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red-sector-rivendell · 3 years

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media reccs? 👀 since apparently you are a man of good taste?

Wow thank you 😏 I have a masterlist of movies that have changed me I often recommend to people, I'll just copy and paste here with quick synopses lol, it's kinda long. I'm not super great at writing synopses tho so bear with me

Dead Poets Society (1989)

One of my favorite movies of all time and a total classic. It's about a group of boys at a strict boarding school who are inspired by their new English teacher (played by Robin Williams) to think for themselves and chase their dreams. This movie literally changed my life lol

Quadrophenia (1979)

This movie is based off of the story behind the concept album by The Who of the same name. It follow the life of a young man named Jimmy who is in a gang called the Mods. Theres this huge gang war between them and the Rockers (I think that's their name, it's been a while since i watched it) and Jimmy questions his beliefs about coming-of-age and his values in life throughout the film

Cabaret (1972)

Based off of the Broadway musical of the same name, this movie is about a British man who moves to Germany during the beginning of the rise of Nazis. He meets a woman who basically turns his world upside down, and it follows their love affair and sexuality and anti-semitism, and it's hilarious and heart wrenching and a beautiful movie

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)

This is a super trippy romance film. Basically in the universe of this movie, theres a technology that is developed that can delete memories of an entire person from your mind while you are in a dream-like state, and the main character of this movie (played by Jim Carrey) decides to undergo the procedure after a bad breakup. Its soooo good I highly recommend this movie

It's Such a Beautiful Day (2012)

This is an animated film about a man named Bill who is going through brain cancer. Its told from the perspective of an unnamed narrator essentially communicating everything Bill sees, hears, and experiences. This is the movie that got me into film and it is still a complete masterpiece and one of the most beautiful movies I've ever seen

The Dirties (2013)

Loved this one a lot back in high school, it's been a while since I watched it. This is a film made in Canada about a high schooler named Matt Johnson and his friend Owen who decide to make a short film for their class about them killing the gang at their school that bullies them, and things take a dark turn. It's a hilarious movie and hits pretty close to home for me in a lot of ways haha

Logan's Run (1976)

Great movie, pretty cheesy though so be warned. This is based off a book with the same name, and it takes place in the future where most of humanity is wiped out except for a small society that lives under a domed structure. No one is allowed to leave the dome, and to control overpopulation, no one is allowed to live past the age of 30. It's really bizarre but I love this movie

Donnie Darko (2001)

Pretty sure this was Jake Gyllenhaal's first big hit when he was super young (I think he was like 19 in this movie but I'm not sure) basically about this kid, Donnie Darko, who is somewhat schizophrenic and has a habit of sleepwalking. After one particular incident he has a near-death experience and starts seeing a man in a bunny costume everywhere who makes him do weird stuff. Another pretty trippy movie with a crazy ending

American Psycho (2000)

Honestly I'm sure a few on this list you've probably seen (most likely this one included) but I didnt wanna leave any out because they're all so good. If you haven't seen this, it's about a Wall Street executive named Patrick Bateman who is a materialistic phony by day and a serial killer by night. I tried to read the book but the inner dialogue was really hard to get through lmao. Awesome movie though huge recommend.

Clockwork Orange (1971)

Yet another trippy one. And fuck it's been a long time since I've seen it so I might get some stuff wrong here. But it's basically about this serial rapist guy who hangs out with this group of goons and they all like to go beat up homeless people and shit, but the main character gets captured and has to go through reformation therapy to make him a better person. It's an extremely bizarre movie but soooo good and kind of hilarious lol

Creep (2014)

Of course this is on my list haha. If you haven't seen it yet, it's a horror movie about this freelance film guy who answers an ad on craigslist to help a man with cancer film a movie for his unborn son. And shit gets weird real fast. One of my favorite horror movies ever, I wouldnt say it's super scary but it's fun as fuck

Hereditary (2018)

If I'm being honest, I don't like a lot of big movies made in super recent years and especially not horror movies (mostly because they're all cheap cash grabs with no substance) but this one is an exception for me. Hereditary is fucking masterful in my opinion, legitimately creepy as hell and well-produced and well written. To put the plot as vaguely as possible without spoiling anything, it's about a family (mostly the mother) who go through some crazy fucked up shit. That's literally all I can say without giving anything away. Super good flick, big recommend

Gattaca (1997)

