green aliens have a totally high-tech ship, except for the automotive steering wheel and four-on-the-floor to shift gears. For the clowns we went for an absurdly updated version of Flash Gordon. And when our tiny clown emperor takes possession of an earth body, he has little dummy of the earthling sitting in his lap, their heads connected by electrical wires. Absurd and ridiculous, and that’s my middle name.

Want to see a double feature of The Forbidden Zone and Aliens, Clowns & Geeks? You can! They will play at The Regency in L.A. as part of The Valley Film Festival on 1/30/21. Get tickets here.

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Look for our review of Aliens, Clowns & Geeks here soon!

#Richard Elfman #forbidden zone #aliens clowns geeks #bizarro #cult films

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sanders-specs · 4 years

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Patton’s Playlist Analysis

A/N: I’m back again with Patton’s playlist analysis!

So this is definitely my favorite playlist. I know at this point both Logan’s and Virgil’s have come out, and i still just like Patton's the best, and honestly i think this analysis reflects that. It’s also very long, so I apologize for that. And again, disclaimer: This is entirely my own opinions. I’m not trying to speak for Thomas or Joan or anyone else who helped put together the playlist. it’s okay if you don’t agree with me! In fact, I��d like to hear your thoughts if you don’t!!

It does go song by song, like with Roman’s, so you can divide it up if you want. but for those who don’t want to/can’t read an analysis of 20 songs, I’ll put the summary above the cut and those who want to dive deeper can enjoy.

Let me know if you want to see Logan’s!

Roman’s Analysis

Analysis summary/conclusion(?):

Patton is a bright, bubbly optimist. he sees the best in everyone and in the entire world. He believes in kindness and love and wants to make the world a better place with it.

But he also wants to be loved and feel loved. By the other sides, by Thomas’s friends and family, romantically. He craves that affection and attention almost as much as Roman does. He wants so badly to help (like with Virgil), but he feels like he doesn’t quite do enough.

Still, though, he’s determined to spread that love and kindness, even if he doesn’t get much in return for it.

Like with Roman’s we’re going to start with the first song sooo here we go!

Camp Fire Song Song.

None of us should be surprised and honestly, I had forgotten Patton’s answer to the favorite song question in the Q&A video until I hit play on the playlist.

There’s not too much to analyze here. It’s a really short song with only a few lyrics (if also iconic).

Honestly, though, listening to it for analyzing purposes, it reminded me of Learning New Things, when Patton and the others were trying to get Logan to sing along with them and join in on the bit. Also, in the Christmas episode when Patton and Roman are trying to get Virgil to sing his line with them. Squidward being a good representation of both of them in the moment in their respective videos.

After all, Spongebob and Patrick were just trying to have a little fun, and they wanted Squidward to join in, even if it was obvious that he didn’t want to. Still, though, Spongebob wasn’t deterred by his silence. He just kept going and having fun.

Patton’s a bit of the same way. Even though he wants the others to join him in his ideas of fun, they don’t always do. Still, though, Patton keeps trying and smiling through it all and having his own fun. Making puppet puns, doing impressions, mixing up the way he was singing his part in the twelve days of Christmas. he has his own fun, even when the others don’t really participate but you know…

It’ll help if you just sing along

Turnaround is so cute. I haven’t watched The Little Prince, but if the whole soundtrack is as good as this song then I just might.

This song, like many on Patton’s playlist, is about living life and enjoying the good things. Everything from the lyrics to the happy-go-lucky music to the scat singing just has a tone of optimism and happiness.

Straight (Straight), how can you be so straight? (Straight) Life is everything but straight (Straight) It's going up and down

Life has its ups and downs, so you shouldn’t be so focused on one path or one plan. Not everything is going to go right, sure, but there are so many things that will. Focusing too much on making things go the way you want them to will prevent you from learning and living life how it’s supposed to be lived.

Far (Far) Happiness isn't far (Far) Not far from where you are (Are)

A lot of people live like their looking for happiness, when in reality if they stopped looking, they’d find they would be much happier.

Now, of course I can’t speak for everyone or their situations. In this particular instance, I’m talking about the people who go through life thinking “as long as I do/have/accomplish this then I’ll be happy” when they already have so much or have people around them that could give them the happiness that they want so badly.

It goes well with the Growing Up video. What Patton was trying to tell the others all along, and what the ultimate conclusion of the video was. Happiness isn’t far.

Watching your life go by (By, by by) Now, why don't you sing out loud? The tune you keep inside?

Really most of this song is saying to enjoy the now. Who you are, what you like, the person that you are. Not to hide yourself.

Shy (Shy) How can you be so shy? (Shy) Hiding below the stars (Stars) Under your neon light (Light) Hi (Hi) Don't say hello, say hi (Hi) Hi to a higher sky (Sky) Hi to a higher ground Loud, why don't you sing out loud? The words you keep inside?

Listening to this verse in the context of Patton is super interesting to me. We all know those people who are all “Just be happy! You’re alive, the sun is out, what else could you need?” While I don’t really think Patton is too in that category, he’s up there. He loves rainbows and sunshine and everything about life (see: his verse in Recipe for Me). He’s excited-able and very Maira-running-through-the-hills-singing-about-how-the-hills-are-alive-with-the-sound-of-music.

All that being said, comparing this to, say Virgil, who is arguably the polar opposite is interesting. Patton being the way he is, really doesn’t understand being shy or social anxious. Of course he would want you to sing out loud! Why would you want to hold that in when you can just let it all out and have fun with it? He’s much more likely to give a stranger a hug than he is to duck his head and look the other way.

But he doesn’t want you to just suddenly change. He wants to help! The very first lyric of the song says just that.

Turn around, I’m right behind you

He’s there, he’s with you, he’s going to help you break out of your shell and be free. He wants you to turn your views of life around to be as happy as you can be.

All of the songs on this playlist are super chill and it’s really nice. Jim Croce has such a nice voice which makes I Got a Name just really nice to listen to. Also, the music itself is amazing (I’m huge on aesthetically pleasing things, especially in songs so I have to gush. There will be a lot of that in this one).

This one goes along with Turnaround a bit in the sense that it’s about living. Moving through life like you move easily (in…some places) down a highway.

Like the pine trees lining the winding road I got a name, I got a name Like the singing bird and the croaking toad I got a name, I got a name

Everything in the world has a name, a title, something that we call it by. If it doesn’t, we give them one. It’s part of just being alive on this earth, having a name. In so many cultures, names are some of the most important things. They mean things, for some, they define who they are. Honestly, look into why we have middle names, or all the different titles the Greeks have for love, or why Queen Elizabeth had to full on change her name when she became queen.

Maybe I’m just song analyzing at this point instead of putting it to Patton Context or heck, maybe I’m just taking the lyrics too literally. But, I mean, he is the side who cares the most about….everything. Thomas is an incredibly caring person and all of that is Patton. He’s the one who would have names for every single toy he has, because names are important, everyone has to have a name! it’s something he would care about.

Movin' me down the highway, rollin' me down the highway Movin' ahead so life won't pass me by

I find this…ironic. I don’t know if it’s meant to be, honestly. But when you’re on the highway you are…literally rolling past life. The trees, the birds, other people. You are literally passing by entire towns and neighborhoods.

I dunno, I just find irony in this, intentionally or not. I know it means trying to get ahead of life so you can properly live it or something, but…you’re still missing it.

Huh. Maybe that is what it means.

Like the north wind whistlin' down the sky I got a song, I got a song Like the whippoorwill and the baby's cry I got a song, I got a song And I carry it with me and I sing it loud If it gets me nowhere, I'll go there proud

I love the comparisons here, because it’s not talking about an actual song, but the sounds of life. The wind, a baby’s cry, a whirlpool. There’s quote that I love be Cecily Morgan (at least according to Google), “Music is life and that’s why our hearts have beats.” We all have a song inside of us, the way our hearts beats (don’t science me, that’s for Logan’s Playlist). The phrase “follow your heart” is what I’m pretty sure this verse is referencing. Even if you follow your heart and it leads you nowhere, at least you can be proud that you got there, which not many people can say.

Patton is a huge part of Thomas. I’m not saying the others aren’t, because they are, but he holds his morals very highly. Patton’s input in anything, especially the big life decisions, is one of the most important next to maybe Logan. He knows what Thomas wants maybe even more than Roman. Sure, Roman holds Thomas’s hopes and dreams, but Patton gives him the motivation to go after them, to act on them.

Thomas’s choice to pursue Vine and then YouTube could have lead him nowhere. It really could’ve. But he followed the song of his heart and got there.

That’s allllll Patton.

Like the fool I am and I'll always be I got a dream, I got a dream

There’s some self-awareness here with the fool line. Patton’s not an idiot. He knows the others don’t think much of him. He’s the perfect definition of someone who may not be book smart, and therefore everyone else thinks he’s stupid. When in reality, he’s just not very good with words, so he expresses things the best way he knows how. This song is a really good example, because of all the nature comparisons in it. It doesn’t get too literal until this verse

They can change their minds but they can't change me I got a dream, I got a dream Oh, I know I could share it if you'd want me to If you're goin' my way, I'll go with you

Thomas has big dreams. We’ve all seen Roman, we know that. But like I said before, Patton is the one who can really get Thomas to go for those dreams. Like in Learning New Things, when Thomas was feeling self conscious because of one comment an old friend made, and Patton led the conversation that helped him to understand that there was nothing wrong with Thomas or his dreams, there was nothing wrong with feeling sad about the comment. How, in the end, it takes a lot to figure ourselves out and that without his YouTube career, he wouldn’t be where he is now.

So, yeah, others can change what they think about him, his career, and his dreams, but that’s not going to change what he does or the fact that he loves it. In fact, he’s willing to share that dream with others, and to help them on theirs, as he has done. Look at his team (or, I suppose, what we know of of Character Thomas’s team). It’s full of his friends and it seems like whenever they bring someone on, they’re welcomed with open arms. Now, I’m only talking from a fan’s perspective here. That’s just how it looks to me. He’ll help others achieve their dreams as much as they’ll help him achieve his.

So from what I’ve seen around, people really like Oranges. Or, well, me. I really love Oranges. The song, not the fruit. Not a big fan of the fruit (the texture is eugh).

And it’s such a Patton song!

That thing about him not being book smart? It applies here too. It’s a bit of a nonsense song at first listen, I’m not going to lie. A really fun nonsense song.

But then, I have to read the lyrics along with listening to the song when I do these because otherwise I just can’t pick up on every word. My attention span and memory is not that good, and I tend to focus a lot more on the music part than the singing part the first few times around. So maybe this is just my experience.

It's funny how nobody sings about oranges The reason's no rhyme, I'm starting to mind How we take our ideas and put them in storage But peel back the rind, who knows what you'll find

Take the same risks as if you're afraid If life gave you an orange, would you make lemonade And it's funny how nobody sings about oranges When you've got one in the palm of your hand

Lots of metaphors here. I think Patton just lives in a state of metaphors.

I’m pretty sure we’re talking about suppression here. Suppressing ideas, feelings, whatever, because of pretty superficial reasons. Once you strip those reason away, you can be unstoppable. We’re back to that idea of living the life you want, going where your heart takes you. Using what life gives you and running with it. Take some risks with it, if you must. But you have it. Use it! I mean if you’re given an orange, would you make lemonade?

No.

You’d make orange juice.

Crazy how nobody sings about chocolate Seems there would be nothing so sweet Like we're living in the boxes of someone who's locked it How can that be, it just ain't for me

Is…is the chocolate metaphor referencing Forest Gump?

Anyway, people like pushing others into “boxes.” Titles, positions, identities, whatever. They don’t like it when you step out of that box.

Which this is interesting to me, because as we’ve seen in the videos, Patton doesn’t like change too much. Stepping out of that box would involve change. He has gotten better at it since the changes video, but that’s not really something that goes away.

But on the other hand, the heart changes it’s mind all the time. It can be fleeting as much as it can be stubborn. When it comes to your wants and needs and dreams, that can change all the time. That’s why Thomas is a creator. Not just a YouTuber or a singer or an actor. He’s all of those things, all of which would have involved individual decisions on what to pursue and focus on. Which motivation would be the focus of the day or hour or minuet.

We're curving our motions and faking our bets If you don't open a chocolate, who knows what you get And it's crazy how nobody sings about chocolate When you've got it in the palm of your hand

Yeah, I’m pretty sure it’s a Forest Gump reference.

Which is a reference to life. How you’re never going to know what you’re going to get, what life is going to throw at you. But until you take it and uncover it, you really won’t know what it is.

I think this is a bit of Patton accepting that life is unpredictable and throws curveballs. Accepting that he needs to take whatever flavor of chocolate he’s going to get, whatever filling, no matter if it’s one he’s going to like or not.

We run in circles and just like this stay Now purple's got us blue and silver's going grey, hey hey Is there nothing else to say

Staying in the same place, always doing the same things, gets old. Without taking those risks or making what you can out of what you have, even if it’s not something that fits exactly what you think you need, just makes life fade away.

When you follow your heart through life, that doesn’t mean that you won’t be thrown some curveballs. Actually, it almost guaranteed that you’re thrown curveballs. That’s something that Patton has to be ready for, and ready to deal with, and not just making Thomas stay in the same state of mind.

It's funny how nobody sings about oranges Yeah it's funny how nobody sings about oranges Oh, imagine a world where we don't play this game With apples and oranges, nothing's the same

This game of staying still, comparing apples to oranges when they’re inherently the same (or at the very least have a lot in common). Where people follow their hearts and don’t duck away when things start to get a little tough.

While we know that Patton doesn’t like change, he is also the heart and he has to help Thomas deal with those changes as they come. It’s not easy or fun, but it’s something that he has to do.

I Don’t Wanna Pray is a song that grew on me the more I listened to it. It’s definitely got a fun tempo to it.

Also I want to go ahead and say that I have a kinda complicated relationship with religion. I have grown up with a religious family and have been to church a fair few times (we weren’t the kind of family that went every week, it was really only when I spent the night with my grandmother that I went). So I have some familiarity with the teachings of Christianity. If I don’t hit every beat on this, then I’m sorry. I did my best.

It’s not too surprising that a religious song like this made it onto Patton’s playlist. After all, we’ve seen how Thomas’s religion means a lot to him and how he lives his life by his morals. It wouldn’t make much sense if this type of song wasn’t on the playlist.

I love my God, God made love I love my God, God made love I love my God, God made hate I love my God, God made hate I love my God, God made good I love my God, God made good I love my God, God made bad I love my God, God made me (Yeah)

Normally I wouldn’t include so many repeats for the sake of length, but the one word changes here is worth looking at. It goes from love to hate to good to bad and then instead of repeating bad, it says “me.”

Could it be that the singer thinks they’re bad? Maybe, but I think the point of all these repeats is to say that “me” (humans) are composed of love, hate, good, and bad. That God made all of those things and then made man with them. And despite that, the singer still loves God, because He made all those things, even if it’s something we consider to be bad.

And everything listed goes under morals and feelings. Love, hate, good, bad. Everything that Patton is (“I’m the core of a lot of your feelings”) is those things, and then some.

But I don't wanna pray to my maker I just wanna be what I see Not just who I am but the pink and darling land And that fiery wild sky over me Help me through the sun Hey I'm lookin' everywhere See I'm looking to become not the pray-er but the prayer

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I don't wanna pray to my maker I just wanna be feelin' free Not like in a book, or the leaves of trees that shook From a word that means only not a thing Pardon god and mom, what I'm sayin' isn't fair See I'm looking to become, not the prayer but the prayer

I pretty much translate this to “I want to be the good I see in the world.” That instead of praying and hope that God will fix something or make something better, that they want to go and do what they would pray for. To take all the good and love and bad and hate that God made them out of and do something worthwhile with it.

Not much good to talk, better to walk it Not much good to take, better to give We are gone forgiven and forgotten of our sins I promise you my friend all that dies will live again Pardon god and mom, what I'm sayin' isn't fair See I'm looking to become, not the prayer but the prayer

This verse really drives home that idea. Better to give the good than to take it from others. That, yeah, you’ll sin (bad and hate are included in that beginning verse, remember), but God will forgive them.

Honestly this whole song just reinforces a lot of what we already know. Patton, out of all the other sides, holds the religious teachings Thomas had closely. It’s how he has determined to live his life. And Thomas is a good person. He wants to do what is right and do exactly what the song says: give good and love, practice what he preaches. Maybe it’s not always fair, but he firmly believes in how he lives, maybe even to a fault.

I personally relate to New Soul and honestly this is another song that’s a very obvious Patton song and why it would be on this playlist. I know that’s the point, but still. It’s good.

I'm a new soul I came to this strange world Hoping I could learn a bit about how to give and take But since I came here Felt the joy and the fear Finding myself making every possible mistake

Gosh, we’ve all been here right? Going into a new situation or stepping into a new part of our lives and just messing it all up and tripping over ourselves as we go along.

Yeah, I know that’s how life works, but I’m still going to complain about it.

I don’t know if it’s the voice or the way it’s sung or the music but this song just reminds me of those scenes in movies where the MC or someone makes this new creature and the creature comes out and we have to watch them stumble through the world and learn about all the good and bad things about life.

But, like I said, we’ve all been there. Where we’re just feel like we’re thrown into this unknown world and have to stumble through it blindly.

I'm a young soul in this very strange world Hoping I could learn a bit bout what is true and fake But why all this hate? Try to communicate Finding trust and love is not always easy to make

This is a super hard lesson. There are people out there (myself included) who are just very trusting. We want to see the best in people and give them the benefit of the doubt. But it’s so hard, because other people see that and take advantage of that. It’s a hard lesson to learn and it sucks.

We’ve seen that Patton is like this. In Accepting Anxiety, he didn’t think anyone would break into Thomas’s car, even though it’s a very real possibility. He’s a bit like a little kid who doesn’t understand the “don’t talk to strangers” rule in that regard.

And as Logan said in that episode, it’s good for him to trust people, but he’ can’t always afford to. And man, sometimes you have to learn that the hard way.

