but also speaking of music i am really trying to like... make my own music outside of classes but i just haven't started out anything yet even tho i have ideas and i'm like super inspired but yeah i might be doing like a... huge project that might... take me a while to finish but it will be worth it TRUST
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i need u to tell me everything ever about shu itsuki i need 2 know everything abt her (NOT forced i am just very interested
OKAY SO I HAVE NOT READ ANY EX VALK REMINISCENCE EVENTS SO PLEASE TAKE ALL OF THIS WITH A GRAIN OF SALT
ok soooo shu. the bestie ever i produce her !! uhm
growing up shu was rlly feminine and was interested in dolls and stuff and was bullied for it . shemet kuro who was her best friend and protected her until. smth happened i think one of them moved i forgot .(and also she was attached to kuros mom who taught her how to sew and stuff but then said mom Died so) so she went thru middleschool getting bullied again and shit??
obvs past shu was Not a good person . during ex valkyrie era when she was in a unit with mika and nazuna she treated them rlly poorly, managed their entire lives, they were just her dolls (which is a mindset that to this day mika is having trouble shaking) . and then the war started and due to exvalks incredible talent and stuff shu was one of the 5 eccentrics (most talented kids in the school but were blamed for the school being absolute shit and were subjected to endless harassment etc etc) yeah
nazuna hit puberty and his voice started changing so they ended up using prerecordings of their old songs bc nazuna didnt fit shus image anymore, then they were challenged by ex-fine (eichis unit) and during their performance the cords were cut and they had to perform unrehearsed and valkyrie went to shit . that was like the breaking point for shu and she ended up splitting mademoiselle (who i believe is somewhat a factive of kuro's mom?) and shutting herself in. after that nazuna left valkyrie which fucked shu up even more and mika like. nursed her back 2 health bc its the least he cld do to repay her
shu ended up realizing how poorly she treated mika nd nazuna and is now treating mika as. more of an equal than before?? bc mikas still in valkyrie with her. and like. shes trying 2 break mika of the doll mindset that She Gave Him and. shes TRYING okay
and now shes also like. an asshole still but /pos?? perfectionist but like shes trying. to be nice. sometimes. shes somewhat okay in society but she needs mademoiselle's doll (a comfort item for both shu and mado) in public bc w/o it she lets her mind wander a lot and shit and she cant do much in frnt of cameras so mika does it all . but yeah
the wiki says she "does ventriloquism" for mademoiselle's doll but like thats actually mado talking and using the doll for comfort . or smth another shu split and entrusted part of her personality to the doll yeah thats just ableist so i interp it differently,
she makes the outfits for valkyrie nd refuses to let anyone other than herself and mika touch them,,, she also usually refuses to eat anything not made by her own self so like Thats A Problem .. uhmmmm
also she canonically uses he/him but bro... transfem she/her shu wins always
idrk anything else to say. tldr shu best girl stan shu im in love
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back on the bjm train?? what can i say, I never really left it. anyway, i’m here to list my (current) top 10 brian jonestown massacre songs bc i feel like it. if you feel like listening along, just click the link on the title of each song to check it out! also, these are in no particular order if anyone was wondering.
hide and seek — uh yeah this is my favorite bjm song to ever exist maybe ever. like, i am in love with this song. if this song turned into a person, i would marry them, because i simply will never get over it. every single day i listen to it because, somehow, it fits every emotion i’ve ever had in my entire life. also, it’s shoegaze, so even better. really, though, any version of this song is wonderful and deserves to be listened to on full volume. the chorus makes me want to kick something and start flying and maybe go to another universe because it’s so unreal how good it is. i wish i could describe it in words, but it’s something that cannot be seen and can only be heard. “we play hide and seek…we play peekaboo.” truly the best lines. i cannot stress how much ecstasy i feel from hearing these words spoken in the background of the chorus. amazing. just amazing.
e to g — otherwise known as “rotary eight,” but was originally titled e to g. a literal shoegaze CLASSIC, one of bjm’s best 90s songs. this song simultaneously makes me want to start weeping and screaming at the same time because i love it so much. it makes me emotional, yet also happy. i simply cannot explain it. anton’s voice is so angelic, it makes me tear up just a little thinking abt it. i will never get over this song. it’s the epitome of my soul. it is everything. it simply must be experienced and felt to even begin to understand it.
chameleons — another classic from pol-pot’s pleasure penthouse (my second favorite album). the first time i heard this song i literally cried. i think the post from that night is somewhere on my old tumblr. anyway, this song feels like a warm hug from your best friend, like someone you really care about is comforting the hell out of you. i genuinely can’t describe it, as is becoming the norm for this list, but seriously. it’s difficult to put into words how much this song means to me. i just know this is one of the best tracks on its album. it wouldn’t be a certified shoegaze classic if wasn’t unreleased!
that quiet song — if you couldn’t already tell, i’m on a bit of a shoegaze binge, but what can i say? that’s my favorite genre of bjm music (and what i believe to be their best music). anyway, this song makes me feel…many different things. it’s so nostalgic to me, like i’ve heard it before, but at the same time i don’t know where i ever would’ve listened to it in my childhood. no one else in my family knows bjm. but it’s so familiar! i think that’s why i’m so drawn to the song. also, it makes me really emotional and gives me a feeling of closeness to the band, like i’m at one of their concerts in the early 90s, when they still weren’t super well known. it’s a look into the past that makes me appreciate bjm so much for what they’ve accomplished. it’s just a beautiful song. nothing more needs to be said.
super-sonic — taking a bit of a turn from the shoegaze comes this certified dandy warhol-turned-bjm banger. the intro is so good i’m kicking my feet just listening to it. the drums, the beat, the visualization of this being played in concert. so amazing. i have no words for how much i fucking love this song. it makes me want to get up and dance and scream the lyrics without a care in the world. if you ever see me grooving along to a song with my earphones on, just assume it’s this one.
cabin fever — FUCK, i think this song made me love matt hollywood and everything he’s ever produced in bjm. but like, seriously, this song is so good and the fact that it does sound somewhat uplifting but also has this slightly sad part to the music, giving hint to the fact that the lyrics are about depression and wanting to die!!! sign me up for real. the guitar riff is just SO good throughout this entire song, and the vocals are so amazing and i rlly just like everything here.
got my eye on you — this is a newfound favorite of mine. i heard it from a youtube vid of one of their live shows and literally fell in love! the beat is so jammable and i absolutely LOVE joel’s part during the middle, him just randomly singing/talking is so great. every time i hear this song i wish i was at one of their concerts bc this one must be THE SONG to hear live. so here’s to hoping i hear it next time!
spanish bee — oh my god this song makes me go feral. first off, the beginning being completely done with sounds from anton is so cool! the mic being tilted, crowd cheering, the person talking etc. but then you get to the actual song and oh my goodododifhdbeh it’s SO GOOD. i really enjoy music like this in general, and anton’s voice in this song is probably the best i’ve ever heard it. his singing is so good, just really raw and raspy and genuinely beautiful and yeah idk man it’s so enjoyable. i kind of wish there were more songs where anton could show off his natural voice and singing ability because, clearly he does have that shit. maybe not in the typical music setting, but i really do just love his voice here. also, the guitar makes me want to start like dancing idek it feels like some shit that would play at a family party or something. i just adore it sm. give it a listen!! especially if you like folk music.
not if you were the last dandy on earth — ever since i witnessed that wonderful scene in dig!, i’ve absolutely adored this song. anton clumsily rollerskating up to a dandy warhols show with signed copies of this song is just unbelievably hilarious. iconic, honestly. plus, this song fucking rocks. blasting this driving around is absolutely the vibe, maybe the biggest vibe there’s ever been. i have nothing more to say except that this is one of their songs i listen to every day and there’s a huge reason for that!
food for clouds — this song will always be one of my favorites. i’ve never met a person i couldn’t win over with this song, simply because it’s so jammable. the mixture of the cowbell, tambourine, drums, guitar riff, and trumpet just does something to people. i’ve witnessed it myself. for real though, this song is a complete banger; it’s different from their more rock sounding songs and has more of an alternative kinda feel. but listen to it yourself and judge! and if this doesn’t begin to indoctrinate you into bjm idk what to say </3
and, lastly, an honorable mention:
anemone — of course, i can’t make this list without at least giving an honorable mention to anemone. while not my favorite bjm song of all time, i can acknowledge that it is, objectively, one of their best songs. hearing this at the concert was an amazing experience, seriously! i really do love it though, like, it’s such a classic and i appreciate it so much. actually, it’s the first bjm song i ever heard, and looking back is so surreal. i can’t imagine where i’d be if spotify hadn’t randomly played this song after one of my playlists ended. i still remember exactly where i was when i heard it, around what time of day it was…crazy. i just gotta thank the spotify algorithm for playing this song, because without it, i think my life would be a whole lot more miserable right now.
