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dingoat · 4 years

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Relationship Asks for Ahuska and Five: 2, 4, 7, 16, 17, 18, 19, 21, 22, 23, 27, 28, 29.

OH BOY OH BOY *cracks knuckles* time for another round of BEST GIRL VS WORST BOY.

Obviously this one needs a ‘read more’ (or ‘stick it behind a cut’ as my old school livejournal brain still thinks of it) because it’s gonna be a looonnnng one ahahaha. Some of these I’ve answered already but I’m just gonna copy-paste the responses here to keep it all together, especially since I’m gonna go through question by question for the sake of fun comparisons/contrasts rather than character by character!

2. ♥ When they have a crush on someone, how do they let them know?

Ahuska finds ways to be around them as much as possible and offers rapt attention to everything they say and do, showing interest in every part of their life, even the things she’d never given a second thought for beforehand. She’ll initiate physical contact, often in that ‘accidental’ sort of way- a hand touch that lingers, sliding down a bench a little ‘too far’ and winding up pressed together at the hips, feet bumping under a table, but sometimes more overt things like snuggling down and resting her head in a lap while staying up late watching holos might happen...

Five does not crush, he’s not twelve years old. When he has an interest in someone he may spend a period of time testing for compatability, pushing and pressing for reactions, and if he finds himself still interested (but for whatever reason nothing has naturally escalated in the meanwhile), he will quite simply and overtly request private company.

4. ♥ Do they spend a lot of time in the courting stage or attempt to get to first base as fast as possible?

Ahuska likes the thought of a long courtship, being wooed and pursued, teasing and flirting and yearning... but though she doesn’t actively try to rush her way to ‘first base’, precedent definitely suggests that once the option is there, no matter the time frame, she doesn’t really hesitate.

Five considers ‘first base’ (if you must phrase it in such a juvenile fashion) to be a starting point.

7. ♥ How do they feel about polygamy?

Ahuska’s intial gut reaction, when asked, is that it’s vastly preferable to having an affair! She thinks it’s a perfectly acceptable style of relationship, but it’s not something she’s ever related to herself- the thought that she might ever find herself loving and desiring more than one someone so deeply as to want them in her life to the same degree seems so beyond the realms of possibility that it’s just never crossed her mind. (Yet.)

However; she is incredibly committed and loyal in her relationships, and if she did find herself in such a place, she wouldn’t be able to handle sneaking behind backs or lies or secrecy; the guilt and misery and betrayal of trust would be the end of her. She would have to either leave one forever unrecognised/unsatisfied, or give polygamy some long and serious thought and very open discussion.

Five doesn’t really care what other people do, but it’s irrelevant to him because it suggests any kind of committed relationship at all. He simply sees who he wants, when he wants, and if anyone gets jealous of anyone else then that sounds like a them problem.

16. ♥ Do they have at least one bonding activity they devote to doing with their partner exclusively?

Aside from the obvious, I’m not sure Ahuska makes a point of keeping any particular activity exclusive? Sweet, potentially romantic activities like stargazing and long moonlit walks might naturally happen far more with the love of her life, but I don’t think she’d ever turn down the chance to do so with a close friend either (there’d just be less... hand-holding and cheek snuggles).

One might have thought that Five had a whole host of bonding activities exclusive to a single particular person... but what with that being more of a Watcher-Cipher thing, rather than a partners thing, that ‘exclusivity’ no longer exactly completely applies, whoops. (Granted, the new Cipher is not likely to ever experience the push-off-a-building trust exercise.) That said, it’s very likely that Thirteen is actually the only person who gets to experience Five in the context of completely casual, physical, and dare I say... affectionate company.

17. ♥ What sort of characteristics or quirks draw them to someone?

Ahuska needs to see the capacity for kindness, even if it’s wrapped in a crude, brash or sharp-edged package- or maybe especially so, because she is a little bit hopeless for a show of snark, cheek, and sharp wit (provided it’s not at her expense) and someone not afraid to draw blood to protect what they care about. She loves unexpected talents like dance or musical ability being sprung on her out of the blue, and she’s weak for demonstrations of confident competence.

Five is drawn to someone who can give and take as well as he can. Intelligence, attractiveness, skill. Wit and snark quite specifically at his expense so he has the opportunity to fight back; he wants to be challenged, but not beaten. His heart thunders for someone more physically capable than himself who he can, nonetheless, bring to their knees.

18. ♥ Do they have a ‘type’?

I thought Ahuska had a type, but I seem to have discovered that her heart is not quite so specific and compatability can come in more than one shape and size. She has a lot of love to give and can find it in very unexpected places.

Five definitely goes for people who demonstrate one very specific physical characteristic.

19. ♥ What was their first impression about their partner/person they are courting?

When Ahuska first saw Crow, she was struck with the fact that he didn’t carry himself with the alpha-dog machismo she’d come to expect from fellow Mandalorians of his particular demographic. And when he turned his grin her way, he very very firmly snared her attention.

When Ahuska first met Blakk, she simply thought he was a delightful, feisty, dear little fox, and was absolutely besotted with him, if not in the way that she eventually became (after the wildest possible ride of misunderstandings and twisted events and broken trust and reforged faith).

Five, I think, would have made a very swift and completely superficial assessment, found it very pleasing (provided there was no fashion disaster occurring at the time), and opened himself up to learning more. It wouldn’t have taken long to be drawn into that personality, either.

21. ♥ What was the most romantic time they had with their partner?

Ahuska’s most romantic time with Crow would almost definitely be their space-walk through the ice fields of Saleucami, followed by some slightly less life-threatening zero gravity playtime within the safety of their ship’s cargo hold. They’ve had a lot of terribly sweet moments but I’m not sure that any compare to that honeymoon trip.

With Blakk, Ahuska has experienced a number of wonderfully romantic moments... in their shared dreams. It can be hard to compete with a world where auroras and starlight of your own creation dance to the beat of your hearts as you discover just how real you are to one another, but in many ways that last morning they spent together in person before parting, before anything between them was properly admitted or understood, waking to the warmth of the sun and sharing a long breakfast together full of soft yearning and denial of the inevitable separation to come ranks very high on the heart aching romance scale.

Five understands ‘textbook romance’ perfectly well and has probably walked through all the steps with great success a number of times when seducing marks back in his Cipher days. But when it comes to his own actual desires….. it really is hard to apply the word ‘romantic’. Granted, he does enjoy the finer things in life and takes great pride in being a very good cook, and a certain someone knows exactly how to push his buttons to get most exactly what he wants out of him when he feels like it. So there probably have been some almost ‘nice’ evenings of home cooked meals and fine wine and bath oils, at least to begin with….?

22. ♥ Tell us about a sacrifice they made for their significant other.

Ahuska gave up Clan life, the chance to rise through the ranks and be the Mandalorian she never thought she could, and a lot of her innocence, to be with and stay with Crow.

