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frigfridge · 5 years

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just finished rewatching toy story 1 thru 3 over the past few days, wanted to share my thoughts:

i love these movies a whole lot. the first 2 hold a bunch of nostalgia for me because i was A Baby when 2 came out and when i was also A Baby i would just watch our VHS copy of toy story 1 over and over again. this also makes me the exact age group to be emotionally destroyed by toy story 3, which came out just as i was entering high school and hit really close to home

individual thoughts:

toy story: the first thing i noticed was it still looks really nice even watching in 2019!! which i think is kind of spectacular for the first feature-length computer-animated film. it no doubt helps that the plot is mostly focused on little plastic dolls without realistic hair or clothing to animate but the semi-”cartoon” art direction means the human characters also look pretty nice without going too far into the uncanny valley.

also, the plot is WAY darker than i remember?? not because of sid and all the body horror toys, but because for like half of the movie woodys friends think hes an actual (toy) murderer carrying around the severed arm of his victim (!!) like, its hilarious, but also wow theres a LONG way to go between there and the climax of toy story 3.

the soundtrack is probably my favorite of the bunch. part of that is probably nostalgia but i just really like the consistency of having randy newman singing every song. it sort of elevates him to part of the story, like an omniscient narrator singing woodys (and later buzzs) inner monologue. 2 (and especially 3) didnt have as many musical numbers, which i can understand with a shift to a larger-scale approach to storytelling, but i really like the feeling it gives number 1. “you got a friend in me” is an obvious classic thats been remixed and brought back in just about every piece of toy story media im aware of, but “strange things” and “i will go sailing no more” deserve just as much recognition and praise. there just isnt a weak number among them

toy story 2: heres where the story started getting bigger and more existential, which basically becomes the new direction of the series. which makes sense! this one released 4 years after the first, and while theres no real timeskip in the story (maybe 6 months?) it had been a little while since we last saw woody and the gang. everybody in the real world had gotten older, and with the turn of the millennium approaching, the theme of impermanence loomed large in the collective unconscious. well, maybe not in my unconscious, because i was 2. but its really interesting as kind of a “time capsule” to what people were thinking about as the 90s came to a close.

so toy story 2 was a little more grounded, a little more focus on the human world, but it was also more fantastical in its presentation. the opening “video game” sequence (which still looks amazing!!) and woodys nightmare (”i dont wanna play with you anymore...”) show the animators at pixar really found their groove and started getting experimental. and to great result!! the fantasy sequences are a lot of fun and help 2 really stand out.

i would be remiss not to mention jessies flashback song here. its something else they hadnt really done in the first film and i think it really works. jessie in this film unfortunately doesnt get to do much other than fight with woody about whether he should stay or go (except for when she saves him in the end) but this song makes her character work. it also helps that it destroys me every time

also i think this is the movie that gave me an appreciation for the acting of kelsey grammer. i dont really agree with his politics (i also dont know specifically what they are) but he is a damn fine actor and gives the prospector a very genuinely intimidating edge after his heel turn. the casting really makes the character here, but thats nothing new for toy story-- every voice works. if i were the casting director, i probably wouldnt have pulled erudite kelsey grammer for a character named “stinky pete,” but as it is now i couldnt imagine him voiced by anyone else.

the last thing about toy story 2 is it feels like there were a lot more pop culture references? at least as far as i noticed. there are apparently even more than i noticed but i caught on to the “also sprach zarathustra” riff in the opening, and the jurassic park rearview mirror gag. and of course the extended star wars reference with zurg vs. utility belt buzz (and i guess zurg in general.) the references are cute and mostly unobtrusive but really i could take or leave them.

