#i wrote him from 2013 - 2018 and all that

[bedlamsbard]

Hey, big fan, I loved your AU Star Wars fics, by far some of the best stories I've read. So when I saw the trailer for the new Disney show and saw Barriss as an inquisitor I was shocked, was this always the canon? I wondered if you were inspired by some SW novels or is this just a weird coincidence?

Thanks for reading, I'm glad you enjoyed the fic!

Barriss Offee has not appeared in any Star Wars media set after TCW S5 since "The Wrong Jedi" aired in 2013. On the Edge of the Devil's Backbone was written between May 2015 (began posting in July 2015) and October 2018, when the only media that existed that dealt with the Inquisitors was Star Wars Rebels, which introduced the Inquisitor (not yet called the Grand Inquisitor) in 2014 -- you'll note that in Backbone it's the Inquisition rather than the Inquisitorius, which is a name that canon didn't use until much later. Backbone was written so early that canon wasn't even using the Brother/Sister naming conventions that appeared in Rebels S2, which the first few chapters of Backbone predates (it started posting in the summer of 2015). That is the reason that Backbone Inquisitors use naming conventions that the canon Inquisitors do not: because it predates the canon naming conventions.

Back in 2015, there was speculation that the Seventh Sister who appeared in the S2 trailer that aired at Star Wars Celebration Anaheim was Barriss, thus leading to a brief period of time when the Seventh Sister and the Fifth Brother were known as "Barriss and Clyde" within the fandom, and for a long time afterwards people still called the Fifth Brother Clyde. The Seventh Sister when introduced in the original trailer only appeared helmeted, leading to the speculation that she might be Barriss Offee. When her VA was announced, there was widespread dismay that Sarah Michelle Geller might have replaced Meredith Salenger as Barriss, and at one point Freddie Prinze Jr had to deny that SMG had been recast as Barriss: that was how predominant that theory was. My use of Barriss as an Inquisitor came out of the original "there are more Inquisitors!" reveal from the Rebels S2 trailer but I made the decision back then not to make her the character that would later be known as the Seventh Sister since I was pretty sure canon wasn't going to do that. That decision was not based on anything that was actually in canon and certainly not on any of the novels at the time, because back in 2015 when I started working on Backbone there were only, I think, four new canon books out.

Backbone was, in fact, so early that when I wrote it, Cham Syndulla had not been re-introduced in Rebels -- the episode "Homecoming" aired in February 2016. (He was not actually revealed as Hera Syndulla's father until the April 2015 novel Lords of the Sith; it had previously been speculated he was Hera's uncle, not her father.) It was written years before Jedi: Fallen Order came out and revealed more information about the Inquisitorius, their recruiting patterns, or their headquarters; it also predates the appearance of the Inquisitorius in the 2017 Darth Vader comics.

All that said, it's not really a weird coincidence -- TBB also made Hera's mother green, for example, the same way I made Alecto Syndulla green. (This was more than a year before we saw that portrait in Rebels S3 (October 2016) and even more years before she was actually given a name in TBB.) That Barriss had become an Inquisitor was speculated as soon as the Rebels S2 trailer revealed that the Inquisitor was not the only Inquisitor. (He was not called the Grand Inquisitor in canon until the episode introducing the Seventh Sister and Fifth Brother aired in late October 2015, which by the way Backbone predates. He was introduced in 2014 only as "the Inquisitor," which is why and some older fans will still call him Quizzy.)

Backbone is nine years old. I started working on it in May 2015, even before "The Siege of Lothal" aired. Even though it wasn't finished until 2018, it was fully plotted by the end of summer 2015 and it predates most current Star Wars canon, because the new canon only started in fall of 2014, with the novel Star Wars: A New Dawn and soon afterwards Rebels. There was not much canon then! The Inquisitors were introduced for Rebels! At the time, there was nothing else! All of that stuff we now know about the Inquisitors? It came out well after Backbone started posting. (Hell, Jedi: Fallen Order not only postdates the beginning of Backbone, it postdates the end of Backbone, which was October 2018.)

#THIS FIC IS OLD #saltywolfparadise #bedlam replies #kanera agents of the empire tag #sorry this was loopy I was so incredibly tired

[beautifulpersonpeach]

BPP, can you allow me to confess something here? Sorry in advance for the long ask.

I'm in my mid-thirties and Jimin is my forever bias because I see my story in him. When I was younger I used to love singing. I had a beautiful voice with a very wide range, sang in a choir, was even invited to sing for pay when I was 9 years old. I'd sing everywhere and it was my best hobby. I couldn't imagine not singing. I wrote songs in my diary and would sing them to a few friends. But I didn't train my voice. I didn't even know that was something people did. It just seemed like a natural talent I had. By the time I entered college, I noticed my singing range had shrunk. While in school I didn't have many chances to sing in bands and sharing a room with classmates made it hard to sing. By the time college was over, my voice had nearly completely left me. I'd try to sing, but it wouldn't sound right and it would hurt. I started getting more and more self conscious and my confidence has taken a big hit. I try not to remember what I used to sound like in my teens and have made the best of my singing voice now. I know vocal aging happens to everybody, especially people who overuse their voices too early, but it doesn't lessen the silent inferiority I feel. I still sing as a hobby but can only do so in a smaller range though I still haven't gotten vocal training which is expensive for my lifestyle time-wise.

In 2020 I got into BTS through BE album. The voice on Fly to my Room sounded very unnatural, like a fairy and I gravitated to it immediately. I learned it belonged to Jimin and going back in time through BTS albums, the change in voice was jarring. I know this change was deliberate by him based on what I know about singing style and technique. Jimin has been getting regular voice training for some time now. But changes like that come at a cost. When I see him be a little unsure, I recognize the feeling too.

When you said Jimin is your best vocal in BTS, I fell a little in love with you. The way you explained his voice tells me you might intuitively understand all the changes both he and me have made. I'm assuming a lot of things but I just want to say thank you for loving his beautiful defiant voice. He might not be your bias, but I don't see even Jimin biases talk about his vocals the way you do. Jimin inspires me to keep singing and to love my voice in every way. Can you pls talk about this vocals through the years if possible somehow?

*

Hi Anon,

No worries about the long ask. I'll try to keep my response a bit shorter (though I'm hardly ever successful at that so we'll see lol).

Thank you for sharing what you did, and I doubt you're alone in having that experience.💜 I'm not really sure where I'm going with this reply yet, but I want to start with one fact:

Jimin has always had an unusual tone to his voice.

I'm not a vocal coach or anything so I probably can't explain this properly, but the first time I heard Jimin sometime in 2013, his tone reminded me of a teen rock singer, but not really... like if you combined Pink's voice with Justin Beiber's (say whatever you like about the guy but he's got good tone and knows how to use it), and then added something else. Something... metallic and throaty - just a hint of it.

Like if Brandi Carlile was a teen boy from Busan with a slight lisp and no vocal training.

At the time I didn't take much note of it, but over the years, his vocal tone and the way he's deliberately manipulated it into what's evolved to today - distinctly Jimin but akin to a merger of Taka, Mitch, and Tyler Joseph's voices, has cemented Jimin as one of my favourite singers.

Jimin's voice has always been unusual for k-pop. It was true in 2013, 2015, 2018, 2020, and it's true today, and all you need to confirm this is listen to any record from that time and compare it with anything else. For example, you can compare his vocals in his cover of Perfect Man with the vocals in the original (SM-trained vocalists).

[BTS devoured, but Jimin is a completely different beast here. You can listen to other covers as well. Nobody sounds like Jimin.]

I believe you're right about how his initial lack of training combined with the stylistic choices he pursues (which are difficult to execute sometimes as main dancer), has impacted his confidence over the years. But I don't think Jimin is insecure about his vocals the way he used to be years back. BigHit failed to provide support in 2012/13, but he's been steadily getting training at his request since at least 2017. You put Jimin on a song and that man will sing. He might not have the best technical proficiency, and there’s always room for improvement of course, but he's more than good enough.

Criticism of vocals, both fair and unfounded, is something that has always been thrown at Jimin. Like I've said before, his voice tone is already unusual in k-pop, and so people raised on/used to the k-pop way of singing (usually defined by coaches at SM who have saturated the industry for decades), have never really known how to think of him as a vocalist within the k-pop paradigm. I mean, even back then when his tone wasn't as stylized as it is now, people couldn't really place his voice, and now I often hear some complain about how oddly piercing he sounds sometimes.

But that's exactly one of many things I find addictive in Jimin's vocals. He is very much a rock vocalist, and likely will always be, so I hope he gets more opportunities to flaunt and obliterate the expectations of what a male vocalist from Korea should sound like.

Basically, I want more of Set Me Free Pt 2.

On Set Me Free Pt 2, he ratchets up that metallic quality to sound completely unhuman. It's like all the criticisms about vocals completely lose meaning when the voice isn't even trying to sound human-like. It's perverse and subversive.

A decade’s worth of criticism on his vocals, on that song he said fuck it all.

Like... Jesus.

I inject that song into my veins every. single. day.

I need Jimin to fuck it all to hell, one more time in 2023, for my sanity.

I need him to be his full inhuman self, to render me speechless and senseless with his vocals and I'm not even fronting. In fact, thank you for telling me you like how I talk about his vocals, because most times I'm toning down how I feel, what his voice does to me.

Anyway, I occasionally see people concerned for his voice, k-pop stans who think he can't sing, and I could not give a shit if you paid me to. Like, please give me the voice cracks, give me the tight high notes, give me that shit. I listen to Aretha Franklin, Rod Stewart, Beck, Stevie Nicks, Pink, Taka, Nina the goddess, Ray Charles, Brandi... like please, Jimin has great company. He's beyond the precise, predictable, and formulaic singing done in k-pop and mainstream pop. In my fucking opinion.

Anyway, I hear what you're saying about the difference in voice between Fly to my Room and say, Jump. I hear the fear in your ask. But Jimin is still more than capable of creating the voice from their earlier years. His voice has changed, yes, but it's matured too. For example, the way he sounds in that Perfect Man cover, is very similar to how he sounds in Face Off, IMO. The only difference is his tone is somehow more delicate, expressive, and intentional.

Lol oh lord I've rambled.

Okay, some clips of my faves from him, for kicks.

One of my all time favourite Jimin vocals, what I consider to be the epitome of pop/rock vocals by BTS, is his voice in Danger.

(MMA 2019 gave us so many gems)

*

Then there's Jimin in Magic Shop. His brightness and clarity of voice is really heard at 1:17.

*

And because this post is kinda long already, here's Alone.

*

Anon, please keep singing. Your voice is the one thing you should never surrender. Jimin will keep singing too.

Thanks for stopping by. :)

#jimin #park jimin #bts #kpop #vocals

[denimbex1986]

'Writer and poet Benjamin Zephaniah has died aged 65, after being diagnosed with a brain tumour eight weeks ago.

A statement posted on his Instagram account confirmed he died in the early hours of Thursday.

The statement said Zephaniah's wife "was with him throughout and was by his side when he passed".

"We shared him with the world and we know many will be shocked and saddened by this news," it added.

Zephaniah was born and raised in Handsworth, Birmingham, the son of a Barbadian postman and a Jamaican nurse. He was dyslexic and left school aged 13, unable to read or write.

He moved to London aged 22 and published his first book, Pen Rhythm.

His early work used dub poetry, a Jamaican style of work that has evolved into the music genre of the same name, and he would also perform with the group The Benjamin Zephaniah Band.

As Zephaniah's profile grew, he became a familiar face on television and was credited with bringing Dub Poetry into British living rooms.

He also wrote five novels as well as poetry for children, and his first book for younger readers, Talking Turkeys, was a huge success upon its publication in 1994.

On top of his writing work, Zephaniah was an actor and appeared in the BBC drama series Peaky Blinders between 2013 and 2022.

He played Jeremiah "Jimmy" Jesus, appearing in 14 episodes across the six series.

Zephaniah famously rejected an OBE in 2003 due to the association of such an honour with the British Empire and its history of slavery.

"I've been fighting against empire all my life, fighting against slavery and colonialism all my life," he told The Big Narstie Show in 2020.

"I've been writing to connect with people, not to impress governments and monarchy. So I could I then accept an honour that puts the word Empire on to my name? That would be hypocritical.

He often spoke out about issues such as racial abuse and education.

When he was younger, Zephaniah served a prison sentence for burglary and received a criminal record.

In 1982, Zephaniah released an album called Rasta, which featured the Wailers' first recording since the death of Bob Marley.

It also included a tribute to the then-political prisoner Nelson Mandela, who would later become South African president.

In an interview in 2005, Zephaniah said growing up in a violent household led to him assuming that was the norm.

He recalled: "I once asked a friend of mine, 'What do you do when your dad beats your mum?' And he went: 'He doesn't.'

"I said, 'Ah, you come from one of those, like, feminist houses. So, what do you do when your mum beats your dad?'"

In 2012, he was chosen to guest edit an edition of BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

Zephaniah was nominated for autobiography of the year at the National Book Awards for his work, The Life And Rhymes Of Benjamin Zephaniah, which was also shortlisted for the Costa Book Award in 2018.

During a Covid-19 lockdown, Zephaniah recited one of his poems in a video for the Hay Festival.

"Benjamin was a true pioneer and innovator. He gave the world so much," the statement announcing his death said.

"Through an amazing career including a huge body of poems, literature, music, television and radio, Benjamin leaves us with a joyful and fantastic legacy."

A statement from the Black Writers' guild, which Zephaniah helped establish, said: "Our family of writers is in mourning at the loss of a deeply valued friend and a titan of British literature. Benjamin was a man of integrity and an example of how to live your values."

Others paying tribute included author Michael Rosen, who said: "I'm devastated. I admired him, respected him, learnt from him, loved him. Love and condolences to the family and to all who loved him too."

Actress Adjoa Andoh posted: "We have lost a Titan today. Benjamin Zephaniah. Beautiful Poet, Professor, Advocate for love and humanity in all things. Heartbroken. Rest In Your Power - our brother."

Peaky Blinders actor Cillian Murphy said in a statement: "Benjamin was a truly gifted and beautiful human being.

