#not all the fan made versions with the like hippy background

[patriciavetinari]

I believe what happened to subculture is the same as happened to a lot of aspect of our life: some version of gentrification, some version of capitalism.

By nature subculture is at least in part counterculture. In the 50s being 'a preppy girl' was not a subculture, it was mass culture actively encouraged and advertised to young women. As well as few other 'acceptable' types of being.

Subculture I find was the opposition of that, a challenge of cultural norms, and it was also definitely not mass catered to. There were no chain stores or huge malls selling goth or punk clothes, you found that shit on your own. Maybe some small local shops dedicated to the subculture could emerge and exist, but there was no Hot Topic, you could not get a studded choker in target or something like that.

And this is what happened, especially recently, especially with fast fashion. Subculture became an outfit for a day of the week. Chokers and torn jeans and studded pleather jackets are mass produced plastic crap, in one season, out the next.

Not only clothing - a clear visual signal and a loud visual challenge to the norms of contemporary society, something quite literally ruining the expected picture. Same with decor, now you don't have to custom order a coffin shaped bed, google will find you several stores at different price ranges. Ikea might make it for the next halloween.

Not only have those things became accepted and widely available, they are still fairly expensive, just like vegan coffee shops under gentrification. Punks and goths are no longer teens making do with thrift store finds or just wearing and mending what they can, goths and punks are influencers with fashion nova wardrobe and kate von d eyeliner.

Counterculture got gentrified. It is properly available once again only to thin rich people. They stopped being relatable or interesting. Every goth girl on instagram looks the same, they are contoured and winged and baked and curated and styled. They look plastic like barbies. A rich thin white woman with a buzzcut and jean jacket is considered butch and punk. And they listen to heavy stuff like imagine dragons.

Tomboys are thin white women wearing thousands of dollars worth of sports gear and instagramming their hikes every other day. Fangirls are thin white women wearing thousands of dollars worth of fan t-shirts, cat ears, streaming with the wall full of funko pops in the background. Hippies are traveling from one expensive asian wellness resort to another, founding cult after cult, selling you yoga pants and crystal infused air in a bag.

All of this is mass produced, expensive crap that is so so so so boring. None of this is for poor people anymore, it's been taken away. Access to interesting self-expression is being obstructed just like access to housing, community spaces, clothing, food, fun. Concept of personal brand is gentrifying our entire existence, our entire way of being.

While promoting none of the values that made subculture what it was: sense of community, discovering self, understanding ones own divergency from the norm in every possible sense, queerness in every possible sense. Yes there are goths and punks and hippies out there but the community but there is no subculture, no community, there are just items arranged on people as a style.

[unibrowzz]

Mod (finally) reviews all 67 winners of the Eurovision Song Contest Part IV: The 1980s

Ah yes, the 80s. One of my favourite decades for music overall, and one of the only decades in Eurovision where I wouldn’t immediately jump at the chance to change most of the songs that won, the other decade being the 2000s. 

But at least with the 80s there was more quality songs per year, whereas the 2000s was mostly drivel.

I also count the 80s as being somewhat of a turning point in the contest’s history, and by that I mean it always seemed to me like it was the decade where the UK really began to stop caring. Most people know the song that won in 1985, but nobody knows what won in 1986. Everyone knows Johnny Logan won twice, but couldn’t name his second song. Everyone knows Celine Dion competed, but can’t remember if she won or what she sang. 

That and countries also started experimenting with more modern sounds and outfits towards the end. The early 80s is just an extension of the 70s I swear. 

But that’s enough of all that, how do I find the winning songs?

1980- What’s Another Year?

Country: Ireland

Artist: Johnny Logan 

Language: English

Thoughts: Ah yes, the song that makes every 50something woman in the UK and Ireland all doey-eyed and rosy cheeked as they remember back to when they were a teenager watching this on TV and drooling at the lovely looking sad Irishman singing his sorrows into the microphone.  Or that’s my experience with this song anyway. Another experience is that most vintage fans I know tend to dislike this song on the grounds of it beating out [insert song here] Everyone has their favourite from 1980 since it was honestly a pretty strong year, but even though this song isn’t my first place for that year I can still clearly see why it won. See, 1980 had a lot of pop songs, so a slow, sad song like this one was bound to stand out, whether it was popular or not. Luckily for this one, it turned out to be a popular choice. Other songs wouldn’t be so lucky… Back on track though. Like I said, this is a very sad and melancholy song with sad and melancholy lyrics, which not only made it stand out in its year, but also made it stand out amongst other Eurovision songs of its time. It’s strange to think, but at this point in the contest’s history there hadn’t been a winner with lyrics so solemn and personal. See, in modern Eurovision, every other song is the artist baring their soul about their horrible ex-boyfriend, or their depression, or past abuse, or whatever, so knowing there was a period where songs like that were so rare is just… surreal to me.

Is this my personal winner for this year? This or Greece tbh, I don’t mind this one

If no, what is? Greece- Anna Vissi- “Autostop”

Personal ranking (out of 67): 23rd

1981: Making Your Mind Up

Country: United Kingdom

Artist: Bucks Fizz

Language: English

Thoughts: Ah yes, the UK winner that nobody really likes, but the BBC still forces at us anyway because they’re proud they came up with a gimmick that everybody remembers. Or maybe it’s not that well remembered, but nobody would know that because we’re reminded of it every year. This song is… alright. Just alright. The first listen of this one is always the best, because after a while it just gets kind of annoying. The singing ESPECIALLY starts to grate you for a while. Even in the studio version the two girls sound unbearably shrill and whiny, and I’m not sure if that’s their fault or the songwriter’s (since if I remember correctly only one of them was a professional singer). I’m seriously convinced there’s no way for a female vocalist to pull this off without sounding terrible.  Again, this one’s perfectly fine and serviceable, but that doesn’t mask the fact it’s still the worst UK winner and the worst winner of the 1980s too. 

Is this my personal winner for this year? No

If no, what is? Portugal- Carlos Paião- “Playback”

Personal ranking (out of 67): 58th

1982: Ein Bißchen Frieden

Country: West Germany

Artist: Nicole

Language: German (Translation: “A little peace”)

Thoughts: This song gives me a really warm, nostalgic feeling, and I don’t know why. I mean, I know this one did well internationally, so it’s possible I just heard it as a kid, but given how I grew up in the early 2000s, “Eurovision is a shitty freak show full of weirdos from the USSR who gang up on the UK and don't vote for us on purpose” era Britain, that’s highly unlikely. Anyways, this is such a warm, fuzzy kind of song. It has a lovely… round-the-campfire, singalong kind of vibe, like this is meant to be sung by a load of long haired hippies with flowers in their hair and CND symbols drawn on their cheeks. And it’s… … Also kind of bland. If you’ve been reading my personal winners so far, you’ll have noticed I definitely have a soft spot for old German entries, so it’s a shame I find the one song they actually won with to be so… generic. It’s like they got tired of being unique so decided to send the same saccharine fluff everyone else was sending, and guess what, it paid off majorly, because this song was a huge hit at the time. Something about that kind of bothers me, like, out of all the entries they sent, it’s the one that’s the most “Eurovision-y” that ended up winning. And there’s something depressing in that.

Is this my personal winner for this year? No

If no, what is? United Kingdom- Bardo- “One Step Further”

Personal ranking (out of 67): 50th

1983: Si la vie est Cadeau

Country: Luxembourg

Artist: Corinne Hermés

Language: French (Translation: “If life were a gift”)

Thoughts: You want a tip on how to stand out amongst Eurovision fans? Say you like this song. Probably won’t make you very popular, but you’ll stand out at least. I will confess, I, too, was part of the hate-wagon for this song. Like most fans I knew, I’d complain about how boring and uninteresting it was and how it, ahem, “robbed” so many other entries, and how basic it was, et cetera, et cetera. But… honestly? It’s not even that bad. Sure I had other favourites from 1983 (the ones I could stand watching anyway, the host that year was so unimaginably terrible I gave up watching halfway through. I DARE you to watch the whole thing without wanting to neck yourself), but this song gets way more hate than it deserves. I honestly don’t think this song is half as bad as I made it out to be myself, or as bad as the fandom makes it out to be. It’s got a decent melody, some solid vocals, some appealingly 80s instrumental, like there’s a lot I like here. …Until you read the lyrics and realise they’re almost as half-assed and lazy as All Kinds of Everything’s, but I digress. Did I prefer other songs from that year? Of course. Am I going to complain about this one winning? Nah. It’s alright. 

Is this my personal winner for this year? No

If no, what is? Sweden- Carola Häggkvist- “Främling”

Personal ranking (out of 67): 41st

1984- Diggiloo, Diggiley

Country: Sweden

Artist: Herreys

Language: Swedish

Thoughts: Whenever I was a younger fan I used to describe this song as being drunk-dad-at-a-wedding-music performed by three sentient Ken dolls, and I still stand by that statement. And I don’t really know how else to describe this one. It certainly has its charm, and it’s still a likeable song, but it also feels very… vapid. Like if this song were a person, they’d be a bit of a bimbo. And I mean, the song’s about how the singer’s oh-so-happy and prancing down the street in his brand new shoes, so that’s probably a fair description. Part of me wonders if that’s down to old Eurovision songs being vapid in general or if it’s down to the schlager genre itself requiring songs to be kinda neutered and happy-go-lucky, but even though I do like this song, it does come off as being a bit bland. A bit by-the-numbers and playing-it-safe. And I don’t mind songs like that, but I’d rather they didn’t win, y’know?

Is this my personal winner for this year? Not really

If no, what is? Italy- Alice & Franco- “Il Treni di Tozeur”

Personal ranking (out of 67): 15th

1985- La det Swinge

Country: Norway

Artist: Bobbysocks

Language: Norwegian

Thoughts: Ah yes, the song which finally hauled Norway into first place after years of being a regular last-placer. Maybe the UK should take some notes instead of blaming Brexit. Or Russia. Or Iraq. Or anything other than their own apathy, for that matter. But this is about La det Swinge and not the UK, so what are my thoughts on it? Well it’s… It’s the kind of song I imagine my mom and aunt would sing at a wedding if they ever attended one. It’s a very fun song, a little cheesy, sure, but it’s hard to not like a song that’s this upbeat and cheery.  And yeah I know it’s because it’s schlager and that’s generally a really cheerful genre by default, I touched on that in the review above, 

Is this my personal winner for this year? This or Israel

If no, what is? Israel- Yizhar Cohen- “Olé Olé”

Personal ranking (out of 67): 14th

1986- J’aime la Vie

Country: Belgium

Artist: Sandra Kim

Language: French

Thoughts: This song is an enigma because I’m an absolute slut for 80s pop, yet, for some reason, I find this song painfully average and uninteresting. Now, I’ll get it off my chest and say that 1986 was also a painfully average and uninteresting year, and most of the time I just felt myself remembering the singer more than the song, and even then I struggle to remember what some of the acts even were. It was just such a boring blur of a year I’m surprised the juries even managed to stay awake to pick a winner. And I GUESS you could argue that this song is so upbeat and peppy that it woke them up, but that doesn’t excuse how bloody generic it is. Like, this is the most generic 80s song you can imagine, and not in a good way. It feels more like stock music than an actual publicly released pop song. Had it not won, I doubt it would’ve stood out to me at all; it would’ve just faded into the background with all the other muted, 80s-coloured mush from this year. Basically, there’s a reason the singer’s age is the only thing noteworthy about this song.

Is this my personal winner for this year? Not really

If no, what is? Luxembourg- Sherisse Laurence- “L’amour de ma vie”

Personal ranking (out of 67): 49th

1987- Hold me Now

Country: Ireland

Artist: Johnny Logan 

Language: English

Thoughts: Ah yes, the superior Johnny Logan winner.  And I’m not sure why everyone forgets this one because Mother of Mercy this song is in another league entirely compared to the other schlock Ireland’s won with. Like this is their best winner, no competition. One of their best songs overall as well. One of the best entries from the 80s, one of the best winners of the 80s, one of the best winners… Yeah, I really like this song.  I’ll admit to sleeping on this one for too long myself, always dismissing it as some boring Irish ballad to go with all the other boring Irish ballads they somehow managed to win with (we’ll get to that later), and always agreeing with people who said XYZ country (always Yugolslavia) should have won instead.  Basically I learnt the hard way to never judge a song on its country and genre. But one day I found myself in the midst of a revisiting trip, going back to winners I didn't pay much attention to, just to see if there was anything I’d missed the first time round. And something about the lyrics in this song resonated with me a lot more than I thought they would. In a strange way, it made me feel older; like I’d grown up and was able to relate to the words in a song and appreciate it more than I could when I was younger. The line “what do you say when words are not enough?” especially hits harder than it should; as someone with autism I tend to find showing emotions difficult, even in virtual conversation where I’m not using my voice or face, because… Well, what do you say when your words aren’t enough?

Is this my personal winner for this year? Yes

If no, what is? N/A

Personal ranking (out of 67): 2nd

1988- Ne Partez pas Sans Moi

Country: Switzerland 

Artist: Céline Dion 

Language: French

Thoughts: Telling people Céline Dion won this thing is a new favourite hobby of mine, just to see the confused reaction. And that’s the most interesting thing about this song because it’s… fine, I guess? It’s a perfectly serviceable 80s power ballad, but there’s no bells and whistles to make me sit up and declare it any better than just “okay”. It’s basically the ballad equivalent of J’aime la Vie from 1986, in that it’s extremely 80s and also in French, but there’s nothing to make it that memorable aside from the singer herself. And even then this isn’t the song that made her famous anyway. Even her singing doesn't make this one stand out, partially because the song doesn't do anything special with it, and partially because she just blends in with all the other good singers of this era. And that’s kinda sad to think about.

Is this my personal winner for this year? Hmmm....

If no, what is? Greece- Afroditi Frida- “Clown”

Personal ranking (out of 67): 22nd

1989- Rock Me

Country: Yugoslavia

Artist: Riva

Language: Croatian

Thoughts: So this is another song it really took me a while to get into (there’s lots of those, trust me) and one that was very briefly in my top three overall favourites. It’s slid down a few slots since then, though I would still say it’s… Somewhere in the top 15.  I don’t really have a lot to say about this one, if I’m honest. It’s just a good, fun, solid song which stood out in a very dull and ballad-saturated year, nothing more, nothing less. The lyrics are nice too, being about a bored musician who learns to love music again by teaching himself how to play pop songs to entertain his friends. That’s a unique subject and I can imagine it resonating with a lot of people who’ve fallen out with a hobby they used to love because they took it too seriously (providing they either speak Croatian or have looked up the lyrics, of course). I mean, it resonates with me at least. All in all, I just like this song for its message more than anything else.

Is this my personal winner for this year? No

If no, what is? Portugal- Da Vinci- “Conquistador”

Personal ranking (out of 67): 9th

#Eurovision #mod's winner reviews #posting now because the tag will be CHAOS come 7 lmao #esc winners

[hillbillyhippiemusicreview]

Post #46—Them Dirty Roses: Locked Down & Unplugged LIVE

“Cause I found the wind that blows, It’s blowin’ me back home 🎶”

Nashville-based southern rockers Them Dirty Roses recently let the wind blow them back to the Bama clay they were raised on for two consecutive nights of sold out shows at Sidetracks Music Hall in Huntsville, AL. General manager/talent buyer Shane Bickel was eager to re-open and provide both musicians and fans alike a safe, socially-distanced outlet for music, so Hillbilly Hippie Music Review made the trek there via Indiana and L.A. (that’s lower Alabama) to enjoy a couple nights of tunes post-lockdown.

