#formations of the band. unity indeed.

[tiesandtea]

An interview with Brett and Mat about Night Thoughts for Musikknyheter.no, 19 January 2016. Photo & interview by Alyssa Nilsen.

On her website, you can also read her behind-the-scenes blog post about this interview.

(x)

I’m putting the full interview under the cut.

Suede's new album "Night Thoughts" is out Friday

The band will play the album in full and screen the accompanying film at their Oslo gig, We spoke to Brett Anderson and Mat Osman about the concept behind it all.

90s heroes Suede are back, and once again enjoying success with their music. Their previous album Bloodsports, which was released two years ago, did well both in and outside England. Their new album, Night Thoughts, will be released this coming Friday, and along with it, we get a film shot by photographer Roger Sargent. A while ago, Suede did a press-launch of the film in Oslo, and we met with vocalist Brett Anderson and bassist Mat Osman in a suite at posh hotel The Thief. The previous evening had seen an exclusive screening of the new Night Thoughts film, followed by a Q&A with the boys. The film is Sargent's own interpretation of the music on the album, and has not at all been controlled by the band. Mat says they saw some clips of the film along the way, but that they didn't interfere with the result at all, since it was meant to be an interpretation by someone not involved in the actual recording process. The result has become a beautiful, epic and slightly dark interpretation of the album Night Thoughts, and is a piece of art that carries the weight of the dramatic music very well. The film will be screened during the band's gigs, including the Sentrum Scene gig on February 2nd. People who won't have the opportunity to see any of the gigs will, according to Mat, still get the chance to see the film. The album will be released in two versions, and one of them will include a bonus DVD of the film. Still, he adds, the album won't need the film to work, it's meant as a companion piece - a different way of experiencing the album: «90% will never see any of the film, but it still made more sense to us to have this - a piece of art - rather than having three middling videos that you can switch off after three minutes. And at the same time, it fits the concept of having an album you can listen to in one go, from start to finish.»

The album format is a concept Suede have focused on a lot during their work on this record. They have intentionally made an album that works as a unity, rather than creating singles and strong stand-alone songs. Brett says the reason behind this is simply that they love the album format and being able to engage a listener for 45 minutes. He was obsessed with albums as a kid, and the idea of listening to a vinyl, and to turn the record after page 1 to listen to page 2, is something that still fascinates him: «Writing lots of songs and then juggling them to find out how they fit together to make the unity you want; to choose the opening song on page 2 to present that, even if that only applies to those listening to vinyls; which track ends the album... All classical albums I've loved have given the impression that the artist truly cared about those details and was aware of how the album would be listened to. And this is what we wanted to achieve with Night Thoughts.» Mat nods: «This is indeed something you've been pretty obsessed with.» The album is quite seamless and gapless with songs intertwining into each other, and Brett explains that when they wrote it, initially they had a lot of half-songs that worked sort of like bridges pieces, like Pale Snow or Learning To Be: «It was kind of like: "Pale Snow is in the same key as I Don't Know How To Reach You, so it can be a prelude to that song..." A lot of the sound design and how the album is threaded together, that was all arranged afterwards. Parts of the album was attempted recorded as one piece in a studio in Belgium, but that idea got a bit diluted when we realised where we were headed with the album.» He adds that it's not exactly a revolutionary concept - even though it might feel that way in our day and age. That, in itself, he says, is something he loves: Being different. To not just be a slave to fashion or do what everyone else does. He's convinced that there's still an "army" of people who are fans of the concept of albums. The title "Night Thoughts" is about the fear you feel in the middle of the night when you can't sleep because you feel like your world is caving in around you, when thoughts become too big and you feel too small. The record is about family relations and the confusing ambiguity within those relations - something which is very apparent in the accompanying film. Brett, who does most of the lyrics, has based it all on his own experiences of family, but does not feel like it's uncomfortable or scary to share these things with the world. Talking about it face to face on the other hand, THAT he feels can sometimes get uncomfortable and awkward, much better to write about it in a song and defuse it that way. In addition to that, he feels like the songs are just as ambiguous as life and relationships are, and will ultimately mean different things to different people. I Don't Know How To Reach You, is initialy about Bretts relationship with his dad, but could easily have been a break-up song about lost love; the same feeling, only in a different context. He adds that he feels it was a very interesting way to look at relationships, since rock songs normally are about romantic relationships, not family relations.

The band's upcoming concerts, including the Sentrum Scene-gig in Oslo, will be two-part gigs. The first half will be Night Thought played in full, whereas the second half will be hits and fan favourites. To add to this, the band will be performing the album from behind a curtain where the film will be shown. Brett is very excited at the prospect of performing without actually being seen, and feels it necessary for the format to work. If the screen had been behind them, they would have had to confront the audience in a traditional way, and it would have been way too ordinary. The fact that they're separated from the crowd, allows him to be a singer rather than a performer. Mat explains that they spent a long time figuring out how to make the album work live, even before they'd come up with the idea of the film, because it's so slow and thoughtful. The fact that it's performed from behind a screen forces the audience to listen to the music rather than being occupied watching the guys onstage. The first gigs they performed the album live, it was very interesting seeing the crowd's reaction: «When it all started people rushed to the front, and then the film started and they realised that upfront really wasn't the place to be, so they all wandered back», he laughs. The feedback the bands has received after the gig also suggests that the audience experienced the music in a completely different way than they normally would. Brett nods and adds that the fact that they've put the film in the forefront at the gigs, seems to simultaneously have perversely put the music in the forefront: «It seems to work. Surprisingly.» Night Thoughts comes out on the January 22nd, Suede plays Sentrum Scene on February 2nd.

#brett anderson #suede #night thoughts #mat osman

[afrikan-mapambano]

George Jackson: Black Revolutionary

By Walter Rodney, November 1971 :

"To most readers in this continent, starved of authentic information by the imperialist news agencies, the name of George Jackson is either unfamiliar or just a name. The powers that be in the United States put forward the official version that George Jackson was a dangerous criminal kept in maximum security in Americas toughest jails and still capable of killing a guard at Soledad Prison. They say that he himself was killed attempting escape this year in August. Official versions given by the United States of everything from the Bay of Pigs in Cuba to the Bay of Tonkin in Vietnam have the common characteristic of standing truth on its head. George Jackson was jailed ostensibly for stealing 70 dollars. He was given a sentence of one year to life because he was black, and he was kept incarcerated for years under the most dehumanizing conditions because he discovered that blackness need not be a badge of servility but rather could be a banner for uncompromising revolutionary struggle. He was murdered because he was doing too much to pass this attitude on to fellow prisoners. George Jackson was political prisoner and a black freedom fighter. He died at the hands of the enemy.

Once it is made known that George Jackson was a black revolutionary in the white mans jails, at least one point is established, since we are familiar with the fact that a significant proportion of African nationalist leaders graduated from colonialist prisons, and right now the jails of South Africa hold captive some of the best of our brothers in that part of the continent. Furthermore, there is some considerable awareness that ever since the days of slavery the U.S.A. is nothing but a vast prison as far as African descendants are concerned. Within this prison, black life is cheap, so it should be no surprise that George Jackson was murdered by the San Quentin prison authorities who are responsible to Americas chief prison warder, Richard Nixon. What remains is to go beyond the generalities and to understand the most significant elements attaching to George Jacksons life and death.

When he was killed in August this year, George Jackson was twenty nine years of age and had spent the last fifteen [correction: 11 years] behind bars—seven of these in special isolation. As he himself put it, he was from the lumpen. He was not part of the regular producer force of workers and peasants. Being cut off from the system of production, lumpen elements in the past rarely understood the society which victimized them and were not to be counted upon to take organized revolutionary steps within capitalist society. Indeed, the very term lumpen proletariat was originally intended to convey the inferiority of this sector as compared with the authentic working class.

Yet George Jackson, like Malcolm X before him, educated himself painfully behind prison bars to the point where his clear vision of historical and contemporary reality and his ability to communicate his perspective frightened the U.S. power structure into physically liquidating him. Jacksons survival for so many years in vicious jails, his self-education, and his publication of Soledad Brother were tremendous personal achievements, and in addition they offer on interesting insight into the revolutionary potential of the black mass in the U.S.A., so many of whom have been reduced to the status of lumpen.

Under capitalism, the worker is exploited through the alienation of part of the product of his labour. For the African peasant, the exploitation is effected through manipulation of the price of the crops which he laboured to produce. Yet, work has always been rated higher than unemployment, for the obvious reason that survival depends upon the ability to obtain work. Thus, early in the history of industrialization, workers coined the slogan the right to work. Masses of black people in the U.S.A. are deprived of this basic right. At best they live in a limbo of uncertainty as casual workers, last to be hired and first to be fired. The line between the unemployed or criminals cannot be dismissed as white lumpen in capitalist Europe were usually dismissed.

The latter were considered as misfits and regular toilers served as the vanguard. The thirty-odd million black people in the U.S.A. are not misfits. They are the most oppressed and the most threatened as far as survival is concerned. The greatness of George Jackson is that he served as a dynamic spokesman for the most wretched among the oppressed, and he was in the vanguard of the most dangerous front of struggle.

Jail is hardly an arena in which one would imagine that guerrilla warfare would take place. Yet, it is on this most disadvantaged of terrains that blacks have displayed the guts to wage a war for dignity and freedom. In Soledad Brother, George Jackson movingly reveals the nature of this struggle as it has evolved over the last few years. Some of the more recent episodes in the struggle at San Quentin prison are worth recording. On February 27th this year, black and brown (Mexican) prisoners announced the formation of a Third World Coalition. This came in the wake of such organizations as a Black Panther Branch at San Quentin and the establishment of SATE (Self-Advancement Through Education). This level of mobilisation of the nonwhite prisoners was resented and feared by white guards and some racist white prisoners. The latter formed themselves into a self-declared Nazi group, and months of violent incidents followed. Needless to say, with white authority on the side of the Nazis, Afro and Mexican brothers had a very hard time. George Jackson is not the only casualty on the side of the blacks. But their unity was maintained, and a majority of white prisoners either refused to support the Nazis or denounced them. So, even within prison walls the first principle to be observed was unity in struggle. Once the most oppressed had taken the initiative, then they could win allies.

The struggle within the jails is having wider and wider repercussions every day.

Firstly, it is creating true revolutionary cadres out of more and more lumpen. This is particularly true in the jails of California, but the movement is making its impact felt everywhere from Baltimore to Texas. Brothers inside are writing poetry, essays and letters which strip white capitalist America naked. Like the Soledad Brothers, they have come to learn that sociology books call us antisocial and brand us criminals, when actually the criminals are in the social register. The names of those who rule America are all in the social register.

Secondly, it is solidifying the black community in a remarkable way. Petty bourgeois blacks also feel threatened by the manic police, judges and prison officers. Black intellectuals who used to be completely alienated from any form of struggle except their personal hustle now recognize the need to ally with and take their bearings from the street forces of the black unemployed, ghetto dwellers and prison inmates.

Thirdly, the courage of black prisoners has elicited a response from white America. The small band of white revolutionaries has taken a positive stand. The Weathermen decried Jacksons murder by placing a few bombs in given places and the Communist Party supported the demand by the black prisoners and the Black Panther Party that the murder was to be investigated. On a more general note, white liberal America has been disturbed. The white liberals never like to be told that white capitalist society is too rotten to be reformed. Even the established capitalist press has come out with esposes of prison conditions, and the fascist massacres of black prisoners at Attica prison recently brought Senator Muskie out with a cry of enough.

