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ao3org · 2 years

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It's Finally Happening - Changes to Dream SMP, 3rd Life/Last Life, and other SMP fandoms!

Hello!

Some exciting changes are coming to Video Blogging RPF over the next few weeks! We are happy to announce that Dream SMP, 3rd Life | Last Life SMP Series, Empires SMP, and a number of other Survival Multiplayer (SMP) Minecraft roleplay fandoms will be getting their very own fandom tags. These changes will be starting 10 May 2022, beginning with Dream SMP.

We want to thank you for your patience both in getting to this point, and in the coming weeks as these changes take place! Our volunteers have worked hard towards this change since 2021, and we will do our best to make this transition go as smoothly as possible.

How will the Fandom tags change?

Many SMPs have their own rich lore that is separate from what is going on in the content creators' lives. In the past, everything has been housed in Video Blogging RPF, but that doesn't recognize that there is more than just RPF in these fandoms. We are creating new tags so that you have a place to explore the fictional lives of the characters in these worlds.

Other SMPs that are not listed below may also get fandom tags eventually. We are constantly evaluating new SMPs as their fandoms grow, and we plan to continue making more fandom tags for them in the future. Just keep tagging the SMPs your work takes place in as a fandom so that we know how big the fandom is!

If you already use a fandom tag like "Dream SMP" or "Last Life" on your fic, your works will be filterable and searchable under the new fandom tags once we finish moving everything! These new SMP fandoms will be set up as subfandoms of Video Blogging RPF. If you are only using the Video Blogging RPF or Minecraft tag, we recommend either adding or replacing that with the relevant SMP fandoms - although if you'd prefer, you can of course just keep your work in Video Blogging RPF.

Here is a list of the new fandom tags, if you would like to update your works now!

Dream SMP

Origins SMP

30 Day SMP | Free Trial SMP

3rd Life | Last Life SMP Series

Evolution SMP

Empires SMP

Afterlife SMP

Hermitcraft SMP*

Outsiders SMP

SMPEarth

SMPLive

Epic SMP

Shady Oaks SMP

Cogchamp SMP

Bear SMP

Fable SMP

*The currently existing Hermitcraft RPF fandom will be renamed to Hermitcraft SMP, so that wranglers will be able to make use of the new SMP guidelines.

Additionally, users will not be required to retag their works. This means that you should not report a work to Policy & Abuse that does not use the new SMP tags.

How will the Character tags change?

Because it can be confusing and difficult to find works about characters when their character tags are only a content creator's real name, we will be renaming characters of these new SMP fandoms to include usernames. Here are a few of the planned character tag changes:

Darryl Noveschosch → Darryl Noveschosch | BadBoyHalo

Zak Ahmed → Zak Ahmed | Skeppy

Noah Brown → Noah Brown | Foolish Gamers

Charlie Dalgleish → Charlie Dalgleish | Slimecicle

Phil Watson (Video Blogging RPF) → Phil Watson | Philza

Brendan Thro → Brendan Thro | Sneegsnag

John Booko → John Booko | BdoubleO100

Anthony Viviano → Anthony Viviano | Bigbst4tz2

Oliver Brotherhood → Oliver Brotherhood | Mumbo Jumbo

Jordan Maron → Jordan Maron | CaptainSparklez

Unfortunately, we are not able to create separate tags for the streamer’s main RP characters at this time. Any Technoblade (Dream SMP), Technoblade (SMP Earth) etc tags will still continue to redirect to Technoblade (Video Blogging RPF).

From a wrangling perspective, it is difficult to distinguish when tags are referring to the character or to the content creator when the character and the streamer’s username are the same. This is especially true when it comes to relationship or freeform tags involving the character/streamer, and because often two different works will use the same tag to mean different things. For example, if a work is tagged Technoblade-centric, we cannot tell if they are talking about Technoblade the streamer, or his Technoblade character from Dream SMP, or his Technoblade character from Origins SMP, or even his Technoblade character from SMPEarth. In addition, we would not want creators to feel like they need to tag multiple variations of Technoblade’s RP characters if the work involves an ambiguous AU version of his RP personas - and that issue would only further compound across relationship and freeform tags. However, we hope the creation of RP fandom tags can be used as an alternative by creators to show if their works are about the RP characters. We also hope that they can help users filter for the content they are looking for, or filter out any content they are looking to avoid.

However, sometimes a content creator will play other characters that have distinct names - like Dream also playing the characters of DreamXD and Ranbob. Right now those characters are both redirected to the "Clay | Dream" tag, but they, and others like them, will now be getting new character tags of their own.

NPCs such as Xornoth or the Samsung Smart Fridge, and Minecraft mob characters like Sally the Salmon or Michael_Beloved the Piglin, who previously did not have tags at all, will also soon get character tags.

This should make it easier to find works about a variety of characters! If you're already using tags like Ghostbur, Ranbob, or Sally the Salmon, you won't have to make any changes for your works to be searchable under the new tags.

How will the Additional tags change?

Additional tags related to the SMPs will be adjusted to use the new fandoms. Here are some examples:

Logstedshire on Dream Team SMP (Video Blogging RPF) → Logstedshire (Dream SMP)

Empire of Pixandria on Empires SMP Setting (Video Blogging RPF) → Empire of Pixandria (Empires SMP)

The Maze on Outsiders SMP (Video Blogging RPF) → The Maze (Outsiders SMP)

NPCs, Alter Egos, and mobs can now get additional tags of their own, such as this:

Winged Xornoth (Empires SMP)

Simp DreamXD (Dream SMP)

Ghostbur-Centric (Dream SMP)

We know this is a big change, and we hope that it will make it a lot easier to navigate the various SMP fandoms and find the works you're looking for. Please remember that, while we believe that these new canonical tags will help, you are not required to use them. We hope that these new tags will provide more ease of access, clarity, and visibility than what is currently in place.

Once again, thank you for your patience in the coming weeks while these tags are in flux. Our team has been working on this for many months, and we’re all very excited to share these changes with you!

TL;DR:

Several Minecraft SMPs will get their own fandoms.

Streamers of those SMPs will have their tags edited to include their usernames.

Alter-egos, NPCs, and mob characters of those SMPs will be canonized in these new SMP fandoms.

Please be patient with us, as implementing this many changes will take some time!

#ao3 #archive of our own #tag wrangling changes #mcyt #Dream SMP #Last Life SMP #Empires SMP #Hermitcraft

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noahreids · 11 months

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Noah-a-Day-May (2023 Edition) | Day 24 ⇢ Audible BTS | The Chrysalids (2021)

#noah reid #noahreidedit #my noah edit #my edit #nadm 23 #nadm #noah reid: audible #noah reid: audiobooks #noah reid: the crysalids #he cute!

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somuchyoudontknow · 11 months

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Hello Sophia,

I’ve been curious about any relationships and linkages between SMA title, Alba and Jinx. Finally, I’ve managed to discover Chris’ influencer profile on one marketing platform (note: Carbons Dating The Web estimated creation date: 2023-06-01).

There are some interesting facts and figures in the case study:

Premium US dog superfood brand, Jinx is redefining dog nutrition and is sold at Walmart stores across the country. Its audience are 71% female, typically single or married and aged in their thirties. English-speaking, Jinx’s followers are 84% US-based, with India, The Philippines, Indonesia and Brazil as secondary markets. Top cities for its customers include New York, LA, San Francisco and Chicago.

Looking at celebrity influences, Chris Evans does not appear in the list.

Media-wise, Buzzfeed, Betches Media, The New York Times, HGTV, The New Yorker, People Magazine, Vice and Bon Appetit come out on top for consumption.

Chris’ audience is 67% female, typically single and aged 25-34. English-speaking, his followers are typically based in the US, with Brazil, India, Italy and Mexico as other territories. Top cities include São Paulo, New York and LA. On basic demographics, Chris Evans and Jinx are rather well matched, particularly if the brand is hoping to reach a slightly younger customer base.

Diving into likes and interests, Film & TV rank highly, as well as music, dance, sport, college, poetry, Mexican food and spirituality. Pets is present, with 1.5% of the share, which is 1.3x the platform average, putting Chris Evan’s profile in the top 20% of all Instagram accounts for pets.

Looking at media consumption, Buzzfeed, BBC, CNN, 9GAG, New York Times, TIME Magazine, The New Yorker, GQ and Hugo Gloss dominate. Crucially, Jinx isn’t listed as one of Chris Evan’s follower’s main brand affinities. Instead, the likes of Marvel, Disney, NASA, Starbucks, Google, PlayStation and Sephora lead. That being said, no other pet food brand appears.

It is important to note that Chris Evans is one of a few celebrity investors in Jinx. However, he is still quite an organic brand ambassador, being known for his relationship with his dog. Overall, it’s a smart match for brand and talent that taps into authentic interests and with the addition of Evans as creative director for campaigns, it appears to be a more substantial collaboration than a simple awareness-based sponsorship.

November 2020 – Chris followed Alba.

16 November 2021 – Pooch loving celebs Trevor Noah, Chris Evans, NFL star Odell Beckham Jr. and CAA co-founder Michael Ovitz are among the latest high-profile investors in Jinx.

PageSix: Chris Evans and more A-listers invest in healthy dog food brand.

2022

9 March – Pet Age: Walmart Partnership Expands Distribution of Premium Dog Food Brand Jinx.

10 March – Pet Product News: Jinx Pet Food Now Available at Walmart.

21 May – People Mag: Chris Evans celebrates National Rescue Dog Day with adorable photo of himself and pet Dodger.

2 June – Buzzfeed announces Puppy interview.

18 June – Buzzfeed releases Puppy interview.

24 June – Alba’s first like in 2022 (iPhone post).

15 July – Laser focused interview.

16 July – Chris liked Alba’s MHGP post.

17 July – JustJared, Daily Mail and Buzzfeed report Chris Evans is laser focused on finding a partner (no mention of Alba).