"A generational poet, writer, musician and activist. A proud Brummie and a Peaky Blinder. I'm so saddened by this news."

Broadcaster Trevor Nelson said: "So sad to hear about the passing of Benjamin Zephaniah. Too young, too soon, he had a lot more to give. He was a unique talent."

Singer-songwriter and musician Billy Bragg added: "Very sorry to hear this news. Benjamin Zephaniah was our radical poet laureate. Rest in power, my friend."

Comedian, actor and writer Lenny Henry said: "I was saddened to learn of the passing of my friend Benjamin Zephaniah. His passion for poetry, his advocacy for education for all was tireless."

Writer Nels Abbey said: "To call this crushing news is a massive understatement. He was far too young, far too brilliant and still had so much to offer. A loss we'll never recover from."

The X/Twitter account for Premier League football club Aston Villa, whom Zephaniah supported said everyone at the club was "deeply saddened" by the news.

"Named as one of Britain's top 50 post-war writers in 2008, Benjamin was a lifelong Aston Villa fan and had served as an ambassador for the AVFCFoundation. Our thoughts are with his family and friends at this time."'

#Benjamin Zephaniah #The Benjamin Zephaniah Band #Peaky Blinders #Cillian Murphy #Adjoa Andoh #Michael Rosen #Black Writers Guild #Hay Festival #The Life And Rhymes Of Benjamin Zephaniah #Jeremiah “Jimmy” Jesus #Rasta #Pen Rhythm #Aston Villa #Nels Abbey #Lenny Henry #Billy Bragg #Trevor Nelson

[foxes-that-run]

I don't wanna live forever

In the video Zayn arrives in a classic convertible, similar to Blank Space. She 'called out' Harry's cars in KoMH "'Cause all the boys and their expensive cars / With their Range Rovers and their Jaguars"

Then the hotel looks a lot like the Bowery Hotel where Harry stays in NY. Also, not to sound flippant... but it's Zayn and Taylor.

Harry and Taylor refer to Hallways in 10 songs and in the Perfect MV.

There are white roses throughout which Taylor pulls apart. Since Red, TS Roses have been about Harry, he has a rose tattoo. On their May anniversary in 2013, she posted roses saying she thought something would grow. She threw white roses in the Blank Space MV.

The people in the background are dressed like Harry and Taylor at the Victoria Secret show, which is also the subject of So it Goes.

They trash the hotel room, which mocks Perfect's MV. 1D's made a mess, Taylor and Zayn smash a mirror and a lamp.

i don't wanna live forever came together very quickly. wrote it with taylor and sam dew and produced it at home mostly on paper sounds. recorded taylor at my house. zayn sent parts from LA – we did it in a week basically. i've never had something come out that quick — jackantonoff (@jackantonoff) December 9, 2016

Zayn said that Jack approached him, then Zayn spoke to Taylor who already knew the track. I think given the importance of Jack and Taylor's relationship it's more likely Taylor choose Zayn and Jack was an intermediary than Jack raising it.

The collaboration itself is enough to confirm who it is about and caused a directioner-swiftie Twitter fandom storm. Many viewed it as a way for them both to mess with Harry, I think in part it is a response to Perfect. To suggest it's not about Harry for either is... a choice.

When was it written

Jack and Taylor were in the studio recording the bulk of Reputation in September 2016, Zayn was was in LA then, so maybe. But Fifty shades wrapped in April 2016 and it was likely wanted then.

Live performances

Taylor performed it 7 times in promotional events and then only twice in concert, interestingly both times was it the first week of June:

June 9, 2018, Manchester's Reputation Surprise Song. They were in a good (and maybe more) place then. Also Harry's hometown (he was in Florida)

June 3, 2023, Chicago Eras surprise song. It is sadder that above, the MH split announcement was 2 days later so maybe related. Haylor relations seemed warm before and after that.

Taylors split from CH and Harry left to shoot Dunkirk in June 2016. From I did something bad / High Infidelity / Ole we know CH was over earlier and they had spent some time together in February and April 2016. Playing this in June, when Harry left for Dunkirk and his IG going colour after the 2016 Met Gala has me side eyeing the end.

Lyrics

[Verse 1: ZAYN] Been sittin' eyes wide open Behind these four walls, hopin' you'd call It's just a cruel existence Like there's no point hopin' at all

Eyes wide open is a reference to Eyes wide Shut, the Stanley Kubrick erotic psychological drama. Like Fifty shades is features a masquerade party.

Harry and Taylor refer to waiting for calls in: AYHTDWS "Here you are now, calling me up, but I don't know what to say" August "Cancel plans just in case you'd call". Maroon "the rust that grew between telephones" FTDT "Even my phone misses your call, by the way"

Cruel existence is a theme of referring to their relationship as something they are trapped in. Cruel Summer "It's a cruel summer with you", MMIH "Cause once you go without it / Nothing else will do" and others. Taylor also had no hope in Treacherous "This hope is treacherous"

[Pre-Chorus: ZAYN] Baby, baby, I feel crazy Up all night, all night and every day Give me somethin', oh, but you say nothin' What is happening to me?

Taylors pre-chorus is the same but "I gave you somethin', but you gave me nothin'"

IWYW has a similar line "You always knew how to push my buttons / You give me everything and nothing" and Say "don't go" "I said, "I love you" (I said, "I love you") / You say nothin' back"

[Chorus: ZAYN] I don't wanna live forever 'Cause I know I'll be living in vain And I don't wanna fit wherever I just wanna keep calling your name Until you come back home x2

Taylor has referred to not wanting a life without Harry in Is it over now? "Oh, Lord, I think about / Jumping off of very tall somethings" Hoax " Stood on the cliffside / Screaming, "Give me a reason"" This is me trying "Pulled the car off the road to the lookout / Could've followed my fears all the way down"

In Where do broken hearts go "Now I'm searching every lonely place / Every corner calling out your name / Tryna find you but I just don't know / Where do broken hearts go?"

I don't want to fit wherever seems a response to Perfect "Or the arms that hold you any time you want them / But that don't mean that we can't live here in the moment / 'Cause I can be the one you love from time to time". HS had not been available because of the band, but wasn't in 2016 when Taylor wanted someone there for her but I expect was focused on his solo career and Dunkirk so not in the band or available. To me this line could be why it still didn't work out.

[Verse 2: Taylor Swift] I'm sittin' eyes wide open And I got one thing stuck in my mind Wonderin' if I dodged a bullet Or just lost the love of my life, oh

In second Verse Taylor has let it go, dodged a bullet/lost the love of her life is pretty straight forward - but it's an interesting link to Love of my Life on Harry's House which was still 6 years away. (yes I know his only 13th track on the album he released on their 10th anniversary is about England.... ....)

[Bridge: Taylor Swift, ZAYN, Both] I've been looking sad in all the nicest places Baby, baby, I feel crazy I see you around in all these empty faces Up all night, all night and every day I've been looking sad in all the nicest places Give me somethin', oh, but you say nothin' Now I'm in a cab, I tell 'em where your place is What is happening to me?

Looking sad in all the nicest places reminds me of:

This is me trying: "And it's hard to be at a party / When I feel like an open wound/ It's hard to be anywhere these days / When all I want is you"

Hit's different "Freedom felt like summer then on the coast / Now the sun burns my heart and the sand hurts my feelings"

Take the cab to his place is also similar to other times they go to each others house:

DBATC: "I Take the long way home"

Wish You Would. "It's 2 A.M. in your car / Windows down, you pass my street / The memories start" and "It's 2 A.M. in your car / Windows down, I pass my street / The memories start"

[Outro: Taylor Swift, ZAYN] I just wanna keep callin' your name Until you come back home Until you come back home

Finally, home is an important concept to them. Generally, they refer to each other as home. However in this song and Sweet Creature, "Wherever I go, you bring me home Sweet creature, sweet creature When I run out of road, you bring me home"

Sweet Creature and IDWLF were both written in 2016 they refer to HS coming home to her.

The lyric 'And I don't wanna fit wherever / I just wanna keep calling your name / Until you come back home". Is a hope that eventually they will be together, but accepting not yet. This idea is in several songs:

HYGTG "Broke your heart, I'll put it back together / I would wait for ever and ever (I want you for ever and ever)"

Suburban Legends " When you told me we'd get back together / And you kissed me in a way that's gonna screw me up forever"

Someday "Someday maybe when we're old and gray / We could be in love once more / Till then I won't give my love away / Darling, I'm forever only yours"

Something Great: "One day, I'll come into your world and get it right / I'll say we're better off together here tonight"

Happily "We were meant to be but a twist of fate / Made it so you had to walk away."

Satellite "Spinning out, waiting for ya to pull me in / I can see you're lonely down there"

#haylor #taylor swift #zayn malik #taylor non album tracks

[trashsketch]

Favourite fanfic about the killugons?

A mischaracterisation about them that is very annoying? Do you like their hairstyles with their hair down? How did you meet them in the first place? Your first impression of them vs. today's impression of them?

oh anon it's very hard to pick a favourite HAHA but i wanna plug Dreams Like Water, Like Wind by xyliane again, I read it all in one afternoon and it made me feel so many things ;w; (I really should re-read it, it's got everything you love to see: strong slowburn killugon, gon risking it all to save his something-more-than-just-a-friend....sigh i love them)

and well. okay i wrote like several paragraphs about what my personal hcs are for gon but deleted it all. BUT all i need you to know is this: gon is way more selfless than the gon haters make him out to be. this boy is full of love and trauma

i tend to stick to gon and killua's canon hairstyles cause i think gon's spikes are a hilarious contrast to killua's soft fluffy hair, but i like seeing other people's art of them with their hair down, especially gon!

and first time seeing fanart of hxh was from an old deviantart user I followed, I cannot for the life of me remember their username now but they made some pretty sweet art of gon and killua being besties hanging out in a forest, and this was back in 2011. I tried picking up the anime in 2013, but stopped on ep 3 right before killua showed up (tragedy!!!). when i finally watched the entire show through in 2018 i was sold for life!

first impressions of gon and killua after watching the show fully: oh my god they are lovers who don't really know what word to use for describing their relationship yet. my fucking god. they are a pair do not separate (and when they did separate in canon i remained hopeful that it wont be a permanent one)

current impression: they really are the best shounen m/m pairing of all time!!!!! i haven't seen much else that could rival them (controversial take but true to me. i love plenty other ships but nothing's been the same as them).

#ask #killugon #gon is always a divisive character compared to killua cause his entire story arc is a fascinating character regression study #Yoshihiro Togashi i will respect you forever for your storytelling decisions #thank you for letting me yell into this void

[watermelonsugacry]

Hi, I saw that in the princess era you said that 1dbandmate!yn wrote secret songs and sold them to other artists, and since this is a fanfic I imagine her writing songs like Girl Crush from Little Big Town and selling them, If Only by Dove Cameron or writing Camila Cabello's Bad Kind of Butterflies around the time she was dating Matthew. After all that I just wanted to ask what songs would you say she wrote and sold. (Sorry if anything is incoherent, English is not my first language)

Anon: You said 1dbandmate!yn wrote secret love songs and sold them to other artists, could we know what some of those songs were?? Please 🙏🙏🙏

oooh fun ok ok so let's break down a few of them

Girl Crush by Little Big Town

written 2013, sold in 2015

this was during the time when H was dating Taylor Swift

the first time YN truly felt that she was losing him in someway (we all know that's not gonna happen)

realizing for the first time that she likes H more than just a friend/band mate

I want to taste her lips

Yeah, 'cause they taste like you

I want to drown myself

In a bottle of her perfume

I want her long blond hair

I want her magic touch

Yeah, 'cause maybe then

You'd want me just as much

Bad Kind of Butterflies by Camila Cabello

I actually was inspired by this song to write this blurb but i have an idea for another blurb along the lines of the song

written 2014, sold in 2015

wouldn't label this as a love song per say but i definitely agree that it was around the time she was dating Matthew

What do I do when I love you

And want somebody else?

What do I lose if I don't choose

And keep it to myself?

Bad, bad butterflies in my chest

There's something I gotta confess

Yes, somebody's stuck in my head

And I, and I

overall feeling a mix of confusion and guilt for staying with Matthew when she has H on her mind 24/7

Strangers By Nature by Adele

written in 2014, sold in 2020

I'll be taking flowers to the cemetery of my heart

For all of my lovers in the present and in the dark

directing the "lovers" towards Matthew as her present and her secret love for H

When no one knows what it's like to be us

Strangers by nature

her expressing that no one truly knows what it's like to be in love with someone but forced to be apart -> "us" being her and H

since they can't be together (or at least be given the chance to be together) by their management, they have to act like friends

to YN acting like strangers is better than being in love

In My Life (Wallis Bird cover version)

written and sold in 2015

still trying to figure out her feelings

But of all these friends and lovers

There is no one compares with you

In my life I love you more

trying out the words "i love you" and seeing how they taste.

Say My Name by Prince of Eden

written in 2017 & 2021, sold in 2021

You made a reason

And my hearts been beating since

And baby

Would you believe me if I said you make me crazy?

Oh, the way you say my name, I'm all over the place

She's way too embarrassed to admit to anyone, let alone herself, about the way Harry makes her feel

I like the way you say my name with the warmest embrace

I like the way it shoots me far out in the nothing of space

Oh, the way you say my name's like the sweetest of tastes

I like the way, I like the way, oh, I love the way

How many days in

With that fire blazing? Yeah

You found a way in

And my hearts been beating since

they've been together for so long (both as a couple and when they weren't) they she's in disbelief at the fact that he still makes her feel giddy and bubbly when he says her name

I Wish I Was The Moon by Ewan J Phillips

written and sold in 2018

during one of the first "off" periods of their on and off relationship

like Cherry, it's one of her 'pathetic' songs

Oh, I wish I was the moon

So that I might be with you

One more time

I wish I can disappear

'Cause I know I can't stay here

With or without you

When I'm Loving You by Yianna

written and sold in 2019

written when YN realized that she really loves H and wants to be with him for the rest of her life (still didn't want to admit it to anyone though)

There's something you gotta know

'Cause I been keeping my feelings deep inside

Ever since I saw your face

My whole world's been changing;

I've been rearranging the songs I sing, 

I used to see in shades of grey

But then color came through the second I saw you

And now here we are skin to skin

I never thought we would,

But you said that we should just take a chance

Malibu by Miley Cyrus

also written during the making of Fine Line

this song is so good with so many album references so strap in

But you brought me here and I'm happy that you did

'Cause now I'm as free as birds catching the wind

later on to become one of the many blue bird references in Harry's House

And sometimes I get so scared of what I can't understand

Hoping I just stay the same and nothing will change

And it'll be us, just for a while

Do we even exist?

