#this may or may not be referencing a series of videos I've had to watch for my Spanish class

[dalegeeksout]

Fan Autoethnography

I'm a fan of a lot of things, but one of the fandoms most integral to my identity and which I've spent possibly the most time engaging with is WandaVision. WandaVision is a nine-episode limited series that released weekly episodes on DisneyPlus beginning on January 15, 2021. The plot of the show surrounds super-powered Avengers Wanda and Vision living idealized suburban lives together, but they quickly begin to realize that not everything is as it seems. This show and this fandom have influenced me so much. I wear clothes and accessorize in ways that convey my pride in being a WandaVision fan, and I'm always hoping to find other fans that way so we can geek out together. Half of my wardrobe are Marvel graphic tees, but I have four shirts alone dedicated to WandaVision. I've also collected accessories and Funko Pops!

Some of my Wanda and Vision merch!

As a fan of WandaVision, I went back and watched the show multiple times to analyze subtext, find easter eggs, etc. I am a very analytical person, I was already a Marvel fan, and Wanda and Vision had been two of my favorite MCU characters for a long time, so this show seemed made specifically for me. WandaVision was uniquely suited to rewatching because the plot was a mystery. The audience doesn’t know how Wanda ended up in what is revealed as the hex, and we also don’t know how Vision is alive either—in his last appearance, he died (technically twice). So, each episode hints at the answer to the mystery and the other forces at work that Wanda comes into conflict with. That’s one of my favorite elements of all Marvel content—they’re built for Marvel fans looking for easter eggs referencing the comics or foreshadowing future projects.

I was heavily involved in the online fandom community for WandaVision, but mostly as an observer. I didn’t write any fanfiction or make analysis videos of my own. That’s how I interact across all my fandoms, no matter how engaged I am with the content, simply because I’m nervous to ever say anything online since it’s permanent. I was afraid to get hate or regret what I’d put out there. I watched many YouTube analysis videos and TikTok fan commentary videos. If I ever had anything to say, I would make little notes to myself. Something about revealing myself online in any capacity is scary, even if I had the mask of anonymity. So, this textpost with my own name on it is a big step out of my comfort zone, but I'm excited to finally share my thoughts with others.

On social media, I followed the actors. I also looked into the directors and writers behind the show, since I’d like to work as a screenwriter one day and admired the way they wrote the show. In addition, I followed content creators who primarily analyzed the show. Two Youtube creators that I was already following—New Rockstars and Beyond the Trailer—I returned to religiously every week to watch their analyses and reviews of the show as it dropped weekly episodes. I planned certain days around watching the show; I created a ritual of watching new episodes at night after dinner, then watching fan commentary immediately afterward. I can’t say I’ve been that dedicated with other shows simply because I wasn’t as passionate about the characters—I'd already been emotionally attached to Wanda and Vision for years.

Jensen states that fandom is often characterized as an “obsessive loner” or the “hysterical crowd,” creating, “a thin line between ‘normal’ and ‘excessive’ fandom,” (qtd. in Malone). WandaVision may have that distinction between normal and excessive, but I would argue that for most viewers it was excessive. And that excess became the new normal. This new excess as normality became the standard for much media, like WandaVision, released during the pandemic—a time when most people didn’t have much to do, were stuck inside, and were experiencing much emotional turmoil. Thus, they turned to newly available streaming services for entertainment and escape. The conditions around WandaVision’s release made it perfectly suited for excessive fandom: it was the first Marvel DisneyPlus show, so it received extra promotion, which built excitement among the already strong Marvel fanbase; episodes dropped weekly, giving fans time to discuss and build more anticipation week-to-week; and TikTok was becoming popular in the U.S., so people anywhere and everywhere with access to the app could talk about it.

According to Nielsen ratings, in its first week, with just two episodes, WandaVision was number 6 in the top 10 most watched original shows (Spangler). I would argue that pandemic-era shows like WandaVision pushed the line between “normal” and “excessive” fandom more toward the excessive side, raising average fan engagement levels. Excessive fan engagement became more normalized and remains that way thanks to how active and accessible fan spaces on TikTok, Tumblr, Reddit, and Twitter are.