18 July – People Mag: Chris Evans Says He's 'Laser-Focused on Finding a Partner' to Spend His Life With.

20 July – Chris’ Dating Poll by Buzzfeed.

27 July – Entertainment Tonight meet Chris Evans' 'Long-Term Partner': His Adorable Dog Dodger!

Forbes: Chris Evans Partners With Jinx Premium Dog Food.

Adweek: Chris is Future Jinx Ad Star.

CNN: Talking dog parenting with Chris Evans.

People: Chris Evans Says His Pet Dodger Is 'a Cut Above the Average Dog,' But Admits 'I'm Probably Biased'.

26 August – People Mag: Chris Evans Celebrates National Dog Day with Pup Dodger: 'In My House, Every Day.

27 August – E! news tweet: When Captain America found his perfect sidekick. ❤️ Happy #InternationalDogDay to Chris Evans & Dodger.

October – Alba deactivated her IG account.

6 October – People mag: the actor and his beloved rescue dog Dodger star in a new ad spot for dog food company Jinx.

11 October – Alba reactivated her account. Chris liked 2 WN posts.

7 November – SMA announcement on Monday's The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.

Chris Evans Is PEOPLE's 2022 Sexiest Man Alive.

Entertainment Tonight: Chris Evans Reacted to Getting 'People' Magazine's 2022 Sexiest Man Alive (editor Julie Jordan: ��If he is dating someone he will talk about it or you will see him with the person”.

10 November – People: Chris Evans Is Dating Actress Alba Baptista: 'It's Serious,' Says Source — He's 'Never Been Happier'.

OK! Mag: Chris Evans & Actress Alba Baptista's Relationship Confirmed Months After Packing On The PDA At 'Super Affectionate' Date Night.

PageSix: Chris Evans and girlfriend Alba Baptista hold hands in first PDA photos.

12 November – Daily Mail: 'World's Sexiest Man' Chris Evans, 41, is seen holding hands with Alba Baptista, 25, for the FIRST time on a romantic stroll in Central Park.

E! News: Chris Evans & Alba Baptista Confirm Romance With PDA Stroll.

14 November – E! News tweet: The strongest bond in the universe (Dodger).

10 December – Alba deactivated her IG account.

2023

10 March – Alba reactivated her IG account.

18 April – Alba at Ghosted Premiere in NY.

26 April – People: Jinx to bring "The Dog Dream Box" to dog lovers nationwide.

28 April – Pet Food Processing: To celebrate Pet Month in May, Jinx launched a new limited-edition “The Dog Dream Box” collaboration with celebrity Chris Evans, brand ambassador at Jinx, and his dog Dodger.

J2 June – 40/29 News: 2023 Walmart Associates' Celebration.

#chris evans pr #chris evans #Alba-baptista #Jinx #Pr strategy

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ice-palace-art · 2 years

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Documenting the new info we got from the live stream bonus round! Includes a bit of unmentioned lore and behind the scenes trivia

-Brian’s last name is Holloway

-the original plan for Valentines day 2021 was to get a “good” sadism demon boyfriend.

- Sam was born (not turned) 1 year before Vincent, making him around 28-30 when he was turned

- The unfinished story the name “Ollie” came from was called “In the Realm of Oil and Pitch”

- Kody’s original name was Noah

-Avior’s story was partially inspired by the Star Trek Voyager episode “Resolutions” even though Erik doesn’t like the episode

- The unfinished story about dreamwalking which included the names Asher, Huxley, and Alexis was called “Tether”

- Ivan and “Baby1” are from Montana

-The Alpha of the Keaton pack is named Gregory

-The name of an unused alternate ending (non-canon) where “Baby” stayed with Ivan was called “Live in Stockholm”

-The next DUMP video that may (no promises) come out is “So You’re a Newly Turned Vampire!”

-Huxley was originally supposed to be a tutor character. He was at some point going to tutor Vincent

-Vega’s escape and the being the one to care for “Warden” took inspiration from the Deep Space Nine episode “Waltz”

-Lasko was originally planned to enter the E&E games but would have failed the qualifiers

-the last character to be added to the Inversion lineup was Sam

-there was originally going to be an Imperium!Vega audio for Hot Boi Summer ‘22 but was scrapped

Also this old joke thumbnail apparently exists??

#redacted asmr #redacted avior #redacted huxley #redacted warden #redacted vega #redacted lasko #redacted ivan #redacted sam #redacted kody

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chirpsythismorning · 9 months

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For what I've seen, the ST production team has been working all o this time since none of them are part of neither the WGA nor SAG-Aftra. This probably means they've advanced a lot of work. Do you think that once the strikes are over, this will make it easier for them to start filming as soon as possible or even for the filming process to take less time than initially predicted? (Around a year)

It’s possible.

But it’s also worth noting that them needing a full year to film ST5 is for a multitude of reasons.

With all the delays, they now have to rework their entire schedule post-strike, as it won’t look the same as it looked before the strike. They need to be able to fit dozens of cast-members schedules together to ensure that their availability aligns with other cast-members they have scenes with.

While ST does get first dibs more than the casts other projects because of their contract with Netflix, it’s a lot easier to plan a schedule when you get everyone’s schedules, put them all together, and look at what aligns and what doesn’t, to make it easier for everyone.

For example, it made sense that despite certain cast members being unavailable in May to film, there were rumors (multiple statements from Noah himself) that he would start filming in May. And that’s likely because he started school again in the fall, and so it makes sense they looked at his schedule and determined it would be best to squeeze in as much filming for him as possible from May-August before school started in the fall, with him having a good chunk of time throughout the school year to go back to school for tests, etc..

Another example is David Harbour, who said he was going to be filming Thunderbolts in Atlanta simultaneously while he was filming ST5 in Atlanta. This means he would likely have at least 1-2 weeks of filming for ST and then 1-2 weeks of filming Thunderbolts, with days off and on within the mix, in order to accommodate both films schedules and when they need him for certain scenes.

I think a lot of fans assume that 1 year of filming means nonstop filming for each cast member, which is just not the case.

Even if certain actors have a lot of scenes in each episode, there are still scenes without them.

For example, let’s say Millie has 8 scenes total in 5x01 or something. There are still going to be several scenes without her, upwards of over 10 scenes give or take. That's scenes with other characters filming without Millie present because she does not have to be because she is not in any of the shots. Millie does not need to be strictly in Atlanta for those 1-2 weeks that it takes to film the block of scenes that do not include her. If they can make it so actors are able to be gone for 1-2 weeks of time, as opposed to just filming 1-2 scenes and then having to wait 2-3 days for their next scene, they’ll try to. Not saying that won’t happen occasionally, as I'm sure there are times when it's maybe a week on and week off or three weeks on and one off, but still, doing it in larger blocks to make it easier and accommodate everyone, is much more realistic because it just makes it a lot smoother to flesh out the schedule like that with their main (high demand) cast, and then fit side characters (not as high demand aka more wide open availability) around that.

For example, Amybeth only had like 4ish scenes total throughout the entirety of s4, and she lives out of the country, so it wouldn’t make sense to have her stay in Atlanta for upwards of a year. Instead Amybeth was only in Atlanta filming for two weeks total for those scenes featuring her, from mid May-early June 2021. That meant they had to ensure Maya (and Joe lmao) were available during that time Amybeth would be on set bc they had scenes together. Fun fact, if you pay close attention to the shots with Vickie during the pep rally, it's clear that it was filmed on a different day than the rest of the scenes, bc in the wide shots we don't even see the band on the bleachers (TV magic!). This means that only that corner with the band was filled up and the rest of the bleachers were empty when they shot that scene with Amybeth and Maya. No one else needed to be there since it wasn't necessary.

Usually, filming for 1 episode takes about a month. But it’s likely much of ST5’s episodes will be a little over 60 minutes as opposed to like 50 minutes. So giving them about 1-1.5 months to film each episode, 8 total (unless that changes), puts them at approximately 12 months aka a year. While some episodes might take only a month (or maybe even less) to film, the finale is going to be over 2 hours, which means filming for the finale will take closer to 2 months potentially.

This means 12 months is a very good estimate for how long it could take to film ST5 overall. Though to be fair, given the circumstances of them being on hiatus for so long and maybe being more prepared, maybe it’ll take a little bit less than that? But I honesty don’t think it will be by much, as most years they end up underestimating and it takes a little bit longer than anticipated bc of impromptu delays. (This is also assuming the strike ends and filming starts in Oct, only a couple months from now, which isn't guaranteed whatsoever either).

Even if the strike ends and filming is in full swing and they have a plan to finish in 12 months, there’s no way of knowing for certain if something else could impact filming and cause it to take longer. We should know by now with COVID and the strike that nothing is guaranteed until it’s all filmed. Once it’s all filmed, THEN we can actually start theorizing about when it will premiere.

ST5 premiered about 8 months after filming, not only because post-production is time consuming in and of itself, but because they wanted to have it come out in summer as opposed to Spring. Maybe the first few episodes were ready way earlier, but the later ones weren't even close, so holding off for a more suitable release period, Summer, which they prefer for ST releases anyways, makes sense.

A best case scenario rn, that I allow myself to hope for still, despite everything (assuming the studios get their heads out of their asses asap), is ST5 starting filming in October this year and finishing in October 2024. This puts them at a similar roll out period to ST4, with about 8 months of post-production and a premiere in the summer sometime in 2025 between May-August, whether that include two volumes or not. Netflix is a lot more likely to push for a summer release, regardless of them starting/ending filming sooner than October. Hell, even if they finished editing those first 5 eps by like March or something, Netflix would much rather stretch and wait to release those in early summer with the rest in mid/late summer again, bc they’ve never done Spring releases and I don’t think they’re going to start now. Especially bc I think it will be pushing it in terms of the working conditions being way too strenuous for VFX/editors. I'd rather have them push for a summer release and take their time and make it as good as they can, then to rush and make a spring release and have it feel half ass, only to be over forever.

