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purplesurveys · 5 years

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378

For a change. I love Internet people for never running out of survey ideas.

Just say what you think of (doesn't have to be one-word answers) when I mention these. Quick, simple, just for fun. Curtain: I remember a story JM told us of when he nearly burned his house down when he was younger - he was flying paper airplanes but not without lighting the tips on fire. One of the planes landed on the curtain and I think it burned that particular room pretty bad or something. Door: I have a door to my right at the moment. It’s brown and I know my dog is waiting outside because I can hear his paws. Shoe: We went shoe hunting yesterday for Joacky, because he wanted a pair of the Nike Cortez. It’s widely popular in the PH right now so even though we visited like 7 shoe stores yesterday, we weren’t able to find one in the color that he likes. Pants: I finally got a pair of mom jeans yesterday and I can’t wait to wear it for school. I’m tired of wearing the same bottoms. Wig: I attended a workshop a few months ago where the speaker disclosed that she has leukemia, and she took off the wig she had been wearing the whole time to show us her head. I also remember the RuPaul Stans part of Twitter because they say ‘wig’ all the time...

Makeup: Kate made me her subject last Thursday and she played with my face and put makeup on it. Ended up feeling really pretty because she did a pretty awesome job. Instagram: I snubbed Instagram for the longest time but thought that a ‘one-pic-for-every-day-of-the-year’ dump account wouldn’t hurt, so I made one of those for 2019. My photography skills are absolutely nowhere to be found, and my gallery is super haphazard, but I really want to make an effort to store memories this year. YouTube: Hmm first thing I thought of was PewDiePie. I subscribed to the dude when he had like 60,000 subscribers eight years ago and only had a couple of Amnesia montages up. I always feel like a proud momma/early bird whenever I remember how far and how big he’s gotten since. Life: Exhaustion, mainly. It’s gonna start snowballing by next year when I graduate. It’ll be nonstop from there - facing the prospect of coming out to my parents, graduating, getting a job, getting my first credit card, moving out, paying bills...it’s all very exhausting, exhilarating, exciting, and overwhelming to think about. Chili: Gabie and I had Japanese for early dinner last week, and I was a little weirded out by the restaurant because each seat had a red chili pepper on the placemat? I’m talking every damn seat in the place??? Idk if it’s some sort of good luck charm for the owners but it made things very slightly unsettling hahaha. Cherry: There was a WWE Diva named Cherry like ten years ago who had the gimmick of a 50′s chick, I think...I was never quite sure what her character was supposed to be, but she had roller-skates every time she went to the ring and would sometimes wear outfits with polka dots so I thought she was pretty cute. Neil: Armstrong. Haha I was going through Reddit awhile ago when I saw a video of Buzz Aldrin punch a dude who went up to him and said that the moon landing was a hoax. Not exactly Neil Armstrong but still a good story. Drive: I like watching car chases. It’s almost...therapeutic when the suspect crashes or loses control of his car and finally gets caught. Murder: I never got into How To Get Away With Murder. It’s too fast-paced for my life. I feel like I’m the only person who doesn’t understand legal concepts because so many people are able to catch up with this show even if Viola Davis speaks a thousand words a minute and they’re all really deep words??? Idk HAHAHA. I watched like two episodes and felt super dumb after. Ice cream: OMG I hate a la mode desserts. I’d eat anything, but I wouldn’t eat two separate things with different textures. Get your ice cream away from my brownie. Water: I can’t wait to go back to the beach. Hard: Hammer? It was the first image to pop up in my head. Anne: Harry Styles’ mom is named Anne hahaha the Directioner in me jumped out, sorry not sorry. Cow: There’s this video that went viral a few months ago of a girl who was playing the accordion; all of a sudden this adorable herd of like 15 cows come running up to her and just intently watch the kid. Wholesome af. Frog: Frog legs are served in some Philippine provinces. Tastes like chicken. Cheese: My lactose intolerant ass will grate half a block of cheese (exaggeration, but you get the point) for my spaghetti. That’s the only way to enjoy pasta. Bowl: Can’t really think of anything except that bowl cuts look so cute on babies hahaha. Television: Is something I never use nowadays unless I’m staying over at a hotel. Other than that, I cannot tell you the last time I held a TV remote control to change the channel or something. Skull: There’s an episode of Friends where Phoebe brings home a skull and nonchalantly sets it on the table where Monica, Rachel, and Chandler were hanging out. Chandler goes, “Pheebs...skull?” Phoebe says, “Yeah, it’s my mom’s,” and Rachel shrieks until Phoebe clarifies that her mom owned the skull, and that the skull wasn’t of her mom. Underrated segment. Rachel’s mini-meltdown was hilarious. Seasons: I had to watch Rent for film class several months ago. Terrible movie. Cemented my dislike for musicals. This is what I remembered because afaik this is the musical that has the minutes song. Language: I can speak two and can understand some archaic/modern Spanish because they conquered us for 300 years and subsequently ruined my country. Trump: McDonald’s. An international embarrassment. Chocolate: We found this AMAZING Chocnut spread at the mall yesterday. I had my initial doubts - I thought it was gonna taste like a cheap Nutella rip-off. But it tastes exactly like Chocnut, just in the most perfect spread-y form. I plan to finish the entire jar just with a spoon. Stove: I’m terribly afraid of using any and every kitchen equipment because I have a big fear of setting the house on fire. I only ever use the stove when I’m deathly hungry and I have to make something by myself. Toy: My family recently went to a kid’s birthday party that had giveaway bags with toys inside, but seeing as we’re all teenagers now who had no use for it, it was earning dust in the house. Now, the Philippines is abound with street children so when we went out yesterday, my mom gave the bag to a couple of kids who were knocking on our