As for myself, I’d say I've always been an intense fan of whatever I get into because I’m a naturally obsessive person. It’s hard for me to be a “normal” fan of media I consume unless I can't emotionally connect with the characters. However, I would say that WandaVision pushed my threshold more, and I became invested in it more than I had in possibly any other fandom before. 

I became so invested in WandaVision because of my circumstances at the time. The show, like many other fandoms, compensated me psychologically. The times in my life when I have felt the loneliest are when I’ve become the most obsessed with my fandoms. When I got into WandaVision, it was during the COVID-19 pandemic when everything was shut down, and I was stuck in the house all the time. On top of that, my dad was going through chemotherapy at the same time. I was already a fan of many things, but the fandoms I got involved with during this period were at a heightened level I’d never experienced before, and I don’t think I’ve experienced since.

My WandaVision (and other fandoms) themed homescreen

WandaVision gave me something to look forward to every week when everything else in life seemed like shit. I needed an escape, and I love to analyze shows, so WandaVision became my life. I thought about it all the time, I bought a ton of merch, and after the show ended, that summer I made all my devices WandaVision-themed and even taught myself how to code to program my phone so that when I plugged and unplugged it from the charger, Vision’s voice greeted me (I have since forgotten how to code, unfortunately). I developed a kind of parasocial relationship with Wanda and Vision—I was devoted to their love story in the show, which was bolstered by my years shipping them since their first MCU appearances in Avengers: Age of Ultron. Their relationship in the show gave me intimacy that I was lacking at the time. I lived vicariously through the two characters since they had such a positive relationship.

Wanda was experiencing so many mixed emotions around the same time I was, and in the penultimate episode when she realizes her happy family life is entirely a fantasy—that her children don’t exist and the love of her life has been dead all along—she breaks down, and so did I when I watched it the first time. Wanda releases all of her emotions in this blast of energy, and breaking down with her was a cathartic experience for me because I had much tension in my own life. Plus, I missed Vision—he's been my comfort character for years. It felt like I was losing a friend who’s been with me since 2015. As a result, WandaVision was psychologically compensating for me in a liberating, positive way. The show gave me an emotional outlet when I lacked one. It came at such a tumultuous time in my life, and I became so deeply entrenched in the show and in the discourse surrounding it at the time that it became a part of my identity. I can't imagine how I would've gotten through the loneliness and lethargy during the pandemic without the intimacy from my attachment to the characters and the online community of WandaVision fans that I became a part of.

I miss them :')

Works Cited:

Malone, Lauren. "Fan Autoethnography." Canvas, https://utampa.instructure.com/courses/15499/assignments/43917?module_item_id=287377.

Spangler, Todd. "‘WandaVision’ Breaks Into Nielsen Top 10 Streaming Rankings." Variety, https://variety.com/2021/digital/news/wandavision-nielsen-ratings-top-10-streaming-1234907166/.

Feedback summary: My peer reviewers noted that my autoethnography was very thorough, thoughtful, and in-depth. They also stated I had a good use of sources.

#255Fandom #TheOfficeofDocMalone #wandavision #scarlet witch #the vision

[xzeihoranth]

It began with the forging of the three-

I'll start again.

It began with BioShock Infinite.

Now obviously, it didn't all begin there. It's the third game in a series that itself is a spiritual successor to another series. But that's where we're starting our story. Or where I'm starting this one. Like most things that came out in the fucking early 2010s, it has not aged well. I'm not qualified to talk about the racism for reasons that would be blindingly obvious. Most people in this hellhole are too harsh on it, or harsh on it for what I consider the wrong reasons (hint: your internalized misogyny may be showing).

At the time, I really liked it. It 'woke me up' out of a sort of stupor I'd been in for a while. So I eagerly awaited the story-based DLCs.

They were dogshit. Or more accurately, the second one was dogshit and would be worth an entire essay on its own. In fairness it was made while the studio was being shut down because the lead "auteur" Len Kevine (not his real name) was taking his ball and going home in more ways than one. He started his own studio shortly thereafter, and is still working on the first game there almost ten years later because he's an indecisive both-sidesing hack who keeps getting distracted by the new craze in whatever video game he played last.