For Blakk, Ahuska broke off her current romance, turned her back on her safety net, and basically gave up everything she had... just for the hope that they might find away to actually be together.

Five gave up a significant measure of control on two distinct occassions, both of which were considerably big deals for him.

23. ♥ Do they apologize to their partner even if it wasn’t their fault?

Ahuska will readily and even pre-emptively take on the blame for almost anything. If something is genuinely her fault, she will apologise profusely and genuinely, probably through tears, and feel bad about it long after forgiveness has been given. She will offer apologies even when not directly at fault if she thinks it will help to calm down or diffuse a situation.

Five, though, doesn’t do the ‘accepting blame’ thing and certainly won’t shoulder somebody else’s. The one occassion where he has accepted responsibility, he’s never actually said the word sorry aloud, and he’s not even come clean about the real circumstances. But his guilt over the matter is expressed still to this day, through actions and gifts that are never actually directly linked to the event in question.

27. ♥ Have they had dreams about their partner/the person they are courting?

Ahuska most certainly has; dreams are a significant part of every reality she experiences, and often a way that binds them together, so naturally the significant people in her life feature prominently. She’s leery of anything that has a sense of being prophetic, but does believe she’s witnessed possible futures in her dreams and the ones that suggest a long and full life with Crow are her favourites.

Through her Force-bond with Blakk, she’s been able to actually share dreams with him, which have been very profound experiences... but at the moment her dreams are only dreams, and any real senses she gets of him vanish the moment she tries to focus enough to actually reach him. It hurts.

Five dreams as anyone does, and there’s no doubt Thirteen would feature in them regularly. Nothing magical, nothing profound or prophetic, just good old fashioned disjointed images that the brain strings together in a loose approximation of a plot. What’s most disconcerting is if he makes any sort of appearance in his recurring nightmares.

28. ♥ Do they understand their partners/person they are courting’s feelings without them having to say anything?

Ahuska becomes very attuned to the people she cares most about; she’s naturally a very sensitive person who wants to understand her partners’ feelings, and her desire to understand and do the best for the people she loves is only ever enhanced by her connection to the Force. She’s connected to Crow through all their years and shared experiences together, and being tuned into the beat of his heart definitely helps her know his feelings despite what he might show on the outside. With Blakk she has the benefit of being literally bonded through the Force but... well. Hopefully they wind up back in a position where understanding one anothers’ feelings is a legitimate thing they can do. ;_;

Five is quite astute, if not completely fool-proof, and when he puts the effort in can do quite a servicable job of knowing where someone’s feelings are at- manipulation is one of the tools of his trade, after all. Just how much he actually cares to do so is a different story, but, well... stranger things have certainly happened. He might try to claim that Thirteen is an open book to him, but that might just be what Thirteen wants him to think.

29. ♥ How do they express their love to their partner?

Ahuska gives freely and openly, her time, her energy, her patience, her body and soul. She will share anything and everything, she will take risks for her partner and forsake all the rest of the galaxy for them. She will find little tokens to gift them; she will feature them amongst her sketches regularly, she will listen to them and back them up and walk beside them on the most foolardy of pursuits. She will find what matters to them, she will discover what they react and respond to best, and she will make it so. Ahuska doesn’t know how to love in any way other than giving it her all.

Five would never use so soft and loaded a term as ‘love’. That is for a completely different caliber of people, people he cares little for. Allowing someone into his apartment, into his personal space, is a reasonable demonstration fo trust. Giving someone his time outside of and completely unrelated to work is a monumental demonstration of fondness. A willingness to touch and be touched outside of immediate bedroom activities is a grand display of affection. Offering financial assistance/security is an unspoken indication that someone matters to him. Lump it all together and he’d still sooner shoot himself in the foot than admit aloud that he cares.

#ahuska asks #watcher five asks #relationship asks #omg i need to go sleep #ahahaha #apologies if this is riddled with typos and chopped up sentences #what an exercise in contrasts #tyty for asking!!#i love mulling over these things #i hope the answers satisfied #I'm too tired to make an objective judgement 8)

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ettadunham · 5 years

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A Buffy rewatch 6x12 Doublemeat Palace

aka (too) real life horror (comedy)

Welcome to this dailyish (weekly? bi-weekly?) text post series where I will rewatch an episode of Buffy and go on an impromptu rant about it for an hour. Is it about one hyperspecific thing or twenty observations? 10 or 3k words? You don’t know! I don’t know!!! In this house we don’t know things.

And today’s hot take is that Doublemeat Palace is actually fun? Let’s talk about it.

One of the many things that I love about Buffy, is that when you ask people to pick a favorite or least favorite of the show, whether it’s an episode, season or character, the answers you’ll get will vary a lot. Well, alright, there’s usually a general consensus, and yes, Once More, With Feeling is most people’s favorite episode; but ask someone to pick their favorite season, and their answer may surprise you.

This variety is probably most apparent when it comes to generally disliked Buffy episodes. No matter how hated it may seem, how its rating is by any metrics, there is no Buffy episode without its fans. And those can come with or without the guilty pleasure label.

I’ve already planted my flag by episodes like I Robot, You Jane and Beer Bad. I especially got a lot out of the latter, not even gonna lie. Meanwhile I was genuinely surprised to find that some people really like Go Fish, an episode that’s about at the bottom of the barrel on my own list. But isn’t that kind of fascinating? Someone looked at the same episode I did, and got something completely different out of it. And we could probably see and understand each other’s points of view on it as well if we got right down to it. What a concept.

I know, I know, art is up for interpretation, shocking revelation made by Tumblr user ettadunham, and I am so not here to get into a rant about that right now. We’ll have plenty of opportunities to fire up that discussion later on, especially as my original intention here was just to lay back and appreciate the delicious weirdness of Doublemeat Palace.

Rolling back to that earlier point, this is for a lot of people is exactly that type of bottom of the barrel episode we mentioned before. Which means that it’s already had that underdog status going for it, as I sat down for my rewatch.

Well, actually, when I sat down I didn’t really remember that I was about to watch Doublemeat Palace, because somehow I’ve yet to memorize the complete Buffy episode list. Not gonna lie, I was mostly just expecting a general downer. Something focusing on Buffy and Willow’s misery with minimal Scoobies interactions, and so I was already thinking of how to compare that with season 5… But then the episode started with a scene between Xander, Anya and Willow discussing the Trio and the capitalist values of demons vs. supervillains, and I was already delighted.

And it only gets weirder from there. Buffy’s new job at the local fast food restaurant is presented as a horror story, and sure, there is eventually murder and monsters involved, but my favorite thing about that is that most of the horror comes from the actual life scenario itself. I’ve never worked at a fast food place, but the high turnover rate, the menial job, the manager who is trying to sell you on the company lines and brainwash you to believe that you actually want to work there 5 years from now… That stuff should be familiar for anyone ever working at a low-end corporate job.

