#i'm trans and queer and very angry and frustrated and scared

[gerogerigaogaigar]

Curtis Mayfield - Curtis

The sprawling funk/soul explorations of Curtis Mayfield display a masterful talent for bombastic arrangements and biting political commentary. The calls for unity are par for the course when it comes to 70s funk, but rather than the both sides-ism of Sly And The Family Stone, Mayfield would like to remind us that we're all gonna fucking die if we don't work together. As for the music, the lush horns, frenetic percussion, frequent harp parts, and aspects of psychedelia make for an incredibly unique album, especially for it's time.

The Byrds - Sweetheart Of The Rodeo

Gram Parsons wanted country rock to be a thing so bad. He was willing to completely overhaul half the personnel of his band and tank their careers just so he could have his country album. Sweetheart Of The Rodeo has been severely vindicated by history considering how big of a genre country rock wound up being in the 70s and all the conservatives who got mad that long haired hippies were ruining their music can suck it. The album consists almost entirely of covers including artists like The Louvin Brothers, Merle Haggard, and Woody Guthrie. It feels very authentic. Acoustic guitar, fiddle, pedal steel, and honky tonk piano abound as Parsons croons over some decidedly non hippie country songs. It's clear they're being a little cheeky when they do The Louvin Brothers' song The Christian Life after all.

Gang Of Four - Entertainment!

What's better than angular, funky, post punk? Angular, funk, Communist post punk obviously! Frustrations about commodity fetishism make up like half of this albums lyrical content. But beyond just the politics the music is also revolutionary. The jittery guitars are matched by punchy drums and staccato singing. It's disorienting, it's angry, it's hugely influential. Come join the proletariat dance party.

Velvet Underground - White Light/White Heat

This album is completely feral. Half the songs are about people dying horrifically and there's a seventeen minute jam describing an orgy. No joke for real content warning ⚠️ this album features a very stark and realistic portrayal of how trans people were treated back in the 60s. We have to talk about Lady Godiva's Operation. It's a song about a transgender woman dying in the operating table due to a botched lobotomy. It's brutal and has always been one of the only songs that really scares me. The song's attitude is intensely sympathetic to it's subject, the only hint of Lady Godiva's trans status is one line were a doctor misgenders her and the fact that she was going in for a lobotomy at all (by the 60s they were mainly reserved for gay men and trans women). The humanity of the character in the first half of the song versus the indifference of the doctors in the latter half is an incredibly succinct condemnation of how society treated queer people at the time. ⚠️ Ok content warning over y'all can open your eyes again. Putting the subject matter aside White Light/White Heat is musically unhinged. The guitars are so scrungy and fuzzed out that it can be hard to understand what's going on. Songs like Here She Comes Now and the title track are basically 50s rock and roll with the most fucked up guitars imaginable. The Gift, Lady Godiva's Operation, and Sister Ray are weird droning things with mostly spoken word lyrics. And the guitar solos on Sister Ray are beyond punk and more like noise rock or even just noise. This album is not for everyone, hell it might not be for anyone, but I really like it. I have a soft spot for weird anomalies.

Mary J. Blige - What's The 411?

I'm usually pretty harsh on lengthy 90s R&B fuck jams, but this album is really good at being that thing. 92 was probably the exact time for a funky Hip hop influenced R&B album to be really good by my standards specifically. The beats, produced by Puff Daddy, are very reminiscent of late 80s style hip hop and the vocals are spaced out, very echoey. They combine nicely to create an effect where the vocals encompass you while the beats hit you in the face. A lot of the songs structure are more focused on layering vocals to create a sound more similar to P-Funk than soul, it stops the longer tracks from being boring since they need the four to five minutes length to explore those layers.

Kacey Musgraves - The Golden Hour

Unbelievably boring. I don't care at all about this album. Did you know that Weird Al also has a song called Velvet Elvis? It's basically the exact same song but it's a joke and it came out in the 80s.

#500 album gauntlet #curtis mayfield #the byrds #gang of four #velvet underground #mary j blige #kacey musgraves

[therefugeofbooks]

It's Juuuune! I'm happy with my numbers of May, considering the amount of family things that happened. I read some nice horror books that made me crave even more horror!!! But there's a special and ~exceptional~ June tbr that I'm also super excited!

Anyway, talking about all the books I read in May under the cut (･ω<)☆

In reading order:

Vita Nostra by Marina Dyachenko, Sergey Dyachenko with Julia Meitov Hersey (translator)

I've seen this book in Dark Academia book lists and I was excited to read it because of the whole magical school idea. However, I didn't like this book at all. The main character is so uninteresting, there are no characters to root for, people are forced to go to college and don't know what's happening and the magic is something vague and far away most of the time, and the mystery is empty. I kept pushing expecting a wild reveal and I finished frustrated and angry. 

The Twisted Ones by T. Kingfisher

So good! The mystery is compelling, the horror is on point, I listened to the audiobook before sleeping and I was scared! Looking forward to reading more from T. Kingfisher

Read if you want: psychological horror, creatures on the wood. 