Fourthly (and for our purposes most significantly) the efforts of black prisoners and blacks in America as a whole have had international repercussions. The framed charges brought against Black Panther leaders and against Angela Davis have been denounced in many parts of the world. Committees of defense and solidarity have been formed in places as far as Havana and Leipzig. OPAAL declared August 18th as the day of international solidarity with Afro-Americans; and significantly most of their propaganda for this purpose ended with a call to Free All Political Prisoners.

For more than a decade now, peoples liberation movements in Vietnam, Cuba, Southern Africa, etc., have held conversations with militants and progressives in the U.S.A. pointing to the duality and respective responsibilities of struggle within the imperialist camp. The revolution in the exploited colonies and neo-colonies has as its objective the expulsion of the imperialists: the revolution in the metropolis is to transform the capitalist relations of production in the countries of their origin. Since the U.S.A. is the overlord of world imperialism, it has been common to portray any progressive movement there as operating within the belly of the beast. Inside an isolation block in Soledad or San Quentin prisons, this was not merely a figurative expression. George Jackson knew well what it meant to seek for heightened socialist and humanist consciousness inside the belly of the white imperialist beast.

International solidarity grows out of struggle in different localities.This is the truth so profoundly and simply expressed by Che Guevara when he called for the creation of one, two, three - many Vietnams. It has long been recognized that the white working class in the U.S.A is historically incapable of participating (as a class) in anti-imperialist struggle. White racism and Americas leading role in world imperialism transformed organized labour in the U.S. into a reactionary force. Conversely, the black struggle is internationally significant because it unmasks the barbarous social relations of capitalism and places the enemy on the defensive on his own home ground. This is amply illustrated in the political process which involved the three Soledad Brothers—George Jackson, Fleeta Drumgo and John Clutchette—as well as Angela Davis and a host of other blacks now behind prison bars in the U.S.A."

[honeylikewords]

luminous beings (poe dameron)

a fic from out of nowhere talking about poe, what goes on in that head of his during quiet hours, and the aging process. it’s a little odd and a little unexpected, but i wanted to do it so... here it is!

no warnings, as far as i’m aware, except for some brief existentialism and mentions of the concept of death. but it turns out alright: i promise.

to think that we could stay the same // but we're two slow dancers, last ones out.  (mistki - two slow dancers)

Some planets have such a dense atmosphere that it can be hard to see the stars. Others are so widely populated, or have such congregated cities with such intense light pollution, that there’s nothing but grey-white skies, even at night, the clouds reflecting back the light like a great, gaseous mirror. Thankfully, D’Qar is nearly entirely uncolonized, spare for the Resistance base, so as Poe balances his arms on the railing of the balcony, the skies are free of any obstruction, and the stars are all on view, as crystalline and clear as they are when he flies among them.

It’s a beautiful night. No clouds, no flybys. The base is quiet. He’s able to take some time for himself, just gazing up at the skies and thinking slowly, letting his thoughts flow one into another, amorphous, untethered. Currently, his thoughts are sliding between the concepts for strategy and formations, and the concept of unity, belonging, destiny. He slips and slides between deep internal thought and solidified structures, unsure of what he wants to think about.

He gets introspective and silent when left alone for too long. He knows this about himself, but he forgets, sometimes: he’s hardly ever alone, these days, between his being always on-call and on-guard, always needed, always thinking about the current moment. He can’t remember being truly relaxed, actually. Poe’s been so busy being a functioning cog in this vast machine that he doesn’t remember what it’s like to be unwound, at ease.

Sighing, he pushes a hand through his hair, feeling the familiar tug of his thick locks. His fingers work at some knots that he’s neglected to brush through, and as he pulls them apart, he accidentally tugs out a hair, prompting him to let out a quick, quiet “youch”. He stops himself mid-tug to take a look at the hair, and notices that it glints in the light.

Another grey. 

He breathes out tiredly through his nose and slouches further onto the railing, twisting the hair in his fingers and watching it glimmer in the starshine. 

It’s grey, alright. It reminds him of the old men he’s seen through his travels; the weary, withered old bodies, their faces deserts of wrinkles and ridges of skin. He glowers at the hair and furrows his dark brows, his eyes squinting at the silver thread held between his fingers.

“Gettin’ old,” he murmurs to the night, still inspecting the hair. “Lucky me.”

Lucky indeed, he thinks. Some people aren’t lucky enough to get to having grey hairs. Some lives get cut short, robbed of their rightful growth. Some have their silver stolen from them before it’s even had a chance to show itself. 

Poe turns the hair and watches it appear and disappear in the light, his mouth set in a line as he chews his lower lip. He thinks about the people he’s seen live to turn grey, and the people he’s seen who didn’t.

He has to admit, shamefully, that part of his frustration with the greying stems from vanity. He’s always been handsome: ever since he was young. People always remarked that he was noteworthy and striking in his appearance, even when he made no effort. It had become a backburner sense of identity; Poe Dameron, Pretty Boy. If he starts to turn visibly grey, he wonders if that opinion will change.

Will he be forgotten? Moved aside? Will he become obsolete? Part of him worries that people will love him less if he isn’t attractive: if he can’t be commodified by his looks, made digestible, maybe he’ll be less well-liked. He gnaws at his lip and wonders if the woman he loves will lose interest in him now that he’s getting old.

Just as he’s starting to fret to himself, he hears the hydraulic-lock doors behind him slide open and he turns to check over his shoulder. He feels himself slip back into present-minded-Poe, and he flashes a quick, half-intended smile.

“Hey, you,” he says, turning fully.

“Hey, yourself.” Poe’s sweetheart is standing in the doorway, watching him as he leans on the balcony. “You okay?”

She always sees right through him. Poe’s semi-smile falters, and he lets himself ease back into his thoughtfulness, a sigh slipping out between his teeth. She walks over to him and puts her hand on top of his, squeezing it as they rest their forearms against the balcony railing.

“You need to talk about it?”

He glances over at her and sees her face outlined in the moonlight, the white light shining off of her skin. There’s something unspeakably beautiful about her like this; maybe Poe’s been too alone in himself, but now that she’s here, he feels different. Strange. He feels like he’s not supposed to be standing here, looking at her like this, admiring her the way he does. But he also can’t bear the thought of being anywhere else.

Poe lifts her hand a little and interlaces their fingers. He feels the steely weight of his mother’s old wedding band around his neck as he moves, the ring bouncing on its chain inside his shirt, and he smiles to himself. It’s like the ring knows that it’s near its intended owner, like it’s calling to be given, but now’s not the moment, he tells himself. He squeezes her hand, then lifts their knotted palms up and kisses her knuckles, sighing out against her skin as he presses his big nose to the flat back of her hand.

“I’m just… you know how I get,” he murmurs. “It’s good to be quiet for a while. But when I’m quiet too long, the, uh, thoughts get louder to make up for the difference.”

“I know, sweetie,” whispers the woman at his side. 

She raises her hand and gently brushes her fingers along his temple, nails gently grazing through his curls. He closes his eyes and lets his lips rest against their hands, still and silent. She pets his hair, and as she does, he can hear her breathing, hear the rhythmic ins and outs of her gentle sighs. His eyes open and he stares at her, sees the worry flickering on her features as she strokes his hairline, his jaw, his cheeks.

“I know you… you’ve been through a lot,” she says, breaking the silence between them. “I wish I could understand. I do. I know I never will, but I just wish, sometimes, that I could get inside your head and figure out what it is that’s going on in there.”

Poe pulls his lips off her hand and shakes his head, smiling weakly at his feet, rocking their hands back and forth.

“Not a lot of good stuff, darling.”

“Hush.”

As she continues her fingercombing, Poe becomes acutely aware that her fingers are running over the spots where his hair is more starkly grey. His temples, naturally, are where the greys congregate, but he also recalls that he’s grown an odd little patch of silver right on the top of his head, near the crest of his skull, as if he’d been struck by lightning in that singular spot.

Embarrassed, he ducks his head away, hoping that the move seems like a natural kind of faltering and not evasive. But her hand hovers in the air, a few inches away from him, frozen, and he knows he’s jarred her. He chews his lip anxiously, his eyes skating on the ground.

“Poe?”

“Yeah?”

“Did you… want me to go?”

“No, honey, no,” he stumbles, standing up straighter and putting his hands on her biceps, squeezing with what he hopes is reassurance. God, he feels like such a jerk. “No, I just… it’s gonna sound stupid.”

“It won’t,” she says as she shakes her head at him. “Talk to me.”

“...I’m going grey.”

“...Well, yeah, Poe, I knew that.” 

He flushes hot across the face, feeling terribly ashamed. What a vain little thing he is, he thinks. 

“Is… the grey what’s bothering you?”

“I just-- I dunno, it makes me feel like an old man. I’m not used to thinking about getting old.”

He realizes too late how grim that sounds and scrunches his nose in frustration, rolling his eyes at himself.

“No, god, I meant… I mean… it just never came up. My dad didn’t go grey until he was well into his fifties, and I’m not even close to fifty yet, not even forty, and I worry… I worry that I’m losing my touch. With all this--” he gestures loosely at the base-- “--with.. With you, and I don’t wanna, you know, let anyone down. I don’t wanna let you down. And I worry that I’m gonna get old and senile and screw this all up and then I won’t have anything left.”

There’s a pause, and Poe’s chin sinks down, his gaze locked on the ground as he knots his brows together and he bites bloody divots into his lips, frustrated and running out of words. Then he feels her hand break free from his hold and come up to cup his cheek; the cheek with the little crescent scar, compliments of Kylo Ren.

“Oh, my starboy,” she mumbles; Poe can feel her thumb smoothing the circle beneath his eye. “You worry so much, don’t you?”

“I worry about all the wrong things,” he laughs, his voice a little derisive. “I don’t worry enough about the practical things and get my pants in a twist about the dumb stuff.”

“Give yourself a little more credit, Poe. You’re just worrying, and worries build on each other. And it’s normal to see that great big pile of worries and feel so small compared to it. But, sweetheart, you’re not going ‘senile’, for god’s sake.”

Poe looks up from his boots, meekly meeting her eye, and he sees that potent half-smirk, her eyes warm and full of Light and goodness. He feels his heartstrings being tugged by the corners of that smile of hers, and he lets himself lean on her, his face tilting into the warmth of her hand on his cheek.

“You’re not going senile just because you’re getting a few grey hairs. Because, first of all, everyone knows that some people are just more likely to get grey hair early, and it has nothing to do with aging or mental faculties. And, second, you’ve been through enough stress for a thousand lifetimes in the span of less than a single lifetime, so that’s enough to throw a little salt into all this pepper.” 

She tousles his hair playfully, and Poe can’t help but roll his eyes and smile along. 

“You have been through… so much,” she reiterates, pausing her strokes to rest her thumb over the scar on his cheek. “More than anyone should have to go through. But you’re not losing your touch, and you’re not going to let anyone down. I promise you.”

“You don’t know that,” says  Poe.

“I do know that. And I know that because I know you. I know that you’ve never, in all your life, failed anything or anyone because when you set your mind to something, you don’t stop until you have it the way you want it. And all of this? This war, this Resistance? You are the fire burning at its center, keeping this thing running. I don’t think any of us would be here without you.”

Poe makes an embarrassed, dismissive huff, but he closes his eyes and listens to her, taking her words in thoughtfully.