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oh man, ur tags 🥺💕💓💓💓. i think if i mentioned what u put, my phone screen will be Wet from tears djrndn
chi... 🥺🥺🥺🥺 i love u. im surprised i didnt tear up yet at the htr eps, at the kind words being shared by carats... this family is one of a kind, me thinks. 💕💖💞
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Don’t have time for proper posts, so here is some (new) music i need to rec: (links are spotify)
- no:el - trendsetter feat coogie & justhis. I don’t care that much about no:el but having coogie and justhis on the same track is a gift and you already know it’s good:D
- jupiter - freedom (3 songs). Jupiter is a member of under seongsu bridge who are a member of flocc. He’s in the military so idk if this is allowed :D his solo work before didn’t impress me that much, but he was my fav on the usb album. And now this album is amazing! He got help from usb dad paloalto and fellow flocc member zene the zilla who deliver solid parts as always, as well as usb friends toigo and 365lit whose style i usually find a bit noisy/annoying but they adjusted so well to jupiter’s perfect-level-of-chill-but-not-boring style this album presents. And the beats are perfect <3 10/10!!
- ash-b - brat of the year (full album). Hilite signed another woman! Bitiontona, h1ghr take notes!! I’ve been following ash-b for a while and her only weakness might be that her tone always sounds similar, and just personally i’m not into the sexy concept even though i support the idea 100%. But! She is a woman who does actual rap, not singing, and her songs have energy and are just good altogether. Raudi produced her whole album (he is a producer i really like) so yeah check it out! :)
- yanghongwon, unofficialboyy, gamma - drugonline gate (4 songs). I ranted before but the thing is a freaking masterpiece. Take only the first song, you think unifficialboyy’s rap is the best that happens to the song but then gamma kicks in and idk words but the vibe is different but compliments the previous parts soo well, only those few seconds are aaah ART. It’s funny bc before i only liked hongwon and the others not so much, but this time i think hongwon is the weakest and the others carry the album. (Also hongwon says the r-slur which i know is crazy common but i’ve been trying to avoid it bc it pisses me off so. Warning it’s in the 2nd song. The others don’t say it.) still d sign is my fav song and I’ve listened to the whole thing countless times. Unofficialboyy and gamma also went on raphouse on air with it and did some other promo if you wanna go see them. And i think they mention drugs less than you’d expect :D aoty if it wasn’t so short, don’t miss out.
- ourealgoat x vangdale- only late at night feat. jay park. My life is fulfilled, year blessed, i have no more wishes. Almost. But about music :D you already know. And this is only the beginning ㅠㅠ whenever you grieve old khh, remember now we have this <3
- flowsik - guk (feat. Jay park). I’ve been waiting for flowsik to release his long-announced album for a long time and dunno what’s taking so long, but it was nice to see he dropped a song. His singing sounds great but the beat is a bit..? Confusing? It sounds like what giriboy would make for a young boygroup but without the distinctive giriboy style obviously. Anyway in case you missed it.
- ranchia x m3chvnic - no excuses (9 songs). I found these 2 only bc they’re in the d.o.g. crew, they’re pretty unknown but soooo underrated i couldn’t believe they’re so good. Ranchia rapper, m3chvnic producer. Feats are unofficialboyy, swervy, gamma, seshin. Check out the beats ㅠㅠ we are lucky we have intl streaming and all. Go listen <33
- i woke up 1 hour early yet am running out of time ㅠㅠ but i need to talk abt 1 more:
- asthma - clockwork. First i didn’t like him the most in his “crew” (there’s no official crew but always the same kids together) but this album is solid! Consider he is only 18. He was on hsr4 and did everything right, was well-liked and made no mistakes, he was only eliminated bc someone else was better. The album is not an artistic masterpiece yet (a bit “basic”, but as i said solid) but he has a lot of potential! :) nice melodies and feats too :)
What i still haven’t checked out but bet is awesome: smugglers x rhody album!! Ok bye.
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misc movie thoughts :]
okay wanna say this first; the complete erasure of wonho was smth i knew abt beforehand (& was expecting anyway) and uh. that's never not gonna gut me. never not gonna sting. he did so much for the group i wish they could at the v least leave old clips & photos be..would they then need to actually credit him?? (also why didnt they use his real name in the song credits?? did they not use his real name for aal??)
this is on their management wish they couldve timed this better so we could get at least a little bit of shownu :')
seeing e s h y was bad enough but hearing him?? ALMOST day ruining i had just realized i never had the displeasure of hearing him speak til now. but hes the executive producer so 🥴 also 1000% thought he was american before this
smth i LOVED was how the stages were mixed. i don't think i mentioned this before but i RLLY loved the love killa stages last year bc they added mbbs fanchants & cheering it made watching those feel a lil more complete in a way? even if no one actually there. anyway they added cheers again & the stages were SO LOUD compared to the interviews like my ears were ringing after we left lol. felt like a concert in a way & rlly felt like we heard them live & that's the closest i've been so far. (or that i'll ever be 🥲)
speaking of enjoyed all the stages!!! ik it was difficult changing the choreo from 6 or 7 down to 5 but they pulled it off well!! gambler, secrets (ooak), the dreaming had to be my faves
you problem's not gonna sound better than how it did here for me lol the stage was def fun tho
cannot understate how much i loved!!! seeing them on the big screen
@ that friend of minhyuk's who said he should be a singer. thank u i owe u my life.
the recording scene was SO FUNNY. wont elaborate here but there were a lot of antics, a lot of laughs i was honestly trying not to lose it lmao
pulled the rug out from under me when they showed some of their ments from the we are here concert )))': i wasnt expecting to see that almost teared up seeing those again (esp kihyun's & changkyun's)
this is a me problem but it was so hard not to sing along at some parts LOL the ppl sitting near me were dancing a bit to stand up they played by my side in the credits & apparently me nd my sister said fuck it we sang along quietly 💀💀💀
i've been busy and/or bad at managing my time this is the most time i've spent watching smth mx related in a while idk i remember why i love them as much as i do? i love listening to them speak abt stuff, this reminded me of how much i LOVE seeing them preform, even just seeing them goof around lol. they are truly the first (and last! lmao) artist ive ever loved like this, and that i'll ever love like this ):
wish i could've written abt it while it was fresher in my mind but overall i enjoyed it, it was a bit surreal in a way i kept thinking 'am i rlly here rn?? im rlly seeing a mx movie??' lol would probably see it in theaters again if i could :') if only for those stages
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what if we ...... pretended this was a good intro ..... aha just kidding ..... unless ? i was just gonna link to all my stuff but ... ur girl wrote a lot and i don’t wanna be cruel and force u all to read everything JDBWBDJBWJ so here we go !! <3
( VENUS, PARK SOOYOUNG, CIS FEMALE, SHE /HER ) guess what, EVANGELINE RHEE has just landed in cannes with their private jet. they are a TWENTY-TWO year old socialite, who spends much of their time & money UPDATING THEIR SKINCARE ROUTINE. i think their family is in the ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY and their net worth is around 10B USD.
first things first ... i’m gonna drop some links in case u want to read everything i wrote at 6 am the day the submit closed bc im stoopid like that <3
here u can find her full bio, stats, extended stats, and hcs ! the hcs are definitely the most fun to read so i recommend going to that page hehe
into the summary we go !
BACKSTORY: suicide mention tw
eva’s dad is a movie producer and her mom was the beautiful woman he met at a train station <3 her parents had a very whirlwind romance, very love at first sight, very passionate and intense type of relationship literally everything you see in hollywood ? they had that ! they got married after only a year of knowing each other and had eva soon after
thats when things got not-so-picturesque /: after having eva, her mom entered a pretty dark depression. eva’s dad ( who had been aware of his wife’s mental health and even warned by her family against doing anything crazy like getting married and having a whole baby so fast ) was kinda in denial about everything. eva’s mom still had her good days, but the bad days were really bad & when eva was only two years old her mom had an accident & passed away
so while eva’s dad was grieving, he sent little eva to new york city to go live with her grandma !! eva adored her grandmother more than anyone else. she was a retired jazz singer, and a lot of what they did together was sit around and listen to old records <3 eva lived with her until she was five years old & that’s pretty much the only childhood she can remember since her mom died when she was so young !!
when her dad brings eva back to france, he’s doing a lot better. he’s back to producing movies and throwing parties and being a part of society again ( things he had stopped while he was grieving for his wife ) and he even found his own form of “medicine” which was simply the company of beautiful women ! most of them were young actresses he met through his work, all of them were gorgeous, and they all adored little eva <3
eva adored them right back ! they taught her stuff she imagined all mother’s teach their daughters: how to dress well, how to smell nice, how to get people’s attention, what makeup to wear, how to do your hair, how to speak so everyone hangs on to your every word, etc. she was still a little girl but she was absorbing all these lessons like a sponge, & it’s a big part of why she’s so obsessed with her own femininity and why she’s got this mindset about being beautiful inside & out in order to feel balanced.
none of the women her dad brought home were ever at her house for more than a week. her father, who had been a notorious bachelor before eva’s mother, seemed incapable of falling in love again. that was his first and maybe only lesson to eva, which was how to break hearts, which is something else she absorbed & carried with her as she grew up
as eva grew up, she kinda became obsessed with trying to imagine what her mom had been like. no one in her family liked to talk about her, especially not her dad, but she knew she looked just like her and she was kinda always trying to fill in the blanks. but then one christmas her dad let it slip that her mom’s death hadn’t been an accident at all, that it had been on purpose. that was kind of the turning point for eva & she just kind of....stopped trying to re imagine her mom after that just kinda wanting to let her rest /:
she also went through a phase of doing stuff just because she could. she’d flirt with people’s boyfriends, she’d make strangers fall in love with her, she’d date people just to break up with them suddenly, etc. she kind of realized just how much she could get away with, but more than that, just how far people would go when they fell in love. she was obsessed with that, but also kind of jealous of those people just because she’d never felt that kind of soul shattering love for someone before and she really does want to </3 while she’s never been in love before, and while she does get bored of lovers easily, she still feels a type of attachment that is sometimes so strong she’s not willing to let the other person go even if she’s being selfish by hanging onto people she can’t get serious abt /: thats just life sometimes......whore rights !