I know people get sad knowing how long it's going to take to come out. But I just can't comprehend wanting it to be out ASAP, and most likely poorly, only to be over forever. Like this is the end for real. Maybe you'll see one of the characters pop up in a spin off, at best, but it wont be any of the mains that is for certain.

ST5 in 2024 is 100% not happening, so unless you want s5 to be edited for a mere 2 months at absolutely shit quality, let it go. If you want to hope for Spring 2025 go ahead, but that release period is already unprecedented with/without the strike, so don't hold your breath. I would try to accept ST5 Summer 2025 and hope that is as far as it goes. TBH if the strike goes past October, Netflix is going to have to come up with a deal because they are risking ST not premiering in the Summer like they want. If they don't make a deal by then, they'll presumably be forced to make a deal asap, otherwise they’d just be fucking themselves over.

#byler #stranger things #st writers #i do think that oct is going to be a point when the studios are going to be so royally fucked if they don't get their shit together #that's why they have made attempts to start negotiations up again sooner #bc they know it's inevitable #it's not something they can put off until oct if they want the strike over in oct #but also now they have the added factor that writers and actors are receiving so much donations #that their threat to wait until writers go broke to open up negotiations again... holds no weight #writers and actors are already used to being broke #and now they have the public on their side and big names putting their money where their mouth is to support them #so when october comes the writers will be a lot more confident and ready to keep fighting for what they want than the studios anticipated..#and so whats the point of dragging it out if their only killing themselves?#they know the clock is ticking #it's only a matter of time #(these next 3 or so months are going to get very real)

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why-bull-the-fashion-demon · 4 months

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movies I watched in 2023

(taking a cue from @stenka-razin)

-January

The Power of the Dog (2021, dir. Jane Campion)

Love, Simon (2018, dir. Greg Berlant)

Gamer (2009, dir. Brian Taylor & Mark Neveldine)

Men (2022, dir. Alex Garland)

The Menu (2022, dir. Mark Mylod)

Only Lovers Left Alive (2013, dir. Jim Jarmusch)

The Dead Don’t Die (2019, dir. Jim Jarmusch)

-February

A Touch of Sin (2013, dir. Jia Zhangke)

Lost Girls & Love Hotels (2020, dir. William Olsson)

Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist (2008, dir. Peter Sollett)

In the Mood for Love (2000, dir. Wong Kar-Wai)

The Woman King (2022, dir. Gina Prince-Bythewood)

Charlie’s Angels (2000, dir. McG)

Goodbye, Dragon Inn (2003, dir. Tsai Ming-Liang)

Nope (2022, dir. Jordan Peele)

-March

Ash is Purest White (2018, dir. Jia Zhangke)

Shoplifters (2018, dir. Hirokazu Kore-eda)

Three (2016, dir. Johnnie To)

Nobody (2021, dir. Ilya Naishuller)

Charlie’s Angels (2019, dir. Elizabeth Banks)

The Wonderland (2019, dir. Keiichi Hara)

-April

Rebels of the Neon God (1992, dir. Tsai Ming-Liang)

Tetris (2023, dir. Jon S. Baird)

There’s Something About Mary (1998, dir. Bobby and Peter Farrely)

The Whale (2022, dir. Darren Aronofsky)

The Fabelmans (2022, dir. Steven Spielberg)

Throw Down (2004, dir. Johnnie To)

Tár (2022, dir. Todd Field)

Yi Yi (2000, dir. Edward Yang)

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022, dir. Ryan Coogler)

Catch .44 (2011, dir. Aaron Harvey)

-May

Spaceballs (1987, dir. Mel Brooks)

Bottle Rocket (1996, dir. Wes Anderson)

An Autumn Afternoon (1962, dir. Yasujiro Ozu)

Ant Man & The Wasp: Quantumania (2023, dir. Peyton Reed)

Flight of the Red Balloon (2007, dir. Hou Hsiao-hsien)

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (2023, dir. Jonathan Goldstein & John Francis Daley)

-June

Inside Llewyn Davis (2013, dir. Joel and Ethan Coen)

Good Morning (1959, dir. Yasujiro Ozu)

Casino Royale (2006, dir. Martin Campbell)

Quantum of Solace (2008, dir. Marc Forster)

Skyfall (2012, dir. Sam Mendes)

Spectre 2015, dir. Sam Mendes)

No Time To Die (2021, dir. Cary Joji Fukunaga)

Octopussy (1983, dir. John Glen)

GoldenEye (1995, dir. Martin Campbell)

First Reformed (2017, dir. Paul Schrader)

-July

Zoolander (2001, dir. Ben Stiller)

The Quintessential Quintuplets Movie (2022, dir. Masato Jinbo)

Mainstream (2020, dir. Gia Coppola)

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005, dir. Tim Burton)

Equinox Flower (1958, dir. Yasujiro Ozu)

You Only Live Twice (1967, dir. Lewis Gilbert)

-August

Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3 (2023, dir. James Gunn)

The Gangster, the Cop, the Devil (2019, dir. Lee Won-tae)

Leap Year (2010, dir. Anand Tucker)

The Worst Person in the World (2021, dir. Joachim Trier)

Palm Springs (2020, dir. Max Barbakow)

Days (2020, dir. Tsai Ming-liang)

Kindergarten Cop (1990, dir. Ivan Reitman)

Barbie (2023, dir. Greta Gerwig)

Babylon (2022, dir. Damien Chazelle)

Shin Godzilla (2016, dir. Hideaki Anno and Shinji Higuchi)

The Flash (2023, dir. Andy Muschietti)

-September

Asteroid City (2023, dir. Wes Anderson)

The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023, dir. Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic)

The Little Mermaid (2023, dir. Rob Marshall)

Mulan (2020, dir. Niki Caro)

A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984, dir. Wes Craven)

Fitzcarraldo (1982, dir. Werner Herzog)

Bodies Bodies Bodies (2022, dir. Halina Reijn)

Frances Ha (2012, dir. Noah Baumbach)

Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003, dir. Peter Weir)

A Nightmare on Elm Street, Part 2: Freddy’s Revenge (1985, dir. Jack Sholder)

A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987, dir. Chuck Russell)

A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988, dir. Renny Harlin)

A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child (1989, dir. Stephen Hopkins)

Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991, dir. Rachel Talalay)

Wes Craven’s New Nightmare (1994, dir. Wes Craven)

Renfield (2023, dir. Chris McKay)

Theater Camp (2023, dir. Molly Gordon and Nick Lieberman)

Shiva Baby (2020, dir. Emma Seligman)

-October

Friday the 13th (1980, dir. Sean S. Cunningham)

Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981, dir. Steve Miner)

Friday the 13th - Part III (1982, dir. Steve Miner)

Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984, dir. Joseph Zito)

Friday the 13th: A New Beginning (1985, dir. Danny Steinmann)

Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives (1986, dir. Tom McLoughlin)

Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood (1988, dir. John Carl Beuchler)

Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan (1989, dir. Rob Hedden)

Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday (1993, dir. Adam Marcus)

Jason X (2001, dir. James Isaac)

Freddy vs. Jason (2003, dir. Ronny Yu)

Friday the 13th (2009, dir. Marcus Nispel)

A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010, dir. Samuel Bayer)

Easy A (2010, dir. Will Gluck)

Saw (2004, dir. James Wan)

Saw II (2005, dir. Darren Lynn Bousman)

Saw III (2006, dir. Darren Lynn Bousman)

Saw IV (2007, dir. Darren Lynn Bousman)

Saw V (2008, dir. David Hackl)

Saw VI (2009, dir. Kevin Greutert)

Saw: The Final Chapter (2010, dir. Kevin Greutert)

A History of Violence (2005, dir. David Cronenberg)

Infinity Pool (2023, dir. Brandon Cronenberg)

Dracula 2000 (2000, dir. Patrick Lussier)

Mean Girls (2004, dir. Mark Waters)

Jennifer’s Body (2009, dir. Karyn Kusama)

Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972, dir. Werner Herzog)

Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979, dir. Werner Herzog)

-November

Murder on the Orient Express (2017, dir. Kenneth Branagh)

Death on the Nile (2022, dir. Kenneth Branagh)

A Haunting in Venice (2023, dir. Kenneth Branagh)

The Last Voyage of the Demeter (2023, dir. André Øvredal)

Samurai Reincarnation (1981, dir. Kinji Fukasaku)

Legally Blonde (2001, dir. Robert Luketic)

Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase (2019, dir. Katt Shea)

The Last Duel (2021, dir. Ridley Scott)

Paint Your Wagon (1969, dir. Joshua Logan)

Thanksgiving (2023, dir. Eli Roth)

The Devil Wears Prada (2006, dir. David Frankel)

Shogun’s Shadow (1989, dir. Yasuo Furuhata)

The Conjuring (2013, dir. James Wan)

Win A Date With Tad Hamilton (2004, dir. Robert Luketic)

The Conjuring 2 (2016, dir. James Wan)

The Nun (2018, dir. Corin Hardy)

Le Samouraï (1967, dir. Jean-Pierre Melville)

-December

The Nun II (2023, dir. Michael Chaves)

Bottoms (2023, dir. Emma Seligman)

Annabelle (2014, dir. John R. Leonetti)

Gran Turismo (2023, dir. Neill Blomkamp)

Battles Without Honor And Humanity (1973, dir. Kinji Fukasaku)

Jigsaw (2017, dir. The Spierig Brothers)

Spiral: From the Book of Saw (2021, dir. Darren Lynn Bousman)

Saw X (2023, dir. Kevin Greutert)

Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse (2023, dir. Joaquim Dos Santos, et. al.)

