#oh the 4 siblings 5 stories phenomenon

[meikuree]

3, 4, 5, 14, 34, 41, 42, 45? for the questions for fic writers meme 😘

3. What are some tropes or details that you think are very characteristic of your fics?

already answered! but to this I'll add some other silly examples of micro-wordplay

like a fatal - fated - flaw

they have haunted-hunted-looks every time they visit the Taylors […]

4. What detail in a map of the broken world are you really proud of?

I like the lore I invented for how Callie from yellowjackets got her name:

Calliope: revered muse of poetry, and verse, and separately truth-telling, the one deity who had power over the shape of stories and fiction. Mom always had an appetite for Greek tragedies in her small inventory of literary references, next to Virginia Woolf and Thomas Pynchon, from the chthonic to The Bacchae, and Dad had let her choose Callie’s name at the hospital.

5. What do you wish someone would ask you about [insert fic]? Answer it now!

already answered!

14. Are there any tropes you would only read if written by a trusted friend or writer?

off the top of my head, I don't usually seek out setting-change or mundane AUs myself, especially high school/college AUs (though gritty grad school AUs that spotlight structures of precarity in higher education are my jam 👍), or fic revolving around raising children, marriage (written as an uncomplicated phenomenon), and pregnancy -- the latter three form my trifecta of personal squicks around conventional romantic milestones -- so those! also not such a fan of (conventional) saccharine domestic fluff writing, despite my best efforts. but I'm also willing to read anything once!

the real answer i'm forgetting is that a lot of m/f tropes played straight would fall into this -- but I once read an m/f captivity trope subversion fic by a friend that would've ordinarily squicked me to hell and back and yet was well-written, and ENJOYED it, which is the one notable example I can remember!

34. What aspects of your writing are inspired by/taken from your real life?

THIS IS A QUESTION i'm curious about the answer for as well, if there is such a thing as ~a settled answer... I don't think of myself as the kind of person who tries to project anything onto characters or use them as conduits to work out psychological issues (not consciously, anyway, ignoring freudian slips of my subconscious that everyone can see through in 10s flat). though I heartily respect anyone who does it and think they should be proud of and own it. that makes sense to me; real life influences are often indirect and come through via your 'metaphorical constellation', as rebecca mcclanahan puts it in word painting: what metaphors haunt your writing?

to be a less coy, though, I think themes of grief/mourning, (the impossibility of) atonement, historical memory, and the costs of perfection (+ perfectionism, not as an individual problem -- I dislike most 'gifted child' discourse -- but related to wider environments and ecologies of society, class, biopolitical regimes, etc.) form the fretwork of interests that hang over my writing. very cheerful, I know!!

on a more literal level, in real life i have a casual interest in... makeup and fashion (osmosed from an ex-model sibling), geology, critical theory, ecology, and birds, so any time you see gratuitous details around that in fic, that's my self-indulgence talking.

41. Link a fic that made you think, “Wow, I want to write like that.”

oh, where do I begin. I feel this way about any fic from the MANY TALENTS I’ve had the good fortune of crossing paths with, whether as a reader or writer-I-admire-turned-friend. instead of linking fic i'm just going to throw their names out here. 100% non-exhaustive list: i read montparnasse’s fic at an impressionable age and her influence tracks a long subtle path over my writing — her ability to pack in metaphors that mix the beauty, cruelty, and raw pain that comes from a willingness to chafe yourself at the edges of human experience, risk and reward included, was formative for me. she's also refreshingly agnostic/indifferent to the usual constellation of "writing rules" that I see haunt new writers and which, in my grumpy opinion, sometimes hold back creativity

I’m an unabashed cordial (fka cordialcount) fan and I will forever rec her fic to anyone who shares fandoms/pairings with her. her prose has all the 3B’s: brutal, brilliant, and beautiful.

lionpyh

suitablyskippy

scioscribe

transversely

Senri

bloodmoney

rosedamask

42. Have you ever received a comment that particularly stood out to you for whatever reason?

i've been the lucky recipient of SO many great comments! I can't possibly pick, what a cruel heartless question!! on a serious note, I treasure everything I get, but I think the ones that stand out are the ones I get on undernoticed fic that otherwise would have 0 - 1 comments and 0.0001 kudos, like the fiercest calm. I got three separate comments praising how bleak and yet desperately emotional it was, which was exactly what I was aiming for.

45. What’s something you’ve improved on since you started writing fic?

already answered!

(fic writer asks)

#thank you for the asks!!! #meikuree answers #long post

[shitty-old-guard-deaths]

Jumping on the One Time My Dad Almost Died bit - my father has a rather large scar on the back of his head and the ONLY THING he and his three brothers agree on is that it involved a hatchet being embedded in his skull accidentally.

Why do I feel like Booker and Andy would have (drunken?) hatchet throwing contests?

Nicky: Ha! She missed! Pay up, sucker.

Booker, in the distance: Is anyone going to pull this axe out of my skull?

Joe, bitterly, counting out bills: If you hadn’t moved your head we wouldn’t be in this mess. I hope you learned your lesson.

#dadly disaster hour #the old guard #oh the 4 siblings 5 stories phenomenon #sebastien le livre #andromache the scythian #nicolo di genova #yusuf al kaysani #submission #babyserenityinthetardis #sogd

[t-lane-writes]

Thumbprint Challenge

So, I was tagged... tumblr says, 17 days ago, so it’s not ages, lol, by @kosmosian-quills Thank you, love! 

rules: look back on your work, both past and present, finished and unfinished. what are five to ten narrative elements or tropes that continuously pop up in your work? tag as many people as the number of tropes you listed.