FUN FACTS , PERSONALITY, AND TIDBITS: whore antics tw
goes by eva, never evangeline. her grandma has always called her angel, and so that nickname has also carried over naturally
libra sun AND moon babey ! read abt it here
wears euphoria makeup to do groceries
moved from paris to new york city for college to attend columbia university. double majored in english literature and business management.
created what she called the “manhattan group” in reference to the bloomsbury group, which was a group of associated english writers, intellectuals, philosophers and artists in the first half of the 20th century ( that included writers like virginia woolf ) duringher freshman year. although meetings were supposed to be about discussing literature, it mostly became a place to drink warming champagne, flirt, and gossip. eva hosted the events & meetings off campus inside her loft. the manhattan group only lasted her freshman year though, as rumors of all the underage drinking and “cult-like behavior” persuaded her to drop it. that, and the fact that more than one member had fallen in love with her and things were getting quite tense.
she never carries a lighter because she likes the way more than one person will offer her one if she asks for a light <3
it’s a famous rumor that eva once spilled her drink on her chanel mini-dress at a charity gala and stripped down to her lingerie in front of everyone. it would have stayed a rumor if it wasn’t for the instagram story that went up of her only her underwear.
she has a house phone in her nyc loft that only a select few people ( minus the strangers she’s given the number to while drunk ) know the number
has a three year old black cat named june that she brought with ehr to cannes <3
is the proud owner of a black maserati despite being an infamous bad driver. no one in their right mind, especially not her friends, would ever trust eva to drive.
it’s rumored she once snuck onto the yacht of a ceo to a fortune 500 company, only for him to find her in nothing but a bath towel eating chocolates while flipping through his playboy magazines, and that he was so taken with her instead of pressing charges he decided to name the boat after eva.
once spent a whole day walking around paris in a cheap pink wig and calling herself yvette. nobody could figure out why. eva often pulls stunts like this on a whim.
believes 2 is an unlucky number and is very superstitious about it, as that is the year her mother died. fully believes her twenties are cursed and is actually looking forward to the day she turns 30 just to escape the 2′s.
leonardo dicaprio once made a pass at her during the after party of a movie premiere she was attending.
during full moons, eva always has sex with the windows open. even if it’s winter, a window will be cracked open. this is one of her many personal superstitions.
has a collection of old love letters, mixtapes, and presents past suitors and secret admirers have gifted her. while she cannot remember the origin of quite a few of the objects in her collection, she is attached to them still.
owns a replica of the famous cross necklace filled with cocaine that kathryn had in cruel intentions.
literally i basically just copied most of my hcs page im a clown i cant do summaries...
ok so personality wise ? shes a flirt. a whore, if u will. yes thats a personality trait now. literally if ur breathing shes flirting doesnt matter who u are doesnt matter if ur married if u have 10 kids doesnt matter like she will flirt....does not know how to open her mouth without flirting
big on aesthetics /: believes everyone should get manicures like if ur cuticles are showing shes gonna gag . get help <3
not good at being held accountable for her actions. she’s not really the type to be malicious on purpose, but since she really does play with ppls feelings a lot it’s inevitable she’s gonna hurt someone but if u bring it up shes just gonna be like .. me ? at fault ? u must have the wrong girl i’m angel ...
likes 2 play games JSBDWBDJW clearly....matters of the heart are her fave kind but she also likes doing kinda ridiculous stuff for fun just to see how ppl are gonna react, also likes to do stuff just bc she knows she can usually get away with it
loves skin care like she will be ur dermatologist ( self appointed ) she will gift u a moisturizer she will get everyone to do facemasks with her u cannot escape it ...
has trouble being alone but won’t admit it / doesn’t even really realize it ??? like it is... very rare u will ever find her sleeping alone or spending a whole day in just her own company
not shy.....at all like JBSJDWBJDW she could use some shame but she has zero unfortunately
despite being a whore....she is a HUGE romantic like whew she is obsessed with old love songs & is always playing them on her record player she loves to slow dance <3 she often gives ppl her fave poems ( usually poems abt sex ), she loves getting roses, loves kissing ppl on the cheek when she’s wearing lipstick, & she likes to leave ppl voicemails like ... shes really living like she is the main chara of a romance movie and everyone else is extra #5 most of the time...
idk what else to say im sure shes gonna evolve once we start rping bc that always happens to me but....for now.....this is the end ! *cue feel special by twice*
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( sorry I'm late to the party im in pst so i was at work til now sdkfjl ) ANYWHO hi pals what the h*ck is up !! im chloe , im 21 , i use she / her pronouns & im a broke a$$ geography major !! i am SO excited to be her & get to rp with all y’all bc judging by your apps skdflj i fuck with u all . anywho ill stop my rambling , below the readmore is stuff about sofie & some wcs !!
trigger warning !! sex work , deportation , neglect , bad writing , alcoholism & substance abuse
HAILEY BALDWIN / SHE/HER / TWENTY TWO / BILLIE EILISH VC
welcome to los angeles , sofie almeda ! the glitterati has been watching you . rumour has it you made your first mark in the industry two years ago & that your net worth currently stands at 8m . it seems as though you’re enjoying being a singer since relocating from harlem , new york city . some might say you’d be a good fit for the glitterati due to your hollywood ranking being a solid #3, & it helps that fans speak so highly of your individualistic & assiduous ways . unfortunately , our sources cite that those closest to you aren’t particularly impressed with your self-destructive & choleric tendencies .
stats
name : sofie sydney almeda
nicknames : sof
age : twenty - two .
birthday : december eleventh .
zodiac : sagittarius .
gender : cisfemale ( though doesn’t vibe with the idea of being STRICTLY a WoMaN , she finds labels restrictive ) .
pronouns : she & her .
height : 5 ′ 6 ″ .
hometown : recife , brazil & harlem , new york city .
nationality : american , brazilian .
ethnicity : english , portuguese .
label(s) : the venereal , the bellwether , the opulent , the anaxiphile .
occupation : singer ( vc billie eilish ) .
quirks : fidgeting , allergic to shellfish , walks quickly , cracks knuckles , always wears her lucky ‘ st christopher ’ necklace from her grandmother , has a weird ability to talk herself out of trouble , can tie a cherry stem in her mouth , messy emotionally but on - point physically , vvv bad driver , loves a good theme party , can’t get through the day without multiple cups of coffee , refuses to wear glasses in public even though she’s quite far - sighted , always carries hand sanitizer , prefers rain over sunshine .
background
her mother , marcia almeda , was a recent graduate from secondary school who packed a backpack and went traveling !! before long tho she ended up knocked up by another backpacker , this one american , while they were having a fling in sydney ( hence sofie’s middle name lmao @ her mom’s humor ) . she flew back home when she found out & never told sofie’s father oops !! so marcia had sofie at home in recife just before her nineteenth birthday , and marcia was enthralled w little sofie . ofc she inherited her mother’s beauty ( i hc marcia looks like alessandra ambrosio bc hello ! ) & little sofie lived a happy early childhood life in her grandparents’ home in recife.
brazil isn’t the safest of countries & marcia didn’t want the same dangers she experienced growing up for her young daughter , so around sofie’s eighth birthday , her & her mother packed up and went on a ‘ trip ’ to new york city . joke’s on sofie , though - it wasn’t actually a trip , but rly they were trying to move there to find sofie’s father to confirm his paternity and get sofie american citizenship . it was proving more difficult than she thought , & marcia was quickly running out of money . with a face like hers , though , making money wasn’t too difficult , but it was time consuming . marcia found herself escorting older men in order to pay the bills , all the while leaving little sofie to fend for herself . some of her earliest memories are of strange men in their tiny apartment & sofie trying to block out their conversations with her lil cassette player hiding in the corner of her room . eventually , marcia was able to contact the father & they set up a meeting . sofie had gotten her hopes up that she would finally have a dad ( she got dressed up in her sunday best & everything bc reuniting her dad was a BIG deal ) , but the meeting ended up being a quick exchange of words , a mouth swab and a couple signatures . sofie never even learned his name , & this queued up a lifetime of daddy issues & distrust of men !!
while marcia was able to stay in america much longer than she was legally supposed to , eventually she was facing deportation , which meant lil sofie , with her citizenship finally confirmed , was put into the hands of her father who sent off to an american boarding school in new york without even contacting her . she would spend the summers in brazil with her mother or , as she got older , couch - surfing with different friends throughout the months . she started growing apart from her mother as she aged since she wasn’t going home every summer since she didn’t rly feel any connection to brazil . her grandfather had passed away & she only has faint memories grandmother , plus the city wasn’t at all familiar to her & she wasn’t practicing her portuguese after her mother returned to brazil .