Anyway: they were dogshit. I decided to rewrite them. In Absentia was a meandering project that took me about two years, but it mostly holds up. While trying to get a handle on how to write the main character I did a search for 'omnichronal perception' or something along those lines, and ended up on the Power Listing wiki. One of the other listings on that page was for a set of contact lenses on the SCP wiki. That's a second rabbit hole right there, and one I spent many years thereafter browsing.

After In Absentia I started work on another project that didn't pan out for a variety of reasons. It and my time with the SCP wiki sort of came to a head with the release of SCP 3999, which is just monstrous and wonderful at the same time. Right from the quotation at the top of the page, which introduced me to yet another rabbit hole I'm still going down today*, and then finally closing out with (and I maintain this wasn't there when I first read it, though I'm not going back through the edit history to check) a triumphant rendition of 'Sunday (Finale)' from Sunday In The Park With George.

What is that third rabbit hole? Well, the SCP wiki has a neat little habit of cross-referencing other SCPs, whether by name or by some other aspect. Sometimes they're hyperlinked, sometimes they're not. The quotation I mentioned contains the phrase 'Eleven-Day Empire', which I took to be another SCP, so I googled it. Except...it wasn't. It directed me, of all things, to the Doctor Who wiki and explained that it was a reference to a Doctor Who spinoff I'd never heard of before, and with good reason. It's been described as 'Doctor Who without the Doctor', which isn't strictly accurate: there are a few Doctor-shaped holes in the texts, as people have noted. (Though for legal reasons, they aren't named.)

Maybe I've beaten around the bush long enough. It's Faction Paradox.

Toward the end of my attempt to write that project from before, I kept imagining someone standing outside the house where most of the narrative was taking place. Just watching. Then, in...I can't remember the year, or the month at this point, but I want to say it was either 2018 or 2019, I had a dream. I can only remember three things from it now: the Twelfth Doctor (who was only in it briefly), something about the TARDIS being a tree, and the phrase The New Omnifitense. The strangest part was, I'd skipped most of the Twelfth Doctor's run; not out of any moral stand or anything, I just missed one episode and even back then I knew that I'd be hopelessly lost next time around, so it sort of snowballed.

Each of those aspects I managed to work into Blood and Tears, in addition to the things from 3999. Blood and Tears is still close to my (pardon me for saying so) heart; it came out almost exactly the way I hoped it would, which is no mean feat given the scares I had in 2022.

If you somehow made it this far, thank you.

#a personal post

[dans-den]

Air Review

Hey what's going on everyone? Dan here and today I'll be reviewing the Air movie.

Warning!: May contain spoilers

Now this is the success story of how Nike not only sign arguably the best player in Basketball history, but became the most dominant sports brand in history. This is also Ben Affleck's first movie he's directed in a long time, the movie is alright but I do have some critiques on how it could have been done better.

The cast itself is quite literally an A-list cast in Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Jason Bateman, Chris Tucker and Viola Davis. Funny enough, Jordan himself wanted Viola Davis to portray his mother specifically because his mother loves Davis which I think is nice. The cast did a good job portraying the people of Nike and the Jordan family. I think the acting turns into over acting at times where it gets overly dramatic with some lines. I understand it's a dramatization of what happened, but I still think it should have stuck more to the true events for that realism. I forgot to mention that Marlon Wayans is in this film too but his role only lasts like five minutes somewhere in the beginning and never appears in the movie again except a brief mention about the person Wayans portrays.

The writing itself reminds me of Winning Time from HBO MAX, the Lakers series. This movie is rated R only because of the profanity used, it's almost the same as Winning Time where they use the words "Fuck" a lot. It reminds me of the 2022 Saint Rows game dialogue where they cuss a lot and it feels written by a 14 year old. I don't have a problem with profanity because this is likely how they actually talked or reacted, but when it's overused like in these shows or movies, it gets dull real quick and loses the comedic factor. Alex Convey is the writer of this film and Apparently this is his first piece of major work according to IMDb. Alex if you see this, this is decent writing, but I feel if you focus more on clever writing rather than heavy profanity use, you'll do great. Don't know where Affleck found this guy but not bad.