1. Disability / neurodivergence / chronic illness, that’s the frist thing that comes to mind. I realize lately, that physical disability is not the case so much, as other conditions. Let me see - in Crystal Spring Valley, Tenney has epilepsy; in the Specters, Emma is autistic, Noel has trouble speaking, so he uses sign language; in Ananke Morgan has PTSD, Conor might be autistic coded (but he’s actually just rude and selfish, so I don’t exactly want him to be seen as autistic); in Sentira - Agnes has ADHD and Zeki is blind; Duke and the B Brothers (formerly known as ‘untitled Admundir project’) Dominic (formerly Admundir) has cerebral palsy. As for fanfiction I came to a realization, that the characters that pique my interest are those with history of trauma, (whether it be childhood abuse and resulting depression and/or C-PTSD, or PTSD resulting from trauma later in life), and speech issues (the symbolism of having their voice taken from them for one reason or another).

2. Religion. Not as a system of beliefs, but a phenomenon of having faith. This never comes as something I plan to happen, but it almost always happens. Some belief system arises and takes over worldbuilding, for the characters to have various approaches to those beliefs. Some are strong believers, others are searching, yet others are completely opposed. A great source of external conflict between them, and sometimes also internal one. There are no actual gods though. It’s just faith as an aspect of human psyche.

3. Telepathy or empathy. I love this trope. Or some other psychic powers. But only if they also cause some problems for the people having those powers, not just benefits.

4. Friendship. Or found family trope, if you’d rather. I love writing strong relationships between people who got thrown together by life and choice, rather than family bonds. Although I do also like sibling dynamics, but those are often strained and there’s an element of making a choice, a conscious decision to remain connected. Don’t think I have those in any of my current WIPs though, but I have feels about it, so perhaps it happened... Oh, there was Ethan and Reginald in Choices and Chances, but their relationship was strained, so no, not a good sibling relationship. Hmm...

5. On that note - dysfunctional relationship between my MCs and their parents. Priya’s mother is dead and her father was absent all her life - she was raised by another family. Emma’s father left her to pursue his career, Noel’s father caused his injury because of his ambition, Nersan’s father threw him out and Neve is an orphan. Morgan’s parents were ambitious(tm) what led to a tragedy. Dominic’s father was ashamed of him and sent him to live in hostile environment in hopes that he would not survive. Wow, parents in my stories really are cruel. 

---

tagging: @echo-bleu, @brb-im-writing, @highlycosmic, @teaflint, @mjmnorwood, @emdrabbles, @ren-c-leyn

#tes talks about writing #writing meme #crystal spring valley #ananke #the specters #choices and chances #duke and the b brothers #admundir #sentira #i love my stories #i love my ocs #i want to write them all #*sigh*

[dornishsphinx]

@verecunda tagged me in this a while back, and it completely slipped my mind until I saw it half-done in my notes, oops—sorry it took so long! Also, this got wordier than intended, probably because that always happens when I’m avoiding doing actual work. Oh well.

If any of you feel like ranting about your fave female characters, here’s an excuse to do so--though no pressure, of course. Tagging @zonesthesia, @bioticplaneswalker, @joyseeker6, @moonhairedgirl, @yousef-the-uber-driver, @northernpansy, @tresjoly, @xxchimericalxx, @arthoure, @mrmissmrsrandom, @gascon-en-exil, @amorremanet and anyone else reading this who feels like it!

Rules:  Rules: Write your ten favourite female characters from ten different fandoms and tag ten different people.

1. Fire Emblem—Sonya

This ended up being a close tie between Sonya and Jill, but I gave this one to Sonya since I’ve actually finished her game. Sonya is amazing. A non-lord character with a connection to the villains always brings them up a notch in my estimation and it’s a damn shame she never got more than one boss conversation with her father—and none with her sisters! Her ending was initially aggravating, but I like to go with the common theory that since Duma is no longer around, talk of her becoming a witch was just hearsay. Her support with Genny is brilliant. She manages to be confident and alluring without turning into a caricature, unlike certain other unfortunate characters throughout the—mostly recent—games. And since she’s from a less popular game, she’s hardly as likely to get completely flanderised in spinoffs. Why on Earth would you ever pick Deen?

Honourable mentions: Celica (FE2/15), Lyn (FE7), Jill Fizzart (FE9/10). This isn’t counting games I’ve not actively played, though there are certain FE4 and FE10 characters who might have ended up in the mentions if I had, given what I know about them.

2. Persona—Yukino Mayuzumi

I actually wasn’t expecting to put Yukino here when I was first trying to figure out who my favourite female character from Persona was. I knew it would likely be a P2 character, since that is my favourite game in the series thus far, but then I realised how much I’ve been missing Yukino in particular while playing Eternal Punishment. The Empress arcana really does fit her: she’s a combination of tough-as-nails and motherly, and a cool older figure for the team to look up to. I especially love how she transfers the chance Saeko gave her to reform during her yankī days to Anna, years later. And that’s not even going into the revelations from her Shadow: she’s torn between two career paths, not feeling good enough to achieve either. And she gives up her Persona for Jun! That takes some serious selflessness.

Honourable mentions: Maki Sonomura (P1/2), Maya Amano (P2), Naoto Shirogane (P4), Labrys (Arena)

3. Ace Attorney—Ema Skye

This came closer than any other entry on the list, both Mia and Franziska initially taking this spot before I eventually settled on Ema. She was an interesting enough character as a kid, her peppiness and the science-obsession gimmick quickly giving way to a more complex characterisation, especially once her full involvement in SL-9 was revealed. However, the science-gimmick paid off wonderfully in AJ:AA when we see how she’s transformed into a jaded, bitter detective, her dreams of becoming a scientist crushed because she didn’t pass the exams she needed to get a career in forensics. When SOJ rolled around and she’d actually managed to get into the field, it felt earned, way more than if we’d met her SOJ self in AJ:AA.