car. I know I’m not supposed to romanticize the situation, but they had the biggest smiles when they realized what they got and I saw them playing merrily at the side of the street and even invited some other kids to join in. Again, not glamorizing it - I’m just happy they were happy. Video: I could never run out of things to watch on YouTube. It’s one of my favorite websites, especially when bouts of depression have to happen. Kiss: It started out with a kiss, how did it end up like this? It was only a kiss, IT WAS ONLY A KISS. Glass: The glass section of department stores always creeped me out. One wrong move and you can knock a whole shelf down, and the ‘You break it you pay for it’ signs all over the area don’t help at all. Light: Light and queen come together in this survey and all I remember is Lightning McQueen. Queen: ^ Moon: Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Moon river, wider than a mile, I’m crossing you in style some day. Blue: My organization’s color is blue, so I have a soft spot for blue. Cream: I like soups that are creamy. I say this because my sister had ramen yesterday and it was so oily and salty and fatty and creamy and ugh I loved it. Dead: The Misfits. They’re more horror than death, but still. Purple: My great-grandma loved the color purple and I remember when her house used to be peppered in purple stuff. All her dresses were purple. I’m fairly sure it was the reason why it was my favorite color as a kid. Lace: Underwear, hahaha. Cardboard: Gabie was munching on sunflower seeds when I picked her up last week. I’ve never tried those, so I asked for some and I said it tasted like cardboard. I’ve never eaten cardboard but I would imagine that that’s what it tastes like. Elephant: Majestic. Deserves to be saved and properly cared for. Harry: One of my fave members of the royal family. He’s so precious. Leather: Is bad. Paisley: Isn’t there a country singer with this name? Italy: Pasta and stuff. Joey Tribbiani. Immature: I saw the gun girl Kaitlin-something on Twitter because she got viral again for a dumb-ass tweet she made. She posted pics of herself in the snow and tweeted “Look at all this global warming,” like seriously America??? Wtf do they teach y’all in your schools?????? Crime: Raisins in cookies. Angel: I had a friend named Angel - talked about her a lot in old surveys. She migrated to Canada when we were 12 and I haven’t seen her since. We do follow each other on Twitter but all she tweets about is K-pop so I had to put her on mute. Great memories with her. Boil: When I read this tweet aloud in my head, what I did think of was Charles Boyle from B99. Key: Key lime pie. Never tried it, but I’m always down to try anything. Sacrifice: The Catholic schoolgirl in me remembers the crucifixion because textbooks and teachers would overuse the phrase, “Jesus sacrificed his life for our sins” or “God sacrificed his son to save the world,” and all those cheesy lines. It’s as though the Bible’s favorite word is ‘sacrifice.’ Larry: Punk and AJ’s dog is named Larry Talbot. Dog: ^ Psychology: I took one psych elective last semester, but the prof was average at best so it didn’t really win over the course as a whole to me. Psychology was one of my ‘what-if’ courses so at the start, I was excited about taking it - but the class that I had was just so boring and the prof gave tests that were way too hard for otherwise fairly easy topics, so I quickly ran out of enthusiasm for the class. Rag: I hate touching rags. Especially wet ones UGH. Sun: Hate it, unless I’m at the beach. Lips: My friends dragged me to the makeup section of the department store last week and there were rows upon rows of lipstick testers. As someone who’s never purposely browsed for makeup, I ended up swatching like 20 shades on my wrist and looked like a five year old who doodled all over her whole left arm. Cage: The UFC ring, because it looks like a cage. Alarm: I had/have several alarms set on my phone throughout today to tell me to start working on various deliverables. For example, I had an 8 AM alarm to work on my J 196 paper; then from 8:30 AM I had an alarm to compose letters that I needed to write as my org’s secretary; then at around 10 AM, my alarm was for finishing up my readings for Kas 154 (short for kasaysayan, which means history). Official: I have a batchmate from high school who just got engaged...she was honestly one of the weirder ones back then so as much as I didn’t want to judge, it was hard to take it seriously at first, but it’s whatevs. I have no business in her life and I’m happy she’s happy. King: I finished my history readings this morning and there were so many mentions of kings. Lost: That show. The general consensus is that they ended the show crappily, but other than that I know nothing about it. Dating: There was once a dude who joined a dating show. Ended up being a serial killer. I forgot his name though. Balm: I was at a Korean store yesterday and saw an array of lip balms and glosses. I was never much of a makeup girl but the collection they had was just so cute, it made me think if I should start investing in makeup as well hah. Tomato: Ketchup is my second least favorite condiment after mustard. Game: Hmmm I downloaded a bunch of new game apps on my phone because I recently realized that I’m so boring??? and I only have social media on my phone??? I got ten new apps to make my phone more alive haha. Lotion: Is slimy, but smells nice and makes my skin smooth and look better. I got two hand creams for Christmas last year and it was then that I knew I was getting older because I was genuinely excited to try them both out. Expensive: Everything is. Powder: Reminds me of babies. The smell calms me down so well. Cross: I was shopping for clip-on earrings yesterday and there were several designs with crosses on them, which just reminded me of Christianity and it kinda peeved me for like 3 minutes lol. History: My favorite subject. I’ve never been so excited to be dumped on with such a thick stack of readings until this semester. Sex: Haven’t had it in a bit, too busy. Rainbow: We watched a film called Rainbow’s Sunset, which was really promising because it told a story about two men, both very old, and are lovers. In a traditional, conservative, poisonously Catholic country such as the PH, it’s a very bold move to produce a feature film that tackled such a horrible, taboo, horrifying thing (please note the sarcasm/mockery). We didn’t escape the guffaws and the loud ew’s whenever the two leads would kiss, which was sad.