“You’re not going to get old and suddenly lose that magic inside you. And I know that because we have some very old, very important people still with us, and they matter, don’t they?”

“Of course they do,” murmurs Poe, his mouth pressed against the heel of her palm. “Of course.”

“Then why wouldn’t you?”

“Dunno. I just… worry.”

“I know. But that’s why I’m here.”

She steps in closer and wraps her arms around him, pulling him in tight. Poe feels her hand skate up his neck, fingers passing through the shorter hairs at the nape of his neck, then course through his dense curls up to the base of his skull and press his face into the crook of her neck. Poe lets himself give in, crumpling into her and letting his desire to be held, comforted, cared for, overtake his need to be the hero. He sways with her, taking deep, slowing breaths, and hoping that she can understand what he means, even if he hasn’t quite found the words, yet.

 They rest in each other’s arms for a few moments, her hand gently scratching his head. He sighs into her and smiles placidly against her skin, listening to the night air rustling in the trees as it matches up with the rise and falls of her breaths. Somewhere, distantly, birds call to each other in the dark.

“You still think I’m handsome, right?”

Poe chuckles at himself as he rests his cheek on her shoulder, shaking his head.

 “Don’t answer that, actually. Don’t feed my vanity.”

There’s a silent, heavy pause, and Poe starts to lick at his lips nervously, aware that perhaps he’s pushed the envelope a little too far, this time. 

“I think you’re more handsome than ever, actually.”

“...What?”

He lifts his head from up off her shoulder and looks at her from under thick brows, his eyes scanning for the tell-tales of a lie, of sarcasm, but her face is placid, honest.

“I really do.” She smiles at him warmly, then presses her forehead to his, her eyes closing as his remain open. “You know I do.”

“But, like, with all this?”

One of his hands shoots up and passes through the spots where the grey is showing most prominently, his fingers looping around some of the silver spools. 

“With all that. And more,” she responds, her eyes still closed. “The grey is handsome. It makes you look, hmm… rugged.”

“Rugged,” he repeats. His voice is more than a little deadpan.

“Yes. And silver-foxy. And besides, you know it wouldn’t matter to me if you were as ugly as a Hutt. You’re you. And I love you for what you do and who you are, not how you look.” 

Opening her eyes at last, she looks at him, playful and coaxing. 

“You being the most handsome man in the Galaxy is just a very pleasant bonus for me.”

Poe pushes his forehead against her, like a ram butting heads, but he feels the broad smile pressing on his features as the first few bubbles of laughter escape him. She seems to know how to worm her way through his walls every time, and he feels a little reassured. Not entirely-- he’ll have to handle some of this inside of himself-- but enough. Safe in her arms, Poe kisses her nose, soft and sweet.

Bent at the angle he is, Poe can feel the ring bounce off his sternum, swinging out on its chain through the dip of his shirt collar, and he watches it dangle between them. Shara Bey’s steel ring, glittering in the remnants of starlight. He gazes at it with tender eyes, then sees gentle fingers raise up to graze the ring’s outer edge. He looks back up at the woman held to him, curious.

“You’re like this,” she murmurs, staring at his ring. “Forged in hardship. Steel and silver... you’re unbreakable, unbending. Still beautiful. Still important.”

His breath is gone. His words fade, forgotten. He just lets himself look at her, his heart full of wonder and love, his feelings so complex and yet so simple. 

Poe pulls her in to a tight embrace, wrapping his arms around her fully, his nose buried in her hair as he grips her perhaps a little too strongly. But he’s unwilling to let go, unwilling to let a fraction of his love go unexpressed. He holds onto her like she’s the last solid thing in all the Galaxy.

They stay like that for a good, long time, rocking in place, swaying to the natural rhythm of their muscles. Everything feels so nebulous around them, distant and far away, and Poe wants to hold on desperately to just her; he needs to stay tethered to his heart, and his heart is held in those hands of hers.

“You’re… very sweet to me,” he mumbles after a while, his hand rubbing at the base of her neck, fingertips grazing her hair.

“Only as sweet as you deserve. You’ve had enough bitter years to earn this.”

He pauses, pulling back to look at her, to study her face. Then he lets himself smile fully at her. 

She’s something else. Something bright and phosphorescent. Something worth fighting for. The two of their hearts mingle together into some kind of wondrous, luminous reaction, glowing, and there’s nothing that compels him more than that light. He feels her with him wherever he goes; whether that’s the Force, or it’s love, he doesn’t care. He knows that his life is bigger than himself, and he’s inexorably tied to her.

So, he’ll get old, he acquiesces. He’ll age. He’ll get more scars, more marks, more grey hairs. But so long as he is loved, and so long as he continues to do the work he has determined to do in his heart of hearts, then it doesn’t matter what he looks like. Nothing is quite as beautiful as the Light, which lives in the glow inside warm hearts. It shines out through even the most scarred faces, turning everything it touches into something beautiful. He knows that because he sees it in every good, living thing, but most especially in her: that inherent, beaming brightness.

He’ll let his luminous nature shine out through these starlight hairs, and through his deeds, through his dedication to her. Nothing will quell him now that he’s made up his mind. He may get old and grey, but his grey will be the grey of fire-forged steel, something only made stronger with age, not weaker.

Poe knows he owes a great deal of his strength and courage to the one he loves; the light they make together is inextinguishable, and its burning fire is what pushes him beyond what he knew he could be. He feels the fire she ignites in him as he takes her hand and squeezes it, letting her guide him back inside so he can get some rest: in that moment, he feels nothing but pure, strong, positive energy racing back and forth between them, a connection unlike any other he’s ever felt.

Love and Light, he realizes, are what guides him. And there will never be anything strong enough in all the worlds to steer him away from his greatest love and brightest light: her.

#long post / #gif warning / #original #poe dameron #star wars #this was the thing i was writing last night which went from 'short expose on poe's greying hair' to #'8+ page document about poe's existential anxiety and desire to make a difference as seen through the lens of age and vanity' #and as far as im aware poe doesnt have his grey hairs in the movies so far but fingers crossed that they wont dye oscar's greys for the next #god ANYWAY im tired and anxious and worried and the Foolishness that has been transpiring lately has made me #uninterested in writing for anyone other than myself because !!!!! good lord !!!!!

[secretradiobrooklyn]

SECRET RADIO | 11.14.20

Secret Radio | 11.14.20 | Hear it here.

Artwork by Paige, liner notes by Evan except * for Paige

1. The Wizard of Oz - “Ding Dong” Suite

We were looking for a proper song to get this party started, and damned if it didn’t involve a bunch of delighted munchkins! As much as our hopes for the coming years are muted, the relief at not having to contend with a headlong dictator enjoying full-on democratic support just cannot be overstated. DING DONG Y’ALL!

2. David Bowie - “Look Back in Anger”

I’ve been practicing drums a ton during the pandemic, and I just realized that I’m going to have to spend some time trying to get at this pattern. It’s some of my favorite drumming ever, from one of my top 20 albums ever. In fact, this comes from a very special edition of Lodger, via Brian McClelland, wherein Tony Visconti took the original tapes and completely remixed the album as he always felt it should have been mixed if they weren’t be rushed. To someone who has listened to that record many many times, it sounds like I’ve been next door the album all this time, and I’m finally allowed into the room where it’s playing. So clear and focused and modern!

3. Frank Alamo - “Ma Biche”

A “biche” is a doe, we believe. “It’s something about ‘pretty eyes,’” Paige says, “which would make sense.” Further research, though, reveals that the song is about how much he likes her pretty dark eyeliner. I know the feeling!

4. (Not) Rom JongVak - “Monkey”

Well, this has been a learning process. There’s this great song that I thought was called “Twist (Dance Twist)” by Rom Jong Vak, that we played like a month ago — and then tonight I thought I was playing “Monkey,” by Rom JongVak. Buuut, as I look further, I’m learning that the first song was “Rom Jong Vak Twist,” by Pan Ron… And the song here is I guess called “Rom Jong Vak Monkey,” and I have no idea who it’s by! All of the text on the page is in just boxes where Cambodian text would go, so it’s bound to remain lost. Whoever it is, I sure do enjoy that first aggressive drum fill and the whole weird texture of this recording.

5. Luiz Visconde - “Chofer de Praça”

Paige: “The first times that I listened to this Angolan collection, I really just listened to Os Kiezos, because they did “Muxima.” But then I eventually spread out and found this song. It’s from Angola, between ’65 and ’75.”

6. The Velvet Underground - “European Son”

P: We would go to the Beechwood a little bar around the corner from us in Wicker Park, down the street off Milwaukee Avenue. They had a real jukebox, not a TuneBlast or whatever. It was just a great little dive. They had this record in the jukebox, and we would always put on this song. I suppose that could have been read as an aggressive thing to do, but we’d put on other songs too! It was a good way to stretch your quarters, and it loosens the bar up. And I figured, if they didn’t like this song they wouldn’t put it in the jukebox.

     Once when we were there on a busy weekend night, something was wrong with the jukebox. It was broken. And the bartender opened it up and put like a hundred bucks on it and said, “Everybody play whatever you want, three songs each. It was awesome. Everybody did take turns too, three songs each, all around the bar. It was a really cool night.

7. Fred Astaire - “No Strings (I’m Fancy Free)”

What a lovely piano intro! This song is from the 1935 film “Top Hat.” It’s one of those movies where the clever protagonist pursues a girl he has a crush on — or terrorizes a stranger until she submits to his will, depending on whose perspective you take. There are a lot of those — “An American in Paris” is another — and they’re fascinating to watch just by flipping that switch back and forth in your own head. Meanwhile, both movies are chock full of beautiful shots, fabulous scenes, gorgeous songs, and glowing stars. 

     Something about the quality of this recording — a new master or something? — makes it sound like it was JUST recorded. It feels so alive and contemporary, with a lovely little vibrophone solo in the middle. I just 

Martial Solal, “Breathless” soundtrack - “L’amour, la mort”

Note: I remember this story in the reverse, where the truckers announced this gleefully to each other as they marched merrily OUT the door and into the late afternoon, headed towards… what? Whatever it is, I hope they found it and everyone had a great time.

8. Johnny Hallyday - “Nous quand on s’embrasse”

Have you seen “The Wild One”? Can’t you see how much trouble could have been avoided if those leathered-up motorcycle dudes were able to rock out to songs like this one instead of trying to jazz their way forward? They should have been twisting the night away! Alas, instead they had to tear up bars and beat people up to get their kicks. Tough break, kid.

9. Lokassa Ya M’bongo - “Bonne année”

I found this while searching for something else, but it was labeled “l’Instant Vinyl” in the same format as our Assa-Cica record, so had to check it out. M’bongo is a Congolese guitarist — a rhythm guitarist specifically, which doesn’t normally get the love that lead guitar gets in this soukous form. Lokassa Ya M’bongo means “Lokassa the money man,” and he became a session man in demand. He was a big part of the “Congolo-Paris sound,” a phrase I just read that I’m going to have to look more into.

    Bonne année indeed! Still feeling that relief about hopefully getting out from under the thumb of that giant dummy.

10. Velly Joonas - “Stopp, Seisku Aeg!”

The image of Velly Joonas is pretty heart-stopping: she’s absolutely beautiful, in giant glasses and a striped shirt. The song is so confident and strange in its instrumentation, with keys, organ, fiddle, and a super-tight bass/drum combo. I feel like this could have been a big US underground hit in the ‘90s.