through it all , music was proving to be the one constant in her life she could use to escape from reality . she had never done any training or classes , but she just liked singing along to whatever was on the radio & practicing on her own . she also found a passion for writing poetry which she later would realize was compatible with music . she would spend HOURS in the school library working on garage band lmfao bc she couldn’t afford her own laptop to produce music & her dad sent just enough money as he was legally supposed to . but she worked her lil tushy off & applied to a music academy in nyc & was rejected the first year ( DEVASTATING when mixed with her impostor syndrome & daddy issues ) but she practiced more & more & edned up getting accepted the next year . here , she worked on her vocal skills & music production , & started accumulating her own music & selling songs to music producers on the side for some ca$h money .
by the time she was 16 the state decided she was old / mature enough to live on her own so she got a TINY lil studio apartment in harlem where she’d grown up with her mum & she had friends who she’d grown up with . while it wasn’t the safest neighbourhood statistically sofie felt safe & just like one of the neighbourhood kids . it was the first time she genuinely felt like she belonged .
she was accepted on full scholarship to nyu & majored in music composition & vocal performance where she started finally feeling secure in herself & released her own music on soundcloud , quickly amassing a following & becoming an ‘ up & coming ‘ artist !! she was contacted by a scooter braun type guy who was interested in taking her on under his management so she dropped out of uni in her 2nd year ( bc tbh her grades in anything other than her music classes were v subpar ) . soon enough producers wanted to work with her & she was making enough that she didn’t have to sell her songs which she hated doing but had to pay the bills u know . oh & her vc is billie eilish bc ofc shes my queen go stream when we all fall asleep where do we go on spotify u won’t be disappointed
she also started getting into the partying scene here yikes !! it was a method for her to numb all her pain from her past & impostor syndrome & drown all that out in pills or tequila . it rly wasn’t healthy bc of how she would binge for a weekend then try to stay sober throughout the week but failing by about wednesday when she started to feel hollow . she wasn’t gonna be a one hit wonder & her mom sure as hell didn’t go through all that trouble just for sofie to be a nobody addict !! so she kept it together enough to start making big bucks & well ……. here she is :~)
personality
sofie blames it on her brazilian heritage but this bitch loves a party !! like shes the one who gets happy drunk at the pre then is the first on the dance floor then later falls out of the club & into some rando’s bed !! in the back of her mind she knows her drug & alcohol use is self - destructive but she figures shes allowed to let loose sometimes ( even if that ends up being most nights ) ; rly she’s just in denial bc she doesn’t want to change her ways & lose her identity !!
doesn’t put labels on her gender identity or sexual orientation . she finds them restrictive & useless for herself , labels would only be to satisfy others . she doesn’t see herself as 110% female either like she’s all about gender being a social construct / a spectrum ; some days she’ll get dolled up & wear heavy makeup & six inch heels , some days she’ll walk around in a bun & tracksuit & trainers . anyone who asks abt it will swiftly get 2 middle fingers in their face !! shes uncontrollable i swear
puts up a tough bad - ass front like billie does aksjdh like nah nothing can hurt me im bulletproof !! but is rly just kinda broken underneath . she doesn’t even let her closest friends know how hurting she is bc she doesn’t wanna burden them . she rly uses mmusic as an outlet tho so she’ll act totally tough then go to the studio & record all about her heartache . will NEVER let someone see her cry no matter how close she is with them . she rly sees it as a sign of weakness & shes in a much better place than she was 5 years ago so she figures she’s not ALLOWED to feel anything but grateful .
this bitch overthinks everything !! half the time she isn’t rly listenning to whoever bc she’s thinking about what they just said & if they’re mad with her . she’s that friend who will ask u to come over to formulate the perfect text response & fuss over it for hours . that being said , if someone talks shit abt anyone shes tight with , they’re gonna get it the next time she sees them . she isn’t about violence & would never get into a physical fight , but she’d work behind the scenes to ruin their life . but then she pretends like she rly doesn’t care though its obvious to those close to her that she cares way too much
has a very hard time expressing love bc she didn’t have much practice w it growing up . she was on her own most of her young life so even if her mom would tell her te amo she would be like uh huh gtg bye !!
tldr ; poor bitch w abandonment issues who was able to get out of it by channeling her energy into music & numbing the stress with pills or alcohol which she def still overuses but she doesn’t think its a problem !! yikeroony !! loves partying & having a good time , puts up a tough front but is rly soft underneath .
wanted (* = mw)
friends from high school !! - people sof stayed with in the summer bc she wasn’t going home to brazil .
friends from music school !! - she def felt like an outsider among the music prodigies at this school , & maybe this person was one of the ppl she actually connected with .
come out & play !! this person acts as a good influence to sofie . they’re level - headed & very grounding , & sofie doesn’t let it show but they’re really important to her . this is the Softest billie song ( prob bc it was for an ad skdj ) & they inspired it bc it’s how she feels when shes with them . they encourage her to be all that she can be & they believe in her , & they’re prob the one person sofie trusts the most which is SAYING something !!
*exes on bad terms !! - ok this would basically be based on all the songs billie has about a failed relationship / heartbreak !! shes got a bunch . im thnking maybe she was actually rly into them but had a hard time expressing it bc she’s never been good with emotional expression , & it led to the relationship feeling ?? unfaithful / disconnected ?? idk but she rly loved them & is still nursing that heartbreak . ( x , x , x )
the paris to her nicole !! - ok i f*cking hate that i said this but she’s nicole richie its true !! she needs a messy gal pal exactly like how paris & nicole are i stan them ( x , x , x )
roommate !! - bc of her abandonment issues she rly doesn’t like living alone so prob is the roomie who will sleep in their bed from time to time bc she doesn’t like being totally alone .
*when the party’s over !! - these two have been hooking up for a while no strings attached but recently feelings have been caught !! & now they still hook up quite often but sofie’s kinda harboring feelings & pretending all is well but she rly hopes they’ll just stay the night from time to time , & gets secretly heartbroken when she sees them flirting or leaving with someone else . they can also have feelings if u want that angst :~)
fwb !! - sofie is pretty transparent when it comes to what she wants & she’s got a bad habit of replacing dealing with problems with getting laid !! like u know in movies when the man opens his wallet and a row of like 20 pictures of different women fall out ?? that’s sof’s aesthetic . she’s got a bunch of fwb of all genders so bring me some pls
***mutual dislike / copycat !! self - explanatory , sofie thinks this person is copying her in everything she does & thinks its annoying af so she wrote a song abt it & hopes they indirectly get the message even if she drops not so subtle hints . skfldjh itd be messy pls !!
party buddies !! - someone who encourages sofies wild ways . when the two get together its usually to get drunk or high & thats the way they like it . sofie doesn’t feel judged by them as she does by others who don’t get obliterated at every social event ( what an idea !! ) so she rly values them , even if she doesn’t express it
** 8 !! - someone who kinda reluctantly got into a relationship with sofie out of maybe a desire to save her from herself ?? like u know that good girl bad boy trope where the girl tries to save the boy from whatever he’s struggling with ? that’s them but the roles are just reversed - good guy , bad girl . it was kinda just filled w her being self - destructive & confiding in him but not rly reciprocating the care so he became kinda distant bc of it . tbh she prob knew he was too good for her but had a sliver of hope he wouldn’t leave her even tho eventually she became too much for him . ( lyrics : you said, "don't treat me badly", but you said it so sadly, so I did the best I could, not thinkin' you would have left me gladly. i know you're not sorry, why should you be? 'cause who am I to be in love, when your love never is for me?” )
good influence !! this person can tell that her beahvior is unhealthy & are trying to gently nudge her abt it . she can tell what they’re doing but her addict brain is telling her its invasive & threatening so shes not the fondest of this person , but deep down she really appreciates them
music buddies !! these two are both in the music industry & rather than it being competitive , they’ve developed a friendship from it & enjoy working together .
* someone sofie ghostwrites for !! for whatever reason , this muse doesn’t write their own songs & instead pays sofie to write them for them . she doesn’t love it but its a way to make money & give away songs she doesn’t feel attached to but are worth something . maybe its tense bc they claim the songs as their own & sofie doesn’t like it , this could be ~escandolo~ later !!
*** my boy ( high school bf ) !! - ok tea this song is the one that broke her into the industry . she produced it all herself & just relased it to her soundcloud thinking it wouldn’t rly go anyway but !! joke’s on yung sofie . essentially he thought the relationship was going well , she’d met his family & they rly liked her but !! sof was feeling kinda smothered & told herself he was lying & cheating on her n shit so she wrote a song about it !! & once it was starting to get attention he was like ….. uhhh what the fuck & she was like haha sorry !! so they broke up & ever since its been animosity , but she realizes she fucked up but it launched her career so she doesn’t know whether to keep up the idgaf i hurt you or apologize .
* ex - friends !! ok pls i have this hc where sofie got way too high one night & slept with this person’s dad or sibling or smth !! u know that line in ‘ bad guy ’ where she goes ‘ might seduce your dad type ? ’ ya that’s got sofie written ALL over it !! & now they’re not friends bc sofie can’t keep it in her pants but both sides kinda misses the other but are too stubborn to say anything :~(
exes from college / high school !! - ok honestly i just love all the exes plots . gimme someone who like maybe they were hooking up & decided to give it a shot dating & it worked for a while but ultimately fell apart bc of sof’s inability to open up. maybe theres still tension or maybe theyre friends now !!