That's when I make the wish

To swim away with the fish

Adore You fish reference

I never would've believed you

If three years ago you told me

I'd be here writing this song

But here I am

just her being in disbelief of being in love with him

realizing she's acting like a love sick idiot writing sappy love songs

Sometimes I feel like I'm drowning and you're there to save me

And I wanna thank you with all of my heart

It's a brand new start

A dream come true

In Malibu

Falling reference with the drowning

SINCE 2010 masterlist

All of these songs can be found here too!

Taglist:

@wobblymug @be-with-me-so-happily @ashtongivesmebutterflies @kiwiskiwiskiwi @darlingdesire @obsesseddd @hopefulwastelandcreation @cacapeepee @breezie-b00 @harrysfolklore @theekyliepage @sunshinemoonsposts @nervousspiderling @tbslonelyhes @tenaciousperfectionunknown @harrystylesrecs @certified-nalayak @itsjustsel @iknowyouthinkimbulletproof @gviosca @behindmygreyeyes @twobluejeans @allisonxmcu @theemeraldbutterfly @jean-love @marvellover-sam @b-reads-things @reveriehs @rach2602 @thurhomish @perrypughstyles @luvonstyles @mxltifxnd0m @teamspideyman @c00chiemonster @juiceboxrry @harringt8ns @folklorehrry @illicithallways @claramllera @eunoiaax @hoya122 @nichmedder @sleutherclaw @gloriousmoneyrascalbiscuit @harianaswhore @teawithcyb0rgs @vrittivsanghavi @vc55bughead

#harry x 1dbandmember!reader #since 2010 series #1dbandmember!yn #harry styles x y/n #harry styles blurb #harry styles x you #harry styles x reader #harry styles fanfiction #one direction #harry styles #one direction fanfiction #harry styles imagine #harry styles writing #harry styles fanfic #harry styles fic #harry styles one shot #harry styles and y/n #harry styles and reader #harry styles masterlist #harry styles concept #famous!yn #famous!reader

[this-daydream-is-dangerous-13]

Taylor says that she chose “September” for sentimental reasons. She’s always loved the classic tune by Earth, Wind & Fire, and notes that the month of September is especially meaningful to one of her relationships. An added layer of sentiment came from being able to record the song in a Nashville studio, the city Taylor moved at age 14 to pursue country music.

https://www.spin.com/2018/04/taylor-swift-september-28-theory/

Which relationship 🤔

Any links to this post ?https://twitter.com/erodalighthouse/status/1572677399753494528?t=PIJFqUuMr2C-Izp5--HxGw&s=19

Great ask, Anon. I had another ask (was it you?) early in September that touched on this but was saving it for Sept 28th! The 21st of September is as good as any, in light of the LK post, posted last year (as a nod to the Earth, Wind, and Fire original date referenced in the song) and retweeted today:

(thanks to the 7 or 8 of you Anons who sent the link!! Eyes everywhere, I love it!)

I also love the ellipses. They’re often in HS song titles…

So here is the original SPIN article to which you linked, but it only goes back to Taylor’s life in 2015:

Another Anon (thanks Anon!) linked to this article:

Which only considers 2016. To be honest: that was also what I guessed at first too. But then…I remembered some other stuff.

@womanexile covered it earlier today in her Anon reply, but back in 2013, Harry tweeted lyrics from My Old Man, a beloved Joni Mitchell song about her charming English partner Graham Nash. Here’s her post:

The theory is he is calling back to an anniversary date, since the Joni lyrics are a nod to their unmarried partnership. Look at the two of them in their heyday!

Remind you of anyone?

Here’s the 2013 tweet:

1D were touring at the time, so he was tweeting from Australia.

And here are the lyrics:

As womanexile notes, L*rries think Sept 28th is a date of significance for them starting in 2012, but there is another theory.

At the bottom of this post about the timing of the Begin Again MV, I lay out a prospective HS timeline for late September, early October 2012:

Basically:

Sept 28 - H photographed inside a UK airport sending his Mom off on a Kilimanjaro fundraising hike. He is INSIDE the airport (so seemingly travelling too). He then disappears.

Oct 1 - HS is spotted in LOS ANGELES, then home of Blondie. He’s with Ed; he is backstage for Ed’s concert.

Blondie films the Begin Again MV in Paris this day, heading to London for October 4. HS is spotted also in London the morning on October 4th.

So: his presumed arrival date in LA (before vanishing, then resurfacing October 1?): the 28th of September.

Though the official CK breakup doesn’t get announced until later, Blondie sees him for the final time mid-September. So I think Sept. 28th? Is the date TS and HS “locked it down” as described in Cowboy Like Me.

As such - the EWF cover date she sang? Could very well be Haylor and their dating anniversary in 2012.

Thanks for all the asks, besties!

[lovesongbracket]

Reminder: Vote based on the song, not the artist or specific recording! The tracks referenced are the original artist, aside from a few rare cases where a cover is the most widely known.

Lyrics, videos, info, and notable covers under the cut. (Spotify playlist available in pinned post)

Me and My Husband

Written By: Mitski

Artist: Mitski

Released: 2018

“Me and My Husband” is the seventh track of Mitski’s fifth studio album Be The Cowboy released in August 2018. Like earlier tracks on the album such as ‘Nobody’, ‘Me and My Husband’ explores the loneliness Mitski felt while writing the album, although this time she takes on the persona of a suburban housewife. As she explained to GQ: “If you’re a suburban mom surrounded by family with a nice life you still feel alone. On tour, I’m surrounded by people all the time but it’s lonely.” Despite the song’s upbeat tone the lyrics portray a housewife stubbornly sticking by her husband even though she may not be happy. Mitski claims the song isn’t personal and isn’t meant to be reflection of her views on marriage or settling down as she told The Outline: “I try to keep a sense of humor about all this stuff. I’m not married, I don’t have a husband, but I was just thinking about being a woman with a man in a long term relationship. I used a stereotype of the suburban, old-fashioned housewife to kind of accentuate my point.”

[Verse 1] I steal a few breaths from the world for a minute And then I'll be nothing forever And all of my memories And all of the things I have seen will be gone With my eyes, with my body, with me [Chorus] But me and my husband We are doing better It's always been just him and me Together So I bet all I have on that Furrowed brow And at least in this lifetime We're sticking together Me and my husband We're sticking together [Verse 2] And I'm the idiot with the painted face In the corner, taking up space But when he walks in, I am loved, I am loved [Chorus] Me and my husband We are doing better It's always been just him and me Together So I bet all I have on that Furrowed brow And at least in this lifetime We're sticking together Me and my husband We're sticking together Me and my husband We are doing better

Our House

Written By: Graham Nash

Artist: Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young

Released: 1970

Cover included: The Head and the Heart, 2021

“Our House” is a song written by British singer-songwriter Graham Nash and recorded by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young on their album Déjà Vu. At the time Graham Nash & Joni Mitchell were dating and the time the two spent that particular day after purchasing a vase on Ventura Boulevard inspired this song. Nash has stated that he wrote this song in a hour. In October 2013, in an interview with Terry Gross on NPR’s Fresh Air, Nash elaborated: “Well, it’s an ordinary moment. What happened is that Joni [Mitchell] and I – I don’t know whether you know anything about Los Angeles, but on Ventura Boulevard in the Valley, there’s a very famous deli called Art’s Deli. And we’d been to breakfast there. We’re going to get into Joan’s car, and we pass an antique store. And we’re looking in the window, and she saw a very beautiful vase that she wanted to buy … I persuaded her to buy this vase. It wasn’t very expensive, and we took it home. It was a very grey, kind of sleety, drizzly L.A. morning. And we got to the house in Laurel Canyon, and I said – got through the front door and I said, you know what? I’ll light a fire. Why don’t you put some flowers in that vase that you just bought? Well, she was in the garden getting flowers. That meant she was not at her piano, but I was … And an hour later ‘Our House’ was born, out of an incredibly ordinary moment that many, many people have experienced.”

[Verse 1] I'll light the fire You place the flowers in the vase That you bought today [Verse 2] Staring at the fire For hours and hours while I listen to you Play your love songs all night long For me, only for me [Verse 3] Come to me now And rest your head for just five minutes Everything is done [Verse 4] Such a cozy room The windows are illuminated by the evening Sunshine through them, fiery gems For you, only for you [Chorus] Our house is a very, very, very fine house With two cats in the yard Life used to be so hard Now everything is easy cause of you And our [Interlude] La-la, la-la-la la la… [Chorus] Our house is a very, very, very fine house (fine house) With two cats in the yard Life used to be so hard Now everything is easy cause of you And our [Verse 1] I'll light the fire While you place the flowers in the vase That you bought today

#mitski #me and my husband #crosby stills nash and young #graham nash #our house #the head and the heart #polls #poll tournament #poll bracket #tournament #bracket #lovesongbracket #round1

[suometar]

Scifi/odd/mystery indie film rec list

Someone asked me to create rec list of less known/indie scifi/odd/mystery films, and, well, it kind got out of hand. Oopsie. You can thank my hubs who writes a review of all films we've watched. These all have been given at least 3/5 stars from me and/or him. Enjoy!

I'm not fully sure if these films are all indie, but I'm quite convinced you at least haven't heard about most of them:

Another Earth (2011)

Archive (2020. On my Top 10 forever fave film list)

Automata (2014)

Boss level (2020)

Brainstorm (1983)

Breach (2020)

Coherence (2013, SO GOOD)

Color out of space (2019)

Coma (2019, russian, is available with english and german dubbing. Effing gorgeous film)

District 9 (2009)

Donnie Darko (2001)

Dual (2022. Fun fact: it was shot in the town in Finland where I was born)

ExistenZ (1999)

Gattaca (1997)

Girl on the Train (2016, mystery)

Hardcore Henry (2015)

High-Rise (2015, also highly recommend the J.G.Ballard book the film is based on)

Ink (2009. On my Top 10 forever fave films list)

Intrusion (2021)

Melancholia (2011)

Memento (2000)

Minor premise (2020)

Moon (2009)

Oxygen (2021, French)

Pi (1998)

Predestination (2014)

Primer (2004, can’t emphasize enough: this is a MUST for every scifi film buff. Goes without saying, on my Top 10 list)

Prisoners of the Ghostland (2021)

Splice (2009)

Sunshine (2007)

The Blackout (2019, Russian)

The Discovery (2017)

The Endless (2017)

The Invitation (2015)

The Repo-men (2010)

The Trip (2021)

Upgrade (2018)

Upside down (2012, technically fantasy but what the heck. Pretty as hell)

Vivarium (2019)

Westworld (original film from 1973)

Scifi/horror:

Blood red sky (2021, German)

Cube (1997) & Cube 2 (2002) (the rest are meh)

Event Horizon (1997, I wrote a homage to this film into my book :3)

Kyrsyä - Tuftland (2017, Finnish, it’s available online somewhere and en subtitles are available. Might require some digging though)

Additional mentions, not necessary indie films but MUST SEE:

12 Monkeys (1995)

Contagion (2011)

Dune (1984 + the new ones)

Ex Machina (2014)

In time (2011)

Logan’s run (1976)

Old (2021)

Prospect (2018)

Soylent green (1973)

Tetris (2023)

The Andromeda Strain (1971)

A Quiet Place (2018, 2020)

Split (2016, also the whole film series)

In general worth a watch (all basically under odd at least):

All Darren Aronofsky films

All M. Night Shyamalan films

TV shows (not indie, just worth the watch):

Dark Matter (SYFY, 2015-2017. First EP sucks, then it's absolute golden. A kin to Firefly)

The Expanse (Originally Netflix, moved to Amazon. Both TV show AND books. Oh the books are SO GOOD and better than the show imo)

Severance (Apple. I can't yell enough of this. It's just mindbogglingly good)

The X-Files (duh)

Star Trek: The Next Generation (yeah yea, I'm a trekkie)

Star Trek Picard

Resident Alien (SYFY, 2021-)

Foundation (Apple, 2021- *chef's kiss* goes for the books too)

#film recommendations #science fiction #scifi film rec list #recommendation list #films #science fiction films #Film rec list #Rec list

[nix-whythisfilm]

Movies on Writers and Artists

For the writers and artists. Might update it if I find or remember more...

Little women (2019)

An absolute classic of literature, with Jo March being the prime writer in the film. The film covers the domestic life of five women where they all move into their own directions through the course f the story. They start out being artists and writers amongst themselves and then branch out due to various life circumstances. The people who do move into art successfully are Amy being the painter, Jo being the writer, and Beth being the pianist despite her early death. The movie has a strong message for women that they can endure and do anything they put their minds to.

Something I personally liked in the movie is her writing spree at the end. She was driven, by strong feelings and more. The scenes that added up to her writing were something really inspiring to have the writing flow. It often helps me to write whenever I rewatch the movie.

Kill your Darlings (2013)

The film was based on real writers Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, and William Burroughs through their journeys at Columbia University. This film seems like a pinnacle moment that went on to influence their lives during the modern and post-modern eras of literature. Most English Literature degrees around the world cover the Beat movement and Literature by at least one of these writers. In my undergraduate degree we had the poem "Howl" and studied the Beat movement and the spirit it encompassed.

The movie I felt was incredibly inspiring. It hits like a motivational speech, making you want to grab a piece of pen and paper, making you itch to write something and be a part of the history of English Literature. Their stories are something that people would love to call fictional and completely reckless. But they had a point, they made it a point to establish that writing necessarily does not have to be formatted and traditional. They wrote something revolutionary and made sacrifices that were personal. The movie itself stuck a personal chord in me.