Between Perfect and Real by Ray Stoeve 

Loved it! The story follows a trans guy coming out at his school while he plays Romeo in a school play. It deals with a lot of pain, transphobia, body dysmorphia, family relationships, his relationship with his girlfriend. But there are also nice moments of understanding, found family and theater kids being theater kids.

Read if you want: trans characters in high school, theater stories, friendship and support from the lbtqia+ community.

Vampires Never Get Old: Tales with Fresh Bite 

A lovely anthology! My favorite one was A Guidebook for the Newly Sired Desi Vampire by Samira Ahmed. I also liked  In Kind by Kayla Whaley and The Boys From Blood rRver by Rebecca Roanhorse. I'd love to read an adult or new adult anthology like this one. 

Read if you want: diverse ya vampire stories.

Revenge by Yoko Ogawa with Stephen Snyder (Translator)

After Hotel Iris, I decided to read one more book by Yoko Ogawa. Revenge is more on the horror side like The Diving Pool. It's a psychological, bizarre, eerie kind of horror. The interesting about this book is that all the short stories are connected! Loved it!

Read if you want: bizarre and eerie short stories.

Given Vol. 1 by Natsuki Kizu 

Even though my friends have recommended me the anime, I haven't watched it yet. But I loved the manga! It's a cute bl story involving bands in high schools. I know that something very sad is coming in the next volume ;;;

Read if you want: cute bl stories, high-school bands.

Sasaki and Miyano Vol. 1 by Syou Harusono

I love fudanshi stories and the main couple's dynamics is very sweet! The series is not completed yet, so I'm not sure when I'll go back to this story, though. 

Read if you want: cute bl stories.

Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie 

Beautiful book but there're many sad and dark moments in it. It has sort of an optimistic ending, but it deals with dark topics such as physical and physiological abuse and fanatism. But in the end, I think the book is about Kambili discovering that there's a different way to live and finding love in her aunt and cousins. If you're interested in this book, you should check out this article that highlights some transphobic comments made by Chimamanda. Then, it's up to you!

The Companion by EE Ottoman

I love the plot and the setting and that all the characters are trans! It's a very cute polyamorous relationship. But I think I'd have enjoyed it more if it was a slow-burn kind of romance. The idea is great, but I'm not a fan of the pacing of this novella.

Read if you want: trans/trans relationships, polyamorous relationships, historical queer romance, smuuut.

The Girl and the Ghost by Hanna Alkaf

This book was great! It's the right amount of spooky and adventurous I like in a middle-grade story. I loved how friendship is a main theme in the book and what Suraya does to save Pink. The ending is amazing!

Read if you want: safe spooky, focus on friendship, ghost that are friends, kids saving the day.

Available only in Portuguese:

Ela é só uma garota comum de Pedro A. Ribeiro

Eu adoro histórias sobre viagem no tempo e mudanças temporais e foi por isso que eu peguei esse conto para ler. E nesse aspecto sci-fi, o conto é bem legal, com um protagonista alienígena e tocando em assuntos como relações entre espécies e imigração de alienígenas. Adoro que um dos temas é sobre como pequenos gestos podem desencadear uma sequência incrível de acontecimentos! Acho que no geral, apenas a escrita precisa amadurecer mais, principalmente nos diálogos, que por muitas vezes soam muito artificiais e sem muita relevância para a história.

Rereads:

Heartstopper Vol. 1 and Heartstopper Vol. 2 by Alice Oseman

Read in: Feb | Mar | April

☆Book photography ☆ Storygraph ☆ Scribd ☆

#booklr #monthly wrap-up #mine: original posts #the refuge of books

[privateandersmiths]

No Anon hate or anything, I'm genuinely curious why you don't like NPH and I was wondering if you could educate me?

Well it’s more just a frustration at the hiring of cismales to play transwomen, and watching series of unfortunate events reminded me of my annoyance at nph playing hedwig in ‘hedwig and the angry inch’. 

Now I’ve not seen the musical, but I’ve read the story of it, and as far as I can gather, Hedwig identifies as female, and the casting of a man to play her is transphobic. I once made this comment on facebook and had an angry cis gay man yell at me cause ‘hedwig isn’t a transwomen, his vagina seals up, thats the plot of the show, so he should be played by a boy…’ and im just like, a transwoman is a woman vagina or not. And I really do not like the idea of comedy based on the very real struggles of the trans community being worshiped by cis people. 

So now I’m watching series of unforunate events and theres a joke with a crossdressing man (which im so over. its not funny. it was never funny) and there are jokes about gender roles in toys and all this stuff, and yeah, it was probably in the books, but honestly, it’s not so important that the PRODUCER couldn’t have say in removing those transphobic jokes…

I’m just frustrated with the world and how there is so so so so little change happening for trans representation and as a gay trans boy, im honestly scared that when i transition no one is going to like me because some of the most transphobic people ive ever met are cis gay men… 

and like i said, never saw hedwig, but what i understand of the story bothers me. If my understanding is wrong, please come inform me, cause id honestly love to be wrong, cause it would mean more good queer media in the world, i wouldnt be upset at all