* lovely !! - i need a male voice for khalid’s part in lovely bc i need this song in my life bc its a whole ass sofie mood ok .
i’ve also got a wanted connections tag linked HERE dksfj there's not much in it yet but feel free to check it out . ok i love y'all
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hi! idk if you've heard oor's new album yet but what do you think abt it?
Hello 😊
Sorry for not replying earlier. I went on a holiday and took a long break from Tumblr.
Kept this one in my draft for a long time just hanging.
I need to make clear that I’m not exactly running an OOR blog though 😁. I do MY FIRST STORY and SWANKY DANK here. I do write about Taka or OOR only when it concerns Hiro or MFS 😊.
Anyway, I’m open to any questions 😁.
My Thoughts on ONE OK ROCK’s Eye Of The Storm
I did listen to the Japanese version of Eye Of The Storm at the listening station when I walked into Tower Records during my vacation.
Here’s the funny thing. To prepare myself for EOTS, I actually got myself to listen to some selected Ariana Grande’s stuff on a daily basis. What better way to adapt myself other than listening to arguably the biggest Pop singer in the world at the moment, right?
© Photo by Japanessie
That ONE OK “POP” thing
To me it IS a Pop album. While some OOR fans took issues with some fans calling the band ONE OK POP, I, on the other hand don’t find it offensive as I am personally not opposed to Pop music as long as it’s done well. I grew up listening to lots of great Pop music. But then, the Pop singers in my formative years were Michael Jackson, George Michael, Cyndi Lauper, Whitney Houston etc. High quality Pop there. The 80s was awesome!
I noticed that the fans who were excited over EOTS tend to be those who like the current Pop music. The ones who enjoy putting KPop idols as their profile photos or the ones who discovered the band from 35XXXV onwards. The old rocker fans generally panned it.
Having said that, I find EOTS to have some fine moments but for the most part, it’s …. hmm ….. vapid.
Generic sound
It does sound like it came out from a “hit factory”. I don’t mean that in a good way though. After listening to EOTS, I went over to another booth listening to Avril Lavigne’s new album. Guess what? The music felt the same.
I’m familiar with how the music industry works in America. It’s always been that way. Besides always separating the “star” from the rest of the group, the record execs would always aim for getting as much airplay as possible and sure sales. Thus, getting the “hitmakers” a.k.a outside songwriters to work with preferably the “star”.
To be fair, I’m guilty of “falling” under the “spell” of the hitmakers from my generation myself. Heaven knows how many songs I had faved that had been written or co-written by Diane Warren, Desmond Child, Robert John “Mutt” Lange, John Shanks etc. Oh, for my Backstreet Boys fangirl side, of course there are Max Martin and Andreas Carlsson LOL.
I totally understand why OOR, particularly Taka, is doing what they are doing BUT my main gripe with today’s music production is it doesn’t allow the individuality of the artist to come through. Things are way too cookie cutter now.
The highs and the duds
The title track Eye Of The Storm is the strongest song on this album to me. I don’t have a problem that this is a Pop album but this song is also the one that belongs to the “Power Pop” category. If you want some traces of what OOR used to be, that spirit is here. Oh, bear in mind, I said “spirit” and not “sound”. I mean, that raging feeling OOR used to exude when they wanted to shout out their hearts’ contents to the world back in the days. THAT spirit. The genre is not Rock but Taka’s vocal delivery on this one can bring back that picture of that energetic band with a shaggy-dog-haired singer who commanded the Livehouse stages like they were stadiums.
Change may not be as strong as Eye Of The Storm but it still belongs in that Power Pop category. Though it became the 1st OOR song ever that made me shake my booty when it was first released as a single, I had been accepting this song as a Pop song from the start that I could enjoy it as it is. Booty and all LOL. It sounds like what Michael Jackson would have approved. Regardless of whether you like MJ or not, I find it to be high quality Pop fitting for the King of Pop himself. Except OOR is performing it instead. For the record, I did buy both versions of Change from iTunes.
Head High is also another song I would put as another high point on EOTS. It’s different from anything they had done before but it still turns out strong.
Push Back is pretty interesting. I can see what their intention is with this one. They wanted their take on that “stomp-your-feet-and-sing-along” song like QUEEN’s Radio Ga Ga or We Will Rock You. The drum beats remind me of Def Leppard, which is a good thing.
Generally I’m not turned on much by most of the songs. Some are OK to listen but my world isn’t really missing a thing if they don’t exist either. Like I said, it’s … hmm… vapid. At least to my ears.
In The Stars is the absolute DUD on this album! This song is the epitome of creativity getting sucked out dry in today’s music scene. Taka is a talented songwriter and in the past, he was often able to come up with hook-laden melodies and soaring choruses that stayed in your head from the first listen. But all that this one does is meandering on and on. This song is the opposite of everything OOR was. Again, the genre isn’t the issue to me but the deteriorating quality of the songwriting is. Seriously?? Listen to that chorus! “Up … up …up”. “Down … down … down … ”. LAME. LAME. LAME. Sorry not sorry.
Thankfully the ending track The Last Time isn’t a dud. After going through more than half of the album, I was a bit apprehensive to go all the way, constantly questioning myself what if this ended on a low note? So grateful that didn’t happen. Thank you for putting this song as the last track. At least, EOTS ended with kind of a bang.
© Photo by Japanessie
EOTS has to rely on Taka’s charisma
The thing is, with the rock genre, each member of a band can have their own place to shine but once you switch to this kind of music, with their instruments getting somewhat surpressed behind all the electronics and effects, Toru, Ryota and Tomoya lost their “instrumentalist voices”. Only Taka’s voice and delivery that are left to somewhat differentiate EOTS from what are already out there.
My Verdict
Not something I’m crazy to spend my money on, at least for now. I think I’ll just pick the few songs I like from iTunes but I’m not in a rush for it either. There are many smaller bands out there producing the kind of music that excites me more and they deserve my support. Having said that, who knows I might soften up later on and pick up a physical copy 😊?
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A conversation about Kunstverein München’s group show ‘Not Working – Artistic production and matters of class’ (2020-09-12 – 2020-11-01)
Conversants: The Bensplainer, Magda Wisniowska, and Victor Sternweiler [talking on Skype, in the evening of Nov 11, 2020.]
Victor: We should start our conversation about Kunstverein München’s show ‘Not Working – Artistic production and matters of class,’ [online through 2020-11-22] curated by Maurin Dietrich and Gloria Hasnay, while making clear that we were not able to attend the parallel program, consisting of tours, lectures, performances, and video screenings, which were partially screened online, and an extensive reader was published too. This will simply be a conversation about the actual show. One could claim that such a review can’t do justice to the whole project, but I claim that nobody was able to attend everything, except for the makers, so one can only have a fragmented take on it, and therefore it is legitimate to, mainly or solely, talk about the work installed in the space.
Exhibition consisted work by Angharad Williams, Annette Wehrmann, Gili Tal, Guillaume Maraud, Josef Kramhöller, Laura Ziegler and Stephan Janitzky, Lise Soskolne, Matt Hilvers, Stephen Willats.
A film screening series selected by Nadja Abt, showing work by Adrian Paci, Agnès Varda, Ayo Akingbade, Barbara Kopple, Berwick St Collective, Laura Poitras and Linda Goode Bryant, Max Göran.
A single event screening with films selected by Simon Lässig.
Accompanying program consisting of a book presentation (Düşler Ülkesi) by Cana Bilir-Meier (in conversation with Gürsoy Doğtaş), lectures by NewFutures, Ramaya Tegegne, Tirdad Zolghadr and a publication presentation (Phasenweise nicht produktiv) from a collaboration by Carolin Meunier and Maximiliane Baumgartner.
The reader containing contributions by Annette Wehrmann, Dung Tien Thi Phuong, Josef Kramhöller, Laura Ziegler and Stephan Janitzky, Leander Scholz, Lise Soskolne, Mahan Moalemi, Marina Vishmidt and Melanie Gilligan, Steven Warwick.
Exhibition documentation: https://artviewer.org/not-working-artistic-production-and-matters-of-class/
Magda: To help, I was rereading today the booklet accompanying the exhibition, although I don’t see how the text is really going to address what we see in the actual Kunstverein space. For example, I quote, “The works on view are characterized by a consciousness of how background, socialization, education, and artistic practice are inevitably entangled. They hence allow for a consideration of these categories in relation to the actual lived realities of their producers.” Does it mean that the artists somehow reflect their own social background? Autobiographically on their own lived reality? Well, by large, they don’t. We don’t know what social background these artists are coming from.
Victor: How would you know anyhow?
Magda: Instead, the coherency of the exhibition relies on going through all the positions which were outlined in the booklet’s introduction. So, Stephen Willats investigates the historical aspect of class, Annette Wehrmann performs the interrogation of the economic model, Josef Kramhöller’s is a more personal approach to consumerism, Gili Tal tackles gentrification and cosmopolitanism, and Angharad Williams addresses the performative and fashion , and so on. And at least two of the artists are no longer alive.
Victor: In the time of Covid, where you try to make ends meet, how can you say no? What I’m trying to say is that the precariousness of their class is testified also by artists not being able to nowadays refuse to participate in an exhibition in which they potentially don’t think they fit in. They do it, plain and simple.
The Bensplainer: I don’t think it is due to Covid. It’s a general trend. If you're invited by the artistic director of the Venice Biennale, whatever their exhibition idea is, you participate, as an artist. It’s not anymore the time when an Alighiero Boetti could angrily refuse an invitation by Harald Szeemann.