Honourable mentions: Franziska von Karma, Mia Fey

4. Zero Escape—Lotus

Of all the characters who didn’t make it into the sequels which followed on from the original game, Lotus—along with Santa, who I’ll admit has more story-based reasons to return—is the one I miss most. She loves her daughters, fiercely enough to relentlessly investigate their kidnapping by herself for years when the police were of no use, and on top of all that, she’s a genius programmer. The moment I actively started loving Lotus was when she, clearly scared but putting on a brave face, volunteered to go in the electric chair in the torture chamber. It made you realise she genuinely is utilitarian, rather than just being out for her own survival; she’s clearly self-interested, but not completely selfish. I’m just gonna quote Uchikoshi himself: “She may seem selfish and cold, but she’s actually the most rational and sensible out of all of them. She has the intellectual ability to make very logical decisions.” She’s just the best.

Honourable mentions: Akane Kurashiki, Diana

5. Avatar—Azula

I know there are people who follow me still watching Avatar, so I’ll try and keep this as spoiler-free as I can in case they end up skimming some of this accidentally. (Though I’d definitely not recommend anyone who wants to remain completely unspoiled reads this entry on the list.)

But anyway—“Do the tides command this ship?”

The Fire Nation royal family just provides all the best characters in the series. Zuko is definitely my male fave, while his sister takes the female spot. Source of both the vast majority of best lines in the show, as well as the most Machiavellian of villainy, Azula is just awesome to watch in action, whether it be in the political, martial or personal sphere. The odd dynamic she has with Zuko is my favourite in the series, managing to be outright antagonistic, while at some moments offering the glimmer of a genuine, if warped almost beyond recognition, sibling bond. There are even more poignant moments where we’re reminded of her actual age and how her family circumstances have shaped her into what she is. She’s a complex villain, one of the best this, or any other series, has to offer.

Honourable mentions: Kuvira, Katara, Toph Beifong

6. A Song of Ice and Fire—Sarella Sand

Okay, if we’re doing a female character list, I kinda have to give the original Dornish Sphinx herself a spot on the list. Not much page space has been devoted to her as of the current date, considering our only consistent POV character in Oldtown just arrived. I’m looking forward to what she and Archmaester Marwyn get up to once GRRM finishes TWOW. The least war-hungry of the Sand Snakes, she’s not even been introduced on page as herself yet. Instead, we know her as “Alleras”, a pleasant young Dornishman of sharp intellect studying at the Citadel. 

Honourable mentions: Asha Greyjoy, Sansa Stark, Arianne Martell

7. DCU—Selina Kyle

Is there any Bat-work, canon or fanon, that isn’t instantly made a dozen times better by Selina swooping in? (Okay, there are a couple of duds, but usually she’s a delightful presence.) One of DC’s best anti-hero/anti-villains. 

Honourable mentions: Renée Montoya, Cassandra Cain, Stephanie Brown

8. Danganronpa—Kyōko Kirigiri

The original Ultimate Detective herself. Cool, poised and collected, she certainly makes for a more convincing detective character than certain other later characters from the series, though Shuichi does try his best. 

Honourable mentions: Kaede Akamatsu, Junko Enoshima, Chiaki Nanami

9. Doctor Who—Martha Jones

I’m scraping the barrel a little for fandoms, considering I don’t even watch the show anymore, but Martha is my favourite of all companions. I never wanted her to get with the Doctor, of course, but I appreciated how her unrequited feelings for him didn’t swallow up her entire character. She’s courageous, smart and leaves the TARDIS on her own accord, which is refreshing.

10. Arthuriana—Morgan le Fay

This is a tricky one, since Arthuriana is more a literary tradition than a fandom per se. The characters which belong to it don’t technically ever stick to one characterisation, personality or role—everyone has their own interpretation, or even several different ones. That said—yes, my favourite is Morgan, how original of me, I know. Viviane runs her competition, but since she’s all over the place—quite literally, becoming or amalgamating several different characters at once—Morgan wins. There’s a reason she’s overused in modern adaptions, though, and it’s because she’s amazing. I mean, she even got a geographical phenomenon named after her and in some traditions, she lives in a goddamn volcano. She’s at her best as Queen of Rheged, though, casually trying to murder her husband, or Guinevere, or teaching a lesson to whichever knight of the week volunteers for her obvious trap. Just never mention that modern book she’s most known for around me unless you want me to angry-cry. Also, she’s not Morgause. Let Morgause be her own character, modern media, please.

Honourable mentions: Viviane, Lynette, Ragnell

#ask meme #long post #now that i reread the rules i think i only had to put down their names oops #oh well

[rockrevoltmagazine]

An Interview with Royal Beasts

Royal Beasts describes themselves on their Facebook page as, “dynamic, groove-oriented, guitar-driven, synth-friendly, melodic, post-rock featuring live visuals. An instrumental outfit of sound,” and I could not agree more. The Cleveland, OH band’s shows are full of extreme energy, musicality and captivated crowds. With no vocals, you are given the space to appreciate the ride that their music invites you to jump onto. Royal Beasts has several shows coming up, and their next up is at Mahall’s in Lakewood, OH on March 22. If you are in the area, I highly recommend grabbing a drink, snagging a spot on the floor, and watching their set.

NEXT ROYAL BEASTS SHOW: https://www.facebook.com/events/606323463161839/

To get to know the band and how they arrived to their unique sound, I sat down with them and asked a few questions. If you want to hear about their camaraderie, their starts, and their future shows, check out the interview below the images.

INTERVIEW WITH ROYAL BEASTS:

Jason: My name is Jason Dunlap. I play guitar and synthesizers in Royal Beasts. I am a transplant to Cleveland, Ohio…been here for 7 years. I spent a lot of time out on the west cost in Seattle. Originally, though, from Northwest Ohio. Grew up playing piano and guitars since I was a little baby boy. 