I just love how the directing heightens that effect, as the camera tilts and focuses on the machines and the repetition, and the people spacing out. It’s a bit of quasi-horror comedy that also comes from the absurdity of life itself.

Buffy’s weird co-workers for instance? They all have their own distinct characters and I actually find them completely believable. If I was the guy who worked by that grill machine, and at some point had to go to the doctor to remove the grease from my ears, I’d probably think that that was a fun work story to tell too.

Buffy having at least five theories about what’s the “secret ingredient” in the burger - one of them being cats I guess – is also just the kind of morbid humor I’d expect in a place like that.

I guess if you go into this episode for the first time, you could get lost in the red herring of it all, or just wait for the demon reveal to explain the extremely high turnover. But for me, I found that the most enjoyable experience was to focus less on the literal meaning of Spike’s “this place will kill you”, and more on just how depressing the meat grind of corporate culture can be, especially for those at the bottom of its food chain.

Haha, see what I did there. Although as we learn from the plot twist, Doublemeat Palace was actually selling Impossible Whoppers before it was cool rather than an actual meat product. The real hipster of fast food chains.

I also just want to appreciate Buffy’s Captain America-like shirt (but with a heart!!) after she’s fired, and is about to start a corporate revolt. Bless her heart.

By the end of the episode of course, Buffy gets her job back and decides to stay on. Because money. Now there’s some real horror for you.

In other news, Amy has truly established herself as Willow’s Ethan-like foil for the series. She has all the angst, the grudge and chaotic energy for it for sure. It’s honestly a bit of a bummer that she didn’t get a lot more to do on the show from this point on. (I think she’s in the comics though? Again, it’s been a long time…)

Willow’s last words to her though. “If you’re really my friend, you better stay away from me. And if you really aren’t… you better stay away from me.” The change in her tone of voice by that last part! I’m scared and this isn’t even Murder Willow. Yet.

I also feel like pointing out that the whole eyes going dark phenomenon came up before in season 5 when she went after Glory and the whole magic trip she went on in Wrecked… But also in 6x04, when she and Tara were doing a spell to help Buffy fight some interdimensional ghost demon. At some point, Willow let go of Tara’s hand, her eyes went black, and she just said “solid”.

And the spell suddenly worked.

Based on that, and also some season 7 context, the whole black eyes thing seems to indicate whenever Willow is tapping into some greater, more volatile power. Or – especially in this case, where magic was clearly transferred to her – something that is outside of herself. More on that in season 7 probably.

Meanwhile Halfrek responded to Anya’s wedding invite in an insanely memorable scene of the show, and is now that friend who’s only relationship advice is “dump him”. Not that I can blame her per se...

Xander is clearly not over his own fears, and visibly reacts when Willow makes a comment about his impending happily ever after with Anya. Halfrek passive aggressively pointing out to Anya Xander’s attitude towards her feels a bit petty, but there’s truth to that as well. Anya may be weird, but some of Xander’s comments actually question whether or not he even likes her as a person.

That being said, that isn’t always the case. Xander is extremely sweet with Anya, including all her quirks throughout most of their relationship in season 5, I think. I would need to go back to those episodes to confirm this, but my running theory is that Xander’s fears regarding their upcoming wedding might have caused him to regress a bit in that regard. And as we know, Xander being the emotional one of their group tends to fail at introspection when it comes to his feelings.

Again, I’m not quite confident in that assessment of regression, so take that with a grain of salt. I would really need to rewatch season 5 again and keep more of an eye on their relationship, so this is mostly just a hunch for now.

Somehow, in the midst of all this, Dawn ends up being my lowkey MVP for the episode. She shows a lot of understanding towards her sister, as she laments that Buffy will probably be stuck in minimal-wage jobs for most of her life, because of her Slayer and other responsibilities. Meanwhile Dawn has much more freedom to choose – and that’s largely due to Buffy’s own personal sacrifices.

I feel like this is probably also the first instance we see Dawn truly interacting with Willow post-Wrecked, and it’s her walking up to Willow, asking her if she’s okay. Dawn Summers is precious, and good, and you can’t change my mind.

Now, who’s ready to get really fucking genuinely disturbed with our next episode?

#buffy rewatch 2k19 #btvs talk #btvs

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therecklessseeking-blog · 6 years

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June 25, 2018 Funnel Chasing in Iowa

I woke up super early one Monday morning. By super early I mean 8 am, because I’m normally sleeping until noon or later easily. For some reason, the night before I was able to pass out in time for me to be well-rested.

The trip that day was a split-moment decision. I remember lying in bed cycling through the morning ritualized web pages- weather.org, the SPC, weather.us and then over to my favorite radar app to see what was currently underway.

What I saw was that nice yellow bubble at the top of Missouri into Iowa with a 5% chance of tornadoes, but for some reason I wasn’t actually in the mood to drive out that far. I have a desperation to teleport sometimes. I like road trips. I like being far away. I like the freedom that comes with tourism, and the lack of true obligation. God, are the usual routes boring though. You can only travel on 70 so many times before you’re numbed to the usual array of fields and impatient drivers.

I knew that I was leaving for somewhere though, and I get out of the house by 845 am. It wasn’t a bad turn around to get up, dressed and packed within 45 minutes. My hallmark is indecision, and that can waste a lot of my time.

What was eating at me though was exactly where to go. Sure, there was that nice spot to the north, but the soaring index on weather.us also hinted at the vast amount of severe storms that would move northeast across the Ozarks straight to my county. And the timing suggested that I could explore cave-ridden and creek-laden areas for a few hours before they really started to develop.

As I traveled further and further west down 70, I knew that I would have to make a decision- and to be honest, for some reason I was really fixated on what all the data was saying about the southern routes I had in mind. Places like Sedalia and back roads to the southwest. Plus, since the storms would develop within Kansas and move east, it would be a longer chase. A chase that followed me.

There was a lot of anxiety surrounding that decision though. At the last minute, I kept asking the universe to synchronize some sign into my life. And oddly enough, it appeared in the clouds itself. They hung low, and moved north. I saw the curls I like to see, and one cloud curled itself right into an arrow. North it is.

But f*** driving all that way into Kansas City. I hate city driving, and Kansas City is one of the worst I’ve ever been to yet. I feared more wasted time just based off the inevitable urban traffic.

I’d been looking at the radar every 20 to 30 minutes and I noticed that the low pressure system sitting over Nebraska had already spawned some storms moving up interstates 29 and 35 around St. Joseph, which was another hour and a half away from me. I’ll admit I wasted quite a bit of time getting food, getting lost on the way to food, and then-having a bit of that anxiety earlier -taking a bit too long staring at the radar at one or two exits to decide what I was doing. Oh well.

I figured that I’d make it to MO-13 and go north from there. It’s an older highway, and it goes through some towns you can tell have been raised and broken down in history. This included Lexington, stage of a huge battle during the civil war. The long, rolling fields were stunning. And time consuming. I still had the paranoia that I was driving farther and farther from home on a weak whim. At least everyone was speeding.