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (2023, dir. Jeff Rowe)

Indiana Jones and The Dial of Destiny (2023, dir. James Mangold)

Air Doll (2009, dir. Hirokazu Kore-eda)

The End of Summer (1961, dir. Yasujiro Ozu)

Air (2023, dir. Ben Affleck)

No Hard Feelings (2023, dir. Gene Stupnitsky)

Oppenheimer (2023, dir. Christopher Nolan)

Yakuza Wolf (1972, dir. Ryuichi Takamori)

Yakuza: Like A Dragon (2007, dir. Takashi Miike)

Spencer (2021, dir. Pablo Larraín)

Moneyball (2011, dir. Bennett Miller)

Transformers: Rise of the Beasts (2023, dir. Steve Caple, Jr.)

Knights of the Zodiac (2023, dir. Tomek Baginski)

Dragonball Evolution (2009, dir. James Wong)

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cadybear420 · 23 days

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Cadybear's Reviews- Wake the Dead

Welcome to the thirty-third official Cadybear's Reviews! Today I'll be talking about Wake the Dead, which I have ranked on the "Bronze Tier" at 5 stars out of a possible 10. My last and only playthrough of this was around December 2021-May 2022.

So this one is, uh, very complicated…

I really should like this one more, and I want to like it! It has actual impactful choices with the Hard Choice system and the structure building! This is the type of shit that should put a story in my Diamond Tier!

Unfortunately, while it did have choices that affect the storyline, the story as a whole was pretty lacking in enjoyability.

After the first three chapters, following the death of MC’s sister, the story just kind of… fell off. It just dragged on when they weren’t fighting zombies. I know action/thriller/horror stories shouldn’t be nothing but intense gory fight scenes or whatever, but I literally could not have been more bored when they were recruiting new colony members. They didn’t do a lot to make it interesting other than seeing all the different kinds of colonies and new breeds of zombies.

And why the hell is this book so safe with the main cast?? Like, there is literally no sense of danger, no potential consequences for any of them. I mean at the very most, Eli can get shot and Shannon can get PTSD, but that’s about it. There aren’t any consequences to any of the other characters for having low stats, and the plot armor for these characters is insanely high.

I know not every horror story has to have all the characters die or get harmed in order to have impact, but it just doesn’t have that same feeling of dread and danger like something like the It Lives series had. A few side characters like Cassidy and Mack will die, but they never gave us a lot of (if any) reason to care about them like ILS did with its non-LI characters like Lily, Dan, Noah, ILB MC’s grandpa, etc.

And don’t even get me started on the ending. There were zero stakes in that final fight! And the memorial scene was just awful. Why is MC’s sister the only one that gets honored? Then again, everyone else that died were all such forgettable non-characters that they make HSS:CA’s side characters seem relevant and fleshed out. No wonder the book didn’t remember to include them in the memorial.

And the real kicker? Like I said, this is the kind of book I should be putting on Diamond Tier. Like, with books like FCL, Surrender, TBB… we do anticipate better from them, we do mourn the wasted potential of them, but we at least kind of expect them to end up being trashy, or unremarkable at the very least.

WTD, on the other hand, is something I think we all expected to be amazing. And credit where credit is due, it does have a lot of aspects that make it respectable, not to mention a breath of fresh air as we were entering into an era of mostly single-LI choiceless stories. The hard choice system, 5 non-customizable LIs, exploring the action/zombie horror genre. But I just feel like it could have done more.

Maybe one day, I’ll give this book a second chance.

#choices stories you play #choices #choices game #choices stories we play fandom #choices stories we play #choices wake the dead #wake the dead #choices wtd #wtd #cadybear's reviews

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denimbex1986 · 9 months

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'OPPENHEIMER (2023) 94% #1 Critics Consensus: Oppenheimer marks another engrossing achievement from Christopher Nolan that benefits from Murphy's tour-de-force performance and stunning visuals. Synopsis: During World War II, Lt. Gen. Leslie Groves Jr. appoints physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer to work on the top-secret Manhattan... Starring: Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr. Directed By: Christopher Nolan

A QUIET PLACE PART II (2021) 91% #2 Critics Consensus: A nerve-wracking continuation of its predecessor, A Quiet Place Part II expands the terrifying world of the franchise without losing track of its heart. Synopsis: Following the deadly events at home, the Abbott family must now face the terrors of the outside world... Starring: Emily Blunt, Cillian Murphy, Millicent Simmonds, Noah Jupe Directed By: John Krasinski

THE WIND THAT SHAKES THE BARLEY (2006) 90% #3 Critics Consensus: Bleak and uncompromising, but director Ken Loach brightens his film with gorgeous cinematography and tight pacing, and features a fine performance from Cillian Murphy. Synopsis: In 1920s Ireland young doctor Damien O'Donovan (Cillian Murphy) prepares to depart for a new job in a London hospital.... Starring: Cillian Murphy, Padraic Delaney, Liam Cunningham, Orla Fitzgerald Directed By: Ken Loach

INCEPTION (2010) 87% #4 Critics Consensus: Smart, innovative, and thrilling, Inception is that rare summer blockbuster that succeeds viscerally as well as intellectually. Synopsis: Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a thief with the rare ability to enter people's dreams and steal their secrets from... Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Elliot Page, Tom Hardy Directed By: Christopher Nolan

28 DAYS LATER (2002) 87% #5 Critics Consensus: Kinetically directed by Danny Boyle, 28 Days Later is both a terrifying zombie movie and a sharp political allegory. Synopsis: A group of misguided animal rights activists free a caged chimp infected with the "Rage" virus from a medical research... Starring: Cillian Murphy, Noah Huntley, Naomie Harris, Brendan Gleeson Directed By: Danny Boyle

BATMAN BEGINS (2005) 84% #6 Critics Consensus: Brooding and dark, but also exciting and smart, Batman Begins is a film that understands the essence of one of the definitive superheroes. Synopsis: A young Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) travels to the Far East, where he's trained in the martial arts... Starring: Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Liam Neeson, Katie Holmes Directed By: Christopher Nolan

THE PARTY (2017) 82% #7 Critics Consensus: Old-fashioned charm meets sharp wit and modern social satire in The Party, a biting comedy carried by a shining performance from Patricia Clarkson. Synopsis: A comedy of tragic proportions.... Starring: Patricia Clarkson, Bruno Ganz, Cherry Jones, Emily Mortimer Directed By: Sally Potter

RED EYE (2005) 79% #8 Critics Consensus: With solid performances and tight direction from Wes Craven, Red Eye is a brisk, economic thriller. Synopsis: In the wake of her grandmother's funeral, hotel manager Lisa Reisert (Rachel McAdams) is waiting to fly back home when... Starring: Rachel McAdams, Cillian Murphy, Brian Cox, Jayma Mays Directed By: Wes Craven

SUNSHINE (2007) 76% #9 Critics Consensus: Danny Boyle continues his descent into mind-twisting sci-fi madness, taking us along for the ride. Sunshine fulfills the dual requisite necessary to become classic sci-fi: dazzling visuals with intelligent action. Synopsis: In the not-too-distant future, Earth's dying sun spells the end for humanity. In a last-ditch effort to save the planet... Starring: Cillian Murphy, Chris Evans, Rose Byrne, Michelle Yeoh Directed By: Danny Boyle

PEAKY BLINDERS (2013) 93% #10 Synopsis: Britain is a mixture of despair and hedonism in 1919 in the aftermath of the Great War. Returning soldiers... Starring: Cillian Murphy, Natasha O'Keeffe, Paul Anderson, Sophie Rundle Directed By: Otto Bathurst, Anthony Byrne

INTERMISSION (2003) 74% #11 Critics Consensus: An edgy and energetic ensemble story. Synopsis: After Dublin resident John (Cillian Murphy) attempts a "trial" breakup with his girlfriend (Kelly Macdonald), she starts dating a middle-aged... Starring: Colin Farrell, Shirley Henderson, Kelly Macdonald, Colm Meaney Directed By: John Crowley

GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING (2003) 73% #12 Critics Consensus: Visually arresting, but the story could be told with a bit more energy. Synopsis: When her father goes blind, Griet (Scarlett Johansson) must go to work as a maid for painter Johannes Vermeer... Starring: Colin Firth, Scarlett Johansson, Tom Wilkinson, Judy Parfitt Directed By: Peter Webber

FREE FIRE (2016) 70% #13 Critics Consensus: Free Fire aims squarely for genre thrills, and hits its target repeatedly and with great gusto -- albeit with something less than pure cinematic grace. Synopsis: When a black-market arms deal goes outrageously wrong, Justine finds herself caught in the crossfire, forced to navigate through... Starring: Sharlto Copley, Armie Hammer, Brie Larson, Cillian Murphy Directed By: Ben Wheatley

THE DELINQUENT SEASON (2017) 67% #14 Critics Consensus: No consensus yet. Synopsis: Two couples in suburban Dublin appear to live in marital bliss until an altercation between one of the couples occurs,... Starring: Cillian Murphy, Andrew Scott, Eva Birthistle, Catherine Walker Directed By: Mark O'Rowe

ON THE EDGE (2001) 67% #15 Critics Consensus: No consensus yet. Synopsis: When a young man suffering from depression after the death of his father is committed to a mental institution... Starring: Cillian Murphy, Tricia Vessey, Jonathan Jackson, Stephen Rea Directed By: John Carney

ANTHROPOID (2016) 67% #16 Critics Consensus: Anthropoid completes its mission rather unevenly but delivers a historically illuminating story with great performances to back it up. Synopsis: In December 1941, two Czech soldiers (Cillian Murphy, Jamie Dornan) parachute into their occupied homeland to assassinate Nazi officer Reinhard... Starring: Cillian Murphy, Jamie Dornan, Charlotte Le Bon, Anna Geislerová Directed By: Sean Ellis

BROKEN (2012) 63% #17 Critics Consensus: No consensus yet. Synopsis: A girl witnesses a violent attack committed by a neighbor in one of three interconnected stories in a British housing... Starring: Tim Roth, Eloise Laurence, Cillian Murphy, Rory Kinnear Directed By: Rufus Norris