Dead Poets Society (1989)

The movie is obviously very old compared to the movies that are easily watched by the majority of the audience. The film, old as it is, is bound to a certain level of ancient traditions and beliefs that may be considered old-fashioned. There was a time when it faced quite a few allegations that it was misogynistic and male chauvinistic. I will not completely disagree, but it does have a spirit that can be enjoyed without being entirely conscious of the offensive remarks that sound mild. The film itself is a story about a group of boys in a boarding school and an inspiring teacher who wants to awaken the humanity in his students while fighting against the norm of monotonous career paths.

The movie is a personal favourite, considering that I came from a family struggling to accept that I was a student of the Humanities. It had a very important lesson that I often want to preach to everyone around me, with the majority of people I know very casually insulting and degrading artists and writers. It is a hard choice of career, and most struggle to achieve a balance in their life while also contributing to the field of Literature. With so many people so close-minded, a person of humanities is often ridiculed for having an open mind despite it being something helpful, rather than not.

Colette (2018)

The film is based on the true story of the writer Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette in France. The woman was talented in more ways than one, and the film itself speaks about her journey as a writer and mostly through her marriage with Henry Gauthier-Villars. The story talks of a harsh relationship where he often forced her to write for him, along with his other faults, while she only endured them and even went along with his schemes to be the power couple they both quickly became.

Something remarkable in the film is her fiery spirit. Kiera Knightly has played her part excellently, not sure how accurate it might be to the actual story. The film moves in a quick fashion, showing her attitude of taking everything for the better and quickly adapting to any situation she is in and making the best out of it. Her rage and her various frustrations, she somehow always channelled into something she can present to the world and profit from it. That itself was what made the movie so memorable to me.

Frida (2002)

This film stars Salma Hayek and many other significant actors of that time. While the film covered the life story of Frida Kahlo, it also shows much about the working of the world around artists and how they are spun into the web of politics. This film spoke a lot about how people are involved in politics or drama, casually.

The artist itself was an enigma to the audience and the world with her indomitable spirit and being a force of nature in her life. She had tragedies in her life since the beginning but they never stopped her from doing what she wanted or from experiencing her life just like any normal person would. Her art, which was discovered relatively late in her lifetime, became a technique and style of its own. The film also shows how her life was full of scandal and much like a cinematic story.

The Guernsey Literary and the Potato Peel Pie Society (2018)

This film was adapted from the book of the same name, based on studies on the German occupation of the island of Guernsey. The story is about the life of a writer Juliet who wrote about an artist in the times of war. While struggling to live in the city after having been a victim of the war herself, she constantly is shown to be out of place in social gatherings. And while a majority of artists in this industry are shown, and even are, introverts, Juliet here is an extrovert who has grown weary of society.

The film moves into the story quickly, showing the residents of the island becoming penpals and acquaintances of Juliet. There she tries to learn more about the effects of the invasion on the people who lived there. But somewhere in between the journey, she finds her home. The movie was truly enlightening on how the writers of different times fared against the tides of the world and made their way in their life.

Crimson Peak (2015)

Also a book adaptation, Crimson Peak is an extraordinary film directed by Guillermo Del Toro and starring Jessica Chastain and Tom Hiddleston. The movie has intense colouring and a very heavy presence of music and dramatic mystery. The film has some gore, and maybe some bad CGI with horror elements. But it is a good watch, and one with something that keeps you curious to keep watching.

It's interesting how this film too shows another writer, the main character, who is the daughter of a self-made businessman in America after the wars. The story moves quickly in the obvious direction of her falling in love with the European man who is looking for investors. But mystery surrounds him and his sister, and her father questions his integrity. The film itself is a visual treat with a strong plot.

Luckiest Girl Alive (2022)

The film, in the beginning, is a pain to watch. It drags and feels pointless, her inner monologue is borderline creepy and feels like so much drama. It surprised me that it was based on a book. But the more you watch the film, the more the pieces fall together. It is a challenging piece of media that expects the audience to have the patience and open mind to completely accept it. Mila Kunis has a very unique role in this, where she keeps switching her personalities.

The film is gripping and sounds so normal in the beginning, but the more we watch the more the false layers fall off. It is one of the slices of life movies based on a true story and strikes a chord among so many people around the world. It speaks of an experience that is so intimate but also something that leaves you so distant and unfeeling for yourself. It surely is an excellent watch. The only thing that anyone needs to watch out for is the assortment of swear words.

Hymn of Death (2018)

The mini-series is based on the stories of real-life artists and writers. The film is made in Korean but has a considerable amount of Japanese in it. The story covers the life of the playwright Woo-Jin and the soprano Shim Deok during the Japanese Occupation of Korea. They both meet in an institution in Japan where they have gone to pursue their studies, which is where they both fall in love.

As with any other situation, their lives get complicated quickly with their personal situations getting entangled and leaving them with some hard choices to make. The series itself has a streak of melancholy throughout while also showing the lives of the artists in that era and the culture. It is interesting to watch how some things exist across cultures and affects people despite their race, age, gender, or the society they live in.

Our Beloved Summer (2021)

This series has an extremely strong bias in my mind for the artist's work that has been put in for the direction. It stars Choi Wooshik who starred in the Oscar-winning film 'Parasite', and the character is nothing like the one he has played before. The story covers the life of the artist before and after ten years, the difference it had in his life and the romance of his high school. It is a specific genre of romance, comedy, and mild drama that is appealing for a comfortable watch.

Their personalities are a treat to watch as they mingle and spar over words. The series shows the flow of life that is easy and fulfilling though it might not always have everything we want. The protagonist is an easy-natured man who has been the same since he was a boy, but it also speaks of the way an artist thinks. It necessarily does not mean all artists are the same, but I was much like him when I was growing up. It is beautiful to watch, so many relationships blossoming through the journey, not devoid of pain and breakups.

#Ones that I have watched with my unique point on why to watch it and what it talks about #art #culture #painting #writer #writing #artist movies #writer movies #our beloved summer #choi wooshik #hymn of death #japanese invasion #luckiest girl alive #mila kunis #trauma survivor #journalist #crimson peak #sir thomas sharpe #mia wasikowska #tom hiddleston #jessica chastain #post moderism #modernism #art movements #literary movements #guernsey #guernsey literary and potato peel pie society #german invasion #frida kahlo #frida

[mrschwartz]

Alex Turner on the Arctic Monkeys' musical evolution

By Mark Savage (published on October 22 2022)

Alex Turner is out of breath.

The Arctic Monkeys frontman has just blazed through a guitar solo on Body Paint - the swaggering, Bowie-esque centrepiece of their new album, The Car - on TV institution Later with Jools Holland.

"You've parched me out there," he pants. "Could someone get me a water?"

Unusually, the Arctics are the only band in the studio. For the first time in 15 years, the show is devoting an entire episode to a single act - an honour reserved for rock legends like REM, Radiohead, Metallica and Oasis.

Turner and his band-mates appreciate the enormity of the situation. They film additional takes and switch up their setlist to ensure the new music is conveyed with appropriate punch and panache.

"Gotta make this one count," says Turner as the recording runs into its second hour. "We'll do an acoustic one, and then Born To Run."

The promised Springsteen cover never materialises. Nor does the band's hellraising 2007 hit Brianstorm, despite guitarist Jamie Cook idly bashing out the riff between takes. But, with almost twice as much Monkey business as they'd bargained for, the audience leaves on a high.

"I enjoyed it a great deal," agrees Turner, on the phone to the BBC a couple of days later. "I'm a big fan of that show and I have been for a long time, even before we put the band together."

In fact, his highlight in the run-up to the show was getting access to the Later vaults, to pick a performance that influenced him for broadcast on the show.

"I kind of lost myself in the archive back there for a minute, Mark, to be honest with you," he says. "I found myself gravitating to performances from 2002 and going, 'Oh God, yeah, I remember seeing that and getting excited about it.'"

Of course, 2002 is the year the Arctic Monkeys formed in Sheffield, where all four members were pupils of Stocksbridge High School.

Turner and guitarist Jamie Cook had only received their first guitars a year earlier, as Christmas presents from their parents. The first song they wrote was called "Matt Dave Rock Song" - named for a singer who subsequently left the band, and which they subsequently described as "junk" and "total crap".

But they progressed at speed, developing a sharp, nervy sound full of searing riffs and witty, literate lyrics. By 2005, people were eagerly swapping bootlegs, demos and gossip on dedicated message boards.

When their first album, Whatever People I Say I Am, That's What I'm Not, arrived in 2006 it became the UK's fastest-selling debut of all time, just weeks after Turner's 20th birthday.

Arctic Monkeys were suddenly the most written-about, talked-about rock band of their generation.

They responded by closing ranks.

Back-slapping events like the Brit Awards were avoided, the band accepting prizes in mailed-in videos, dressed as characters from The Wizard of Oz. When they played Radio 1's Live Lounge, they subverted their "rock saviour" image by covering Katy B's On A Mission and Girls Aloud's Love Machine.

"I can't really remember the impetus behind that decision," reflects Turner, "but it was a lot of fun".

Musically, Arctic Monkeys went from strength to strength, particularly on the hard-hitting Humbug (2009) and the leather-jacketed rock of AM (2013).

They last graced the charts in 2018 with the space-jazz concept album Tranquillity Base Hotel & Casino, which explored themes of consumerism and politics through the concept of a luxury resort on the moon.

Turner composed its languid, meandering songs on piano, declaring the guitar "had lost its ability to give me ideas".

Critics were divided. Rolling Stone called the album "indulgent", but Q Magazine thought it was "strange and wonderful". Fans sent the album to number one, but it's the only Arctic Monkeys record not to be certified platinum.

Released on Friday, The Car is tighter and more immediate than its predecessor but it spins in the same sonic universe.

Opening track There'd Better Be A Mirror Ball is all woozy keyboards and staccato string stabs, while Jet Skis On The Moat sees Turner slip on his velvet jacket for a brooding lounge-pop ballad.

"I made a big deal about the piano on the last record," says the singer, "but when I look at it now, the shift in sound between that record and the one before [AM] is more to do with the fact that my writing process [changed] around that time".

In the Arctic Monkeys' first decade, he explains, he'd take a song "into a rehearsal room and work out how it goes with the band". That's gradually become more insular, with Turner building up songs in his home studio until he feels they're ready.

"So the piano had a part in it, but being able to record myself and write to those recordings is perhaps what got us into this mess."

That's not the only thing that's changed.

"I can vaguely remember times in the past where I've been struck with the inspiration and written something quite quickly, but it feels like that happens less these days," he says. "But I'm not worried if it takes a little bit longer."

In fact, some of the musical motifs on The Car percolated for three years before he "persuaded them to be a pop song".

Among them was the instrumental refrain of Big Ideas, a gorgeous electric piano melody that "felt like it had aspirations to be a movie theme".

"It hung around for ages, that melody, and I'd play it whenever I found myself sitting at a piano [until] one of the band asked, 'Is that one of yours?'

"And that's about as excited as they get," he jokes.

Their enthusiasm encouraged him to build the passage into a song that describes a songwriter's (favourite) worst nightmare.

"I had big ideas... the kind you'd rather not share over the phone," Turner sings. "But now the orchestra's got us all surrounded and I can't for the life of me remember how they go."

It's one of many lyrics that hint at instability and dislocation.

The music, meanwhile, reflects his emotional turbulence. The band often sound like they're fighting to be heard - bursting through an orchestral swell to gasp for air, only to be dragged under the surface again.

"There was much discussion and deliberation" about those "push and pull dynamics", Turner says.

Some tracks, like Sculptures, were recorded with several different arrangements, then reconstructed in the mix.

The track was born when guitarist Jamie Cook wired a Moog synthesizer up to a drum machine, creating an ominous, industrial sound. Then it "went on its own journey", evolving into a full-band recording, before the original idea reasserted itself.

On the finished version, "it's almost like there's a button for the band and you press it and they step in for a bar, then they disappear back and you're in that synthesizer place," Turner explains.

"That, of course, is not the kind of idea that I would have had before we started. That's something that revealed itself during the process.

"So I'm thrilled that you mentioned the dynamics because that's something we attempted to explore and get a handle on this time. And yeah, I think I think we did a better job in that respect, than we did last time around."

Back on stage in Alexandra Palace, Arctic Monkeys are still figuring out how to play the new material live, taking a couple of passes at the funky, sqawkbox riffs of I Ain't Quite Where I Think I Am before they're satisfied.

Without a string section, the songs become harder, more full-blooded - giving an idea of how they'll nestle up to Fluorescent Adolescent and RU Mine on tour.

And while some bands (cough, Radiohead, cough) abandon their old hits when they settle on a new sound, Turner has no such inclination.

"There's certain numbers from the early records that I should think we would continue to keep playing. And there are other numbers we haven't played for a while that we could imagine knocking the dust off. "

"Nothing has been ruled out," he concludes. "Although Love Machine might be a stretch."

#arctic monkeys #alex turner #the car #interview #* #my favorite part of this is him asking for water vnjfnvjkgb

[rubythecrimsonwriter]

ATC rewrite part 1 outline

The vote was 6-2 in favor of sharing, not counting my vote, so it's under a readmore for those who want to wait until I've finished the first chapter.

My outlines vary from story to story and they're usually quite odd, and take more of a condensed story format than a traditional outline with the bullet points and such. This truly is an outline. It reads like a story. I've embellished on parts that I currently have, glossed over the parts that I don't but know they need to be there.

For those who are new, or followed me from Flipping Legacies and never realized I wrote for other fandoms: Percy Jackson was my first fandom. I started All Together, Cousins in 2013, wrote about 80K words for it in two years, got burned out big time for Percy Jackson stuff. Technically speaking I updated it in 2018, but I'd completely lost the plot of it and relied on subplots and characters to keep it moving and it just. Wasn't fun. And around the time I started Flipping Legacies (in 2020) I'd also taken a look at ATC and kind of. Winced. You can tell a 15 year old wrote it. Happy ten year anniversary, old friend, the fic that haunts me in the night--I'm finally back.

I love the premise of it, but it's kind of like a 1940s house. The walls are cracking, the wiring needs to be updated, the plumbing needs to not be lead. It needs some work. A lot of work. And here's the start of it.