This is a happy end Cause' you don't understand Everything you have done Why's everything so wrong This is a happy end Come and give me your hand I'll take you far away

There’s a bit of naivety here. Of being oblivious to the bad stuff and thinking that everything is still good and happy, but things are still wrong. The last part of it makes me think that it’s the singer telling another new soul to come with them, that they’ll protect the other new soul.

Another thing that just so Patton. He can be naïve, but he also wants to protect those around him from the horrors he’s endured (however sever those horrors may be).

And he makes mistakes. Sometimes irreversible mistakes. Remember, sometimes the heart leads us nowhere.

I can’t decide if Better Together is on there as a song to all the sides and Thomas or if it’s just to Roman or just to Thomas.

Now, yes, it’s a love song. No, we’re not going to talk about shipping in these, since I highly doubt that’s what Thomas and Joan were thinking when they put these together.

There is no combination of words I could put on the back of a postcard No song that I could sing but I can try for your heart Our dreams and they are made out of real things Like a shoebox of photographs With sepia-toned loving

Love is the answer At least for most of the questions in my heart Like why are we here? And where do we go? And how come it's so hard? It's not always easy and Sometimes life can be deceiving I'll tell you one thing It's always better when we're together

See, my first thought is Roman.

Patton and Roman have to work together in order for Thomas to be happy. Without Roman’s ideas and his hopes and dreams, there’s not much Patton can do to make Thomas happy. And without Patton giving Thomas motivation and having that love, Roman can give idea after idea, but Thomas can’t act on them.

They’re an important pair.

And in that second verse? It makes me think of Why Do We get Out of Bed in the Morning. All those questions? Why are we here, where do we go, why is it so hard? Of course Patton’s answer to that would be love. Thomas’s love for his job, his friends, his family, his fans. But Roman couldn’t really see that because he and Logan negated Patton’s input. I bet you that conversation would have gone differently if Patton had been there.

You can’t really have dreams and aspirations without having heart behind them, right?

And all of these moments Just might find their way into my dreams tonight But I know that they'll be gone When the morning light sings Or brings new things For tomorrow night you see That they'll be gone too Too many things I have to do But if all of these dreams might find their way Into my day to day scene I'd be under the impression I was somewhere in between With only two Just me and you Not so many things we got to do Or places we got to be We'll sit beneath the mango tree now

Okay so I’ve sat here listening to this part over and over again trying to get a read on it. Here’s what I think, and you know, I could be totally wrong.

There’s a balance between dreams being realistic and then them just being fantasies. We know that Roman doesn’t really know where that line is. Patton does. He helps to keep Roman in check and brings him back down to Earth when he needs to. But’s it’s good for them to be somewhere in between. Sometimes having crazy dreams and aspirations is good, just as long as you don’t get too lost in them.

I believe in memories They look so... So pretty when I sleep --- But there is Not enough time And there is no... No song I could sing And there is no Combination of words I could say But I will still Tell you one thing We're better together

Patton is big on memories. This has been made very clear in his room. Thomas can use those memories in order to want to continue to follow his dreams. Like the first time he saw a Broadway show, or the first time he stared in a production, and using that nostalgia and fondness to pursue his acting career. Roman goes crazy over those memories in Patton’s room, and we saw that at the end of it, he was psyched up to get back to the theater. Patton holding onto those memories did that. They can act as inspiration and motivation.

Patton and Roman can work so well together. They’re a creative team, they need each other in order for the other to strive. They help to balance each other out and keep Thomas creating and passionate.

And now, Vienna.

I almost feel like I don’t need to analyze this one. Everyone seems to have already done it.

But you know what, I love it so I’m going to dive into it.

After I gush about it.

The piano, the tempo, the softness of it. It’s an amazing song.

Okay okay I’m good.

So.

This song isn’t even about Patton. It’s about the others. It’s him talking to each of the other three sides. It’s him trying to tell them what he sees in them. Does it make me emotional? Yes.

So as always, let’s start at the beginning

Slow down, you crazy child You're so ambitious for a juvenile But then if you're so smart, tell me Why are you still so afraid, hmm? Where's the fire, what's the hurry about? You'd better cool it off before you burn it out You've got so much to do and only so many hours in a day-ay But you know that when the truth is told That you can get what you want or you could just get old You're gonna kick off before you even get halfway through, ooh When will you realize, Vienna waits for you?

Logan. He is ambitious. He wants order and structure in Thomas’s life, and he works so hard to get there. But he’s afraid of failing. So he works harder. Patton’s trying to tell him to slow down. Don’t try to get everything done at once and to take his time. That it’s not the end of the world if Thomas doesn’t accomplish everything on his To-Do list. And if he keeps pushing, Thomas isn’t going to have any energy left for anything at the end of the day.

Slow down, you're doing fine You can't be everything you want to be before your time Although it's so romantic on the borderline tonight Tonight Too bad but it's the life you lead You're so ahead of yourself that you forgot what you need Though you can see when you're wrong You know you can't always see when you're right You're right

You've got your passion, you've got your pride But don't you know that only fools are satisfied? Dream on, but don't imagine they'll all come true, ooh When will you realize, Vienna waits for you?

Roman. Oh Roman, Roman, Roman. This one is my favorite.

He’s so ready to get to where he wants to be. He just wants to go go go, do everything so he can finally achieve what he’s been working on for so long.

But he’s ambitious. He needs to stop, take a step back, and breathe.

And Patton sees his self-confidence issues. He sees that Roman acts like a big brave prince but underneath it all he’s scared. He’s so hard on himself when he’s wrong, but he doesn’t celebrate when he’s right, when he’s on a roll.

Like I said before, Patton keeps Roman grounded. The passion, the pride, he helps to keep that in check. And as much as Roman may hate it, he has to be realistic about Thomas’s dreams.

Slow down, you crazy child And take the phone off the hook and disappear for awhile It's all right, you can afford to lose a day or two, ooh When will you realize, Vienna waits for you?

This one is short, but I think it speaks a lot for Virgil. He has kind of been the side that determines he’s on his phone a lot, maybe checking Tumblr and twitter to see what people are saying about Thomas, who stays by his phone to make sure that Thomas doesn’t miss anything, that he responds to emails and texts and phone calls right away so no one will be upset. So they don’t think any less of him.

But Patton wants him to realize that he can take a break. It’s not the end of the world. Like Logan, Virgil stresses about Thomas being on time and keeping to his schedule. Not because of order or structure, but because he doesn’t want Thomas to be a failure or to lose what he’s worked so hard for.

In a way this one goes with Logan’s. taking a break isn’t the end of the world. His friends and family will be okay if he doesn’t respond right away. It’s okay.

It’s You I Like is another song that I feel like it just Patton talk to the other sides. I don’t really know if Thomas and Joan had an idea of who. My first impression was Roman (what with his confidence issues) but looking at the lyrics I can really see it being to anyone.

It's you I like Not the things you wear Not the way you do your hair But it's you I like

The way you are right now Way down deep inside you Not the things that hurt you Not your toys; they're just beside

You

'Cause it's you I like Every part of you Your skin, your eyes, your feelings Whether old or new

Hope you will remember Even when you're feelin' blue It's you I like It's you yourself It's you It's you I like

It’s supper short song, so there’s not too much to break down. Honestly I think this is just Patton saying…yeah, he loves the other sides. He loves Thomas. No matter what any of them decide to wear, he’ll be supportive. No matter how they choose to present themselves, he’ll be there. No matter how they feel or think, he’s not going to go anywhere or turn against them. He likes them for them, no matter what.

Thomas and Joan have already said that Little Shadow is about Virgil. But they didn’t say why so that’s what I’m going to try to do.

Have you ever had a younger friend, maybe at school or as a neighbor, who kinda follows you around because they don’t know what else to do? Heck, have you ever been that friend? Or maybe you have a little cousin or sibling who watches your every move to learn how to be.

That’s kinda how I see the start of Patton’s and Virgil’s relationship. Virgil is new to the “Light” sides and he just got Thomas to start really listening to him and taking him seriously, but he’s still unsure of his place. So Patton guides him a little by being completely and undoubtedly supportive of him. To a fault, as we’ve seen.

But this song reminds me of that beginning, of Patton reaching out hand to Virgil and helping to lead him.

Patience, shadow For all your sight, there's no sight to see Little shadow, little shadow To the night, will you follow me? Pardon, shadow Hold on tight to your darkened key Little shadow, little shadow To the night, will you follow me? Closer, shadow For all your strikes, still, we're caught between All this sorrow, little shadow To the night, will you follow me? Every shape and size Deep and deep, we dive Turn and turn aside To a fantasy Little shadow Into the night, will you follow me? Little shadow To the night, will you follow me?

This whole song just makes me reinforces the “Patton wants to protect Virgil” thing. For a while there, yeah, Virgil needed Patton’s support and probably even relied on it. If this song is Patton’s point of view of Virgil (Thomas’s words) then we can really see why Patton treats Virgil the way he does. The song has this little shadow who needs a guide into the scary unknown. Maybe Virgil was like that at one point, but he’s not anymore. Patton still sees him like that, though, which is why he was still treating Virgil the way he was in the Phases video.

That brings us to Sad.

Thomas has said that this is the song that inspired him to make the playlist. That he imagined Patton singing it about Virgil. So to go along with the last one then…well.

You're just too good at being sad I'm just a Band-Aid on a broken heart Yeah, I'm the best at making you laugh For a breath, and you're back in your head, you're so sad You're so sad

Don't know if I'm hurting or helping It's just so damn hard to tell when You're just too good at being sad

Virgil is anxiety. He’s a huge part of Thomas and the fact that he’s there at all means that Thomas does have anxiety issues. He’s been open abut his social anxiety before, and Virgil encompasses that (among other things).

Patton tries to help. He wants to make Virgil comfortable, to get a laugh or even just a smile out of him. And maybe he does, but Virgil always ends up back to where he started. Anxious and sad.

All I wanna do is take the sad from you, but I can't and you wouldn't let me anyways

I think Patton feels a little helpless. His job, in his mind, is to keep Thomas happy, and to do that the others need to be happy as well. That’s why he tries so so hard. But in Virgil’s case, that’s hard. Not only can he not change who Virgil is or Thomas’s anxiety (and depression? We’re unsure at the moment), but Virgil wouldn’t let him change it. Either out of stubbornness or a fear of the huge change that would be.

The song goes on to repeat, so I won’t put any more lyrics here. I just think this song sheds so much light on how Patton is feeling right now, after Virgil’s rejection of the nicknames and the ask that Patton completely change the way he treats Virgil.

Then there was the whole thing with Deceit and Remus. The two haven’t really had much of a chance to reconcile. Virgil got his feelings out to Patton, but Patton is still sitting on his own.

There’s still a lot those two need to work on and talk about. Thomas seems to be in the middle of reevaluating himself and that includes the relationship his has with his anxiety. I, for one, am looking forward to see how it plays out.

Oh Heart is one of those nonsense songs I was talking about earlier. I love it, it’s so fun, but it’s also kkiinndddaaa hard to analyze. For me, anyway.

But looking at the lyrics literally all I can think is that it’s Patton singing to Logan, trying to get his attention.

I'm a bee. You're a tree on a moon cloud in the sea. --- Oh heart, Oh Heart, stop making a fool of me. (fool fool fool fool fool fool of me) Maybe I'm a monkey in the a tree running with the hope and possibility Throwing pennies down the wishing well Hoping and wishing Male monkey just to look at me. Look how quickly i can climb a purple tree. I’m gymnast, chemist, centric mathematician. You should look at me. Look at me!

This honestly looks like it’s Patton saying stuff to get Logan’ attention. Like saying “I know big words too!” and trying to impress him. And I can’t blame him! If there’s one side that ignores Patton the most, it’s Logan. He doesn’t think Patton is serious enough, when really he just doesn’t understand Patton’s reasoning. I'm great. I'm green. I'm gorgeous. I'm every thing that starts with a "G" I'm goofy. I'm gargantuan. I'm going to make you laugh again. Got one smile and I'm gone. I live in a horn

Again, a lot of him trying to show off his own knowledge in his own Patton-y way. He wants to get Logan to loosen up and have fun too, which is why he gets so excited whenever Logan makes a pun. I'm everything that a flower is I plan to make about 30 kids I got sink for his and hers and hers for his. One well where my cotton is I'm a Baby and I'm basically The B girl who's been baking your heart in my stove hungry for your love

Patton’s desperate for Logan’s approval. He wants the validation by the embodiment of knowledge, to know that who he is is okay. That his feelings and everything he feels is normal. If anyone would know that, it’s Logan. One day you have to show me How you do that thing when you ignore your heart. Oh, One day you'll have to teach me how you do that thing when you forget about the Sun Sun Sun Sun?

Logan’s able to ignore his own emotions so well, and Patton being the embodiment of emotions, likely doesn’t understand it. How Logan is able to just ignore those things. To ignore Patton. Those two have had such a silent tug-o-war going on, and they have been since Heart vs. Mind. No wonder Patton snapped at him in Moving On, Logan had been ignoring him for so long. Why couldn’t he understand the feelings were too hard to deal with?

The Flame is the type of song that is so soft it can easily put me to sleep.

You know I think this is my favorite playlist so far.

Anyway, The Flame is definitely about Roman.

Hold on to the flame That only you can hold That keeps at bay the darkest cold Another light could never make you whole

The flame here could be passion, motivation, an idea. Something that keeps the light of creativity alive. Roman, being pride, is easily able to be discouraged and dissuaded. Patton acts a bit like a cheerleader in that regard. I know I’ve said this before on a few other songs, but those two really would not be whole without the other. Their jobs would be a lot harder.

Softly but sure The story that you weave Will be the gift that sets you free The ashes of a tapestry

Patton knows that the creative process takes a long time. He’s there for all of it. But Roman’s the one who weaves the stories, so he sees the work put into it, helps with it.

There will be times That it seems your world and wants collide But hold on for your heart to beat inside To be your guide

Roman has to learn to let Patton really help him. They’ve worked together before, on the Mind Palace, on the Christmas sweaters. So we know that they work well together. It just seems to be on Roman’s terms. Patton is telling him here to let him help, especially when the world throws a bunch of stuff at them. The good and bad.

Hold on to the flame That only you can touch That lights the path it must The journey is a game of trust

Roman has to trust him. Learn to accept the help of others and humble himself a little.

There will be times that grow darker with the dusk But light will still remain in us The longest night is but a shadow's blush

Creating is hard. It takes up so much brain power and a lot of times you fall into this slump and you feel like maybe this time is it. I won’t be able to find that spark of creativity again. And it seems like it takes forever, but eventually it comes back to you.

Patton doesn’t want Roman to burn himself up. He doesn’t want that burn out to happen, because that affects not only Roman, but Patton too. So he wants him to hold onto the flame, don’t let it go so they can keep going.

Is Landslide considered country? I think so? I dunno. I don’t know why people were mad about it, it’s a good song (says someone who grew up in the south).

But like? Listen to the lyrics. Thomas and Joan didn’t put it on the playlist for no reason. You people want angst and this song provides it.

When I looked into what this song meant to the songwriter, I honestly couldn’t think of another reason it would be on Patton’s playlist. This was a song written after a breakup, and I don’t know if Thomas and Joan knew that or not, but after Moving On, I think it’s perfect.

I took my love, took it down I climbed a mountain, and I turned around And I saw my reflection in the snow-covered hills Till the landslide brought me down

Patton puts his love out there for all. We know this. We see it. Thomas loves so much and so hard, because of Patton. So when that love isn’t recuperated or the love that was given back and taken away, it’s crushing. Heartbreaking, literally. So when the breakup happen, imagine how he felt. I mean, I know we saw a bit of it in Moving On, but that was months after the fact. I imagine that, yeah, it felt like the ground came out from under his feet and pulled him down.

Oh, mirror in the sky, what is love? Can the child within my heart rise above? Can I sail through the changing ocean tides? Can I handle the seasons of my life?

Well, I've been afraid of changing 'Cause I've built my life around you But time makes you bolder, even children get older And I'm getting older too

This verse more than anything else in the song just screams Patton to me. He is the children within Thomas’s heart, for one. Heartbreak is hard, and reminding yourself of being a child, when such a thing didn’t happen (I’m talking serious heartbreak, here. And also just in general. To those of you who did have to go through heartbreak as a child, I’m so sorry and I hope you’re doing okay). Moving through a big change in life, standing on the borderline, you could say, is difficult. For someone like Thomas, whose morality keeps literally everything in Thomas’s life he can’t let go of which is to say…everything, it’s super hard for a big change to happen. To having to relearn how to live again, basically.

We saw it, in Patton’s two parter. How hard it was for him to accept that he needed to move on, and that it was okay to be sad. But as time went on, as he got older and learned how to live without his ex, it got easier. Or it will, I should say. I don’t really know the time period in which all this took place between episodes since apparently we’re on a timeline now that’s different to just present day.

Life can be a bitch and sometimes it crashes down on you and hard. Patton, out of all of the others, can and will feel the biggest impact of it.

If Roman was the bruised ego in Logan and Virgil’s debate episode, I’m not really sure what Patton would be like right after a heartbreak (as opposed to months after).

I feel like we all need the optimism that Float On has in our lives.

But yeah, this strikes me as Patton too. He tries to find the good in everything, even really shitty situations.

Backed my car into a cop car the other day Well he just drove off sometimes life's ok I ran my mouth off a bit too much oh what did i say Well you just laughed it off it was all ok

Oh the optimism. I feel like if this were Virgil’s POV he would be freaking out, but Patton’s just trying to keep things calm and look on the Bright Side. We all have these kind of people in our lives right? Either they’re really helpful or really annoying?

And we'll all float on any way well

Well, a fake Jamaican took every last dime with that scam It was worth it just to learn some sleight-of-hand Bad news comes don't you worry even when it lands Good news will work its way to all them plans We both got fired on the exactly the same day Well we'll float on good news is on the way

Again, the optimism. Taking the chance to remind yourself that yeah, you learned something out of this shitty situation. Good news comes with bad. Something good will happen even if something bad does as well.

And we'll all float on alright Already we'll all float on Alright don't worry even if things end up a bit to heavy We'll all float on alright Already we'll all float on Alright already we'll all float on Ok don't worry we'll all float on Even if things get heavy we'll all float on Alright already we'll all float on Don't you worry we'll all float on All float on

At this point, I don’t know if this is supposed to be Patton comforting Virgil or himself. Or both.