RETREAT (2011) 62% #18 Critics Consensus: No consensus yet. Synopsis: On an isolated island, a couple's attempt to recover from a personal tragedy is shattered when a stranger washes ashore... Starring: Cillian Murphy, Jamie Bell, Thandiwe Newton, Jimmy Yuill Directed By: Carl Tibbetts

BREAKFAST ON PLUTO (2005) 57% #19 Critics Consensus: Well-acted if monotonous drama about a transvestite prostitute in London during the 1970s. Synopsis: As a baby, Patrick (Cillian Murphy) is left by his mother on the steps of the rectory in their small... Starring: Cillian Murphy, Liam Neeson, Stephen Rea, Brendan Gleeson Directed By: Neil Jordan

WAVERIDERS (2008) 56% #20 Critics Consensus: No consensus yet. Synopsis: The untold story of Irish big wave surfing.... Starring: Cillian Murphy Directed By: Joel Conroy

PERRIER'S BOUNTY (2009) 55% #21 Critics Consensus: It has interesting characters and a strong cast, but Perrier's Bounty ultimately fails to do anything original with them. Synopsis: A petty crook (Cillian Murphy), his ailing father (Jim Broadbent) and a pretty neighbor go on the run from an... Starring: Cillian Murphy, Brendan Gleeson, Jim Broadbent, Jodie Whittaker Directed By: Ian Fitzgibbon

TRON: LEGACY (2010) 51% #22 Critics Consensus: Tron Legacy boasts dazzling visuals, but its human characters and story get lost amidst its state-of-the-art production design. Synopsis: Sam (Garrett Hedlund), the son of famous video-game developer Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges), has been haunted for a long time... Starring: Jeff Bridges, Garrett Hedlund, Olivia Wilde, Bruce Boxleitner Directed By: Joseph Kosinski

IN THE HEART OF THE SEA (2015) 42% #23 Critics Consensus: The admirably old-fashioned In the Heart of the Sea boasts thoughtful storytelling to match its visual panache, even if it can't claim the depth or epic sweep to which it so clearly aspires. Synopsis: In 1820, crewmen (Chris Hemsworth, Benjamin Walker, Cillian Murphy) aboard the New England vessel Essex face a harrowing battle for... Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Benjamin Walker, Cillian Murphy, Brendan Gleeson Directed By: Ron Howard

IN TIME (2011) 37% #24 Critics Consensus: In Time's intriguing premise and appealing cast are easily overpowered by the blunt, heavy-handed storytelling. Synopsis: In a future where time is money and the wealthy can live forever, Will Salas (Justin Timberlake) is a poor... Starring: Justin Timberlake, Amanda Seyfried, Cillian Murphy, Vincent Kartheiser Directed By: Andrew Niccol

THE EDGE OF LOVE (2008) 37% #25 Critics Consensus: Despite effective performances from Knightley and Miller, The Edge of Love lacks a coherent narrative. Synopsis: Two women (Keira Knightley, Sienna Miller) are best friends and rivals for the love of poet Dylan Thomas.... Starring: Keira Knightley, Sienna Miller, Cillian Murphy, Matthew Rhys Directed By: John Maybury

ANNA (2019) 33% #26 Critics Consensus: Anna finds writer-director Luc Besson squarely in his wheelhouse, but fans of this variety of stylized action have seen it all done before -- and better. Synopsis: Beneath a woman's striking beauty lies a secret that will unleash her indelible strength and skill to become one of... Starring: Sasha Luss, Luke Evans, Cillian Murphy, Helen Mirren Directed By: Luc Besson

RED LIGHTS (2012) 30% #27 Critics Consensus: Wasting the talents of an impressive cast on a predictable mystery, Red Lights lacks the clairvoyance to know what audiences want. Synopsis: Professional skeptics (Cillian Murphy, Sigourney Weaver) try to prove that a famous psychic (Robert De Niro) is lying about his... Starring: Cillian Murphy, Sigourney Weaver, Robert De Niro, Toby Jones Directed By: Rodrigo Cortés

DISCO PIGS (2001) 20% #28 Critics Consensus: No consensus yet. Synopsis: Pig (Cillian Murphy) and Runt (Elaine Cassidy) born on the same day, in the same hospital, moments apart. Twins... Starring: Elaine Cassidy, Cillian Murphy, Geraldine O'Rawe, Eleanor Methven Directed By: Kirsten Sheridan

TRANSCENDENCE (2014) 19% #29 Critics Consensus: In his directorial debut, ace cinematographer Wally Pfister remains a distinctive visual stylist, but Transcendence's thought-provoking themes exceed the movie's narrative grasp. Synopsis: Dr. Will Caster (Johnny Depp), the world's foremost authority on artificial intelligence, is conducting highly controversial experiments to create... Starring: Johnny Depp, Rebecca Hall, Paul Bettany, Cillian Murphy Directed By: Wally Pfister

ALOFT (2014) 17% #30 Critics Consensus: Glacially paced and ineptly plotted, Aloft crushes the game efforts of a talented cast under a dreary viewing experience whose title proves sadly ironic. Synopsis: Accompanied by a documentary filmmaker, a falconer (Cillian Murphy) sets out across a frozen landscape to find his mother... Starring: Jennifer Connelly, Cillian Murphy, Mélanie Laurent, Oona Chaplin Directed By: Claudia Llosa'

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cyarskj1899 · 1 year

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Fans of Tory Lanez: Every Black Man Who’s Convicted Is Not Nelson Mandela

The Canadian rapper’s family started a petition that goes after Jay-Z, Roc Nation, the jury and the music industry.

Noah A. McGee

PublishedTuesday 10:20AM

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After years of speculation, and multiple rounds of “he said, she said,” Tory Lanez was finally found guilty of all charges in the 2020 shooting of Megan Thee Stallion just two days before Christmas. But, despite the conviction already being made, Lanez’s family is not giving up on him so easily.

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Shortly after the Canadian rapper was convicted, an online petition called, “Appeal Tory Lanez Verdict Immediately,” appeared on change.org. More than 36,000 people have virtually signed it and the number only continues to increase. The petition attacks everyone from Megan, the jury, the music industry, Roc Nation and even Jay-Z.

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Lanez’s father made similar accusations outside the courtroom after his son was convicted.

When the hell did Jay-Z and Roc Nation become the Illuminati?! I get the label is one of the biggest out and Jay-Z is rich but damn.

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Additionally, the petition claims that this case was taken to “fake” protect Black women and that it instead divided Black Women and Men.

Lanez’s friends, family and supporters have the right to make whatever petition they want. If they think he’s innocent, that’s on them. But the fact that they’re speaking about this man like he’s a martyr is ridiculous.

Some are even saying he’s a modern-day Nelson Mandela or Emmett Till. For real, look at this tweet:

Thankfully, Till’s cousin, Joshua Harris-Till, called out the comparison and the incorrect spelling of his relative’s name, writing, “It’s spelled Emmett, and no he is not.”

In response, Seattle_supa_staar said, “Tory Lanez was lied on just like you’re family member. He is being publicly lynched just in modern times.”

Harris corrected her, saying, “Emmett was kidnapped at 14 years old, tortured, castrated, shot, and had his body thrown into a River tied to a metal fan so that his body wouldn’t be recovered.

He continued, “Tory is ‘maybe’ going to go to jail for a few years after losing a case within the Justice system. That’s not lynching.”

Listen, Lanez is a criminal, according to the jurors and the justice system. He is not a sacrificial pawn for some larger scheme. He didn’t lose his life. Nobody forced him to fire the shots,. He’s simply a rapper who was convicted of shooting Megan Thee Stallion in the foot. That’s it. He’s not unique.

As Huey Freeman once said, “every famous nigga that gets arrested isn’t Nelson Mandela.”

If Black News matters to you, then we belong in your inbox

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cyarskaren52 · 3 months

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https://web.archive.org/web/20210128141211/https://www.spin.com/featured/jack-harlow-january-2021-cover-story/

Jack Harlow Knew This Was Coming

Well, sort of. But now he’s got a smash hit, a new album featuring Adam Levine, and he may have accidentally altered the course of NBA history

January 27 2021, 10:00 AM ET

DJ Drama was in no rush to return from his lunch break.

Sandwiched between the outskirts of Atlanta’s Bankhead neighborhood and the sprawling campus of Georgia Tech University is Means Street Studios. This hub of hip hop recording has played host to a litany of stars since its 2013 inception. Playboi Carti, Gucci Mane, Lil Uzi Vert and the late Nipsey Hussle are just some of the artists who’ve graced its halls.

Machine Gun Kelly X SPIN Cover Story - Promo 2

However, on this day in November 2017, the Means Street corridors were not especially glamorous. Atlantic Records had selected the studio complex to host its quarterly A&R conference in which DJ Drama, legendary mixtape arbiter and co-founder of Atlantic’s Generation Now imprint (Lil Uzi Vert, Killuminati), played a significant role.

Overnight success stories often begin at conferences like this one, long before viral TikTok challenges and feature placements on streaming services come into play. It can sometimes take years for an artist to build enough trust with a label to earn a star-turning album or single rollout. Drama knows a thing or two about this waiting game. It was his seminal free mixtape series, Gangsta Grillz, that helped rappers circumvent this indefinite layover and maintain relevance during the 2000s.

“I was just kind of, you know, taking my time to get back,” he admits over a Zoom call, reminiscing. He was, after all, DJ Drama. He was far past the stage where he needed to outhustle fellow A&Rs and executives. New music needed to hustle its way to him.

Still, as 2014 signee Lil Uzi Vert inched closer to international superstardom, Generation Now was in the market for a second star. When Drama finally returned from his break, something extraordinary happened.

“Right as I walked in just a little bit late, ‘Dark Knight’ was on. They were playing ‘Dark Knight’ in the meeting.”