I knew that taking MO-13 far enough would lead me to Interstate 35, but apparently that road has been closed for a while just beyond Hamilton, so I decided to sit behind a Dollar General for a second and check out a map. US-36 west would solve that issue immediately, and save me a lot of time. Meanwhile, I get a notification on my phone that the storm chaser/patreon I follow, Pecos Hank, was also aiming for that slight risk zone. Based on the clouds I’d seen coming up 13 off to my west, and the winds in my favorite app, I felt an increasing confidence in my decision of North vs South, and I race on. I reach Interstate 35 by 1:20 pm.

Now, I don’t normally recommend speeding at all. I’m a 5-over-the-limit type of person any other time. But as I’m looking at both the radar and the sky more and more on the approach, I realize that the show is setting up. There’s a bit of convection to the east and west of me. They all just looked like heavy rain so far, but my anxiety was increasing. There was an active range of over 70-90 miles easily, with some storms steadily popping up and moving quickly in the east right over Princeton Mo, and then of course the storms that had already been active near the Kansas/Nebraska border much closer to the low pressure system.

Just before 3 pm, I’ve reached Eagleville MO and jump off the highway to look at the radar. There's a new wave of convection to the south of me, filling in the rainless middle ground and heading north towards me. What I also notice is an organized line of storms approaching the Missouri river heading northeast. I’m near the convergence zone of these storms, and that’s exactly what I’m looking for.

Quickly, I choose a few roads to work their magic. North on US-69, west on MO-46, and not a car in sight I ride the hills to view the horizons bringing me the results. On a bend of 46, I manage to find a nice little hill to take a picture or two and check out any sheer in the clouds.

I still had just under an hour left though. The line to the west was moving much faster than the individual cells to the south and I could just barely make them out on the horizon, so my goal is to move more slowly to the converging point and stake out various places to watch the clouds set themselves up.

Hatfield showed some promise. Just a few houses, some of them abandoned:

There’s a natural area an eighth of a mile south of Hatfield called Pawnee Prairie that did the trick. The parking area was a nice clear overlook on top of a treeless hill, with a few farmers fields surrounding the area. Google says I sat there for close to 30 minutes as I watched the cells approach me. My camera failed to record like I asked it to, but what I noticed was the signs of low pressure. Low hanging clouds rush in west ahead of the storms, as if they gravitated to something else. With all precipitation on the radar heading either north or northeast, there was definitely something hidden happening in the sky. I abandon Pawnee Prairie and continue west down 46, stopping to find a field or two to take more pictures

15 miles away, my actual target was around Grant City MO. The line I’d spotted earlier was only growing stronger and closing in, and it was a race to find a suitable space for viewing. Suitable here means “tall, clear hill with a drive-able road and space to pull off to the side.” None of which is ever guaranteed nor marked with a sign, and as I close in on Grant City, I realize just how close that storm in getting and just how massive that storm became.

I still had no real intention on running into Iowa just yet though. The storms were only yet to arrive and something screamed “STAY!” Turning north onto US-169 I spotted the one road that would be suitable for my needs. North Lyon St (CR 286) is a dirt road springing off the top of Grant City, and right on top of the very hill that originally blocked the westward view from 169. It overlooked a large amount of the western fields, and although quite a bit of the southern sky was blocked by trees, I managed to get nearly 20 minutes of video of the wall cloud and heavily developing rain on the front end of the storm.

The thing was, while I spent so much time looking off to the west, I never moved myself to see what was to the south edge of the system. I had my prize view and signs of very minor rotation, and when I get that much, moving is paranoia. As the rain began falling over me my video quality was dropping, with auto-focus fixated on the droplets on my window. That’s when I checked radar.

Oddly enough, just south of me, a little hook echo had been forming, and I’m off speeding again. Trying to avoid the holes of this little dirt road in the rain was a challenge enough, but keeping my head clear as I race back south down 169 into Grant City was another challenge. I backed into someone’s driveway across from the second Dollar General of the day and began recording what eventually would form into the funnel I had been waiting for.

Now this video is a compilation of the whole event- from suitable hill to the chase it lead me on straight into Iowa up US-169. If you want the most interesting parts only, I guess my advice is to skip ahead 5 minutes

youtube

I’ll admit that parts of the audio are cut out to make it family friendly. When the funnel was forming straight ahead of me, there was still this vague aura of control over the situation. I had a southern escape route right across the street, and for a while, I felt not fear but exhilaration and joy. To think I could have missed the opportunity by going to Sedalia, right?

Any way, what I figured out was I’m completely silent until I repetitively cuss myself out for about 5 minutes in totality. No offense to myself, but what I realized after it passed over me and headed towards the hill was that it might really drop- in which case, I know better. That thing could have thrown any part of those trees at me. I had the legitimate warning of every storm chaser and meteorologist spinning around me faster than the funnel. While it’s great to have video of a tornado, it’s just stupid to film yourself getting hit by one.

I stalk it up 169, cross the Iowa border, and she’s still rotating nicely. I’m trying to find some sort of country road that would let me see over all the bad hill-and-tree combos. I started to understand why chasing in Iowa was such a tease. It’s beautiful, and the twisters are willing to twist but they play “The Floor is Lava” better. It was probably all the hills causing that.

While there are definitely less trees than my part of Missouri and the Ozarks south, man are all the views sporadic. I found myself leaving 169 for a few minutes when I’d found a hill, realizing that the storm was progressing too far ahead of me, and then racing back to catch the ground I lost.

It was also these hills that let me realize this rotation was dying.

Everything’s just started though, and I’m getting a bit scrambled trying to trace where the rotation is trying to head off to while not getting caught in some downpour. There’s just something about the middle of nowhere that makes phones slower and vague and while I’d bought a road map book of everywhere I could possibly end up that day, unless I had some sort of radar on the top of my car strictly to run my own data, I’m running the majority of this chase on finding hills for views and then routes to get over there.

That’s pretty much were I detoured the wrong way- watching the sky too much and missing a turn that would have landed me in the dense rain that popped up to my east. Instead, my stubborn self caught the most vivid rainbow I’ve ever witnessed- on a route that led me on a scenic view of a town that had no good road to the main roads I was aiming for. I’m left with a phone camera that couldn’t necessary capture how grand it was, but I’ll always remember it.

Looking back, it was sort of a mixed blessing to view the storms at such a distance. I was never really caught in any rain, but the hesitancy I had to really approach from the main paved roads caused me to lose track of it. The problem was that the main highways ran straight into any cells path moving north, and these elongated monsters moved fast and heavy. Any parallel path I found though was slippery (dirt and water don’t let you move any faster than 40 miles per hour either) and always carried the greater risk of concealing the horizon behind trees.