But in the context of the sides, this is really just how you have to calm your anxiety. It’s just constantly what my therapist tells me to do when I start to feel anxious, just tell myself “it’s okay, I’m okay for xyz reasons, this’ll be okay, it’s all good, that situation didn’t go as bad as you think it did, it was actually pretty chill, it’s fine” while doing some deep breathing.

So Patton being like this with Virgil makes total sense to me. Him being Thomas’s morality also makes him be the “dad’ friend and therefore the more comforting side. When Thomas gives comfort, it’s the Patton shining through, so this song is one that definitely highlights that.

You know, I’m not sure if putting a Beatles song on here was purposeful, or if the lyrics just fit, but The Beatles is such a dad band. And I don’t mean that as an insult to anyone who like The Beatles, they’re a good song but like…how many of us have parents that grew up with The Beatles in their prime? I swear there’s a club of Parent Artist: The Beatles, Elvis, early Michele Jackson. There’s probably more.

A n y w a y

With a Little Help from My Friends is a cute and fun song, honestly. I guess you can’t have a Patton playlist without having at least one song about friends. We all know how much Thomas loves his friends (*insert gif of Logan saying “I think he cares about his friends* here)

What would you think if I sang out of tune? Would you stand up and walk out on me? Lend me your ears and I'll sing you a song And I'll try not to sing out of key

Back to Patton being a dad character, this verse just kinda reminds me of a dad. Someone who would randomly burst into song and it probably be a little off key just to either 1) embarrass their kid or 2) make them laugh.

And I don’t mean an actual parent, necessarily. A friend or partner can be the same way. It also shows a bit of insecurity, like trying to make sure that the person he’s singing this to doesn’t leave if he ends up not singing that well.

What do I do when my love is away? Does it worry you to be alone? How do I feel by the end of the day? Are you sad because you're on your own?

This is another show of insecurities. Thomas’s lack of a romantic partner not only affects Roman, but Patton as well (see: the Moving On two parter). Roman wouldn’t be the only side feeling sad and lonely. Patton, needing that attention and validation just as much or maybe more than Roman, shares some of the same feelings.

No, I get by with a little help from my friends Mh, get high with a little help from my friends Mh, gonna try with a little help from my friends

I’m just going to go ahead and say that I’m not sure Patton would understand the high joke. I’m not even sure I understand the high joke.

But anyway, unlike Roman, Patton—being the source of Thomas’s love for his friends—would absolutely find that solace and validation through his friends. There’s a difference between platonic and romantic love, but as we see in the next verse, Patton just needs the love. He needs to be loved by other people in order to feel happy. Not to go all Logan, but looking at Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, that kind of support is something you literally need in order to function as a human being.

Do you need anybody? I need somebody to love Could it be anybody? I want somebody to love

Would you believe in a love at first sight? Yes, I'm certain that it happens all the time What do you see when you turn out the light? I can't tell you, but I know it's mine

I…really don’t want to talk about that last line. I’ll leave it there for your own interpretation.

Let’s just focus on the love at first sight line. Again, very Patton. He seems to me like someone who falls in love easily. And in this case, love at first sight doesn’t necessarily have to be romantic. Meeting someone who you just immediately click with is something that, yeah, happens all the time. Some of those people end up being lifelong friends (hi Kai).

Also I may be talking just from an ace perspective. It’s always been easy for me to love my friends (I relate very highly to Thomas in this regard).

But from a romantic (and I guess sexual??? But in my mind, that’s sorta Roman/Remus’s area. Also very uncomfy for me to talk about so we’re just not going to touch on it) perspective, yeah. Wanting romantic love is a hell of a drug. And in my opinion, romantic love at first sight is 100% possible and happens more than we probably think it does. And again, Patton (Thomas) strikes me as someone who falls in love easily, so it makes sense to me that he would relate to this idea.

Do you need anybody? I just need someone to love Could it be anybody? I want somebody to love

I feel that it’s important to note that at this point in the song, the singer sounds very tired. Like yes I just want somebody to love stop asking. It also strikes me as an affirmative to the questions asked. Yeah, it can be anybody. But in the repeated chorus that comes after, they also reiterate that they get by with help from their friends. Their friends are there and they help, even if they don’t fill the romantic hole. They still provide that support and love that can fuel someone who loves as strongly as Thomas does.

What Makes The World is another song I just love. It’s so fun to sing along with and it’s catchy and fun and it’s just great.

Also, and I know I probably sound like a broken record here, but it’s such a Patton song! And like, I know that’s the point! But still! It’s so good!

Oh, I heard that spreading hate is easy And kindness is beneath me But that ain't so And I heard that God ain’t worth believing And hearts are made for keeping But that ain't so Fear can be found in the heart of the proud Peace runs it out without making a sound

Patton’s such an optimist. He’s also stubborn, as hears can be. So believing in what these lyrics are saying is 100% him. Believing that kindness is easier than spreading hate, believing in God and knowing when to let go of someone, living in peace instead of fear. It’s all so Patton. It makes so much sense to his character and that these lyrics would speak to him.

What makes the world What makes the world What makes the world What makes the world keep spinning? What makes it all What makes it all What makes a life worth living now? Love makes the world go 'round

This is the only time I’m going to put the chorus, so let’s talk about it.

For someone like Thomas, who, as we’ve established, seems to love so easily, believing that love and kindness is what makes up the world and gives life worth makes a lot of sense. Thomas, as people would say, has a kind heart. He reminds me of characters like Steven Universe or Mable Pines, both characters who care a lot about those around them, their friends especially.

Also, just for lyrics themselves, they have a ring of truth to them. Being cynical and full of hate gets no one anywhere. Spreading love and kindness and happiness makes life a lot better, both for you and those around you. And it’s a mindset Patton has. It’s why he tries to keep the peace between the other sides. Having inner peace and inner kindness is super important, and I think it’s something he tries hard to keep up, even when things get rocky.

Oh, I heard to turn away a neighbor Is living without danger But that ain’t so Love is so much more than just a feeling It's comforting and it's healing For our souls

It’s really hard to analyze where there’s not much to analyze. Or sounding more of a broken record than I already am.

This just furthers the idea that Patton holds this kindness mindset close. Helping others is an important part of that, even and especially a neighbor. And maybe it does show a little bit of him being quick to trust, because while helping a neighbor out can be good, you should also be cautious because people are crazy. But in Patton’s mind, of course you should help! They are your neighbor after all!

Now the next verse is something that strikes me as something directed at Virgil and Logan, both of whom are reluctant to admit they love someone. But love is more than a feeling, it’s something that can encompass all of us. it’s a strong power, one that can be wielded for lots and lots of good.

And hey, loving oneself is important. Being loved by others is important. It’s really not something any of us could live without.

I could know the future I could tell you what it holds I could own the world And all its glitter and its gold I could have the faith To move mountains and the sea Without love, I don't have anything

This is a verse that pretty much translate to the last line in it. You can have all the power in the world, but without love, do you really have anything? It your life really whole?

And you know, I think Patton would remind himself of this a lot. Especially when Thomas is having another one of his dilemmas and Roman and Virgil or Roman and Logan are fighting again, when Thomas (and himself) start to feel down and doubtful. It’s a small thing, to some. After all, love can’t cure anxiety or depression. Love can’t solve every problem.

But it helps, even a little bit.

Do I even really need to put the lyrics here for Somewhere Over the Rainbow/It’s a Wonderful World? Don’t most of us just know these lyrics already?

Also can we just all appreciate the amazing talent of Israel Kamakawiwo’ole??? Such an amazing voice.

Anyway yeah I’m going to put the lyrics, because I know most of you aren’t going to want to look them up. Which is valid.

Somewhere over the rainbow Way up high And the dreams that you dreamed of Once in a lullaby Somewhere over the rainbow Blue birds fly And the dreams that you dreamed of Dreams really do come true ooh ooooh Someday I'll wish upon a star Wake up where the clouds are far behind me Where trouble melts like lemon drops High above the chimney tops that's where you'll find me Oh somewhere over the rainbow, bluebirds fly And the dream that you dare to, oh why, oh why can't I?

The Wizard of Oz honestly feels like a movie/show Patton would really like. Dorthy seems like someone he would relate to. Her kindness and optimism I feel like would speak to him. Also, she has a super cute dog.

Somewhere Over the Rainbow is a very wistful song. It’s a song that promises that things will be better, one day. That you will achieve your dreams, even if those dreams aren’t wild. I think it really shows that Patton has dreams too, but not necessarily as big as Roman. This song is a lot more chill than the multiple on Roman’s playlist that talked about achieving your dreams. And this is the only song on here that really talks about dreams. And honestly in Patton’s case, it seems like his dream is to just be happy, however that may be.

Well I see trees of green and red roses too I'll watch them bloom for me and you And I think to myself What a wonderful world Well I see skies of blue and I see clouds of white And the brightness of day highlight the dark and I think to myself What a wonderful world

The colors of the rainbow so pretty in the sky Are also on the faces of people passing by I see friends shaking hands Saying, "How do you do?" They're really saying, "I...I love you" I hear babies cry and I watch them grow They'll learn much more Than we'll know And I think to myself What a wonderful world, world

The entire meaning of What a Wonderful World is to marvel at all the little things that exist, like flowers blooming, the rainbow, the kindness people show one another. Of seeing the good in the world and really appreciating it.

That’s something Patton absolutely reminds Thomas to do. Think about how the generations after him will learn so much more about the world, everything that had to have happened for the sun to shine today, the beauty of everything around him. Really “stop and smell the roses” kind of vibe.

And maybe because it’s such a chill song, but it makes me think of sitting outside on a warm but not too warm spring day, breathing in the fresh air and enjoying the sounds of nature. Or driving down a winding road in the mountains, appreciating the beauty of everything around you, how big the world is and how vast. Watching the birds fly overhead, watching people as you sit at a red light as you pass through a town. Wondering what their lives are like, if they’re doing okay, hoping that they’re in a good place.

Okay, I may have some experience with this.

But it’s also something I can imagine Thomas doing with some goading from Patton. Logan might be the “there’s a ton of stuff that had to have happened in order for you to exist so you should appreciate that” but Patton is the one who actually appreciates this (and the more I think about it, the more I think it’s a tragedy that Patton couldn’t be in Why Do We Get Out of Bed in the Morning).

Besides, if anything can appreciate being alive, it’s the heart.

Alright everyone, last two songs here we go

I honestly had no idea what Golden Slumbers brought to the playlist, other than it being a nice soft song that goes well with the transition to the end. then I realized this version of it was a cover of a Beatles song (I’m not that familiar with them okay?). So I wondered why they didn’t’ just put the original song on the playlist (I know there’s already a Beatles song on there, but they went to the trouble of putting the original version of I Need a Hero on Roman’s playlist and YES I am still salty it’s not the Shrek 2 version).

Turns out the cover is from a movie called I am Sam, and it’s about a disabled father raising his daughter to the best of his abilities. Now, I haven’t seen the movie, and I did just a little bit of research, so it could be totally missing the mark here. But the fact that the movie is about a father-child relationship felt a little too on the nose to ignore.

Now, as we all know, Patton is not really a father nor is he disabled. But a movie with such a moving plot and a high focus on the father’s determination to be a good one for his daughter seems to me like something Patton would very much, well, take to heart.

Once there was a way To get back homeward Once there was a way To get back home Sleep pretty darlin' Do not cry And I will sing a lullaby Golden Slumbers fill your eyes Smiles await you when you rise

These lyrics just repeat so…really this is all there is.

This song just brings comfort to the mind. I mean, that’s what lullabies are, right? Something to sing to your child when they can’t sleep in order to soothe their mind.

However, and allow me to get a little angsty and kinda headed into headcannon territory, it also seems like something one would use to comfort oneself. Maybe when they’re crying at night because some emotions are just too overwhelming, or they had a really bad day. A soft and sweet song to soothe the mind could be really helpful.

Now I’m not saying that that’s even remotely what Thomas and co were thinking when adding this song, but it was just something that popped into my head.

It’s so fitting that the last song is from Winnie the Pooh. I just love that. And be honest, how many of you are just now realizing it’s from Winnie the Pooh because you didn’t see the cover art at first? Huh? Huh? Just me? Okay.

I can’t decide if So Long is talking about Virgil or not. Like, I want it to be, but I don’t know if that’s actually it’s purpose.

It's not complicated but very hard to grasp But every time I see you I laugh I won't get too sappy, I've had no epiphany I just enjoy your company

See? Seems like Patton’s version of his friendship with Virgil. I mean, really, Virgil is the only one out of the other sides who Patton actively calls his friend. It’s clear he wants that relationship with Logan and Roman, but Patton and Virgil are really the only ones with any kind of clear friendship

You test my nerves, it makes me stronger So can you bother me a little bit longer? Hate to say goodbye, goodbye Hate to see the end, the end 'Cause it's been so long since I've made a friend

I feel like in the beginning, Virgil really did test Patton’s nerves. Patton wasn’t the number one Virgil fan until after Accepting Anxiety. Likely because Thomas had made the realization Virgil wasn’t the bad guy, but we’re getting off topic. Looking back at times before that arc, Patton seemed to only tolerate Virgil like the others did, though he did grow to Virgil faster than the others, even Thomas.

Hate to say goodbye, goodbye Hate to see the end, the end 'Cause it's been so long since I've made a friend like you Well, I could dot the I's and you could cross the T's 'Cause letters alone are lonely

God that’s so cute.

Anyway, yeah, very Patton imagery there. Kinda reminds me of the puppet episode, the simplicity of it. But giving the letters a “buddy” makes me think of Patton being Virgil’s buddy. It also makes them complete, and Virgil completes their little group.

Well, I could be the blossom and you could be the bee And then I could call you honey

Again, two things that go together, making something better.

Also, again with the very cute imagery.

You test my nerves, it makes me stronger So can you bother me a little bit longer? Hate to say goodbye, goodbye Hate to see the end, the end 'Cause it's been so long since I've made a friend Hate to say goodbye, goodbye Hate to see the end, the end 'Cause it's been so long since I've made a friend like you Some like to be alone, independent and on their own All alone, I guess they're free but not me, not me

Yeah, Patton being a loner isn’t really something that adds up. He’s very sociable and likes to be around the others. I mean, Thomas loves being around his friends, so it makes sense that Patton would be bored being alone, or just straight up dislike it.

Hate to say goodbye, goodbye Hate to see the end, the end 'Cause it's been so long since I've made a friend Hate to say goodbye, goodbye Hate to see the end, the end 'Cause it's been so long since I've made a friend like you

Okay i’m actually going to address the phrase that’s repeated a thousand times.

Remember how Patton said he likes to leave his room when they have to have a T party because he gets to see the others? Well it was kinda implied that he doesn’t always like going back. He likes interacting with the others and hanging out with them. A lot of times in the episodes, he seems excited to see the others when they come up (or appear, in Virgil’s case).

Or, there is one more conclusion I can make to this song.

This is Patton talking to…well, us. the listeners. We’ve spent the past hour listening to his songs, ones he put together (look at the descriptions of the playlists. They’re all implied to have been together by each side). So, after to listening to all these songs he “used to listen to when {he} was {our} age…and {his} age now” it would make sense in my mind that he would then consider us friends and this is his way of saying goodbye.

“I had a good time with you, kiddos, I hate to see you go! Come back some time. So long!”

#sanders sides #patton sanders #roman sanders #logan sanders #virgil sanders #thomas sanders #patton's playlist analysis

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cg29 · 4 years

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4 and 9 please 😄

I’m so sorry for the delay in answering these - To the others who sent me asks I have now answered them all. LINKS HERE: Q 7, 10 & 17 … Q 15, 21, 22 …

Q: Share a sentence or paragraph from your writing that you’re really proud of (explain why, if you like)

There are a few that make me smile, laugh, or go… wait, did I write that. These 3 in particular (a short speech, a first chapter, and a one-off fic) were the first to pop into my head.

BAD DAY - Don’t know if this will make sense out of context but I love this one because I cracked up laughing when the idea popped into my head and I’m in stitches every time I read it again.

FROM CHAPTER 11.

“Sounds good to me.” Virgil said, taking his hand, “you know,” he added as they made their way to Brains large room, “there’s a part of me that keeps wondering if any of this is real.”

“What, like a d…dream?” Brains asked opening the door and summoning Virgil over to the work bench.

“No,” Virgil answered placing the music box on the table while Brains selected the tools needed.

“We may not be real.”

“What do you mean?”

“All of this could actually be some crazy-arse story that someone’s decided to concoct… Like some weird rom-com… Or we could be stuck in one of those fanfiction stories that you used to write.”

Brains released a smirk as he began fiddling with the box. “So, in reality we are all f…fictional characters?”

“Yes, and we are being manipulated like puppets to do their bidding!”

AVALANCHE - The first chapter makes me feel proud as it was the first time I had attempted this kind of challenge – The first line and last line have to be the same, but the feeling behind that line needs to change. E.G. from light to dark/sad to happy etc.

CHAPTER 1.

The wind was calm, and the snow fell gently to the ground.

Looking to his left Jeff laughed at his two youngest throwing snowballs at each other, a smile when glancing to his right revealed Scott showing John how to use his skis. A beaming grin when from the cabin they were renting his beautiful wife stepped into the open doorway, his artistic son poking his head out from just behind her.

“Time for lunch,” her melodious voice called, “come and get it before me and Virg eat it all.”

“You heard your mother boys,” Jeff said, watching his wife head back into the cabin with Virgil, “time too…” A rumble like thunder stopped his speech… He knew that sound, desperately hoped it wasn’t but the sight his eyes met confirmed it was… “Avalanche!”

Jeff pulled a screaming Gordon and Alan into his arms, hoping that Scott had John. Thankfully, he did and less than half an hour later after a rescue team had found them, they were reunited… Except for… “Where’s my wife and son?”

The rescue worker gave him a querying look.

“My wife and son, they were in the cabin.”

“I’m sorry sir, what cabin?”