Anyway that’s not my point and what I really want to say is that the film was ultimately terrible, it was terribly-executed and it portrayed gay men in such a cheesy manner which in the long run, probably contributes to the continuing negative image of LGBT people in the Philippines. Gab, the bigger film buff between the two of us, felt so offended by how bad the movie turned out to be lol. Bay: Bayley, from WWE. She was a huge star like 3 years ago, but I think the bookers ultimately fucked her character up and now she’s stale. I feel so bad. Seth: Seth Rollins, also from WWE. Also very attractive. Pepper: I had okonomiyaki for lunch yesterday and there was like a thicker chunk of pepper that made it to my plate. Didn’t particularly enjoy that bite. Necrophile: Katie Vick. Google it to believe it. Wrestling is fucking dumb. Gravel: Funnily enough I do have a memory for gravel. Akeelah and the Bee was one of my favorite movies growing up; I watched it so many times that I had chunks of dialogue memorized at one point. One of the first scenes had Akeelah joining her school’s spelling bee, and one of the kids spelled grovel as g-r-a-v-e-l. He couldn’t understand why he got it wrong so the judge had to tell him that the word ‘grovel’ actually exists and what it means. Deep: I had a mental picture of the ocean when I read this word, so there’s that. Stephen: Hawking. Bucket: Chum Bucket. Hahaha Spongebob forever. England: Rugby? Grown: I always use the term ‘grown-ass’ haha. Spell: Spelling was one of my favorite activities in grade school and I would always score the highest in spelling exams. Kind of led me to my favorite job of proofreading/copyediting, really. Bark: My dog barked at nothing for five whole minutes a couple of days ago and it was hilarious. I shot two minutes of it. Long: Trees? Fan: Pamaypay, or hand fans in English.