I did manage to find a few hills that made me realize just how much rotation a slight risk area can involve. Looking across the valleys around me, I spotted at least three wall clouds either rotating or forming around me. Two belonged to the same elongated cell maybe a good 5 miles to the east that had dumped so much rain in front of me earlier on.

There it was again- that overwhelming need to teleport. The anxiety only increased with an overwhelming need to be everywhere at once too. Complete storm omniscience is all I was really asking for. It's so toxic that it's hard to make decisions, and made me increasingly impatient with myself to get going. I appreciate the view, but I always realize that I fall behind. Soon I'll lose the storms to the same hills and back roads I vouch for.

It's easier to just post a map outlining the route rather than explaining it, because I elected a ton of back roads filled with charming old buildings that only served to keep me out of the action, but still in view of something happening.

As I got closer to Des Moines, I realized two things:

A) Nighttime was approaching within the hour, and I didn't have the best camera for all the amazing lightning happening, nor would I be able to see any rain or tornadoes approaching me on my drive home B) My cell phone only has so much memory, AND I've literally filled it all with clouds and cat pictures. Not to mention several 10-13 minute long videos of rotation from this and previous chases. This phone brand doesn't even contain bloatware either, so I've definitely outdone myself.

Yet I still record

youtube

I find an exit off of interstate 35 just a few miles south of Des Moines to sit and stare over the clearest horizon I've found yet. I'm refusing to give up the fight. I start to delete selfies, apps, games- anything for just a bit of memory. I start spamming my snapchat story with videos knowing that I'd have 24 hours to download anything I uploaded. All for one of the greatest sunsets I've seen yet, and a lot of SLCs (too bad my snapchat segregated the videos into fragments).

What I was most upset about was the phone thing. Nighttime storms are my favorite, and because night is the exact time that most severe storms roll through my area I was accustomed to chasing them more. This time I'd be left with nothing to show, nothing to save. The clouds glowed with rapid fire. I could tell with the intensity of each strike, these storms still had quite a while before they decided to retire, and I begrudgingly begin to drag myself down the highway home. It'll take me 5 hours- if I don't stop.

For a while I have to. Just a few miles out of Des Moines, I thought these tornadoes were coming for me anyway. There were still warnings active of course. There had been for a few hours. But I realized with the downpour, the radar, the split second views of scud to the north, and the fierce power of the wind under my car that I might very well have been in the draft suctioning into the storm. The rain fell sideways. In fact, it wasn't even falling. I stopped at a Casey's and even being under the shelter at the furthest point the rain could enter from, I was still absolutely soaked getting a literal seven dollars worth of gas. I gave up.

As I carry on, maybe an hour out, the sky is clearing, and I see the cloud tops of numbed cumulonimbus under a full moon and the active ones still firing off to the north. Dreamy, I think. Absolutely dreamy. I'd pull off to gawk, but something tells me the highway patrol won't like it too much with a “DO NOT PICK UP HITCHHIKERS” sign posted nearby.

Thanks for reading.

#june 25 2018 #severe weather #storm chasing #funnel #storm chase

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anghraine · 7 years

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Would you mind elaborating on your thoughts re: parallels between han/leia and jyn/cassian? I was reading your tags on it and they are glorious (and so is your fic :DDD) Thank you!

Heeeh, sure!

(The tags in question are here.)

The Jyn-Han parallels are definitely the most overt and widely acknowledged, so I’m going to start with Cassian-Leia.

One of Cassian’s most piercing lines is “Suddenly the Rebellion is real for you? Some of us live it.” And it’s difficult to think of anything that could better describe Leia Organa. It’s the essential tragedy of Leia’s character. She doesn’t die. She just lives and lives and lives it, and when danger signs crop up again as a fifty-something general, she doesn’t palm the fight off on someone else but consumes herself in the cause all over again—if she ever stopped, which, not really.

(You know that if Cassian had lived, he’d be right there the moment that Leia came calling. RED, Star Wars edition.)

And, like Cassian, the cause has been the cornerstone not just of her adult life but her entire life. Leia is the natural daughter of one of the founders of the Rebellion and Darth Vader. She is adopted by one of the other founders. She’s brought up in the heart of the Rebellion. She’s an Imperial senator at around sixteen, not because she has any flair or liking for legislative politics, but as a shield for her activities as a covert agent of the Rebellion—again, shades of Cassian. We don’t know when, exactly, Leia got involved with the Rebellion, but she’s a hardened Rebel agent by her teens, refusing to reveal her secrets under torture or even genocide.

Speaking of genocide, it’s hard to think of a character who more profoundly “lost everything” than Leia in ANH. We don’t get as close an examination of its effects with her, despite her prominence over three movies (*hiss*), but we certainly get enough to see its effects. Leia’s horrific loss only intensifies her dedication to the Rebellion, to the point that she’s completely consuming herself in it come ESB. Her conviction, her sense of duty, her relentless determination—that’s where her grief goes. Just like Cassian.

Leia is also the hardest of the main three, I’d say, despite Han’s pretenses to it. She’s not the most brash; that’s clearly Han. She’s not the angriest; it’s Luke who loses his mind in rage, never Leia (fandom reductionism aside). But Leia is tough, and abrasive, and doesn’t stop at much in pursuit of her ends. She’s judgmental of the less committed and the less capable; she can be intensely self-righteous, without feeling the high of righteousness that many other characters do, the sense of glory. She just believes so, so much, and she’s willing to throw everything she has into the service of that sharp-edged idealism.

On top of that, Leia is tightly linked with hope. There’s the famous That boy was our last hope -> There is another—Leia as the true last hope. There’s the bittersweet hopeful ending of ROTS, with baby Leia on doomed Alderaan. There’s Leia’s single-minded dedication to the plans and explicit description of them as the last hope. And of course, there’s Leia in RO and her one word—hope. Yet it’s not that Leia is at all positive by temperament. We don’t see much in the way of silver linings from her; if anything, she tends to the doubtful and fatalistic (as does Luke btw). For Leia, hope is an ethical approach to the world, a conscious moral choice.

For me, it’s best understood through another fandom—JRR Tolkien. Tolkien distinguishes between forms of hope in his various works. Probably the most prominent exploration is Frodo vs Sam. Sam has “hope unquenchable,” an innate optimism that is never quenched by his suffering and loss. It’s a matter of staying true to the integrity of his character. But Frodo loses all sense of optimism, and yet trudges on through sheer belief and endurance, even though it ultimately breaks him. Leia and Cassian are much more the Frodos of the equation.

Meanwhile, it’s clear (and has been repeatedly admitted) that Jyn’s character is essentially based on Luke and Han rolled into one. She definitely has Han’s devil-may-care, I-take-orders-from-me attitude. She never exactly says “I’m not in this for your revolution,” but the sentiment underlies plenty of what she does say. And that attitude is at least as fundamental to the clash with Cassian as Han’s is with Leia (and Luke).