Jeff stormed out of the first-aid tent pointing in the direction of their holiday home. “Over…” His eyes met the remains of the cabin, buried under ice and snow… He stepped forwards… Fear, pain, a deep dread rippled through him… His whole world was falling apart…

Yet, the wind was calm, and the snow fell gently to the ground.

WHITE LIGHT – This fanfic poem pushed itself into my brain and I had to write it down. Only took me a couple of hours and probably one of the best things I’ve written. (Tissues Are Definitely Needed!)

I’m eighty-six today,

And a long life I’ve led.

Risking my own,

to save others instead.

International Rescue,

Had been my father’s dream.

When he had gone,

I led the rescue team.

My family beside me,

Kept others hopes alive.

Right till the end,

When he didn't survive.

The rescue that broke us,

Was a normal routine.

A fire took him,

And his great green machine.

Our beautiful brother,

Was taken far too soon.

His laughter gone,

And his musical tune.

He was only thirty,

A father he’d become.

Two small children,

Whose lives were overcome.

An unbearable grief,

In our hearts and souls hung.

Oh, my brother,

Why did you die so young?

Alongside their mother,

His two children we raised.

They both grew up,

And his memory remained.

Our lives all continued,

In our own special way.

And my brothers,

Are still alive today.

They now sit beside me,

Reminiscing good times.

Laughter ensues,

Remembering our prime.

Their children beside them.

And grandchildren as well,

All together.

For my final farewell.

The silence engulfs them,

When I struggle for air.

My time has come,

And they are in despair.

I tell them I’m ready,

And no longer in pain.

I close my eyes,

And I leave their domain.

That’s when I realise.

That I don’t feel the cold

I’m fit and young,

And no longer feel old.

When my eyes reopen,

Thunderbird One I see.

She’s sitting there

And she’s waiting for me.

I run up to my bird,

And let out a big smile.

I missed you girl,

It’s really been awhile.

When I hear a deep roar,

I look up at the sky.

The green machine.

Is now landing nearby.

I take a step forwards,

When the door opens wide.

It’s my brother,

Climbing down from inside.

He runs right up to me,

And he holds me real tight.

I breathe in deep,

As I’m filled with delight.

We need to get going,

He says with a big grin.

Father’s waiting,

And our mothers with him.

So, we climb in our birds,

And bring them into flight.

Brothers soaring

Into the bright white light.

Q: NO 9 - Are you more of a drabble or a longfic kind of writer? Pantser or plotter? Do you wish you were the other?

A: I’ve done both drabbles and long fics but seem to be doing more shorts before my dry spell hit. I’m a Planster – Basically somewhere in between. I like to make a basic plot, do lots of daydreaming, some research if necessary, and delve into character and world building. However, I will let myself go of track if the story (Or those pesky TAG guys) need to go in a completely different direction.

#ask meme #So Sorry These Are Late #send me asks #Fanfiction Asks #Thunderbirds Are Go Fanfiction

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grimelords · 4 years

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October Playlist

My October playlist is finished and it’s complete from Rico Nasty to Rachmaninoff. I absolutely guarantee there’s something you’ll love in this 3 and a half hours of music, and probably something you’ll hate too! Something for everyone!

If you’d like to have these playlists delivered to your inbox instead of having them randomly appear on your dash, please subscribe to my tinyletter here.

listen here

Santeria - Pusha T: In anticipation of Jesus Is King I relistened to the entire Wyoming Sessions project a few times, and a year removed from all the hype and controversy here's the thing: it's fucking great. The individual albums ranged pretty widely in quality and felt slightly unfinished for how short they were sometimes, but taking the project as a whole 5-album 120 minute playlist it turns out it's a masterpiece. My personal tracklist goes Ye/Daytona/Nasir/KTSE/Kids See Ghosts, which isn't release order but I think makes it flow the best - both Kanye albums bookending it and the less impactful Nas and Teyana Taylor albums buried a bit further in where you can appreciate them now that you're deep in the mindset of the whole thing rather than alone on their own.

Puppets (Succession Remix) - Pusha T & Nicholas Brittel: This remix is such a perfect match: Pusha T’s corporate villainy finally given a context and prestige it deserves. It’s also short enough that it could feasible be the actual theme song next season, which would be a marked improvement imo.

Use This Gospel - Kanye West, Clipse & Kenny G: I am and remain a Kanye stan, even after everything. It’s nice to see him going back to the extremely uneven mastering of MBDTF era, it’s a sound that is uniquely his and it’s fun to see him revisit it. The thick vocoder harmony is so soupy you get lost in it, and the way it opens up to include the full choir in the No Malice verse is beautiful. Kanye reunited Clipse through Christ and we have Him to thank for that at least. The Kenny G break is great, and the grain and dirt on the whole track when the beat kicks in is so gritty you can feel it.

Man Of The Year - Schoolboy Q: I didn't love the Chromatics album they surprise released but it did thankfully remind me of the time Schoolboy Q sampled Cherry for Man Of The Year. Taken exclusively on lyrics, Man Of The Year is a triumph: he's the man of the year and it's all worked out but the sample and the beat underscores the dead eyed melancholy that runs through the whole of Oxymoron of never winning even when you've won.

Cold - Rico Nasty: This song fucking tears your face off. Imagine STARTING your album at this level of intensity. She just goes straight to 100 and burns the house down. Outside of Lil John so few rappers can get away with just straight up screaming in the adlibs but the way she just lung tearingly screams GOOOO through this is fucking sick.

Fake ID - Riton & Kah-Lo: TikTok songs are becoming their own genre, but it’s a very nebulous sort of a mood encompassing everything from aughts pop punk hooks to skipping rope raps like this. It’s a strange new way for songs to blow up that everyone seems compelled to write articles about but my take on it is it’s exactly the same as ads were in the old days. Remember how many songs did absolute numbers because someone put it in a Motorola ad? Same thing except you’re not being sold a phone this time, so in some ways it’s better. Anyway, this song bangs. The spirit of 212 era Azealia Banks lives on even if she’s doing her best ever since then to kill it.

Doctor Pressure - MYLO & Miami Sound Machine: There was a very good era in the mid-2000s where you could just put mashups out as singles and they’d chart, it was sick. My only two examples are this and Destination Calabria but I’m sure there’s more. Drop The Pressure is a masterpiece but as an alternate version this mashup is equally masterful.

If You’re Tarzan, I’m Jane - Martika: Martika is unfortunately best known for the 1989 one hit wonder Toy Soldiers, a sort of boring overdramatic ballad which is best known for being sampled by Eminem in 2004 in his quite bad super duper serious song Like Toy Soldiers. I say unfortunately because every other song on her first album is great, it’s all hypercolour 80s synthpop and I love this song especially because it is so completely stuffed with activity it becomes dizzying. It gets so lost in itself that they completely abandon the dramatic pause before “I’m Jane” for some reason toward the end and instead just layer three different tracks of vocal adlibs. Every part of this song is great, the weird ‘o we o we o’ chant before the second verse? The neighing horse guitar before the bridge? The musical tour of the world IN the bridge? The part where she says ‘I want to swing on your vine?’. This song has everything.

You Got Me Into This - Martika: Every part of the instrumentation in this is amazing. The bass sound, the main synth, the extremely athletic brass, the wonderful echoing 80s snare that’s as big as a house. I just love it. She also does some really intriguing slurs on the word ‘love’ all the way through, just moving it around absolutely anywhere.

Space Time Motion - Jennifer Vanilla: I love when someone has such a clearly defined aesthetic and mission from the very beginning. Jennifer Vanilla is the alter ego of Becca Kaufmann from Ava Luna who I've had in this playlist before but never competely investigated. Jennifer Vanilla feels like an episode of Sex And The City where Samantha gets really into Laurie Anderson and she is incredible. This video is the best mission statement I’ve ever seen and is currently criminally underviewed so please do your part and support the Jennifer cause by watching these two videos.

So Hot You’re Hurting My Feelings - Caroline Polachek: Caroline Polachek said watch me write a Haim song and did it. Apparently the very early versions of this album started when she was in writing sessions for Katy Perry, but then it started to turn into something else and she took it for herself, and I think you can hear that. With more normal production and a little faster this is a hundred percent a Katy Perry song, but instead it’s completely uniquely Caroline Polachek and it’s all the better for it. And also Katy Perry must be furious because her new songs are simply not good at all.

Electric Blue - Arcade Fire: I just love the obsession of this song in the outro, chanting over and over and over “Cover my eyes electric blue, every single night I dream about you”

Promiscuous - Nelly Furtado and Timbaland: I got a youtube ad for one of those Masterclass videos the other day and it was Timbaland teaching production. This ad went for five minutes for some reason and I watched the whole thing and it made me admire Timbaland even more. He’s demonstrating his compositional technique which is basically to just beatbox, and then loop it, and then add some extra percussion layers with more beatboxing and hand percussion, then loop that and add a little melody by singing or humming. ‘It’s that simple’ he says. Then later he goes back in and puts in actual drums or synths or whatever. I was stunned because suddenly a lot of his music makes sense. Without the barrier of instrument or timbre to get hung up on it allows him to write from this instantly head-nodding place of just making up a little beat you can sing and dance to immediately. Listening to a lot of his music now you can hear the bones underneath everything so clearly, all his beats are supremely beatboxable and all his melodies are very hummable, they’ve never overcomplicated by instrumental skill or habits, they just exist to serve the song.

Serpent - TNGHT: TNGHT are back baby and this song is like nothing I’ve ever heard before. It feels like afrofuturist footwork from another dimension, the mbira sounding lead against the oil drum percussion in this cacophony of yelps and screams that just builds to an irrepressible energy without a bassline in sight.

Ghosts Of My Life - Rufige Kru: I'm reading Mark Fisher's Ghosts Of My Life right now and some good person has put together a spotify playlist of all the songs he mentions. He has a whole essay about why this song is sick so I’m not going to go into it here but it’s interesting to hear about someone growing up with jungle when it’s a genre that has always felt very niche to me. I guess partly as a result of it never really making it mainstream as a genre here, and also me being a little too young for it.

Renegade Snares - Omni Trio: My biggest introduction to drum and bass comes from the game Midnight Club 3: Dub Edition and this really great song from the soundtrack that is finally on spotify after a very long absence. At almost the exact same time as I discovered this song with its spacious piano and repitched snares, I discovered Venetian Snares and breakcore in general. Having no particular frame of reference for breakcore as an offshoot of drum and bass only amplified its appeal to me as a completely alien genre that sounded like nothing else I’d ever heard, and so my personal history with drum and bass is a story of walking backwards into it after the fact which is interesting if not helpful.

Punching In A Dream - The Naked And Famous: The Mark Fisher book also mentions the Tricky song which I’ve never heard from which The Naked And Famous got their name and I thought ‘man remember The Naked And Famous, they were sick?’. The sort of harder edged Passion Pit instrumentation mixed with pop punk, a winning combination.

Vegas - Polica: My favourite part of this song is the unexpected blastbeats after the chorus, using their two drummers to their full advantage and just shaking the song by its foundations every now and then lest you get too comfortable.

Right Words - Cults: I’m beginning to suspect I may be the last surviving Cults stan but if this be my lot I’ll gladly do it

Running From The Sun - Chromatics: The new Chromatics album got me to relisten to their definitive document Kill For Love, and something new I appreciated this time about an album I love a lot is its length. Kill For Love is almost 80 minutes long and it luxuriates in that length. It’s sequenced perfectly so it never feels like it’s long for no reason, but large chunks just completely space out and go out of focus in the soft neon light and the second half of this song is a good example. The whole thing just evaporates into smoke and it feels perfect. If this were a shorter and more concise song that had a proper ending it wouldn’t feel right, this whole album has no straight edges at all and it’s all the better for it.

Chance - Angel Olsen: I cannot belive this song. This feels like she wrote her own version of My Way looking forward instead of back. Instead of the ruefully triumphant "I've lived a life that's full / I've traveled each and every highway" it's “I don't want it all / I've had enough / I don't want it all / I've had a love." before the turn from the future to the present at the end, where she gives up on a forever love in exchange for right now. I love how raw this vocal take feels. It's not her best voice but it feels very very honest as a result. She's just singing her heart out in this huge showstopping closer. In an interview she said "I didn’t love the recording of it very much, and now I just feel in love with it as a closing statement, because it’s a way of saying, ‘Look, I have hope for the next thing in my life.’ I’m not going to anticipate negativity or hate or an end. But instead of us looking towards forever, why don’t we just work on right now?"

Something To Believe - Weyes Blood: This album just keeps paying dividends. I’m systematically going through long obsessive periods with every single song on it and now it’s Something To Believe’s turn.

Don’t Shut Me Up (Politely) - Brigid Mae Power: Without meaning to, Brigid Mae Power seems to have created some incredible fusion of folk music and stoner metal. The way this song absolutely sits unmoving on one deep and resonant chord for so long is amazing. When it does change chords it feels like a full body effort to get up and shift. She has a similar feeling to Emma Ruth Rundle, who more explicitly wears her metal influences, but Brigid Mae Powers' strength is in how much it resembles the traditional folk side of the spectrum. Her voice is also amazing, with the huge effortless runs she goes on about halfway through just coming unmoored from the song completely and floating off into space.

Sweetheart I Ain’t Your Christ - Josh T. Pearson: I had a real problem with Josh T. Pearson for a long time because of how he presents as so authentic on this album, and as I’ve previously discussed in these playlists the concept of authenticity in country music is a source of neverending anguish for me. But his newest album The Straight Hits! has largely cured that for me because it’s not good at all, is extremely contrived (all the song titles have the word ‘hit’ in them) and he’s shaved his beard and replaced it with one of the worst irony moustaches I’ve ever seen. So now I’m free to enjoy The Last Of The Country Gentlemen as a character construction, which allows me a far deeper and truer engagement than the idea of a man actually living and thinking like this which is frankly a little embarrassing.

Codeine Dream - Colter Wall: I love this song, it has that feeling that great folk songs do of feeling like you’ve always known it. The strongest moments on this Colter Wall album to me are in songs like this that chase this particular feeling of morose isolation, and where he leans away from storytelling like his biggest hit Kate McCannon - a kind of cliche country murder ballad. This song is fantastic because of the way it wallows in this black depression not as a low point, but as a reprieve from the lower previous point. Things are as bad as they get now, and they’re always going to be like this, but at least I don’t dream of you anymore.

Motorcycle - Colter Wall: I only just found out about Colter Wall this month and have been listening to this album over and over. When I first heard him I though it was strange I'd never heard of him before because he's obviously some old country veteran based off his voice, but it turns out he's 24 and this is his first album he just sings like he ate a cigar. I love this song especially because it's so straighforward. It's a simple and supremely relatable mood: what if I bought a motorbike and fucking died.

Who By Fire - Leonard Cohen: I watched American Animals a couple of weeks ago and it’s a great movie, highly recommended. This song plays near the end and I waited for the credits to find out what this great song was, and like a rube found out it’s only one of the most celebrated songwriters of all time. I’ve never had much of a Leonard Cohen phase, somehow. In my mind I always get him mixed up with Lou Reed, which I’m learning is actually way off. I love the harmony vocals in this, and the way they move around into the shadows in the ‘who shall I say is calling’ parts.

Words From The Executioner To Alexander Pearce - The Drones: Alexander Pearce was a convict who escaped Sarah Island’s penal settlement in Tasmania with seven other convicts in 1822. He was recaptured two months later alone. In 1823 he re-escaped with a fellow convict, Thomas Cox and again was returned alone.He was executed by hanging later having eaten six men during his escape attempts.

It Ain’t All Flowers - Sturgill Simpson: I found this album going through the Pichfork 200 albums of the decade list and I feel like a fool for not having heard it sooner because now I am completely obsessed. Sturgill Simpson is doing the very best work in country music right now because he's looking backwards with one eye and forwards with the other and this song is a great illustration: a perfect Hank Williams Jr type country song with big voiced hollers that morphs into a surprise psych freakout for the whole second half.

Desolation Row (Take 1, Alternate Take) - Bob Dylan: I’ve always liked Desolation Row a lot as a song but the acoustic guitar on the album version is simply not good, it's just kind of mindlessly playing this long directionless solo the whole time and over the course of a song this long it really adds up to just being annoying. Luckily because it’s a Bob Dylan song there’s a whole universe of alternate takes and mixes and this is a great pared down version I found without it. The best kind of Bob Dylan songs are the ones where he just makes an endless stream of allusions and bizzare imagery, and this and Bob Dylan's 115th Dream are my favourite examples of it.

Living On Credit Blues - El Ten Eleven: This is a groove I get stuck in my head a lot, and this is also a song I think would work well as a theme for a tv show. I've been meaning to do a 30 second edit of it just for my own amusement, maybe I'll do that soon. El Ten Eleven are a duo where one guy plays drums and one guys plays a double necked guitar/bass and looping pedals and somehow against all the odds of that description they manage to make emotional, driving instrumental music of very deep feeling, like this song which is one of my all time favourites.

Dusty Flourescent/Wooden Shelves - Talkdemonic: This is sort of a companion Living On Credit Blues, and Talkdemonic are similarly an instrumental duo with good drums. This entire album from 2005 is highly recommended, it's a sort of halfway between the post rock of the time and a kind of acoustic hiphop instrumentals that ends up sounding very rustic and homemade, like a soudtrack for a winter cabin.

Turnstile Blues - Autolux: This is a perfect song, built around a perfect beat. Every part just fits perfectly.

Fort Greene Park - Battles: The new Battles album is finally out and I absolutely love it. I cannot think of another band that has shed members in the same way as Battles; originally a quartet on their first album, then a trio for their second and third and now down to a duo for their fourth album - and somehow still performing material from their first album live. The paring down has seemingly only servers to focus them and the new album sounds fresh but still distinctively Battles, with no sense of anything lost or missing. This song is my standout so far, and the guitar line in particular is so good and interesting to me because I don’t think I’ve ever heard Ian Williams play something so distinctly guitar-y in his whole career. This is a straight up pentatonic riff with bends and everything. Filtered through his usual chopped and looped oddness it feels like he’s almost gone all the back around the guitar continuum and is this close to just doing power chords next album. And I’ll support him!