Deemed “Locked Down & Unplugged LIVE,” the set of acoustic shows was the perfect, albeit different, way to kick off the return of live music—especially since HHMR’s last show before the nation-wide pandemic lockdown was in March with TDR at Sidetracks. Total full circle kind of moment, and one we wish we could have frozen in time. But, I’ve got to be frank—despite being a total glutton for acoustic music, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, being that everything had changed so quickly. Would people hesitate to interact? Would we dance and sing or sit there like statues? Would the energy in the room be relaxed or tightly-wound? At first, there was a bit of an unsure current in the air, but before long, everyone was loosened up and moving to the groove in their seats and all the ladies made their way to the stage to end each night with “Shake It,” a TDR ritual.

Before we dive into the specifics of the weekend, here’s a little background for readers unfamiliar with TDR: Brothers James Ford (vocals and guitar) and Frank Ford (drums) formed Them Dirty Roses with their friends Andrew Davis (guitar) and Ben Crain (bass) in Gadsden, AL circa 2012 prior to moving to Tennessee to travel the country playing their brand of rock and roll and finding success both stateside and across Europe. Their sound is a bit southern rock heavy laden with outlaw vibes, and a bit party band mixed with a penchant for slower, sentimental jams—in other words, it’s eclectic and every bit as unique as the four men who form the band. However you describe it, a TDR show is always a good time—and it only takes one to get hooked on the electric energy these guys bring to the stage. On June 5th and 6th in a little venue off by the railroad tracks in Rocket City, the vibe was killer and the feeling was out of this world. Not only were the fans ready to rock, but the band was ecstatic and thankful to be back in action.

HHMR contributor Linda Owen’s first-ever TDR show was March 13–the night the country shut down due to the pandemic. She has the unique perspective of experiencing the “typical” wide-open TDR show and the stripped, intimate version back to back. Here’s what she had to say:

“Three months without live music—I know I slowly watched myself go from the happiest most optimistic person I knew, to a complete mess. It may have seemed like I was okay, but I assure you I was not.

I’ve always known how much music has impacted my life. It has always brought me the greatest memories and blessed me with many friendships and there were so many times in my life where the only thing I had to hold on to was a song. Three months without my music family was torture. With that being said I'll never forget my first shows post-COVID-19. Ironically, the first post -COVID-19 show was at the same venue with the same band I saw pre-COVID-19, and it was perfect.

Let me set the scene. Sidetracks Music Hall is the kind of local music hall we all want in our hometowns: you feel at home as soon as you walk in, you are treated like family, and it has by far the friendliest staff and patrons of any place I've been to date. The venue possesses a large open floor plan with the bar area in the back, so there is not a bad spot to see the show. For this show in particular, tables are spread about what is normally the "pit" area. To be honest, I was a little nervous that this social distancing acoustic show wouldn’t quite fill that void that COVID-19 has left me feeling...I was so wrong. After getting settled in with a drink, my sidekick Lyssa and I did some mingling getting to talk to new-to-me friends that I'd made three months previously at the last show I had attended. The excitement in the room was palatable—and it only got better from there.

TDR hit the stage and you could feel the spirits of every single person in the room glowing around you. All the doubts that an acoustic show wasn't going to feel right with social distancing rules melted away! We danced and sang along like those tables weren't in the way the first night. "Whiskey in My Cup" "Grew Up In The Country" and "Molly" had us all on our feet grooving. We were treated to covers by The Black Crowes, Jason Isbell, and The Allman Brothers, in addition to fan favorites and new songs from their upcoming album expected to release in September—and we are stoked for it.

My heart and soul were happier those two nights than they'd been for the past three months. I sang my way back to Indiana..caught myself sing at work on Monday too!”

The magic wasn’t solely felt by the HHMR team—the air was saturated with it and everyone in the room had a taste that left them yearning for more. Below are a few comments from TDR fans:

“The first show post lock-down came with more enjoyment than just the music. We were super excited for the chance to get back out and hear live music! Them Dirty Roses were the last band we got to see prior to the lock-down. Now, it turns out that Them Dirty Roses would be the first post lock-down. The music was great! What we didn't anticipate was the joy it also brought by seeing so many friends with smiling faces! It was amazing to be seen again and to hear two nights of wonderful tunes!”

—Bud Gambrell

“Went to the Friday show and it was a group of guys that were ready for a show. They were the last band we saw before the Coronavirus shut things down in Huntsville. Looking forward to seeing them again.”

—Kevin Boyd

“The first show post quarantine was like something wonderful that I had been deprived of for a long time. I think sometimes we don't see how many things that surround us in life we take for granted. I see at least two live music shows a month. During the summer, I probably go to 2-3 shows a week. Honestly, it seemed like such a wonderful release and something that people needed. Everybody has something that feeds their spirit—mine is music. Being deprived of other people and the things we love are just some of the things that add to that depression that comes with the whole quarantine/covid situation. So, being around friends and music felt really great and normal. It seemed like life may be getting back to normal finally. I smiled all night!”

—Jerolyn Davis

“Needless to say, Them Dirty Roses put on one hell of a show two nights in a row, which was just what I needed after the almost three month drought of no live music! The fact that they were the last live show for me before everything shut down is kinda ironic and cool at the same time. I'm also very thankful to Sidetracks for putting on the shows, they rock!”

—Robin Huff

Guitarist Andrew Davis was on the same wavelength as many in attendance. When asked his thoughts on performing again post-pandemic, he said: “In March, the future of the entire industry was uncertain. We all knew that April was going to be postponed, but we couldn't even imagine postponing or cancelling the entire festival season. Then, weeks later, exactly that happened. With all of the uncertainty surrounding the future of our industry, it was very reassuring to get back out and play again. It definitely answered a lot of lingering questions about whether or not people would rush back to live venues.”

After last weekend, it seems life will slowly, but surely, get back on track and all will be right in our world again. Until that day comes, be sure to support live music and independent venues—such as Sidetracks who has hosted many fabulous performers like Anderson East, The Steel Woods, Black Stone Cherry, Adam Hood, Kingfish, Ritch Henderson, Muscadine Bloodline, Whitey Morgan and the 78s, and many, many more in addition to TDR—in whatever manner you can so that we have them to return to when COVID-19 restrictions are lifted nation-wide. And don’t forget to keep your eyes peeled for that new Them Dirty Roses record to release this fall—it’s without a doubt some of their best work. In the meantime, keep up with the band and their tour schedule at www.themdirtyroses.com and @themdirtyroses on both Facebook and Instagram.

As always, stay safe, spread love, and be kind to one another. See y’all down the road!

✌🏻💙🎶—Lyssa

*This is an independent review. The Hillbilly Hippie Music Review was not compensated for this review.

*The opinions expressed are solely that of the author(s).

*Fan quotes have been edited for conciseness and clarity.

*These images are not ours, not do we claim them in any way. They are copyrighted by Todd Dean with Butterdean Photography, Linda Owens, & Lyssa Culbertson.

[soulvomit]

The Memetic Race to the Bottom

On Tumblr, I started seeing that there is a real way how good ideas can go bad simply because the ideas just don’t scale very well outside of the specific conversation they originated in. (The cultural appropriation conversation is one of these.) This does not invalidate the original idea - but a big danger is that a idea dumbing down too much, can make people reluctant to engage with it at all once it’s gotten beyond its original space, so that the scaling into the general public becomes part of the extinction/invalidation cycle of that idea rather than leading to the broad adoption of it. (And then once it does scale to the public, the pushback can cause a full on pendulum swing in the culture - which is where I feel like we are at with the main social meme I’ll be using as an example. The present mainstream culture is a huge *pushback* on that meme, which I’m calling Toxic Independence.) The example I’ll mainly use here, is what I’m calling Toxic Independence, mainly because “Anti-Codependency/Neediness/Enabling Culture” is just too much of a mouthful. This didn’t start off the Objectivist-adjacent space of normalized sociopathy that it became. Codependency, neediness, and enabling, after all, are all actually real things that very much need discussion. But the broader culture just did not know what to do with these concepts once they reached escape velocity into the mass consciousness. In many cases, the idea breaching into mainstream public consciousness, is actually the last stage before it completely gets discarded. This doesn’t always happen, but I feel like I’ve seen it happen with enough ideas. All it takes is for the most dumbed down version of the idea, to become the new “poster child” for that idea, and lots of people to broadly reject it. Eventually, the idea dies out. Another thing that can happen is that a meme can go extinct if the original people with the idea, end up getting deplatformed. Or if the torch just isn’t passed to the next generation. That’s how so many of the more positive Boomer social memes ended up lost by the 1980s, and ultimately, forgotten. The activist/counterculture Boomers were deplatformed and also weren’t the ones having the kids. Every hippie that moved to rural Oregon in the mid-late 70s was a voice lost, and the yuppie Boomers became the dominant cultural force in a lot of spaces. And they managed to pass *some* memes on to Gen X (Toxic Independence or Anti-Codependency/Neediness/Enabling Culture was still a big part of many of my middle class Gen X spaces in the 00s). But sometimes the meme contains the seeds of its own extinction.  I feel like Toxic Independence did. Instead of a broad conversation that I hear in most of my spaces, it’s now a niche conversation in a couple of very, very specific spaces. I would have to actually seek out those conversations. And I still hear people talk about codependence - but it’s in specific addiction/recovery-specific contexts, or among much older people, and nobody seems to be trying to make it the Grand Unified Field Theory of People anymore the way that they were in the 80s. Sometimes the meme comes under broad attack by the culture itself.  As left/right political polarization was picking up speed in the last decade or so, you started seeing Toxic Independence under attack by both the Left *and* the Right, and not even by the most extreme factions of each. The hetero female version came under attack via both intersectional feminism *and* traditionalism, for example. The male version became even more niche and subcultural.   The Personal Development movement of the 00s was probably this meme’s final form. But even PD environments aren’t pushing this anymore to nearly the same extent, and the PD people who promoted it, are now mocked to some degree: I don’t feel like people are as universally told to cut off their ill, disabled, or unemployed family members the way they were in the 80s and 90s. I mean, there may still be this pressure in a lot of spaces, but I don’t feel like it’s as overt and aggressive outside of specific socioeconomic niches and professions. When I was around Landmark people in 2016, the conversations were fundamentally different from the ones I had with Landmark people in 2003.  Now, it seems like you only get to go away once you become rich enough to throw money at the problem, or are sociopathic enough to be unaffected.  Sometimes the conversation moves on because future generations change the conversation via trial and error. It’s coming out in the wash that while the first generation of people to do it en masse may have fucked it up (and then written it off as not at all working - which is what a lot of Toxic Independence was a response to), there’s been a good 50 years of R&D on the problem since. It turns out that cooperative co-living (with mutualistic, not parallel-independent or nuclear, household economies) was the meme that just wouldn’t die. The failures of white hippies weren’t because co-living doesn’t work, but probably owe more to being the first generation of middle class white people to try to figure out for the first time what everyone else has already been doing forever. Sometimes the social space shifts: geek culture is becoming a much bigger share of the middle class than before, and I feel like Toxic Independence never really caught on in geek culture the way it did in the 80s mainstream aspirational space. If anything, geek culture was the one space where a lot of hippie torches ended up passed - for example, the idea that you can have a household that doesn’t consist of one provider male and a bunch of dependents, *and* you can also have a household that doesn’t consist of two fungible co-equal earners each half-financing a significant lifestyle upgrade, and that functional households don’t have to have any one particular shape to them.  Most geek spaces I’ve ever been in, have been mixed economy to some degree. Geek households seem to come in a whole variety of shapes. There seems to be a greater acceptance of people helping or even supporting unrelated adults in many geek spaces in ways that I haven’t seen outside of geek culture, which is where we get the conversation about “that guy on the couch” but it’s also why it’s a space I’ve been able to stay in since becoming a low income person with chronic pain. (We really, really need to have a conversation about the geek culture’s problem with grifters and con artists, though. And geek culture could probably *use* a little more conversation about codependency. But this is a serious place where I don’t know how to not throw out babies with the bathwater, because that same discussion is where Toxic Independence came out of. And how to have that conversation but not fuck over the very, very many disabled people in geek culture? I don’t know.) The privilege and ableism assumptions in Toxic Independence made the whole thing fall apart like a house of cards when confronted with the Great Recession and actual intersectionality discourse. Also, the pendulum swing toward online transparency and vulnerability made it so that we began to actually see more of the shape of each other’s lives - and this revealed that so much of Toxic Independence was based on smoke and mirrors. Sometimes the environment around us changes.  In the 80s, it was possible to be totally self-contained the way that the books told us to be, on a much lower income than would be required now. In the 80s, you could live like this and be middle income. It’s much harder when you actually have to  Now, in many spaces, you probably have to be high professional income to pull this off, at minimum, *and* it assumes you will never end up primary financial support or primary caregiver for *anyone* (unless you’re wealthy enough to not require any kind of mutualistic relationship with any co-caregivers.) (This is a way that traditionalism actually was part of the death knell, I suspect. It tries to hold onto a family shape that even predates Toxic Independence *and* it explicitly identifies Toxic Independence - under other names - as a problem.) Lots of people have had to fundamentally change the shape of their households and lives to *remain* middle class, whereas 80s psychology around being middle class was hugely about shedding as many dependencies as possible.   You can only really be totally self-contained the way that the books told us to be in the 80s, if you are financially stable, if your parents are financially well set, and if you have no dependents, and if your social space allows absolutely no weaker parties.  It’s clear to me that while Boomers could carry on with Toxic Independence (so long as they actually retire affluent), Toxic Independence stopped working for a lot of Gen X. Most Gen Xrs I know are having to juggle multiple dependencies. Toxic Independence just does not work for the middle class of the Sandwich Generation. Many, many ideas get thrown away because of the Memetic Race to the Bottom; the Memetic Race to the Bottom can make lots of perfectly sound issues very, very difficult to seriously engage, and often the entire framework has to be thrown away. Which means that if there was a grievance by a marginalized party that started the whole conversation, the whole discussion has been taken away from them and the milestone shifted. (This has happened with any discussion of cultural appropriation that isn’t centered specifically in ethnically/racially specific contexts, for example.) When something is in its end phases, you’ll notice that younger people are not taking that idea up. Newer experts aren’t exploring it. The original fans or adherents will still be there, though, and they’ll eventually get older. But the ideas they talk about, will stay within their group, and the memetic space they occupy will lose broad relevance.  There is always life experience, educational background, professional context (was this a conversation between academics? Was it a policy conversation?), and *specificity* (such as, specific events - for example, *specific* grievances) in the original conversation, and when the ideas scale, it becomes a race to the bottom for whichever member of the general public (who was the least involved in the original conversation) has the least nuanced, broadest, most authoritarian, most prescriptive interpretation. And this is what happened to codependency, how it devolved from something that actually had a specific meaning and context within addiction psychology (and to my knowledge, still do), to a set of toxic social memes that mainly were about providing a social scaffold for 80s/90s middle class/yuppie selfishness culture - a way to weaponize what amounted to Applied Objectivism 101. I’ve found it really hard to talk about codependency for years because of this.  For example, I don’t feel like I’ve met anyone younger than Gen X who identifies as codependent unless they’re actually using it in an addiction/recovery context; that is not the language that Millennials and Zoomers seem to be using. I feel like it’s mostly Boomers, Jones, and Xrs that I’ve heard use these concepts, and I’ve stopped hearing them used by Xrs so much in the past 15 years.

[hootpoop12]

Theory time

Alright, so we all know through the context of this being written in a fanfiction/a03 format that this is all a play about canon VS fanon. What is a little hard to decipher is what are the things that are plays off fanon and which qualities are the true aspects of the characters(canon)? ANYWAY here are just a few of the things I am ASSUMING are plays off fanon based on my years in the fandom and sheer obsession of consuming this shit (trigger warning for everything taken place in the epilogue FYI):

-Dave: I think some of the main aspects of fanon influencing his epilogue version is intertwined with “woobifying”, “Slow burn”, and even possibly even “sexuality”. 