🗲

Thalia’s ten and Jason’s two when she snatches him out of Hera’s grasp, threatens a goddess with grievous bodily harm and bloody revenge schemes and runs like the proverbial bat out of hell. She tires quickly. It’s winter. They’re two Big Three demigods. Cops are not kind to homeless people, shelters are not kind to kids, and the system is even crueler.

Luke Castellan is a blessing, and she thanks Hermes every damn day for him. He’s great at getting out of tight spots, talented with a sword, gentle with her brother, and willing to fight her over what’s best.

He’s been on his own for three years now. He knows what he’s doing a lot better than Thalia does, in terms of actual survival. They bunk down in one of his old hiding spots and gear up and she’s so exhausted that she falls asleep almost immediately, Jason sprawled across her chest.

Never again. She’ll never again let Hera get that close. The sight of her brother in that woman’s arms will haunt her for the rest of her life.

She urges Luke to move faster, the next day, to get them farther away from the Wolf House, and they have a screaming match about I want to be as far away from this place as possible and Let’s not fucking pass out about it, that does nobody any good! and also What if she tries to take him again and Well they’re gods, it’s not like physical distance means anything to them.

Jason isn’t happy about the loud noise of a fourteen year old boy and a daughter of thunder going at it. That’s finally what gets them to shut up. Every demigod she’s ever met has backed down immediately after watching her zap her surroundings when she gets frustrated.

Luke has rubber soles, a steel spine, and a golden heart. How lucky is she, that he’s the full range of conductivity?

The positive and the ground, and together they can move mountains—or make sure that one little boy is safe and happy as is possible for a son of Jupiter.

🗲

Thalia’s twelve and Jason’s just turned four when Luke goes into a cursed mansion and never comes out again.

She straps Jason to her chest and circles the burned out husk of the mansion for any sign, any clue, any remnant of her friend and partner in raising both Jason and hell. She searches the house, then starts working her way out steadily until its more than a mile from the mansion in all directions and she has to admit defeat.

Luke is gone. Luke is dead. He wanted to see his future and Thalia wishes futilely that she had argued more with him about it.

She clings to Jason and weeps bitter tears. Then she pulls herself together and marches on. Anywhere but here. Tennessee, she’s heard, is hot and muggy this time of year, but Thalia feels like she’ll never be warm again.

Meanwhile, Luke has the shield of aegis, a lot more issues with the gods, a golf club, and a blonde little girl terrified of spiders.

🗲

Thalia’s just turned thirteen and Jason’s still four when she snaps her gum obnoxiously and says to the cashier who asked her why she’s not in school, “I’m seventeen, I have a half day before I go to work, and he’s four, dipshit. Now pack it up, I haven’t got all day.”

Her heart thuds in her ears, but Disinterested Teenager is the name of the game, and she’s the godsdamn master of it. Thick eyeliner, chunky mascara, and fake piercings do the rest to convince them. They’ve played this game a thousand times.

Three Big Three kids in a corner store is too much temptation for the monsters, though, and that’s how she meets Sally Fucking Jackson, who’s clear-sighted in every sense of the word.

🗲

Sally is a badass—not a word that Thalia applies to just anyone. Thalia also can’t stand to be around her for too long, because the woman has sacrificed everything to try and raise her son safely.

Seeing herself reflected—mother and son, sister and brother, who would kill or die or be abused to keep him safe and happy and well—is an ache like the cold. And she wishes Beryl had tried.

Is it a crime, to wish that she’d had herself or a Sally to protect her? Thalia thinks not, but it hurts much worse than stealing. She giggles at Jason and Percy arguing over cookies, swiftly removes Jason from Percy when it becomes clear that two small, angry Big Three children wreak havoc on indoor plumbing and HVAC systems, and high tails it out of there with Jason in tow when Sally offers them a place to stay.

Luke survived two years with her and Jason. Sally has her own son to think about living for.

Her eyes burn. She takes a deep breath and marches on.

🗲

Thalia’s fifteen and Jason’s seven and Thalia needs all her fingers to count how many issues she’s got going on currently.

It’s the middle of summer and it’s hotter than Hades’s asscrack, so she thought, “oh hey, it’s not like we’re not already nomadic, let’s go north for the summer and see Yellowstone and such.”

Yellowstone was great. Grizzly bears hate everything pretty equally, but avoid Thalia and Jason like the plague. That means that grizzly bears will happily maul a monster and leave them be. Thalia would like to stay here forever, please and thank you.

But then there was the fucking Fury that chased them to (not quite) hell and back, and Thalia packed them up and ran so far that they wound up in the mountains before they stopped for breath, and then hung out with the Hyperborean giants for a while. Hot Furies and freezing Hyperborean giants don’t mix well, apparently. And then Thalia figured, well, if she was already on the mountains, might as well see what the West Coast has to offer them.

The Fury caught up to them right as they were crossing the Nevada/California border, and Thalia just wants to say that it’s completely ridiculous how hot Nevada is. No place needs to be that hot during the day and that cold at night. A week later and they’ve run so far west that Thalia can taste the salt from the ocean in the air.

They’re out of places for them to run.

Thalia has silver plated hunting knives, handles wrapped with shredded old tires and fabric cushioning the edges. She’s blasted the Fury back with lightning so many times her hair is permanently standing on end and her fingers tingle.

There’s a girl in a purple shirt on the edges of the fight. Her mouth is dropped open like she can’t believe what she’s seeing.

Thalia has a few other things to worry about.

Then the girl comes back with more people in purple shirts and—and they’re armed. Armed with things that can actually hurt a monster.

The Fury shrieks and dives at them and the girl shouts, “Turtle formation!” and shields close around them on all sides.

What Thalia wouldn’t give for a shield. Or a proper weapon.

The Fury rakes its claws across the shields, clambers all over them like a really big, really weird looking lizard, and then almost gets skewered by a sword that pokes itself between a minuscule crack between the shields.

Thalia braces herself between Jason and the Fury, waiting for it to realize that there’s easier prey. Jason, weaponless, hugs her from behind and buries his face in her back.

She breathes deeply. She shivers in spite of the hot air—

A cold wind from the east. The Fury rises, sees them in the open, launches—

There’s a tendril that feels like lightning, a hot line of power. Her gut clenches. Jason shudders so hard he almost yanks her off her feet. The sky goes from blue to black and raging in an instant, and the thunderbolt that comes from the sky is as thick around as Thalia is, blinding and deafening everyone in the vicinity. The Fury vanishes in the lightning’s blaze, naught but golden dust and ash on the ground.

Thalia almost passes out. Her ears are ringing and she can barely see.

The girl in the purple shirt is very tall, Thalia thinks, before she realizes her knees have buckled under her and that the girl is probably a normal height. She’s saying something that Thalia can’t hear, but she can hear Jason yelling something indistinctly. She gropes around behind her, grabbing him.

“He’s my brother,” she says, loudly enough that she feels her own chest rumble. She might be too loud, but she’s guessing otherwise with how useless her own ears are. “He’s annoying but he’s my brother, don’t kill him.”

Jason socks her in the shoulder, so at least someone can hear something.

The girl says something, looking at Thalia. She thinks that the word take was somewhere in there, but reading lips has never been her forte. “You’re not taking him,” she says loudly. “I threatened to destroy Olympus the last time someone tried taking him from me, and I’m still not joking about that.”

“You did what,” was clearly audible, so that must have been screamed in her ear.

“Oh yes,” Thalia says with probably more satisfaction than is wise, considering Jason shaking her and the girl in the purple shirt looking at her with wide eyes. Her vision swims, but it’s been five years and the vicious satisfaction has not yet dimmed. “Dearly beloathed stepmother tried stealing you from mom. I fried her ass, grabbed you, told her if she tried that again I’d do my damnedest to bring Olympus to its knees, and ran. Haven’t seen her in five years.”

The girl, wide-eyed, brings both index fingers together parallel, and clearly says, “Both.”

Oh. Taking them both. That was fine. Nothing short of Tartarus could hold them captive together.

“That’s fine,” Thalia agrees, and immediately passes the fuck out.

🗲

Thalia wakes up with Jason on her right, looking like he’d been slapped with a live flounder while she was out, a blond man with a circular shield in front of them, and a pounding headache.

“Thals,” Jason whispers. “Can you hear me yet?”

She nods, moving her hand enough that he can feel it.

“Is there a monster that imitates dead people?”

What.

The blond in front of them—shielding them, in the most literal sense of the word—glances back just long enough to check on them and it’s long enough to see his profile and what the fuck.

“Luke?” she breathes, propping herself up on an elbow.

“What in the gods be damned Hades are you doing in California?” Luke hisses. “This place is like monster central, don’t you know better?”

“We didn’t exactly have much of a choice in the matter,” Thalia says dryly. “What are you doing alive?”

He glances back at them again, a crooked grin on his face. “You know me,” he says. “Always escaping by the skin of my teeth. Can we have this conversation later, without weird, culty demigods trying to grab you guys?”

Thalia looks up at the swirling clouds above them. She hates to admit it, but— “I don’t think I can walk.”

“Oh for—“ Luke exclaims. “Jason, buddy, hold this.” He unlatches the shield from his arm and passes it off to her brother. “You can terrify us with it later, until then, just keep pointing it at the purple people.” Then he reaches down and scoops her up with a huff of air. “You need to eat more,” Luke tells her as an aside. “Jason, north and east. I’ll follow.”

“Sorry I just spent the last two weeks fighting off a fucking Fury,” Thalia says sarcastically. “I shall endeavor to take a break and eat a hamburger every six to eight hours as my body demands—except wait, no, I can’t, because I have a literal demon from hell that wants to kill me because I had the audacity to be born.”

“You couldn’t have fried it before today?” Luke asks.

“You think I didn’t fry it like fifty times?” Thalia says. “You know, I know we’ve been apart for a couple of years because I thought you were dead, but I didn’t realize my temper was forgettable.”

Jason’s giggling in front of them.

“It’s really not,” Luke says, grinning. He looks back, even though Thalia can clearly see the purple people, as he called them, not following them. He sobers. “I looked for you.”

“I looked for your body,” Thalia says.

“I’m sorry.”

“Be sorrier.”

“Hey, who’s carrying who?”

“I fried a Fury. When you fry a Fury and don’t pass out, then you can talk.”

“Uh-huh,” he says. He sounds unimpressed, but she looks, and there’s both amusement and awe in his eyes. “I’ll take that under consideration. But really. I’m sorry. I knew that when I couldn’t find you, you’d think I was dead and I didn’t do more to let you know otherwise.”

Thalia wrestles with her temper and her hurt. “So why didn’t you?”

Luke shakes his head. “The explosion? Was my fault. It was the only way I could see myself getting out alive.”

Thalia remembers the old house suddenly exploding, going up like someone lit an entire matchbox on fire with Greek fire. There’s a certain shade of lime green that she hates to this day, and it’s entirely because of that.

“I got literally blown out of the house, managed to land in a dumpster and not on the metal roof next to it,” Luke continues. “Badly injured, vaguely flash fried, I’d broken my leg on the way out. I laid in the dumpster with some ambrosia trying get myself to heal for at least a day.”

Yikes. Big Yikes.

“By the time I managed to hobble out of the dumpster, our camp was gone. I went to the city to get some mortal bandages, trying not to burn myself out on ambrosia, and I went down an alleyway. There was a weird noise, and I wanted to investigate before I tried bunking down there for the night, and the next thing I know, there’s this little girl trying to take my kneecaps out with a hammer.”

Luke shakes his head, grinning to himself. “Her name’s Annabeth, she’s a daughter of Athena. She’s eight.”

What were the odds? Probably basically zero.

“What?” Thalia says.

“Yeah,” Luke agrees. “Nuts, right? Pretty sure either Hermes or Athena—or both—were keeping her safe. I convinced her I wasn’t a monster and got her to travel with me. She’s strong, so it was tough while I healed.”

“And then, like six months later, Clarisse found us,” Luke says. “Daughter of Ares, also really strong. The three of us racked up almost as many as the three of us did.”

Thalia winces.

Luke goes quiet. “There’s a camp, in New York,” he says slowly, “specifically built to handle and protect demigods.”

Thalia lifts her head.

“They send out satyrs to try and find demigods before—well, before we get overrun by monsters. And the three of us, roaming around the New England area with a horde of monsters on our tails? It was enough to attract some attention, especially when we were in New York City. Clarisse...she didn’t make it. But Annabeth did.”

Thalia couldn’t breathe.

“She’s safe, back at camp.”

“What are you not saying?” Thalia demanded. “That’d be the first thing out of your mouth. Why would we not be safe?”

“There’s a pact that your dad made, way back after World War II,” Luke says. “No more kids from the Big Three. The crack that you made, about having the audacity of being born? He broke his oath. But he’s immortal, so you pay the price.”

Luke twitches a bit, so Thalia holds her breath until she doesn’t have enough air to be mad.

“The campers there haven’t seen a child of the Big Three ever. Chiron, the centaur who runs the place, hasn’t seen a child of the Big Three since World War II. You guys die too fast. And, even worse, there’s a prophecy about one turning sixteen and potentially destroying the world.”

“Luke,” Thalia says, very calmly. “I need you to put me down.”

Luke sets her on the ground with gratifying speed.

Thalia draws her hunting blades and stabbed them into the ground and made ladders of electricity between them to try and not send off stray pieces of lightning to everyone else around her.

Thalia rests her head against the humming pommels. “Two years ago, Jason and I were in a corner store in New York when monsters attacked.”

Luke stills.

“I’d kicked butt not an hour prior, but it turns out that three Big Three kids is too tantalizing a prospect.”

Luke gasps. “How—“

“Poseidon had a son with a badass woman,” Thalia laughs hollowly. “His taste in women is impeccable, I’ll give him that. Percy’s eight. Him and Jason almost blew out the plumbing in the building arguing over a cookie, so I knew we couldn’t stay.”

“You—I’ve never heard you describe someone as badass, much less a mortal,” Luke says.

Thalia—sighs. “Yeah. She’s sacrificed damn near everything to keep him safe. I can respect that.”