Australia: First things that came to mind were the Sydney Opera House and Vegemite. Iron: Gabie’s nose bled last week. It wouldn’t stop flowing out of her nostrils and it smelled like rust for a good 15 minutes while she was trying to wash all the blood off, so it didn’t exactly help my case as someone who’s squeamish to death at the sight of blood. Melt: Chocolate. Beanie: Too warm for this country’s climate. Wax: Candles. Vigils. Burning your finger. Staying up all night to pray. Catholic school. Disease: Zombies. Resident Evil. Cannibal: The band Cannibal Corpse. Tried to get into them because Punk listened to them but it was too heavy for me. Flight: Airplanes, flights, vacations, away from everyone, nothing to worry about, good food, fighting with my siblings for the window seats. Porn: People be having weird fetishes sometimes. The thumbnails I see on websites...some of y’all crazy. Pot: I thought about how college life is so crazy. People would sell brownies or cookies with weed in them IN SCHOOL, meanwhile I still don’t even know if weed and pot are the same or if they’re two different things ohmygod HAHAHAHA I’m so sheltered wow I’m hopeless?????? Style: Taylor Swift and that subtle shade to Harry. People were shookened five years ago. Floss: Pork floss is really good. Star: There was a local celebrity who recently tweeted a pic, supposedly of a tiny tiny star that was beside the moon at like 5 AM, and she was asking what it was. Someone replied that it was Venus and explained what she just saw for her. Super cool. Nate: I don’t know anyone named Nate. I DID, however, remember the Naked Brothers Band. The older brother is named Nat, so it’s close enough. Soft: Pillows are soft. Orange: Hayley Williams’ hair 11 years ago. Witch: Philippine superstitions and how crazy and obsessive Filipinos can get. My mom, one of the most rational, no-nonsense people I know, scolds me every time I mock witchcraft or what we call ‘kulam’ cos she believes something will happen to me if I do. I’m all for honoring our mythology and traditions but sheesh, not to the obsessive extent. Mound: Ants. Root: Gabie used to watch this show where she shipped two girls named Root and Shaw. Oil: Massages. Hot: Deserts. Disc: Childhood, blowing on it to make it work, double-sided discs for longer movies, if a disc had scratches expect it to die soon. Soil: Plants. Planting trees. Muddy. Ugly: That scene in Spongebo where Patrick tells the story of the ugly barnacle. “Once there was an ugly barnacle. He was so ugly that everyone died. The end,” which didn’t help Spongebob who at the time was feeling super ugly hahahahaha. Sugar: Maroon 5. Also, my grandma used one particular jar for sugar throughout my entire childhood. It’s plastic, it’s clear, and it came with a red-orange lid. I’d often eat sugar on its own so I saw that jar quite a bit and it gives me a sense of nostalgia. I’m not so sure if that’s still the jar being used in the old house. Bone: Ribs :( Been craving for some. Sigh: Air??? I don’t know. Throne: Game of Thrones. I had to watch a 26-minute documentary of a GoT production for my broadcast management class. It’s insanely hard. So much respect to everyone involved in its prod. Calendar: I’m secretary for my org, which means that I always have to update everyone about our calendar of events. Carpet: Fancy. Flesh: The Walking Dead. Cement: Dangerous. Vow: The movie with Rachel McAdams and Channing Tatum. One of my guiltier pleasures. Sweet: Desserts. And now I’m hungry.

#survey #surveys #lengthy but a goodie

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steve0discusses · 6 years

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Yugioh S1 Ep 43: Mokuba Simply Has No Survival Instincts

While it surely wasn’t intentional, since the 00′s hadn’t finished their course at the time this show aired, the storyline of Kaiba, the moodiest millennial of them all, the boy who works his ass off, wins every award, studies hard, and then fails at every aspect of his life when he actually goes out to try and get his career on track is just so very millennial. It’s a pretty familiar story--trained to be a shark in a small swimming pool, dreams as big and high as the moon, but occasionally completely disconnected with what’s going on around us because we’re trapped in some MMO videogame. Again.

We’ve already had quite a few episodes that dove into Yugi’s psyche, including one where we literally walked through his labyrinth brain full of traps and real legit problems as he said “nonono this is all really just fine.” But, this is an arc that’s all about Kaiba, who is about to be devoured by the same insane pipe dream ideas he worked so hard to create.

Mai and Joey suddenly realize who the other is and then just decide “youknow lets not duel” and I praised the sun because how pointless would that have been?

The Mokuba orange text is very close to the Joey yellow. Sorry if any of you are colorblind, I never realized that Mokuba would have so many speaking lines when I started this. Maybe I’ll make him a light blue at some point?

I know I titled it as Mokuba has no survival instincts but honestly it’s every single person on this show.

(read more)

I only say I’m too afraid to check the skyrim mod forums because most those mods are a little too kinky for me.

Like...

Why didn’t Bakura use THAT card back on the island? Holy cow. It’s a good thing Joey isn’t cursed with the ring because everyone would be very super dead.

So they trot along across the desert and not much happens. I guess a sand worm or something? It’s just a desert.

And like do I even need to make the obvious joke or is it already--

No, not yet.

Anyways, what’s at the other end of the desert, hm?

We are SO CLOSE to finishing this season how is there ANOTHER MAZE!? There’s only like 6 episodes left we could have been maze free I just...whoever was in charge of maze design for this show worked overtime.

God bless, storyboarder. This is a frame I caught completely by accident--most people would not be able to notice that Joey just takes two hands--one on Yugi’s head, the other on his chest and just pushes him completely over like he’s one of those roly-poly toys.

The hell Mai? She is the age to date Joey’s Dad.

This labyrinth is different than Yugi’s, in that it is crowded by a bunch of huge inconvenient tanks that all want to kill them for some reason. I have no idea how any of these tanks ever turn a corner.

Mazes seem to be the most boodthirsty thing in this universe--can’t pass through a maze without every law of physics/tanks wanting to murder the hell out of you

Imagine the David Attenborough documentary on this family of wild tanks.

And then this weird thing happened--as if we weren’t already seeing the weirdest collection of things that Kaiba chose to focus on in this magical world where he could have made anything else happen.

It’s Marie Antoinette Mokuba. She’s just here. To exist.