Diane Young - Vampire Weekend: I've listened to this song a lot in my life and I only looked up the lyrics the other day to find out that the opening line is 'you torched a SAAB like a pile of leaves' which I somehow never noticed. What a power phrase. There's also this very good quote from Ezra about it: "I had this feeling that the world doesn’t want a song called ‘Dying Young’,“ says Koenig, "it just sounded so heavy and self-serious, whereas ‘Diane Young’ sounded like a nice person’s name.”" and he was right to do it. This song is 100 times better because he’s saying Diane Young than it would be if he was saying ‘Dying Young’. That’s a songwriting tip for you.

Monster Mash - Bootsy Collins & Buckethead: Hey did you hear Bootsy Collins and Buckethead did a cover of the monster mash? Thank god for freaks.

The Dark Sentencer - Coheed And Cambria: There's not that many bands that I absolutely loved as a teenager that I've completely abandoned. I've moved on from a lot but I'll still keep up with them if they have a new album or something. Coheed And Cambria are one that I've almost completely turned my back on. They've had 3 apparently pretty patchy albums since I stopped listening after Year Of The Black Rainbow, which was extremely bad and really taught me what people mean when they say an album is 'overproduced'. On a whim I decided to see what they're up to now and listened to their album from last year and guess what: it rocks. It's got everything you'd expect from them: big riffs, bad and confusing lyrics, his weird high voice, overwrought and overlong songwriting, cheesy muscleman solos. Everything about this band is sort of cheesy and embarrassing and takes itself way too seriously, but I'm discovering slowly that that's what's so good about it. The weird pulp sci-fi story and mindset that underpins this whole band is ridiculous and overwrought and as a result it gives the music a reason to exist the way it does. It’s so big and dumb because the story it serves is so big and dumb. It feels exactly like reading Perry Rhodan or some increidibly long and dense but not especially good series like that, it’s pulp music and that’s what I love about it.

Romance In A (6 Hands) - Sergei Rachmaninoff: Piano works for 4 hands (where two guys sit next to each other on the same piano) have always seemed to tend towards the realm of the gimmick or party trick, and works for 6 hands (where three guys do it) even more so - but this Rachmaninoff piece is just beautiful and I can’t believe I haven’t heard of it before this month. It doesn’t overload everyone with a million things to do, it just builds this very wide harmonic bed for the simple melody to swim in - then the way the melody transfers over to the middle register is just magical before the tension of the final section takes over and builds.

Love's Theme - The Love Unlimited Orchestra: I’m so glad I got to learn about the Love Unlimited Orchestra this month. Aside from having one of the best names in music, they were Barry White’s backing band and had their own solo instrumental records too. Here’s a fun aside: Kenny G was a member when he was 17 and still in high school. This is a genre of music that has seemed to totally disappear into the realm of parody and farce only which is sort of a shame because it is unironically very beautiful and dense in its own way.

Dancing In The Moonlight - Liza Minelli: Can you believe I thought Dancing In The Moonlight by Toploader was an original until the other day when my girlfriend played this Liza Minelli version that predates it by several decades? This also isn’t the original! It was written by a band named King Harvest in 1972, with this version AND a version by Young Generation both coming out in 73 and a whole bunch of others in between (including a Baha Men version in 94) before Toploader finally had a proper hit with it in 2000. Truly the world works in mysterious ways. This version is the finest I think, it just goes and goes, frenetically unwinding at a breakneck pace before opening up into a flute solo of all things and then winding up again even and finishing in a kick line breakdown. Absolutely no limits.

Girls - Royal Headache: The sheer amount of power and melody that this song manages to pack into a minute and a half is incredible, and I don’t think I’ve ever heard a more instantly relatable opening lyric than “Girl! Think they’re to fine for me! Oh girls! And I’m inclined to agree!”

Pov Piti - Matana Roberts: In anticipation of Matana Roberts new volume of her Coin Coin album series that just came out I relistened through the three previous albums and they are even more powerful than I remembered. This song serves as a pretty good mission statement for the whole project, and the heartrending tortured screams that open it set the tone for the rest of it. Matana Roberts sings the injustices of slavery into being, and her sing-song delivery highlights the trauma - her indifferent delivery mirroring the indifference of the world at large. The way she rattles off this story like she’s gone over it a million times and grown numb to the facts only accentuates the pain in the telling, a pain that rises to the surface in the screams of her instrument and herself.

Kingdoms (G) - Sunn 0))): This new Sun 0))) album is one of my favourites they’ve ever done because it’s so straightforward and back to basics. Every song is just ten minutes of straight up no-nonsense, big, rich, drone. They even put the notes in the track names so you can drone along if you like.

listen here

#playlists

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placesyoucallhome · 4 years

Note

Wait if Shadowbringers is ending with 5.3 that means the next expansion might be hinted at soon. Which means we'll get to get a crack at future jobs sooner. Which means time to hype up the possibility of Puppeteer, Beastmaster, and some sort of Chemist healing job! ALL ABOARD THE HYPE TRAIN

When was shadowbringers/new classes revealed? Quick google search says like, trailer was dropped in November, at the Las Vegas fan fest, which safe to say fanfests are prolly canceled or online only this year. Class trailers in March, though the ShB trailer did hint at them!

I do think we'll get some hints at where we’re going next in 5.3 story, we’re likely to kill off Elidibus, and we’ll just have the ascian that’s shacking up with Zenos to worry about, and I do hope we don’t kill that one off too terribly quickly. After that? Pretty clear we’re going to have to deal with Garlemald soon, but at the same time... I think there’s better places to go. Even with Garlemald in chaos since Zenos seems to be very ‘lol byeee’ about ruling, I think the rest of the royal family, generals, and mad scientists there are still too much for the Eorzean Alliance to handle, even with Doma and all of those nations under that alliance with them. So, why not pick up Dalmasca, the Golmore Jungle Viera, Ilsabard, ect, there’s plenty of rebellions that we could help with, further whittling down Garlemald’s resources, AND there’s plenty we can find there in terms of classes and lore!

I’ve seen a lot of people throw Puppeteer around, but I think it’s likely to be another ranged dps class and I’m unsure how likely it’s implementation will be? I was on the fence about wanting it for a long time, until I remembered the goth gf of my adolescence, Lulu, and was like, no yeah I can get behind that. I’m imagining stuffed animals strapped to your character’s back like backpacks when ‘sheathed’ and carrying them around or having them follow you like a minion when ‘active’. That I would totally be for! Something a little bigger than a minion, just for ease of visual reads. Just imagine a big mean looking Aura or Roe carrying around a giant stuffed moogle! Easy to think the class as a pet class, but I think that’d be a mistake, I imagine it functioning more like a pokemon trainer, shouting orders and tossing the poor mammet at monsters/people for attacks or buffs, but the mammet/puppet would not have an AI like a fairy or carbuncle beyond following you if it’s allowed to walk on it’s own.

I, obviously, have thought a LOT about Beastmaster and Chemist, I’ve mused on how Beastmaster might work before, but I don’t think I’ve said much about Chemist? I can’t tell you how much I want Chemist, it’s nearly impossible to find a healing class that isn’t magic based, that’s what I want, a NON MAGIC HEALER. Let me be a Chirugeon Square!

Of course, there’s precedence, Chemist/alchemist have been combat classes before, in ff5, ffx-2, and all the tactics games. The main class ability being ‘Mix’, and OH BOY the fun we can have with that! I’m thinking, a combo based healer. ‘But Q’, you think, ‘that can’t work, healers must be reactionary to be effective!’, and yes, absolutely, combos effects are delayed and therefore not great for healing because people are dying NOW. So I propose thus- something between Ninja and Dancer, where each each heal or attack ‘cast’ is an ingredient added to a Mix, and the last 2 (maybe 3 if we want it more complex) ingredients will result in a different potion and therefore effect, like the Ninja mudra system. Two heals in the mix provides a shell buff maybe, two attacks in the mix might be an area poison, a heal and an attack might be an area regen? You can further add control to what is added to the Mix by implementing a 2-part combo system, heal1 prompts heal2 to be available for 15 seconds much like dancer, only heal 2 adds to the Mix, but if you need to throw out an attack first the heal2 will still be available for a few seconds. All heals are up front, and the Mix results are mostly buffs or attacks, so it’s still quick enough on healing while still allowing for a combo like system. Heals could be things like, a potion grenade, panacea darts, stoneskin salve, ect, attacks could be a toxic gas, poison shot, moltov cocktail, ect. And, obviously, the class itself will likely come from Garlemald, much like Dancer was from Thanvir and Gunbreaker from Ilsabard.

SO, Things I’d like to see from 6.0 and am going to read the hell into from any leaks/trailers/5.3+MSQ:

Beastmaster, in almost any capacity but hopeful for a ranged non-magic pet class

Chemist, or any non-magic healing class, bonus points if I get a crossbow/moltov (historically they use guns tho)

Male Viera and female Hrothgar, I understand it’s a very distant long shot, let me dream damnit

Also more hair options for existing Viera and Hrothgar models, come on, they have like 4-6 hair styles? They need more options like holy crap

More face options in general, for all races. One or two per would be nice, there seems to be maybe only 1 or 2 actually used faces for most, I think eventually this should be expanded and I feel it’s a good trade off instead of another race. Hyur have like 6, everyone else should too

Multi-person airship mount, no I’m not going to shut up about this, I want my fking airship!

Pillarless base housing walls, apparently something being looked at so prognosis is favorable

Make either everything ‘tabletop’ so I can set things on the loft as I want, or mark the loft as a ‘floor’. I’ve figured out float glitching but it’s still a pita and this would alleviate a lot of the issues

Ishgard housing, obviously on it’s way, the main question is WHEN? My bets are actually near 6.0 release, quite a long ways off

Bangaa beast tribe, PLEASE SQUARE GIVE ME BANGAA I BEG YOU! If we get Dalmasca it’s likely!

A terrace for apartments, a very small space to allow a few outdoor pieces (5-10?) to be placed, and one small gardening plot. I think the dev team is overthinking it, we don’t need anything more than a generic backdrop of the housing district, we don’t need to see the actual neighborhood

As for when we might see any of this??? Oof, I guess it’ll likely depend on if Fan Fests will be outright canceled or not? We’ll get a few hints on WHERE the next expac will be by the end of 5.3 more than likely, but anything more depends on where and when 6.0 trailer drops. And everything is understandably delayed as is, so we might have to wait for the later EU or JP Fan Fests assuming those aren’t canceled too. But this SHOULD be the year we get a trailer for it, unless they push their whole timeline back a year, which isn’t impossible.

Over all, we’re probably going to Garlemald, I’d like to go to Dalmasca first, small chance for Thavnir, Sharlayan, or ‘the new world’ instead to build more allies against Garlemald. There is a tiny chance that they throw a curveball and have us go to the 13th to fix that world before all of that, but I think that’s better left to a different expac or even a post expac storyline. But they obviously did that THIS expac, I can’t say anyone could have really called we’d be going to a different world for 5.0, most were convinced we were going to Garlemald! Maybe we’ll go to the moon instead???

#ff14 #Anonymous #I have #a lot of thoughts

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gorogues · 5 years

Text

Johns and Kolins interviews, part 3

Cut for length.

Part One and Part Two are available at the links. This was supposed to be posted more three years ago, and it’s been sitting in my Drafts folder all this time. Oops.

I occasionally clarify things or add my comments in [ ] brackets and italics.

Geoff Johns

CBG: Here's a fanboy question: One of the familiar aspects of the Silver Age Flash was silly plots and transformations taken with utmost seriousness. Is this light-hearted element toast in today's grim-and-gritty environment? Or will you sometimes turn someone into a puppet just for fun?

Johns: You know, it all depends on the story. For Flash: Rebirth, there's going to be a lot of heart in that series, but we're not going to go back to 1960s-style stories where we have stand-alone stories where Barry Allen turns into a puppet. That stuff's fun and if you have Abra Kadabra, you can have a story incorporating those elements. But it's certainly not the main thrust of where I'm taking the book.

CBG: So you're saying there's no editorial edict, you're just following your story.

Johns: Yeah, there's no editorial edict saying “you have to do this or that.” I'm just kinda exploring what I want to explore with The Flash. For me [Flash] being turned into a puppet or being turned fat, those are `60s stories that are the same thing like with Superman, where they did a lot of great Superman stories back in the day involving red kryptonite, and since then they've done kinda modern-day versions of that.

<<snip>>

CBG: Another topic: I guess the Rogues are no longer guilty of murder with the return of Bart? Maybe just attempted murder?

Johns: They're all each guilty of murders multiple times over.

CBG: And they're still going to be a major element of the title?

Johns: Absolutely. For my money, I can't do a Flash book without the Rogues.

CBG: And Flash: Rebirth #1 brought back Mr. Element. Haven't seen him for a while.

Johns: I used him in my Flash run.

CBG: Which name was he using?

Johns: Dr. Alchemy. But I never really got into him and he's a character that might be coming soon.

CBG: Well, with the Philosopher's Stone, he's not exactly a lightweight.

Johns: No. To me, he's always the character that the Rogues were kinda like "We don't want to be anywhere near him".

CBG: Because he's crazy? Or dangerous?

Johns: Yeah, he's psychotic. The Rogues each have their issues, and they're all psychotic in their own way. But they're also sane enough, and lucid enough, to understand camaraderie and loyalty and stuff like that. They have their own code, and that's something Dr. Alchemy....he's just too far gone. The Rogues think they have honorable motivation at times, especially Captain Cold -- he knows he's a criminal, but he has standards. Alchemy doesn't have standards. He's scary.

CBG: I guess they regard Professor Zoom the same way?

Johns: Professor Zoom -- when's this [interview] come out?

CBG: June.

Johns: I can't really talk about Professor Zoom yet.

CBG: OK. But just in regard to how the Rogues think of him, though, do the Rogues kinda exclude him from the ‘clubhouse’ because he's kinda wacky?

Johns: Absolutely. But he also doesn't want to have anything to do with the Rogues.

CBG: Because he considers himself a hero, he helps heroes grow--

Johns: He has his own motivations.

*****************

Geoff Johns

Geoff Johns: I got a Facebook message today from someone who had never read a Superman comic book, even though they work at a comic store, until Superman: Secret Origin #1. And now, for the first time, she is reading a Superman comic and enjoying it. There are so many discussions about accessibility to today's monthly comics and my purpose with both Green Lantern: Secret Origin and Superman: Secret Origin is to introduce them, and in the case of current readers re-introduce them, to these characters. My hope is to continue these, most likely with The Flash: Secret Origin, which would include the beginning of the Rogues as well.

[Something we've never gotten, at least yet.. --Lia]

******************

Scott Kolins

Q: You've done a bit of work with The Flash of late with "Rogues' Revenge" and the upcoming "Blackest Night: The Flash," but are you excited to be back with The Flash on an ongoing basis?

Scott Kolins: Yes, very much. Working with Geoff is always a dream job, but it feels really nice right now to be back in the Flash universe for a while. It's very exciting. I love drawing Flash and the supporting cast. And he's got some of the best villains.

Q: Of The Flash's rogues do you have any favorites to draw and will we be seeing him during your run on the book?

SK: Grodd's always been my favorite and Geoff has planned a special Grodd story for me somewhere along the line. But really, I like them all. I'd love to do another Weather Wizard story. And of course Cold and Zoom are incredible so anytime to draw them is special. Geoff even mentioned another Cicada story he'd like to get to sometime. And there are others I haven't really gotten to, like Computron, or even bring in other aliens, like the Dominators.

*****************

Geoff Johns

CBR: The other project you announced this weekend was "Blackest Night: Flash." When you were developing "Blackest Night" as a maxiseries, was a Flash tie-in series always in the plans?

Geoff Johns: Yes. It's always been part of the project. There's so much you can do with 'Blackest Night' and the Black Lanterns. If we were going to explore other characters, it was going to be Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, JSA and Titans. And so I always knew Flash was going to be a part of it. And I knew Scott was going to do it. We have a lot of dead Rogues and a lot of live Rogues, and Flash has to fight them, so it should be fun.

CBR: You and Scott obviously have a special bond. I mean, you always have a great relationship with the artists you work with, Ethan [Van Sciver] and Ivan [Reis] and Dale [Eaglesham] and Gary [Frank] and all the others, but you and Scott, appear to anyway, to feed off one another. Is it the character of Flash that you both love? Or just similar takes on storytelling? What is it that makes Scott such a perfect fit for you?

Geoff Johns: I think for me and Scott, it goes deeper than that. Scott and I started off together. We started off working on "Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E." So we did issues of "Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E " and then we did "Flash" when nobody else wanted to do it. They said, "You and Scott are following Mark Waid." And it was going to be a disaster. But we did our own take and our own spin and took Flash in a different direction, especially with the Rogues and Keystone and everything else.

With me and Scott, it's almost like a childhood friend. It's a different kind of bond, and I think with the Rogues, and Flash in particular, we're just extremely comfortable together in that universe. We're really happy to be working with those characters and we feel like we helped usher in those characters and again, especially with the Rogues. We actually first worked together when I first got into comics. So there's just something special about working with Scott.

In "Blackest Night: Flash," it's the Rogues versus the Black Lantern Rogues and Flash is caught in the middle. And Captain Cold will be facing off against Black Lantern Golden Glider. And Scott can do that. Scott can excel at that. There's just something about working with Scott that's just really a lot of fun and kind of magical for me. I love working with Scott Kolins.

CBR: When you were plotting "Blackest Night," were the dead Rogues characters that immediately came top of mind as possible Black Lanterns?

Geoff Johns: Absolutely, because there are so many dead ones. You've got Mirror Master, you've got Trickster, you've got Captain Boomerang, you've got a lot of dead Rogues and a lot of speedsters too.

***************

Geoff Johns and Ethan Van Sciver

Geoff Johns: For a lot of the work, both on the Flash and his villains and surroundings, what we're harkening back to and looking at are the original comics by Carmine Infantino.

Ethan Van Sciver: Oh, and he was a genius! Geoff, I wasn't a big fan of that stuff until you turned me on to it.

GJ: He's a genius.

EVS: Really, you go back and you read those first 25 issues of Barry Allen, and that guy created some of the most original, interesting, compelling-looking characters, and not just The Flash, but all those Rogues were so...