She hauls in a deep breath and forces herself standing. She sways, her vision swims a little, but worlds better than earlier. She pulls her knives out of the ground, cleans off the dirt, and sheathes them. Luke stands behind her, to the left, arms hovering.

Gods, she’s missed him.

“I’ve missed you,” she says. Like a phantom limb.

“I’m so glad you’re still okay,” Luke says.

🗲

Luke goes back to Camp Half-Blood, quest unfulfilled, and brings Annabeth out of the borders. Chiron and Grover come with them, and it’s a very nervous daughter and son of the sky god that they meet.

“Annabeth, Clarisse, Grover, the first bunch I ran herd on,” Luke says fondly, ruffling Jason’s hair. He pats the tree next to him. “Thalia, Jason, this is Clarisse, Annabeth, Grover, and Chiron.”

Annabeth scowls at Jason first, then Thalia. “I’m coming with you,” she announces.

Grover let out a quiet sound of horror. Which, fair. Cute kid, but Thalia had enough work with Jason, and she refuses to endanger a third strong demigod again.

“Um, no,” Luke says firmly, but gently. “You’re not coming with us.”

“You’re not coming with Jason and I, either,” Thalia says, cutting that off at the trunk.

Luke whirls around. “I just—“

“We had to watch you die once already,” Thalia says icily. Annabeth goes white. “Forgive me for not wanting to repeat the experience, with no guarantee that you’d appear out of nowhere three years later.” She tucks her brother closer to her. She softens, just a bit. “We’ll visit,” she promises.

“You would not stay?” Chiron asks.

Thalia glances at the demigods on the other side of the barrier. “Stay in one place that’s constantly watched by the gods. We’d be dead on the inside of a month. Thanks for the offer, but no thanks.”

She sees the brief look of confusion on Chiron’s face and immediately glares at Luke. “You didn’t tell them?”

“It’s none of their business if you’re not going to stay anyway,” Luke says practically. “Annie knows. Clarisse didn’t. I’m pretty sure all they can smell is that you’re strong demigods, not your parentage.”

Thalia eyes them dubiously. “Thalia, daughter of Zeus,” she introduces herself shortly. “And my full-blooded brother, Jason. I’m fifteen and I threatened Hera with the end of Olympus five years ago if she tried taking him from me. I suddenly see why she took my threat seriously.”

Grover chokes on a laugh. Annabeth kicks him in the shin and scrutinizes Thalia. “The gods are better than the other options,” she says seriously. “But kicking them probably wouldn’t hurt. Much.”

Thalia grins at her. She looks at Luke. “You’re right, I like her.”

“So I can come with you,” Annabeth says confidently.

“No,” Thalia says. “But, even if me kicking them doesn’t work next year, I have a mission for you.”

Luke frowns at her in askance.

“In like, four to seven years, Beth, this will be very important, so listen carefully,” Thalia says slowly. “There will be a boy who comes to camp, probably beat to Hades and back and probably grieving. I need you to befriend him.”

Annabeth looks puzzled. Chiron looks politely confused. Grover looks utterly befuddled. Luke looks like she’d slapped him with a hagfish and then offered him some sunflowers: astonished, disgusted, and delighted, all at the same time. Jason starts laughing.

“Thals,” Luke says, obviously trying not to laugh.

Annabeth looks at Luke and then back at Thalia. “It would be a prank on them?”

“It would be a kick in the face,” Thalia corrects. “He’s nice. Perhaps a little slow on the uptake sometimes, but he respects the women in his life.”

She considers this. “Four to seven years? I’d be twelve to fifteen?”

Thalia nods.

“Okay,” Annabeth decides. “If I don’t like him I can kick him though, right?”

“He’d probably deserve it,” Thalia agrees. “But don’t do it if he doesn’t deserve it.”

🗲

Thalia’s fifteen and Jason’s eight and they’re in Tennessee when an old dude named Fred approaches them. “That wasn’t very nice to set them up like that. Funny, though.”

Thalia glances to the side and sees the golden sunshine yellow of his iris. “They have a habit of setting us up to fulfill their rivalries. I’m just breaking the cycle.”

Jason peers around her from the other side to see who she’s talking to. He seems puzzled at who the stranger is, but cautiously says, “Hey, cousin.”

A hilariously safe bet.

Apollo seems to thinks so, too, because he guffaws once before he says hi back.

“But seriously, the kid’s got enough problems, you want to add to his list?” Apollo says.

“Luke was the best thing that ever happened to me, short of Jason,” Thalia says. “Someone who will argue with him rather than agreeing to everything will do them both a world of good.” She pauses. “I’m not the child of the prophecy. Am I.”

It’s not a question.

“You could be,” Apollo says finally. “Basically any time after you turn sixteen. But while some Old things are stirring, none of them are close to waking. There’s nothing happening that would aid you in Olympus’s fall, and nothing that would topple it that you’d be able to preserve.”

He pauses. “Between you and me?”

“And Jason,” Thalia says.

“And Jason,” Apollo agrees. “Prophecies can be fulfilled in a lot of odd ways. Ideas, you know, last beyond a mortal lifetime. Maybe you preemptively introducing that troublemaking pair will destroy an idea that Olympus holds sacred. Some things need to be changed, otherwise it will spell our end.”

Thalia glances at him and quirks a sarcastic smile. “Good thing I’m dyslexic.”

“Yes,” Apollo agrees, completely serious in the face of her joke. “Good thing that you are.”

She covers Jason’s eyes as Apollo goes supernova and they’re left alone in Nashville.

🗲

Jason’s eight and today is Thalia’s birthday, and Sally has taken the four of them out to a restaurant to celebrate when everything…

Well.

Thalia would say when everything goes to shit but it’s really when they reached the proverbial fork in the road. Or perhaps, when everything changes.

It starts with the restaurant’s door chiming open, with a woman’s gracious voice waving off the waitstaff saying, “My party is already here, thank you.” And she walks closer to them, a brown woman in a white business suit with a shirt that shimmers blue and green and purple. Her brown heels clack on the stone pavers that make up the floor.

She stops at their table and slides into the booth next to Thalia.

Across from her, Sally picks up her steak knife in a move that’s undeniably a threat. Thalia fucking loves her.

“Hera,” Thalia says evenly, making a show of going back to her menu. “I know immortals have a screwy sense of time, but I do believe you’ve managed to pick the worst possible time to have a confrontation. Congratulations. That takes some true talent.”

Hera reaches out and snags Sally’s menu that Sally is completely ignoring in favor of glaring metaphorical daggers at the goddess while threatening her with a steak knife. Thalia absently sends a prayer to both Apollo and Hermes. They both cover such a wide variety pack of stuff that one of them should cover badass but also kind and occasionally stupid mortals.

“On the contrary,” Hera says. “I believe this is the perfect time. We are constrained by polite society, so we must at least appear to get along.”

Thalia lowers the menu to look at Hera, and then swing her gaze at Sally. Hera lowers her stolen menu at the long look, and then sees the attempted threat. “Ah. Well. Some of us are constrained by polite society. I see that others don’t apply.”

Thalia takes a deep breath. It feels like it goes deeper than usual, somehow, like her guts have made way for her lungs. And, like magic, Thalia’s water tips over without anyone touching it and spills all over Hera.

Thalia hasn’t got a drop on her.

That—it felt like she did that, not Percy. Percy looks almost as startled as Thalia feels, safely sandwiched in between Sally, the table, and the wall. Hera makes a disgusted noise, taps her fingers along the menu, and the water vanishes. Thalia reaches out and rights the cup slowly.

“Lady, you’re probably the only one in polite society,” Thalia says bluntly. “Say your piece and get out.”

“Very well,” Hera says. “When I tried to take Jason six years ago, you told me that you would destroy Olympus if I succeeded to get him back. Does that still hold?”

“Yes,” Thalia snarls. Her fingers clench the menu in her hands and it feels like she’s holding onto a live wire now.

“Is that the only reason why you would even try?” Hera presses.

“Don’t fuck with me, Hera,” Thalia says. Her voice slides into a lower register that’s meant to be heard over a horde of monsters, but she still only speaks just above a whisper. “I have only ever wanted to be left alone by you people. Leave me and mine be and we won’t have an issue.”

“You and yours being?”

“The people at this table and Luke and his second family—Annabeth, Clarisse, Grover,” Thalia says. “Is that your game? You want to see who you can fuck over without me triggering the prophecy?”

Hera goes silent and Thalia knows she’s hit the nail on the head.

“You listen well, Hera, goddess of marriage,” Thalia says. “If I found out one of my people died because you’re so short sighted and possessive of a husband that has never and will never respect you, I will bring the prophecy down on all our heads, chop you into a gazillion pieces as Zeus did to Kronos, and toss you into Tartarus myself and let you rot with grandfather. If you insist on sharing his mental issues, you can share an unliving space with him as well.”

Hera’s jaw is clenched and her lips pursed together.

“How about,” Thalia continues, “you learn about this novel thing called communication, and possibly divorce. It’s the twenty first century, step mother, aunt, cunt, whatever you’d like me to call you. Women have rights, women have therapists, and women have divorce lawyers. Zeus was around for my childhood, I actually know the decrepit prick. I can’t imagine being around him for three thousand years and not straight up murdering him. If you have an issue with me besides me being born—which, I’ll remind you, I actually had no say in—not kidnapping my brother is a great way to start a conversation.”

Jason chokes on a laugh about reminding the goddess of marriage that she has no say in herself being born. Thalia silently tells him to shut the fuck up before Hera remembers his existence.

“The gods are not allowed—“

“Then it’s a great thing that you’ve never had demigod kids, so you can safely interact with demigods that are not your kids. Which is all of them.”

Thalia pauses. “Goodbye. I’m celebrating surviving to sixteen. You are not invited.” She waved down a server. “Could I get another water? I was really thirsty,” she says guilelessly.

Sally visibly swallows a laugh as Hera rises. Definitely not running from being threatened with more ice water on her suit. Nope. Definitely not.

“Your disrespect,” Hera says severely, “is only matched by your loyalty.”

And then she vanishes.

“Well, that went swimmingly,” Thalia says brightly. “I want lad naa.”

Sally sets down the knife carefully and then rests her head on the table.

🗲

(the mental image is too funny: a pristine business woman, a teenager with the nineties grunge aesthetic, two eight year old boys, and a mom in mom clothing sit down in a Siam restaurant.)

🗲

It’s when Thalia delivers them all safely back to the Jacksons’ apartment that she asks Percy quietly, “The water spilling. Was that—?”

“It wasn’t me,” Percy says uncertainly. “I dunno. It didn’t feel like me.”

“It felt like I did it,” Thalia says. “But that’s not my power.”

“Maybe the air pushed it over,” Jason says.

Thalia pauses. The air is their domain. She doesn’t remember any weird gusts of wind, but she was also very focused on not frying someone and also making sure Hera didn’t do something stupid, like try kidnapping Jason. Again.

“Maybe,” she says. But she doubts it.

🗲

Thalia’s seventeen and Jason is nine when they see the Jacksons again, a whole year and a half later. They celebrate Percy’s tenth birthday in a cabin on Montauk, and while Thalia’s supervising the boys playing in the surf, she can hear...something. In the cabin.

Sally is taking a well-deserved nap, or she’s supposed to be. Instead, she sits on the bed and bows her head over a head of dark, curly hair, attached to a tanned man kneeling in front of her.

Thalia shuts the door again just as quickly and guns it.

Later, she thinks, and wonders—that’s real devotion she saw there. That was I missed you and come with me? and he is beautiful. She naps under the sea of stars, one boy under each arm, and she can rest easy knowing that neither can be stolen away without her knowing immediately.

There’s a shush of displaced sand, and Percy shifts under her arm, and she cracks an eye open. She assumes its Sally, but its Poseidon, who rests a large hand on Percy’s forehead and looks awed and wistful.

He sees that she’s awake, a split second after she’s seen the heartache and longing on his face, and smiles at her ruefully. Thank you, he mouths, and dissolves into a salty sea breeze.

🗲

There’s an entire pack of hellhounds to deal with in the morning. Thalia picks Jason up with one arm and Percy with the other and hurls them both into the shack calling itself a cabin with Sally.

There’s a lot of yelling about her decision, but Percy has never been trained, Sally is a mortal, and Jason is nine. She can do this.

She can do this, right?

She draws her hunting knives and her power up from her gut and they crackle with lightning immediately.

Thalia gives them the run around, around and around and around the beach and over and behind the shack and into the surf. She’s dusted four already, starting to drag a little with the many scrapes and scratches and near misses that she’s acquired, and regrets taking off her leather jacket. She stabs another and somersaults off a dissolving back into the surf.

She hoists herself to her feet, ankle deep in the lapping waves. She sets her jaw, takes a deep breath, and braces herself. Another three. She can do three hellhounds. She’s done three hellhounds before.

Thalia almost has her feet knocked out from under her by the three-foot-high waves. The air has become dim and gray, and smells of ozone. She risks a glance away from the hellhounds to the sky and—

That’s a hurricane.

That’s impossible. Sally checked the forecast before they left for Montauk, there wasn’t a hurricane within a week’s hurricane travel time, and no potentials out in the Atlantic near New York, either.

Did she—?

Thalia checks in with herself and no, she’s not nearly as tired as she would be to make an entire hurricane so she couldn’t have done it but Percy?

Percy’s ten, and in danger, and aware of who he is, and the son of the Stormbringer, and with a distressed son of the sky. They could have done it.

Maybe. Does Jason even know what a hurricane is? Thalia’s steered them away from the eastern and southern coasts during summer and fall for a reason.

The hellhounds attack, and there’s no more time to think about it.

Thalia whirls out of the way of the first, stabbing her knife into its flank on the way by, blasts the second back with a string of lightning, and would have been eaten by the third if a rouge wave hadn’t scooped her up bodily and flung her clear.

Water doesn’t behave like that, Thalia thinks, crashing back into the surf. She sucks in a lungful of seawater, coughs it back up, and staggers to her feet. She goes down on one knee and braces herself when she sees the charging hellhound and lets it impale itself on her knife. It bursts into dust and whirls away on the rising winds.