Alec: My name is Alec Schumann. I’m a Leo, I’m 27 years old. I’ve lived in Northeast Ohio my whole life. I play drums and synthesizer in Royal Beats; I also make the backing visuals for our live shows. I have received my musical training at the Kent State University, where I studied Percussion. I’m self taught in synthesis, but I took piano lessons for a while—so make of that what you will.

William: My name is William Hooper and I’m also from Cleveland. I lived here my whole life and I play guitar in Royal Beasts. I started playing when I was 11 years old in 1999. It’s when I got my first guitar. I went to Cleveland State University for a couple of years for Music Theory and Jazz performance.

Devon: One question that I always have with musicians, because I know everyone’s story is a bit different, is what got you into what you play? Was there a moment when someone played something and you were like, “that sounds really cool, and I want to do that?” Also, what was your first instrument and how did you get it? 

Jason: My first instrument was a piano from when I was younger, and having to take lessons early on. Then, when I was a teenager probably around 13 or so, I distinctly remember telling my mother I don’t want to play piano anymore because girls don’t want to kiss boys that play the piano; instead, I wanted to play a guitar because it was a guitar. I think my mom in her infinite wisdom was just more concerned with me sticking around playing music. So, I shifted over and started playing the guitar…then really stopped playing piano until I got to college. Then, I went a totally different path in school. I wasn’t a music major by any stretch of imagination, but still self taught. But, I enjoyed taking electives, and I took an audio production sort of elective just for kicks—it was all about synthesis and it blew my fucking mind wide open. Because I was a massive fan of bands like the Talking Heads and The Cure and that kind of shit from being way younger. Then starting to understand how groups like that were actually able to manipulate sound; then able to use that training from so young and long ago in piano just cracked everything open for me and I never really looked back. Then, I got bored with how a guitar sounded and so I started just fucking around with all sorts of different pedals before pedals became the phenomenon that they are now… but just trying to discover different sounds and make my guitar sound like the things I can do on synthesizers. I was always fascinated with artists and bands that didn’t need to rely on vocalists and perform very profoundly. So, I had always wanted to be in a project like this where it is driven and dynamic in so many other ways without the need of someone coaching you upfront on stage or being a front man— that sort of idea. That’s the journey. 

Alec: I got my first snare drum when I was 8. I was in 2nd grade and I really wanted a violin for Christmas, but, I was going back and forth between a violin and snare drum. My older siblings were really musical, so my dad and mom were like oh well, clearly you should play something, what do you want? I was like oh, snare drum or violin. Then I got a snare drum for Christmas right after I decided violin and I was like never mind, I’m going to play snare drum now because this thing is cool and loud— immediately broke it a week later. I broke the bottom head so I assumed the whole thing was ruined. When I was in 4th grade, I started taking private lessons at a local music shop. That continued until I took private lessons with a couple of different people throughout high school. I went to school at KSU [Kent State University]. I vaguely wanted to be “a musician” whatever that meant. Then my sophomore year, I fell through a really deep depression of just being like, “I don’t know what I want to do actually,” because I didn’t enjoy being a member of the classical world. I didn’t enjoy the academic world around music. Then, one night I was just like well, if I’m going to like be broke and try and make myself a “professional musician”, why don’t I just do that with Indie rock? That was a lot of the stuff that I grew up with, a lot of the more mainstream alternative like Radiohead and like the Shins and Beck. When I got into college, I discovered like Animal Collective and I got really into the noise scene for a while. That, really, I would say pushed my love of synthesis. Like I said, I took Percussion lessons but I bought my first synthesizer when I was a freshman in college and from there, I learned like how to make sounds happen and what all that world was. While I was in college, I joined a band called Half an Animal and moved to Cleveland and that’s when I became a member of the Cleveland music scene. I joined a bunch of bands. Then, this one formed because Will was jamming with Jason. They knew each other and Will and I had been trying to be in a band multiple times. 

William: I wanted to do some kind of instrumental project, like a post rock kind of project, and I knew that Jason was interested in that kind of music—and he had a friend who plays trumpet who played with his old band. So, I initially reached out to Jason because I wanted the trumpet player’s number. But, he wasn’t really interested. So, I got together with Jason and I’ve known Alec for a long time too and it just kind of…

Alec: Will and I had a couple of bands together. Will is in another project called Ottawa, and there’s been one or two occasions where they’ve needed drummers and I’ve been the one to fill in because I love all those dudes and that’s the end of my story. 

Devon: How about you? [William]

William: I have a similar experience because a got a bass guitar first because I thought it would be easier to play. I was like 11 years old so I thought 4 strings would be easier. Then I got a guitar soon after BC Rich red mockingbird. I thought it was really cool. I thought it was jam set field literally. Well I loved like metal music like Metallica and like really embarrassing stuff like Dream Theatre…but, mostly Metallica. Then eventually high school came around then I got into like the Beatles and then after that Devo and Frank Zappa and all that stuff. 

Alec: We’re all excited for each other and for ourselves. 

Jason: That’s something that’s really interesting about this… It’s been about a year and some odd months, and we’ve already gone through a little bit of heart break in that an original member of our band isn’t with us anymore. But, we knew that the 3 of us that had this thing from the outset, and the reason it works is for things like that. We genuinely get so fucking excited by each other seeing each other do things sometimes and sounds come out and we’re generally just like, “that was amazing! Do that again!” It’s just so happy with the 3 of us and because we also are these long winded rambling people, it allows for us to also share a constant narrative with one another and play along with each other in that regard too. Because, we get a kick out of telling stories. 

Alec: Kind of going off that, like, there’s not any taking advantage or like losing appreciation I guess. I am always amazed by like both of your guitar abilities. No offense, Will especially because your synth shit, I’m always amazed, no offense [To Jason]. You’re a strong interpolator and a strong synth player like our sound sculpting is amazing and like you’re I don’t know how to play this and it’s going to work and that always blows me away and it’s something like… I’ve been in bands where we all really get impressed by each other and then we all get bored. Like there’s a honeymoon period and then it goes away. 