        -Woobifying is a fandom concept of reducing a character to “a cinnamon roll too pure for this world” someone you wanna baby (often applied to trans guy characters whether canon or headcanoned). This one is a bit of reach I’ll admit because it DOES makes sense that after years of living with Karkat the dude would soften up but there were times in the epilogue even Dave admits he’s gotten softer and the dude just plain out was very passive. In my time I’ve seen tons of depictions of Dave as a lot more emotional than shown in the comic or a lot more woobified in fics (like in meteor fics where he often has very dramatic emotional outbursts) By the way this is NOT me shitting on you if you like viewing Dave in that way because a lot people with trauma relate to him and use him for “cathartic release”(me fucking too lol). It’s more a guess/observation of maybe why he’s developed in this way due to the comic now being a strange sponge absorbing all fanon, good and bad, into it weird ass grasp.

        -Slow burn is likely the trope that plays into why the hell it took so fucking long for him AND Karkat to admit their feelings. If you have literally ever consumed Davekat content I’m sorry but 99% of it is slow burn lmao every meteor fic is pining, every coffee shop AU is the budding of a lifelong partnership, and every Harry potter furry inflation pwp crossover WHATEVER fic is 10k words building of sexual tension like......To bring their other relationships in canon into this we can see that Dave was able to flirt with Jade and Terezi and entered a relationship with them at a pretty normal rate WHICH can totally be attributed to the fact he views them as girls and himself as heterosexual so was much more comfortable making a move- sure. Looking at Karkat, however, and you see the dude is a little shy about romance sure but he was still able to flirt with Terezi and make awkward moves on John so like......I can’t help but to feel like something outside (us?) was influencing them?

        -Sexuality is another sort of reach but I think it’s something to consider. In terms of the comic....when exactly DID canon end? You could argue at the end of act 7.......or the moment John used his retcon powers to create a new timeline. Fandom Dave (on the tumblr side at least) was usually consider queer and a lot people shipped Dave with another dude. Perhaps John going back and rewriting canon helped bring our influence over Dave’s sexuality into the comic? I remember finding out Davekat was canon and confirming my “Dave is bisexual” headcanon and just thinking in wonder how it felt like Hussie was plucking my desires straight from my head and incorporating them. Which made me HAPPY by the way. If this is anywhere even near truth it’s not like he didn’t do a fantastical and natural job of incorporating it into the comic which shows how “incorporated fanon” is not a totally horrendous thing. The comics always done it with fandom memes and such. 

-Rose Lalonde. Not too sure what fanon influenes were brought onto her to be honest? In candy she was almost like a creepy stepford wife which is. Bizarre to me. Rose is the most contrary and rebellious character so seeing her settle down like that (OR FUCKING DOING SOME GUYS LAUNDRY) is a little strange. In meat she insists that she is an individual despite being married but that could have EASILY been Dirk’s influence? Also her biggest fandom stereotypes off the top of my head is Know-it-all smug meddler, alcoholic, and elegant. Really none of that was applied so still need to consider her more. The most damning thing however is where is all the piss?? If you look at the amount of piss kink rose fanfiction one has to wonder......and I can’t even continue this joke.

-Jade Harley: Gonna keep it real with ya’ll. I feel like this epilogue gave Jade Harley way more character. She wasn’t given much in canon except for lonely silly girl so it makes sense to me why she’d grow up desperate for physical bonds and inserting herself into relationships. I liked her telling John that she wasn’t some princess in a tower anymore cause it shows she KNOWS how everyone has always viewed her and that’s a little sad. As for tropes around her character.....yep people pleaser, silly girl, hippie, shoved aside for literally any other character......Need to think about her more, too. 

-Jake fucking English. What even is there to say? He more than anyone was influenced by fanon and it doesn’t take too much thought to see how. In a lot of fandom jokes and in fanfiction he is basically treated as a stupid piece of meat. I genuinely don’t read much fanfiction about him except from a trust few fans who I know care about him and will write him in a full rounded way. In any case we see a single moment in which Jake has this oppressive narrative taken away from him and it was when he was talking to Dave and Karkat during their election conversation. If that wasn’t already hard enough to read we can look back at the implied rape that took place with him in the beginning of Jane’s relationship with him or over the course of it. John, the one person supposedly not influenced by fanon as he’s still tied to the comic via retcon powers, is even the one to tell people that Jake is basically being raped. So yeah. Good times. I’ll get to Dirk in terms of Jake in a moment L M A O. Imagine that being the saddest lmao you ever just read.

-Jane Crocker: Welp hope you weren't a Jane fan lmao. What can I say except it FEELS like all the subliminal messaging really got to her and she’s like......warped by the condesce? I think if in the comic they showed more of her political takes then maybe this wouldn’t have come as such a shock. Like, I flat out am disgusted by her character now? She’s a facist, abusive, rapist(that was hint, unfortunately)? WOW good take homestuck writting staff?? I mean I know one of you used to write like incest pedo rape porn but aight??????????? Anyways in fanon Jane is treated as the girl who gets in the way of dirkjake so kinda that early 2000s bitchy yaoi girl brand, boring person in the background, or the hottie. They obviously kept saying she was “easy on the eyes” so there’s the hottie trope but that’s about it.

-Roxy Lalonde: Out of ALL the Alphas they fucking escaped with their goddamn dignity PFFT. So in terms of tropes: trans Roxy, alcoholic, and flirty “boy obsessed”. 

        -So with trans Roxy this is like Dave’s sexuality thing I discussed where a widely celebrated headcanon influenced canon and that not necessarily a BAD thing. Like I said, this theory is that canon is just absorbing fanon for better and for worse. I saw people were bummed they weren’t a trans girl but I am actually down with this for two reasons. 1) being all those memes “what’s your gender?” “the void” and 2) a part being friends with someone who’s trans is.....not being used to seeing them as the gender they actually are but taking the time to learn these new unfamiliar pronouns- and get the fuck over it. It’s their choice and you just gotta accept it despite your feelings. 

        -alcoholic Roxy was not at all incorporated which is the biggest fanon about her (not as much in recent years thankfully) so honestly? Kinda diminishes my argument. It’s not like the writers were worried that tossing out their progress as person was bad writing lol look at Dirk.

        -Flirty Rox. In candy they were SUPER fast moving in their relationship with John and despite towards the end they said that Dirk dying made them wanna do something with their life I just....don’t buy it? Mainly because john who is uninfluenced by the fanon tropes even noticed how fast they were moving and how stepford agreeable wife she’d become. 

-Dirk Strider. Aight. So. Here we go. fandom tropes are controlling puppet master, abusive, and cold/uncaring.

        -Dirk is a naturally controlling man, yes. Every version of himself struggles with this, yes. Even if we work on issues does not mean old flaws will never leak out, yes. However, after in the comic itself we see conversations with some of his closest companions and the effort he was making and ready to continue making was completely obliterated. Dirk is someone who takes his projects a little too seriously so why would he toss out this one- the most important one in his life? ANYWAY........Dirk in canon is shown that he’s also not great at multi-tasking or really anything that he really makes himself out to be AMAZING at. Don’t get me wrong I actually view Dirk as a complement dude cause he did get all the alphas into the session in a smoothish fashion (yes hal is him so it still counts) but, like, even when Dirk sounds like an AWESOME engineer to Jake he even admits that he basically had the future’s technology to help and it wasn’t that impressive. So now he’s claiming he’s the BEST? Wack.

        -Abusive Dirk......The sheer amount of people in the fandom who still misconstrue his character as heartless and the sheer amount of fanfiction of sociopathic Dirk might’ve done something. If he is truly becoming his “ultimate self” and he is heart aspect.....all these fanfiction splinters are getting applied to him as well, ya’ll. INCLUDING one of the epilogues writers who literally used to write fanfiction depicting Dirk as a brutally abusive and manipulative version of himself. With the similarities between their big fic and the homestuck epilogue I can’t help but to wonder if they’re subtly trying to incorporate that? After all Alt Calliope goes into detail about how the writer/narrator is IMPORTANT and when one is someone who enjoys viewing dirk as such....well who’s to say pfft Everything about how Dirk treated Jake was some of the most shocking to me. How did you get the guy taking most of the blame for a relationship gone wrong to a man who in a very rapey way makes someone obsessed with him, stupid, and unable to ever receive respect? Horrifying stuff to read, lads. It makes much more sense to me if you look at this fandom’s perceptions on DirkJake. My god there are some bad takes and there’s a whole section of the fandom who was hellbent on making the ship out to be the most problematic ship to ever occur. So whereas in the comic you have Dave pointing out that both sides had issues and everyone was willing to talk things out you had half the fandom insist that it was all Dirk’s fault and he just COMPLETLY forced himself on an unwanting Jake. Yep, sound familiar?

        -cold uncaring. yep tons of depictions of Dirk being cruel to his friends and family and sorry but go reread Homestuck I don’t even know what to tell you if you actually believe that. There’s literally nothing here I could write to help you. As if the whole thing about his character isn’t about how the people around him helped prevent him becoming like that and he hasn’t said in a dozen different ways how much he loves them and wants to treat them better. Get out of here with that shit lmao 

I guess all can be said about Dirk at this point is either 1) the absorption of the vast amount of terrible Dirk depictions from ascending to his ult self has warped him 2) he’s playing a villain just because Homestuck being over means not existing which TERRIFIES him and existing is a higher priority than treating the people around him right or 3) caliborn influence

        1) For the ascending I’m pretty sure this is the theory that’s gonna be right

        2) playing the villain is probably not what it is because on twitter all of the writers are saying the transphobia is literally just him and they’re boosting a lot of theories say “this is a story about friends you love disappointing you and you moving on” So. Yeah. Take that depressing nugget of information. (I literally will be fucking dead inside if that really is where this story is taken. No joke I will probably quit this fandom lol don’t know if any of you really know how big that is for me to say

        3) Caliborn? eh maybe who the fuck knows after typing that last bullet point out I’m too bummed to continue this hah

#Homestuck #Homestuck epilogue #upd8 #dirk strider #personal #fyi I love people who tell me when they disagree so if this seems like utter bullshit do not hold back

[angrypedestrian]

THE TIME IDIOTS EPISODE 410 TITLED “Tricky Dick’s Family Fun Time Jamboree” MY THOUGHTS:

So on the scale of legends presidents, this Nixon is light years better than the Lyndon Johnson from last season. Not a high bar, but he did manage to sail over it so, congratulations Dick

But do not get me wrong, it is also comically bad

for those keeping score at home the scale is from Johnson to Obama i am right and will not argue about this

grant and washington barely count so they’re in the middle

but dear god i can’t believe that the catalyst for this episode’s events is just Liar Liar but with Richard Nixon

NO ARTFUL NUDITY god 

sara: grownups fight, it’s normal, it’s fine. i have definitely had normal healthy adult relationships before

ray: we actually weren’t-

sara: I’VE NEVER HAD A FEELING IN MY LIFE LETS GO KIDNAP NIXON

Zach vs. Legends understanding of government bureaucracy part 1639

THAT IS NOT HOW THIS WORKS. HE WOULD NOT BE ACTING DIRECTOR

what even is hank’s JOB

...what is gary’s job

ALSO zari and nate probably can’t date because of BUREAUCRACY

BUT WHAT DO I KNOW

NOTHING APPARENTLY!!!

crochet club??? for my babies??? I LOVE IT

everyone gets a craft! and then there’s legends craft night it goes exactly as you expect and charlie ends up in the med bay

an aside: zari in a suit? yeah

mona going “grrr”? the cutest thing I have ever seen

mick: i can’t believe this is happening again

force ghost len, descending from the ceiling: WELL, PERHAPS THERE IS A SOLUTION TO THAT PROBLEM MICHAEL

sara, you must be in a state because you are leaving john and mick...in charge of a Youth????

also that’s not where walter reed is

also charlie couldn’t also dress up as a doctor too, like anyone would notice?

lovin’ this funky royalty free background music-they got one extra tom wilson episode with that kind of creative budgeting!

but then we throw it right away again with Free Ride

which was wasted as background music tbh

hell YEAH gideon, you tell hank fuck YOU

sara’s version of punch bug involves knives

it’s the most dangerous game at the league

this episode was a riff on movies made for 50 year old men and me, and those demos alone, so thank you phil

phil: what do kids love? 70′s road/bandit movies, right?

phil: i’m so hip

nixon...have you ever met a hippie?

is there...a reason they need to all be wearing the shirts?

no, no there is not

canonically, john is a fan of the Lonely Island

he knows all the words to Ras Trent and you actually can’t tell me I’m wrong!!!

sara: i’m a great mentor, god. you’re so fucking lucky mona

Gary, your conspiracy board is so good baby

buuuuttttt, a gary nora combo? unexpectedly great

mona, you idiot. i mean that with love, but dear lord

nate INSISTED they dress up in the sheriff outfits

nate: we need to make sure we’re-

hank, already dressed

nate: oh, shit, maybe i am related to you

DJ ZARI HOLY SHIT

we could def get a whole episode of this and i would be VERY happy

fucking billy joel

that ALONE would make nate a springsteen fan instead

fuck billy joel

nathaniel stop trying to sympathize with your dad he’s BAD

i know it’s complicated but like fuck your dad dude

oh right, nora’s from the future, she’s like, ultimate generation z like Zari and so was essentially born inside a computer and intrinsically understands them

useful!

nora bb i missed you! i’m glad you’re back

ray, EVERYONE used a strategy guide to beat the water temple in OoT

ain’t no shame in that

the acting involved in the inhalation and expelling of the truth bug? where are the emmys??

academy? are you listening????

sara: i have NEVER had a FEELING in my LIFE, and i am NOT. STARTING. NOW.

mona: uhhhhh...sara launched herself into the sun?

mick: eh, she’ll come back

mmmmmmm that john and sara combo!!!

i LOVE them

they’re similar enough that they can actually get through to each other

matt ryan is an excellent winker

‘i don’t hear gender’ please shut up nate

mona’s gonna fuck some shit up!!!

i am PUMPED

maybe we should have cut away for that cgi transformation tho

anyways she’s doin it!!

KILL EM ALL fuck YEAH

nate handcuffing ray

well i’m sure that’s not the first time

ray: it’s not!

i bet hank fucking voted for nixon too

john’s really getting knocked the fuck out a lot this season

mmmhmmm yeah right shut the fuck UP hank

fuck this dude makes me mad

the actor they have playing wolf-mona is great and is probably not paid nearly enough

sara: this is a you not me situation do not think i will be following my own advice

sara: also if anyone tries to hurt you i will kill them

RAY AND NATE LOVE EACH OTHER NEVER FUCKING FORGET 

my beautiful beautiful boys, these irl dragon bros 

steelatom never dies!!! 

and even outside of a shipping context, their canonical platonic love for one another should be taught in schools to children, like, fuck the goddamn patriarcy love your bros wholeheartedly!!

sara y’all have been stuck on a never ending road trip from hell for the past four years what do you think you have been doing this whole time?

lol charlie dissolved the us government

whoopsie gotta go fix that real quick!!

i can’t believe they remembered zari was in an ARGUS dystopian future!!

good job show!

hoo boy can’t wait for them not to deal with the amaya in the room with nate/zari

i am all for this ship, they’re fantastic, HOWEVER, it will be a crime when they don’t ultimately discuss it

I REALLY DO NOT LIKE NERON’S HOLE FACE

i do NOT

Wow Rest In Piss to Hank, guess they ran out of money to keep paying Tom Wilson, which is a shame

also guess i was wrong about the funeral next ep

but that does mean nate’s grandma is alive!! i was concerned

NEXT WEEK: oh that promo gave us...nothing. i can’t fucking believe we’re gonna get a bollywood musical number.

i mean, i can, but like, i have to at least pretend otherwise these lists lose their whole impact

#legends of tomorrow #legends of tomorrow spoilers #i LOVE a good road movie #and so does phil #because we are both middle aged men #HOWEVER not really who watches the cw #but anyways #the time idiots #my thoughts as i have them

[pupuplatters]

DANNY KIRWAN :: Second Chapter ~ 8.7 | Midnight in San Juan ~ 8.0 | Hello There Big Boy! ~ 4.5

DJM | DJLPA-1

DJM |  DJF 20481

DJM |  DJM-22

Even before Danny Kirwan passed away, I thought about reviewing his albums because I consider them to be obscure gems. Now seems like a good time to pay tribute to a musician who always seemed to be unfairly overshadowed. Although Danny was never a prolific lyricist, his melodies stick in your head and his songs were always a cut above thanks to the unique touch of his guitar playing and the magical mojo that Fleetwood Mac laid down on albums such as Future Games and Bare Trees. "Sands of Time," "Tell Me All the Things You Do," and "Bare Trees" are perfect studies in economical songwriting, and Danny also excelled at heartbreakingly beautiful instrumentals, as "My Dream," "Earl Gray," and "Sunny Side of Heaven" prove. He was able to establish an atmosphere with music like no other.