A few months prior to Atlantic’s A&R summit descending upon Means Street, during the waning days of summer 2017, DJ Drama sat in a room at the studios beside his fellow Generation Now execs: Don Cannon, a similarly legendary mixtape DJ, and their partner Leighton “Lake” Morrison. Meeting with them were KY, a renowned engineer from Louisville, and a lanky, curly-haired white boy, also from Louisville, whose brand of brash-yet-self-conscious raps had built a fanbase whose support had him teetering on the brink of vested major label interest. This was Jack Harlow, Drama was told.

He knew who the 19-year-old rapper was. Drama’s friend and colleague Randy had hipped him to Jack’s Instagram page several months prior. Intrigued, Drama followed it and listened to a handful of the young rapper’s songs. The night before the formal introduction at Means Street, Jack had been thrust into a studio session by this same friend, Randy, to record with Generation Now’s inaugural signee, veteran rapper Skeme.

https://web.archive.org/web/20210128141211im_/https://static.spin.com/files/2021/01/SPIN_Cover_Story-Jack_Harlow-Hero_Image-6-1611691015-1280x1920.jpg

Harlow has endeared himself to a wide array of musicians in a short time CREDIT: Noah Schutz

“The way Randy talked about it,” Drama recalls, “He was like, ‘I just wanted to see if [Harlow] had his chops. ‘Cause, you know. Skeme ain’t no hoe.’”

However, despite Harlow’s passing grades at his session with Skeme, Drama and company weren’t ready to set anything in stone. “It wasn’t final,” he says as he remembers how the meeting with KY and Jack concluded. “I don’t know, it was like everybody wasn’t sold.”

In the aftermath of the inconclusive meeting, Harlow, sensing Generation Now’s hesitation, returned to Louisville and got right back to work. He would be releasing Gazebo, his fourth and breakout self-released project, the third week of November 2017, and he needed to fire a warning shot. One that both his fanbase and GN would heed. That materialized as “Dark Knight,” a bruising ramble introducing listeners to a reenergized Harlow, who did not appear to be reeling from the effects of leaving Atlanta without a deal.

“Know this shit boom when we came down south and I had to bring my own lil’ Metro,” Harlow rapped, likening a member of his crew to Metro Boomin, the multi-platinum Atlanta-based producer. The song ends on an even more confident note. “Funny how it all works out / Right before this I was feeling burnt out / Now the whole city ‘bout to get burned down.”

Harlow wasn’t quite peeved, but there was a specific edge to his delivery. The chip on his shoulder was just big enough. “Dark Knight” made exactly as much noise as Harlow hoped it would. Because of it, he quickly outgrew DJ Drama’s circle. Label offers were imminent, regardless of whether Generation Now was interested. Harlow knew this. So did Drama.

Thus, when the DJ returned from his lunch break that day at Means Street to hear “Dark Knight” blaring from studio speakers, he knew immediately he had a decision to make. On his own accord, Harlow had quickly gotten better, sharper and grown more polished. So much so that Atlantic would surely be preparing to take its own chance on him by meeting’s end, leaving Generation Now out of the picture.

“Oh! That’s just Jack,” he hastily announced to the room. “I’m already on that. We got that, you can tuck that,” he remembers saying. The room quickly moved to the next order of business. If DJ Drama was on that, the conversation was over.

Truthfully, neither Drama nor his partners were actually on that. But that would soon change. “I went to text Cannon to tell him they played ‘Dark Knight’ in the meeting,” Drama says, as he cracks a wistful smile.

“It forced our hand in a way, thankfully.”

https://web.archive.org/web/20210128141211im_/https://static.spin.com/files/2021/01/SPIN_Cover_Story-Jack_Harlow-Hero_Image-2-1611690609-1280x853.jpg

Jack Harlow photographed in Los Angeles, January 2021 CREDIT: Noah Schutz

It’s a Friday night in January 2021, and Jack Harlow is seated in complete darkness. The COVID-19 pandemic will soon be a year old, so instead of doing something like eating tacos and playing H-O-R-S-E—which, I’ve decided, would have been my suggested activity for this interview in a safer world—I’m staring at a Zoom screen as Harlow, whose camera is switched off, describes his current setting. I’m not allowed to see it. “I’m sitting in the dark right now, you don’t want to see me in this mood right now,” he warns. For a moment, it sounds like a very vulnerable-rapper way of saying I was in the zone right before this. My next question is, “What are you doing, writing?” His deadpan reply: “No, I’m doing an interview.”

It is exactly this type of shrewd and subtle wit that allowed Jack Harlow to become Jack Harlow.

Born in March 1998 to the proprietors of a family-run sign business in Louisville, Kentucky, Harlow’s narrative isn’t the most compelling. Unlike many of his peers, he didn’t have to escape extreme poverty or take penitentiary chances in order to provide. He’s not from a city that regularly produces rap stars, and despite his obvious skill level, it would be fair to mistake him for a math tutor. His free time would often consist of riding around with friends in search of adventure, hoping to catch a cute girl’s attention along the way. As exhausted of a character trope as this is, young Jack Harlow was very much just a regular kid. His writing ability is what made him irregular. It also gives him a puncher’s chance at becoming the preeminent star of his generation.

In the 2020s, as microwave TikTok fame continues to prove reliable as a launching pad to Billboard success, emphasis on range and craft in the mainstream will continue to dwindle across the board. In hip hop specifically, descendants of 808’s & Heartbreak-era Kanye West have spent much of the last 15 years redefining how much traditional rapping is necessary to be successful in the genre. These dynamics don’t interest Harlow as much as they could. His duty is to his wordplay, and the techniques he employs to keep listeners on their toes. Sometimes it’s a stretch of alliteration that he’s able to effortlessly maintain. Other times, he’ll thumb his nose so nonchalantly you’ll forget that it’s slick talk. “The ones that hate me the most look just like me. You tell me what that means,” he raps on the 2020 single, “Tyler Herro.”

https://web.archive.org/web/20210128141211im_/https://static.spin.com/files/2021/01/SPIN_Cover_Story-Jack_Harlow-Hero_Image-13-1611690856-1280x1920.jpg

Jack Harlow is ready to roll CREDIT: Noah Schutz

In present-day hip hop, recognition is less contingent on lyrical ability than it ever has been. Despite scattered worlds that continue to place the technical art of rapping on a pedestal—the J. Cole-led Dreamville imprint and Westside Gunn’s Griselda immediately come to mind—being a Good Rapper has long taken a backseat to marketability. This transition has created somewhat of a perfect storm for an artist like Harlow, who isn’t going to blow you away with metaphors or dizzying flow switches. But his unassuming charisma, coupled with a sturdy pen and the attention to detail to execute a line like, “Been tryna pop, now I’m on like Shumpert,” provides for a lane that he can dominate.

“You know, for some odd reason, it’s been what I’ve wanted to do for so long that I can’t even pinpoint what it felt like to not want to do this,” Harlow says. “Like, sometimes I wonder, ‘What was it like to be a purposeless child that was simply enjoying life?” His mother, a hip-hop fan, would soundtrack the household with Jay-Z, OutKast and Black Eyed Peas. Perhaps unbeknownst to mom, her young son was taking meticulous notes. He wasn’t just enthralled, he was inspired. “What’s Poppin’” was an eventual outcome, but an inevitable one.

Harlow’s biggest hit song to date (and of 2020), “What’s Poppin’” materialized in the way that an innumerable amount of hit songs have come together. Hotshot producer slides into hotshot rapper’s DMs with hopes that they can form a mutually beneficial partnership. This particular exchange made perfect sense. JetsonMade, the Roc Nation-managed producer behind DaBaby’s breakout hit, “Suge,” was looking to diversify his portfolio. And Harlow was in album mode.

“I heard those piano keys, and I was just taken,” Harlow recalls. After a weeks-long back-and-forth with Jetson while touring in 2019, Jack had finally carved out time to get into the studio with the in-demand producer. On day two, Harlow heard the sound that changed his career. “I think I probably reacted how a lot of people reacted when they heard that beat. It’s fucking hard.”

Incidentally, it wasn’t even the featured beat of the night. In a recent interview with Genius, Jetson and Pooh Beatz, a producer Jet often partners with (“Told Pooh he a fool with this shit”), recall the night they flipped through instrumentals, looking for something for Harlow to “pop his shit” over. “You’ve got to give the artist room to be creative as well,” Pooh said. “So I’m always listening for that simplest piece.”

That beat, accentuated with that bouncing, accelerated piano loop, gave Harlow more than enough room to be selective with his approach. “I said to myself, ‘Jack, don’t think too hard. Don’t bear down on this beat and smother it. You know, don’t try to go crazy on it. Just have fun with it.’ So that’s what I did. I said the first thing that came to mind.”

What’s poppin? Brand new whip, just hopped in I got options, I could pass that bitch like Stockton

Then,

Just joshing, I’ma spend this holiday locked in

Seriously? “Just joshing?” I had to ask.

“That was a line I’d always planned on replacing,” Harlow admits as he chuckles. Given the opportunity to address the subtle audacity of this cheesy-but-effective line, he perks up. “I was always going to get rid of it. It was a placeholder. It was literally just something that rhymes with the other shit.”

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Jack Harlow X SPIN Cover Talk

By the time he’d completed the song, it was far too late for replacements. For just over two minutes, on “What’s Poppin,” Harlow’s subdued-but-sharp flow darts in and out of the accelerated piano loop, buoying the dancing bassline Jetson and Pooh concocted. The beat doesn’t rush Harlow, and in turn, he doesn’t stifle it. After wrapping his sessions with Jetson, he played the song for confidantes on his team and friends back home in Louisville. Their response was the confirmation Jack needed. “What’s Poppin’” was the one. “I really treasure that moment because I use it as a lesson now when I’m trying to write,” he says. “I’m just like ‘go, go, go’ because look at the success that song is giving me when I just let go. It’s a lesson, you know, you just gotta let go and…” Harlow trails off briefly, perhaps rummaging through his brain for the word that will summarize this lesson. Seconds later, he finds it.