Speaking of bad ideas, Kaiba is getting crucified.

Every anime ever made just acting out the Passion for kicks and giggles, it ain’t even Easter yet.

So quick side story about bad ideas and stuff, because sometimes we spend YEARS of our lives trying to make something that is not very good work and it just doesn’t--it just doesn’t happen. I work in freelance so I see that a lot. I see it happen to other people, I’ve seen it happen PLENTY to myself.

I knew this guy, I’ve known him my whole life (and he’s way super old so he won’t read this blog) and for the entirety that I’ve been alive he’s been trying to make an operating system to compete with Windows. Now I’m from the Bay Area, so this isn’t SO weird. There’s this whole crazy world outside of Linux where everyone and their mule is making an OS that will change the Silicon Valley landscape and make them the next Bill Gates. It’s kind of like “here’s my neat app idea” but like 2 steps more ascended.

For about 40 years, this guy has *and still is* making this OS. 40 years. But his OS is now like 40 years behind the times because he never released it in any form because it wasn’t done yet, it wasn’t perfect, it wasn’t ready.

One of the most important things I’ve ever learned is that whatever you may be working on right now will not be your Magnum Opus. It just won’t. So finish whatever you’re on and move on to the next thing. When I was told this, I was working on my first comic and although I wasn’t really aware--it was hella not great. But, it was a story I grew up writing, so I was hella attached to it. So, it could never be perfect. It mattered so much to me to get it right, and I was so worried about what other people would think, that I worked on it for about 4 years before I ran into the OS guy and I realized “I need to just post this and move on or this will be my endless OS”

Like, this is all a silly story of climbing through Kaiba’s bad fiction, but sometimes our simple ideas can turn into parasites, and we become so obsessed with them, that our good efforts are robbed of ever getting a chance to finish something good. Like this is Kaiba’s one big huge sprawling terrible video game idea and all of his friends and his brother are here to basically give him an intervention. Also to save him from the guys who are still heading Kaiba corp for some reason.

Anyways, now these guys are in a generic carriage because they got to the Camelot section of Kaiba’s cyberworld because this boy could not focus on one single genre.

Whatever because inside this castle is DINNER

The vague orange oblong fruit is back! The gravity melons! We still aren’t sure what they are--because they could be mangoes but they’re orange like oranges. huh...

Anyways, it’s about time for this show to get dark.

So this is a game mechanic of playing the card game Yugioh--so like...it actually does make sense why it’s here but like. This is just medieval The Lottery, huh? Is Kaiba getting ritually sacrificed by his own video game? Ritually sacrificed WHILE getting crucified? For a DRAGON? It’s like right in front of him that his Dragon Obsession has maybe gone too far but I assume that once this is over he’ll be right back on ship dragon.

I just like to think that, for the past few years, Kaiba’s just been drawing birds and medieval stuff in class and being all “it’s going in my sweet ass video game, Joey, it’s not a princess, it’s Princess Atena, and she’s gonna get sacrificed to satisfy the Mythic Dragon” but none of his classmates ever remembered any of this lore because their brains kept getting wiped by some Season Zero Pharaoh nonsense.

This color scheme on the walls is just...that’s lime green and lilac all right.

Anyway, how generic 90′s fantasy anime can we make the armor here?

None of them use swords.

Scratch that--Pharaoh would know how to use a sword. For the rest of them the weapon seems kind of moot because they’re all card wizards?

So off they go, Joey in a minidress made for...breastfeeding? I guess? And the rest in matching armor suits. Seems like Kaiba’s game is programmed to recognize and harass Joey just as part of it’s core code.

OH.

So there was a lot of buildup to that happening and I blinked and missed it and had to rewind, it happened so quickly.

Man if they had just stayed indoors none of this would have happened.

So Mokuba is in a 7 layer ballgown for the rest of this show right? I feel like the hoop skirt would make it very difficult to get crucified in. So, at least he has that.

As they bring this ancient bird to life with the time card, we get to see what Tristan and Tea have been up to--mostly just pushing stuff.

So when Tea does ballet she’s on the bottom just tossing everyone else around, right? That girl is jacked.

So, that was a lot of random things in succession--Next week, on Yugioh:

Does Kaiba turn into a dragon, finally, like he’s always wanted? Will the next environment in this randomized video game land them right in the middle of a Fallout Post-Apocalypse? Or will it be in the middle of a Petz kitten-adoption center? Or, will it be the ultimate challenge for these kids--in a Japanese High School visual novel sim where they actually have to attend class?