Danny's solo albums are a natural continuation of where he left off in Fleetwood Mac, dropping the emphasis on the hot bluesy guitar solos of early Mac and honing the streamlined pop he began to explore before leaving the band. Second Chapter is a carefree romp and marks the beginning of what should have been a more fruitful era in Danny's career. His guitar is never really showcased as it was in Mac: it's typically low in the mix, and solos are brief. A struggle between pursuing what he was incredibly gifted at and not wanting to be a "rock star" is apparent. Second Chapter is certainly his most musically diverse solo album; a lot of colors are thrown at the wall and they all blend well together. One thing that strikes me about this era is a lyrical shift towards nature: water, fish, birds, rainbows, and seasons are all observed in the lyrics. The album cover is overflowing with grass and blooming flowers. Clearly Danny was inspired by the world around him, but this new focus also hints at isolation. As the title and album artwork suggest, Second Chapter is a bit of a story through different vignettes of love, and his affection for the natural world seems to win over interpersonal affairs as the album’s second half turns more quiet and inward. The soupy production is Spector-ish with soothing strings, honking horns, ragtime pianos, and down home banjos creating a garden in springtime where the listener's mind is free to wander. A tasty lead fiddle welcomes you to a great big hoedown in the opener "Ram Jam City,” a song that contains the spark that makes Kirwan’s best songs so magical. As it unfolds, Danny playfully chases a frisky filly while guitar and fiddle dance with percussion that sounds like horses clomping in time. The joy of the moment can almost be touched as a choir of harmonized aahs leads the parade home. I don’t think Danny sounded so exuberant before or after. It’s a magnificent production, courtesy of Martin Rushent. The playfulness continues with some wonderfully weird scat singing punctuating the vaudevillian "Odds and Ends," a quick little snapshot of an eccentric junk shop. "Skip a Dee Doo" contains some fine country guitar pickin' during the break and strengthens the case for Danny's versatility (see also "Sometimes" from Future Games). The title track is a very British-sounding easy rocker that Al Stewart could have brought to the Top 20. “Lovely Days” and “Silver Streams” both showcase Danny’s skill with gentle, folk-influenced ballads. I'm not sure why "Best Girl in the World" was omitted from the US pressing of the album (the version I grew up with), but it’s a bit of a trifle and removing it from the record accentuates the attention toward nature. "Cascades" contains a gorgeous weave of acoustic, lead electric, and what sounds like a baritone guitar with a lyric in the chorus that suggests loneliness, a theme that would continue on the next albums. I've always wondered about the strange oscillating panning on "Hot Summer Day" and a couple other cuts. It sounds like someone's kid snuck into the control room and started turning knobs without anyone noticing. The production borders on overkill (one or two less string arrangements would be nice), but Second Chapter is the strongest representation of Danny standing tall as a solo artist. Released in 2000, Ram Jam City collects raw mixes and alternate takes from the Second Chapter era. For fans, it's a real treat to listen to, containing false starts, clearer vocal harmonies, and instrumental parts that didn't make the album. The CD presents its title track in two different forms and confirms its status as a brilliant little nugget. The instrumental version sounds just as good as the album cut, and the second version sounds like an alternate mix of the original recording at the correct speed, a touch slower and less manic than what appeared on the record. 

Midnight in San Juan is Danny's best sounding solo album: bright, natural, and uncluttered. Other than the occasional bongo and keyboard, the instrumentation is strictly drums, bass, and guitar. It's a bit looser too: you can hear Danny count off in a song, and in another, it sounds like he's humming to himself. The quality of the material is not far from its predecessor, but the lack of any bells and whistles shines a light on the lyrical thinness of the songs. The sonic cleanness of the breezy opener "I Can Tell" is as refreshing as its numerous hooks, and Danny harmonizing with himself on the vocal is wonderful to hear. It may be his attempt to write his own “Take It Easy.” "Life Machine" evokes a heavy, late '60s psych vibe, while "Rolling Hills" and the title track continue the haunting mood of Kirwan's Mac-era instrumentals, although they aren't quite as impactful. The latter sounds like funky movie music with some very '70s synths as the focal point. His reggae cover of "Let It Be" is OK and confirms his McCartney influence, but I would have preferred a Danny song. It happens to be in the same position in the track listing as Second Chapter's "Mary Jane," another reggae exercise that is superior to my ears. The gently swinging waltz "Angel's Delight" is truly a delight, containing some essential Kirwan poetry and beautiful interplay between bass and lush guitar in the instrumental breaks. The introspective "Misty River" opens with an acoustic guitar playing the melody, but oddly, synth takes over for the solo section. Although Danny didn't seem to want the spotlight, he still made all the pieces fit. The remaining songs are generally strong, but I get the sense that Danny went on autopilot at this point. The balloon of inspiration lost some air. The outro of "I Can't Let You Go" contains some of Danny's final hints of lead guitar brilliance on record and the track fades far too quickly. He seems to be on even footing for the duration of the album, but the hallucinogenic closer "Castaway" veers off the course. I've always found this track to be disturbing and its placement on the album metaphorical, a tumble off of the wagon after a period of stability. A creepy droning synth is featured heavily, and Danny's almost freaky guitar vibrato is used to maximum effect. Tension builds as the beat goes to double time before skidding into a manic refrain: its screaming guitar part and confrontational vocal sound like a genuine descent into madness. The song may have been intended as an official sign-off by Danny. It certainly feels like it, even though he owed DJM one more record.

Midnight in San Juan was released as Danny Kirwan in the States, and this version of the album contains some thoughtful liner notes by Richard Hogan. An excerpt:

A consummate pop craftsman, Danny couples layers of instruments with poetic conceits depicting the magic of a world many are too busy or jaded to notice. His new songs couple spring-clean the airwaves - you forget you're indoors when you're listening to them. Shafts of sunlight, forest creatures, romantic encounters surface and re-surface as emblems of hope on the singer's horizon. But the nature imagery isn't artificial, doesn't become frozen in a still-life tableau - rains fall, winds blow as if Kirwan knows he has no control over the things he finds idyllic. 

1979 was a weird time for the Fleetwood Mac family. Tusk was a brave double-disc curveball from the corporate headquarters. Jeremy Spencer went hippie disco-folk on his album Flee. Bob Welch tried sparse new wave on The Other One. According to various reports (including an anecdote in Mick Fleetwood's autobiography), Danny Kirwan was homeless. His last album, Hello There Big Boy!, is an unintentional portrait of mental illness. He doesn't look well on the album sleeve, and the record itself seems to represent giving up: side 2 is rather brief and just sputters and dies at the end. Danny musters all the emotion that he can, but he seems detached and less focused. The record contains only four new Kirwan compositions. Producer Clifford Davis was likely the mastermind of the album's vibe: a more straightforward, smooth late '70s sound with background singers, electric piano, and the occasional string arrangement. The backstory of Danny's struggle is hard to ignore and makes the album an uncomfortable listen, but I treasure its highlights. "Wings of a Dove" is signature Kirwan, deceptively simple (only one verse and chorus, repeated) but completely enchanting. Even at a low point, he was capable of magic. Equally intriguing, "Spaceman" cruises in a similar vein and sounds like it was written and recorded in the same session. Danny's hope circles the drain in "Caroline," a painful dirge about a failed relationship (reportedly, his marriage) that's oddly followed by a goopy ballad that opens with "You are the one who makes me happy." Continuing the awkward track sequencing, "You" is followed by "Only You," a high-octane blues-rocker from the Fleetwood Mac days that's given the neutered yacht rock treatment here with wah guitar and Vegas horns. Compared to the fire of the original and lacking the killer guitar hook it contained in the refrain, it falls rather flat and was a poor choice for a single. I wonder if recording the song was suggested by Danny or a tactic by Clifford Davis to keep Kirwan engaged in the album. Hello There Big Boy! is rounded out by material from a few of the musicians who played on the album. The best of the outside material is probably "End Up Crying," a convincing lite rocker that would have had a decent chance on the radio. For me, the highlight of "Gettin' the Feelin'" is the very obvious bass guitar bobble at the top of the 2nd chorus. "California" is a simple little ditty contributed by Clifford Davis and vocalist Dana Gillespie. That's an odd collaboration. When Gillespie made her vocal contributions to the album, Davis could have asked her if she had any song ideas because he was so starved for material, and they may have patched "California" together on the spot. A rather lovely homage to the Beach Boys, "Summer Days and Summer Nights" is a duet with Gillespie and it concludes the record somewhat strangely. At the close of the song, Danny ends his vocal phrases quickly, as if he was dying to get out of the studio. The final repeated line "Now it's time to say goodbye to the magic in your eyes" makes the album's finale (and the end of Kirwan's career) that much more sad. It would have been nice to have Christine McVie instead of Gillespie on the track to provide some closure and give the album a bump in exposure, but at this point, it may have done more harm than good. It seems Kirwan wasn't equipped to deal with fame, and unfortunately, it either caused or irritated his personal problems. Clifford Davis claimed to have utilized 87 musicians to get the album done, but the credits list only one rhythm section with several additional musicians on vocals, guitar, and keys. I have to think that it's a fairy tale because he has been quoted as not liking the album and it makes for a funny story in that context (unless he was referring to string players who are heard on several tracks), but it's worth noting that his own work on the project didn't exactly elevate it. The mix at the beginning of "You" is head-scratchingly bad, and several production choices on the album are highly questionable. The album is such a far cry from the euphoria of "Ram Jam City," which kicked off Kirwan's solo era with great promise only four years earlier. After his third solo album, it was clear that Danny was not coming back. I was very sad when I heard that Danny Kirwan passed away. It was odd to see the online articles about a seemingly sensitive and private man who hadn't been heard from in decades alongside the shallow media fodder of today. I'll always remember many years ago when my dad and I were driving around my hometown in December looking for a Christmas tree with my cassette dub of Danny's music providing the soundtrack; around the same time, being complimented on my developing drumming skills as I played along to "Midnight in San Juan"; a bit later, being thrilled about hearing some true rarities on Ram Jam City. My record collection has experienced quite a bit of turnover through the years, but I've never considered parting with my Danny albums (including my highly treasured test pressing of Hello There Big Boy!). Everyone holds certain artists in high esteem because their music means so much more than a faceless tune you whistle along to in the car, and Kirwan is one of a few of those top-shelf musicians for me. To this day, I consider his body of work to be very underrated, but thanks to being part of one of the most popular bands in history, his obscure solo work will be in a good position to be found and loved by curious fans.

July 5, 2018

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[usashirtstoday]

I'm A Little Smart Short And Stout Here Is My Finger Funny

That is a I'm A Little Smart Short And Stout Here Is My Finger Funny psychotic transgender you know wife or daughter in is bad the need this bathroom handicap bathroom to break your fucking links and just in case you guys go don’t believe that this pedophilia shit is really going on take a look at this that is a pregnant child these are pregnant children how do you think these children got pregnant grown man raping that can say having sex is no such thing as consensual sex with a child that is right these children are rape victims and it happens every fucking day in Q’s been exposing it trumps been exposing and going to war with them been exposing it to YouTube is a been exposing it and as a result were being targeted but we can’t stop fighting is one from WikiLeaks to do a bad and you who Montezuma Aberdeen Obama Barack. Four year olds have the background when I got out of the FMLA moments that moment when you drop off back and asked about the people that 11 finance automatic blood profit for my children I would be me and letting worthwhile arrows on CBS news located in a story that will be Catherine Jean Harding transformer is neither a note of the charges against the and went away for me to spend his time take a look at the Thursday March 4 they looking for the election’s names and politics will choose these the questions you want is a very sorry for every the very point to face the nation CBS we are in this area to be made to look through a telescope on in a few hours to nomination for Carolyn bangs forward and primary challengers will also be speaking to Cory Booker and Michael Bloomberg meanwhile brought in from continued to make official White House tricks to key battleground stage where he campaigned against binding in Scranton a former BP birthplace been the subject throughout this week convention last when he was. Happening here and took in what they are doing that’s the that just a continuation of the hoax whether it’s the impeachment Oaks or the Russia Russia Russia hope this is what I’m talking about certainly not referring to this how can anybody refer to this this is very serious about the way they referred to it because these people have done such an incredible job and I don’t like it when they are criticizing these people and that stokes that’s what I’ve done information Dr world renowned for being my Dr is just a question has because he has had that ability to do virtually whatever is wanted to do that in fact he was never muzzled think I can speak what are you let me let me clarify I have never been muzzled ever and I been doing this since the administration of Ronald Reagan I’m not been muzzled by this ministration what happened which was misinterpreted is that we were set up to go on some shows when the vice president took over said let’s regroup and figure out how to be communicated so I had to just stand