Magda: Is that really the central problem of this exhibition? There are a lot of problematic issues, and I am now again looking at the text, especially at the end, where it states that “today the question of class is not addressed anymore.” That is completely untrue. Much of postmodernism consisted precisely of the critical inquiry into questions of class. I don’t know about you, Bensplainer, but in my time in London we had to read a lot of Bourdieu, especially his idea concerning cultural capital.
The Bensplainer: Jameson was my lighthouse at that time!
Magda: It was a big thing! You can’t say really the topic had been ignored since then.
The Bensplainer: Especially after the last Documenta in 2017.
Magda: I acknowledge that the question of class is no longer about a white male perspective, defined by simple economics. But really? What does this exhibition add to this conversation?
The Bensplainer: I think that the main problem here is when you set up a thematic exhibition. If you, as a curator, have some aprioristic ideas about the specific interpretations on cultural work, then you tend to apply them to your own exhibition making. Although, you tend to lose contact with the works themselves. You tend to look more at the anecdotal parts of the work and at its processes. Let’s be honest, there are no great works in the exhibition, the ones being able to question your own vision of forms and of the world in which these forms happen.
Magda: I think the older works displayed here, as Stephen Willats’ ones, from the 1980s, present some problems: they are, in fact, historical, and at that time had a certain currency, whereas they seem today …
The Bensplainer: … nostalgic.
Magda: And dry as well: this kind of class idea, of people living in a housing block – like he documented and interviewed – it doesn’t seem relevant anymore. The other thing is that it seems so British, so entwined in that specific culture. We know this Monty Python sketch, right? This kind of satire, for example, wouldn’t fit German society at that time, I think.
Magda: The other thing I was thinking of, while walking through the exhibition, was Pulp’s ‘Common People.’ (1995) Did anyone think of that? The song is about a girl from the upper classes, who wants to behave as being from the lower. But she never achieves that, because she always has her rich daddy in the background. I think that a potential problem this exhibition faces is of glamorizing this kind of a working-class cliché.
Victor: That song is especially ironic, as it was brought to my attention by a friend that Danae Stratou, the artist, industrialist heir and wife of Yannis Varoufakis, is the subject of that song.
Magda: Yes, that’s why I mention it.
Victor: I had a chat with The Bensplainer at some point and we had concerns about the installing too. It seemed, we agreed, like an art fair show display. The question is: how do you display all these works like a survey of an idea?
Magda: It is about all the artistic positions that the text referred to. As I said before.
The Bensplainer: If you see such an exhibition, you might consider how it fits a piece of writing, it being a master or a PhD thesis. On the other hand, it really lacks the viewer’s possibility to freely interact with the works. In other terms: how could you translate an idea for an exhibition, if the exhibition itself follows a logocentric and rational process? There is no surprise, indeed: I wanna see something, I don’t wanna learn something.
Victor: This is a kind of philosophy made clear by the exhibition makers: what can art do and how it can utilize itself, in order to convey politics?
The Bensplainer: Do you mean how art can be utilitarian?
Victor: Let’s say you have a curatorial agenda, or an hypothesis: art-making as a precarious condition. And then you, as an exhibition maker, attempt to visualize that. In this sense, these works witness this very aspect, like art illustrating an intellectual point of view.
Magda: Otherwise said, either it is the work that is convincing, or the hypothesis. Right now, it doesn’t seem to be either. About the works I don’t wanna say much, but the text, its arguments can be easily dismantled. In many places, it is simply not coherent. For example, why do you state in the exhibition text that the coronavirus pandemic is what makes visible the rise of social inequalities the exhibition addresses, and then you show works from the 1980s? It makes no sense.
The Bensplainer: Works from the 1980s which recall works from the 1960s.
Magda: Exactly! If you were really consistent with your method, you would research the topic, then find out who’s working with it now. Not the artists who kind of work with the idea… just a little bit, so that they can fit your curatorial idea.
Victor: On the behalf of the curators: why should you do a show like that? What are their motivations?
Magda: Of course, you can do a show addressing the notion of class. There’s nothing wrong about that. Even if it were an illustration of ideas, it could work. But you need a good thesis first, while here the positions that are supposed to illustrate it, are weak. Who liked Laura Ziegler and Stephan Janitzky’s installations?
Victor: As a person who attended some performances by Ziegler and Janitzky previous to the KM show, but not to the last one actually at KM, I would say I see their sculptures as stage props. These performances enchanted or activated their sculptures. So, I’m quite neutral about their works in the show, but at the same time I’m neutral about all the works featured. It seems to me that the show has an agenda in representing all kinds of mediums. Photography, video … like a checklist.
The Bensplainer: Maybe old-fashioned?
Magda: It is a safe agenda. If you take Mark Fisher’s ‘Capitalist Realism,’ he states that museums and related institutions are safe spaces where we can make criticism of capitalism, while capitalism itself allows it.
Victor: Yeah, Roland Barthes already said that. On my part, I am totally opposed to the idea of ‘making art’ as a profession, in the capitalist sense. When paying your rent depends on the money from selling your art, then soon you’ll be under pressure to produce, and that in return, I think, ultimately leads to overproduction and junk.
Magda: Then we ought to know more about the artists and how they position themselves to the capitalist model.
The Bensplainer: I think we are derailing the conversation. I mean, after 1989, there is only one religion, which is capitalism, and you hardly can escape this fact (I agree with Giorgio Agamben on this). Insisting on this leftist nostalgia is counterproductive. Art is luxury. Some artists are fighting against this mindset, but we are still in such a system.
Magda: Indeed – and yet the exhibition promotes an anti-capitalist position. For example, The Coop Fund’s aim is to provide an alternative funding, so that is very clear. Guillaume Maraud is also doing a standard institutional critique by creating an alternative fund.
The Bensplainer: At the same time, these practices are canonized. When KM showed Andrea Fraser in 1993, the questions she raised were novel and on the point. The visuals in this present show are canonized. Stephen Willats repeats a visual language of more established artists, as Hans Haacke for instance.
Magda: Yes, maybe the only thing Willats adds is a British perspective on the problem.
The Bensplainer: Victor, you said on the occasion of our NS-Dokumentationszentrum conversation [link]: „Preaching to the converted.“ Basically, we find here the same pattern. So, you can argue with a lot of reasoning about a motivation for an exhibition – in this case an anti-capitalist agenda – but what I expect is to see works and practices which change the way I see. Sorry if I repeat myself, but seeing works which repeat, without a difference, canonized visual experiences from the past gives me such a kind of déjà vu effect. What is this exhibition about? What are the politics that motivated it? From the point of view of the exhibition making, it is in itself a sort of repetition. In the last Documenta, the assumptions were similar: a lot of nostalgic Marxism and related leftist theoretical positions, which are good, but at the end of the day, the works become an illustration sketched aprioristically by the curators and the artistic director. Here lays the critical point which we really have to address. Paradoxically, if the works are repeating themselves, aren’t also the politics of exhibition making repeating themselves?
Magda: Yes and no. My question is: why are you repeating these positions? You can repeat a practice under the change of circumstances: the pandemic has changed the parameters.
The Bensplainer: I agree: the pandemic has unveiled changes which were not so clear before that.
Magda: So, does the repetition offered in this exhibition reflect that? Does our present context require repetition? How are the works from the 1980s and 1990s relevant now?
The Bensplainer: Let’s be clear: I don’t consider repetition with a negative value. I remember a wonderful group show at KW, Berlin, in 2007, titled ‘History Will Repeat Itself.’ Precisely, it was interesting because it focused on repetition as a visual device, that’s to say how artists and works dealt with the notion of repetition, be it of other works or of overarching experiences. I remember this great video by Jeremy Deller, ‘The Battle of Orgreave’ (2001), directed by Mike Figgis, in which the artist reenacted the famous 1984 clash between workers and police in Orgreave, South Yorkshire, England, and interviewed some participants from both sides too. By the way, it was a ground breaking show, but if you now repeat because it is fashion, a canon, then repeating loses its critical charge. Moreover, works become simply an illustration of the curator’s idea. It seems to me so frustrating now, especially when Anton Vidokle already addressed the question in his seminal and controversial article ‘Art Without Artists?’ on e-flux already in 2010. [link]
Victor: Yeah, that’s what I find problematic with this show: in this time of existential precariousness, how can an artist be critical or be able to question the politics of an exhibition? You’re invited, you get attention and funds, you simply go along with it. The institutions are creating ideological precariousness by wagging with the money. Nonetheless, I see that an artist needs the money. I think it is an inherent issue of institutional exhibition making, but I can’t see an immediate way out of it. It is a trap. The people in the institutions are also paid to play their role, and if they refuse to, replacement will be found quickly.
The Bensplainer: I don’t think that it is the main point here.
Magda: I recognize that there are many artists that suffer contemporary financial precariousness, but there are equally many who do not. Let’s be honest, how many artists, or student artists, may claim that they are coming from working class families? I mean, many are playing the role, but really?
The Bensplainer: I have to check it again, but there is a statistic in Bavaria that states that families on the edge of or below existential and financial poverty who are able to send their kids to higher education are 6 or 7%. That’s a ridiculous percentage, especially because these underprivileged students or artists have then a structural difficulty in order to enter the so-called art system.