The story of Nike and Jordan is as old as time itself, I like to think that Jordan himself had some involvement besides wanting Davis as his mother since this movie is based around his big deal with Nike that changed the industry of sponsorships and sports players. I do wish they had mention other things like how Nike pursued Magic Johnson for Nike and he turned it down (they referenced this in Winning Time and Magic has gone on record saying he regrets not taking the Nike deal) or how Adidas said they couldn't make a shoe for Jordan (this was referenced in The Last Dance and The Company Man Video on Nike. Link: Company Man: Nike ).

The movie is good, but I feel like this would have done better as like mini-series. I say this because I feel we didn't really get enough time to soak in all the movie pieces and effort it took to get Jordan signed. If this was broken off into like a 5 or 6 part mini-series, we'd get e better idea on how it crucial it was and what was at stake to get Jordan signed and how this revolutionized the industry in terms of sponsorships and deals. The movie got the cliff notes down and managed to stuff just enough into the movie but at times admitting felt rushed.

Overall, the movie was fun to watch but I felt they could have added more details to it on all the moving pieces. acting was good, the writing was decent enough for an R rated film and it was a fun watch. I may have my critiques about it but it is serviceable and gives people a better idea on how the Jordan/Nike deal came to be.

Rating this film, I give it:

7/10

I recommend this film to watch with friends or if you're a basketball or shoe guy, this is definitely your movie. That's all I've got for today.

See ya!

#dans den #movie review #air movie #michael jordan #nike air #nike #air jordan #ben affleck #matt damon #basketball

[wish-to-grow-a-garden]

Any piece of publication or media whatsoever: *Shows the slightest hint of having a possible lore or story*

My maladaptive daydreaming, writer ass, already trying to craft an entire storyline in my head: I CRAVE AN ENTIRE BOOK, FEED ME NOW.

#just a random babble #Maladaptive Daydreaming #MADD #writer mood #writer humor #writblr #this may or may not be referencing a series of videos I've had to watch for my Spanish class #in which the same characters are seen going about their days using our current chapter themes #but the girl is staying with this family in Mexico so she can learn Spanish #and I just keep shipping her with the families son #because apparently I have a problem #I have about 10 minutes of them interacting overall #and I'll be damned if that isn't enough for my fandom conscious which has been starved for new characters #lord I am a mess

[box-of-fandom]

Guilty Tears Analysis: finale

HORROR TW

@not-exactly-laborious

I'm going to be focusing more on the symbolism here,since it disproved that last episode was Janus'. Although I don't think the last two were Remus's and Janus' nightmares, this one has a LOT of dream symbolism.

Now the first thing we see is someone ( presumably Thomas) say that they're okay and that they'll fix it tomorrow. Janus then says this:

(how much more do you need to see?)

Last episode Janus watched Thomas see everything that had been happening in his mind. Janus knows Thomas knows he's upset, so why is he still denying it?

Then Janus sarcastically reminds us that all of this could have been avoided if they just listened to him. There's also a baby cradle which symbolizes this:

(ID: usually baby dreams are a really positive sign that represent growth or development either with you personally or with something that you're working on.)

We then see Janus closing the door on this good omen, something that we also see later.

After that we cut to someone running through the woods. I looked it up and there were multiple meanings to this, but I feel like this one fits best:

(you are running away from a situation in your love life or work life. You may actually be buried this problem deep inside your brain to avoid having to deal with it.)

This is what the whole series is about. Thomas has been running away from his problems with Nico. You can also see it as Thomas running away from the callback, since he works as an actor.

It also talks about how Thomas is running away from himself, again referencing the symbolism above. After a little bit we hear sirens in the dream.

The seduction could be the callback calling out to Thomas, though I'm 50/50 on that.

In the final scene we see ladybugs:

(they are often tied to love, prosperity, and good luck.)

We see them next to daisies (meaning innocence) sunflowers (happiness/honesty) some purple flowers (success and dignity) and red roses (romance). After it flies for a bit, it lands and we see Janus crush it with his finger. I suppose that's means that the past is in the past/the chance is over. He tells Thomas that it time to forgive himself and move on. But will Thomas listen? That's for time to tell.

There's finally the endcard, which also happens to be the profile picture: a wilted white rose. This is what I found online:

(They represent purity... They also represent youthfulness, innocence, young love, and loyalty.)