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My mom said you dad told you smart dog judging you right now and your best friend is called crazy the only give it to a I'm A Little Smart Short And Stout Here Is My Finger Funny story mansion getting your newsletter noble in Stephenson’s sleep news straight to the store maybe more neuron than I am now with so much on the line number one for on stories stories stories is now is most likely has I had bad news ABC news live watch the street prescribers right now will hear from you 2 now away for 2021 not seem to be ready by 2021 so much attention when he may have a short answer connect and be ready training 2021 according. Our country faces well aware well aware of all the threads to this nation and ready to respond to them as a child of immigrants she knows personally how immigrant families enrich our country as well as the challenges of what it means to grow up black and you need American in United States of America per stories America story different from mine to many particulars but also lots of different in the essentials she’s worked hard she’s never back down from a challenge and she has earned each and every of the accolades and achievements that she has gained many of them often in the face of obstacles that others put in her way but never quit and this morning all across the nation little girls woke up special black and brown girls so often feel overlooked and undervalued in the communities but today today just maybe they’re seeing themselves for the first time in a new way as the stuff of present and vice presidents in her campaign the primary camel often talked about what you referred to as the 3M agenda by moms. Is based on something happening books are that years ago I remember what day is here was actually exclusive from New York comic con 2011 I believeand my friend Kal who owns straight investors the comic shop whereby complex he went to New York goneand pick up this exclusiveand he just gave to me because he was collecting the line so that was pretty sweet but I kept this guy in package I just keep picked up on my walland next a couple of she hulks services Holt’s cousin Jennifer Walters who turned into a hold of her ownand she had a blood transfusion forand this is she holding her classic fit this is what she wears in most of her miniseriesand stuff is cool I didn’t see hope in the marvel of design until very recently been released her in her grave version out which is actually a great figure I don’t have a marvelousand where she will actually Holt’s girlfriend Betty Ross came remember why she turned into a red hope for a while but to deny scope on this figure cool character we don’t ever marvel into herand I can waitand see this figure released in this formatand here we get some hope villains so first up is the abomination which is a pretty nice felt but I will say his first big muscular guy goes it doesn’t work as well for abominations of the whole what it is the sizes had me produced body because it used horses are something it’s focus is not working here but I don’t dislike the figures that does a lot of looking but do you still fly scope in the faceand the scope of the body toand then it took that they figure they did have some new additional parts hereand see he’s got these a very distinctive looks on his forearms but otherwise it he’s mostly the same figure but this is the second abomination which was actually character Rick Jonesand when he became abomination he took on any A bomb which is corny cool thing that I think this is the only A bomb figure that never gottenand I it’s very cool I hope we get him in the wasand still some point that big lookand then the leader was a classical villain pendulous face will walk you need to close this is the glare section to Beth Beth deny scope of this figure I think this one actually looks a lot better than the upcoming Marvel legend figureand the quite a bit portions are nice guys with big goofy heads like this can sometimes be hard to pull off but your think a this leader looks really good so next up with a look at some force so we can we get this file here is essentially classic though her body from the IPE’s comments is what most people associate with the words that will hammer with his little inscription a pretty cool although the head rather classic beardless had to give us his the bearded one here is not college but not a bad figure if I’m going to have one classic door I would prefer beer now than the store her this is a more contemporary look for Thorand my personal favorite store this is the look he wore no is a contemporary for 15 years but the door was dead for while composting he came back sometime after the Civil Warand he had his newly redesigned costumes that was really the first time I started reading for complex on a regularand is seeking a big fan I really love this look this is a great figure is a lot of personality in the face looks a lot like the artwork that this costume is based on you I like the wash over the over the chain mail there there is a detailed brother is a really nice figure one of my favorites from the lineand lastly the for standing this is next with the words another character called thunder strike which I use Thor’s hammer for a whileand yet he is a claim is the classic for a fit on the leather jacket over top of the objectives were popular in the 90sand the he’s okay I see a new associate figure of a character that you don’t expect but the Dr to that much soand now we have some Thor allies have been rebuiltand I absolutely love this figure looks great he’s got an articulated jaw’s message is awesome for such small figure I love this costume love the hammer elevating about it we did recently get a bit rebuilt Marvel legends but his more updated costume as just a is not as nice looking as this one so if I do choose between the two I still prefer the smaller version of the rebuiltand we got sifts so this is based on the look from the movie the first form of so as a counterclaimand the actors likenesses not great is okay for this figure the size but you need to furtherand Connie outcomes based on Anthony Hopkins this is Oden Thor’s father so this is cool again characters with Odenand said I would prefer to have the comic based version rather than a movie one but never made but based one so I will be checking my foot had byand so here are some Thor villainsand these guys are all based on the movies so low key hereand at least as lucky with his helmet on Sotelo bit of a flair for the comic design they always would prefer the comic book appearances post movie appearances but low key characters right never really loved his comic book look anyway you could get a version of this they did make one comp costume is also really skinny goofy looking so I was content with this being my only low key except we have curse you might remember he was kind of a henchman in the second Thor movieand this is a character has a really cool design of the comic books it’s really crazy looking out there is happy that they work this character into the moviesand this is a cool design but I would prefer to look more like the comic book look in your filters underused anyway but it’s cool that these have some figure of him but I hope they eventually do Marvel legend of him based on his comic book appearance then we got one of the frost giants this is supposed to be a specific guy I think I can see he’s pretty cooland then we’ve got one of the dark elves also from the second movie so Mel kicked with the leader than the discipline to henchmen dress like this so I would’ve preferred exit amount kiss but it’s always fun to get some little army builders here too so it I do dig the look of the skyand here we have some comic book based Thor villains so first destroyer in the office action probably was from the movie line as well but the movie line was so close to the car because I would tell the difference so I member this was a hard to find figure I really wanted itand I think actually not by misguided eBay pain a bit of a premium form but it’s pretty cool figure there’s a couple different variations on this one is pretty much sum of solid black are really really dark grayand his but on his chest he had some sort of light up featuring his chest look red or something but the battery emeritus long since died this destroyer is pretty cooland the enchantress so she’s plain looking she supposed to be all seductressand I don’t know how people should be seduced without Syria is a special Marvel legend is much betterand then this guy here I don’t think we go Marvel him this is you look he’s a controland this is pretty cool figure I think it uses a lot of the same body as the abominations of suffers a little bit of heaven that same kind is a look but it may be makes more sense for troll reports to be sized that way then it’s a cool figure’s analysis looks at Capt See Other related products: What Would Joe Biden Do T Shirt

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[blockchain2071tj-blog]

Trivia Column�U"Virtual Globe" and Digital Collectibles in the Post-epidemic Era

In 2020, due to the severe impact of the epidemic (COVID-19), the use of the virtual planet has been rapidly spawned, as well as the digital change of industries is being carried out across the world regardless of nationwide boundaries; the question is, how do i prove that I am the creator of this work? ? Additionally it is because digital works are too easy to copy, as well as the resulting problems are the inability to confirm their scarcity. This short article is the newest opinion from the "Small Factors" column. The author can be Justine Lu, the co-founder and CEO of Lootex, a blockchain virtual treasure auction home. (Trivia: Industry Particular VII "Review and Possibility of Blockchain Online games" - Lootex. Justine Lu�U2020 Taiwan Blockchain Illustrated Guide) Being born being a human being gets the nature of gathering. From little to large, with all the growth of money, we've some series of different stages, whether it's shiny stickers, stamps, video game ace credit cards, comics, NBA player cards, dolls, all the way to fashion brand sneakers, brand-name hand bags, Famous watches and also artwork. So long as we can fulfill the emotional link or the excitement of hunting, we have been willing to spend time, money and energy to collect. Along with enjoying it at home, we can furthermore showcase with others, create topics, obtain keys to enter the city, and make friends , And even exchange transactions with people to expand your collection lineup. The mapping to the virtual world can be easy to visualize. For instance, in the game ?Globe of Warcraft?, somebody is always going after 100% full achievement, unlocking the Pokemon illustration of ?Pokemon Move?, collecting the exquisite furniture in ?Pet Crossing Club?... The key reason why game designers devote the game Entering the accomplishment and collection program is only arousing the player's selection addiction, assisting the ball player to experience this content that has not really been done, and motivating the player to continue the overall game, just to prolong the life span of the game. Related subjects: Private Encrypted Bond Era: NBA Players, Ethereum and Individual Bonds Related subjects: Zhai Li burst table, a Taiwanese group made "homogeneous girl" into a unique card token collection within the chain Let the Nationwide Treasure from the Palace Museum enrich your tropical isle. Image Resource: But, do you realize?

The prevailing "digital collectibles" still have some unsolvable issues that make it challenging to recognize the value: The greatest advantage of the creation of simple replication of the Internet is the fact that "information move" becomes hassle-free and rapid. When I wish to share a newly drawn computer sketching creation for your appreciation, I can copy it and deliver it for you within a couple of seconds. The question is, how can I prove that I'm the creator of the work? Additionally it is because digital works are too easy to copy, as well as the resulting problems are the inability to verify their scarcity. Lack of true ownership The biggest disadvantage of present digital collections is certainly that they are "subject to others." For instance, the virtual cherish you have worked so hard in the game will eventually disappear when the sport manufacturer stops operating. Which means that your virtual treasure is only certain in the overall game world, not assets you can use freely. Related topics: Column�UDisregard the laws and regulations of economics? Crack the scarcity theory? The idea and origin of "Multi-Edition Limited Encrypted Artwork" Related subjects: The world's initial case! Lithuania will concern "central bank electronic foreign currency" LBCoin next week, but it will be used for collection instead of trading (CBDC) Why use blockchain to create "digital collectibles"? Weighed against the well-known cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, the format of another foreign currency is very appropriate to represent distinctive, indivisible, and irreplaceable characteristics, known as Non-fungible Token (Non-fungible Token, abbreviated as NFT). I personally prefer to call it an encrypted certification, because the literal meaning can accurately explain the characteristics from the "item". Due to the blockchain blessing like a digital seal, electronic collectibles can also reflect their value: * The information in the electronic authenticity encryption certificate can prove to be the authenticity issued by the issuer or creator, and cannot be tampered with, and the scarcity is guaranteed. * Easy to monitor. Anyone can query the issuer, owner, amount of issuances and transaction history of the resource on the public blockchain. There is no need to dispute ownership, just verify it. * The extremely circulating ERC-721 standard of Ethereum continues to be probably the most mainstream digital format today, that's, the largest consensus in the community, and it is an easy task to interface with programs on the blockchain, and electronic assets will undoubtedly be truly cross-platform. To provide an easy-to-understand illustration, just like the 3C hardware specification USB 2.0, no unique modification is required, and all hardware can easily read it. Since it is unimpeded, it also brings tradable and exchangeable features to it. In other words, blockchain creates electronic assets that may exist independently, and may be used in different applications without unique communication. As for how exactly to define the "material value" of digital collectibles, we must go back to the old topics of currency consensus and requirement and supply. A lot of wonderful articles on the net are worth reading through, therefore i won't repeat them here. Related subjects: Column Sights | What supports the value of NFT property? The opportunity and liquidity high quality of on-chain art Digital collectibles have already been a trend. The concept of digital collectibles 's been around for a long period abroad. Lately, there has been a wave of using blockchain technology to make NFTs. List many relatively large investing platforms currently available on the market, such as for example: SuperRare: Gathering several well-known artists, "only sell works of art authorized by them" as its greatest feature, and the price is relatively high. Makersplace: A digital art auction house founded by early users of Pinterest. Inheriting the design of Pinterest, the city functions of collectors or artists are the most complete. KnownOrigin: The masterpieces collected on this site feel more street hippie, and the price is relatively near to the people. All three make use of smart contracts to design a profit revealing mechanism. 85% from the revenue from direct selling of works is usually attributed to the inventor, 15% is attributed to the publisher (platform); within the second-hand market, the seller will get 87% from the selling price. Creators can still obtain 10%, and web publishers (platforms) obtain 3%. Related topics: NFT series-Meet the blockchain, talk about the annals of cryptographic art you don't understand (1) Take into account the current collections need to go through a long period of operation and market producing, the subsequent revenue created tend to be not related to the original makers, they will certainly be filled with grievances. The existing platform uses smart contracts to get rid of traditional marketing techniques, which really is a great boon for new creators. Of course, it isn't just artwork. Also the NBA player cards that we liked to collect when we were young will be released in electronic version. With the expression of media digital format, the ball player cards aren't limited to 2D planes, but record the wonderful times of Stephen Curry within the championship video game. , Isn't this more vivid than rigorous paper cards? Related topics: Collect the legendary celebrity NFT tokens! NBA and Mysterious Cats team's "NBA TopShot" video game launched in beta ?? // The card design released by NBA Top Shot in May 2020 There's also cases of electronic collectibles in Taiwan. In August 2019, Taiwan's Personal team furthermore collaborated with all the blockchain startup Lootex to start NFT cards for your film ?Sage Thieves?, and these cards can be used in real-world online games designed by SELF. In the past, the peripheral products of movies had been at most film soundtracks, postcards or posters. Now digital collectibles may also be launched. Film businesses can even positively manage fan communities through the set of collectors. SELF completely demonstrates electronic collectibles. Turn into a CRM marketing device, and continue steadily to tell enthusiasts the stories they haven't completed telling within the movie. Remarks: NFT proprietors and transaction background are recorded within the string, and anyone can query their blockchain tackle. How can I play electronic collectibles? Speaking of physical selections, dolls are used as examples. They can all be used to play, beautify the home, publicly screen and show off, and speculate on cost investment. The same goes for electronic collectibles. If you have NFT digital choices, as long as you go to digital platforms like Cryptovoxels and Decentraland, you can decorate your house onto it as you like (provided that you need to buy land on the platform to build a residence). Please refer to Lootex's usage of the Ukiyo paintings open sourced by Metropolitan Museum to produce a film that will be put into the exhibition space after NFT: // So long as you have NFT digital collections, it is possible to freely decorate your home in the digital world. Because the collections are made into digital file format, of course you should show the advantages of multimedia. If it's made into a 3D file format, you can even combine AR and VR showing off your very pleased trophies. // 3D is much more vivid than a rigid plane -The Fukuoka Museum of Japan scans social relics into 3D digital archives, which can be presented in AR. - -The picture shows the work of the Taisho era: Hakata humanoid "Chuo Yu"-international brand names such as for example LV and Gucci in the style industry have previously launched design virtual models with games such as for example ?Sim?, ?Animal Forest Friends?, etc.�QVehicle F1 racing in the world, Nike and NBA within the sports world are also rushing to adopt the asset file format of NFT. These brands not only need the product sales of physical products, but also generate topics through digital goods, and also generate another software scenario (the most frequent one is that digital collectibles could also be used in games, such as for example: NBA team management games ), perhaps it can also create another way to obtain financial resources. What's better still is that brand name owners have perfected the list of core fans, that may convey information more conveniently, airdrop gifts to honorable customers anytime, and include gamification design to make sure a higher amount of fan adhesion. Summary In 2020, due to the severe impact from the epidemic, the application of the virtual entire world will be rapidly spawned, and the world is undergoing digital transformation of industrial sectors regardless of nationwide borders. The music industry suddenly started a wave of on the internet concerts, but I nevertheless feel that merely streaming videos is too outdated. best bitcoin games 2020 must praise the well-known rap singer Travis Scott for your virtual concert kept in the game ?Fortnite? in 04 of this yr. The virtual live concert was full of creativity, and there were as much as 27.7 million gamers (without repeating accounts) watching! // A virtual concert that breaks imagination. He himself had been the biggest winner of this digital concert. He received 9,478 reports, 1.4 million a lot more enthusiasts in his interpersonal account inside a 7 days, and Spotify's streaming has reached 80 million moments many. Needless to say, he didn't give up the chance to sell electronic peripheral products. ?Fortnite? has launched Travis Scott themed styling for fans to buy. -Source: Epic Games-The concert is positioned in games that want payment to enter. There may be brands worrying about being consumed tofu, as well as the threshold for followers to enter is certainly too high, shedding the original intention of contacting consumers in good sized quantities. It really is conceivable that in the foreseeable future, more and more physical activities will undoubtedly be "forced" to be in a free virtual planet. Perhaps one day, my favorite Japan singer Ringo Shiina no more has to pressure herself to conquer her fear of flying and go abroad to carry a concert. Fans all over the world can still take pleasure in her lively singing while sitting at home, and even purchase it at her very own wallet. Her NFT digital poster will be decorated within the virtual house, together with the commemorative NFT ticket, stored around the blockchain for a lifetime. ??

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[papermoonloveslucy]

LUCY AND RUDY VALLEE

S3;E12 ~ November 30, 1970

Directed by Coby Ruskin ~ Written by David Ketchum and Bruce Kelly

Synopsis

Famous crooner Rudy Vallée is waiting tables to pass the time until his music comes back into style.  Lucy convinces Kim to help update his look and sound while Harry gets him a booking at the local teen hangout.  

Regular Cast

Lucille Ball (Lucy Carter), Gale Gordon (Harrison Otis Carter), Lucie Arnaz (Kim Carter)

Desi Arnaz Jr. (Craig Carter) does not appear in this episode, although he does receive opening title credit.

Guest Cast

Rudy Vallée (Himself) started his career as a saxophone player and singer and became a popular bandleader, hosting a hit radio program in the 1930s.  His first film was 1929's The Vagabond Lover. He also wrote a popular song of the same title.  He was known as a crooner, and often depicted singing through a megaphone. On Broadway he appeared in How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying and repeated his role in the film version in 1967.  That same year he played “Batman” villain Lord Marmaduke Fogg. Vallée played himself in “Lucy Takes a Cruise to Havana,” the first episode of “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour” in 1957.  He died in 1986 at age 84.