#Yugioh #yugioh recaps #photo recaps #s1 ep 43 #humor #they're still in this video game I guess #seto kaiba #mokuba #yugi muto #joey wheeler #tea gardner #tristan taylor #mai #this arc is hella random

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celtfather · 6 years

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About Firefly Drinking Songs for Browncoats #237

Firefly is one of the most beloved projects from the mind of Joss Whedon, the creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It came out in 2002 and was canceled after only 14 episodes. It developed such an incredible cult following that in 2005, a movie was released based on the TV series. http://celtfather.com

The show inspired me so much that I released a CD with Bedlam Bards called Firefly Drinking Songs. Now I have a new album out for Browncoats called As Long As I’m Flyin. You can buy it at FireflyDrinkingSongs.com.

How did Firefly go from a cancelled TV show to a new album 16 years after it was released? I’ll tell you all about it right now.

I was first introduced to Firefly just a few short months before the movie was released. I remember binge watching DVDs. I absolutely loved show. It had a realness to it that appealed to me, despite being a Sci Fi Western.

Firefly became my all-time favorite show ever. It hasn’t budged from that standing. I still watch it regularly.

I don’t consider myself an ambitious songwriter. I don’t write a lot of songs. I write slowly and I am usually “inspired” by something. I never planned to start a genre of Firefly drinking songs. It just sort of happened.

In 2007, I was on the first Brobdingnagian Bards tour of Ireland. I got an email from fan telling me there is a songwriting contest called Sing A Song for Saffron.

Saffron was a nefarious woman who was featured twice in the series. She first appears in "Our Mrs Reynolds" where she sneakily marries the captain of the Firefly ship, Serenity. She then attempts to seduce him. When that fails, her true purpose is revealed, leading the crew to their deaths to steal their ship.

Saffron appears again later in the episode "Trash." She works with the crew to steal a famous laser gun. She attempts to double cross the crew only to find they are ready for her.

Beautiful and seductive, Saffron is a favorite side character.

So there I was in Ireland when I get an email from a fan that read, “you should write a song for this contest.”

I was immediately struck with a parody idea using the traditional Irish melody “May Morning Dew”.

I submitted my song “She Said Her Name Was Saffron” to the contest a week after returning from Ireland. The song won the Best Parody award.

A few months later, I sang that song for The Signal Firefly Podcast for a live event at DragonCon.

I had no further plans to write more Firefly songs. But a year later, I was driving Back to DragonCon when I was struck with an idea.

I had just finished watching the episode "Jaynestown." The crew lands on Higgins Moon, a town that sells mud. The crew is hired to transport contraband off planet. One of the crew, Jayne Cobb, warns about how he had trouble with the local magistrate a few years back. We soon learn that Jayne has become a folk hero of the town with a statue and his own protest song “Hero of Canton”.

That song is a favorite among Browncoats. Everyone of us longs to have a mug of mudders milk and sing along. But as I was driving back to DragonCon, I wondered what other songs might’ve been heard in that little pub in Canton. So I wrote one.

The song was called "Monahan's Mudder's Milk". I wrote it as a sort of Woody Guthrie-style protest against the challenges faced by the mudders of Higgins' Moon.

This song was super important to me. First, because it sort of solidified what would eventually become my most-popular musical niche, Sci Fi Drinking Songs. But it was also the launching point for Firefly Drinking Songs and my newest album, As Long As I'm Flyin'.

It was around this time that the idea of recording a CD of Firefly Drinking Songs began. I set up concerts at Gen Con and Dragon Con dedicated to this theme. Each show was packed. The conventions were turning people away at the door.

The atmosphere at these shows was amazing. I really wanted to capture that feel. So I decided on recording a live CD. I wanted it to feel like you were in that little pub in Canton.

My biggest challenge was I didn't have enough songs to create an album. So I turned to someone who did.

The Bedlam Bards were the first to release a full CD of Firefly music. It was called On The Drift: Music Inspired by Firefly and Serenity. The album captured everything that people love about Firefly and the fandom. It's fantastic.

Cedric is the primary songwriter for the group. When I called him up to ask if he'd like to make an album with me, he was psyched.

We spent next few months performing Firefly Drinking Songs at various venues and conventions trying to capture an amazing live recording. It finally happened at church in Round Rock, Texas that my friend Jan Czenkusch booked for us. It had the energy, the sound. It was fantastic.

We released the CD. It quickly became one of my most-popular albums.

Once again, I had no plans for a follow up. I was trying to get out of doing themed CDs. Most of my 20+ albums are themed. Some are Irish. Some are about cats. Some are sci fi. While themed CDs are easier to sell, they are much more difficult and costly to produce.

So when I wrote "Bring Me Home, Boys", a song based on the episode "The Message" where a body is mailed to the crew with a message to bring his body home to his family, I didn't put on a Firefly CD. Nor did I put the song "Browncoats Keep Flyin'" one one. That's a song I co-wrote with Rie Sheridan Rose. Though I did put it on Sci Fi Drinking Songs. Again, I had no real plans to record another Firefly album, despite its success.

But one year at Gen Con, I was singing "Close Your Eyes". This is a song by Daniel Glasser. Many call it the "Demon Lullaby". I have a whole podcast episode about that song. Follow the link in the shownotes.