11. Eko Roosevelt - “Kilimandjaro”

Such a sincere song! Eko Roosevelt is kind of hit and miss with me, but when they hit, they get completely stuck in my head! The horn parts on “Me To a De Try My Own” do that to me, and so does the eternal chorus of this song. I love the notes in the bridge as they drop further and further down the scale like they’re descending from the mountaintop. And when he gets to the declarations of love at the end — “I love you, my home! I really do, I really do!” — that’s it, that’s the best.

12. Tonetta - “Yummy Yummy Pizza”

I warn you: look up this video (after you listen to the “broadcast” of course) at your own peril. Not because it’s terrible, but because it is fascinating, and it is just one of SO many. They tease you with tiny shreds of information about this Tonetta person, but never enough that you can get a sense of what the hell is going on with… him? Them? Maybe ask Matt and Brian from Tok about it — they got obsessed enough to record an EP of Tonetta songs, which is how I heard about this all in the first place.

13. Prewar Yardsale - “AU Base”

Paige: I was loading a five-disc changer at Jeffrey’s and something about the cover, the name sounded interesting. I put it on and it’s pretty freakin rad. It stood up to my blind listen expectations. I think this is produced by our friend Matt Mason. 

14. Eugenius - “Mary Queen of Scots”

Matt Mason and Jeffrey Lewis make me think of Schwervon!, which makes me think of the Vaselines who they toured with several times, and that brings me to Eugenius, headed by Eugene Kelly. This was a mainstay in Sean’s room when we all lived together, singing the harmonies and air-drumming along. It remains as satisfying as ever, I’m happy to say.

15. Wednesday Campanella - “Aladdin”

This song is sung in Japanese, not that you’d know from context clues. Tim Gebauer introduced us to this strange Japanese shapeshifter. It was hard to tell if I liked her music or was just amazed by her videos (which you should totally check out). Now I believe it’s safe to say we dig this song. I like how many elements of ‘70s international disco it has, while still sounding super modern. What is weirder to me is that I cannot tell if I would like this song if it was sung in English.

Breathless soundtrack

16. Letti Mbulu - “Mahlalela”

Originally South African, Mbulu managed to escape to the US in 1965 and had a hell of a career. She worked with Cannonball Adderley, Hugh Masakela, Harry Belafonte and Michael Jackson. Quincy Jones said this amazing thing about her: “Mbulu is the roots lady, projecting a sophistication and warmth which stirs hope for attaining pure love, beauty, and unity in the world.” Um, that’s really impressive.

17. Christophe - “Aline”

*Really dig this song, partially I think because it’s in a decent range for me to sing along. I love his desperate delivery and tone of voice. We just learned tonight that Christophe passed away this year at 74 after complications with COVID-19. 

18. Zap Mama - “Brrlak!”

Credit to my dad, Larry Sult, for bringing Zap Mama to our attention. He’s been heavily into marimba music, and played in a marimba band in Bellingham for many years; in fact, he spent many years making the instruments for the band in his woodshop in the basement of their home. Zap Mama is adjacent to that music, though certainly very different. This band comes from all over the world. The main gal was born in &&&&& but found herself in a Pygmy society for awhile, which seems to be where she developed some of those low-high yodels. We saw some footage of her playing, and she did this awesome thing where she held empty airplane bottles just below her lips as she sang, creating a resonance that you can hear here. I love that this whole composition is a cappella.

19. The Buzzards - “High Society”

Years ago, I was whiling away my time in Seattle and stopped into Orpheum Records, right there at the corner where Broadway turns into 10th Ave E. After a half hour of flipping through records I had to know what all the killer albums were that had been playing overhead. Turns out they were all from “The Sympathetic Sounds of Detroit,” a collection of Detroit bands put out by Sympathy for the Record Industry. It was recorded by Jack White and Jim Diamond and it’s full of topshelf tracks, but after all the years, this is the one that we turn out to actually enjoy, and quote, the most. 

    As far as I could tell, there isn’t a version of this song anywhere online, which I personally find disGRACEful!

20. Sleepy Kitty - “Buzzards & Dreadful Crows”

My favorite part of this recording is that I got to sing a couple of guitar parts that I reflexively sing along to on the original.

*This was from a 20th anniversary of “Bee Thousand” tribute show, and we made this recording with Jason Hutto at this studio off Cherokee Street and we recorded a couple others that we did that night. A small run of screenprinted downloads were made. 

Teddy Afro, “Mar Eske Tuwa” credit music

21. Ata Kak - “Moma Yendodo”

Some corrections to what I said in the broadcast: Ata Kak is indeed Ghanian, but I think he might have recorded this in Germany. His is a fascinating little story of determination. This recording comes from a tape that he made about 50 copies of total. It was found by Brian from Awesome Tapes From Africa at a roadside stand in Ghana. He loved it so much that he spent years trying to track Ata Kak down. When he finally did, they found that the original master tapes were all ruined, and Brian’s copy was the only one that they could make a new version from! So that’s what you’re hearing here. 

22. Spoon - “30 Gallon Tank”

Early Spoon is some of my favorite music ever. This is from “A Series of Sneaks,” an album that changed my life pretty much as soon as I heard it. Harvey Danger stopped at a lot of record stores on tour, and at one of them I managed to stumble upon both “A Series of Sneaks” and (I think) Guv’ner’s “Spectral Worship” — what a day! I put this album on in headphones in the van and just listened over and over and over again. Eventually, when our manager announced that we should spend a few weeks between radio festivals headlining a tour with a couple of support acts and asked if we had any ideas, I had a list with Spoon on top and Creeper Lagoon right below that. The tour that resulted was rough for Spoon — they’d just been dropped by their label and were having an understandably rough time — but a fucking thrill for me, because I got to see one of my favorite bands each night. That still stands as one of the absolute highlights of my time in Harvey Danger. Jim Eno is one of the top drummers in my pantheon because he’s such a great composer for the song, and Britt Daniels plays guitar the way I truly wish I did — which he did at the time all on distorted acoustic guitar! 

23. Patrick Coutin - “Fais-moi jouir”

*I meant to put on a different Patrick Coutin song but put this one on by accident and I was like, this is cool, and then I was like “I think he’s saying. . .I think this is pretty. . . explicit. Like Serge and Jane cranked.” As far as I can tell, it definitely is. They don’t teach you these words on Duolingo though. Ha! 

24. Dur Dur Band - “Yabaal”

I mean no disrespect to Dur Dur Band when I say that we didn’t dig the first several songs we heard by them, but this song is undeniable. The groove just digs in and doesn’t stop for anything.

25. Mel Brooks - “High Anxiety”

We’re stepping out on a mixed emotional note, but: we’re not out of the woods yet. I hope we can get through the next couple of months as a nation peacefully and productively, but Paige and I are both in a state of high anxiety about what still seems to be happening daily. Stay safe!

*yet staying optimistic! ’Cause we gotta. À plus tard!

[isilie-kins]

We’re back everybody (and once again, I’m absurdly behind in my reviews)! After a brief and glorious respite from the heavy formation choreography and the blatant pushing of an Ace member – it’s all made a comeback in Brand New Morning, Momusu’s declaration of war on 2017.

Ok, well it’s actually not a war declaration. It’s an uplifting song about moving forward in confusing times and using all your power for good and so forth; it’s the usual morning fare with perhaps a whiff of politics (although to say this song is about Trump seems stupid to me). But this is a BRAND NEW morning (get it?) and we have two fabulous new members to shake things up.

I didn’t expect this kind of a pv though. I mean, it certainly suits the song, but this is taking the formation dance thing to an absurdly literal place.

The last couple of singles haven’t struck me as heavily formation the way Help Me or Brainstorming are, and there hasn’t been any Ace to push either. They gave Maria a chance to center in Sou Ja Nai and BOSS, Masaki-kins, Fuku-hime and Oda have all had their moments. Mostly, 2016 was a year of unity for Momusu; I was just getting used to the idea of ‘no ace’ and enjoying how much everybody has grown (except maybe Haga, who just is kinda there – adorable, but not really a big part of things yet).

But as soon as I saw this face:

I thought, “Yep. Yokoyama’s gonna be the promoted one, for sure.”

You know how I know? It’s not just because she’s younger and has the kind of generic idol face the Japanese public loves (settle down – I’m not saying she isn’t cute because she definitely is), it’s because I ALWAYS like the one they don’t promote as much better than the Ace.

And I LOVE Kaedi. I think she’s fierce and poised and has strong deep vocals that are really going to add a lot in the future. Besides, she’s demonstratively worked her ass off to be here. We already know she has drive and ambition and you can tell me that the fruits of her labour aren’t clear in her fabulous debut, but I won’t believe you. More than possibly any new member I’ve ever seen, she just blended into the group like she’d always been there. I still notice her, look for her, appreciate her, but she fits in so well that you can only tell she’s new when she’s answering questions; when performing she’s all in and on fire.

Yoko, on the other hand, got in after barely three months of work. Which is fine, I mean, good for her, but if we compare them to each other, I’m not seeing why Yoko deserves to be pushed more. Maybe because of her lack of experience/exposure, but I doubt it.

I also need to point out what many people have pointed out: that she has the same confidence and sly ambition as Riho and that she sings EXACTLY like Zukki. And her name is Reina.

I mean why don’t you just punch me in the FACE, Momusu!?

WOA! Ok, sorry! Also: perfect solo line is perfect. I love her voice. Duet with BOSS about who is more ikemen – now!

You know as much as I complain about one being promoted more than the other, I love the dynamic between these two. Kaedi worked hard for years to get a major debut and now that she has it, she still seems so floored with her victory that she’s perhaps a bit absentminded when she talks. However, her background with H!P Eggs (they will always be Eggs – don’t bother correcting me) has given her confidence and poise in both singing and dance. There’s a real ikemen feel to her even though she has an elegant stature. After working for years for this chance, I seriously doubt she’ll let Yoko just take over.

Yoko, as I’ve said, reminds me of debut-age Riho: she’s absolutely ambitious without alienating anyone  (she has that cute, reassuring smile, after all), she has a background in dance, with singing being a bit more difficult for her, and she’s instantly getting a ton of close-ups and attention from the Japanese fans. Her smirk is the same debut face as Riho. When given the chance to talk, she’ll talk a ton. Have you seen her replies in the Pocket mornings?? Then there’s the crooked-baby-teeth-super smile…

As I mentioned before, they have such an odd senpai-kouhai paradox: Kaedi is the senpai but now they’re part of the same generation, so they’re equal. Kaedi has worked diligently while Yoko (I can’t call her Reina; it’s too traumatic) got into a group quickly on some mysterious charm. The other members cried in happiness that Kaedi had finally gotten in, while they are now constantly mentioning and promoting Yoko in their blogs…Our 13th gen seem to be on good terms, but they definitely get their digs in to each other.

It’s gonna be a fight indeed…in fact it looks like Kaedi kinda punched our little Yoko in the back of her head. Oooh that smarts.

After all, isn’t this pv all about aggression? It’s absolutely saturated in red. Red is an aggressive colour; it means passion and fire and no-time-to-mess around. Coupled with that militaristic marching, what else are we supposed to think about?

Also did anyone else notice this thing:

This red flash happens a few times and I really have no idea what it is. Some angry swiss cheese?

My first thought was, “blood cells”, which it isn’t. There is something biological about that image. Unless, it is angry cheese, in which case, colour my face… red.