GJ: They're so varied. I love that you've got, like, Abra Kadabra from the 64th Century, you've got Gorilla Grodd and the Gorilla City.

EVS: As good as Spider-Man villains, at least.

Newsarama: Will the Flash Rogues be in The Flash: Rebirth?

EVS: A few of them.

GJ: It can't be a Flash book without his Rogues, in my opinion.

****************

Geoff Johns

Q: Mark Bailie is a long-time fan and was wondering about a plot thread from your previous run on "The Flash." "At the end of your run on "The Flash" Vol. 2, we see Captain Boomerang dropped into the future during The Flash/Reverse Flash battle, and we also have the re-animated Captain Boomerang telling Ashley Zolomon that Owen's mother is Meloni Thawne; thus making Bart Allen the half-brother of Owen Mercer/Harkness. Has this been touched upon at all, and if not, will this be an eventual topic in your new run on "The Flash?"

GJ: It has not been touched on at all. But yes, that happened.

Q: Frank W. wanted you to know that he recognized Paul Gambi from "The Flash" #239 on the last page of "The Flash: Rebirth" #5.

GJ: Thanks, I'm glad somebody recognized him. Gambi will be in "The Flash" in 2010. For those of you who don't know Gambi, he's a tailor in Central City. He was the guy who created the Rogues' uniforms, and one thing that I am really proud of that Scott Kolins and I did in "Rogues' Revenge" is the subplot where he gets the hell beat out of him by these fake Rogues and Heatwave confronts one of them and says, "Did Gambi make your uniform? Because he made mine and it can withstand insane temperatures."

And he burns the other guy's costume right off because Gambi is the guy who makes their uniforms. And though his tastes are a little wacky, you can tell by their uniforms, he builds them to last and to take the kind of beating the Rogues usually take on a daily basis. The Rogues will be a major force in the new "Flash" book.

***************

Geoff Johns

Alex Segura: Geoff, first off -- thanks for doing this. The Flash is a special character and it's only fitting that we make his return to monthly comics special here on The Source. Now, being a huge fan of The Flash myself, and Barry Allen in particular, I have a very vivid memory of my first encounter with the character -- what about you? What's your earliest Barry/Flash memory? What made him a cool character for you even then?

Geoff Johns: My first encounter with Barry Allen, outside of comics, was in animation in the Challenge of the Super-Friends cartoon. I guess that's where I also met Captain Cold. Those two characters, the Flash and Captain Cold, became my favorites. (Oh, and does anyone remember how Hal Jordan had that weird tan? I guess because he was from California? :) ) Anyway, those are my very memories, along with the Flash Super Powers figure, but when I finally got into comic books one of my very first comics was CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS #8, which featured the death of the Flash. I don't remember the details well, but I do remember I was blown away by the issue. From there, I started buying back issues of the Flash. It was before everything was collected, before eBay, so I really had to hunt those comics down to read the stories. The powers, the Rogues and the uniform were what always drew me in.

AS: It's often said that you can judge a hero by his villains, and one of the things I remember most about your initial Flash run — and was very thankful for, being a fan of Barry -- was how you not only brought back and polished some of the classic Flash villains -- Captain Cold is a great example -- but also reinvigorated the Rogues with some great, creepy new additions like Murmur and most notably Hunter Zolomon/Zoom. What makes a great villain? What do you look for when you sit down and create one? And, in addition to reuniting Barry with some of his deadliest foes, are we going to see new ones appear in your first year?

GJ: The Flash has arguably the best villains in comics. Batman's are amazing and psychological, but the Flash's are from the far future and super scientific Gorilla Cities. Not to mention the core group of Flash's foes, the Rogues. They were always a massive part of what made the Flash cool to me. He fought all these guys, sometimes at once because he could. When I first worked on the Flash the Rogues hadn't been touched really more than an odd appearance here and there. I knew that they were going to be a huge focus for me and I continued using them in Rogues' Revenge and Blackest Night: The Flash, but now with the new monthly book they'll be playing a bigger and ongoing role in Barry's life. There are some pretty big changes for the Rogues coming up that tie in to the very center of the DC Universe. Barry will be meeting some new villains, one in particular that is going to be the strangest killer he's ever faced. And I think with 64th Century magicians and talking gorillas that's saying a lot.

*****************

Scott Kolins

Q: What can you tell us about the Blackest Night: Flash mini you’re working on with Geoff Johns?

Scott Kolins: That’s it’s gonna be great! Geoff has really moved into high gear with this Blackest Night stuff and he’s got some amazing stuff planned. Both and Wally and Barry will be in the story – and the Rogues! Dead or Alive! How awesome is that?! I’ve been waiting years to draw a book like this! This will be even better than Blitz or Rogue’s Revenge!

Q: Who are some of your favorite characters to draw?

Scott Kolins: I have very few I don’t like to draw. I love super-heroes and monsters and fun stuff and serious stuff. Monsters like Grundy, Bizarro and Grodd are pure delight. Villains Zoom and Cold are great too. I’d love to get to Sinestro or Brainiac. But I’m dying to do a big Wonder Woman story or Shazam! Hawkman or Aquaman! I LOVE Kirby stuff, so Omac, New Gods, or I’d love to do a Mister Miracle & Big Barda book! Or even the Legion of Super-heroes! I love it all. Plus I’d really love a chance to add to some of the mythologies. I wanna create incredible villains for Hawkman or Aquaman!

****************

Scott Kolins

GL SPOTLIGHT: Well first let’s dive into Blackest Night: Flash, the miniseries that reunites the highly praised Flash team of you and writer Geoff Johns. How different were these three issues than your time on Flash previously? Have Geoff's scripts become any more visually demanding than before?

SCOTT KOLINS: Rogues Revenge was only loosely connected to Final Crisis. The Blackest Night Flash series story is tied more to the central plot of Blackest Night. Barry is a pivotal figure on Blackest Night and he's 1/2 the story in Blackest Night Flash. The Rogues 1/2 of this story is a little looser but still connected as they fight some Black Lantern Rogues. Geoff's scripts are about the same - which means great and very much based on the core story being told. In Rogues Revenge was about revenge (Duh!), and here it was more about survival - against undead friends and villains! The only new thing - which is actually very old school is that Geoff was so busy working on all aspects of Blackest Night that he would sometimes call me on the phone and we'd discuss the next page or scene and break it down over the phone. Then I'd rough out the page or pages and email that back to him for his approval. It was actually kinda fun this way and we got the book done on time!

GL Spotlight: It was definitely a fun read. We know that Flash: Rebirth artist Ethan Van Sciver designed many of the Black Lanterns for this event. Were you able to design the Black Lantern outfits for the Rogues, Reverse-Flash, and even Solomon Grundy, yourself?

SCOTT: Yes I did. Design may be a bit too big a credit because they’re all working off the basic Black Lantern design already set up – but I did sketch out Solomon Grundy and Black Lantern Reverse Flash. Grundy’s was a natural as he is already a walking dead creation - just add the triangle and some pants stripes. I played more with Black Lantern Reverse Flash. The five “fingers” on top of the inverted triangle were squared off at first but I showed a pointy version to Geoff which he preferred. Then balance out how much lightning would work with the extra pant Black Lantern lines and he was done. The Black Lanterns are an awesome concept and were tons of fun to draw.

******************

Geoff Johns

Q: Will Barry face any new villains in his series?

Geoff Johns: You will see new characters in "The Flash" #1.

Q: But he asked about new villains?

Geoff Johns: I will not say anything other than you will see new characters in "The Flash" #1. But they're kinda villains. Kinda.

[He's talking about the Renegades. --Lia]

********************

Geoff Johns

Q: Let’s start with “The Flash.” The first story arc is a lot of fun and Francis [Manapul] is really bringing his ‘A’ game.

Geoff Johns: Francis is a genius. And that’s the tone I wanted to do, very accessible and a lot of fun. That’s what The Flash is all about. I wanted the book to have a lot of heart, a bit like our run with Superboy in “Adventure Comics.” I love writing that book. Coming up, we’ll see a new supporting cast member, a new villain, the return of the Pied Piper, more on Captain Boomerang and, of course, the Flash Family as we race towards “Flashpoint.”

[I'm including this because we did not in fact see Piper in the book. --Lia]

Q: William Schwartz had a question about continuity. He asked that you explain the continuity of Professor Zoom, a.k.a. Reverse Flash, between “Blackest Night,” “Blackest Night: Flash,” “Flash: Rebirth” and “Brightest Day.” He's alive and then imprisoned in “Flash: Rebirth,” which also hints at his soon-to-come resurrection. He's a Black Lantern in “Blackest Night: Flash” but also alive and imprisoned before being frozen by Captain Cold. He's then resurrected at the end of “Blackest Night” and escapes, yet he is still in prison. Is that right?

GJ: You’ll see more with Reverse Flash in “Brightest Day” and then “The Flash.” But he definitely has the timeline right. I mean, if you look at it from our point of view, in a linear timeline, he was resurrected by the Black Ring, brought back to life by the White Lantern, he then time traveled, brings Barry Allen back, gets stopped by Barry Allen and he’s get imprisoned in Iron Heights. I know. [laughs] Does anyone have an aspirin?

********************

Geoff Johns

WILSON: Do you still draw and do you include thumbnails with your scripts for artists?

JOHNS: I do thumbnails when I write my scripts, but I never send them off. It’s just for me really to get a visual sense of how the pages are going to lay out. I make these grids that are divided into six sections that essentially represent six pages and I take a stack of them and staple them together, and it then represents one comic book. From there, I draw it out, very bare bones, just to see what it’ll look like visually flipping through it because you want it to vary anyway. You know, where is it going to open up because there’s a big moment? So I illustrate that way.

I do some design work. I designed Pied Piper’s current costume. I’ve done some other design work here and there. I leave the illustration to the professionals. I just like doing it for fun.

WILSON: With such an avid love of comics and putting so much of yourself and your time into producing them, what is the most important thing you would like readers to take away from your body of work?

JOHNS: Well, I hope a positive message. I think superheroes are positive and have positive messages. I’ve never thought about it in that way, but people are going to take what they’re going to take; I hope it’s something they can apply to their life. You meet a lot of people who are inspired by heroes to be better people or to live a certain way. I hope they love the heroes. I do it because I loved Captain Cold. Great character, but crazy, so why do I love him? He’s this blue-collar, down-and-out super-thug, but he has a weird moral code and he has a heart deep down in there despite the cold exterior. He has a heart that is beating and I explored that in an issue with Scott Kolins in The Flash #182, which is one of my favorite issues I’ve ever written. Scott did a great job on it and I got to explore Captain Cold. People are always asking Scott at conventions for sketches of Captain Cold, and I still get to work with the character and I think he resonates for people. I hope they take away a growing love and appreciation for these characters and what they represent, but what they take away is going to be up to the audience.

******************

Scott Kolins

Q: Well the big thing to talk about is Citizen Cold. That’s a three issue mini-series?

Scott Kolins: Three issues that are self-contained but are part of the whole Flashpoint hoopla this summer.

Q: I know it has already been hinted in the books that are out that Cold may not be the hero that everyone thinks he is. Can you hint a little more about what to expect?

SK: You’ll find out in the first issue (out this week!!) that even Iron Heights that was the prison for the Flash villains before had an area called the Pipeline. It was a special place for all Flash’s super villains. Now it’s the special place for all of Citizen Cold’s villains and they call it the Freezer. And you’ll see a bunch of the Rogues are in there and you’ll see they’ve all suffered for the fact that Citizen Cold is now the hero.

He’s not a nice guy who puts them in prison. They’re all hurt pretty bad for tangling with him and being villains in his city. One of the fun bits is that you’ll actually see that the Rogues form because of Citizen Cold. That’s part of the plot of the story is that they really aren’t happy with him at all.

Q: Since this is an alternate reality story or a kind of reboot did you think about tweaking Captain Cold’s costume or did you know you wanted to keep it the same?

SK: No, that was definitely part of the process. Should I tweak stuff, how much should I tweak stuff? I did do some changes to Trickster; his pants and even his color scheme. I added some red to it, where before it was mostly yellow and blue. I got to do something that Geoff Johns laughed about; I gave Weather Wizard that goatee. It’s a reference to when we had originally changed his costume in the Flash books years ago and made his pattern green with yellow stripes on it. At that time when I did sketches for him to show DC what we wanted to do I had given him facial hair; at that point it was a handle bar mustache. Geoff was like, “This looks great...lose the handlebar mustache.” So this time when he saw the goatee he was like, “All right, fine. You finally get to put it on him.” I also think he looks more like a wizard this way. Stuff like this is mostly just fun for me, but they can either use it later if they think it’s cool or we can just use it for this one time thing.

Q: You mentioned the Trickster, is it going to be Jesse or Axel?

SK: No, it’s still Axel the kid. I know everyone likes James Jesse and I do too. That was one of the fun, personal things I got to add to the Flash universe. When we were working on the Rogues, James Jesse was already set up as an FBI agent. So he was definitely in the good guy camp, so we couldn’t use him as a Rogue. So I suggested what if we made Trickster like an evil Robin. Wouldn’t it be cool to have a kid with all those tricks, toys, and everything? Geoff thought it was an awesome idea, so we went with it from there. So when ever we can use him, I push him because he was my idea.

Q: The surprise to me when the new Trickster came out was you had a full grown Flash socking a teenager and no one objected, “Hey you’re hitting a kid!” Obviously he was a villain, but you never saw a reaction to that.

SK: That is an issue that we’ve kind of side-stepped. It is something I wanted to get into with Citizen Cold, but I don’t think I’m going to get into that one since I have so much going on with Cold himself. In my mind even though he looks young, but he might be on the cusp of 18. At least 16, so in some areas he’d be tried as an adult.

[More details on Axel’s age. --Lia]

Q: You probably can’t say what it is, but do you have your next book lined up?

SK: Yeah, I do have my next assignmnt lined up. It’s nothing I can talk about at this time. But I will be doing more writing and drawing. They’re very happy with that, Geoff was extremely happy with how Citizen Cold has come about and fit into the whole Flashpoint package. DC has been too. They’re like, you’ve really come a long with Grundy and everything else you’ve been doing and they are really cool with it.

Q: Any new Rogues popping up in Citizen Cold or just the established ones?

SK: Mostly just the established. There are some changes for them. Not even just Weather Wizard’s goatee. I don’t want to spoil the real cool one. But one of the favorites of the bunch that I changed, it’s just the context of the story they are stuck in. There are hints on the cover as to how it is different for one of the Rogues. It’s big time different, but no new Rogues.

*****************

From Geoff Johns’ AMA on Reddit

Q: Why do you love Captain Cold so much?

Geoff Johns: I love Captain Cold because he doesn't want to rule the world or kill people. He's just some dude who stole a cold-gun and is trying to get by in this crazy, insane super-powered world.

*******************

Geoff Johns introduces some of the Rogues for new readers

Leonard Snart was a career criminal who would pull heists and often work with a crew, until one day this blur, this speedster, shows up and suddenly he has to contend with this brand new thing called a super hero who’s stopping criminals like him from doing what they do. In order to continue, Snart has to up his game. He’s not a scientist. He’s not a doctor. He’s a career criminal. So he steals a cold gun that’s capable of slowing things down to absolute zero.

The thing that makes Snart so interesting to me is that cold is actually the opposite of speed. We talk about this a bit in the [Captain Cold] episode. Speed is defined by how fast things are moving. Temperature is also defined by the same thing—how fast things are moving at the atomic level. The faster they’re moving, the warmer something is. When things stop moving at the atomic level, the lower temperature it has. It’s called absolute zero when there’s absolutely no movement at all.

That I found very fascinating. Temperature and speed—it was all connected. Cold was essentially the opposite of Barry Allen in every way. He was a normal person who had to equip himself to become more than he was.

The character doesn’t want to rule the world. He doesn’t necessarily want to kill the Flash because, at the end of the day, the Flash is celebrated by everybody, and killing him would bring a lot of heat. Also, he’s not a killer. He just wants to pull his jobs and continue doing what he’s doing, and in order to work in a city that’s protected by a super hero, he has to become something more than he is. Until finally, working alone isn’t enough and he has to gather with others that are in the same situation. Like Heat Wave, a pyromaniac who Snart’s worked with before.

Everyone knows that Mick Rory, AKA Heat Wave, has a problem. His love for fire and the arsonist that he is will often divert him away from the mission at hand. But Cold is able to wrangle that pyromaniac. He gives him a heat gun and basically gives him a gimmick. He tells him that if he holds on to the gimmick, he’s not going to be sick anymore. He’ll fit in and belong.

He does that with each one of the Rogues. When he brings in Axel Walker, the Trickster, he’s a kid who’s out of control. He doesn’t have any focus, and Cold brings him focus. Same with someone like Mark Mardon, the Weather Wizard, who’s obsessed by guilt because of the way he got the weather wand. His brother’s death is really a big part of who he is.

It goes on and on with all the Rogues and we’ve talked about a lot of these characters and bringing them onto the show. They work for The Flash because only someone like the Flash could take on five guys at once. What Greg Berlanti, Andrew Kreisberg and I are trying to do is slowly bring in these wonderful villains, and really they become characters all their own. They have their own stories. They’re more than just villains-of-the-week characters. They’re a part of this world. They live in this world, and we’ll be seeing them again and again.

#Captain Cold #Dr Alchemy #the Trickster #Axel #Heat Wave #Weather Wizard #Professor Zoom #The Renegades #Interviews #the more you know #Johns era #ages #queue

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belizedeservesbetter · 5 years

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Please Give Ann Darrow Some Shoes!

Yes, King Kong the musical is as bad as it looks

Where do I even start?

If you think this musical looks like a complete disaster, let me assure you that it is. If you, like me, thought making King Kong into a musical was a bad idea, you were right. Worst of all, Ben Brantley and Jesse Green of The New York Times were right. It pains me that I have to say it, because even I, an overly harsh theatre person, think they’re both assholes.

But let’s start with the positive.