Herbie Faye (Luncheonette Manager) was a character actor whose first major role (at age 56) was Corporal Sam Fender in “The Phil Silvers Show” (1955). He also appeared with Silvers on Broadway in Top Banana (1951) and also did the film version (1954) with Silvers. He appeared in a 1968 episode of “The Lucy Show.”  This is the first of his four “Here's Lucy” episodes.

Phil Vandervoort (Steve) appeared in two episodes of “The Lucy Show” where he met Lucie Arnaz. The two were married from 1971 to 1977.  This is the first of his three episodes of the series.

It is fairly obvious that Vandervoort, then Lucie Arnaz's fiancée, was cast to fill in for the absent Desi Arnaz Jr. Also, a character named Steve had already appeared on the series played by Steve March. It is unclear whether this is a recasting or a different character named Steve. 

Vanda Barra (Rudy Vallée's Maid) was Lucille Ball’s cousin-in-law and married to frequent day player Sid Gould. This is just one of her over two dozen appearances on “Here’s Lucy” as well as appearing in Ball’s two 1975 TV movies “Lucy Gets Lucky” (with Dean Martin) and “Three for Two” (with Jackie Gleason). She was seen in half a dozen episodes of “The Lucy Show.” Off-camera background singers are Marnelle Wright, Gloria Wood, George Bledsoe, Thomas D. Kenny, Mack McLean, and Sue Allen.  

The diners in the luncheonette, patrons of the Hungry Hippie, and Steve's band are all played by uncredited background performers.

The first draft of the script was date May 25, 1970.  It was originally titled “The Rudy Vallée Show”.  

Interestingly, Lucy read the script and made notes aboard United Flight #196 on June 6, 1970 and made extensive notes about how to ‘fix’ it.  

Two days after this episode originally aired (December 2, 1970), Lucie and Desi Jr. appeared on NBC’s “The Kraft Music Hall” with Robert Young and Jane Wyatt hosting. Lucille Ball does not appear.

This is the first of 68 episodes directed by Coby Ruskin. He previously directed episodes of “Gomer Pyle” and “The Andy Griffith Show,” both filmed at Desilu. Ruskin was hired after Herbert Kenwith decided to leave the show after an incident between Lucille Ball and guest star Ruth McDevitt.  

According to Lucille Ball, Rudy Vallée had the foulest mouth of anyone she's worked with and was very difficult while filming this episode.  He would blame every person around him for anything he couldn't do. If he made a mistake, it was always somebody else's fault. On the DVD introduction to the episode, music director Marl Young confirms this opinion. Vallée was well-known in Hollywood for being difficult to work with and to work for, often referred to as a “slave driver.” 

When Harry asks Vallée (who is waiting tables) if he's busy, Vallée responds “My time, is your time.” This was also the title of a song recorded by Rudy Vallée and His Connecticut Yankees in 1929. This was the theme song of “The Fleischmann's Yeast Hour” for many years, and it is heavily associated with that show.  When Lucy and Kim visit Vallée's home, the doorbell plays the first five notes of the song.

To prove his identity to Lucy and Harry, Vallée sings “I'm just a vagabond lover.” The song was written by Vallée and Leon Zimmerman for the 1929 film The Vagabond Lover.

Vallée says he was “the Tiny Tim of the roaring '20s!” The soundtrack then plays “Tiptoe Through the Tulips.”  This is one of many references to “Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In” and the third to reference singer Tiny Tim, an eccentric ukulele player with a similar crooner style who appeared regularly on the program and made the 1929 song popular again.

When Vallée says “Hi Ho” (his signature greeting) to Kim, she guesses he is the Lone Ranger. The Lone Ranger was a masked avenging cowboy who appeared on radio, in movie serials, and on television.  

Lucy: “Oh, this modern generation!  Some of them don't even know who Bing Crosby is!” Vallée: “Who's Bing Crosby?”

Vallée and Bing Crosby were rival crooners during the 1930s.  In “Lucy Takes a Cruise to Havana” (1957, above) Lucy Ricardo tells Vallée she was a member of his fan club but her friend Susie MacNamara (Ann Sothern, left) was trying to recruit her as a Crosby fan instead.  

When asked by Vallée what songs she knows, Kim mentions “Octopus’s Garden,” “Polythene Pam,” and “Mean Mr. Mustard.”  All of these are Beatles songs from 1969. Coincidentally, the day this episode was first aired former Beatles member George Harrison released his triple album set All Things Must Pass.

Kim, Steve, and the band perform "She Came In Through the Bathroom Window" by the Beatles. Vallée also takes a stab at the song which prompts Kim to say “I've never heard it sung quite that way before.”

Considering Lucy's infatuation with diamonds demonstrated in “Lucy Meets the Burtons” (S3;E1) and “Lucy and the Diamond Cutter” (S3;E10), it seems an opportunity lost not to mention or perform the Beatles' 1967 hit “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.”  Ah, well.

The set for Vallée's home was decorated with items brought in from Vallée's private collection, including a Wiffenpoof Trophy and a small red megaphone with a letter “Y” on it.  Both of these were likely given to him by Yale University, home of the Wiffenpoofs.

When the full length portrait of Vallée in a raccoon coat is revealed, Vallée says he wore the coat in his first picture, Varsity Hero. In reality, Vallée's first film (aside from two shorts playing himself) was The Vagabond Lover in 1929. Vallée himself was not a fan of the film. In a 1980 interview, he mused 

"They're still fumigating the theaters where it was shown. Almost ruined me. In fact, I think it's only shown in penitentiaries and comfort stations.”

Performing with Lucy and Kim at the Hungry Hippie, Vallée sings a traditional version of “The Wiffenpoof Song” that morphs into an up-tempo rendition.  

The 1909 song was the signature tune of the Yale University a capella singing group. Vallée did not have a hit with it until 1937.  

He then segues into “Let the Sun Shine,” a song from the 1967 rock musical Hair. The number then becomes a medley with the addition of “Winchester Cathedral,” a 1966 song by The New Vaudeville Band, a British novelty group.

The statue of the bearded and caped man was also seen decorating Jack Benny's home in the previous episode.

Craig also wore a raccoon coat in “Lucy, the Co-Ed” (S3;E6) and Fred Mertz wore one in “Lucy Has Her Eyes Examined” (ILL SE;E11).  

Time Warp!  Rudy Vallée says that his style of music is bound to come back into style in 40 or 50 years time.  As of this writing it has been 50 years since he spoke those words.  Any day now...

Birds of a Feather!  Kim mentions a song called “Tennessee Walking Bird” but she probably means “Tennessee Bird Walk,” a 1970 novelty song by Jack Blanchard and Misty Morgan that hit #1 on the Billboard Country Charts.

“Lucy and Rudy Vallée” rates 2 Paper Hearts out of 5

This episode attempts to continue the “generation gap” themes of the series so that's a plus. The sad backstories about Vallée's attitude reflect his somewhat distracted and unenthusiastic performance here. The final medley with Vallée in hippie duds is just plain cringe-worthy. The writers also give Kim and Lucy some pretty insipid dialogue.  

Lucy to Vallée: “You mean kids today don't like your music?” Kim to Vallée: “Nobody can teach modern music to the older generation. The older generation just doesn't seem to have any soul.”

#Here's Lucy #Lucille Ball #Rudy Vallee #Gale Gordon #Lucie Arnaz #The Beatles #Herbie Faye #Phil Vandervoort #Vanda Barra #Marnelle Wright #Gloria Wood #George Bledsoe #Thomas D. Kenny #Mack McLean #Sue Allen #Coby Ruskin #David Ketchum #Bruce Kelly #My Time is Your Time #The Vagabond Lover #Winchester Cathedral #Polythene Pam #Mean Mr. Mustard #She Came In Through the Bathroom Window #Octopus's Garden #Lone Ranger #Bing Crosby #Abbey Road #Wiffenpoof Song #raccoon coat

[mwitchipoo]

In the past few years, I’ve done portraits of famous musicians and icons, such as David Bowie, Lemmy Kilmister, Quentin Crisp, Prince, Muhammad Ali, Elizabeth Taylor, Wendy O Williams, and a few others. My focus are on those who had some sort of impact on my psyche, whether it’s small or significant.

Which brings me to Marc Bolan. My introduction to the ’70s Glam band T Rex was through covers by Bauhaus, Violent Femmes, Powerstation, Siouxsie and The Banshees, etc. Being curious, I decided to go straight to the source.

  Recently came the news that T Rex is going to be an inductee into the 2020 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Usually I don’t give a rat’s ass about who’s been included. Being part of Gen X, I should’ve been happy for Depeche Mode and Nine Inch Nails. Instead I’ll wait to rejoice when Kraftwerk gets in. I’m always that one person who goes against the grain.

For those who don’t know who Marc Bolan is, here goes. Marc Bolan, real name Marc Feld. His father was an Askenazi Jew, his mother English. Marc was born for the showbiz life. He first appeared as an extra on the British television show Orlando as a Mod. Age nine he was given his first guitar, and his life course was set. After being expelled from school at the age of 15, he tried modelling. It’s rumored he was bisexual, piling his trade as a ‘rent boy.’ In 1964, Marc met his first manager. The result was one of Bolan’s professional recordings. The track was in the style of U.K. teen idol Cliff Richard. Marc soon moved on to a second manager. He had changed his style, adopting a Boho-chic look. The contract was later sold to a landlord to back off back rent, in which the contract was later destroyed. In 1965, Marc signed Decca Records. It was this point Marc switched his stage name to Marc Bolan. Two Decca released singles went nowhere. In 1966, British music producer Simon Napier-Bell, met Bolan, listening to Bolan’s claims about how he was going to be a ‘big star.’ Napier-Bell was managing The Yardbirds at that point. He put Bolan in the band John’s Children, which had some success. It was short-lived, so Marc had to reconstruct his plans for stardom. Influenced by fantasy and romance, he came back with the first formation of T Rex, originally known as Tyrannosaurus Rex

Tyrannosaurus Rex gained a cult following among the U.K.’s Hippie subculture, releasing four Psychedelic-Folk-Rock albums. However, Marc wanted more. Despite charting success, percussionist Steve Peregrin Took was terminated due to drug use. Tyrannosaurus Rex then developed into T Rex, adding electric to the sound. Took was replaced with Mickey Finn on the bongos.

1970 saw the release of the rebooted formation with the self titled album T Rex. As the cliche goes, the rest is history. Marc reinvented himself yet again, setting the bar for what would be known as ‘Glam Rock.’

  The timing couldn’t have been more perfect. This also synchronized with David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust era. In fact, both T Rex and Bowie worked with the same music producer, American Tony Visconti and the same manager, Les Conn. Hippies were replaced with teenage fans as Marc performed on stage wearing satin and glitter. This is the iconic T Rex everyone knows. At one point T Rex was as huge as The Beatles over in his native country. T Rex did have success over in the U.S., with the top 40 hit ‘Bang A Gong’, but never as massive as they were back in the U.K. With releases such as Electric Warrior and The Slider, the band was rumored to be selling 100,000 records a day.

What’s up with these ’70s rock stars wearing pants a certain way? 

It really should be noted that Marc would probably never had the success if it wasn’t for his wife, June Ellen Child. June Child already had connections within the British music industry, and was instrumental in T Rex’s success. Finally Marc achieved the rock star status he so desired.

Marc and June on their wedding day

Marc Bolan and June Child

Marc Bolan and June Child

The wave continued to ride high, appearing in Ringo Starr’s film, Born To Boogie. After the album Tanx in 1973, the success T Rex had started to taper off. His marriage was disintegrating too. Marc found new love with American R&B singer Gloria Jones. Jones has her own interesting history. She was involved with Motown. Finding success in the U.K., she was the Queen of  the Northern Soul movement. Most importantly, Jones was the original vocalist for the song Tainted Love, later made internationally famous by ’80s New Wave band Soft Cell.

Marc and Gloria’s paths first crossed in 1969. It wasn’t until 1972, when Jones got a gig as T Rex’s backup singer.  You can guess the rest, as Jones and Bolan became romantically involved. Out of that union, Jones gave birth to their only son, Rolan Bolan in 1975. By that time, Bolan’s star was fading. He had gained a bit of weight, acquired a drug habit, and record sales slowly declined. Jones and Bolan continued to collaborate. In 1975 Jones did background vocals for the T Rex album Bolan’s Zip Gun. Unfortunately the tenth studio album did poorly, only being released in the U.K. (The American version was Light of Love, released on then new Casablanca record label) Another pairing for Jones’ 1976 album Vixen. Jones continued her tenure with T Rex with the albums Futuristic Dragon and Dandy In The Underworld.

Marc’s luck turned around in 1977, when he landed his own variety show on Granada Television. Now this synchronized with the imminent U.K. Punk movement. (The Damned opened up for T Rex on a later British tour) Marc had a few appearances from bands like The Jam and Generation X (with future ’80s New Wave superstar Billy Idol). Thin Lizzy also did a guest spot on Marc. The rest was littered with local performers, never to be heard from again. David Bowie was the most significant delegate, with a spot on the last Marc episode. Bowie was both a rival and a friend – but later proved himself to be a loyal friend as we’ll find out later.

Marc was renewed by Granada, but the next season never came to be. After celebrating on September 16, 1977, Marc and Gloria got into a car crash. Jones was the driver of the Mini 1275GT. While Jones survived, Bolan died instantly. Marc Bolan was only two weeks from his 30th birthday.

While the funeral was taking place, Gloria Jones was hospitalized in a coma. When she came to, to her horror she discovered the home she had shared with Marc had been looted dry. Further matters were complicated because Bolan never divorced from his estranged wife June Child. This meant that Bolan’s was tied up, freezing both Jones and the child she had with Bolan out. Skipping the U.K. legal inquiry over the car crash, Jones and the son returned back to Los Angles, California. Jones continued to be involved with the music industry, but destitute. This is where David Bowie comes into play. Bowie just happened to be the godfather to Rolan Bolan. Refusing to have Rolan continue suffering, Bowie stepped in providing financial assistance, paying for Rolan’s education. It was all due to Bowie’s loyalty towards friendship he shared with Marc Bolan. It wasn’t until June Child’s death in Back in the U.K., a plaque was placed where the crash occurred. For decades, the site has, become a small pilgrimage to T Rex fans.

Over the years, people have held torches in Marc’s memory. Marc On Wax was a label run by two former heads of Bolan’s fan club. Most importantly, the influence Marc and T Rex had continues. As mentioned earlier, many late ’70s/’80s Post-Punk and Alternative bands have covered many a T Rex ditty.

As for Gloria, she later co-founded with the Light of Love Foundation UK, a music school in Sierra Leone, West Africa named in honor of Marc. Called Marc Bolan School Of Music, it gives children opportunities to learn all facets of music and film. Oh, and in 2007, she did a duet with Marc Almond once on a U.K. stage performing Tainted Love.

Gloria Jones and Marc Almond on stage. 2007. 

Honestly, I don’t know why there’s hasn’t been a biopic film about Marc. If they can do one on Freddie Mercury and Elton John, surely they can do one on Marc. I digress.

Now that you’ve read more about Marc Bolan than you originally wanted to, here’s my portrait of him, just in time for his induction into the class of 2020, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Hand drawn, pen, ink and watercolor. There’s a tiny bit of sheen and glimmer with the watercolor, but I don’t think Marc would’ve minded. Here’s a little Marc in your heart.

Marc Bolan. Pen, ink, watercolor. Illustration by Michele Witchipoo. Completed March 2020. 