There’s some fandom bullshit about Jyn “stealing” Cassian’s line that rebellions are built on hope. That’s stupid. But I do believe it matters that Cassian is the source.

There’s a criticism (I think a fair one) that we don’t really see how Jyn and Cassian get from their ideological showdown to his intense faith in her and her swerve to hopeful idealism. But it’s evident that Cassian, without relinquishing a sliver of his ideals or commitment, pulled his eyes from the skies enough to really consider the living people around him and work towards balancing the two (a struggle that dominates Leia’s life).

And I think that’s the significance of the fact that her big speech on hope, on hope as action, includes a word-for-word repetition of what Cassian told her. Jyn’s hope is born from his. And this happens pretty directly after Cassian lashed back at her over her self-interest and apathy. I don’t think she’s just parroting him; her feelings about him are in general much too complex at this point for that, even if it were at all characteristic. And it’s—

Well, let’s go to Han for a moment. His actions are overwhelmingly driven by the self: self-preservation, self-interest, and the people who matter to him personally. While he more or less supports the Rebellion in theory, he’s propelled into action not because he believes, but because he loves people who do. (As a sidenote, he seems to be drawn to those sorts of people; Chewie, Luke, and Leia are all hardline idealists, and in a twisted way, so is Kylo Ren.)

We see some of this with Jyn. She is there for personal gain (her freedom) and over her personal relationships to Saw and especially Galen. It’s hard not to feel that her father’s work and sacrifice is a significant motivation for her swerve (as she is a significant part of Galen’s motivation!). But even after the message, she remains very much in ME AND MINE mode until the fight with Cassian. While he isn’t the source of her newfound belief, IMO he is the clear inspiration for it.

I don’t think Jyn is someone who bothers much with abstractions on her own (again, like Han). But she has a sort of subterranean idealism that leads her to impulsive acts of principle like trying to protect the little girl at Jedha. Her instinct isn’t going to be “save the galaxy,” it’s going to be save this person right in front of me. Unlike Han.

People, actual living individuals in front of her, matter more than abstract conglomerates. But when someone bothers to make her understand—even as furiously as Cassian did—she can translate personal benevolence onto a broader scale. At heart, she wants to believe in something, and the conscious, disciplined ethic of hope in those around her can kickstart her own good will into good will for the galaxy. And it becomes not just borrowed vision, but a heartfelt one of her own.

That’s actually most like Luke. He’s an idealist at his core, but also often descends into fatalism or apathy. Early on, his Call to Adventure is framed specifically in terms of the fight against the Empire. Far more than Han, he supports it—he’s eager to hear about the Rebellion and freely admits to hating the Empire—but nevertheless, he rejects it in favour of personal concerns. His own family needs him, and it’s so far away from here. That is very, very close to Jyn.

Also like Jyn, he has an innately kind, generous personality. But it’s very much in the personal, immediate sense. His own commitment to the Rebellion is propelled by the Empire’s destruction of his life, his intense preoccupation with his father’s legacy as filtered through Obi-Wan, but most of all, Leia’s example. From the first he’s both deeply concerned by her and inspired by her. But again, it’s not that he simply adopts her ideals. He develops ideals through, among other things, her influence. I think what goes on with Jyn and Cassian is fundamentally the same thing.

(It’s worth mentioning that Luke ultimately wanders out of the Rebellion to follow his own spiritual path and connect with his father. Both of these are in line with Rebellion goals, but that is a happy coincidence. This isn’t to say that his belief in the Rebellion is shallow, because I don’t remotely think it is, but Jyn is ultimately more dedicated to the cause as far as we see. Now, Jyn also dies early in her potential character arc, and I think it is very, very probable that she would have the same struggle and, where urgent, choose the people she loves over serving the cause. Nevertheless.)

The end result, I think, is that Cassian as a clear variation of “the Leia,” with Jyn functioning as the Han and the Luke, creates a similar but very distinct relationship from Han/Leia. Like that one, there’s a mix of raw attraction and quickly developing respect vs radically different priorities and ideologies. But Jyn/Cassian is at all points milder than Han/Leia and much more, hm, symbiotic. Certainly so after their conciliation—from that point, there’s this bedrock of mutual faith, a deep affinity and tenderness that’s more like Luke and Leia’s relationship.

Jyn and Cassian don’t just accept each other’s differences. They actively close the gap between their personalities, that mutual influence bringing out the latent similarity beneath Jyn’s self-absorption and Cassian’s ruthlessness. It allows them to recognize themselves in each other and easily sync up, even after knowing each other such a short time. Han and Leia, a married couple of thirty years, can never cross that gap. They love each other, they try to be gentle and tolerant with each other, but as we see in TFA, it’s not something they can seriously maintain.

#ishipallthings #respuestas #nice things people say to me #anghraine's meta #leia skywalker organa #cassian andor #han solo #jyn erso #luke skywalker #otp: welcome home #han x leia #the skywalker twins #*squints*#just in case i guess i'll go #hanleia critical #star wars #genocide for ts

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thefootballlife · 6 years

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Don’t Say It’s Coming Home! - Did England really get arrogant during the World Cup?

Ever since England were knocked out of the World Cup by Croatia, a debate has rumbled on. In Luka Modric’s post-match interview, he stated that he felt Croatia weren’t given respect by the English media and the English public and that that was fuel to the fire for their performance in defeating England in the Semi Final.

Even after England’s duties in Russia were finished once and for all with their Third Place Playoff defeat to Belgium, those remarks still sting. Gary Lineker on Twitter:

“Dear non English football fans.

Football’s coming home is a fun song highlighting the lack of success of our football team for decades. No one really thought we’d win it. I totally get why you might think it was arrogance, but it’s more our self deprecatory sense of humour.”

Obviously, we’ll ignore that Gary Lineker doesn’t know what Three Lions is called, in spite of it being number one in the charts. Meanwhile, Guillem Balague, Britain’s most popular Rent-a-Spaniard, chimed in with this:

“Read interviews/spoke with Croat players. They saw #ComingHome signing as disrespectful mostly because it CONFIRMED what they thought of the English. U might say it was all a joke (it felt less of one after #COL), I’m telling you how it was perceived. Maybe something to consider”

His replies were a bit of a sewer…

Talksport: Modric could have done a little bit of research and realised most English media have been hailing him as player of the tournament and wowing about the Croatia midfield. But that doesn't fit the hate English agenda I suppose.

Geoff Shreeves: Guillem this is all becoming a bit tired. Who’s is the accepted judgement of the difference between belief and arrogance? Show me the articles that disrespected Croatia? And do you accept the possibility of twisting a narrative to self motivate?

Gary Neville: What was in their minds in the first half when not playing well?Did the Croatian manager switch his phone on at half time and show them some memes of coming home? It’s a complete nonsense to think that a footballer is really thinking about uncontrollable elements during a game .