Devon: It’s like a relationship. 

Jason: We’re still having amazing sex. Like, a year and a half into this relationship, we still actively fuck. 

[Collective Laughter]

William: You’re my favorite drummer I’ve ever played with in my entire life.

Alec: You’re my favorite interpolator, you’re my favorite, like, multi-instrumentalist. You’re crazy,  man. 

William: It’s funny because for like 5 years I’ve known you and I just wanted to start a band with you so bad. 

Alec: We’ve tried a couple… 

Jason: The thing is, I had never met Alec before a year and a half ago.

Alec: Yeah no, one day you showed up. We used to practice in my basement and then one day you showed up. I thought you were a base player, and the first thing I ever said to you was that’s not a base amp. You started going and I was like, oh! But, yeah, no the cool thing about this band is we think of an idea, and it isn’t like that sounds like a lot of work, it’s that’s sounds like a lot of work lets do it. Which is how we got to the point where we have backing visuals and stuff. 

Devon: How did that start? The backing visuals?

Alec: I’ve been wanting to do that in the project forever. One of my hobbies is video editing… I’m very basic at video editing stuff,like it’s just something I kind of learned how to do on my parent’s computer in high school. And every once a while, I jump back in and be like oh yeah I can sort of figure it out. But I mentioned that we had talked about the idea of backing visuals. Then one day I was like I have a projector and I know how to make the stuff. And everyone else in the band was like oh alright I guess let’s try it. Then the set up that we have is I actually trigger the next video to be played like for the next part of the song. I have a little foot switch next to my hi hat. So while I’m playing, I also like really quickly tap over to the next scene essentially… 

William: And he’s also playing synth. 

Alec: But yes it’s one of the things like kind of going back a little bit too like I never made a new video… We’re really overdue for new visuals so I’m trying to change it up but I’ve just been very busy the last couple of weeks. I’ve never not made like a new visual thing to send to the crew and never not gotten back like whoa holy shit. I always feel very appreciated in this project. And it’s never like oh we should make sure Alec feels appreciated. It’s wow my friend is doing a great job and I feel the same about them. I feel the same about my friends in this room. 

Jason: I didn’t know what to expect the first time when he was hey they’re done, I have the visuals all ready to go. I was like alright I’m excited to see and I know you’ve been working on them all by yourself and I went over to his house and we just listened to the record while he played the visuals and my fucking jaw was on the floor. Because he has this aesthetic for these visuals that are just these trippy analog 80s VHS feedback loops, is what it feels like. And it’s such a…

William: It’s a perfect compliment to the music… 

Jason: Yes. Because we really do [05:49 Unintelligible] a lot to like all the shit that we had talked about before like bands we listen to and all that kind of stuff. And we throw back a lot of like… It’s funny because old metal dudes love us. Because we get a little “prog” at times…

Devon: I’m a huge metal fan that’s why I think I got so into you guys. 

Jason: See I hate metal. No I really do. It’s probably my least favorite genre of music next to like top 40 country music. I really don’t get down with it and so there are times in this band where moments have happened that Alec and Will be like, what if we try this and something comes out. And I’m like whoa that’s kind of starting to touch some boxes I’m not sure if I want to check but then I open it up and I trust it. Then that trust is what I’m like oh I get it. So I’m actually maybe coming around to metal. 

Alec: Even in this band, I don’t listen to a lot of post rock. Being in this band, we did a couple of practices and I was like I probably should check out Mogwa and I’ve still only listened to a few songs. My drumming styles has always been really influenced by Deerhoof and Lightning Bolt. All these really fast insane dudes who just kind of break the rules of what you should do. Then it was like okay Alec, be in a post rock band. Which is like oh that’s like a lot of being in the background and holding a gun drumming…

Jason: … I think it’s perfect. I didn’t mean to interrupt you, I just want to chime in and say I think it’s perfect that you don’t listen to a lot of the genre because that’s what allows how far we bend in the genre to exist. It’s because you don’t know how to be a post rock drummer. 

Alec: I think all 3 of us started under the idea of like let’s be post rock and halfway through our first album we were like lets bend that a little bit. 

William: …Yes, literally the last 2 songs we did a little different, a little more progressive. 

Alec: And the 2 most recent songs we’ve written have been very much against… not against post rock, they are very heavy heavy parts. Like this is not in that realm at all. 

William: I think they’ve been more like experimental instrumental music. Just less like post rock.

Alec: Especially the way we’re talking about changing things up to with the recent loss of our base player, there’s a minute where we were like whoa should we get another one and now we can kind of explore this area where it’s like well do we need another one? Do we need somebody to play base? The 3 of us are all multi instrumentalists. We all know how to play synths, we all know how to play guitar, we all know how to play base. I know how to play drums and you two know how to play drums too. I’m on stage so I don’t have to play like a beat the whole time. I have a few samplers and that’s a world I would love to jump in with this band. What if we rotated roles a lot more? 

Jason: Switch instruments up a lot more…

Devon: And that’s very unique. I think it’d be very cool and very fitting. 

Jason: Yes, that’s our next step. We have this show tonight and a couple of shows the next couple of months but then we are hunkering down into figuring out how we’re going to keep progressing with just the 3 of us doing things like that; experimenting more with really shifting around a lot of instrumentation and the overall soundscapes themselves. I think they’re going to change pretty drastically to what we’ve done right now. 

Alec: I would say the term post rock is not going to apply to our second album. Not going to say it’s going to be gone, I’m just going to say it’s going to be much less and it’s hard to say. 

William: I do love post rock though. It’s always been like a… not a guilty pleasure but like a secret pleasure like none of my friends know. None of my friends are into it until really I met.