    Marc Bolan – T. Rex In the past few years, I've done portraits of famous musicians and icons, such as David Bowie…

#&039;70s glam rock #&039;70s Rock #art #David Bowie #gloria jones #illustration #Marc Bolan #michele witchipoo #michele witchipoo artwork #michele witchipoo drawing #michele witchipoo illustration #rock n roll hall of fame 2020 #T Rex #Tyrannosaurus Rex

[smokeybrandreviews]

Smokey brand Movie Reviews: Shine On

I’m a huge fan of Stephen King. He’s actually one of my favorite modern writers. Anne Rice is another and, interestingly enough, falls into the same pratfalls as King. While i think he’s a great writer, he tends to ramble a bit in his narrative. Dude let’s his creativity get the better of him and you end up with unnecessary scenes like the juvenile gangbang in IT. He’s gotten better at creating a thorough-line in his narratives as he’s gotten older, but the film adaptions of his books tend to do a fantastic job of that focus outright. One of my favorite films is the scripted version of Carrie White’s tragedy. I adore that movie and even have a soft spot for it’s remake. But my favorite translation of King’s work belongs to the goddamn Shining. The Shining is a cinematic masterpiece and, interestingly enough, both hated by kind and not even a proper adaption of his work! So it’s wild to me that he would revisit this universe with a sequel in Doctor Sleep. I’m looking forward to seeing how this adaption continues this dark narrative.

The Good

First and foremost, I just need to express how well this thing has been directed Mike Flanagan. I knew he was something special with what he did with Oculus and his run on The Haunting of Hill House but Doctor Sleep is a goddamn masterstroke. It’s not as good as the Shining, you can’t catch Kubrick, but it’s damn close. This film feels like that, it emulates that spirit but is still, legitimately, it’s own animal. I adore it. Flanagan has an eye for horror and I’m looking forward to his next project.

Doctor Sleep has some of the best writing i have ever seen in a King adaption. Usually, his works lose a little something in that department when translated to cinema. It’s hard to capture a faithful facsimile of a professional writer’s dialogue and tone when you’re trying to produce a profitable, Hollywood, project. Thing is, Flanagan strikes again! This dude is everything on this project; Writer, director, editor. His reach is profound but necessary to capture a uniform spirit

This movie is gorgeous, man. Each shot can be considered a goddamn work of art. The muted tones with the occasional, vibrant splash are absolutely spectacular. Doctor Sleep isn’t a scary film at all but it is unnerving and that feeling of dread has been captured perfectly within each frame while never once negating it’s beauty.

But this sound design, tho. I usually never talk about this stuff because it’s inconsequential but one of the things that made the original Shining such a pressing experience was the subtly insidious chorus ramping up the horror onscreen. Doctor Sleep captures that same stress with it’s own background notes, even if it’s a little more subdued.

The casting in this thing is superb. Being a sequel to the original Shining and having vivid flashbacks to that period, t was necessary to bring back certain characters. However, Scatman Crothers is dead and Shelley Duvall is out of her goddamn mind, so it was necessary to recast these pivotal parts. To see Wendy, Hallorann, and young Danny after so many years as a true treat, even if they had new faces. Cliff Curtis was also a pleasant surprised. Also, I mean, it’s just dope seeing Alex Essoe getting more work after Starry Eyes. I loved that movie and she was spectacular in it.

Speaking of casting, I’d be remiss if i didn’t mention how goddamn perfect Rebecca Ferguson was as Rose the Hat. My goodness, was she powerful in this role. She’s cruel in the most subtle of ways but amazingly beautiful at the same time. Not physically, she is gorgeous in general, but i meant there is a grace to her brutality that is just too sweet. She has this weird, mad hippie, Manson-esque, energy that just bleeds from her character. That’s hard to pull of as an actor. That subtle, disgusting, side of humanity that we always just try to ignore? To bring it out with that unassuming charm? Bro, Ferguson’s Rose the Hat is one of the most psychological terrifying villains I’ve ever seen on film.

Ewan McGregor as an adult Danny Torrence does a decent job. I can’t say this is one of his strongest performances but i think that has more to do with the subdued nature of the character and not Obi-Wan’s ability. Grown Danny is a man that hurts and he has internalized that hurt for years. It appears to be difficult for him to interact with people and i think the journey out of that darkness is the story of this film. Or, at least, that’s what it feels like to me. Master Kenobi does an admirable job of portraying that fragility onscreen but i think the Danny character, as a whole, could have been a bit more fleshed out.

Kyliegh Curran is pretty dope as Abra Stone, the torchbearer of the Shining universe. Her character takes over for Danny and being the most powerful Shiner in the series so far, there is a plethora of stories to tell about this character and i am legitimately salivating at the prospect. And Kyliegh was absolutely instrumental in giving that character so much life.

Doctor Sleep left me wanting more. I want more of this universe. I want more of these characters. I want more of Abra and her crusade. This world is profound and there is a plethora of material to grow wonderful narratives. I mean, the lore here is so rich and the way you can articulate this in different media can stretch from the painfully surreal to the wildly abstract. With a create at the helm, someone with real vision, the world of The Shining is a goddamn playground!

The Bad

Literally the only bad thing about this film i noticed was it’s lack of commitment. This is,most definitely, a sequel to Kubrick’s Shining but it takes elements from King’s book and kind of mashes them in there. It tries to legitimize what came before it with the original vision from the text and, at times, that can be a little much. It’s not enough to distract from the awesome experience just something that i noticed.

There is a lot of exposition in this movie. I watched the director’s cut which ended up being an extra thirty minutes so there’s a ton more information to be seen. I’m not sure if this is a problem with the theatrical version but even that was two and a half hours long so maybe? I might watch that version to see the difference between the two but after putting in three hours with this version,that might be a while.

Again, this is probably because of the version I’ve seen, but the pacing is a little plodding at times. For me, the film, itself, never drags but i can see how this can be an issue with regular audiences. Look, if a wonderful film like Joker can be derided for “having nothing happen” then this one is definitely in that same vein. Personally, i don’t think any of these gripes are that big a deal, especially this one. This film is very methodical and it lends to the narrative very well. But, i figure i should mention it because it seems like an issue that might crop up.

The Verdict

Doctor Sleep is an interesting take on the source material. It’s a legitimate sequel to King’s Shining book but takes so many beats from Kubrick’s film, it’s ridiculous. I’m not mad at that juxtaposition at all, i love Kubrick’s work and Flanagan has been a savant when adapting King’s work in his own right, but i can see how this might be a deal-breaker for the purists. Doctor Sleep is the closest thing to a perfect Stephen Kin adaption out there, with IT: Chapter One maybe taking the title on the strength of it’s performances, but this film is a close second. It’s uncannily surreal at times, unnerving, and unsettling. There’s no horror to be had here, which is more in line with the film version of The Shining than the book, but there is just SO much exposition, at times it does feel like you’re watching a novel. till, it’s gorgeous to see, deftly performed, and masterfully directed. Doctor Sleep, if you love cinema or have the patience, is well worth the time to see. I highly recommend this film, even is you’re not a King fan. It’s a hell of a ride, even if it takes a bit to get going, you’re going to love where you end up.

#Doctor Sleep #The Shining #Redrum #Smokey brand Movie Reviews

[smokeybrand]

Smokey brand Movie Reviews: Shine On

I’m a huge fan of Stephen King. He’s actually one of my favorite modern writers. Anne Rice is another and, interestingly enough, falls into the same pratfalls as King. While i think he’s a great writer, he tends to ramble a bit in his narrative. Dude let’s his creativity get the better of him and you end up with unnecessary scenes like the juvenile gangbang in IT. He’s gotten better at creating a thorough-line in his narratives as he’s gotten older, but the film adaptions of his books tend to do a fantastic job of that focus outright. One of my favorite films is the scripted version of Carrie White’s tragedy. I adore that movie and even have a soft spot for it’s remake. But my favorite translation of King’s work belongs to the goddamn Shining. The Shining is a cinematic masterpiece and, interestingly enough, both hated by kind and not even a proper adaption of his work! So it’s wild to me that he would revisit this universe with a sequel in Doctor Sleep. I’m looking forward to seeing how this adaption continues this dark narrative.

The Good

First and foremost, I just need to express how well this thing has been directed Mike Flanagan. I knew he was something special with what he did with Oculus and his run on The Haunting of Hill House but Doctor Sleep is a goddamn masterstroke. It’s not as good as the Shining, you can’t catch Kubrick, but it’s damn close. This film feels like that, it emulates that spirit but is still, legitimately, it’s own animal. I adore it. Flanagan has an eye for horror and I’m looking forward to his next project.

Doctor Sleep has some of the best writing i have ever seen in a King adaption. Usually, his works lose a little something in that department when translated to cinema. It’s hard to capture a faithful facsimile of a professional writer’s dialogue and tone when you’re trying to produce a profitable, Hollywood, project. Thing is, Flanagan strikes again! This dude is everything on this project; Writer, director, editor. His reach is profound but necessary to capture a uniform spirit

This movie is gorgeous, man. Each shot can be considered a goddamn work of art. The muted tones with the occasional, vibrant splash are absolutely spectacular. Doctor Sleep isn’t a scary film at all but it is unnerving and that feeling of dread has been captured perfectly within each frame while never once negating it’s beauty.

But this sound design, tho. I usually never talk about this stuff because it’s inconsequential but one of the things that made the original Shining such a pressing experience was the subtly insidious chorus ramping up the horror onscreen. Doctor Sleep captures that same stress with it’s own background notes, even if it’s a little more subdued.

The casting in this thing is superb. Being a sequel to the original Shining and having vivid flashbacks to that period, t was necessary to bring back certain characters. However, Scatman Crothers is dead and Shelley Duvall is out of her goddamn mind, so it was necessary to recast these pivotal parts. To see Wendy, Hallorann, and young Danny after so many years as a true treat, even if they had new faces. Cliff Curtis was also a pleasant surprised. Also, I mean, it’s just dope seeing Alex Essoe getting more work after Starry Eyes. I loved that movie and she was spectacular in it.

Speaking of casting, I’d be remiss if i didn’t mention how goddamn perfect Rebecca Ferguson was as Rose the Hat. My goodness, was she powerful in this role. She’s cruel in the most subtle of ways but amazingly beautiful at the same time. Not physically, she is gorgeous in general, but i meant there is a grace to her brutality that is just too sweet. She has this weird, mad hippie, Manson-esque, energy that just bleeds from her character. That’s hard to pull of as an actor. That subtle, disgusting, side of humanity that we always just try to ignore? To bring it out with that unassuming charm? Bro, Ferguson’s Rose the Hat is one of the most psychological terrifying villains I’ve ever seen on film.

Ewan McGregor as an adult Danny Torrence does a decent job. I can’t say this is one of his strongest performances but i think that has more to do with the subdued nature of the character and not Obi-Wan’s ability. Grown Danny is a man that hurts and he has internalized that hurt for years. It appears to be difficult for him to interact with people and i think the journey out of that darkness is the story of this film. Or, at least, that’s what it feels like to me. Master Kenobi does an admirable job of portraying that fragility onscreen but i think the Danny character, as a whole, could have been a bit more fleshed out.

Kyliegh Curran is pretty dope as Abra Stone, the torchbearer of the Shining universe. Her character takes over for Danny and being the most powerful Shiner in the series so far, there is a plethora of stories to tell about this character and i am legitimately salivating at the prospect. And Kyliegh was absolutely instrumental in giving that character so much life.

Doctor Sleep left me wanting more. I want more of this universe. I want more of these characters. I want more of Abra and her crusade. This world is profound and there is a plethora of material to grow wonderful narratives. I mean, the lore here is so rich and the way you can articulate this in different media can stretch from the painfully surreal to the wildly abstract. With a create at the helm, someone with real vision, the world of The Shining is a goddamn playground!

The Bad

Literally the only bad thing about this film i noticed was it’s lack of commitment. This is,most definitely, a sequel to Kubrick’s Shining but it takes elements from King’s book and kind of mashes them in there. It tries to legitimize what came before it with the original vision from the text and, at times, that can be a little much. It’s not enough to distract from the awesome experience just something that i noticed.

There is a lot of exposition in this movie. I watched the director’s cut which ended up being an extra thirty minutes so there’s a ton more information to be seen. I’m not sure if this is a problem with the theatrical version but even that was two and a half hours long so maybe? I might watch that version to see the difference between the two but after putting in three hours with this version,that might be a while.

Again, this is probably because of the version I’ve seen, but the pacing is a little plodding at times. For me, the film, itself, never drags but i can see how this can be an issue with regular audiences. Look, if a wonderful film like Joker can be derided for “having nothing happen” then this one is definitely in that same vein. Personally, i don’t think any of these gripes are that big a deal, especially this one. This film is very methodical and it lends to the narrative very well. But, i figure i should mention it because it seems like an issue that might crop up.

The Verdict

Doctor Sleep is an interesting take on the source material. It’s a legitimate sequel to King’s Shining book but takes so many beats from Kubrick’s film, it’s ridiculous. I’m not mad at that juxtaposition at all, i love Kubrick’s work and Flanagan has been a savant when adapting King’s work in his own right, but i can see how this might be a deal-breaker for the purists. Doctor Sleep is the closest thing to a perfect Stephen Kin adaption out there, with IT: Chapter One maybe taking the title on the strength of it’s performances, but this film is a close second. It’s uncannily surreal at times, unnerving, and unsettling. There’s no horror to be had here, which is more in line with the film version of The Shining than the book, but there is just SO much exposition, at times it does feel like you’re watching a novel. till, it’s gorgeous to see, deftly performed, and masterfully directed. Doctor Sleep, if you love cinema or have the patience, is well worth the time to see. I highly recommend this film, even is you’re not a King fan. It’s a hell of a ride, even if it takes a bit to get going, you’re going to love where you end up.

[ohakosubs]

Bitterness of Youth, 1974 dir. Tatsumi Kumashiro

status: completed download here

*translation notes*

・Tomiko refers to Kenichiro as “sensei”, which as probably most are already aware, means “teacher”. It’s quite a common word to use in Japanese, even just to show respect to an elder, but to portray the rigidity it often comes across as, I chose to use the word “professor”. 

・The movie takes place in the early 1970s, a period that saw a deterioration in the student leftist activist movement in Tokyo that flared up in the late 50s, and after many ups and downs came to a head at the end of the 1960s. The post-war student movement was a large-scale and incredibly complex one, and was comprised of many beliefs and motivations. Although the protests and riots that occurred from the late 50s through to the 60s were mainly centred around the Ampo treaty - re: Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security between the United States and Japan - by the early 1970s, the movement had seen many failures and setbacks, and though there were ongoing protests against university campus policy as well as larger scale anti-nationalism and anti-Vietnam War sentiments, there was a growing sense of hopelessness and nihilism.

This kind of social background plays a relatively major role in understanding “Bitterness of Youth” on a deeper thematic scale, so further reading is highly recommended. A quick google search for “Japan student activism” brings up some good Wikipedia articles, or you could dive into this great and comprehensive article by Eiji Oguma: http://apjjf.org/2015/13/11/Oguma-Eiji/4300.html

・On that note, there is a scene that mentions the Communist Alliance (referred to in Japanese as ‘bund’, the German word for ‘league’ or ‘faction’). This is again a tricky part to both translate and convey meaning in English at the same time, but in brief, it refers to the leftist student movement as a whole - often using the general term ‘Zengakuren’ - that was eventually divided into smaller sects and factions over the decade or so; when Ono mentions “Central CA”, I take it to mean a central sector of the Zengakuren (or Communist Alliance) as a whole. (It’s complicated.)