“Be instinctual.”

Shortly after its January 2020 release, “What’s Poppin’” was added to Spotify’s Rap Caviar playlist, the leading gatekeeper in the hip hop playlisting world. Securing a placement on a playlist like Rap Caviar in the streaming era is akin to being named a member of XXLmagazine’s “Freshman Class” during the early 2010s blog era. It won’t guarantee a successful career, but you’d be hard-pressed to find a more effective springboard into the national conscience. Once “What’s Poppin’” hit Rap Caviar, it never looked back.

The song and its remix, which features DaBaby, Lil Wayne and Tory Lanez, have now been streamed over 700 million times on Spotify. Consequently, Harlow is a millionaire and Grammy nominee at 22. In case that was unclear, he announces it just 10 seconds into his debut studio album, That’s What They All Say, released in December, on the album’s intro, “Rendezvous.” The album, which features Maroon 5’s Adam Levine, Lil Wayne, Lil Baby, and an appearance from the late R&B legend Static Major, is his biggest flex yet. The world had just learned his name, and already he was getting A-list stars out of bed for a set of tracks so versatile, comparisons to Drake are unavoidable.

“You know, it’s funny because, I remember my dad said to me he was proud of me because, you know, his dad was broke on a farm and grew up incredibly impoverished. Then my dad grew up a little better than him. And now, I’m a millionaire,” Harlow says, unable to disguise his pensive tone. “And he just wanted to point that out to me. It’s a huge step. I mean, I know that seems obvious for me, but it’s a huge step for him. I never met his dad—rest in peace—but if he could see the success, shit would be a whole ‘nother world to him. So it’s just nice to put it in perspective. You know, that’s the one thing I’ve been really careful about doing.”

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Jack Harlow's trajectory continues to trend upCREDIT: Noah Schutz

The way Harlow ended his thought, it felt like a cautionary tale was coming. My hunch was pure. “Sometimes I think all these millionaires and artists get so wrapped up in entering the world and becoming friends with all the other millionaires when they get to L.A.,” he starts, “They get wrapped up in the world and it does become normalized. And they think to themselves, ‘Well, then, I have room to be depressed. Everyone around me is a millionaire and I’ll find something to be unhappy about.’”

Don’t let the depths of Harlow’s self-awareness disarm you; he knows he’s the guy right now. He always has. His account of the events surrounding his initial meeting with Generation Now at Means Street mirrors DJ Drama’s. Jack just sprinkles a little ego in, like parsley. “Drama was fucking with me, but he took a second. The label took a second. And I remember I ended up having to drop “Dark Knight.” I said, ‘I’ma just drop it.’ And that really got the buzz going. Labels started, people were interested. And I was like ‘O-K, yeah, yeah, no, I got it.’”

“So you sort of had to trigger your own bidding war,” I ask. He agrees. “Yeah, exactly. And they were on it quick.”

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He's laid back and ready for a big 2021 CREDIT:Noah Schutz

This Cinderella ascent has not come without setbacks, however. With fame comes heightened visibility, which can trip up even the most vigilant of stars. The NBA’s announcement that it would resume play following its March COVID-19 stoppage came with a strict set of safety guidelines. Players were prohibited from leaving the Disneyland campus that hosted the remainder of the season, fondly known as “The Bubble,” unless they had explicit permission from league authorities. Even so, they were still encouraged to stay clear of high-risk areas, like densely populated public venues.

Strip clubs—I’m guessing—would probably qualify as high-risk during a pandemic. That’s where Harlow was when he snapped a selfie with Los Angeles Clippers guard Lou Williams less than a week after the league had resumed play. They each wore masks, but Williams had been granted permission to leave The Bubble so he could attend a relative’s funeral, not pop up on a rapper’s Instagram Story while at the strip club. Lou Will maintains that he was simply picking up chicken wings when Harlow snapped the selfie, and not ripping wrappers off packs of singles. The NBA, however, would hear none of it and forced Williams into a 10-day quarantine. He missed the first two games of his teams’ restart, the Clippers never redeveloped their chemistry, and they were eliminated from the playoffs so quickly, their season became fodder for a Freddie Gibbs chorus several weeks later. “Hoes get fucked and sent home early, just like the Clippers.”

Naturally, no one blames Harlow for this. Not even Lou Will. “[Lou] called me like, ‘Don’t even fucking trip. I’m Lou. I don’t get in trouble.’ I was like well shit, you just gave me the pass to relax,” Harlow reveals as he fights back laughter. Still, one can’t help but wonder how things might have turned out if the restart to the Clippers’ season was less turbulent. After they were eliminated, the team fired its coach, retooled most of its roster, and saw its star player, Paul George, spend the entire summer soul searching. What a sequence of events.

There is also the matter of the aforementioned remix to “What’s Poppin,” one of the most successful remixes in recent hip hop memory. Just a few weeks after the song was released, Lanez was accused of shooting Houston hip hop star Megan Thee Stallion in her feet following a party in Los Angeles. With increased social attention to misogynoir and violence against women as the wind in their sails, scores of Twitter users “canceled” Lanez and began lobbying for industry figures to blacklist him and his music. Harlow, stunned at the news, didn’t know how to react. The very mention of it makes him uncomfortable. I asked him what his initial reaction was.

“It’s crazy,” he says. “The news broke right after we dropped the video. I was like, ‘I wonder how this is going to go.’ I was curious, I was shocked, I was just like, damn.” He would comment no further.

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Don't mess with Jack Harlow CREDIT: Noah Schutz

Eventually, Harlow’s whiteness had to be addressed. He knew it, and I knew it. In listening to his music over the years, I’d observed how many of my Black friends and colleagues were accepting of him in a way that they weren’t accepting of other white rappers. It’s comforting to have a white rapper just be a white rapper, and not cosplay their Black peers with guerilla music videos and disingenuous displays of gunplay and drug use. Maybe too comforting. Last year, Harlow trended on Twitter because the platform had somehow just discovered his race. He poked fun at the confusion on Instagram, posting a screenshot of his discography, which features his very white face on every cover art. “I did everything I could do to show y’all I am white,” he wrote.

Harlow expresses an understanding of what it means to be a privileged outsider. When Breonna Taylor was unjustly murdered at the hands of Louisville police last March, Harlow hit the streets as marches and protests swept the nation. “People have asked me, as if there was a strategy involved, ‘What made you do it?’ I grew up with Black people, and the empathy I have for them is ingrained in me. It’s not something that arrived this past summer, but I was charged up by the movement. It happened where I’m from and there’s a responsibility that comes with that.”

One of the earliest memories critics will have of Harlow is his visit to Sway Calloway’s Sway In The Morning show on SiriusXM. In the footage, Harlow, wearing a brown Ecko Unlimited long-sleeve T-shirt, is even more baby-faced than he is now. Sitting next to the much stockier DJ Drama, it almost looks as if Drama is the talent and Harlow is the management. He’s quiet and fidgety, slightly deer-in-headlights, and doesn’t look much like the guy who “forced” the hand of a legend.

I remind Harlow of this moment and ask him to consider everything that’s happened since. What will his legacy be?

“I want to be someone that’s true to myself, and someone that’s wholly original to the game.” He says that he’s been that person in spurts and that his goal is to intentionally chase that for the rest of time. “The beauty of making art and music is, ideally that’s what should live forever. That’s what gives me purpose. I think that’s what we’re all looking for. Mortality is in the back of all of our heads, and I found the thing that makes it bearable.”

I ask him, “Does that scare you? The thought of dying before you reach your full potential?”

“Oh yes. So much so, I don’t even want to talk about it.”

Jack Harlow is styled by Metta Conchetta.

Sent from my iPhone

#Instagram #jack harlow #jackman thomas harlow #jackman harlow #💚💚💚#Jack Harlow #jack harlow x reader #jack harlow x black reader #jack harlow x you #jack harlow concepts #jack harlow fluff #jack harlow imagine #jack harlow fanfic

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theblackdog-taylorsversion · 3 months

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Are you going to any concerts this year?

WELL. so glad you asked.

in 10 days i’m going to Noah Kahan, who i’ve been actively following since 2021, so i can’t wait for that!

then on the 28th i’m going to see Louis Tomlinson for the first time (i’ve been a fan since 2020) which is like. omg.

then in february i’m seeing p!nk perform, she’s meant to be incredible live and my mum loves her, so…

and then in may i’m seeing Niall Horan (also for the first time) and i’ve been following him since 2020 also so that’s like. incredible.

#anon asks #thank you lovey #ask answered

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noahreids · 11 months

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Noah-a-Day-May (2023 Edition) | Day 20 ⇢ Super outdoorsy (2020, 2021, 2023)

#noah reid #noahreidedit #my noah edit #nadm #nadm 23 #my edit #noah reid: instagram #noah reid: esa #etobicoke school of the arts #noah reid: eugene award #<3

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kaiyves-backup · 9 months

Text

A(nother) Personal History of Deep-Sea Exploration: Let’s Read “Into the Deep: A Memoir From The Man Who Found ‘Titanic’”

Because my main blog is still suspended, I very frustratingly cannot link to any of my previous posts about how Dr. Robert Ballard was one of my childhood heroes, the reason I majored in archaeology, and therefore ultimately the reason I am currently working for the National Park Service. But you CAN still hear me talk about all of those things starting at 14:28 in this video I made in 2017! (Thank you Vimeo.)

In an appendix to Into the Deep, Dr. Ballard lists 25 earlier books he’s written. Over the past two decades I have read and enjoyed 11 of them and own three others that are on my “to-read” list. I have read Ballard’s previous autobiography from 1995, Explorations: My Quest for Adventure and Discovery Under the Sea, as well as his two other quasi-memoirs, The Eternal Darkness: A Personal History of Deep-Sea Exploration (2000) and Adventures in Ocean Exploration: From the Discovery of the Titanic to the Search for Noah’s Flood (2001), which aren’t strictly autobiographies as much as histories of seafaring that have a lot of Ballard’s own personal anecdotes woven in.