Henry Winter: Croatia praised extensively in English media before/after game. Croatia won't have to put up with 'Football's Coming Home' when England visit in Oct as - much to English fans' frustration - the NL tie is behind closed doors following the offensive behaviour of some Croatian fans.

Balague is, of course, 100% right but that doesn’t fit the agenda of the English commentators replying who all appear to have taken the opinion that it’s only England that’s allowed to weaponise nationalism.

Being the person who was writing about exactly what the Croatian papers were saying on twitter, the fact is that the pre-amble from the English media and public was taken as insulting. Specific mention was given to David Beckham’s Instagram “it’s coming home” video which wasn’t a meme, it was England’s most recognisable ex-footballer supping a glass of wine and saying “It’s Coming Home”. In fact, as Balague says, from the Colombia game onwards, the jingoism, be it real or self-deprecating, was wound up to the extreme. Wednesday’s front pages included “England Expects!” and “To boldly go where only 11 Englishmen have gone before” and “90 Minutes from the Final Against France”. Even before the Colombia game, the talk of “the easy side of the draw” was endemic.

Were Croatia given respect? Of course. Was it on Paragraph 6, line 44 below all the rabble rousing? Obviously. And, let’s be entirely honest, the Croatian media and the Croatian players seeing all of this aren’t going to attune themselves with Jonathan Wilson dissecting the game tactically and strategically, they’re going to be aware of what makes the biggest noise and that was thousands upon thousands of people singing “It’s Coming Home”. Croatians took that as a serious statement and will no matter how much a Gary Lineker may moan that it’s just self-deprecating and the reason that is is because humour rarely translates.

Up until a couple of weeks ago, I was unaware it was self-deprecating. In fact, according to David Baddiel, it’s not self-deprecating and he, more than anyone, should know: “it's about still believing in England, even when history and everyone is telling you they will fail… ...when England start to do well, can sound more like an assertion than a wish. But either way, one can't control others perceptions”

Obviously, that’s far too sensible for some people to understand, To some it’s a joke, to some it’s a wish, to some it’s an assertion and, if one doesn’t have English as their first language, of course it’s an assertion. Three Lions isn’t in and of itself an expression of arrogance or jingoistic national pride, it’s far too melancholic for that - the verses specifically go through English failures and are about convincing oneself to believe in the improbable. But going around just shouting or just having clips of “It’s Coming Home!” don’t exactly provide for nuance. Baddiel’s refrain in the original of “So many jokes, so many sneers, But all those oh so nears wear you down through the years” is about as far from arrogant as one could get but that’s not the bit of the song anyone sings.

Did it fuel Croatia? Yes. It was pretty obvious that the alleged English arrogance rubbed everyone up the wrong way before the match to anyone paying attention - the news on the day of the match compared the game to Ivanisevic vs Henman at Wimbledon in 2001, Igor Stimac described England as having been “overwhelmed by arrogance” and Vecernji said Croatia would “lower England’s imperialist flag”. Whatever your thoughts on England and the passion of their fans, that the Croatian press weaponised English nationalism is undeniable and that that’s the only story that got through to the Croatian camp is borne out by their pre-match comments, their post-match comments and, arguably, by their performance during the match.

Were England really arrogant? If anything, the only person to whom that question should be asked is Gareth Southgate if all the fuss being made on these shores affected his players. You wouldn’t expect it to have and, given that Southgate was utterly out-thought by Dalic, even if players had felt a tinge of complacency, it’s hardly the only (or even the main) reason Croatia won that game. If anything, perhaps much of the truth of it is how much English figures have protested about it not being a factor for Croatia that proves that it was.

Whatever, the fact remains is that, courtesy of the Vatreni, it definitely didn’t come home.

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houstonlocalus-blog · 7 years

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In Review: Bedouine, Ohmme, Shabazz Palaces and more

James Elkington. Photo courtesy of Timothy Harris

JAMES ELKINGTON: Wintres Woma

A resumé is a document of qualification, and James Elkington has quite a superb resumé. The British guitarist and vocalist has played with Steve Gunn extensively and has lent guitar to everyone from Jeff Tweedy to Tara Jane O’Neil. And last year, as Jeff Parker had to sit out some shows, Elkington even filled in as a member of Tortoise. It’s also worth mentioning the criminally overlooked album Ambsace that he collaborated on with the equally fantastic Nathan Salsburg. I say all of this as an unnecessary selling point to Elkington’s solo debut album, Wintres Woma, a collection of mainly acoustic gems that is as musically magical as it is at times slightly humorous. One advantage of playing with others is understanding how to accent a preexisting base. And by coloring within established lines, Elkington helps to define and detail his compositions, and this is a strength of his playing. Even with the use of one guitar, the songs sound fleshed out and full. His track,“Make It Up,” has a percussive base without actual percussion, and it moves along with a pace and rhythm that reveals Elkington’s prowess. A similar effect is used on “Greatness Yet To Come.” Even flourishes of pedal steel, cello, or viola present themselves only as falling leaves or slight hues next to the plenitude of Elkington’s sound. There is also a keen understanding of tone and celerity on this album. Additionally, there are some pretty magical moments in the tracks “Sister Of Mine” and “Grief Is Not Coming,” sentimental ballads that are more about beauty than dexterity. The lyrics of the songs in this album are chock-full of observational humor and understated elegance. It’s a wonderful album, absolutely fucking wonderful.

Bedouine. Photo courtesy of Bedouine

BEDOUINE: s/t

There are times when music is massively human and moving in a altruistic way. Syrian-born, LA-based artist Bedouine has a new self-titled album that accomplishes that feat by creating and emoting beauty and presence in a simple, understated way. Take, for instance, “Nice and Quiet,” a song of exiting a relationship. “I’ve tried so hard to be there for you, It seems that may mean disappearing for you,” read the lyrics of the song. Or consider the equally resplendent “Back To You,” a song of love within the bombast of the everyday. “They talk in exclamation marks, I’m still dying to know what’s so exciting,” go the lyrics of that song. It’s about the feeling of disconnect with your surroundings while relying on the connection with another. “Can lives so designed be sustained?” asks Bedouin. Wrapped in Van Morrison/Dusty Springfield soul, with tinges of jazz and country, these songs are tunes of quiet afternoons and mystic nights. Bedouine’s voice is calm and assuring, easing you into each tune. The brilliant “Solitary Daughter” extolls the joys of alone time, of the world of the mind and peace. “I don’t need your company to feel saved…Leave me alone to the charcoal and the dancing shadow,” read the lyrics to that one. And then there’s “Summer Cold,” that in spite of its tranquility still protests “I’ve had enough of your guns and ammunition.” This album is excellent in that it fits that part of life that is needed to makes sense of the world. It cannot be all extreme (sadness, anger, or joy), and it is not all running. Sometimes there is a stroll that is needed, and sometimes there is a need to take it in and consider it more instead of always acting and responding. These are songs for thinking, songs that provide space for thought. “Never thought I’d see the day that I would be at ease to say that everything around me is exactly as it should be,” muses Bedouine in one of the songs.