・The footage of a speech by a politician being made to a large crowd seems to be real footage, and although I’m not sure who exactly is speaking (I could find out if I did some research but I haven’t had time yet), they’re talking about opposing the “Reconstruction of the Japanese Archipelago” political measure, which was introduced by controversial Liberal Democratic Party politician Kakuei Tanaka. There isn’t much information in English about this particular policy, but from the Japanese wikipedia page, it seems like it was a large scale plan to industrialize more of countryside Japan in an effort to reduce over-population, amongst other things.

・The scene where Yasuko and her boyfriend are harassed on the street by a girl only to be rescued by Kenichiro was filmed during a typical day in Shinjuku in the 70s, and the group of hippies that come to pick a fight with the group are in actual fact real people. That part of the scene was unplanned. Thinking that a hippie friend of theirs was in trouble, they burst onto the scene, throwing punches, and the actor playing Kenichiro thought it was all part of the act, so he ran with it - it was such a raw moment that they kept it in the film. (source) 

・The song that Kenichiro hums to himself periodically is an old Japanese fisherman’s folksong from the Miyagi prefecture called “Saitarabushi” (although not many people remember the actual name, so they just call it “Matsushima”, like Kenichiro does in the movie). The “ei-ya to-to, ei-ya to-to..” motif is meant to evoke the rhythmic work of the fisherman (I believe). Take a listen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zU9ydhHSG6s

・Maki Asakawa appears in the film, playing basically herself - a bar singer with a smoky voice. A well-respected folk/rock/experimental musician at the time. she sings a version of “Puka-puka”, a relatively famous folk song, as well as an acoustic version of “Chicchana Toki Kara”, which was somewhat of a hit song for her (and for movie trivia fans - you may recognise it from a pivotal scene in the fantastic Toshiaki Toyoda film “9 Souls”). Later, you can hear her song “Kamome” as well. She’s a great singer - I highly recommend checking her out...

・Toward the end of the film Kenichiro’s friend mentions the “age of co-inhabiting”. This is a common phrase that was coined to refer to the sudden increase in unmarried couples living together in the 70s, something that was rather unprecedented in previous years. 

#bitterness of youth #tatsumi kumashiro #movie #japan #english subtitles #70s

[iheartccs]

Ed Sheeran ÷ Album - Song By Song Review

Overall I’m pleased with this album. I’ll say first I tend to only love his faster songs (dont and nina are badass) so anything else I’m less tolerant but being a true fan I’ll patiently learn to appreciate it and memorize the lyrics so i can follow along at concerts (trouble appreciating thinking out loud and photograph).

I expected more British slang, which i didnt find, and clever verses in that Ed fashion, which i did. Gotta dig his altered lyrics, such a true artist.

It is named Divide, eclectic in styles and tone, but so were his other albums. The difference is the international flavor portion from his world travels last year.

What it does not have is edm beat or a sound like anything else out there. Also thank god he didn’t do any collabs. It’s sickening that every song now has ft. this or that person like who cares like rap bridges suck and they always have, plus it’s old so get over it!

******************************************* ~ Eraser ~ Like: RIGHT AWAY THAT INTRO W THE SPANISH GUITAR TUMBLING INTO MY SOUL LIKE HOLY SH!T ALERT THE PRESS W THIS GROUNDBREAKING FIRE I CAN LIVE ON THIS SONG ALONE DEAD CERT Dislike: Nada, flawless Personal comment: I love his testifying about his hate for fame and how he made it, however money itself is not the root of evil, the love of it is, his accent makes eraser = a razor, when he says higher i thought it was i-ah, it sounds like hiyah, can’t wait to scream it when he does it live…also, his live version has a completely different extended ending, bow down Noteworthy lyrics: oh i am not beyond my own /so here I’ll stay

~ Castle on the hill ~

Like: he says where his friends are now, fantastic introspective storytelling Dislike: nostalgia theme a bit trendy, but he makes it work a little Personal comment: basically only europeans can relate in a song about a castle, so brill Noteworthy lyrics: and i missed the way you make me feel/ it’s real

~ Dive ~

Like: you feel the pain in his raw singing, just lovely Dislike: not really catchy, i don’t think this worked for me, this genre where a girl messes with a guy’s feelings is better done a thousand times over by shawn mendes Personal comment: dislike blues in general Noteworthy lyrics: I could live/ i could die/ hanging on the words you say

~ Shape of you ~

Like: intro beat makes that song, and how Dislike: sorta one dimensional, lame bridge Personal comment: very sensual themes, that video is tops, gahhhh Noteworthy lyrics: you and me were thrifty/ so go all you can eat

~ Perfect ~

Like: ugh, so sweet and catchy, when he belts out the chorus it’s everything Dislike: aka the disney song, i know his brother worked on it for the orchestra part and he did well overall, just the strings in the outro were too over the top and cheesy, it should have been lighter to close Personal comment: he says he loved her a long time ago and won’t let go this time, this was his preferred song from the album and it looks like the fans agree, most likely will be a big wedding song, just the way he sees her and wants to commit, sunshine floods my frozen heart Noteworthy lyrics: i don’t deserve this/ you look perfect tonight

~ Galway Girl ~

Like: rap mixed with an irish ditty, how risky and yet it worked so well together and catchy like mad, very energetic Dislike: can’t think of anything Personal comment: shoutout to Ireland! also watching live performance, the way he does the vocalizing chorus at the end, lol adorbs! Noteworthy lyrics: oh i can have that voice playing on repeat for a week

~ Happier ~

Like: Hey ya hey ya’s and the ending w the piano Dislike: slow and depressing emo music Personal comment: the chorus background is epic in the bridge Noteworthy lyrics: just know that I’ll be waiting here for you

~ New man ~

Like: lols roasted proper, a bit detailed and graphic with hate Dislike: nah Personal comment: himself really knows how to lay on the sass meow, that bridge is so pretty probably the best one on the album, omg that skip outro so tasty, instagram is indeed troublesome Noteworthy lyrics: i guess if you were lois lane i wasn’t superman/ just a young boy trying to be loved

~ Hearts don’t break around here ~

Like: nice imagery, song builds up nicely Dislike: understated and quiet for my taste Personal comment: something you’d hear at a hippie wedding Noteworthy lyrics: roses, roses laid upon your bedspread oh my

~ How would you feel (paean) ~

Like: brings to mind the ups and downs of a relationship as well as its uncertainties Dislike: bit of a bland sound, seems amateurish Personal comment: his live version is so much better with his deep “oh no” flairs and his crooning in the bridge Noteworthy lyrics: feeling younger everytime that I’m alone with you

~ What do i know? ~

Like: clever lyrics with a good beat Dislike: simplistic folksy guitar style, i guess it just doesn’t suit me for some reason Personal comment: yes Ed, spread da ❤ Noteworthy lyrics: and I’ll pass on the things my family’s given to me / just love and understanding positivity

~ Supermarket flowers ~

Like: companion piece to Afire Love, a farewell tribute for his late grandmother and taking care of her effects Dislike: can’t Personal comment: it hurts Noteworthy lyrics: when I fell you’ll be there holding me up

~ Barcelona ~

Like: Ed singing in spanish, pleasantly surprised by his spanish accent, fun song Dislike: a timid lighthearted beat, it seems long and momentum isn’t always there, don’t know if he was going for traditional music true to the area, a little obvious it’s experimental Personal comment: shoutout to Spain! Noteworthy lyrics: i fell in love with the sparkle of the moonlight/ reflected in your beautiful eyes

~ Bibia ye ye ~

Like: fast and catchy Dislike: kind of gets into country with drawn out words, seemed like a song about whatevs Personal comment: shoutout to Ghana! Noteworthy lyrics: in the pocket of my jeans are only coins and broken dreams

~ Nancy Mulligan ~

Like: wild story of his grandsires who eloped, such a traditional irish folk song Dislike: nope Personal comment: hi again, Ireland! Noteworthy lyrics: now we’re sat by our fire in our old armchairs/ say, nancy, i adore you

~ Save myself ~

Like: his voice is on full display, like in wake me up Dislike: depressing johnny cash style Personal comment: people suck but don’t give into a pity party Noteworthy lyrics: life can get you down so i just numb the way it feels

******************************************* Honestly don’t know what would be the next single, my guess is New Man but will find out.

Ok, gotta go beat Eraser to death, cheers!

#divide #ed sheeran

[myaekingheart]

I know I had a ton more weird dreams last night, I just can't remember the specifics of most of them but I do remember some parts so whatever, I'll just jot those down.

First dream was just me back with my dog again. Probably because I skyped him last night and I miss him like fucking crazy. Hopefully I'll be able to get back down to my hometown this month and see him.

Second dream was very complex and dramatic and I'm kind of kicking myself over the fact that I can't remember the majority of it? It was so vivid in the moment when I dreamed it but after I started to wake up, it quickly began to fade and now all I have are hazy fragments. I distinctly remember a house, and everything was muted colors and dim lighting, just all very gray. There was a couple, as well, and they were having some sort of deep, intense relationship problems. I know the woman was blonde, but I can't remember what the guy looked like. I think there was another guy in the mix, too, like the woman was either having an affair with him or he was trying to kill her. I remember seeing in third person perspective someone (I think the blonde woman, or myself) standing in the bathroom in front of the mirror, but my view of the house was very Sims-esque in that the walls were cut away like the view option in the Sims games. There was a lot of tenseness in the scene, as well, but I can't quite remember why. It was just all very complex and dramatic and strange and I wish I could remember more of it. Maybe later today, more of the specifics will come back to me.

The third, fourth, and fifth dreams all kind of run into each other so I don't quite know if they were separate instances, like chronological episodes of the same show, or if they were all just one big dream but either way, they're connected. It started out that I was entering Magic Kingdom late in the afternoon (around sunset) for Dapper Day. I was really excited, I think I was with a friend or two, and we were all dressed up. But not even five minutes after we got inside, they announced that everyone who didn't have special event tickets for Dapper Day had to leave the park. They were basically treating it like the Halloween and Christmas parties, which is actually a big fear I have about the future of Dapper Day itself (I really don't want them to turn it into some sort of prestige event you can only attend if you have event tickets). Seeing as me and my friends didn't have the special tickets, we were forced to leave not even five minutes after we entered the park, and I was disappointed as all hell. The way they were asking everyone to exit, however, was really strange. They told everyone to take the back exit through Frontierland and there was a cast member there to guide everyone to where we were supposed to go in some sort of of discombobulated single file line, as if we were back in grade school. The Magic Kingdom in my dream, like most places in my dreams, wasn't exactly like the real Magic Kingdom. The essence was the same but the specifics weren't. There was one instance, as we were exiting, where I was standing on this bridge near what I can assume was supposed to be Splash Mountain, even though the entire feel of the area was more like the Dudley DoWright log floom in Universal. I remember trailing back behind the rest of the group with my phone out trying to take a picture of Main Street in the sunset because it was too beautiful for me to pass up (and I could see it from where I was, since this version of Magic Kingdom was apparently on multiple levels like on a hill or something). There was a cast member standing there beside this yellow cartoony shed, and he was wearing a yellow polo with red accents, and I asked him if it was okay if I stopped to take a picture. He kind of waved me off flippantly and was like, "Yeah, sure, whatever" about it and so I tried my best to take my picture as quickly as I could without getting too far behind the rest of the group, and then ran on my way.

The dream then transitioned into this building that was some sort of Disney/Universal/kids' museum mashup. Maybe this is where we went after we were kicked out of Magic Kingdom? It was actually a pretty cool fucking place, even if it comes off kind of trippy after the fact. Like there was room that was a very Seuss-like, Wonderland-esque tunnel that made it look like you were climbing through a tunnel of Dr. Seuss-style clouds and that you were shrinking as you went, the room grew wider and the ceiling grew taller. There was another section I remember going through with my grandmother of all people: it started off as this entrance into some sort of hallway that was all based around physics like there were flaps on this one wall that were swinging in and out and were supposed to represent something about velocity? And everything else was physics related. And then at the end of the hall, it opened up into this gray room (everything was gray, actually, like the entire room was covered in gray carpet with the installations giving a pop of color, like those flaps were like this holographic plastic) with all these red circular accents on the one wall (which was lit by studio lights) and floor. Kids were running around everywhere laughing and just having a good fucking time. The red circles on the floor were apparently fountains that sprayed water in different directions and formats, like some of them shot a tight stream of water diagonally and others shot a vertical fan of water and shit like that. I remember running through to the other end of the room, where a large pair of glass double doors stood, not even really caring if I got wet, whereas my grandma was much more hesitant. She wanted nothing to do with this place and definitely did not want to get wet, even if getting wet was really the only way to get to the other side of the room. Eventually, she just sucked it up and run across, trying to dodge every sprinkler she passed, but she still couldn't stop herself from getting kind of wet.

Here, the dream again transitioned into a different scene. Now I was sitting in what appeared to be a cafeteria. It actually kind of reminded me of a mixture of the cafeteria at my high school and the one in High School Musical. I was sitting with a friend at a table filled with sorority moms (why we decided to sit with sorority moms, I have no fucking clue) facing a large wall of windows overlooking the same view of Main Street and Cinderella Castle that I had tried to snap a picture of earlier on. The lunch was going relatively well save for the snide remarks from our adult company. Everyone had well-rounded meals in front of them whereas I had a single pastry (it was like a mix between a muffin and a danish??? I don't know, it was really weird like it was a weird shaped muffin with raspberry jam and blueberries and the inside was filled with cream cheese). One woman looked at my pastry and made some comment about the filling inside, like how it was hard to handle or made a mess or something, and I broke off a piece of my untouched food to try it only to find she was kind of right. Then before I knew it, this other woman who I can only remember was referred to as "Mandy's mom" or something was sitting on the cafeteria table's bench next to me and she was basically shoving me off the seat so that I was practically clinging to a half an inch of bench, meanwhile she had enough room for herself and then an entire football team on the other side of her. I put up with it for a short while before I lost my cool and yelled at her, told her off, said something about my left butt cheek, made a whole big scene sticking up for myself, the usual. The other sorority moms were honestly pretty appalled, like oh my god how dare this child speak so rudely to this woman who quite frankly looked like a washed up Kardashian. I didn't care, though. I had stuck up for myself and that was all that mattered.

After the little lunchroom incident, the friend I had been sitting with was nowhere to be found. When everyone was done eating, we exited through these glass double doors on the same wall as all the windows that opened up to the top level of this very plain amphitheater. There were tons of kids out there and it was then that I understood I was on a campus tour for my university, even though this place looked hardly anything like my actual college. I weaved through the hoards of other students, traversing up and down the cement bleachers, trying to find my friend who I eventually located on the other side of the amphitheater. I went over to her only to find her freaking out as this girl I was friends with back in high school approached. I haven't seen this girl in a while but I know even now that the way she was in the dream is not anything like she'd be like in real life now. She had on this neon pink/orange (it was like an orangey pink) blouse and this braided teal hippie headband and she had her hair back in this messy ponytail with choppy sideswept bangs and she was super bubbly and excited about meeting up with my friend, and then me when I made my way over there. Either me or my friend made some excited comment about "Oh my god, look at how you're dressed!" and her being different than the way she was in high school. We gushed for a few more minutes before my eyes fell on Main Street and the castle just within view, like there was the rest of the amphitheater and then a fence blocking off a road lined with trees that spanned all the way back to Frontierland and you could see the park just over/through the trees. But as my eyes landed on this scene in the background, I suddenly was filled with this overwhelming sense of dread and panic and asked both of them how long they'd be in town (because apparently we were all in my current town during all of this). I suggested that they should come over to my apartment, because I live here now, and hang out and meet my boyfriend and we could go out to get food because I knew some really good places to eat up here and whantot. Before I could explain everything, though, the dream kind of faded to black and that was the end of everything.

#weird dreams #ramblings