oh yeah also al is hilarious. just this rude, neurotic businessman whos incredibly self-important for the owner of a minor(?) toy store chain. hes such a puffed-up jerk, every time hes on-screen is a delight

toy story 3: this one kills me to death. i always get misty-eyed during “when somebody loved me” but the ending of 3 where andy introduces his toys to bonnie and plays with them one last time made me sob the first time i watched it. and it still does! thats the long game right there, thats the payoff of over 10 years loving these characters. its an emotional ketchup bomb, everything gets all messy and soggy and sweet. hopefully 4 can follow up, but im not really worried about that-- ive heard some good things. damn, its been 9 years since this movie came out, though! it really doesnt feel all that long, but i guess i havent been doing all that much

i actually dont know if i have much else to say about 3. the opening with the re-imagining of the previous films openings (woody versus one-eyed bart, buzz and woody vs. the evil dr. porkchop) is a highlight, although theres a conspicuous lack of bo peep. ive heard she has a big part in 4, but it was kind of weird to see a lot of toys missing and their absence (mostly) glossed over after the first few minutes. i miss r.c. and lenny, but i get they wanted to narrow down the cast so all of them could get in on the plot.

speaking of which, the escape scene is great too. its kind of a crystallizing moment of how close these characters are, and how well they work together. it reminds me a lot of the escape from sids house in the first movie, but there woody was working with sids body-horror toys and seemed to strike up a rapport with them bizarrely quickly. (speaking of which, i miss those toys! their designs were super cool, but i cant imagine they got much merchandise, especially babyface with the sharp, metal spider legs.) here, though, woody and the gang cooperate the best they ever have, and it really paints a picture of how close theyve become over the years, and justifies the emotional climax in the landfill. this is what i was talking about when i said i was surprised how dark toy story 1 got! these toys all hated woodys guts back then for what they thought he did to buzz. they kicked him out of a moving truck! its just weird to think about that conflict between them when you know how long they end up sticking together. but thats, like, neat, so its ok. it feels earned, its just kind of crazy in hindsight.

toy story 3 was also obviously made long after the first two-- by comparison, the lighting is way more sophisticated, the humans are a lot more detailed. theres just a lot more detail In General. the main cast is, like, super dirty for the middle 90% of the film, and it feels like, yeah, We Have This Technology Now. we can render so many individual glitter sprinkles suck to hamms ass and they will be in every single scene. the “fur tech” on lotso and buster is also an obvious clue, especially in the flashback to lotso trudging through the rain back to his owners house. its like “look! we can make this teddy bear SO wet!” and wow! yeah! you did! so wet!

lotso himself is also an interesting villain in terms of sheer bastardness. he is just a huge jerk. he could have hit that button so easily! and he was so mean to the baby! but at the same time hes a great character in how he slowly “changes” throughout the movie. he is kind of an obvious “pixar ‘twist’ villain” but again, the amazing performance by ned beatty really saves him. also he does get a nice comeuppance at the end, which was necessary because hes really the biggest villain in the series so far. hes knowingly malicious and doesnt have any greater motive, hes just an embittered megalomaniac who (apparently) has sent other toys to be broken, thrown away, and incinerated at the landfill. he honestly deserves worse than being strapped to the front of a truck but it works for a family movie.

i have a couple more thoughts on 3 (i guess i did have a fair amount of stuff to say about it) but im getting tired of writing. the music is good as usual, but the vocal stuff being entirely back-loaded (in the credits) is a bit disappointing since ive always been a fan of the songs, but i get that they were going for something different. the jokes about ken being, uh, ‘flamboyant’ felt out of place, mostly the one at the end (”uh, buzz? barbie didnt write this”) because it comes from one of the gang and not unnamed lotso goon #3, but i guess its pretty tame in the scheme of things.

overall im really looking forward to seeing what 4 does with the series. whew!

#hopefully ill see 4 this weekend #personal essay #got pretty honkin long. click at your own risk

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iameverything · 4 years

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A Conversation: Featurette

“Featurette are Toronto-based duo that was formed by singer Lexie Jay and drummer, Jon Fedorsen. Like their synth-heavy dream pop contemporaries Phantogram and Tove Lo, FEATURETTE are influenced by the emotionally charged, heavy hitting electro-pop sounds coming from Northern Europe and New Zealand.”