This means that Thomas has lost his childhood innocence, and can start thinking in grays now. A bittersweet ending.

And that's it. That's the finale of Guilty Tears. I admit there are some aspects that still don't make sense to me, but maybe someone else will get. Maybe the team will make a video explaining everything. Maybe they won't.

This series was so much fun to watch. This is my first time doing something like this, and it was a bit hard to analyze at times. But it was also fun to see what I missed and what other people picked up. I've been hyped for guilty tears ever since there was a trailer for it, and it did not disappoint. Thank you to everybody on the team for making this!

#guilty tears au #horror tw

[damnthatnoise]

Darko The Super | Of Dogs & Devils | An Interview

Hip Hop has long been about bravado, skill, and how your personality can capture and pull the listener in even further than just your skillset. There have been many an MC who’s personality sometimes outshined the lyrical prowess for better or worse, but when I sit back and think of some of my favorite MC’s growing up (Redman, Slick Rick, Kool Keith, E-40, and Del to name a few) the personality often was near cartoonish with no real effort from the MC to make it appear that way. Enter MC Darko The Super who since first coming across his music via Already Dead Tapes has oozed oddball personality, and ever evolving skills as an MC. Darko is no joke rapper though, instead he is adept at delivering some stark reality raps littered with glints of humor we often use to cope with the pain of existence. 

Fresh off delivering one of my personal favorites last year in the form of Card Tricks For Dogs, he returns with his friend Steel Tipped Dove to give us The Devil Defeated, and makes a claim as one of the indie hiphop scenes freshest, most colorful, and promising voices making music. 

You can order the digital, cassette and SUPER vinyl copies of The Devil Defeated here, as well as all Darko The Super Items. 

The Devil Defeated by Darko The Super & steel tipped dove

_____________________________________________________________________

Damn That Noise: Darko The Super. What’s the origin of that name and what’s it come to mean to you now? 

Darko: I think Darko The Super was my gamertag on Xbox Live before it was my official artist alias. I did two albums as Evan Darko after I seen Donnie Darko in high school. It had a big impact on adolescent me. The Super comes from another big influence on me at the time, MF Doom. My favorite song my senior year was "Dead Bent". I thought the ending of Operation Doomsday was really cool. The way it let you decide between hero or villain. I was big into vigilante justice at the time. I wanted to be like my favorite superheroes. So that's where the name came from. Nowadays it's just a name. More people know me as Darko than my real name these days, so it'd be silly to change it. Name's don't define you. It doesn't matter much to me. Though I like it. 

DTN: You’ve had a pretty prolific young career given that you’ve dropped 10+ projects since 2011, but when we were taking recently you said you’ve just now started to feel like you now know your voice. What’s changed in the last couple of years to get you to that place? 

Darko: Since 2011 I may have done nearly 100 albums. Most haven't lasted. I've deleted and erased most of my material pre 2014 from the face of the internet. (If anyone has a Loser CD, please destroy it.) I put out 10 albums in 2018 alone. All better than the previous. "Watered Down Demon Fuzz" from 2017 is the album I truly found my voice on. I listened back to "Oh, No! It's Darko" for nostalgic purposes and it seems more like a comedy album than anything, and not that good of a comedy album either. I was 18 when I made the first album I put on cd and gave to everyone at shows when I was starting to go out and perform. It was called Loser, inspired by Beck. Next cd I made was a compilation, also terrible, but somehow it's going for $75 on Discogs. I personally don't like anything prior to 2016. "Carve a Happy Face  on my Tombstone" had a few good songs. Those were transformative years. My perspective on life has changed severely. It's hard to be happy with things you create when you're not even happy with who you are. I think in finding myself, I found my voice too. Life will always be a mystery. But at least I'm more comfortable in my own skin at the moment. Therefore more comfortable in my art. 

DTN: Why erase the evidence of growth though? If anything that could show folks the rapid progression of Darko? 

Darko: I'd prefer to leave a better first impression. Maybe I'm too insecure to show people my progression. It's also just a matter of that not being the way I feel anymore as far as the way I wrote back then. 