King Kong himself is pretty cool. At least the first time you see him. He’s huge and intimidating and an overall extraordinary achievement in puppetry. There is a moment in Act Two (slight spoilers?) where Kong walks all the way to the edge of the stage and reaches a hand out into the audience before standing up to his full height which was the best moment in the whole show. It really let you soak in the details of this puppet in almost complete silence (this show is so loud!) and see just how expressive the puppet actually is.

Though honestly? Kong gets a little underwhelming after a while. He’s lifted up out of scenes into the rafters which is really awkward to watch because his body just goes completely limp and you remember that he really is just an expensive puppet Avenue Q could only dream of having. Also, they didn’t bring him up completely during the last song, so you could see a lone Kong foot dangling while Ann Darrow sings the last bad song, but more on that later.

The King Kong puppet is so expressive! It’s more expressive than the entire cast!

I am sure Christiani Pitts is very talented but honestly she isn’t great in this show. Her Ann Darrow is underwhelming, but that also may be because Ann Darrow is so poorly written. She’s a “strong woman,” or what the men writing this show think a strong woman is. She doesn’t scream, she roars. She also has no real defining personality traits. But going back to the roar - it isn’t really a roar at all. For a show that reiterates the importance of her roar again and again and again, it better be a damn good roar. But it isn’t. Pitts was actually really quiet, and my rush seat was pretty close to the stage.

But my real beef is with Eric William Morris and his character Carl. I am sure Morris is regretting leaving Be More Chill every day because despite my frustration with aspects of that show, at least it’s got a solid foundation. And The Squip was pretty good. But oh man he is bad in King Kong. He is the cartoon evil villain of every Fairly Odd Parents episode I’ve ever seen. He’s so ridiculously evil that he doesn’t even make sense. Plot hole notice - we never find out why he wanted to go to Skull Island in particular in the first place. I’m assuming he knew King Kong was there, but he also seemed very surprised that a giant gorilla resided there. What was he expecting?

I am now incredibly worried about Beetlejuice the Musical because Eddie Perfect’s score was downright awful. None of the songs were good - and there weren’t many actual songs? Most of it was ominous scoring and intense King Kong running music. The actual songs were all terrible. There’s a lyric that goes, “There’s fire in the water. The water is vapor.” This line is actually stressing me out because it makes zero sense. All of Ann Darrow’s ballads sounded exactly the same. You could play me all of them back to back and I wouldn’t be able to tell you the difference. They were also oddly contemporary? Like this musical is set (in like the 20s? maybe? they talked like contemporary people but Carl mentioned knowing Clara Bow so I don’t know) far in the past but the music was all very modern and didn’t fit at all. “But Hamilton!” you say. Yes, I know, BUT while King Kong is very realistic in terms of setting and storytelling, Hamilton’s turnstyle set and direct-address approach to telling the story makes it clear this is America’s today telling the story of America’s past.

The plot is weird and doesn’t make sense, but we’re not even gonna go into that one.

The whole show felt like it was on 2x speed. I felt like I barely sat down when Queen of New York started and ended. Even Pitts was out of breath! Everything moved way too fast in that I had no time to learn about the characters and the show was trying to get to the next big action piece. Even the choreography felt too fast and too much like everyone was just throwing their limbs in different directions. I think the phrase I’m looking for is “jerky movements” but regardless it was bad. But it was also way too slow in that the book scenes were so poorly written it was unbearable to sit through.

Perhaps a layer of hell is a bad book to a musical.

There’s a lot in this musical that is totally ridiculous! There’s a snake fight! If you thought Kong was the only puppet, you’d be mistaken. There’s a giant snake! A whole snake fight scene! There’s moving/dancing vines! There’s weird projection set pieces! Carl says about King Kong, “This isn’t film, this is theatre!”

And poor Ann Darrow has to go through this half the time without shoes. I swear to God she never has shoes on in this damn show and I don’t know why it bothers me so much! Running through the jungle with no shoes! On the top of the Empire State Building with no shoes! Whenever there’s an “emotional” moment she has no shoes on! So impractical! So improbable! It’s like Bryce Dallas Howard in Jurassic Park with the heels all over again.

But let’s talk about that last song. Spoiler but it’s basically Ann on the top of the Empire State Building (with no help in sight?) singing about the wonder that was King Kong and how much he has inspired her. But he didn’t? He did nothing but wreak havoc on the city! People died, Ann!

When Kong dies and falls off the building, that probably crushed even more people and buildings! Also he’s a gorilla! I really find it hard to believe he understood every single thing she said to him! She’s singing about wonder but she didn’t really learn anything from him.

I suppose the only way to end this (way too long) review is to call out the girl sitting behind me who recorded the whole show, causing ushers to shine flashlights into the row multiple times. She also took pictures, with the picture taking sound on with the volume all the way up. She was annoying and incredibly disrespectful and reminded me that people who record Broadway shows really piss me off.

People at intermission who were really wowed by the puppet were saying how, “This is what live theatre can be! This is what live theatre can do!” But honestly, should it?

#king kong #king kong the musical #broadway #theatre #review #voice

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monkeypretzel · 6 years

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New Joel Hodgson Interview About Season 12/2

Conducted during Season 12 (or 2) taping in LA the week of May 6 - 12, 2018, published August 14, 2018. Transcript is as accurate as my ears and headphones allow. Source cited at end.

Interviewer 1: All right. And uh we are here with Joel Hodgson; uh Joel thank you so much again for being here, this is like the 3rd time.

Joel: Oh, thank you so much guys, yeah.

Interviewer 1: Awesome. First question, obvious: how does it feel to be back for season 12?

Joel: Well, it’s funny, um, you have to, I mean, we’ve been, you know I guess it’s been about nine months since we really started like looking at movies, getting that going, really made a schedule and started writing in the new year, so that was… six months ago. And all that is just about these six days, really. And so, it’s kinda intense, um, because I couldn’t tell you what happens if something goes wrong, like if, if I get sick, or if one of our principal players can’t make it, we haven’t done that scenario, so that’s the thing that’s a little nerve wracking, but, um, but as far as just the ease of getting everything on it’s feet production-wise it’s been really good and uh gone a lot smoother than the first time which is understandable. So, so far so good, like you may have said or um, we’re ahead of schedule right now so we’re really grateful for that, and that’s why I can be here and do this. So things are going really good, and that has a lot to do with, [audible sigh] um, the producers at Alternaversal who have really shepherded all these different things so they’re all here now; the costumes and the puppets and all the props and the sets and stuff, so that’s all worked really beautifully.

Interviewer 1: Yeah, you guys are actually, yeah we came in and you’re actually really well ahead of schedule, which is unheard of on a, on a film set, really.

Joel: Yeah, and last year wa – or last season, was much harder, just ‘cause it was us trying to adapt to the Hollywood system, which is kinda it’s own language, and it’s own culture, and so we worked really hard to try to manage that – wanna a cut? Oh, it’s gone. Yeah, so we just wanted to um, you know, it was kinda like we knew that last season would be a big shakedown cruise and then this year we had a little more know-how and it went, it’s gone a lot smoother. Done a lot-

Interviewer 2: Jonah talked about the confidence.

Joel: What’s that?

Interviewer 2: Jonah talked about the confidence of coming back.

Joel: Yeah, it’s been really nice to just kinda feel like we all, we all know what the show is now, and prior to that, we didn’t. Prior to, you know, prior to doing it, it was kinda like, um, I don’t know how to explain it to you, but when I think of stuff, it’s kinda like a, it’s rendered, but it’s just enough for me to explain it to other people, but it’s not really rendered like a high end render or like a 3-D render, it’s more like rough, and mostly at each time, and every time you use a different vendor to fulfill it, and then any time somebody touches a costume, or a puppet, they, they often improve it, or bring something new to it that I couldn’t see or anticipate. I’m trying to think, you know, just that, we kinda showcased, um, coupla new characters today, and, and they were puppets, and you know, just the stuff Russ [Walko] did is we gave him a drawing and he went ahead and built it and brought a whole lot of new things to it. So that’s always a kinda fun part too, is just having people who are really talented just making things better.

Interviewer 3: Yeah, no, when it comes to this, the next season, that we’re doing now, that you’re working on now, are you excited about like what you’ve chosen for the film selections? Without giving any spoilers.

Joel: Um. Yeah, it’s really neat. We have um, some movies that I think are gonna knock people out. Just, just are really new for MST and, um, so I’m really excited about that, and we, um, there’s kind of a more of a concept to the season, I think, than last season; I think last season we were just trying to reestablish the world of the show and kinda live in it and I think now we’re kinda moving some pieces around and just so it, it kinda has, it feels like um… It’s almost like I was trying to do a thing where it was like, you know, when they do a sequel to a movie, you know all the characters but there’s usually a situation where they have to be doing something you weren’t familiar with, and that’s kinda what the second season is. It’s just getting all the characters to do something slightly different than just make Mystery Science Theater.

Interviewer 3: And has that changed like the shooting schedule at all for this season compared to last season?

Joel: Not really. I mean, Harold, I hope you guys get Harold in here to talk about this, ‘cause he’s really…[audible sigh] I can’t really, I can’t really think like that, like I can’t think, like figure out the actual time it will take to make it, I just have to kinda make sure I feel like the shape of it is correct and it feels right, and then he comes in and starts going “Well, this page count is way too high, we’ll never shoot this” and then Elliot and I had to go back in and just start cutting and, um mostly Elliot, I mean mostly I just said, you know, said to Elliot, um, “Man, we gotta cut like, we gotta cut like 10 pages outta this script and can you do that?” and he’s really talented at that, and I didn’t- And then the nice thing is once we got it to a certain space, uh, Tyler, our, our um, Tyler Stratton, our first AD said “We’re doing really good” and I go “Can I, I have some jokes I want to put back in from the past we cut out, can I put back in?” and then he said as long as it doesn’t add to the any more set ups, any more set pieces, and I, so that was really nice, to get to go back and pick some favorite things that we had to cut. So I felt like we did the best of both, I kept, I was able to keep my favorite stuff in and we were able to shorten the length of it.

Interviewer 1: Well, you got, once again this year you got, uh fans on the set, uh, uh, does that give an energy to the show that’s uh, that’s helpful you think?

Joel: It’s good, I mean, today was funny ‘cause I noticed, um, when we had to get up so early this morning, I mean we had to be here by six, so that means getting up at five and I was really tired, and I realized, um, when I was doing the Q & A, with the backers, it really kinda was tiring me out, ‘cause I felt like, I realized I was like performing? You know, I was kinda like trying to be funny, and trying to keep it moving, and I started to go “Is this a good idea?” You know, “Is this a good use of my energy?”, and uh, fortunately it’s a light day, you know we’re going to be out by five so it’s not a problem but I did have a moment where I go “Is this counterproductive?”, because we’re trying to make the show really good. But again, uh, you have really good people, and the idea is to design the production so well that I don’t, I’m not that essential to it. It’s like once we get here, it can kinda run itself, like, and so that’s kinda the idea, and that’s my dream, and obviously I’m not always gonna be doing this, so you want people to know how to do it, you know, so um, so it’s just like, it can, it’s supposed to keep going it can.

Interviewer 1: Yeah.

Joel: You know, yeah, but um, back to your question, I, I um, it’s really fun to, um, you know, like we were shooting the silhouettes, and um, people were really laughing at it, and that’s like a really great, great feeling, and the crew really laughs a lot while we’re doing the show, and I, I, I wouldn’t have too much of an opinion about it, but Jonah really likes it, and I really am there, as an advocate for Jonah, ‘cause that’s like the hardest gig, is being like, you know everyone, everyone else is kinda running a puppet or off camera, they’re safe, they’re behind a, a counter and they are looking at a script, and Jonah is the guy up there alone and then, it’s a, it’s a, having done it it’s a really tough gig, so I try to look out for him and he likes it so that’s really why it’s, it’s here. If he didn’t, if it made him uptight or if it made him not like it, I don’t think we’d be doing it. But he likes it, and it’s a really good um, you know, it’s just a way of um for about, I don’t know, 40-50 people, it’s just a way to kind of, um, show the work, and show people what we’re doing, and show ‘em how it works, and yeah, it’s kinda like a living document of how we make the show.

Interviewer 3: And yeah, it gives me more of an appreciation of seeing what goes on behind the scenes-

Interviewer 1: Oh yeah, absolutely!

Interviewer 3: I think unlike everybody else here, I wasn’t here last year, so [unintelligible, three people talking over each other] this is my first time seeing this.

Joel: Yeah, yeah, yeah I think so, it’s funny because y- it gives a reality to how it’s made and, and um, yeah, it’s, it’s super fun, I mean, I dunno what to compare it to, it’s kinda like, I mean, it’s really like a safari if you weren’t killing like endangered animals. Like, think of it that way.

Interviewers: (laughing) It’s like a hike!

Joel: But it’s like, it’s kinda like any kind of- or if you have to do a really, um, major operation or something where you have a bunch of experts, you have to conference on how to make it, you plan each day, you plan each moment, so everyone knows their job, and then you do it, and part of it is, for me is, you have to be kind of happy when you do it, you have to be enjoying it, and, and you have- it’s really important ‘cause if it’s not there I feel like the audience can tell. And so that’s really the big trick, is to be abstracted enough from the things that can go wrong, and, and feel like confident enough that it’ll be OK, that you can just kinda have fun and let it go and hopefully everybody is happy and.

Interviewer 2: So one thing you mentioned earlier in the Q & A was uh that Season 11, you fixed a lot of stuff in post, or you felt like you kind of put it together in post and it seems like for Season 12 you feel like you have a lot more control as it’s going on now. You mentioned that everything’s kind of getting shot in, in one kinda of thing. Do you think that’s just experience now?

Joel: Yeah, um, you know, I mean, when you think about the original MST, we had all this ramp up time, and there was no stress on the show, there’s no expectation, so it’s kinda like we were able to ramp up and do it very organically and move into it and it just was like, there wasn’t the same amount of attention and heat on it as there is now, where people just, and by heat I don’t mean anything other than there’s expectation. And so for me, because what, what you’re kind of doing with a production is there’s all these individual kinda moments and assets that you have, that you create- like, on the weekend we were shooting model shots, right? and that has a completely different vibe, it’s in a different location and it has a different kind of person that makes models and shoots models, and then there’s this kind of environment, and then there’s the audio environment when we record the audio stuff and there’s the post production stuff, and so all these things are at various scales of, um, of attention that you need to pay to, pay to what’s going on, and so, I felt like, um with Season 1, it was so hard to know if we were all on the same page, that really it was about gathering the assets together, and then kinda putting them together, and so it was a bit, I felt like it was a bit of a Frankenstein, um, in that we were just trying to put it together, um. Because the alternative would be, oh, um, how do you do Mystery Science Theater? Oh, you go back to Minneapolis, you have a campus in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, you take a bunch of people who have never done comedy before, you put ‘em in a room, and that would be completely unfair to the people who you were doing it to. So this meant using all these different pros to make the show, and how do you get it to land so it feels like the show, and so that’s why I think, um, we had to spend a little more time just arranging stuff, uh, in post. And so now that everybody gets it, we can just kind of do it more like we used to do it, now that it- we feel like everybody understands the show and how to make the show, it’s uh, it’s a lot closer to the way we made it in Eden Prairie, I think. So I think that’s, to answer your question, that’s kinda it, how I feel it’s different.

Interviewer 1: I’ve been watching the clock because you actually have a show to make and uh we have hit the time uh until Ivan needs you back on set-

Joel: OK! Yeah, awesome you guys, well, hopefully we’ll have more time to talk but I, since we had time today I really wanted to get in here just because we got lucky with the time, so thank you again for comin’ and documenting all this stuff, really appreciate it, and thanks for your ongoing support and everything.

Interviewers: Thank you.

Source: https://soundcloud.com/mst3krevivalleaguepodcast/episode-126-joel-hodgson-erik-peterson Time stamp 5:00 - 18:35

#mst3k #mst3k the return #joel hodgson #joel is calling it season 1 and season 2 #if you listen he gets really energetic and cheerful when he's told he has to go #theres a lot to unpack

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deli-counter · 6 years

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@666lucifersbitch asked me to do all the musical theatre questions so here we are lads!

13: Most embarrassing story from your early teens. One time my mic was on backstage and I didn’t know and I said “fuck I gotta shit so bad” and like 900 people heard that

1776: Favorite Founding Father? they all didn’t wash their dicks idc

25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee: Biggest middle school achievement having to leave my middle school because of bullying and then a rumor started that I got knocked up. That was honestly legendary

A Chorus Line: Favorite type of dance I want 1920s jitterbug swing shit!!

Aladdin: 3 wishes you want to come true 1. get into a good fucking transfer program 2. fall in love 3. love my body

Amelie: Strangest dream you’ve ever had i hate this cause every dream story someone shares just sounds made up and stupid. I had a dream once that I had to milk myself to stay alive, figure out what that says about my subconscious

Anastasia: Would you rather be rich in money or in love? Love baby!! I wanna drown in it daily!

Annie: Favorite thing about NYC? General energy of the city is delightful

Avenue Q: The Muppet’s or Sesame Street? Tbh I really haven’t watched either but I guess Muppets

Bandstand: How much hometown pride do you have Ehhh. I like where I live and it’s a nice area but I wouldn’t die for it by any means. I really adore Atlanta and have a lot of pride for it but I’m not really from Atlanta, I’m like 18 miles away

Be More Chill: One thing you wish to change about yourself I just don’t wanna have trauma anymore y’all. Also I wish I could dance

Beauty and the Beast: Small town or big city? Both for different reasons but probably moreso big city

Bonnie and Clyde: Favorite dynamic duo idk....Rosencrantz & Guildenstern

Book of Mormon: One book I love so much that I’d go on a worldwide adventure to tell everyone about. The Curiosities which is actually a collection of short stories but it changed my life

Bring it On: Something you’re overly competitive about Probably cooking and baking

Carrie: Favorite prank Asian Jim on The Office was classic

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: Favorite candy Those raspberry gummies with the nonpareils on them ugh!! Love

Cinderella: shoe size 6.5 / 7

Come from Away: One place you’d like to travel Japan or South Korea

Dear Evan Hansen: favorite social media platform Twitter or tumblr I guess

Dogfight: Describe your first school dance I went to prom with my senior boyfriend at the time my sophomore year and it was so bad and we ate at this awful restaurant and I felt fat the whole night and he kept trying to grind on me so we left early cause I yelled at him in front of everyone and then his mom showed up drunk and yelled at me and then I went home

Falsettos: favorite baseball team Whatever teams are playing in the “What a Game!” Ragtime number

Fiddler on the Roof: How many siblings do you have One older sister named Bailey she is my best friend in the entire world and so beautiful and intelligent and funny and I really owe her my life!