Magda: Mid- or upper-class people study art. They come from that comfortable background. At any given time, they may or may not have money, but they indeed have a safety net.
Victor: People that I talked to were missing a critical view on the institution itself and how this show sits within its history and why they did the show there, since the Kunstverein was developed specifically to cultivate an image and space for the bourgeoisie, the middle class, by propagating aesthetic values from the upper class. It was the beginning of the ‘public sphere’ separate from the court, but also was the image of upward mobility and how its members today, generally upper middle class, use the space as a form of patronage and charity as an additive to their cultural capital. So, one might interpret this show as cynical, but I personally think that there is also the possibility of freeing yourself up from that tradition and subverting or bastardizing that project of that middle class of 200 years ago. However, I think that the show is too conventional and there is an opportunity missed here.
The Bensplainer: Sorry if I always bring up my PhD topic about the Russian so-called Avant-Garde. If you analyze it socially, the Avant-Garde cloud was also animated by class and social warfare. Practitioners from the periphery came to the capitals, Moscow and St. Petersburg, and they had to fight with their contemporaries belonging to the urban mid- or upper-class world. For instance, you have Malevich who needs to rent a big apartment for him and his family, in order to sub-let and make a little profit from other people. But he also has to provide meals for them and he can paint only when he has some spare time. You still have today this romantic idea of the Avant-Garde, forgetting that it was also a very hard social situation.
Magda: But, the thing is that the economic or even its symbolic model, doesn’t seem to be really relevant. Class as it was in the 1970s, 1980s or even 1990s doesn’t exist anymore. What about class and technology? You can’t apply for jobs because you don’t have easy access to the Internet, because you don’t own a laptop or a smartphone. You can’t have a flat because you don’t get the notification on time. And flexibility changed the notion of work. There are a lot of structural changes in our societies, which the show’s accompanying text acknowledges clearly, but they are not examined in the work, or at least only in the orthodox leftist way. These positions are repeated nostalgically in the art. To me, the working class today is exemplified by DHL delivery workers.
The Bensplainer: I would add this. Today's working class might also be embodied by wannabe successful TikTok accounts! You may immediately perceive the fakeness in appropriating models from the supposed upper class in order to convey a different idea about yourself.
Magda: Fake it until you make it! TikTok responds to an already established model.
The Bensplainer: The novel level conveyed by TikTok is that it is not about hustling or conning anymore. Everybody knows everything is fake, so everybody accepts the coded rules.
Victor: That’s the classic definition of Žižek’s ‘ideology.’
Magda: Coming back to the show, I was surprised that urgent political issues were not questioned. I mean, the rise of populism is an issue, and it is class oriented. I don’t know much about Berlusconi and his years in power, but he did address the narrative of his politics to a certain class and set up a model for the recent years, didn’t he?
The Bensplainer: We Italians are not recognized in such a way anymore, but we’re still at the verge of the Avant-Garde! If history repeats itself as a farce, after Berlusconi everything is a farce. He had – and to some extent still has – an appeal to the working class, in the sense that he sold a narrative through which you can change your life only by willing it. At his first election run in 1994 he won in working class’ bastions, where traditionally the former Communist Party won with ease, efficiently selling his abstract ideas on liberty through his glittering television sets. So, already then, you might perceive that categories such as the Left and the Right were structurally changing. And this historical and epochal shift, so charged with ideological questions, is totally forgotten in this exhibition.
Magda: Thus, I could have accepted as legitimate the exhibition’s assumptions, even if illustrational, if they would have addressed the ongoing complexity of the topic of populism, digitalization, 0-hours contracts, and so on, all related to an idea of the working class. Then it would have been fair enough!
The Bensplainer: I would add another topic to this. If you consider the state of satire, especially from the US, comedy is way ahead of visual art. It addresses those topics in a much more effective and creative way than visual art is actually doing. Only because they’re really reaching millions of people.
Magda: Yes, John Oliver, for instance.
The Bensplainer: I became a huge fan of Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night monologues in the last two years, because he and his authors adapted his style of comedy shifting from weird Hollywood absurdities to overall US social and political issues. So, his and his authors’ craft reached a new level of satire, and the audience’s awareness. What can visual art do, as powerful as it might be, in comparison to mainstream satire? Let’s simply think about how Kimmel dealt with the topic Obamacare and how he related to – his personal history.
Magda: This is important, as access to healthcare in the US especially, is a class issue. But then, yeah, why don’t you simply invite a comedian to KM, then? Ok, you could never afford that, but who knows?
The Bensplainer: It would be so wonderful! But this idea should also be declined in a weirder approach.
Magda: For sure, a comedian in an art space could have more freedom compared to the one he could have on national television.
The Bensplainer: Victor, do you remember Olof Olsson’s performance at Lothringer 13’s cafe in Munich in 2017?
Victor: Yes.
The Bensplainer I found it brilliant, mixing visual and comedy devices, and very generous, because it lasted so long! This kind of transdisciplinary performance says more about social, political and economic issues, than a conventional show, like this one at KM. If I had to make a single critical statement about this show at KM is that it doesn’t move our present cultural perception to a different plane, as satire does.
Magda: My impression is that a student went through their assigned reading list, without going to the library. Everything which was required was read, but no insight was then further researched.
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i dont have an ao3 but shout out to my homeboys
once upon there was a gay on th e moon bc of a really lovng alternate au idea where elc turened BAD and klaus had a 1000 year nap and it'd take too long to fucking explain this so just roll with it ok. this gay--its elcrest btw hes also a Bad Boy now; he rly likes hot topic and thinks those t shirts with sarcastic sayings are actually rly funny but we all know they aren't--was feleing emo bc he couldn't see his bf xen o bc he betrayed him. so he stayed in his room whining abt how fgay he was until eve showed up
"hey whats wrong elc mother is here for u" even tho shes like 5000 years old and looks like shes 2 and also a rock (but im not rockist guys i promise). elc looked at her with his optics shining in the pale argentate light. good thing hes the seme here bc otherwise he'd start crying. in reality he rly wanted to fucking bone xeno bc obviously they had a lot of gay sex b4 they tried to kkill his mom once nad staring at rocks all day kinda sucks.
a;so burnign alive but hes kind of over that phase.
"im sad my bf left me for 1000 years can i pls go back to earth my raging hard on can't be satisfied bc rocks. my dicks not a jack hammer even tho im jacking it all the time (thats what guys do right bitch i dont know)" eve was so offended she put her hands on her giant rock self thats not just herself. its rly fucking complicated shut up u came here for the gay sex not instructibles on how physical forms manifest.
"we dont say ROCKS in this household young man!!!!"
"BUT MOOOMMMMM sorry i forgot to turn off my seme voice lemme adjust my mic it happens when my dick is hard" elcrest coughed twice "ok sounds good, BUT MOM I RLY NEED TO NUT. YOU KNOW NUT I'M SAYING... ITS ALL OR NUTTING BUT MOSTLY NUTTING IN XENO'S SWEET HOT BUNS"
"stop talking abt nuts u disgusting boy fine, god, if u leave me alone u gaylord"
and then eve punched him so hard in the dick that elcrest landed on earth in a giatn crater. how hes still alive is bc he still had some continues left like in mario even though this is a srpg game. once elc recovered he struck a pose and laughed evilly while twirling his mustache.
"finally...... I have RETURNED for xeno's hot man breasts! the world cannot stop me now!!" he cackly cackkled and quickly ripped off the fake mustache he put on just for this one scene. then elc went on a quest to find where klaus was and bc the author is too lazy to write any tansitional scenes.
elc found him chilling in his bed reading a book that was called Sweets and You: Do sweets make u inherantly Gay? elcrest made the PFFT noise. ofc they make u gay, fuckiing idiot book. he could write better than that author. in fact, elcrest was gonna do that when he got home bc obviously if this trash is published any shit elc wrote would be good.
NO! he had to focus! but he couldnt stop staring at xenos man boobs and felt his dick get hard again. elc got a nose bleed too bc thats what happens in anime right. i played persona 4 i know what im about
"damn u xeno." elc said thru his nosebleed and klaus looked up bc the author cant fucking rmemeber who is klaus and who is xeno and was surprised i remmebred his name but could not remember remember the 5th of novemember
"what"
"XENO IT IS I" since h e was caught red handed he just kickflipped through the window anyway. he did a sick flip then stood in the middle of klauses room. klaus made a gay gaspp
"alto! what are u doing hre!?" klaus said, bc in this AU that was his codename. elc wanted to be currently doing that but eve said no. fuck his mom. except please dont bc i know you sick fucks are thinking abt it.