Alec: That was like me and Chillwave for a while, like I totally get that. 

William: I could not relate with anybody about it. 

Alec: Yes, it was like this is mine. I’m going to go home into my bedroom, close the door and just listen to this for a while. 

Jason: Well it’s also hard to meet a new friend and be like here let me put on this record by a band called ‘Godspeed, you Black Emperor’. And the first 6 minutes they’re just like “umm….has it started?”

Devon: Returning back to you said you have a couple of more shows coming up. What are those shows so the listeners can know when they’re going be and where they’re going to be so they can attend. 

Jason: I can tell you real fast.

Devon: Sorry, I know it puts you on the spot. 

Alec: We’re doing a tour April 4th, 5th and 6th. We’re going to Chicago, Detroit and Columbus. 

Devon: Is that your first tour as a band? 

Alec: It’s our first all weekender. We’re also doing Friday March 22nd. That’s our next show. That one’s going to be with Times Ten and BirdDog Cats. That one’s going to be at Mahall’s in Lakewood Ohio. 

Jason: Then yes the 4th, 5th and 6th we’re on the road, then Monday April 22nd, we’re playing with a band from New York called You Bred Raptors. That is at Mahalls as well, the same spot.

William: 30th of April is with Blessed at the Grog shop. 

Alec: That weekend prior we’re also playing a show. 

Jason: We don’t have a whole lot of information on it yet but April 27th and 28th, the ACLU is having a fundraiser in public square in downtown Cleveland and we’ve been asked to play that. That’s going to be really great. That just confirmed this week. We don’t have a lot of details other than we know that it’s going to be Saturday, April 27th we’re playing but the fundraiser is the 27th and the 28th.

Devon: The one question I do have is your first time on the road as a group and as a project. What are some concerns or excitement that you have for being on the road with each other? 

Alec: I don’t have any concerns honestly. 

William: We’re all pretty easy going as far as personality wise. It’s more about what we’re going to eat.

Alec: That’s a concern, it’s like being well fed and making sure we can be. We’ve all done that kind of thing. The thing I’m personally excited about is going to be a thing like wow we’re really going to know the deep dive stuff. Speaking from experience where you can be in a band for like 4 or 5 years and then go on a tour and then you learn stuff that you never knew about the other people. Because it isn’t just you’re getting together once a week, it’s you’re in a car with somebody for the whole day. Then you go to the venue, you don’t know anybody else and if you’re not feeling it, you just hang out with your band again. I personally am excited. I hope the 3 shows that we play are good and I hope they’re encouraging to keep going on tour. Even if they’re bad, they could be encouraging to go on tour because then we’ll know okay this is what we’ve got to switch up. 

Jason: Yes, I concur with all of that. I’m excited for learning the little weird quirks about spending 24 hours a day with somebody. That kind of excites me. I just want to make sure that we have a good steady supply of comic books and cheap pulp sci-fi novels. Just stuff to like burn through and Alec is not allowed to have the playlist control for longer than 2 hours. [laughs] That’s what I’m most excited for and honestly to spread this a little bit more to see what… Because, we’ve come to a point in Cleveland where we know what we’re doing here and we know people’s reactions to it and it’s been very positive and very encouraging. So now we’re ready to see what other places have to think and say about it.

Devon: Well thank you so much for your time and we hope to hear from you soon. 

An Interview with Royal Beasts was originally published on RockRevolt Mag

#Interview #music #news #Rock Revolt #Rock Revolt Magazine #RockRevolt #RockRevolt Magazine #royal beasts

[homoliberation]

Six dangers of growing up with lesbian parents (jk, funny post)

The Sydney Morning Herald - Meave Marsden

My name is Maeve Marsden and I was raised by lesbian mothers. After 33 years of quiet suffering, I am ready to come out about the trials of my upbringing.

I have been inspired to share my story by a courageous woman named Cheryl Parrott. A therapist at Rich Relationships Counselling in Sydney, Parrott made a submission to the Senate inquiry into the proposed draft marriage equality bill, which was recently made public. Her submission contained the revelatory claim that children from same-sex families are far more likely to have been abused as children.

This revelation has no basis in published research, but that hasn't stemmed my need to come out about the terrors of being raised by lesbians.

Nor has the Australian Counselling Association's statement that Parrott is not an accredited member of the organisation stymied my desire to confess all.

The fact that all known research consistently proves that children raised in same sex-families do as well or better on all measures is just a bunch of heresay; like Cheryl, I am no scientist, and I have no time for data.

My usual MO in instances such as these would be to submit a heartfelt piece of prose about my wonderful, normal childhood demonstrating that queer families are perfectly healthy places to grow up. But enough is enough. I have been silent too long about the struggles of my youth.

Of course, the traumas listed below are just my personal challenges. I can't generalise about the experiences of all queer families, because that would be ridiculous. WOULDN'T IT CHERYL?

1. Lesbian folk music

While other kids grew up on Farnsy and Barnesy, I was raised on the dulcet tones of Australian folk singer Judy Small and New Zealand comedy duo the Topp Twins. Their songs were about women's rights and the union movement, community leaders and loving your family. Sure, Judy had a song about riding the Manly Ferry and the Topp Twins have a killer country track about Dolly Parton, but this indoctrination of celebrating diversity and speaking up for the marginalised left a gaping hole in my Oz Rock knowledge.

When I went to the uni bar in O Week and the other students started belting out Khe Sanh, I stood in wonderment. What was this magical cultural phenomenon? I legit just had to google how to spell "Barnesy". The struggle is real.

2. Arts and craft related torture

Did YOU have to help paint signs for the Sydney Mardi Gras and Reclaim the Night? While other kids got TV and video games, we had paint and pom poms. I still remember those long days fashioning costumes for our Mardi Gras float and writing slogans on cardboard.