First off, you recently released your new music video 'White Rabbit' and its damn mesmerizing, from the colors, to the costume (the rabbit costume kind of looks similar to the rabbit that was in The Masked Singer) How has the reception been for the video so far? The reception has been spectacular! Literally the story behind this one was my friend Sharon and I were sitting on a couch and I asked her what could we do that would be one idea, easy to do, that would be super memorable and dark. After much spitballing we came up with grave digging - and the rest is history! People have seemed to really connect with our post apocalyptic/area 51universe we set up so I’m pretty stoked on that :) For a couple of dreamers with 4 hours to shoot, a minimal budget and a crew of 3, I’m honestly so proud of the video. It’s punchy and striking and hits all the high notes!

Are you guys subtly hinting at a Joey Fatone of NSYNC collaboration soon (He was the white rabbit in The Masked Singer)?!!! OMG I’ve never even seen that!! I just looked it up how crazy!! We’re not, unfortunately haha! It was a dream all our own that I think landed in a very different space! Spoiler alert, the masked rabbit was Jon haha

What was the writing process like for 'White Rabbit'? What inspired it? One of the things that occupies the most space in my brain is the state of our planet right now. I’ve written political and environmental warrior songs before, but this has been by far the most impactful. Of course we masked it with some striking alien visuals to cast a wider net in the video, but really the concept was just about setting the scene for digging a grave for humanity. The lyrics for this one were just like writing poetry for me, it really flowed and came on quite fast - the song itself came together quickly, but then the production was obviously an absolute undertaking. It’s very involved. But what’s neat with that is the further we went down the *cough* rabbit hole *cough* the more inspired we became and the further we pushed the vocal recording. Some of those choirs we built for the background just stack up for days - the outro for example, totally inspired by production because we wanted to create extreme contrast to the electronic heavy-hitting production. The result was pretty striking, it’s something we’re really happy with.

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The first time we met, it was an interview you did for JUNNNKTANK (RIP) 2 years ago, when you released the song '//Bang//'. It's been too long, how has it been going since then? RIP Indeed! So much has happened - it’s been fairly internal for us, we’ve been writing non-stop to finish up this album coming out in Jan, 2020!! To recap the year: We released Million Things and the cat-filled 90’s dance troop music vid to back that up in the spring, followed by some shows. Then came the single Don’t Know Me Without You followed by the GORGEOUS black and white music video, followed by a fall tour supporting that. Then came White Rabbit and the aforementioned music video for that which we paired with the sold out Mother Mother show at the end of our fall tour. What a blast!! Now we’re staring down the barrel of the release and I’m stoked!!!

2016 was the last time you guys released your debut album 'Crave' and I must say, as like any other fan, we are 'craving' more albums. When should we expect the next? How is that writing process going? Dude. It’s here - we are like WEEKS AWAY!!! January 2020, PREPARE YOURSELF!! Spoilers in my insta story RUN, DON’T WALK!! hahaha More teasers to come in the coming weeks!!

'//Bang//' being your last video you put out 2 years ago before 'Million Things', what was that like to go back into 'lets make a video' mindset after so long? And what was happening within the middle of that time fame between the two videos? I mean it was a *year and a half* before Million Things if you want to get technical (LOL) but it was less ‘let’s make a video’ and more… we’re back. In the middle we were writing the album we’ve been teasing all year - three singles this year, and we’ll give you one more along with the album in January - we’ve climbed a serious mountain! I’m also (pray for me) aiming to make another music video for January. Fun fact, I did the production design and wardrobe/makeup for all videos we put out in 2019 - really love making them so I hope you’ve enjoyed watching them!!

Considering we all change as humans over a course of two years, so four years being a bigger change, and you guys being artists, so having to adjust at a quicker rate to new music trends or ideas, how much of a change from style and writing can fans expect for the next album? The album coming is very like the singles we put out this year. We tried to show as much breadth as possible - Million Things being the ‘indie pop’ side, with lots of punch, upbeat, fun etc. and then we hit the ‘deep album track’ end of thing with DKMWY. That one was darker, moodier, heavily electronic but still in your face. More recently we showed White Rabbit which was like our ‘art track’ for the album. You can expect more in each category of those! We’ve got 9 songs, and we honestly cover so much ground, while trying to maintain our sound. I think the sonic place we’ve landed is very much still FEATURETTE, but louder. More confident, more to say, we found our voice. You know?