*rimshot*

Fuku-hime mentioned the theme is “marching band” and since Momusu have had a few years to get used to formations, they seem to form their X, circle and triangle shapes effortlessly. The costumes are the right mix of cute and strong, although I was hoping for a revival of the Rival Survival concert gear. I suppose I’d have to wait for a concert for that one.

Since the theme is marching band, we gotta have some flag-bearer action! BOSS!

BOSS seems pretty excited in this one, although I honestly didn’t notice her much until her solo lines.

B: “I don’t care if you didn’t notice me – I’m INVINCIBLE.”

B: “RISE MY FANGIRLS AND SWEEP THIS STAGE CLEEEEAAAAAN-“

The terrifying power of our Ikemen: everyone is swooning and they don’t even know why! Look at her eyes people; she’s losing it!!

I love everything about this cap, especially Maria’s very matter-of-fact way of punching the camera. And what’s with that extra hand on Ayumin’s shoulder??

Seriously though, good luck competing with Kaedi for who’s the most boyish, Boss. She’s already protested that her and Kaedi look too much alike and their interests align and therefore clash too. If you notice in some of the performances, Kaedi started to part her hair on the other side…

Y: “Haaaaay, guuuuuuys. Dis about me?”

No, Yoko. No, no. I’ve talked about you already. Just cause there’s a million shots of you doesn’t mean you can just keep popping up like this.

Y: “Whatevs.”

Ahem.

Moving right along…

Today she isn’t Fuku-hime…she is RIIDA!

Honestly, Fuku-hime seems so leader-like in this pv, in a way I haven’t really seen before.

F: “Don’t you steal now. As your princess, I simply don’t approve.”

As far as her performance, it’s pretty much flawless as always. The only thing close to a complaint I have is how quietly she sings during lives. Some times she just doesn’t project enough. I mean, that could be the sound guys screwing up, but since it’s happened so often, I don’t think so. I hope she’ll really belt it out in concert, because you can’t just be ‘cute’ in this kind of song.

…Ok, fine, maybe you can.

F: “Hail to da riida, baby!”

Case and point about cuteness: Haga-chin, who is so adorable whenever she pops up that I don’t even mind how I keep forgetting she exists.

Look at that little face – how can you get mad at her??

Y: “Dat’s just like meeeeee!”

HEY! What did I say, Yoko?! Get outta here! And you STOP that winking!

Ikuta brandishing the MM flag like a weapon! That outta keep them haters away.

Does anybody actively hate Eri-pon? I’m planning a post about her so I won’t go into it too much, but I’ve noticed she’s gotten a lot more sullen in the past few years. She’s still trying really hard, she’s still smiling and being adorable and being the most photogenic of all the members (except maybe Oda, who is so freakin’ gorgeous this year that I can’t even sentence make!), but there always seems to be a frown in her eyes.

But let’s talk about her solo part please!

She gets the second bridge line and I don’t think she’s ever sounded better. It’s a bittersweet line and she delivers it with that unique, but rarely seen Eri-pon vulnerability; I even hear some of that vibratto she’s developed. It was just such a sweet delivery. I nearly teared up I was (am!) so happy for her. I feel happy when members we never hear from get solos, but I’m almost never emotional about it! Eri-pon just wants it so badly! >_<

I think a lot of the girls, despite speaking in rather high registers, don’t have the singing range for super high-pitched melodies. You could also argue they aren’t sure how to hit those notes without bellowing.

I have said it before and will continue to say it forever: singing is a skill and your voice is a muscle as well as an instrument. Using it properly, so that it won’t crap out in three years or get ruined forever, is critical for girls who sing constantly and sing LIVE. We laugh at singers who take ridiculous precautions before their concerts: drinking odd herbal concoctions or not speaking at all until the performance or making ridiculous noises repeatedly to “warm up”, but then these people sing and we shut the hell up because all those preparations WORKED.

This range is somewhere between low and high; it’s easy to sing, just girly enough.

I’ve seen Eri-pon perform this line on shows and she’s clearly not used to getting a center part, but I hope her shyness and insecurity won’t get the better of her. She’s probably the Musume I’m rooting for most, even if she isn’t my favourite.

Y: “Haaaaaay, I’m totally fiiiiiiine with center parts, ne?!”

Yoko, for fracks sake…

ERI-PON WILL ROUNDHOUSE YO’ FAYCE IF YOU DON’T QUIT IT!

Let me just mention here again how amazing Kaedi is during her solo moments.

*dies*

Close-up shots are usually a clear indicator of how much improvement is needed, or how much the girl’s confidence has developed. Kaedi is wonderful to watch. I didn’t get any of the derp I usually find in 12th gen, or the wide-open mouths I find with the 10th. Kaedi seems to already be able to feel the song and not fuss about whether or not she’s enunciating a lot.

Plus there’s the fact that she’s so gorgeous and elegant.

K: “Don’t forget the guns.”

Epic elegance.

I’m not actually sure if that is Kaedi or BOSS…

B: “I-I can’t remember either!”

B: “Who….who am I?”

Boss, settle down. This is Kaedi!

Y: “Hey…hey MOVE KAEDIIIIII-“

An example of both derp and the wide-open-mouth-syndrome. The struggle is real.

I had to include all three of the best shots of Maria, because if you can’t cap Masaki-kins, Maria is where you’re going to get all your unbashed joy. She doesn’t get to do much in this pv, but I always notice her and she always has at least one moment like this one.

…Then she’ll turn around and be gorgeous. She’s totally won me over folks, even with all the Loverinrinwhateveritis nonsense.

Y: “Haaaay, listen, I won’t evar do gags like that, ok? I am an ace.”

Well Kaedi will give us a random Aiiiii~n fail-face in the middle of pwning the choreography. I think you can afford to give us at least one fail-face.

If you’re gonna keep popping up, at least you can give us a renewed Reina-fail.

Y: *random goat noises*

…Okay.

Let’s move on to a completely different kind of awkward and talk about Ogata now.

Ogata has finally gained enough weight to be able to hoist the MM flag. Well..hold it anyway…well mimic holding it. They probably CG-ed in the actual flag…

O: “Look, I didn’t come here to grow an angry Riida out of my head and listen to insults, ok?”

It’s not an insult, really. I’ve just noticed how skeletal she looked in the past few years and now she looks a bit more healthy now. That isn’t really the point though. The point is that there is something about Ogata that means I keep noticing her. It’s probably because she’s just so damn odd.

There’s something odd about that whole 12th gen, isn’t there? Haga is like a stuffed-animal, but can be a bad-ass when she gets the idea; Maria is s giant-smilie-face come to life, but is incredibly versatile as a performer (even if her voice is still pretty rough); Nonaka is derpy even though she’s the most composed out of all of them; and then there is vacantly smiley Ogata who can’t sing and always seems awkward until you strap a pair of skates on her (seriously, look it up – she’s quite capable and looks very comfortable on the ice).

What is this expression? I DON’T KNOW!

Ok…we’ll leave on that note.

Perfect Oda is perfect. Wait…that IS Oda, right?

HAH! Found you!

O: “Woa, center again! No waaaaay!”

I confess 2016 was all about Oda for me. Once I discovered her strange tension with Ayumin and her ‘bullied’ character, I was intrigued. I’d been thoroughly blown away by her birthday solo performances, but I’d never quite seen her as an ace, or potential ace. She’s kept powering up, and I’ve kept wanting to learn more about her. Ultimately what I discovered is, I really like her.

I think she’s gorgeous and I love her voice. I feel like she didn’t really have a character before last year. She was just sorta there as a pleasant back-up. Then one line from Ayumin in a dvd magazine (“I don’t wanna be on camera with Oda.”) led me to discover that they bully her a bit. And rather than shrinking away, she loves it. She requests that they bully her more. It’s like finding her place has given her the confidence to really push herself in performances. Yasuda Kei was a bullied character and it turned her into probably the most infamous member of them all! Being bullied can be a gold mine!

Before the Sexy Cat business, I really couldn’t say she was a potential ace, but that single felt like a starting point. Even if Yokoyama is gonna be pushed, I doubt Oda will stay on the sidelines for too long.

I couldn’t honestly say she’s my favourite member though; I don’t really have a favourite, which is another strange and wonderful thing about this lineup. I feel like I’ve always had someone I’m watching or noticing more than others. Sure, Oda has my favourite voice, but I also love Fukuhime’s voice; I love BOSS’s ikemen stuff and the craziness of Masaki-kins; I’m rooting for Eri-pon and I adore Maria’s nonsense. I simply can’t decide.

There isn’t anyone to really dislike either. Call me boring, but I like that.

Y: “Oh, so dis means you like me? Oooooh…”

Sure, Yoko. Now please be quiet. *sigh*

Turning around is apparently Ayumin’s specialty. I don’t get it any more than you do…

Ayumin has changed so much. I still get that Daichi feeling from her, but now that I know she doesn’t get along with Oda (“they don’t ‘match’ well” – however you wanna say it), she seems a bit more cut-throat to me.

You can call it bias if you like, but I don’t think she’s really shown that side of her. All that aggression in her dancing is finally coming out in her personality. It’s like Riho’s exit finally freed her to aim for center. Or maybe I’m just more wary of her because this Oda thing doesn’t feel like it’s just for tv. Played up some times, sure, but it feels pretty real.

I certainly don’t dislike her and some tension in the group doesn’t have to be a bad thing. It’s not like Oda and her can’t do variety together, it’s just pretty tense when they do. I guess I didn’t think Ayumin was that kinda girl.

Hey, sometimes when you’re wrong, you’re pleasantly surprised.

If she’s pushing forward, I’m loving it. Her voice isn’t my favourite but I respect how much work she’s put into her singing. I love that they’re finally using her rap skills (not in this song, but in Jealousy, Jealousy – the Tsunku addition to this lovely single) and I hope that will become a permanent thing.

Be honest: H!P rap is usually a sad, albeit cute, failure, with lots of ‘uh’, ‘like dis’, and ‘you know?’s. Let’s not forget ‘yo, check it out, yo’.

*facepalm*

Speaking of facepalms, who are the derp-iest derps who ever derped?

Both: “It’s YOU!”

That’s correct!! Both: “Hooray!”

It made me laugh so much when I saw they’d paired up Mega-Derp Iikubo and Derp-chan Nonaka. The two Derps sound great together, blending surprisingly well. It’s fitting as they both seem to cycle from derp-to-cool over and over. Iikubo has fewer instances now, but she’s probably the originator of the derp-face. I was so happy they were together here.

It’s nice to see them get some play. Iikubo felt oddly absent last year, I think suffering from some health issues (please correct me if I’m wrong here) and when she was around she’d sorta fade into the background. There wasn’t even any of her “sweet, sweet honey time” in backstage moments.

Nonaka has been moving up steadily. I read a few rants about how her English-speaking was going to alienate Japanese fans. I don’t know if that’s true, but whether the fans are intimidated or not, she’s gotten a lot of opportunities with those language skills. Her singing has improved every year and her confidence never seems to waver. She always looks so comfortable, even when she says she’s nervous.

N: “Haaaaay, man, don’t like- don’t -no, I’m not that – no…”

I: “Oooh, I’m not derpy at ALL in this!”

True enough, Iikubo, but you’ll always be Mega-derp to me, no matter how many sweet-sweet-honey-times you have.

LOVE the dance-break! So much fist-throwin’ and stompin’ goin on!!

That’s really all I got here. Two new members kill it.