Of course, when we dared to question these educational, community-focused activities we had to suffer through our parents explaining the context and history of various political movements. We had to learn stuff. There was glitter. It was the worst.

3. The k.d. lang movie, Salmonberries

No teenager should have to watch this. It's boring.

4. Wholemeal pizza dough

I used to long for my friends' white-bread Vegemite sandwiches. While I am sure other lesbian mums made regular food, mine decided to honour the age-old stereotype and become vegetarians. When I was in year 6 their vegie burger stall outsold the sausage sizzle at Fireworks Night and their gloating was grotesque.

You haven't suffered until you've bitten into thick, wholemeal pizza dough that completely overwhelms the cheesy goodness, and woe is you if the centrepiece at Christmas is a nut roast. (Incidentally, I only found out in my early 30s that nut roast is essentially stuffing. Those sneaky, lying vegetarian lesbians serving wholesome home-cooked meals. How dare they.)

5. Running into your mums at a gay bar

As a fully fledged adult lesbian, I now suffer the greatest humiliation of all. My mums may be senior citizens, but they are still engaged with pop culture and the LGBTQI community. Due to growing up with such open communication, as adults we are actually friends. We talk about our lives, share interests, travel together and happily hang out as a family.

This all sounds lovely until you're out on the town with your friends, possibly making out with your girlfriend in the corner, and you run into A Mother. And she's dancing. And wearing a really similar outfit to aforementioned girlfriend. Oh god.

6. An open approach to gender roles and sexuality

According to people like Cheryl Parrott, children who don't grow up with a mother and father won't have the correct gender roles modelled to them. Having a mother and father would have taught us that heterosexuality is the natural way of things. Children need dads to fix things and play sports, and mums to cook and clean.

My siblings and I have been raised to believe men and women can do whatever they want, and love whoever they want. We are surprised when people think men aren't able to express emotion; my brother communicates clearly and respectfully with women. I believe my career is as important as any man's and that I should be paid an equal wage. Which obviously sucks.

It's awful experiencing sexism and homophobia every day when you grew up being taught all people are equal. Maybe ignorance would have been bliss.

Maeve Marsden is a writer, director, producer and performer. She tweets from @maevemarsden

#the sydney morning herald #lesbian #lesbian parents #meave marsden

[dmellieon]

Why SHERLOCK Should Embrace Its Ship of Dreams

By The Screen Spy Team on January 10, 2017 By Chris B. 

Modern television has more “ships” than the Pacific Ocean. Virtually every character on the airwaves has been matched with another, fancied relationships dreamed up by eager fans, either to generate laughs or to satisfy personal passions.  Every fandom has its favorite pairs, but if you’re a follower of the BBC’s Sherlock, the most discussed coupling by far is that John and Sherlock, or Johnlock.  The desire to see these two together in more than a simple platonic friendship is one that is played out in blogs and fan fiction regularly, but is this something fans will ever see developed on screen? There are many factors to consider here.  Sadly, in 2017, there is still a certain amount of controversy about showing a gay couple in an everyday relationship, one that is not present for purposes of comic relief or sideline plot support.  Would the network and affiliates allow it?  How conservative are its politics and those of its advertisers?  Given the overwhelming popularity of the show on an international scale, I would wager their wallets would easily trump any qualms that might exist.  It is amazing how capitalism can solve all manner of perceived ills. Regardless, do Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat even want this to be the dynamic of their characters?  According to them, the answer is no.  In an interview with Valerie Parker in July of last year, Gatiss claimed, “…we’ve explicitly said this is not going to happen – there is no game plan – no matter how much we lie about other things, that this show is going to culminate in Martin and Benedict going off into the sunset together. They are not going to do it.” That sounds pretty final.  Maybe. Since these two have made the most of The X-Files philosophy that a lie is most conveniently hidden between two truths, there is always room for doubt.  (Really, how likely is it that a seasoned professional like Gatiss suddenly mistook the names of his characters for those of the men who portray them?) In any case, I think an openly romantic relationship between John and Sherlock would be well worth it.  Consider the following points and determine for yourself if this match is a just a forgettable fantasy, or if it could be an ultimate destiny.   

5. The characters are already tightly bonded No one would argue with the idea that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s original characters of Holmes and Watson are best friends; through each of the numerous variations presented over the intervening century plus, this is one of the few facets has remained consistent.  They are a team. Individually, though, each member of the team is lacking.  At one point, Sherlock confesses in “The Great Game” that he’s been “reliably informed” that he has no heart, going so far as to declare several different times that he is a high-functioning sociopath.  John, on the other hand, is “abnormally attracted to dangerous situations and people”; he misses the war that left him behind.  Both have a hole that they need to fill, and that is exactly what the other satisfies. In Sherlock, this is reinforced repeatedly.  John and Sherlock are clearly presented as two halves of the same whole, each needing the other to be a complete version of himself—John, the heart and inspiration; Sherlock, the excitement and intellectual challenge.  When Sherlock is baffled why a woman would be upset about her child’s death after fourteen years or when he too gleefully investigates a child kidnapping, John is there to mediate his reactions.  Then, when Sherlock returns in “The Empty Hearse,” he insists correctly of John, “You have missed this…the thrill of the chase, the blood pumping through your veins, the two of us against the rest of the world.”  Later, in “The Abominable Bride,” John quips to Moriarty, “There are always two of us.”  There must be.  Inevitably, all roads they take lead to Baker Street, back to their roots together.   