DTN: Your style is a bit unorthodox in that you kind of dance all over the pocket of the beats, and your inflections seem to change at the drop of a hat. I know E-40 and DOOM are a couple favorites of yours but who else’s impressed a young Darko and helped give us the man we have now? Who made you say “I think this is something I want to do!!”?

Darko: Murdoc and MyGrane McNastee from Orlando, Florida were a couple of the first independent rappers I got into from watching the Wake Up Show freestyles on Youtube. They were big influences on me. From there I got into MF Doom, Madlib, and J Dilla. During the datpiff era, I got really into Charles Hamilton's mixtapes. I was a big fan of a web series around that time called Internet Celebrities. Through them I found out about Das Racist. I remember listening to them for the first time on MySpace. I saw Big Baby Gandhi in a video with them. Later on his Debut would become one of my favorite albums. I was really into going on hip hop blogs. I remember watching Open Mike Eagle rap "Qualifiers" in a laundromat and having my mind blown. He told me Serengeti was his favorite rapper which had me watching every Kenny Dennis video I could find. Dennehy became my favorite album. I got into Mr. Muthafuckin' eXquire from seeing the Last Huzzah video with Das Racist, El-P, Despot, and Danny Brown. That's still my favorite posse cut. From checking out rap battles I got into Soul Khan who I remember posting about Homeboy Sandman's album The Good Sun. Blogs also got me listening to every Blu song. Her Favorite Color was something special to me. All those artists were huge in developing my approach. Nowadays my favorite rappers of all time are E-40, Serengeti, and Kool Keith

DTN: Card Tricks for Dogs feels like your most fully formed artistic statement yet and The Devil Defeated feels like the exclamation point showing folks you’re a real force. What helped bring those two records to life?

Darko: Both albums took a long time to come together, which usually isn't the case for me. I remember writing some of those Card Tricks for Dogs tracks while on vacation with my girlfriend and her family. I had tons of beats from my good friend and longtime collaborator Phil Ford aka BLKrKRT (Blacker Karat) loaded on my phone for those trips. I started it shortly after meeting Steel Tipped Dove for the first time. I released an album of his on my label and he offered to mix and master some tracks for me. So this was the first solo album of mine I let someone else do all the mixing for. I took my time with it and let it come together naturally. I believe everything happens at it's own time. As for The Devil Defeated, that album started out as a project called Contemplating Lonely Stuff, inspired by a Serengeti lyric. It was for the most part produced by Height Keech and Steel Tipped Dove. Eventually I decided to do albums with each of them separately. The album with Dove was pretty far along in the process and originally I wanted to call it "Playing Skee-Ball With Zev Love X" but we both agreed that was kinda corny and not many people would get what we were referencing. Then I heard the news of Daniel Johnston passing away, who is a hero of mine. I listened to nothing but Daniel for a few days straight and a few lyrics in particular stuck out to me. The one that landed was "The Devil Defeated" another possibility was My Yolk is Heavy. Me and Dove made over 20 songs for this album and eventually narrowed it down to the most cohesive project we could. We'll be doing a follow up of course. That's in the works now. I'm very proud of this album. My favorite track is a story I wrote based on a song called "Suzy's Face" by my favorite punk band, The Spits. I had to convince Dove on that one. There's another track I tried to convince him about too, but that will never see the light of day since I ended up agreeing with him. 

DTN: You’ve has a chance to work with a lot of interesting and well loved folks. How the hell did the tracks with Lil’B, Charles Hamilton, Denmark Vessey and others come about? 

Darko: I did an album called “Thank You BasedGod” dedicated to Lil B. I produced a track for him way back in 2014. He reached out to me after TYBG and offered to do a track together. So I sent him a couple  Steel Tipped Dove beats and he chose the one that ended up on the album. Later I saw Charles Hamilton posting about doing features. I sent him the Lil B track since that’s a dream collaboration of mine. Lil B is a big Charles Hamilton fan, and they’re both internet gurus of their eras. Charles conquered the blog era by releasing tons of free albums on his own blog, landing on all the mixtape sites. Lil B mastered social media and became a marketing genius, even transpiring music. I’m proud to say the first time they worked together was with me. As for getting Denmark Vessey on the album, he had already worked with Dove and toured with my good friends, The Difference Machine. I was the one who showed them his album Buy Muy Drugs while I was out in Atlanta for a week. That album’s my favorite of the decade. He had posted about doing features so I sent him an email and made it happen. 