*squee*

So 2017 is starting to take shape as a year about unity. Everything about this slams strength-in-numbers into your face: the formations, the militaristic feel, the flag brandishing. After all, the idol-business is a war for fans and sales and how does Momusu compete?

By dancing and singing…

Together, in unity!

And of course, they want all the fans to move forward and do positive things with whatever strength they have. It’s a lovely message at any time, but I suppose if you’re taking it as a political statement, it’s particularly fitting right now.

This is ‘brand new morning’, pushing forward with their new members, their long history, and their strong unity holding it all together. You could argue the song is “too strong”, but after last years Mukidashi de Mukiatte I feel they are at a level to pull this off. The new members don’t slow it down one bit.

Y: “I’m da ace. Dats why.”

I wouldn’t be so sure about that, Yoko.

~Isilie

Brand New Ace Formation We're back everybody (and once again, I'm absurdly behind in my reviews)! After a brief and glorious respite from the heavy formation choreography and the blatant pushing of an Ace member - it's all made a comeback in Brand New Morning, Momusu's declaration of war on 2017.

#Fukumura Mizuki #H!P #Haga Akane #Iikubo Haruna #Ikuta Erina #Ishida Ayumi #Kaga Kaede #Kudou Haruka #Makino Maria #Morning Musume #Nonaka Miki #Oda Sakura #Ogata Haruna #PV #Sato Masaki #Sayashi Riho #Suzuki Kannon #Yokoyama Reina

[enchantedzuyorker]

Decades before President George H.W. Bush introduced the “New World Order” (NWO) into the American vernacular, the Rockefeller family and their minions were making plans to expend America’s post-World War 2 power to bring about such an order. In the course of researching Laurance Rockefeller for my last entry, Why are the Rockefellers and the Jesuits guiding the UFO Disclosure Movement?, I came across a book titled Prospect for America: The Rockefeller Panel Reports…

…It was the product of a 1956 Rockefeller Brothers Fund effort known as the Special Studies Project, and it lays out the blueprint for the multilateral / multipolar New World Order that is currently materializing around us.

In the aftermath of World War 2 and the resulting formation of the United Nations (which the Rockefellers were instrumental in creating and funding), the Special Studies Project, directed by Henry Kissinger, was formed to carry out two apparent tasks:

1) to create an action plan to bring about the “elite’s” long-sought world government within the existing postwar environment, and

2) to spin the agenda in such a way that it could be sold to the American people as being in their best interest.

Upon completion of their work, the Special Studies Project’s various panels compiled their reports in an incomplete, sanitized, and heavily spun book, the above-mentioned Prospect for America. The book spells out how to sacrifice the national interests of the United States for…

To begin our journey through the Rockefeller plan for the NWO, let’s start with their definition of the Old World Order (OWO).

The 13 Empires of the Old World Order

So after having consolidated power over most of the world through empire building, the Occulted Powers (OPs) faced a problem. Empires, by their very nature, are territorial, competitive and nationalistic, and are not amenable to submitting to outside control as would be required for world governance. Clearly, these old structures would need to be demolished and replaced by newer, more malleable structures in order to finish the global consolidation. For this reason, the OPs fomented and financed the two world wars to break down the old empires and create international chaos from which a New Order could be birthed.

At the end of each world war, the OPs immediately planted the seed of global governance, but the seeds didn’t germinate as expected…

De-spinning the last underlined statement, they are basically saying that the nations were insufficiently motivated to hand over sovereignty to the globalist institutions. So to overcome this lack of “shared aspirations,” the OPs fostered the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union.

By threatening some nations with Soviet aggression and others with American aggression, they compelled the nations to band together and join sides for protection. The members of each side were then pressured to increase economic and defensive cooperation to fend off the menace of the other side. Those who were programmed to believe they lived in the “people’s (communist) world” cooperated to block aggression from the “imperialist world,” and those who were programmed to believe they lived in the “free world” cooperated to block aggression from the “Soviet sphere”…

In the United States, people were programmed to believe that fending off the “Red Menace” was a matter of life and death…

But the Cold War, just like the current crop of engineered conflicts raging about us (ISIS, Ukraine, and the China Seas), was all about forcing nations into groups and groups into a world order. Once it had served its purpose, the Cold War was ended in order to allow the two sides to be merged under the NWO…

…from The New York Times. Here are some key excerpts…

>>> President Mikhail S. Gorbachev of the Soviet Union ended an exhausting transcontinental visit to the United States today with an appeal for a radically changed system of global alliances…

Rather than strengthening defense, he asserted, alliances of the future should be designed to foster an international unity that would ”protect the environment, combat hunger, diseases, drug addiction and ignorance”…

The Soviet leader said his second summit conference with Mr. Bush had helped move the United States and the Soviet Union ”toward a new world”…

”For a new type of progress throughout the world to become a reality, everyone must change,” Mr. Gorbachev added. ”Tolerance is the alpha and omega of a new world order.” <<<

And as one would expect, Prospect for America offers a glimpse of what Gorbachev and Bush’s New World Order will look like.

The New World Order

On page 26, we’re told what the OPs and their globalist minions are hoping for…

nwovision26

Take note of how the passage says “combined so as to be able to deal with those problems that increasingly the separate nations will not be able to solve alone.” Here they are telling us that they’ll be purposefully creating increasingly difficult problems to compel the nations to accept the NWO. We’ve certainly been witnessing that, haven’t we?

As for the NWO structure itself, we’re told that it will “consist of regional institutions under an international body of growing [to the point of total control] authority.” Elsewhere in the book, we’re told that the NWO will also include functional structures for matters that require management beyond the regional boundaries. So let’s delve deeper into how such a structure would look and operate:

Here are the ten UN development regions…

And page 190 spells out how the regional arrangements will manifest themselves…

Free trade agreements, joint economic development institutions, exchange agreements — this all sounds very familiar, doesn’t it? So when an East versus West propagandist tries to sell you the idea that the BRICS Development Bank or a Chinese/Russian currency swap deal demonstrates nations trying to free themselves from the New World Order, just remember this passage. Russia and China are following the NWO script to the letter, but I’ll get back to this point a little later in the article.

The UN will also be one example of a functional arrangement is the BRICS alliance. It cuts across regional lines and gives form to the dialectic clash between Anglo-American bankers and BRICS bankers which will birth the NWO. Another example is the International Monetary Fund, which will manage the new global reserve currency after the engineered East versus West drama has climaxed.

With the planned structure of the New World Order laid before us, let’s have a look at how the Rockefellers planned to get America to join in.

The NWO as America’s Grand Objective

Prospect for America goes to great lengths to make the counterintuitive case that building a global government is in America’s best interest. It starts by implying that nation-states are somehow outmoded by the fact that they trade with each other, and then it offers the false choice of floundering by engaging in no trade at all…  or prospering by engaging in trade managed by the NWO. They conveniently fail to mention that there are many other options besides resorting to either of those two extremes.

Kissinger and Co. also make the assertion that building the NWO is the “grand objective” of America’s foreign policy… and that the effectiveness of US policy will be judged by how well America fosters the globalist institutions… Also note how the passage assigns the US to the Western Sphere. The planners had another nation in mind to lead the Eastern Sphere (China).

The book then goes on to offer specific ways America can sacrifice its national interests to build the global government.

The Deindustrialization of America

On page 173, we see the genesis of the economic policies that have brought the American economy to ruin… as the globalists make the case for unilaterally removing the trade barriers that protected America’s economy from competition with foreign slave labor.

Kissinger and Co. also make the case that we shouldn’t economically defend ourselves since it might create “impediments… to the progress of others”…

And to give Americans a taste of what’s coming, page 75 also drops this little hint…

…As it turns out, America did indeed lay itself down as a bridge to pull China into the NWO. We did it by luring them in with a great deal of our national wealth through lopsided trade and outsourcing.

And this brings us to the subject of the BRICS…

The BRICS role in erecting the New World Order

Prospect goes on to address the status of those nations that were “freed” by the engineered collapse of the Old World Order…

If we remove the spin from this passage, it tells us that the new nation-states’ drive to achieve true independence must be “balanced by converging forces.” And what form did these “converging forces” take? The globalists employed hot & cold wars and insurgencies, trade conflicts, and “economic hit men” to make life unbearable for any nation-state attempting to be independent. All this strife forced such nations to reach out to international institutions for “help” (which came in the form of military occupation or debt bondage).

Only in the arms of the globalist institutions would such nations find any peace…

When Prospect spoke on page 60 of what animates such peoples…

…it brought to mind something I wrote in an old article titled David Wilcock and the Real NWO, Part 2 of 2:

>>>Why China? Why would the Illuminati, whose home base is in Western Europe, have the Chinese front the public face of their New World Order?

A clue to their motivations and strategy can be found in this article, titled “Colonial Elite Rules China for the Illuminati.” In it, the author states…

“The Chinese people would revolt against overt foreign domination, but embrace their place in the NWO if they believed they were in control.”

The Chinese have suffered greatly at the hands of Western imperialism, as has much of the world. As a result, the Illuminati would have trouble roping many nations into a Western-led New World Order, especially the nationalistic Chinese. Since you can’t have a truly global order without the most populous nation on Earth, the Illuminati opted to use their own legacy of destruction to their advantage. Their two-part strategy to do so is as follows:

1 – They set up a China-centered alliance as an opposing force to the Western alliance.

This part of the strategy was hinted at in the mainstream press in this 2002 UPI article, titled “China Wants Its Own ‘New World Order’ To Oppose US Version.” It is common practice for the Cabal to use opposing forces to achieve their ends, and they always make sure they have influence or control over both sides.

2 – They have been driving the world public into the hands of the Chinese alliance. How have they approached this, you ask?

> They have widely publicized a heinous New World Order planned by the Western Powers…

…while simultaneously publicizing a benign New World Order planned by China and its allies… thus establishing danger from one side and safety from another.

> They have instigated outrageous and provocative action, both economic and military, by the Western powers (this adds a new insight into the open-for-all-to-see Wall Street / City of London criminality and recent Western military boondoggles in Afghanistan, Iraq, Egypt, Libya, and Syria).

> They have broadly exposed damaging information about Western nations, especially the US. This is the motivation behind WikiLeaks, Snowden, and a thousand smaller disclosures. And after Snowden outed the NSA’s activities to the general public, where did he run to hide? First to China (Hong Kong), then to Russia. So what is the psychological message? China and Russia (the BRICS alliance) are where you run for safety from the evil US, its Western allies, and all their horrible behavior.

It is really very simple: the Illuminati built a rabbit trap (in the BRICS alliance) that looks like a nice, safe hole to hide from danger. Now they are beating the bushes (with the Western powers) to drive the rabbits toward the trap.<<<

Clearly, the globalists took into account “the aspirations of peoples all over the globe… to emerge rapidly and conclusively from the era of colonialism” in their planning of the NWO. It is for this reason that the BRICS alliance was formed and the NWO was designed in a multipolar fashion. They want the oppressed peoples of the world to join together and see themselves beating the West. And they want them to believe that the Illuminati’s multipolar New World Order represents their final victory over oppression and ascension to equality, when it is actually just the beginning of a new phase of subjugation and their fall into equality as global serfs.

With the Rockefeller plan for the BRICS New World Order laid out before us, let’s take a look at how it was implemented.