Whats the secret to keeping content fresh and not falling within the loop of same old or losing inspiration? Omg I’m not even worried about that at all - Jon and I write all the time. We have maybe 50 songs we’ve written that are either waiting in the wings, or just something we had to get out after a crazy session at 3am haha! I think when you write all the time you can find what you start to gravitate too, and then working to develop those ideas you can start to find things that work. And those even inspire new songs! We don’t see this as our job, so we never get tired of it, which helps keep it fresh for sure.

Speaking of new, you guys released another music video titled 'Dont Know Me Without You' and you mentioned in another interview it was darker than your last single 'Million Things', is there certain head space you guys have to be in to write those kind of songs perhaps seclusion? How has the reception been from Fans and even music execs to that single in particular with its dark undertone? It’s honestly the opposite! I have to be in the headspace to write Million Things because I’m *always* in the dark headspace haha! It’s not a bad thing I just naturally gravitate towards darker music and minor songs. I think you still need the upbeat side, but I think if you listen closely to the lyrics, you’ll find they are still super dark. The track might be upbeat and major, but the lyrics are some of the saddest I write to balance that out. We’re a dark electro-pop band, we like it moody and creepy. What’s super cool is now there are the Billie Eilish’s of the world blowing up, which opens up a window for all us ‘creatures of the night’ to crawl through!

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You recently were on tour and ended your tour in Kitchener with Mother Mother. How was that to open for such a cool band? How did your tour go overall? Tour was great - absolutely fantastic vibes every night, we can’t wait to get back out there next year. Playing to large audiences though like the Mother Mother show - we T H R I V E on that. The more energy in the room the harder we’ll give it back. Doesn’t matter if it’s to 8 people or 800! We actually were able to write with Ryan from Mother Mother in the summer, so it was so great to follow up with a show with them! Amazing energy.

Whats the next tour you guys have planned? We’re cooking something up for 2020 - stay tuned!!

It's really cool and inspiring to see how far you have come from, singles like '//Broken//' to 'White Rabbit', as someone who has seen Featurette flourish from more than just a 'feature' to open up for a bigger act, to the act itself and the main event on a bigger stage, I'd like to think 2020, is the year bands like Mother Mother open up for you. How much growth have you guys been through since coming together as Featurette and have you guys ever had to overcome any doubt in the past of continuing as a band? I think any person who runs their own business or project of any kind will have doubts along the way. It’s human to doubt ourselves, but for me, it’s what I take from those moments and what I can do with those feelings that spurs me forward. How can I turn that moment into a song, because it’s so relatable right? Artists especially - it’s like the wild west! When you’re independent, you have no idea what we’re doing, or if you're doing it right or wrong. Every ’next level’ you get to you just find out how many more there are to go. It’s a marathon, not a sprint, and honestly I think we’ve found our stride. When we put out Crave we were literal babies. Like the first thing we ever did was come out with an album we made all by ourselves, completely independently. That’s actually mind-blowing to me now! We could have shopped that around, built a team, but we were like: Here we are! And I love that about us. Now we’ve gone away, thought about what we want to put out in this world, and made something beautiful that I couldn’t be more proud of. I have no idea where it will take us, but I hope to have you pose the same question in a year or two and be able to give you the most insane answer about whatever ’next level’ we’re on by then. In short, we’re in it to win it, whatever that looks like for us.

Lastly, lets play rapid fire with five random questions give the answer that comes to mind first If you were not called Featurette what else would you want to be called? Futurette - because that’s what everyone thinks our band name is anyway :p… I should buy that domain… Favorite current song that isn't your own? Petit Biscuit - Wide Awake Worst question you dislike being asked? Are you guys a couple? Mind yo own beezwaxxx ! Little secret fact about you guys not many know? Alternate passions to music: Lex - Crazy Plant Lady Jon: Hockey-aholic Whats next? ALBUM TIME GUYS - JANUARY BAYBEEEE!

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