"I HAVE COME TO BRING YOU BACK TO THE GAY SIDE, XENO WE HAVE COOKIES. bc i really miss that bammin slammin bootilicious sex we used 2 have and you are in fact bammin slammin bootilicious. also have u heard the word and gospel of our savior mother" elc said gayly
"dude no please stop preaching in my house im a changed man now" xeno pirouetted out of bed
"cmon man im ur seme u cant refuse we made like a yaoi blood oath u cant go back on ur word" elc pushed him back on thebed bc he'd have his ass yet anyway so no real use getting up. bc what is consent anyway hes Bad
"o shit really huh" klaus paused in thougt and bad elc laughed evilly. his plan was working!! all he had 2 do was the final touches! i mean besides touching xenos dick or whatever we're not yet. sorry u have to suffer for ten more paragraphs for sweat boy on boy. elc then turned around an produced a kitty keyboard from the recesses of his coat tails. xeno made the :O face and elc sat down bc playing while standing rly fuckin g sucks
"i wrote this for u on the moon so you'll be hypnotized by my sick beats" then he pulled the mic out of the keyboard and made a sick beatbox noise. No i dont know what the fuck it sounds like just google it. klaus blushued and made another gay gasp and elc made the >:3 face
then be started to play the piano keyboard. he was playing cruel angel thesis, their theme song that they had decided at 1am while xeno was drunk af. it was their theme song despite none of them speaking fucking japanese but they just felt it in their SOULS. it was rly gay. elc was going so fucking hARD that his hard on was getting 40 hard ons. and thats four tens the hard ons. and its rad.
except the ebst part was it was all in meows so it spoke 2 klaus' furry soul.
klaus nyaed softly in surprise and suddenly all his memories of being xneo were restored!!! he gave into the desire that he craved in his soul and opened his big man arms bc for some reaon everyone thinks dudes are thirsty af. dont ask me why
"elc1!1 pls take me!! but be gentle my ass hasnt been ravaged in 1000 years (sick reference to hilda and altos magical wedding night by sorunort like, comment, subscribe for more sick referneces like this one)" xeno mewled like afucking furry and elc nodded once. xeno walked up to elc an touched his man boob sensually even tho xeno is like 60 feet taller than elc just imagine it ok
elc now has sunglasses just bc i think its a funny image
"xeno...... lets do it" elc said softly
"o h elc senpai......." xeno meowed
"and i'll keep my sunglasses on bc i hate the sun #moonlifeforever" and xeno gayzed into his emotion shields sensuallyier. then elc kissed him passionately and their tongues battled for dominance but we all know klaus is a fucking bottom bitch as stated in hilda and altos magical wedding night by sorunort paragraph 17 and 18 bc it was a dialogue.
then elc ripped off his clothes bc hes fucking JACKED and jACKED OFF and xeno gay gasped forlike the third time in this fic. elc was fuckign shredded. legends told of his abs but this time it was real. almost like the fact that shaved ice flavors dont actually exists the syrup is just food coloring. his dong dangled in the breeze and xeno was turned tf on so he took off his clothes too bc hes not a god damn animal god whats wrong with u elc.
except elc didnt take off the sunglasses like he promised so those were still on dont worry readers i got you covered.
"get on ur knees dude and give me a wet willy but like on my dick" elc demanded
"wtf no"
"dude u cant say no its a smutfic"
"ok yeah i guess i kinda do like sucking dick or somethign"
"PREPARE TO EAT YOUR LAST DICK, XENO" elc cackcled and then xeno succed his dick like no tomorrow. elc practically creamed right there bc he couldnt get his rocks off on the moon for 1000 years (hahaha no im not gonna stop makign rock jokes). also xeno has no gagreflex bc he succed dick like a thousand times. once that was over elc just punched his dick in xenos hot cross buns and xeno meowed again
"why are u still a furry after 1000 years" elc asked but continued to Ravage The Promised Ass
"do u nyat like it erucu-kun???" xeno purred and elc shook his head
"no ur still banging its ok"
NUT THEN (i wanted to write but but i typoed and decided to keep it its funnier this way) xenos ass started 2 glow with a new holy light
"WHAT tHE FUCK" elc yelled
"my ass was actually the only way we could turn u good again! the more u fuck me the gooder u are!" and elc gasped gayily! no! his plan was working against him! he could alredy feel the goodness (haha get it bc fucking is hot i guess) turning him good! he had 2 pull out but found he couldnt. xeno was just too bammin slammin bootlicious
"HOW DARE YOU TRICK, I, ELCREST THE CONDICKTOR" he roared and xeno was tuned on again bc roaring is prolly a furry thign im not a furry im sorry
"it was for ur own good elc bc i love you!" xeno dokied so hard there were shoujo sparkles and even elc got shoujo sparkles. his azure optics glew like stella glow and u could almost see constellations in them. except there were sunglasses so u couldnt actually see it but the reader can. xneo was right. he was his tru love..... not the Mother..... his mom was lame anyway all she did was talk to rocks
"xeno.............." elc said wiwstfully before bangin xeno harder. their bangin was so intense everyone could hear it in the kngihts barraks. it was so loud that even ana in her coma woke up for like a second to be like The Gays are At It Again. soon enough the banging was sucessful. elc glew in a beautiful magical girl ligtht and he was become good again. xeno shed a single tear but licked it away
"im cured! xeno ur ass did it! plus that was hot" elc smiled and im pretty sure xeno cried bc look at that man. hes so beautiful. please take the $2 from my purse. they embraced in a gay way. it was cute and xeno did a thumbs up and ana's face appeared at 20% opacity in the bg and she was also winking
"elc i am so glad u are back and i love u" then they made out. for a rly long time too bc theyre so fucking GAY good lord how could stella glow keep this under wraps. then they decidd they had to punch eve in the rock bc she was a dickw hile elc was being emo and stuff. BUT FIRST, xeno got porked lke 80 more times b4 then bc 1000 years does a lot do u.
the end remember to like, comment, subscribe for more fics like this one, seeya
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Engpal
“Engpal” is pronounciation of korean acronym 응팔. Engpal itself is a abreviation from 응답하라1988 (pronoun: engdabhara il gu pal pal)
It was a trivia about Reply 1988. Damn trivial 😂.
Now i can read hangul. But before i aknowledged this drama, i’m blind. In my eyes, it was just a compex stiff lines. Straight lines and circles. Thanks to my willingness in learning hangul months ago so im not blind anymore (I just can read. Able to read doesn’t mean i can understand). Hehehe.
How can i knew such trivial thing? Yes, it’s because of an obsession on a thing, this drama.
So, i’m going to talk about Reply1988, a drama that baited me to learn its title in hangul.
This drama is my life’s gem. This drama changed me so much specifically in my drama taste.
Back then in 2015, winter. My hobby was watching drama diligently. I watch dramas that passing by in front of my eyes. My favorite website to watch dramas is myasiantv. If you a kdrama fan, you should know 😏. I catched up with all news about korean drama. Even i searched its actors, directors, when they started to shoot, and trivial thing like who produced it. LOL. It took me 2-3 days to finish a kdrama.
Ok back to the main topic
One day, i had no idea what to watch. It’s so boring and annoying day. I came to the website and search a new drama. On the website, there’s a “currently top10” drama list that updated everyday. I didn’t take serious notice on that list before. I saw Reply 1988 on that list. It made me curious. Coz i didnt know what its mean, reply to year 1988? Is it kind of teleportion to old days story? Time travelling? 1988 is likely mean a year right? No other mean.
I found out it was a currently airing drama. Out of curiousity i clicked that title and started to watch it. Back then it’s already up to episode 4.
And poof! I am hooked! Wow, this is my kind of story, i said to myself. As usual i looked up trivial information of that drama and i found out it was a series! There are prev Reply series before 1988. I thought, “This is cool”. but i didn’t end up watch it too. (Yeah, till now i have not finish those other series, stuck in the middle. LOL).
I had some currently-airing-drama before Reply1988. It’s School2015 and Angry Mom (OK, you could tell what my kind of drama is by those dramas 😅). I knew english subs is usually available a day after or some hours after it’s airing (You know, i still remember how im waiting for school2015 english sub 5 a.m in the morning. Hahaha. I kept reload the website.).
I didn’t look up for the sched of the drama. I just went to watch it every wednesday. (cz i was catching up some other dramas too LOL).
It’s getting intense with those husband hunting. I searched up people opinion about who is the husband of Duksun. And i kept down everytime i read their speculation because i realize mostly people said its other “him”, not “him” who i want. Yeah i am shipping without any clue or hints. I just ship “them”, i like them, they are lovely when they are together, no objective reason. But reading a bit of theories in R88 soompi (i knew in this site’s existant before, now i regret i didnt read much when its aired :( ) makes me a bit wondering “woah, this drama is so cool. It made people thinking this mucb. Gehehhe.” i decided to not to cont to read theories and just going with flow. Yeah I saved those theories to read after the husband revealed.
And yeah, conclusion is this drama is SO BEAUTIFUL. I read theories about this drama emotionally. Never fails to make my eyes wet. I downloaded the OSTs and shazaming some background songs that excluded as OST. I read everything i could read about Reply1988. I really stopped watching dramas and used those time to read R88 stuff. I desperately wanted to know how koreans think about R88 so i learned hangul! LOL it was damn crazy. I push my mom, my bro, my friends to watch R88 and tell me how is it. (Yeah, i love to hear other’s opinion on things i like hahahah too bad my mom said its boring if she liked it, i could talk all night abt it w her. Hahahah)
I talk so much about it with my sister since she liked it too!! Deliberately, frequantly i went to her dorm just to talk abt it or rewatching it together. One day, i disscussed w my sister why would “the official husband” ended up with Duksun, and how beautiful is it and it took us 4 hours. LOL.
It’s so beautiful and well made script. How i wish i could write something like that. If i was the writer of the script, i’m not going to submit it to local producer. I’ll submit it to HOLLYWOOD producers. This beautiful story needs to be known worldwide sigh.
Ok thats how i know this acronym engpal.
Sorry this is so-absurd-story. 😅
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