She rolls to the left, out of the surf, to escape the other two bearing down on her. She jumps, and the wind gives her a boost, and she flips neatly over the first hellhound and stabs downward at the second hellhound’s skull with the full force of her entire self falling through the air and almost beheads the monster. She lands, tucking the knives out to the side and somersaults on the landing through the monster dust and pops back to her feet to see the final hellhound has managed to turn on a dime and is going to flatten her.

It does. One paw lands on her chest, the size of a dinner plate, and bowls her back into the sand. The breath wuffs out of her, and she scrabbles to bring to bear her knives—

The world goes white.

She’s—alive?

Yes. She’s in the water. The white is hundreds of thousands of bubbles in the wave that just tried to crush both her and the hellhound both. She can see the black mass, now, that she assumes is the hellhound, writhing in the waters about four yards off to her left.

Follow the bubbles. The surface is only a few feet above her head, thank you, Poseidon, and she swims up and gasps for air and tries to look around. The sound is choppy, gray and violent with the sudden hurricane whipping everything into a froth.

She’s hundreds of yards from shore.

Thalia swears loudly enough that she’s sure the boys can hear her from here. Lightning flashes overhead to punctuate it.

What happened? Was there a storm surge and then a riptide? She couldn’t have been out for more than a few seconds, if she was out at all!

Teeth sink into her leg and she’s dragged down again.

The hellhound is terrifyingly adept at swimming in the water. Thalia is a good enough swimmer to keep her head above water and get back to dry land, and not much else. Practicing surviving the water more than was absolutely necessary seemed foolish, given that one uncle already hated her guts. She was not about to try to piss off the other one, as well. She’d only let Jason play in the surf if Percy was also there.

Thalia was not above holding his son metaphorically hostage if it meant Poseidon would play nice with her brother.

It makes passes at Thalia in the water, darting in to claw or bite at her and darting away before Thalia can get a good hit in. She’s slow in the water, from both the resistance of the water and from the lack of air.

Out, out, I need to get OUT OF HERE—

There’s something wrong at the surface.

It looks wild from down below, but Thalia needs air and she’s not aware of any monsters that like hanging out in the air in a hurricane, so she swims for the surface.

Oh look, she deadpans to herself. A waterspout. Just what I need.

Hurricanes spawn tornadoes frequently, this should not be a shock. But she needed a way out, and a waterspout would, in fact, get her out of the water, and also probably slice her to pieces.

Hmm.

She dives back under the waves, gets whirled around a couple times by a wave cycle, and finally spots the hellhound. It sees her about the same time.

Thalia, thinking, what the HELL am I doing? swims towards the waterspout. She swims as fast as she can towards the waterspout that’s probably only thirty feet away, but feels like a mile.

The hellhound is on her before she can believe it, and she grabs it by the chest fur, ducking under the dangerous teeth, hauls herself close, and swings around, hoping that her own momentum would do what she hoped. It did, it reversed them, so that the hellhound was closer to the surface than she was, and then Thalia braced both feet against its chest and blasted it back with a plume of bubbles.

My superpower, Thalia thinks, amused, bubbles.

Straight into the vortex it goes, and up, and up—

Thalia surfaces ten feet away, swimming backwards, and watches the hellhound get sucked more than thirty feet up before it dissolves into golden dust. She breathes out a sigh of relief. The waterspout dissolves just as quickly as it formed.

Can’t believe that worked, she thinks, and starts swimming to shore.

There’s a lot of yelling. And nobody can agree on who made the hurricane, or the waterspout, or the weird waves, but they’re all tired as Hades.

🗲

Thalia is eighteen and Jason is eleven and the world almost ended. It’s June 24th, mere days before Jason turns twelve, three days after Percy pulled some seriously stupid stunts for a month and then vanished again, and Thalia found out that he, Annabeth, and Grover found Zeus’s zappy wand and returned it in the nick of time before all out war broke out.

She and Jason storm Camp Half-Blood. There’s a lot of yelling involved, and some blood, and some swords stuck in places they should not be stuck. Luke pulls her off to the side and she has both hands wrapped around the edges of his breastplate because otherwise they’ll shake and she’s whispering, “What the fuck, Luke. He’s twelve. Why—How—?” over and over again into his collarbone.

“Thals,” he says, chuckling, wrapping her in a hug. “Those three are going to take over the world, and the world will be gladder for it.”

“They shouldn’t have to,” she says.

“I think world domination would be a self-directed and mostly accidental task, actually,” Luke says thoughtfully, and its such a ludicrous statement that Thalia falls into hysterical laughter.

#atc rewrite #all together cousins #pjo #fanfic #im excited actually #thalia pov #pre books and tlt #mostly pre books though #do i need to list the entire cast of characters #okay just the important ones #thalia grace #jason grace #luke castellan #percy jackson #sally jackson #hera #there are plenty of others but they're currently in fairly minor parts of the story or only mentioned

[sunburnacoustic]

Muse’s Matt Bellamy: ‘I felt that we could do no wrong. Obviously, we could’

By Mikael Wood in the L.A. Times (pasted because paywalls)

(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

Matt Bellamy wrote Muse’s new album in a Santa Monica recording studio painstakingly decorated to resemble the so-called red room from “Twin Peaks.”

Crimson curtains, leather armchairs, black-and-white zigzag flooring: The 44-year-old frontman of one of England’s biggest rock bands reproduced every detail of the otherworldly chamber from the cult-fave TV show he remembers devouring during Muse’s first tour on a bus back in the early 2000s.

“It just sets a certain tone, you know?” he says, looking around the space with obvious pride on a recent afternoon.

Yet as Bellamy sat composing amid a thicket of electric guitars and vintage synths — including an old Roland model he says was the same used for the “Stranger Things” theme — what really inspired him was the tumult unfolding outside the studio, which he observed through an enormous one-way mirror in the building’s front wall.

This was mid-to-late 2020: Bellamy, who’s written for years about the menacing encroachments of technology and government, watched (without those on the street being able to see inside) as shops went out of business during the pandemic, as Black Lives Matter protesters marched through the city, as riot-gear-clad police and National Guard moved in to shut down demonstrations, as a man took up residence in a car parked right in front of the studio. Helicopters seemed to be circling constantly; a drone hovered over Bellamy one day as he loaded gear in through a back door.

“It was like being inside a scene from ‘RoboCop,’” he says now. “All the anxieties and the dystopian strangeness that had always been kind of speculative in our music — suddenly it felt like it was all coming true. It was actually happening.”

The result of his observations is Muse’s ninth studio album, “Will of the People,” on which Bellamy rhymes “a life in crisis” with “a deadly virus” and “tsunamis of hate are gonna drown us.” (Sample song titles include “Kill or Be Killed” and “We Are Fucking Fucked.”) But if the LP confronts a brave new world, it also knowingly looks back: Musically, the band—rounded out by bassist Chris Wolstenholme and drummer Dominic Howard—dials down the fluorescent electro-pop vibe of 2018’s “Simulation Theory” in favor of the harder, more guitar-oriented sound that made Muse a prog-metal sensation more than two decades ago.

Muse performing in Philadelphia in 2013. (Owen Sweeney / Invision via AP)

What are those so-called worst parts of Muse? Probably a tendency to veer off and experiment in areas that we’re not very experienced in. Most of [2012’s] “The 2nd Law,” for instance — classical dubstep, weird clarinet solos, whatever else is on that album. I think we felt we’d achieved so much with [the 2009 hit] “Uprising” that we could do no wrong. Obviously, we could.

You produced “Will of the People” yourself after collaborating with the producer Shellback on “Simulation Theory” and with Mutt Lange on 2015’s “Drones.” With people like that who are so successful, I think sometimes we’ve gone in the studio and been a little bit like, “OK, we’ll do just whatever you say.” In hindsight, I wish I’d been more involved and put more of our stamp on it. So we’ve kind of gone back to our safe space on this album. If we’re in complete control, it may not be the most cutting-edge or the most modern-sounding thing, but it’s the only way to guarantee that we’re gonna love it.

(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

June 2020 was a heck of a time to bring a baby into the world. I came to America in 2010 as a single person looking to experience L.A. for a bit — and, boy, have I had an experience. Ended up with a Hollywood actress [Kate Hudson], had a baby together and the whole cliché scenario of the ups and downs of celebrity life. Then married a Texan [model Elle Evans] and had another baby. Been evacuated from my house during wildfires. Then the pandemic and the full January 6 Trump meltdown. It’s just been an unbelievable period to be here.

“Will of the People” suggests it hasn’t left you terribly optimistic about the future. It depends what your definition of optimism is. To me there’s a fighting spirit in the music, which is a form of optimism. It’s like the moment in “Rocky” when Adrian tells Rocky to win.

Do you think it’s clear to listeners who you’re fighting? In the new song “Compliance,” you’re singing sarcastically about people falling into line and doing as they’re told. It could be interpreted as an anti-woke anthem. I never thought about it that way. I thought about it in terms of the rising authoritarianism that we’re now seeing is a real thing— Trump in this country, but also Putin and the China situation. These ideologies, I feel like we kind of tested the waters in the 20th century and realized that fascism and communism are both just absolute disasters and that we don’t need to go near that stuff ever again. And yet it’s emerging.

What’s your reaction to that? I have an anti-authoritarian nature. My parents say that when I was a young child I was never very good at being told what to do. I don’t like the idea of vast centralized power that’s very far away from where I live. I come from Devon in England, which is a couple hundred miles from London. But when I went to see where my wife’s from in Paris, Texas, it’s like, Holy s—! It’s thousands of miles from the places of power in America. So the resistance to someone deciding how I should live who has no idea what my day-to-day life is — I can understand it, even though there’s a risk of it being hijacked by more extremist factions that have gone down roads I don’t agree with.

Have you considered becoming a U.S. citizen? I have. Overall, I actually think the United States’ structure is really amazing, with all the different ways to make laws at the local level. It seems like every month my wife is voting on some sort of proposition. I’m looking at that going, Wow, England is so behind on that front. We don’t ever get to vote on policy.

The oddest thing about that late-2020 period where things in America and California seemed so chaotic and crazy was that I felt my connection deepening. There’s something going on here that is critical to what’s happening in the entire world. America has become a kind of center point for this idea that there’s an empire on the verge of collapse, and how do we save it? Or how do we know which parts to save and which parts to let fall away?

For some people — Dom, to some extent — it made them want to get out. But for me it had the opposite effect. It’s everything I’m interested in, and it’s massively creatively inspiring.

Has becoming wealthy shaped your political views? I don’t think so. I remember all my feelings of what it was to be from a poor rural background with no opportunities and all the disadvantages. And I still have some views that would be considered pretty socialist by some. Universal health care is an obvious one; I can’t even believe there’s not universal healthcare here. I’ve also come to the view that maybe land shouldn’t be privately owned.

Can you relate to music that’s unambiguously joyful? Coldplay, let’s say. Absolutely. Chris [Martin] is a friend of mine. I love what they do. I wish I could write more songs that enter the love sphere. But I think it might be against the nature of the sounds our band makes. When the three of us are jamming, it’s like Rage Against the Machine riffs are coming out all the time. I can’t imagine hearing those riffs with Chris Martin singing about peace and love on top.

What’s the happiest Muse song? “Starlight” is pretty positive. I think “Verona” on the new album is pretty nice — little bit of “Romeo and Juliet” in there.

Do you think rock music is in good hands with the generation behind yours? My 11-year-old son likes Slipknot and Metallica. My stepson Ryder from a previous situation [with Hudson], he’s 18 and he’s really into rock. He turned me on to Willow Smith.

Can you envision touring in your 60s and 70s like Paul McCartney and the Rolling Stones? Yeah, but Metallica is the one that’s really made me think we could do it. The Stones and McCartney, they have universally uplifting music. But Metallica — I’m not sure how old they are, but they’re up there — that’s really heavy music and they’re still out there. The great thing about rock is that, even though the genre is largely irrelevant in the mainstream, you can actually grow old with it. You can make a real life career.

#Muse interviews #matt bellamy #muse band #Will Of The People #some parts of this interview were really interesting/slaps in the face #Like where Matt talks about feeling invincible roughly around albums 4-6 #It did really feel like that (I’ve talked about this before): Muse could do no wrong. The world was at their feet! #When he says ‘we could’ - he’s obviously talking about T2L and the way fans weren’t too pleased with it. #That’s disappointing to hear though. T2L is hardly an album to be dismissed. #It’s literally the only direction Muse could’ve gone in after The Resistance #Idk I think they got caught up in an era where rock bands were dwindling and 00s guitar fans were resentful of that synthy sound #(I blame the EDM boom) and so Muse genuinely interpreting ‘heavy’ as a kind of sound not solely connected to distorted guitars #Fell on its arse when in fact it was brilliant. I see nothing wrong with e.g. Unsustainable; Matt is 100% right when he says it’s heavy. #And of course his thoughts on America and the America he sees around him. His take on it as a non-American. Quite interesting #And on production and why Muse self-produce albums #muse #WOTP

[foxes-that-run]

Coney Island

To Zane Lowe (at 36mins) Taylor talked about Coney Island being about male regret and place everyone wanted to be but now with the lights are off. In this Lyric video Taylor referenced Harry's winding wheels, a metaphor for soulmates. It is co-written with William Bowery, Joe has no credit.

Winding Wheel

The Winding Wheel is a Ryan Adams’ song. (Ryan made a rock cover album of 1989). There is a post about it here. Ryan described it as a metaphor for an “ultimate soulmate”.

13 December 2013, Harry posted 'better still be my winding wheel' on Taylor's birthday. Say don't go was written 2 weeks later.

27 February 2015, the first photos of Taylor with Calvin were posted and Harry posted an overgrown winding wheel to IG

11 January 2018, Taylor put a Ferris Wheel in the open of End Game

11 December 2020, this Lyric Video has a ferris wheel

This is very long, this song hits so many classic Haylor themes that its dense. When it is all written out like this it boggles my mind people would think it is about another muse or several.