4. There is already plenty of precedent for it Sherlock has never shied away from the suggestion that Sherlock and John are more than friends.  From the outset, John is mistaken for Sherlock’s date, and the man who will “outlive God trying to have the last word” makes no correction, nor does he when a reporter in “The Reichenbach Fall” asks for a quote about whether he and Dr. Watson are “strictly platonic.”  Further, the two gay owners of The Cross Keys Inn from “The Hounds of Baskerville” assess John and Sherlock as a pair; and Mrs. Hudson, who lives just a floor below them and knows them very well, refers to one of their arguments as “a little domestic” and is shocked when John is ready to move on (to marry a woman?) a full two years after Sherlock’s supposed death.  Then, Irene Adler, who sizes people up as adeptly as Sherlock, calls out John’s jealousy about the 57 unanswered texts that she’s sent (yes, John kept track) and flatly counters John’s insistence that he and Sherlock are a couple:  “Yes, you are.”  Finally, in “The Abominable Bride,” when John saves his other half from the precipice and Sherlock gushes about John’s intelligence, Moriarty himself rolls his eyes and scoffs, “Oh, why don’t you two just elope, for God’s sake!” There are innumerable instances of extreme devotion shown to us as well.  In “His Last Vow” Sherlock literally restarts his own heart because John is in danger, then commits murder to protect John from the thumb of Magnussen’s extortion.  In “The Great Game” John throws himself on Moriarty to allow Sherlock to escape the bomb he wears, and in “A Scandal in Belgravia,” he dumps his girlfriend and their holiday plans to stay home and look after Sherlock, a choice he makes easily after she demands, “Don’t make me compete with Sherlock Holmes!”  (Oh, he won’t, dear; there’s no contest.)  Further, images abound of the intense and meaningful stares shared by these two, traded like stocks on internet forums and social media, all screaming of something bubbling beneath the surface.  Thus, to transition to an official couple would not be much of a stretch.   

3. It fits the transformational model of the show Gatiss and Moffat have shown a penchant for pushing the envelope with their version of Doyle’s characters.  Would Doyle have raised his eyebrows over John’s sibling being a divorced lesbian who’s taken to drink?  I doubt the original author could have imagined Mrs. Hudson as a former exotic dancer who had been married to the head of a drug cartel.  And certainly no one anticipated that the lovable Mary Morstan would turn out to be a former intelligence agent and ruthless trained assassin. The creators have not been afraid to add their own special spice to these characters.  In a 2014 interview with Phil Ittner, Gatiss and Moffat asserted, “Most of [the series] is actually completely new, so there’s not a drying-up of the source…we’re slightly broadening out the world a bit and being slightly more heretical than we probably would have been at the beginning. But then that’s good, it feels like this is our version…”   To go all-in and apex this concept with the core pair would allow them to make a truly indelible mark on the enormous canon of Sherlock Holmes iterations. After all, side characters are only so revealing; in this universe, John and Sherlock are the only ones who matter.  The series has been proposed as the story of the development of a genius, hence its very specific title, so building Sherlock Holmes to the point where he can freely give and receive love, achieving true intimacy, would be the greatest development possible.  Gatiss and Moffat could provide that humanity for him, to create their own warm center to the notoriously melancholy sphere of the private life of the world’s only consulting detective.   

2. Proper representation matters All segments of society can and should have a right to see themselves recognized unabashedly by the media they consume, whether it is fiction or non-fiction.  In the twenty-first century, this should not still be the struggle that it is, yet any in the LBGTQ community know how resistant this practice is to change in the machine of social institutions.  Too often, gay characters are used as statue pieces or comic relief, sidelines or after thoughts; they are not permitted to be real and valuable human beings, but are stock characters and stereotypes, extras who inevitably get the axe if the Grim Reaper comes calling. Steven Moffat has been most emphatic on the issue that the showing of gay or bisexual characters in popular culture should not be approached with triviality, that it is a serious issue that should be offered (particularly to young people) in a way that denotes true acceptance.  In his Parker interview, he asserted, “You don’t want to essentially tell children that [being gay is] something to campaign about. You want to say this is absolutely fine and normal. There is no question to answer. You want to walk right past it, in a way. You don’t want to…say, as sometimes other kinds of literature or movies might, we forgive you for being gay. You’re just saying you’re gay and it doesn’t matter. There’s no issue.” Essentially, one’s sexuality is just an average, marginally interesting, non-personality-defining, run-of-the-mill reality.  Thus, no matter what your sexual bent, it is not odd; it is not special or different, wonderful or terrible.  It just is, as mundane to one’s whole character as eye color or shoe size.  Indeed, until this matter does not flutter pulses with its rakish novelty, true acceptance has not yet occurred.  Having Sherlock and John integrate their sexuality seamlessly into the roster of the other attributes that the audience has witnessed, to roll it into the entire picture of who they are, we would be granted a relaxed and genuine portrayal of a devoted couple that happens to be gay, one from which we could all ultimately benefit.   

1. It would count Sherlock is a global phenomenon.  According to the Radio Times, it is shown in 224 countries and territories around the world, making it the most watched of any of the BBC’s programs, surpassing even Dr. Who, which has decades of history.  It has spawned blogs and merchandise and a number of Sherlocked fan events, which are major affairs to rival the most popular comic cons, where every artifact, set detail, and image from the show is cherished and applauded. The series’ leads, Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman, are beloved international stars.  Thanks in no small part to this show, they are in constant demand and headline massive studio projects, like The Hobbit series of films and Marvel’s Dr. Strange.  Each has a immense following of fans, and rightly so—they are award-winning craftsmen, extremely versatile talents who deserve every bit of success they’ve acquired. This degree of influence and appeal leverages a lot of power. What this show brings to the table, the world eats; what it points to as its guides, people would notice, and what’s more, follow.  What, then, could be accomplished in social terms if Sherlock were to subtly demystify gay relationships?   What might result if a stellar product and the highly popular individuals involved indicate that a homosexual relationship is every bit as complicated and trying and boring and wonderful as every other kind? 

Respect.  And with luck, progress. 

(via A Case for Johnlock: Why SHERLOCK Should Embrace Its Ship of Dreams)

#Dee posts #screen spy #johnlock article #BBC Sherlock