Footloose: Could you survive a world without dance I would prefer it as I have never met a worse dancer than me truly

Frozen: One super power you wish you had Telekinesis/whatever Scarlet Witch’s powers are. Or shapeshifting would be good too

Grease: Summer lovers or high school sweethearts Idk I didn’t have either lol

Groundhog Day: One day you wish you could live in forever Day I saw OBC of Great Comet

Hairspray: Describe your-go to hairstyle Straight and boring maybe pinned back a bit? Idk I don’t know how to do much w my hair

Hamilton: Which Schuyler sister do you relate to the most Uhh probably Angelica cause I’m outspoken to compensate for my worries and fears and grieve what I never had

Heathers: Favorite Slurpee flavor White cherry or coke, specifcally from the Target snack bar

In the Heights: What’s your heritage? Normal White European Mutt, Irish, Swiss, French, but mostly German. Also a lot of Pennsylvania Dutch/Mennonite stuff

In Transit: Favorite Subway/street performer/performance This one guy in the London tube has a drum kit and he dresses up in a suit with puppets and plays the beats that come as a demo on the drum kit and makes the puppets dance. So dumb but he is a sweet guy and I love his dancin dudes!!

Into the Woods: Least favorite camping experience Only went camping like once or twice and it was with my girl scout troop and I just remember having an anxiety attack and not knowing what it was cause I was so young and feeling miserable

Legally Blonde: What’s your stereotype For theatre I’m typically always cast as the brunette belting bitch or unfit ingenue(that no one fully believes cause I’m not skinny) or whatever, in real life probably just a generic ~artsy girl with red lipstick who thinks she’s unique~

The Lion King: Favorite animal I really do love koalas

Mary Poppins: Have you ever flown a kite Once in a production of Mary Poppins actually lol

Matilda: favorite teacher Jeff Gillis, my freshman year English teacher. Changed how I looked at education and now we are very good friends and hang out/go out to eat and stuff

Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812: Best party you’ve ever been to I don’t really go to parties ever? My friend’s birthday party was 1960′s themed and he rented furniture and a tikki bar and there was a strict dress code and all the food was themed and it was very on brand and very much my style

Newsies: Have you ever been in the local paper. If so, why Yeah for scholarships or singing or something

Pippin: Have you ever been to the circus No I don’t think so? Huh

Rent: Favorite thing about life How fucking cool is nature y’all?

School of Rock: favorite instrument Handpan or accordion!

The Sound of Music: Which is more important, faith or love Uh they’re hand in hand really....this is so tough. I think Faith

Spring Awakening: Age when life bothered you the most Currently, actually, so 20

Waitress: favorite dessert Tbh......pie, as it is and always will be

Wicked: biggest insecurity “Am I talented enough? Will I amount to anything? What if I’m the kid who peaked in high school?”

The Wizard of Oz: Your definition of home not to be that guy but....a theater, in all honesty

#asks #theatre tag #this was fun #thank you sav!!

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peacekeeper-xiv · 6 years

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Honest Q&A: Round 5! Table

Glad to see you all here. Let’s jump right in then. It’s been a while and our reader’s will surely be itching to learn more about Eorzea’s adventurous types.

If you were ruler of your own country what would be the first law you would introduce?

Lloire: “Tch. I would introduce a law that changed our system of government to one more akin to Ishgard’s House of Commons system so that whatever fools put me in charge stood a better chance.”

K’risa: “Um, doesn’t the fact that you wanna do that make you a good choice for a ruler? Anyways, I would introduce laws that were in place to severely punish anyone found tempered or assisting with tempering.”

Beta: “No, no, miss Mau. He’s right. A leader’s gotta be willing to be willing to NOT be sacrificial. The General has to know when –they- have to withdraw from the field, and Lloire just wouldn’t ever be able to do that. For me though, I’d put strict regulations on Magitek use to coincide with the increased production.”

Chadrick: “The feck? Tha three o’ ye can actually think o’ this shyte? Nay lads, Ah’m nay rulin’ anyone. Ah suppose me first an’ only law would be t’ abolish tha government so each man was free.”

Aasifa: “Aasifa is banning slaves or people who are being worked ;like slaves for little gil.”

Benedict: “I consider myself a man of the gods. It would be improper for me to rule over others. My beliefs would unfairly cloud my judgment.”

Chance: “A merc country? Heh, a king who fights his own battles. Would be a sight, yea?”

Felix: “Only fools rule. A ruler is always a puppet. A puppet to those with coin, to the popular opinion, to blackmail, or any number of other things. Why rule when you can manipulate from the shadows? I’d never get suckered into being any country’s ruler.”

What's the longest you've gone without sleep (and why)?

Lloire: “A week. …People I cared about were trapped within the void. I spent a week fighting to free them and only finally slept when Soren drugged me.”

K’risa: “A week? How are you not dead? No. I don’t wanna know. Longest I went was still less than a day. What? Girl needs her rest!”

Beta: “Um, well… crankshafts… I think it was three days? I was building something important.”

Chadrick: “T’was bout twenty-four ‘ours. Was travelin’ through some rough territory. Could nay afford t’ sleep, so, we pushed through.”

Aasifa: “Aasifa is sleeping every day. It is only way to stay strong, yes?”

Benedict: “I am in agreement with Master Taqalid. Proper rest is important for the body and mind.”

Chance: “Three days. Dravonians had us pinned down.”

Felix: “I didn’t count, but I recall it was several weeks. I had an experiment that required my undivided attention and well, with the right potions you can forgo sleep. Albeit at a slight degradation of your capacities.”

Aside from necessities, what one thing could you not go a day without?

Lloire: “A book to read.”

K’risa: “My blankets! What, it’s all your fault. Talking about not sleeping made me sleepy!”

Beta: “Coffee!”

Chadrick: “Seein’ a beautiful lass smile. Nary a soul should e’er do without.”

Aasifa: “Aasifa has been without, yes? So, there is nothing he is needing so much he cannot be without.”

Benedict: “Prayer. I only bring it up as a non-necessity because so many others live without it. I could not.”

Chance: “A knife. You should always have a knife.”

Felix: “I think I will agree with dark and broody over there. Constantly learn. You should read every day.”

Which of the five senses would you say is your strongest?

Lloire: “Smell, strange as might seem. I guess I honed it over the years learning to cook. Taste is important and all, but you smell the food well before you ever taste it… and the smell lingers long after the food is gone.”

K’risa: “I unno, hearing I guess?”

Beta: “Sight for sure. Picking things apart and remembering exactly what I saw and where a screw or bolt was… Yea, definitely sight.”

Chadrick: “O’ now, this is an easy one. Touch. Easy. ‘ands down.”

Aasifa: “Friend Chadrick, Aasifa worries you are meaning hands down skirts with way you are saying this. For Aasifa, it is hearing like friend K’risa. He is training whole childhood to be hearing intruders.”

Benedict: “I would have to say taste. Mine is overly strong, so I prefer more ‘bland’ flavors.”

Chance: “Smell for me too. Different uses though.”

Felix: “My sixth. Next question.”

Which of the five senses would you give up if you had to lose one?

Lloire: “Given previous… injuries, sight. I’ve already started training to be without it. I’d miss it for sure, but I would miss the others more.”

K’risa: “Really? You’d go blind before not being able to cook? You’re a strange one. For me, it’d be smell.”

Beta: “I’m kinda with miss K’risa Lloire. It’s crazy to go blind instead of not being able to smell. You’d get yourself ki--…. Oh… Nevermind, it all makes sense.”

Chadrick: “Well, Ah mean… Ah’d lose me sight before me sense o’ touch… but alas, Ah must agree with tha others… Smell can go first.”

Aasifa: “Hmm, Aasifa is thinking touch. If he is not feeling, there is no pain, he is greater fighter, yes?”

Benedict: “I’m not certain that would be wise Master Taqalid. Pain is a warning so we know how far to push ourselves. I am with the others. Perhaps a lost sense of smell might even out my sense of taste.”

Chance: “Sound I guess. Wouldn’t have to hear as much whining from people at least.”

Felix: “An interesting question… though I have to agree with the majority. Smell is the least useful sense in the lives we live.”

How would your friends describe you?

Lloire: “Depends on the friend I imagine. Soren’d tell you I’m a stubborn ass who always thinks he’s right. Siben’d tell you I try to hard and am quick to temper. Most everyone would likely agree that I’m injury prone I suppose.”

K’risa: “Um, I guess they’d say I was a hard worker.”

Beta: “Injury prone? That’s how you describe it? It’s not like you slipped and fell on a knife yanno. Um, most’a my friends would probably say I’m a workaholic and I’m bad at multitasking and should eat more.”

Chadrick: “Well, shyte. Ah’m nay sure. A few’d probably say Ah was a cocky bloke.”

Aasifa: “Friends have said before, describing Aasifa is difficult thing. But most are saying he like like the wind.”

Benedict: “I would hope they’d describe me as warm and caring. Protective.”

Chance: “And big Benny. As for me, ain’t too many I call friend and fewer still I’d give a fuck what they said.”

Felix: “As the guy you call when shits gone to hell and you need a way out.”

What did you want to be when you were small?

Lloire: “An archmage. Someone like Louisoix or Shatotto.”

K’risa: “I wanted what every girl in our tribe wanted. To be a huntress.”

Beta: “You just… I swear, you don’t own a mirror do you? Ugh. I wanted to be the world’s best engineer. Well, okay, want to be…”

Chadrick: “Ah was goin’ t’ say lad… ye are still a wee one. As fer me, Ah’ve always dreamed o’ bein’ a ‘ero. E’er since Ah too was a wee lad.”

Aasifa: “Free, yes?”

Benedict: “When I was young, I simply wished to please the family that took me in.”

Chance: “A merc. It was all I’d known.”

Felix: “Alchemy has been an interest of mine since I first heard of it.”

What's the craziest thing you’ve done in the name of love?

Lloire: “Pretty sure I have to say ‘Stab myself in the chest’ or Beta will call me out on it.”

K’risa: “Yea, he will. How did you—I’d rather not know. I uh, left my tribe and everyone I knew.”

Beta: “Yea, next time you go falling for a girl, maybe just roses and chocolates, ‘kay? For me, it was raid a castrum and take over all their reapers.”

Chadrick: “Ah di’nay know tha’ Ah’d call it fer love… but tha craziest thing Ah did fer romance was date wha’ amounted t’ a princess. Di’nay hiss K’risa… she ne’er did a thing t’ ye.””

Aasifa: “Aasifa is not understanding question. Everything done for love is crazy, yes? Otherwise… is not love?”

Benedict: “I fear I am going to have to abstain from answering. I have not been in love and as such have not done anything foolish.”

Chance: “Tried to play at hero.”

Felix: “Hmm… pretty much everything I did from the age nineteen to twenty-three.”

Do you collect anything? If so, what?

Lloire: “Books.”

K’risa: “I don’t think it counts that I collect fabrics, considering that’s my job.”

Beta: “Mostly Garlean scrap. Wha? It’s not ‘technically’ my job. Also, Lloire, I’m pretty sure you collect scars.”

Chadrick: “Ah’ve a giant collection o’ tha things Ah kept from each o’ me missions. Aislyn an’ Ah make it a point t’ keep one thing from each job.”

Aasifa: “Aasifa is not one for ‘things’, yes? You cannot take with you. No matter what some people might think.”

Benedict: “Yes, I have a collection of different totems, rosaries, wards, from various beliefs. I enjoy learning about other people’s beliefs.”

Chance: “…no. The fuck am I gonna do with all that extra weight?”

Felix: “Like Scars, I have a collection of tomes as well as a collection of rare metals and gems.”

Who was your first crush?

Lloire: “A woman named Stanzie. ”

K’risa: “A pretty boy hero who doesn’t know how to sit still.”

Beta: “Um, I guess Ikara? I mean, I didn’t really get the whole dating thing before I met her.”

Chadrick: “There was this lass named Cathleen when Ah was growin’ up. Me da dealt with ‘ers kind o’ regularly. Otherwise, Ah’d ‘ave t’ say Sinomen.”

Aasifa: “Bliss. Let us speak on something new, yes?”

Benedict: “Again, I will need to bow… what is that mister Tamisier? Oh, well.. I suppose… very well. There was a young Elezen girl when I was much much younger… but that was highly inappropriate. Her name? Oh… It’s been so many years. Killie… Kyliean… I fear I do not recall anymore.”

Chance: “Right… sure you don’t Benny. There was a fellow merc when I was starting out. Becca. That’s all ya need to know.”

Felix: “I suppose my betrothed when I was young would have been my first crush. Her name was Alison.”

Do you or your family have a “motto” – spoken or unspoken?

Lloire: “No. Not really. Maybe if I start one someday I’ll come up with one.”

K’risa: “Oh, like I’d forget what I hear time and time again. ‘One struggle, one people, one destiny.’”

Beta: “Noooope.”

Chadrick: “Ah’ll go with me ma’s. ‘Fortune favours tha bold.’”

Aasifa: “If Aasifa is having one… he is not knowing it, yes?”

Benedict: “As with miss Mau, I could not forget it if I tried. ‘Honour is the reward of virtue.’”

Chance: “No.”

Felix: “Hahaha. Yea, no.”

What do you do to keep fit?

Lloire: “Every morning is a fairly standard routine. Pushups, crunches, squats, a run… plus all the training and fighting.”

K’risa: “Keep fit? Do you all have to try to stay fit?”

Beta: “I guess all my time at the forge keeps me pretty fit. I mean, hammering stuff all day and working on magitek… it can be hard work.”

Chadrick: “Blitzball’s a pretty full body workout ye know. Outside o’ tha’… Ah find Ah di’nay need much else, aye?”

Aasifa: “Aasifa and Lloire are similar here. Aasifa wakes and does morning exercises. It is ingrained in him since time first remembered.”

Benedict: “I am not so sure I am as fit as say Master Peace or Master Taqalid.”

Chance: “Work. Don’t need anything else.”

Felix: “Aya started me on a training regimen some many many years ago. I’ve stuck with it since.”

If you could live somewhere else from where you live now, where would it be?

Lloire: “Yanxia. It’s beautiful there.”

K’risa: “I’ve heard there is a land to the south that sounds amazing.”

Beta: “Idyllshire for sure. I wish I could now!”

Chadrick: “E’erywhere. Ah cannay imagine settlin’ down t’ any one spot.”

Aasifa: “Aasifa is with friend Chadrick. The winds blow everywhere. So does Aasifa”

Benedict: “I… have not given that thought. There is still much of the world for me to see to rightly say. Lady Sayo has spoken much of the east and I’ve heard the Steepe is beautiful.”

Chance: “Where I live doesn’t matter. Where doesn’t make it home.”

Felix: “Hah. And packs like to keep on the move, right wolfboy? Dravania if I had to pick.”

If you had a warning label, what would yours say?

Lloire: “Danger of death, high voltage.”

K’risa: “Shocking.” *snickers* “Um Cat crossing? I don’t know. I’m not all that dangerous.”

Beta: “I unno, something like Warning, explosion hazards I guess?”

Chadrick: “Caution, ‘ot. Tha rest o’ ye are too damned serious.”

Aasifa: “Umm… This is strange question… Aasifa’s would say, warning… anger Aasifa and he will cut of your head. Is good warning, yes?”

Benedict: “I… I think that may be a bit on the nose Master Taqalid. I suppose mine would say Contents under pressure.”

Chance: “Wolf advisory in effect.”

Felix: “Seek shelter.”

How do you sleep? With clothes, fitfully or peacefully, lots of pillows?

Lloire: “Odd question… I have night clothes… a single pillow, and I imagine a bit more fitfully than many others.”

K’risa: “You poor thing. I um, have a nightgown. That’s all I’m telling!”

Beta: “Rarely and usually where I fall.”

Chadrick: “Godsdamn lad… Yer too young fer all o’ tha’. Get yer rest. Lots o’ pillows and quite peacefully.”

Aasifa: “Aasifa has bed made of cushions. He sleeps well. You should try it. Very comfortable.”

Benedict: “I spend most nights in inn rooms. They are comfortable enough.”

Chance: “Bedrolls more often than not. I sleep fine.”

Felix: “You don’t want to know… trust me. Suffice it to say… in velvet.”

Real quick, before you all leave. It was recently Valentione’s Day here is Eorzea. How did you feel about that holiday?

Lloire: “Tch… None of your business. My Shield Sister loves it though.”

K’risa: “I love it! I sold all kinds of cute lingerie!”

Beta: “Ikara and I always go out and enjoy the festivities. So I like it.”

Chadrick: “It’s a celebration o’ love, aye? Wha’s nay t’ like unless you’re tha’ gloomy type. Nay dating fer ye eh Lloire? Cut inta tha broodin’ time?”

Aasifa: “This festival was fun time! Aasifa and companion Rahya scared many moogles and then got chairs for our efforts, yes?”

Benedict: “I’m afraid I did not participate, though the decorations and festivities made Sunny quite happy.”

Chance: “…Yea, Lloire… I still owe you an asswhooping for that. She’s still laughing at me… ass.”

Felix: “The pink hurts my eyes… Heh, pinkeye. Hmm… maybe next year I’ll… huh? Oh, we’re done. Great.”

As always, thank you all for answering our readers’ questions. I think next round we’ll have another theme. Until then!

Tagged by: Uh, I made this one. So @me?

Tagging: @wicked-virtue @yutikyis@waitingrose @susukosuko@hedgearcher @hana-xiv @devil-you-know @nebula1984 and anyone I might have left off or forgotten.

#lloire peace #beta imito #chadrick tamisier #k'risa mau #aasifa taqalid #chance ashton #felix mordenson #benedict granger #ffxiv rp

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