When I saw this book in a bookstore window in Falls Church back in the fall of 2021, I was very surprised because I’d had no idea Dr. Ballard was planning to write another memoir. I bought it immediately, but felt a little bit uncertain.

Even with another 20 years of expeditions since his last self-reflective book, how many sea stories here would just be repeats I’d already heard in his previous books? The simple cover art of a wave also looked less visually-interesting than the covers of his previous books— no over/under shot of a ship and ROV together or Ken Marschall painting.

Well, he’s almost 80 years old now. I thought Maybe Dr. Ballard is finally running out of steam. Maybe it won’t hold up to the others.

After all, I was almost 30. It had been 25 years since the famous expeditions in the 90s that Dr. Ballard had written his children’s books about and almost 20 since I’d been a ten year old sitting cross-legged on the library floor reading them. Almost twenty years since I’d gone to his lecture at the National Geographic Society and gotten a signed book and expedition cap. Over time, his expeditions had seemed to get less and less publicity, even as they remained incredible and the technology he used continued to advance.

Even at age 11, as I’d sat on the library floor reading about Ballard’s 1990s expeditions in Lost Liners, they already belonged to the fast-receding pre-9/11 Former World. The brief shining moment captured in William J. Broad’s The Universe Below, when the Peace Dividend and the end of the Cold War opened up new opportunities to use Navy hardware, up to the point of nuclear submarines, for peacetime archaeology. I was never going to get to dive to the Britannic inside the NR-1 now and I knew it.

So maybe it wouldn’t seem as great as his earlier books. Maybe seas broad had rolled between since days of auld lang syne.

Maybe that’s why I left Into the Deep in my “To Read” list until I saw Dr. Ballard on TV again last month. Normally this would have been cause for celebration, but his interview was of course unfortunately in the context of the recent submersible accident.

The one bright spot in that twisted tale of fatal negligence and incompetence, for me, was that under the official ABC YouTube video of Dr. Ballard’s interview, there was a comment thread of people who were all a lot like me. People who said that Ballard had been one of their heroes as a kid and that now they were working in STEM or heritage fields because of him.

It was time to go along on another Ballard expedition.

Compared to Explorations, which I read in summer 2017, the prose in Into The Deep seems somewhat less descriptive. Some of this may be because of the different co-author, but as the first 3/4s of the book does cover a time period written about in Ballard’s earlier books, it may also be that he didn’t want to repeat himself and knew he had written about these periods better and in more detail there.

However, there are indeed many new stories in these years that I couldn’t remember hearing in any of Ballard’s earlier books or documentaries, and those were interesting. There’s a lot about his early family life, including feeling inadequate compared to his older brother Richard, who did better in school. (Imagine being ROBERT BALLARD and having Imposter Syndrome, my goodness…)

A few years ago, in his 70s, Ballard learned he was dyslexic, and reassessing his school days and most of the rest of his life in light of this knowledge is a theme throughout the book— it may have actually been his motivation to write the memoir overall.

This is, as I have noted, the first book by Dr. Ballard I have read to include an F-bomb, and there are a few other scattered swears, but compared to a Jimmy Spithill or a Skip Novak his “sailor mouth” seems quite restrained. Still, my younger self wouldn’t have liked that at all.

Some of Ballard’s military career has been declassified, and thus those stories can be told. Indeed, this feels like a much more militaristic book than Ballard’s prior memoirs, with more appearances of weapons, military ranks and uniforms, and more meetings inside the Pentagon.

Some of this is simply because the aforementioned declassified information can now be revealed, but the militaristic turn may also reflect the end of the peacetime period in which Explorations (and Ballard’s juvenile nonfiction books) were written, and how his 21st century expeditions have therefore required Ballard to draw closer to his old military contacts to gain funding and access to equipment.

Robert Duane Ballard (born June 30, 1942 in Wichita, Kansas) is an oceanographer most noted for his work in underwater archaeology. [Wikipedia before November 2008] - Robert Duane Ballard (born June 30, 1942) is an American retired Navy officer and a professor of oceanography at the University of Rhode Island who is most noted for his work in underwater archaeology: maritime archaeology and archaeology of shipwrecks. [Wikipedia text as of July 2023]

This is not, of course, to suggest that the specter of war was absent from Ballard’s earlier books or documentaries. Many of Ballard’s most famous expeditions have of course involved ships whose sinking was an act of war— the Bismarck, Lusitania, Britannic, and JFK’s PT-109— and the role of the Navy in DSV Alvin’s development and the Thresher and Scorpion investigations are (contrary to later popular perceptions) discussed forthrightly in The Discovery of the Titanic back in 1986.

Yet the wars in those books and films felt more distant and unthreatening. The wrecks of the warships had been at peace for half a century or more, their weapons corroded, overgrown, and silent. The survivors we saw photos and video of were old men and women, sometimes veterans from opposite sides who were now friends, living in now-allied nations. After all, a modern war between Great Britain and Germany or the United States and Japan has not seemed very likely at any point between the 1980s and the present.

The “Peace Dividend” atmosphere of the 90s expedition books and documentaries, of technology developed for the Cold War now being used for peaceful exploration and archaeology, also felt cheerful and encouraging to my younger self in the same way as Russo-American collaboration on the International Space Station.

Around the same time in the early 2000s that I was reading Ballard’s children’s books from the 90s, I was also reading through my godmother’s gifted collection of National Geographic back issues. A January 2002 article about the adoption of the Euro made a great impression on me because it begun with a visit to the military cemetery in the fields of Flanders and a photo of the seemingly endless white marble headstones row-on-row before moving to EU business underway in Brussels— “A new Europe, in a new century.” However vaguely or naively, my ten-year-old self did take to heart these different expressions of the Dream of the 90s that perhaps after the horrific war and suffering of the 20th century, the 21st might be a more peaceful one.

The tragedy of Into the Deep, as we get into the last quarter of the book covering Ballard’s career since the 2002 publication of Adventures in Ocean Exploration, is the small reminders scattered through this “new” material of how real life has fallen short of our Millennial dreams.

Ballard’s early-2000s Black Sea expeditions were the point at which I began following his adventures in real-time, as my own subscription to the Geographic started in January 2004, and the May 2004 article “Being Bob Ballard” covered the previous year’s expedition in search of ancient shipwrecks preserved in that body’s anoxic depths.

The various contemporary sociopolitical overtones in coverage of these expeditions— culture warriors debating whether the theory that rapid flooding of the Black Sea at the end of the Ice Age had inspired the story of Noah’s Flood would strengthen or disprove Creationism, a Turkish official’s joke to Ballard “Is it true you’re here for oil?” “Yes, 3000 year old olive oil.”— were mostly lost on my younger self. Something I did grasp, but only vaguely, was the remarks that such an expedition to the Black Sea by American scientists would have been impossible during the Cold War. However, the shape of the Black Sea itself, roughly a little like a lima bean, with Crimea a pointy triangle-diamond bite into one side, was burned into my brain, along with the maps of its deep-water contours with markers showing the locations of ancient wrecks.

While the theory of rapid flooding of the Black Sea at the end of the Ice Age has since been questioned and now looks less likely, gathering data points even if they prove your pet theory wrong is all part of the progress of science. The preserved shipwrecks with intact wood discovered by Ballard’s expeditions were indeed useful to archaeologists and astonishing to the public, myself included. (Unfortunately, since Ballard’s focus shifts so suddenly and understandably to the shipwrecks of the Black Sea, Into the Deep does not mention any later research into the deluge theory.)

The intrusion of contemporary war into Into the Deep comes in a description of a later expedition to the Black Sea in 2012. While doing the same shipwreck research as a decade before, Ballard was suddenly called by the US Ambassador to Turkey and asked to find and investigate a Turkish fighter plane recently shot down over the Mediterranean during the ongoing Syrian Civil War. Syria and Turkey, we are told, were threatening to go to war over this incident, depending on whose airspace it was in at the time. The jet was found and tensions diffused, and while thankfully no pictures are included, Ballard describes the sight of the crab-chewed bodies of the pilots as “unpleasant”. Three members of Ballard’s crew, we are told, asked to take leave and considered seeing psychologists after studying the jet crash site.

This is not the silent and corroded guns of the Bismarck or the rummy eyes of an old British woman explaining how she survived the sinking of the Lusitania as a child, all safely consigned to the pages of history. This wreck belongs to a raw, gruesome, and ongoing war with still-fleshed bodies and an uncertain outcome.

In the past decade, Ballard says, politicians have looked down on NOAA funding for such far-flung expeditions, in favor of the exploration of US territorial waters. This, together with an increase in piracy in the Indian Ocean, led to the cancellation of planned expeditions to that part of the world. Most of his subsequent work has therefore been in US waters.

In late 2016, searching for escapism, I rewatched one of the 2003 Black Sea documentaries on YouTube. One commenter noted that such an expedition might be hard to organize in the present day after the Russian invasion of Crimea in 2014. Ballard does not discuss this in Into the Deep, but surely similar thoughts must have occurred to him.

This is probably even more true today in light of the current Russo-Ukrainian War. A contemporary discussion of “shipwrecks in the Black Sea” is more likely to be about casualties of the current war than the ancient ships Ballard studied 20 years ago. Perhaps, as horrible as it is for me to contemplate, many younger Americans will grow up with this war, rather than ancient wrecks preserved in poison or a search for Noah’s flood, as their first thought whenever the Black Sea is mentioned.

What is in Into the Deep that was not in Ballard’s earlier books, then? Sadly, for me, one of the most notable things is the reminder of the violence in our world and that, in et in Arcadia ego fashion, even the escapist world of Dr. Ballard’s expeditions is not completely insulated from that violence.

#books #reading #Ballard is Beast!#inner space #For the Increase and Diffusion #writing #Into the Deep #Let's Read

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