DTN: You’ve released a lot of projects via Already Dead Tapes as well as starting UDDTBA. What is the connection with ADT and why start your own label? What have you learned from ADT and how has the played into how you run your label?

Darko: Already Dead Tapes taught me everything I need to know about running a record label. I met them in 2014 when I sent over my latest at the time “Oh, No! It’s Darko.” They were nice enough to release that on cassette. Soon after they invited me to play their weekend long festival in Kalamazoo, Michigan. I brought along ialive and we booked our first tour. Staying in Kalamazoo at the Knights Inn we recorded an album together and formed the now infamous duo The Hell Hole Store. From there we’ve played the Already Dead fest every year and I’ve released quite a few albums on Already Dead Tapes. U Don’t Deserve This Beautiful Art was grown out of wanting to support my friends and artists I admire. I brought on my best buds Steel Tipped Dove and Harvey Cliff to help me run things. Now the sky’s the limit. 

DTN: “Suzy” is life a very interesting record as is “lo-fi princess” off of The Devil Defeated. You mentioned the influence for “Suzy” came from another artists song...how’d this end up on your record and why? Also what’s the idea behind “Lo-Fi..”? 

Darko: During my commute one day I listened to The Spits first self titled album. I hadn’t played it in a while and instantly remembered why they’re the best. One song in particular stuck with me throughout that ride, “Suzy’s Face”. I decided to write a song building off of their track. Almost like taking a short story and creating a movie. I tried to describe in detail about why someone would shoot Suzy in the face at a high school dance. So that’s what I came up with. Lo-fi princess 2 is a sequel to the original from “Watered Down Demon Fuzz” both love songs to my girlfriend, Alora. I liked the phrase cos it reminded me of “Bow-tie Daddy” by Frank Zappa. Now that I think of it, an actual Lo-fi princess would be an anime babe trapped in the track art of a SoundCloud beat. We’d have to defeat the chill hop brigade to save her. 

DTN: You and iAlive have a really dope chemistry and have two very different styles but similar energies that work so well off of each other. What makes that partnership work and why’d you guys want to keep it going after the one hotel infused brainstorming session?

Card Tricks For Dogs by Darko The Super & BLKrKRT

Darko: We kept it going cos there were more hotel sessions to be had. On tour you’re on the highway with a lot of time on your hands. That’s where most of our songs and ideas come from. We set up shop where ever we’re staying and start to bring these ideas to life. The people seem to like us and we enjoy performing together. That’s what keeps the hell hole going. We survive off friendship and fun times. 

DTN: Okay sir Darko. You can only eat at two fast food places for the next year because you lost a bet. Where you going??

Darko: Obviously Taco Bell is numero uno, I’m a big Taco Bell enthusiast. Next would be Wendy’s, best fast food burgers by me, and they got those spicy nuggets. Plus I heard their salads are good too, which I would need a salad every now and then. I don’t think this is too far off from my normal diet. Worst thing that could happen is I have a heart attack. But I’m on that path anyway. Maybe I’ll start exercising. Maybe. 

DTN: What are you picking if you only have Thor and Spider-Man as costumes for Halloween?!

Darko: Spider-Man of course. I could pull off a husky Spider-Man. Family Guy made it look good. I’d need the fake muscles for Thor. Fake muscles never look good. I don’t have the luxurious hair either. 

DTN: What’s the writing process like for you?! Do you let the beat decide the direction? Do you have an idea or some lyrics written and you locate a beat that fits?

Darko: Either or. Writing always comes to me. It’s second nature. If it doesn’t come to me, I don’t write. That’s all there is to it. I only write when I’m inspired. That’s an easy way to go about it. My number one thing is creativity, I don’t wanna be complex or even an intellectual. I want my lyrics to be universally understood. 

DTN: So what’s next on the horizon for Darko The Super?