In the middle of the song, I changed the lyrics to the "reavers beneath your bed are gonna eat your face". The crowd erupted in laughter and for the next few years Browncoats asked when I would put that song on a CD.

In 2016, I set a milestone on Patreon. If I reached that goal, I would record a 4-song EP of Firefly songs, exclusively for my Patrons. I quickly hit that goal. But as I started recording the EP, more songs came out. So I asked Rie Sheridan Rose, a long-time songwriting collaborator to send me some more lyrics. She did.

Next thing I knew, I had a full album of Browncoat drinking songs. I launched a Kickstarter and the rest is history.

Now one of the things I sort of glossed over earlier is the Firefly Drinking Songs show. This show took on a life of its own. When I started, I was just singing songs about Firefly. But I wanted something bigger. I wanted something more inclusive.

You see, I have long been a part of the reenacting shows. Mostly notably are Renaissance festivals. At faires, you're encouraged to not just play music, they want you to be a part of the atmosphere, to recreate the Renaissance.

Early on, I absolutely LOVED faires for that very reason. I could pretend I was in the Renaissance.

But the simple fact is I'm not an actor. So keeping that going ALL DAY LONG was a bit exhausting and tedious. So I took on a new character, that is basically me.

I think that's why I love the Firefly Drinking Songs show so much.

I don't usually write music ABOUT things I love, like Firefly. I prefer to write as if I'm a PART of the world. Firefly is the epitome of this. The music I wrote was as if I was living in the Firefly 'Verse. The show was created as if I was a touring musician singing songs for Browncoats.

The show is about an hour long. With any luck, the one at Gen Con this year will be about an hour and a half. But for that period of time, it's easy to get and stay in character. So that's why I do.

My family is all from East Texas. So I put on my Texas accent and step into a world where people are on the fringe of civilized society. They're looking for an escape. They want to hear music that celebrates the independents who lost the Unification War. They want to escape the hard life of working in the mud pits.

For an hour, they are a part of that. We sing songs about the "Hero of Canton," "Blue Sun," reavers and the Browncoats. It's absolutely incredible.

It's been 16 years since Firefly was started and canceled. Yet new Browncoats are made every day as they discover this incredible show.

One of my dreams is to take the Firefly Drinking Songs show on the road. I want to unite Browncoats once again for a Shindig among Shindigs and an inspired passion to keep building the 'Verse. Because to quote Mal, "we have done the impossible, and that makes us mighty."

If you're interested in my new album, As Long As I'm Flyin' or the Firefly Drinking Songs show, please visit FireflyDrinkingSongs.com. You can buy the album, listen on Spotify, find cool merch, and learn more about the show. I'd love to hear about your favorite episode or character. You can post that in the shownotes.

I should point out that the physical CD will only be available in March. So if you like CDs, then you should order it as soon as possible.

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Thank you for listening. Celtfather Music & Travel was produced by Marc Gunn. If you enjoyed this episode, please join the Gunn Runners Club on Patreon. For as little as a buck a month, you will help release more music, podcasts, videos and more.

Would you like 21 songs for Free? Plus get regular updates of what's new. Subscribe to the podcast and newsletter at www.pubsong.net.

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'Young Charlie': Inside Hit Manson Podcast

New Post has been published on http://gossip.network/young-charlie-inside-hit-manson-podcast/

'Young Charlie': Inside Hit Manson Podcast

Although the calendar may say it’s 2017, there is no escaping 1969 – and Charles Manson in particular. Between the recent release of the memoir of the youngest member of the Manson Family, to Evan Peters’ portrayal of him in this season of American Horror Story, to rumors of a Quentin Tarantino movie set in this year and involving the infamous cult leader, there is something about the dangerous yet charismatic man that seems particularly timely now.

Charles Manson Dead at 83

Career criminal, cult leader and enigmatic pop culture figure upended Sixties with series of killings

The latest addition to the growing Manson canon is Young Charlie – the second season of the Hollywood & Crime podcast, and the latest offering from Wondery, the podcast network behind the recent true-crime hit Dirty John. While technically Young Charlie also falls under the true-crime banner, it is more of an exercise in storytelling and a deep dive into the childhood of one of America’s most notorious criminals. Mason’s formation of his Family and attempted initiation of a non-existent race war ultimately culminated in orchestrating a grizzly two-day murder spree, which left seven people dead, including the pregnant actor Sharon Tate, wife of director Roman Polanski.

Though every bloody detail of the killings and following court proceedings have been covered extensively in countless books, documentaries and articles, Manson, the Family and their crimes still hold America’s collective attention, almost 50 years later, as evidenced by their ubiquity in popular culture. But no matter how much of the Manson lore one consumes, a question lingers: How did Manson become the person who was able to recruit, then control people into committing such horrific crimes?