China: Building up the False Savior

Major moves towards building the New World Order outlined in Prospect for America began in the late sixties…

1969 – The International Monetary Fund (IMF) introduces the Special Drawing Right, the planned replacement for the US dollar as the global reserve currency…

July 1971 – former Special Studies Project director Henry Kissinger held secret meetings in China to lay the groundwork for their introduction onto the global stage. Here he is with Chinese Premier Chou En-Lai (a.k.a. Zhou Enlai) during the visit…

kisschina

August 1971 – President Richard Nixon takes America off of the gold standard…

nixongold

…This was the first major explosion in the dollar’s demolition as the global reserve currency (to make way for its replacement by the globalists’ SDR sometime around 2018).

February 1972 – Nixon visits (and “opens”) China. Here he is with Chairman Mao…

June 1973 – David Rockefeller Sr. visits China to start working out implementation details for what is to come. Here he is meeting with Premier Chou En-Lai…

So what was set in motion by these events? By 1978, Deng Xiaoping took power and “developed ‘Socialism with Chinese characteristics’ and Chinese economic reform, also known as the ‘socialist market economy,’ and opened China to the global market.” An interesting view on the hidden dynamics behind this development is offered in the above-linked “Colonial Elite Rules China for the Illuminati” article…

“Wang Hao, a historian at the China Institute of International Studies, has recorded that Mao’s deputy Zhou Enlai met David Rockefeller in June 1973:

‘When meeting David Rockefeller, Zhou said to him that it was necessary to find appropriate methods conducive to the development of the trade between two sides under different political systems.’

The corporate-communist merger began when Deng Xiaoping came to power in the late 1970s and introduced his market reforms with the slogan ‘to get rich is glorious.’

However, after 30 years of Maoism his regime was hopelessly ill equipped to run a market economy. They turned to the wealthiest Chinese tycoons in Hong Kong for guidance.

The most powerful HK tycoon is Li Ka-Shing, the richest Asian in the world and an Illuminati insider.”

(For Fritz Springmeier’s writeup on the Illuminati Li family, click here.)

This helped put in place a Chinese elite that “is a merger between the Communist leadership, Hong Kong tycoons, and the criminal Triads. All three factions derive their power from Illuminati collaboration.”

Needless to say, globalist coordination with China… and their BRICS partner Russia… has continued unabated to this day.

In closing, I’d simply say that any global solution offered to us in the coming years is, in fact, a globalist solution. If you do not get together with your neighbors to start exercising self-sufficiency and control over your life, you will fall into globalist dependency and control by default. And if you do not get together with those in your local community to devise a currency (or other method of trade/barter) of your own, you will end up using bankster currency by default. Power that is not taken into your own hands is left to the predators who grasp for it.

[Update 1 – 11 November 2014]

In response to this comment from a suspected webtroll…

“How do you know that Putin isn’t telling Kissinger, ‘Buddy, your days are numbered.'”

…I looked up an old New York Times article I ran across a while ago…

So while the front page news has blaring headlines about the supposed conflict between West and East, you’ll find the truth a little deeper in the paper: that all these political types work for the same bosses and are actually buddies behind the scenes. Don’t be distracted by the public puppet theater.

“The G-20 Summit on Financial Markets and the World Economy,” which was held in Washington, D.C. two months after the Lehman Shock in 2008.

Almost a year later, FT conducted an interview of George Soros in which he subtly laid out the banksters’ post-crisis plan for ushering in the NWO. When a reader first passed me a link to the interview, though, I couldn’t believe my eyes. I thought it might be faked, so I did some checking on its authenticity and found out it was actually real. Here was George Soros — who is unquestionably a Western elitist even in the eyes of the most ardent Kool Aid drinker — speaking of using China to bring in the New World Order. But it just goes to show that the banksters have never really hidden what they’re doing; they just reveal it in dry interviews and insufferably bland policy papers while the public is distracted by an emotionally charged, easily understood “good guy” versus “bad guy” fairy tale.

According to this fairy tale, which is offered by both the mainstream media outlets and the overwhelming majority of alternative media sources, the US is in conflict with Russia, and a determined band of freedom fighting nations (the BRICS) are on a quest to free themselves from the evils of Western imperialism once and for all. Well isn’t that precious? It’s also a load of childish bullsh*t.

In reality, both the Western powers and the BRICS nations are working closely together through the G20 to bring in the Central Banking Cabal’s New World Order. Here are the nations of the G20 (the 20th “nation” is the EU), with the core Western powers circled in blue and the BRICS circled in red…

…Once their plans come to culmination, the world will be ruled by a multilateral / multipolar financial and political order that will feature China as the most prominent nation, supplanting the United States. But don’t take my word on this; take it straight from the gefilte fish-eating horse’s mouth.

Starting at the 9:26 mark of this video and continuing on into the second part, George Soros tells us why the globalists used China to bring in the NWO…

>>> I think this would be the time, because you really need to bring China into the creation of a new world order — financial world order. They are kind of reluctant members of the IMF. They play along, but they don’t make much of a contribution because it’s not their institution. Their share is not commeasurate — their voting rights are not commeasurate — to their weight. So I think you need a New World Order that China has to be part of the process of creating it, and they have to buy in. They have to own it the same way as I said the United States owns… the Washington consensus… the current order, and I think this would be a more stable one where you would have a coordinated policies. <<<

So he is saying that the way to bring the Chinese into the NWO is to have them help create it and to give them “ownership” of it. This is not a new idea, of course, since the Rockefellers hinted at this strategy back in 1961 in their NWO blueprint book Prospect for America: The Rockefeller Panel Reports…

I also wrote about the globalists’ China strategy and their use of a dialectic problem / reaction / solution scenario in an entry titled David Wilcock and the Real NWO, Part 2 of 2…

>>> Problem – The evil Western power elite are out to steal everything and kill everybody!!! (The engineered truth movement has ensured that we got this message loud and clear.)

Reaction – People are both angry and fearful, and are longing to end the old system and start something new.

Solution – The angelic BRICS power elite swoop in on white unicorns to save the day and give us a new financial system and all the money people need. (The false-light crowd has ensured that we’ll look at our “saviors” in this light.)

Pondering this problem / reaction / solution scenario begs the question…

Why China? Why would the Illuminati, whose home base is in Western Europe, have the Chinese front the public face of their New World Order?

A clue to their motivations and strategy can be found in this article, titled “Colonial Elite Rules China for the Illuminati.” In it, the author states…

“The Chinese people would revolt against overt foreign domination, but embrace their place in the NWO if they believed they were in control.”

The Chinese have suffered greatly at the hands of Western imperialism, as has much of the world. As a result, the Illuminati would have trouble roping many nations into a Western-led New World Order, especially the nationalistic Chinese. Since you can’t have a truly global order without the most populous nation on Earth, the Illuminati opted to use their own legacy of destruction to their advantage. Their two-part strategy to do so is as follows:

1 – They set up a China-centered alliance as an opposing force to the Western alliance.

This part of the strategy was hinted at in the mainstream press in this 2002 UPI article, titled “China Wants Its Own ‘New World Order’ To Oppose US Version.” It is common practice for the Cabal to use opposing forces to achieve their ends, and they always make sure they have influence or control over both sides.

2 – They have been driving the world public into the hands of the Chinese alliance.

How have they approached this, you ask?

> They have widely publicized a heinous New World Order planned by the Western Powers while simultaneously publicizing a benign New World Order planned by China and its allies (thus establishing danger from one side and safety from another).

> They have instigated outrageous and provocative action, both economic and military, by the Western powers (this adds a new insight into the open-for-all-to-see Wall Street / City of London criminality and recent Western military boondoggles in Afghanistan, Iraq, Egypt, Libya, and Syria).

> They have broadly exposed damaging information about Western nations, especially the US. This is the motivation behind WikiLeaks, Snowden, and a thousand smaller disclosures. And after Snowden outed the NSA’s activities to the general public, where did he run to hide? First to China (Hong Kong), then to Russia. So what is the psychological message? China and Russia (the BRICS alliance) is where you run for safety from the evil US, its Western allies, and all their horrible behavior.

It is really very simple: the Illuminati built a rabbit trap (in the BRICS alliance) that looks like a nice, safe hole to hide from danger. Now they are beating the bushes (with the Western powers) to drive the rabbits toward the trap.

So the globalists, recognizing the resolve of the peoples of the world to “emerge rapidly and conclusively from the era of colonialism,” have graciously provided them with a mechanism to do so: the BRICS alliance. And when the G20-connected BRICS emerge as victors over the “insane” G20-connected Western powers, the peoples’ longsuffering desire will find satisfaction. They will finally be free from the uncomfortable grip of the banksters’ Left Hand so they can rest more comfortably in the snug embrace of the banksters’ Right Hand. Ain’t freedom grand?

[Update 1 – 21 January 2015]

Due to the complexity of this part of the entry, I’ll do an individual update for each section till the interview has been thoroughly covered. Expect frequent updates…

Soros points to the makings of the New World Order in the G20

From the 0:12 mark of the second video: “So I think you need a New World Order that China has to be part of the process of creating it, and they have to buy in. They have to own it the same way as I said the United States owns… the Washington consensus… the current order, and I think this would be a more stable one where you would have a coordinated policies. I think the makings of it are already there because the G20, in agreeing to peer reviews, effectively is moving in that direction.”

In the last sentence, Soros points to the makings of the New World Order being in the G20. And when he refers to them agreeing to peer reviews, he is talking about agreements reached at the second G20 Summit in September 2009 (a month before his interview with FT). According to the New York Times…

Later in the article, it goes on to say this…

>>> The ideas are not new, and there is no enforcement mechanism to penalize countries if they stick to their old habits. But for the first time ever, each country agreed to submit its policies to a “peer review” from the other governments as well as to monitoring by the International Monetary Fund. <<<

So here you have it: both “rich countries” (the West) and “fast-growing powerhouses” (the East) agreeing to a “far-reaching effort to revamp the economic system” and to oversight by the globalist-run International Monetary Fund (which is part of the United Nations complex). In other words, they agreed to join together to create the New World Order.

[Update 2 – 21 January 2014]

More on the G20 and the BRICS

Now that George Soros has told us that the G20 is an aspect of the nascent New World Order, let’s get to know the organization a little better. We’ll begin with Wikipedia (with my comments interjected as needed)…

>>> The Group of Twenty (also known as the G-20 or G20) is an international forum for the governments and central bank governors from 20 major economies. The members, shown highlighted on the map at right, include 19 individual countries—Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States—along with the European Union (EU). The EU is represented by the European Commission and by the European Central Bank.

The G-20 was founded in 1999 with the aim of studying, reviewing, and promoting high-level discussion of policy issues pertaining to the promotion of international financial stability. It seeks to address issues that go beyond the responsibilities of any one organization. Collectively, the G-20 economies account for around 85% of the gross world product (GWP), 80% of world trade (or, if excluding EU intra-trade, 75%), and two-thirds of the world population. The G-20 heads of government or heads of state have periodically conferred at summits since their initial meeting in 2008.

With the G-20 growing in stature after the 2008 Washington summit, its leaders announced on 25 September 2009, that the group would replace the G8 as the main economic council of wealthy nations. <<<

So when Russia was kicked out of the G8 in early 2014 (supposedly over the staged conflict in Ukraine), it was a purely symbolic gesture designed to give some semblance of reality to the phony East versus West dialectic. The (now) G7 is just a sideshow; the real action takes place in the G20 (to which Russia still belongs).