Taylor also said on radio about Coney Island:

"Aaron Dessner sent me this track that he created with his brother Bryce, and I wrote the lyrics and the melody with William Bowery. I was coming from a place of somebody who’s been in a relationship for decades and wakes up one day & realizes that they have taken their partner for granted. It speaks to people who are trying to communicate - but they’re two ships passing in the night. They’re trying to love each other but their signals are somehow missing each other.”

She also said ships in the nights about Exile in that interview and in the lyrics of Willow.

Live performances

Coney Island has been played live once, 28 April 2023 in Atlanta. This is one day before the High Infidelity anniversary of April 29. The other song was The Other Side of the Door which has similar theme of wanting a lover back and regret for ruining a relationship.

Lyrics

[Verse 1: Taylor Swift] Break my soul in two looking for you But you're right here If I can't relate to you anymore Then who am I related to?

The opening verse does not pull punches, it ends with 'if I can't relate to who then who am I related to?' Taylor and Harry have a lot of shared history, similar careers and while no one is as big as Taylor Harry is in a small group who can relate. They have respectively sung about being each others soulmate. To loose that is devastating.

Breaking her soul looking is similar to:

Don't blame me "For you, I would cross the line / fall from grace"

Illicit affairs "And you know damn well / For you I would ruin myself / …a million little times"

Slut! "And if they call me a slut / You know it might be worth it for once"

And if this is the long haul How'd we get here so soon? Did I close my fist around something delicate? Did I shatter you?

This again refers to this concept that even apart they are each others person, so to feel they aren’t connecting is a loss

Closing her fist around something Delicate is a reference to the song, which is also about Harry, more on why here. Shattering him is a reference to Falling, to be so lonely. and possibly renegade. Shattered pieces are also in mirrorball.

[Chorus: Taylor Swift] And I'm sitting on a bench in Coney Island Wondering, where did my baby go? The fast times, the bright lights, the merry go Sorry for not making you my centerfold

The fast times, bright lights describe their life, the place to be:

I Know Places: "Lights flash and we’ll run for the fences"

Wonderland: "Flashing lights and we took a wrong turn and we fell down a rabbit hole"

New Romantics: "We’re all here, the lights and noise are blinding"

Is it Over Now: "And did you think I didn't see you? / There were flashin' lights"

Merry-go round, and lost again with no surprises, disappointments refers to the cyclical nature of their relationship.

Blank Space: "But you’ll come back each time you leave"

Style: "And when we go crashing down we come back every time"

Cardigan: "And I knew you’d come back to"me"

OOTW "We were built to fall apart / Then fall back together (back together)"

Sorry for not making me your centerfold breaks my heart, meaning sorry you were not her end game when she thought he would stay with Joe. Lets take Labyrinth as a nice sequel.

Over and over Lost again with no surprises Disappointments, close your eyes And it gets colder and colder When the sun goes down

Maroon "How the hell did we lose sight of us again? Sobbin' with your head in your hands Ain't that the way shit always ends?" The chorus ends sadly, with it getting colder and colder the longer it goes on like that.

Taylor has referred to watching sunsets with Harry, usually in happy, wistful times, but here it is sad, the sun is setting on them. Sunsets are also in:

Out Of The Woods: When you started crying, baby, I did, too, but when the sun came up I was looking at you

Wildest Dreams: "Say you’ll remember me standing in a nice dress, staring at the sunset, babe"

It’s Nice To Have A Friend: Light pink sky up on the roof, sun sinks down, no curfew

Harry and Taylor also posted Sunset photos in Cannes a year apart, which Taylor referenced in the promotion for Cruel Summer, Slut!'s music video also had a similar sky.

[Verse 2: Matt Berninger with Taylor Swift] The question pounds my head What's a lifetime of achievement If I pushed you to the edge But you were too polite to leave me?

The lifetime achievement having no meaning without this muse reflects a theme that Harry and Taylor have sung about the cost of fame in Mirrorball, your on your own kid and Sign of the Times. In Suburban Legends Taylor sings "I didn't come here to make friends We were born to be suburban legends" which to me plays into the idea that they put their careers first and the relationship suffered.

Suburban Legends "I broke my own heart 'cause you were too polite to do it"

And do you miss the rogue Who coaxed you into paradise and left you there? Will you forgive my soul When you're too wise to trust me and too old to care?

Taylor describes Harry as a rogue is a troublemaker Harry has been in IKYWT, "you were trouble", 22 "you look like bad news" Style "James Dean daydream" and Ready for it? "Knew he was a killer first time that I saw him". Harry has also described himself this way in Trouble "You know i’m trouble / I’m trouble with you"

He coaxed her into paradise and left her there in the Virgin Isles in Now that we don't talk and famously the boat.

[Chorus: Taylor Swift with Matt Berninger] 'Cause we were like the mall before the internet It was the one place to be The mischief, the gift-wrapped suburban dreams Sorry for not winning you an arcade ring

Taylor talks about the line of the mall before the internet because it was the one place to be to Zane Lowe, linked above. I love this line, they were the one place to be, the two biggest pop stars in love. I also find a parallel in this line and August, "And say, "Meet me behind the mall" August being the other person, not Harry and Taylor, they meet behind the mall which Harry and Taylor are.

Gift-wrapped suburban dreams refers to Suburban Legends, where Harry and Taylor are the idols of suburbia. "We were born to be suburban legends [...] We were born to be national treasures/ When you told me we'd get back together"

Similar to the centerfold line, not winning you an arcade ring is saying sorry for not getting back together as they had thought. Falling is Harry's perspective on this belief that Taylor would stay with someone else. This time I will choose SOTB as my sequel track. ;)

[Bridge: Taylor Swift, Matt Berninger, Both] Were you waiting at our old spot In the tree line by the gold clock Did I leave you hanging every single day? Were you standing in the hallway With a big cake, happy birthday

In the unreleased Hunger Harry indicates they may have broken up on his birthday "We could ruin a perfect night / On my birthday I made you cry". This may have been in 2015, they had been seen together in late 2014, up to 2 weeks before Harry's birthday. Then Taylor was in Nashville on his birthday and she met CH 3 weeks later.

Hallways are also in 10 songs, generally meeting in them, but here they break up. Taylor also mentioned the birthday line to Zane Lowe as the album came out just before her birthday.

Did I paint your bluest skies the darkest grey? A universe away And when I got into the accident The sight that flashed before me was your face But when I walked up to the podium I think that I forgot to say your name

The accident is a reference to the Snow mobile accident in Is it over now? and OOTW: "Remember when you hit the brakes too soon / Twenty stitches in a hospital room / When you started crying, baby, I did too / But when the sun came up, I was looking at you"

To me, I forgot to say your name at the podium is a reference to Taylors 2013 VMA speech where she said "I'd like to say the person who inspired this song, you know exactly who you are, and now I have one of these!" Harry and Taylor were both musicians, the inspired each other and as evidenced by still writing to each other 10 years later this speech diminished that.

Harry’s unreleased Talk and includes “You forgot my name / Sick and tired of me, I can feel the heat” which, no one forgets his name so I take it as referring to the podium.

#haylor #evermore #coney island

[valkyriesexual]

One thing that I’m worried about, it’s almost like JD used the UK trial as a test run?? Like in the UK trial, Stephen Deuters testified which opened the door for AH’s lawyers to bring in the text msgs where he admits JD kicked AH. By having Stephen not testify (at least I don’t think he’s testified) there’s nothing to refute the testimony that JD was clean and sober and didn’t kick her. Therefore there’s no evidence to the contrary and it’s AH’s word against like 4 others. And he’s also talking about the trial on social media so even if he is called he would be dismissed. Doesn’t look good. Similar to Kate James not mentioning AH “stole her SA story” because it was so easy to refute and outrageous in the UK. This time though it’s broadcast to the entire world. Or am I just overthinking this/wrong.

Ryan Baker, a Los Angeles attorney who has represented clients in defamation cases, told the BBC that Ms. Heard's evidence was compelling. The critical question, Mr. Baker said, is whether Ms. Heard can claim to be a victim of some form of domestic violence, as she wrote in 2018. And according to Mr. Baker, this abuse can be broad - physical, emotional or verbal - because Ms. Heard did not recount any specific episodes of abuse in the op-ed. "For the jury to side with Johnny Depp, they will have to completely disregard Amber Heard's testimony, consider her a liar," he said. "All the jury needs to do is believe some of what she's saying."

So that's a defamation attorney. And as a domestic violence attorney, I think the depp texts alone prove that he has committed domestic violence.

Things I think all by themselves would justify a finding in AH's favor:

The jury was shown a text message describing the flight, Depp described himself as “an angry aggro injun in a fucking blackout, screaming obscenities and insulting any fuck who got near.”

The jury was shown pictures of messages that Depp had scrawled in paint and blood after the finger injury, including one that read “starring Billy Bob and easy Amber.”

The jury was shown a text message that Depp sent to Heard’s father in December 2015, when Depp wrote, “Yes I fucked up and went too far in our fight.”

Jurors heard a series of audio recordings of conversations between the former couple, in which Mr. Depp could be heard shouting vulgar insults and obscenities at Ms. Heard. In one exchange, Ms. Heard shouts at Mr. Depp to put his "cigarettes out on someone else". Mr. Depp could be heard insulting Ms. Heard about her weight. He grimaced while the clips were played, while Ms. Heard seemed to hold back tears.

The jury saw a series of negative articles about Mr. Depp, some dating back to 2014, trying to demonstrate that damage to his reputation - and his career - had been done years before Ms. Heard publicly accused Mr. Depp of abuse.

The court heard damning exchanges from 2013 and 2014 between Depp and Bettany in which he described his desire to harm Heard: “Let’s drown her before we burn her!!!” he wrote, and said he would defile her corpse “afterwards to make sure she’s dead”

The court also listened to a recording of Depp moaning during a now infamous flight from Boston to Los Angeles. Depp had previously testified that he drank only a glass of champagne as he boarded the plane and, after taking two painkillers, locked himself in the plane’s bathroom and went to sleep to avoid Heard’s badgering. Depp later texted Bettany to say that he drank “all night before I picked Amber up to fly to LA this past Sunday. Ugly, mate. No food for days. Powders. Half a bottle of Whiskey, a thousand Red Bull and vodkas, pills, 2 bottles of Champers on plane.”

The jury heard an audio recording: “Where do you want the scar?” Depp says. Heard pleads with him, “Don’t cut your skin. Please do not cut your skin. Why would I do that. Please do not do that. Please don’t cut yourself.”

[AH's attorney] played audio in which Depp tells Heard that, “I head butted you in the fucking forehead. That doesn’t break a nose.”

In another set of texts read out in court to Patti Smith during the making of 2015’s Black Mass, Depp spoke of “getting shitty” to Heard. A 2014 text to Heard herself saw Depp apologizing for a clearly bad encounter between the couple: “I’m a fucking savage, gotta to lose that …the Devil is all around.”

I’ll smack the ugly cunt around before I let her in,” another 2014 text from Depp to a friend read. In a further 2015 text to his older sister, Depp referred to his then wife as “that filthy whore”

I have a hard time imagining, with all of this, that any reasonable jury could find that AH was not the victim of domestic violence, and as such, it was defamatory for her to claim that she was. But we'll have to see.

[if you found this post helpful or informative, please consider subscribing to my substack, it does take me a decent amount of time to research, write, and source posts like this, and substack subscriptions are deeply appreciated]

#depp v. heard #answered #sources cited

[3vi3evie]

My idea of what the Arctic Monkeys albums mean

So idk if y’all already know this or I’m just reaching and I’m slowly going insane but ya. Also I’m basing this off of Alex Turner mainly.

Okay so

WPSIATWIN(2006)- Johanna Bennett 2005-2007

FWN(2007)- Johanna Bennett 2005-2007

Humbug(2009)- Alexa Chung 2007-2011

Suck it and See(2011)- Alexa Chung 2007-2011

AM(2013)-Arielle Vandenberg 2011-2014

Tranquility Base Hotel and Casino (2018)- Taylor Bagley 2015-2018

The Car(2022)- Louise Verneuil 2018-now

So like apparently Alex Turner cheated on Taylor with Louise. In the song “Body Paint” I think Alex is singing about someone cheating. This leads me to believe he wrote the album kinda about himself. This can also be backed up with the song “Mr. Schwartz” because “Schwartz” is German for someone with dark hair which describes him. In the song “I ain’t quite where I think I am” he says “And I can see both islands now” I think this refers to Louise and Taylor being the islands.

Tranquility base hotel and casino is very abstract. In the beginning I thought that this album didn’t really tell much of a story like their other albums so it really lead me to think Alex was using drugs of some sort after doing research on this topic. (I’m not trying to shame this like it’s ur body do what you want because I can’t change that). TBH&C is like another reality and Alex is trying to promote this world. In the song “Four out of five” he is saying that this “hotel” is four stars out of the five. If you look into the lyrics it kinda gets weird as well as “TBH&C”

“All the nights that never happened.And the days that don't exist.At the information action ratio.Only time that we stop laughing is to breathe or steal a kiss.I can get you on the list for all the clubs.I can lift you up another semitone”

“And do you celebrate your dark side.And then wish you'd never left the house?.Have you ever spent a generation.Trying to figure that one out?”

This reminds me of like the Cecil Hotel in California Los Angeles. Alex Turner did live in LA 2013-2020 I believe.

“I just wanted to be one of The Strokes. Now look at the mess you made me make.Hitchhiking with a monogrammed suitcase miles away from any half-useful imaginary highway.”

This opening to “Star Treatment” is saying how Alex Turner just wanted to be like The Strokes and that didn’t really work out but he can’t get away from this now. This idea is kinda also shown in “American Sports”.

“I lost the money, lost the keys,but I'm still handcuffed to the briefcase.”

I think he is trying to say he couldn’t keep up this reputation after the AM album because that’s really what they are most known for but it’s not them anymore but it will always be apart of their identity as a band. Also in the song “Big Ideas” from “The Car” album it says

“I had big ideas the band was so excited. The kind you'd rather not share over the phone. But now, the orchestra's got us all surrounded.And I cannot for the life of me remember how they go.”

So idk really what this is it’s probably a reach or something and don’t believe all this because it could be untrue. I know this is some Reddit ass shit but I don’t have Reddit lmaooo. Anyways bye bitch