Young Charlie aims to answer that question through an intimate look into his early years, starting when he was a runty five-year-old with big eyes and matted hair living in rural West Virginia. Stephen Lang, an actor who has appeared in films like Avatar and Don’t Breathe, lends his voice to this storyline in the podcast, incrementally cluing listeners in to each milestone in Manson’s childhood that potentially could have played a role in creating the man who died in prison at age 83.

Charles Manson when he was 14. Getty

But before getting into Manson’s formative years, spent mostly in (and escaping from) reformatories, Young Charlie opens on August 10, 1969, following Tate and Polanski’s housekeeper as she entered their rented home on Cielo Drive the morning after the murders and discovered the bodies. Tracy Pattin, who also serves as co-producer of the podcast, narrates this storyline, which also includes archival audio recordings from press conferences, featuring Polanski and several of the police officers involved with the investigation. Each of the show’s six episodes jumps back and forth between the aftermath of the Tate-LaBianca killings in 1969, and Manson’s evolution from scared schoolboy into master manipulator. According to Young Charlie’s writer, Larry Brand, who also wrote films The Drifter (1988) and Halloween: Resurrection (2002), “having the two [storylines] took on a very cinematic, Pulp Fiction-y timeline” adding that “structurally it became a really fascinating exercise in narrative – how to jigsaw these pieces together in such a fashion that by the end of it there’s a sense of completion.”

In addition to cinema, music also plays a significant role in the podcast, Brand tells Rolling Stone. “The fact that he was a musician was not coincidental,” he says, which many – Brand included – believe was a major factor in his ability to exert control over his followers. And it wasn’t just Manson’s ability to play the guitar, write songs and belt out a few tunes: Brand explains that as he was writing the podcast, he listened to numerous interviews with Manson to get a sense of the musicality of his speech, and tried to incorporate that into the script. “There’s a symphonic quality to it,” Brand says of the way Manson speaks. “There’s a cadence – a rhythm. There’s passages that are quick, phrases that are slow – different mood changes… that I found myself replicating in this form of storytelling this same type of rhythmic, nuanced, layered vision that that Charlie had.” On top of that, he says he peppered the episodes with lyrics and imagery from songs from the 1960s, including from “Eve of Destruction” – the protest song written by P.F. Sloan and first recorded by Barry McGuire in 1965, which remains chillingly applicable in 2017. “I very consciously tried to use this musical influence and reference to give this an authenticity, so when you’re listening to it you’re immersed in the fluid rhythmic passages that have this very Sixties-ish kind of feel to it.”

While Manson’s melodic, Machiavellian messages to his followers incited acts of murder in California, an event billed as “three days of peace & music” was set to take place a few days after and nearly 3,000 miles away. Starting on August 15th, 1969, more than 400,000 people filled the fields of a farm in Bethel, New York for the Woodstock festival, which featured some of the biggest acts at the time – including Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix and The Who. “Nothing of that era is as elegantly and grotesquely juxtaposed as Woodstock and the Manson murders, which occurred within a week or two of each other,” Brand says.

Given these major events in August 1969, as well as the moon landing that had occurred the previous month, Brand says that it’s no wonder that the year left an indelible mark on American collective memory, making it ripe for Young Charlie‘s in-depth treatment. “There’s a fondness for that period – not only for those who remember it, but those who weren’t around but have a nostalgia by proxy,” Brand says, adding that those who lived through the year – which includes himself – “never shut up about it.”

Moreover, Brand says, there are more than a few parallels between the events of 1969 and what we are living through today. “Clearly we’re in a time of cultural stress, and I think this has been compared – and not without reason – to the cultural stresses in the air in the late Sixties,” Brand adds. And with Tate-LaBianca murder participant Leslie Van Houten’s continued fight for release and Manson’s recent death, the Family and their crimes have remained fixtures in the news.

But no matter how extensive the coverage of the Family continues to be, it still doesn’t get to the root of what made Manson the boy from West Virginia into Manson the mastermind behind mass murder. “‘Charlie was Charlie’ – that’s a line that was repeated several times in the podcast, and it’s very easy to look back knowing what he did and see the young five-year-old child and it’s probably true,” Brand says. “But what’s also true is that there were also thousands of other budding sociopaths that didn’t murder anyone or were only minor criminals, or ended up becoming perfectly civilized citizens. Ex post facto, it’s always easy to create a narrative of inevitability, and that’s certainly the case with Charlie. But what’s left out of that picture are the thousands and thousands of Charlies didn’t become Charlie Manson.”

With Young Charlie, Brand hopes to offer more than just a sequence of events of his early life, but rather a more nuanced look inside the psyche of a man who convinced others to kill in his name.

“I don’t believe in Psycho moments where we find this one event in someone’s childhood [that influences future behavior] – that’s a fiction and something we derive from film,” he says. “Their life trajectories have more to do with who they are.”

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