Continuing on…

>>> The G-20 is the latest in a series of post-World War II initiatives aimed at international coordination of economic policy, which include institutions such as the “Bretton Woods twins”, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, and what is now the World Trade Organization. The G-20 superseded the G33 (which had itself superseded the G22), and was foreshadowed at the Cologne Summit of the G7 in June 1999, but was only formally established at the G7 Finance Ministers’ meeting on 26 September 1999. The inaugural meeting took place on 15–16 December 1999 in Berlin. Canadian finance minister Paul Martin was chosen to be the first chairman and German finance minister Hans Eichel hosted the inaugural meeting.

According to researchers at the Brookings Institution, the group was founded primarily at the initiative of Eichel, who was also concurrently chair of the G7. However, some sources identify the G-20 as a joint creation of Germany and the United States. According to University of Toronto professor John Kirton, the membership of the G-20 was decided by Eichel’s deputy Caio Koch-Weser and then US Treasury Secretary Larry Summers’ deputy Timothy Geithner. In Kirton’s book G20 Governance for a Globalised World, he claims that:

“Geithner and Koch-Weser went down the list of countries saying, Canada in, Spain out, South Africa in, Nigeria and Egypt out, and so on; they sent their list to the other G7 finance ministries; and the invitations to the first meeting went out.”

Though the G-20’s primary focus is global economic governance, the themes of its summits vary from year to year… <<<

Isn’t it interesting that the G20’s inaugural meeting took place on the eve of the new millennium? And after the globalists triggered the 2008 financial crisis, they raised the G20’s stature by beginning to hold summit meetings…

>>> The G-20 Summit was created as a response both to the financial crisis of 2007–2010 and to a growing recognition that key emerging countries were not adequately included in the core of global economic discussion and governance. <<<

The Wikipedia entry also mentions the role of the Asian countries…

>>> A 2011 report released by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) predicted that large Asian economies such as China and India would play a more important role in global economic governance in the future. The report claimed that the rise of emerging market economies heralded a new world order, in which the G-20 would become the global economic steering committee. The ADB furthermore noted that Asian countries had led the global recovery following the late-2000s recession. It predicted that the region would have a greater presence on the global stage, shaping the G-20’s agenda for balanced and sustainable growth through strengthening intraregional trade and stimulating domestic demand. <<<

Putting all this together, we see that the Western nations haven’t been trying to keep the Eastern nations out of the New World Order; they have been enthusiastically inviting them in. And once they were all in league with each other, they turned their attention to herding the public into accepting the NWO. This is why they formed the BRICS alliance. But don’t take my word for it; look at what the Russian President’s Office has to say about it…

…Here is the full text of the page (with my comments interjected)…

>>> Cooperation within BRIC

BRIC is a loose group of countries including Brazil, Russia, India and China, the largest economic growth and political influence centres among emerging economies. These countries have a substantial integration potential in their respective regions… <<<

Consider what they mean when they say “substantial integration potential in their respective regions.” As I pointed out in the article on Prospect for America, the New World Order the Rockefellers and their fellow “elite” have planned is one based on regional groupings of nations…

Now think about the continents of the world:

In North America, the globalists have the US to lead the integration effort;

in Europe, they have the EU to lead the integration.

Now let’s add the BRICS…

In Eurasia (the middle part of the Europe/Asia landmass), they have Russia to lead the integration;

in Asia, they have China and India to lead the integration;

in South America, they have Brazil to lead the integration;

in Africa, they have South Africa to lead the integration.

It all fits in with the UN plan. Continuing on…

>>> The global problems of international terrorism and multinational crime, environmental degradation and climate change, plus food and energy security cannot be effectively solved without the involvement of the BRIC countries. <<<

Note how the Russian government is talking about terrorism and climate change as if they were real phenomena that weren’t purposefully stirred up / fabricated by the “elite.” In this, they are following the globalist problem / reaction / solution template.

>>> BRIC partnership is becoming increasingly important amid the global economic and financial downturn, when the four countries should coordinate their efforts with the international community to weather the crisis on global financial markets and reform the world financial system.

Political dialogue within the BRIC format began in New York in September 2006, when their foreign ministers conferred during the 61st UN General Assembly. <<<

So the BRICS started in the UN. No surprise there.

>>> Since then, the BRIC foreign ministers have met four times, including at a full-scale meeting in Yekaterinburg on May 16, 2008. The joint statement adopted as a result of the latter meeting formulated common approaches to crucial issues on the international agenda. <<<

So they got together for a full-scale meeting just months before the Lehman Shock in September 2008. Interesting timing. I will show you their joint statement after we finish with this one.

>>> Ties between the BRIC foreign ministers were completed by the meetings between their finance ministers in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on November 7, 2008 and in London on March 13, 2009. The finance ministers adopted joint statements on their meetings, which reflected common views of global economic problems, including the reasons for and ways to weather the global financial crisis.

At the initiative of Russia, the four leaders had a short meeting on July 9, 2008, during the G8 summit in Japan, to agree on drafting a full-scale BRIC summit. <<<

So they made plans for a full-scale summit just two months before Lehman.

>>> Official contacts in the BRIC format have been buttressed by interaction between the respective regional authorities and public organisations.

Russia would like the cooperation between the BRIC countries to become a major factor of multilateral diplomacy and to make a substantial contribution to promoting the nascent multipolarity and development of collective leadership by the world’s leading countries. <<<

Could this last statement be any more New World Orderish? But don’t take just the Russians’ word for it; have a look at what all the BRIC nations said after their Yekaterinburg meeting in 2008 (with my comments interjected)…

>>> The Joint Communique of the Meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the People’s Republic of China, the Russian Federation, the Republic of India and the Federative Republic of Brazil

2008/05/16

The Foreign Ministers of Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC) held their meeting in Yekaterinburg, Russia, on May 16, 2008.

The Ministers emphasized that the BRIC dialogue is based on mutual trust and respect, common interests, identical or similar views on pressing problems of global development and has bright prospects.

The Ministers agreed that building a more democratic international system founded on the rule of law and multilateralism is an imperative of our time. They pledged to work together and with other states to strengthen international security and stability and ensure equal opportunities for development to all countries.

The Ministers reiterated that today’s world order should be based on the rule of international laws and the strengthening of multilateralism with the United Nations playing the central role. <<<

Wouldn’t you know it, the BRIC nations called for a multilateral world order “with the United Nations playing the central role.” This is exactly as the Rockefellers designed it back in the 50’s…

…Now to continue with the communique…

>>> They reaffirmed the need for a comprehensive reform of the UN with a view to making it more efficient so that it can deal with the current global challenges more effectively. The Ministers of Russia and China reiterated that their countries attach importance to the status of India and Brazil in international affairs, and understand and support India’s and Brazil’s aspirations to play a greater role in the United Nations. <<<

Here they are talking about the “governance reforms” we’ve heard so much about in the past few years. Once the BRICS “heroes” take down the Western scapegoats, the globalists will make a big show of overhauling the UN Complex, including the IMF. They’ll do it to make it appear that “things really are changing.”

>>> The Ministers noted that sustainable development of global economy in the long-term as well as finding solutions to the acute global problems of our time, such as poverty, hunger and diseases are only possible if due account is taken of the interests of all nations and within a just global economic system. Among other issues they discussed the current global food crisis. The Foreign Ministers of Russia, India and China welcomed the initiative of Brazil to organize a meeting of economy and/or finance ministers of the BRIC countries to discuss global economic and financial issues.

The Ministers expressed their strong commitment to multilateral diplomacy in dealing with common challenges to international security. They reiterated their support for political and diplomatic efforts to peacefully resolve disputes in international relations. A cooperative approach to international security is required that takes into account the concerns of all and addresses them in a spirit of dialogue and understanding. The Ministers emphasized that disarmament and non-proliferation are mutually reinforcing. They also agreed on the need for multilateral efforts to prevent an arms race in the outer space.

The Ministers unequivocally condemned terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, committed for whatever purposes. They reiterated that terrorism constitutes one of the most serious threats to international peace and security and that the international community should take necessary steps to enhance cooperation to prevent and combat terrorism. They particularly highlighted the importance of the UN cooperation framework and the need for all member states to implement international conventions of the United Nations and UN Security Council resolutions on fighting terrorism.

The Ministers emphasized the importance of the implementation of the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy in all its aspects and expressed their opinion that all member states should make concerted efforts towards expeditious finalization of a Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism at the UN. <<<

So according to the BRIC nations, what is the solution for globalist organized and funded terrorism? Implementing the policies of the globalist UN of course.

>>> The Ministers noticed a close interconnection between energy security, socio-economic development and environmental protection. They reaffirmed their commitment to the multilateral efforts aimed at reaching an optimum balance of interests between producers, transit states and consumers of energy resources. In this respect the parties emphasized the need for supporting energy programmes, such as programmes to increase access to energy, energy efficiency as well as the development and use of new and renewable sources of energy, including biofuels, which are compatible with sustainable development.

The Ministers spoke in favour of strengthening international cooperation to address climate change in the context of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol. They expressed their desire to work closely together in order to carry out the Bali Action Plan. <<<

Here the BRIC nations are promoting the concept of human-induced global warming just like the carbon traders want.

>>> The Ministers spoke in favour of intensifying the dialogue to achieve the internationally agreed development goals, primarily the Millennium Development Goals [of the UN], on the basis of global partnership for development. They supported international efforts to combat hunger and poverty… [and so on…] <<<

As you can see from their own words, the BRICS are helping to bring about a UN-led New World Order. So if you are one of those who are still holding on to the illusion that they are your saviors coming to rescue you, what’s it going to take to wake you up?

A commenter over on ascensionwithearth.com has brought the following summary article to my attention: The BRICS and the International Development System: Challenge and Convergence? from the Institute of Development Studies, a UK think tank. Here is an excerpt…

“The ‘BRICs’ acronym, in its most common usage, derives from a report to investors by Goldman Sachs’ analyst Jim O’Neill, signalling the new dynamic that four large countries; Brazil, Russia, India and China, were bringing to the global economy at the beginning of the new millennium.

A conclusion advanced in the Goldman Sachs report was that the BRICs should be included in the G7 as their macroeconomic significance increased in the decade to come.”

The “at the beginning of the new millennium” part must be why the globalists launched the G20 on the eve of the new millennium (the inaugural meeting was in December 1999). They brought the BRICS into the global governance system even before the actual alliance began to form in 2006 — even before the term “BRIC” was coined in 2001.

After looking into all this, I found the PDF of the 2001 O’Neill report on the Goldman Sachs website. It was through this report that the public was introduced to the BRIC concept…

So Goldman Sachs’ Head of Global Economics Research originated the BRIC idea, and five years later, the four nations began to meet with each other. See George Soros and the elite’s China-fronted New World Order for more details on how the BRICS got started and how the G7 was superseded by the G20 in accordance with the recommendation offered in the Goldman Sachs paper.

Here is another excerpt from the Institute of Development Studies article…

“We look at this BRICS Summit process as part of the broadening of the global governance system created following the Second World War, in which United States (US) leadership and hegemony has been a vital element…”

And who are the ones behind “the global governance system created following the Second World War”? For the answer, have a look at China’s complicity in building the Rockefeller New World Order, in their own words, which gives a quick overview of the UN Complex and the Rockefellers’ role in helping create it.

And to see why “US leadership and hegemony” has been a “vital element” in broadening the global governance system, have a look at The Rockefeller Plan for the BRICS New World Order, in their own words, which shows how the globalists planned to lead the US into national suicide in order to give rise to the New World Order.