The Peacers. Photo courtesy of the band.

THE PEACERS: Introducing The Crimsmen

The Peacers are purveyors of rock n’ roll, the particular class of rock n’ roll that is made in bedrooms and garages and in the minds of those who see song and form as instrumental to the magic of rock n’ roll. I stress rock n’ roll to suggest tradition because The Peacers cover ground from Big Star to The Beatles, and from Pussy Galore to Cream, on their new album Introducing the Crimsmen. It is rock, but haunted by the ghosts in the room. The track “Hoz” floats into the room and shakes the curtains, flicks some lights off, and on and disappears. It is strange but also grooving. The Peacers embody the implied line between the present and the otherworldly, and their track “ Child Of The Season” is reverbed balladry, sweet and blues and mystical. “D.T.M.T.Y.C.Y.M” is pure, it is the Lennon/McCartney (more Lennon), and as soon as it grasps you, it lets you go. It’s is a tease and you leave titillated. Meanwhile the track “Aboriginal Flow” is skronk and T. Rex, it is a trashcan fire outside of the blues club. The Peacers are rock n’ roll illustriousness. We make so much of things, but magic is always magic — abracadabra motherfuckers.

Ohmme. Photo by Sarah Hess

OHMME- s/t

Sima Cunningham and Macie Stewart comprise the duo of Ohmme. Influenced by avant-garde rock and the improvisational music scene of Chicago, Ohmme works on many levels. And the songs on the self-titled album use space, rhythm and contrast to create a feeling of depth, which is what most great songs do. A great album is atmosphere, it is feeling transported, taken to a place with the lyrics sort of guiding that journey. And Ohmme does just that on this EP. “Woman,” the first song on the EP, is a perfect example of this and of the band’s aesthetic of patience and expansion, fuse and explosion. The track “Fingerprints” shares this magic. “Ithaca,” another stellar track on the album, has a similar simmering quality. It burns and spreads. The songs have lives and are at once still and quiescent before another wave comes in. It’s similar to how “Furniture” lulls you in and then attacks. This album is all about excitement. It is all sparks and flashes of light, all rumble and rustle, suspense and anticipation. I feel it all.

MICHAEL NAU: Some Twist

As someone unfamiliar with Michael Nau, the opening track “Good Thing”ushers me into the magic. It’s a tune of appreciation, of recognizing that which shines in the darkness. Life is imperfect, but I have a “good thing going on.” Some Twist, Nau’s latest, is the kind of album that espouses an understated wisdom. The song “Wonder” is like opening a curtain to a beautiful day, a love song that talks of all the things one can see in the world. There is all of this, and there is also you. Maybe I’m trying to be distracted from you, or I am distracted by you. Nau does this splendidly. It could miss you, but the more times you hear it, the more bewitching it becomes. A mellifluous affair, it perfectly compliments a woozy evening. And “Scatter” is like a Shuggie Otis movement. It’s a slow jam with neon glow. The real star is Nau’s tone; his singing voice is always a sugar sprinkle or a honey glaze, and it continually rewards because it is so comforting and effortless. You sort of float away within it. Soul music penetrates, it’s goes beyond the surface, and his is an album that a day or year removed results in another angle. It is perpetually good. There is always another color, there is always a gem to discover. Get on the boat and sail this into the horizon.

Katie Von Schleicher. Photo by Bao Ngo

KATIE VON SCHLEICHER: Shitty Hits

The album Shitty Hits has many connotations in relation to Katie Von Schleicher’s first real album, Bleakspoitation, which was a beast. First of all, the quality of the 4-track recording, with its limitations and adaptations of sound technology, can be said to sound shitty. But it’s not shitty in the way of bad music, just in quality. So there is that. There is also the idea of feeling shitty, and songs like “Midsummer,” “Paranoia,” and “Life’s A Lie” lend themselves to the notion of feeling a bit, well, shitty. Now let’s add the second word, “shits.” What is a hit song? Theoretically it’s a song that works and that sounds good. And while there is subjectivity to taste in the process of successfully writing and recording a song, the completion itself, when done right, sometimes equals a hit. So there you have it, in a way, and with that out of the way, my opinion is that this album is fantastic. Imagine Wings using a 4-track, or great Syd Barret, or a weirder Linda Rondstat. “Soon,” a killer track form the album is a beautiful ballad, and “Isolator” also moves me in a major way. Beatle-esque is an adjective here that fits nicely. I am all about the majesty of this album. This shit is phenomenal!

SHABAZZ PALACES: Quazarz vs. The Jealous Machines / Quazarz: Born On A Gangster Star

The double album is sometimes one of the most ambitious — some might say even indulgent — features of recorded music. Problem is, very few artists can really fulfill the commitment of making one great album, not to mention two. But Shabazz Palaces has never been associated with giving a fuck, so I will respect the sentiment. Quazarz vs. The Jealous Machines is the album that originally was going to be the only one. A concept of the alien Quazarz and his arrival and adventures in “Amurdica,” the album is a treatise on the representation of technology in our world and how that affects us culturally (love, attention, the isms), like in the track “Gorgeous Sleeper Cell.” “Effeminence,” another track on the album is like a slow jam sung by an alien, but it’s still romantic. The track “Julien’s Dream (ode to a bad)” is also of this motion. Meanwhile, “30 Clip Extension” is all hip-hop in the time of whatever we call this Musically it is the Sun Ra hop that Shabazz Palaces rock so well. It’s a trippy record if you will. Meanwhile, Quazarz: Born on a Gangster Star is a bit like a more song-structured album, to use the term loosely. And “Eel Dreams” is like Arabian Prince, and then it turns into a kind of smoothed out jazz thing, but rapping.

“Fine Ass Hairdresser” should beat down the block, and “Moon Whip Quaz” is sort of like Parliament Kraftwerk (the tune of “The Model” is sort of embedded here). Whether or not you get one one of these albums, you will eventually get both because the exposure to one will spark curiosity in the other.

DASHER: Sodium

Dasher is mainly the brainchild of drummer Kylee Kimbrough. A mixture of punk spirit, metal squall, and pure energy, these songs embody lightning and fire. The opener “We Know So” is the proverbial brick through the window. Meanwhile “Soviet” is the accompanying smokebomb. “Teeth” is a slower affair, crisp guitar and dark cloud, psychedelic but dangerous, a beast rising from the ocean. Kimbrough has mentioned an inability to keep a job or residence and the frustration of seeing something that others can do easily coming so difficult to her (something she attributes to a recent discovery of autism). The tension is apparent in the songs, and the album speaks to that sort of fight between the world in your mind and “proper” world. These songs are full-on assault weapons drawn. This is gut, blood drawn from the vein. Let’s burn this motherfucker down.

In Review: Bedouine, Ohmme, Shabazz Palaces and more this is a repost

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