Darko: Next up I’m working on an album with skits from a comedian friend of mine. He does tons of great characters and videos as Hot Talent Buffet. I think he’s a comedic genius. I’m also working on an album sampling nothing but my favorite band 10cc, titled “Strawberry Studios Jam ‘72” and another album sampling one of my favorite songwriters, Dean Friedman. The Dean and I have a 7” record on the way with my remix of his classic “McDonald’s Girl” on the B side with the original on the A side. I have a couple other collaborative albums coming along. The artist they’re with wants me to hold off announcing it until they’re ready, but I will say it’s a dream collaboration and I’m very excited for it. 

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[heartlandians]

I saw your podcast for this week. You had doubts whether Amy could gentle a wild horse as quick as she did. I also have my doubts but based on a PBS (U.S.) program it just may be possible.

In 2019 there was a two part series called “Equus "Story of the Horse". It was a very popular show for PBS. By the way PBS is similar to CBC. Both networks are run by the U.S. government and the Canadian Government.

Equus "Story of the Horse" had one segment where they had a “Cowboy” start a colt (remind you of anything). It took only a day from going from a horse that never had a halter, blanket, or saddle on him to being to being fully tacked up and the “cowboy” being able to ride him without any problems. I don’t know if the horse was a “wildy” or not. The point is, wild or not the horse never had been ridden before but was gentled in less than a day.

Equus "Story of the Horse" also has other stories in the show that have a direct tie in to Heartland. They had a segment on the “Mongolian Horse”, Rodeo’s, Wild Horses, Veterinary services. There were many other tie inns to Heartland. If your interested, Equus "Story of the Horse" is available online or on DVD (Amazon) for $19.99 U.S. per episode. Don’t know if the DVD can be used in Europe (different DVD formats). The PBS program may come in handy when used to fact check Heartland��s horse stories. The show really was interesting, especially if you’re into horses. This is a follow on to my previous post. Forgot I referenced this show several years ago.

I started watching Heartland during its seventh season, fell in love with it and eventually caught up with all episodes. As of the end of season 13 Amber Marshall ‘Amy’ is the only actor who has been every episode. There is however something else that has been in every episode besides Amy…the horses.

Over the weekend I bumped into a show on our PBS station that was about the history of horses, ( Equus: Story of the horse ‘Chasing the wind’)

The thing about the show was they touched on a things that made up a lot of the story lines of Heartland, examples are ‘Colt Starting’ ‘Show Jumpers’ ‘Race Horses’ and the endangered ‘Przewalski Horse’ from season 11. The other thing that was evident from the PBS show is that even though horses are one of the main plot points of Heartland the stories they do about horses only scratch the surface of what horses are. Amy is supposed to have this deep connection with horses, but the show never really goes into detail on what Amy is really looking for when she works with a horse. We get a lot of pretty videos of Amy touching or dancing with a horse but no real insight one how she connects with a horse. In the PBS show there’s a segment that goes into depth on what a real “horse whisper” is and it’s a lot more complicated than a simple “join up”.

The PBS show gives a deeper context on the horse that’s lacking in Heartland. If you or anyone else wants to watch the program you can check out the PBS website ‘Nature’ or go to Amazon and buy the DVD ‘ Equus: Story of the horse ‘Chasing the wind’.

Submitted by: Anonymous ____________________________________

That's a good point, and I mean, we've seen people starting colts before in this show too, so I guess in a way it's not that new for us, but it just seems different for some reason - maybe it's the horse being a wildie part.

I do think my lack of knowledge about horsemanship plays a part in this, and while I've ridden horses and I used to read everything about horses when I was a little, there's still so much I don't know. Not to mention, I've not been around horses for years now, so a lot of it I've either forgotten or I never got to expand more (I remember this one time when I was like 12 and they had a western saddle at the stables I went to and it was sooooo exotic).

I do also come from a different "horse culture" than what they've shown in HL. From my experience, people here, for the most part, don't start getting a horse ready to be ridden until they are about 5 years old or so and it's always done in a way that is a slow process, building up layer by layer, so to speak. I do remember back in season 2 when Kit was showing Ty what do to with Harley, I was kind of shocked (like Ty), even though for people in the western culture "that's just how it's done". So to me Amy gentling the horse in such a short amount of time must've seemed very rushed for that reason as well - but I guess it can be done, like you said. Not to mention, there's always that Amy Magic involved with it as well when it comes to the story in this show.

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