This list isn't in any particular order, and I love all these movies to death, but if I had to rank them this would probably be on the lower end. It's not a bad movie, it's still great but it's just not as life-changing as the other ones lmao. This takes place in the future where genetic modifications have progressed to a point where you can modify your unborn child's DNA to have the perfect baby. This has led to, essentially racial bias against those who never had that procedure when they were born. The main character was not one of these "special" children, but he wants an extremely prestigious job which requires that of the employee. Through the film, he is trying to fake his identity and fool the company into thinking he is one of these perfect people. Still a great film

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998)

Johnny Depp, man, he is something else. I LOVE this movie. Based off a true story and a book written by the man who lived it, Hunter S. Thompson, this follows the adventure of the writer and his attorney as they go on a drugged-out, psychedelic romp through Las Vegas with the original intention being to cover a story on a motorcycle race, but things go off the rails as they both terrorize the entire city in a way. Just a fun ride the whole way, a great movie

The Truman Show (1998)

God I'm realizing this list is long as fuck. Don't watch all of these movies, it might take you a lifetime lmao. Anyway, this is a classic Jim Carrey movie and another one you've probably seen. But again, if you haven't, this movie is about a man whose entire life has been fabricated and shot for television without him knowing. Super great, super moving, fantastic film 10 outta 10 I gotta wrap this shit up

A Scanner Darkly (2006)

A lesser known Keanu Reeves movie, but fuck I wish more people have seen this. This is one of my favorite movies of all time, and it's based off a book which is just as amazing. This movie takes place in the near future, where facial recognition technology has progressed wayyy too far, and drugs have gotten to the point of no return. The plot follows a detective who is undercover in a junkie house trying to figure out who is the top of the drug dealing totem pole, but ends up wrapped in the junkie lifestyle a little too deeply. Seriously, I recommend this movie to everyone who asks, it's so damn good

Fight Club (1999)

Another popular one. If you havent seen it, it's based off a book by Chuck Palahniuk following the story of a man (the main character actually doesnt have a name lol) who meets a guy named Tyler Durden who changes his entire perspective on how the world works. They start an underground boxing club together to help themselves and other men blow off steam and get away from the capitalist consumer-centric lifestyle they are forced into. Big twist at the end, great movie five stars on yelp

Harold and Maude (1971)

This is a weird one. Gotta say. It's about a guy in his 20s who meets an old woman at a funeral and falls in love with her. Sounds pretty ok at face value but theres a lot of really strange subplots and a huuuuge twist at the end (one of the subplots being the guy compulsively fakes his suicide to get his mother's attention) big recommend

Polyester (1981)

This one I cant even explain u just have to watch it its fucking bizarre

Fargo (1996)

Ok lightning round on the synopses, this movie is about a man who wants to commit fraud by hiring guys to kidnap his wife so her father can pay them ransom and instead the husband gets the money but everything goes wrong it's really good

Bad Times at the El Royale (2018)

Another modern movie I actually like, last time I watched this I was on shrooms and it was crazy but it's about this hotel right on the border of california and (Nevada I think?) And all these weird people are staying at it and there are twists at every turn and chris hemsworth is a cult leader in it its great

Memento (2000)

GREAT MOVIE GOD PLEASE WATCH THIS ONE it's about a man who develops short term memory loss after witnessing the rape and murder of his wife AND WHEN I SAY THERE ARE TWISTS LIKE EVERY TEN MINUTES I MEAN IT. The film is chronologically backwards, in that the first scene takes place at the end of the story and works back from there in increments of like 5 minutes. Basically each scene is a segment of time that this guy remembers before his memory loss kicks in and he forgets and FUCK it's so good please god watch it

Almost Famous (2000)

This is another one that would probably be low on my ranking but still a great and fun movie, it's about this kid that wants to write articles about rock stars for the rolling stone (based off a true story btw) and he ends up running away to go ride on a tour bus with some band and gets into all types of shenanigans and its great and sad

Parasite (2019)

Another modern movie I love, fuck this is getting too long lmao. Poor family wants to make money and they hatch a scheme to pretend to be bougie and work for this rich family but shit gets weird and everything goes wrong and it's so good (also literally the only film ever that made me speechless afterwards)

Pulp Fiction (1994)

Pretty much lives up to the hype, I totally forgot the plot but it's pretty damn good I remember that lmao

The Warriors (1979)

Fun movie, theres a bunch of teen gangs in New York and the leader of all of em is like "hey we should rally all the gangs together and fuck up the cops so we can rule this city" but then he gets shot by someone in the crowd and the gang The Warriors gets blamed so the whole movie is them running from all the other gangs so they can get back to home base and it's just an all around fun time movie

12 Monkeys (1995)

THIS MOVJE IS CRAZY it takes place in the future where a virus has almost completely wiped humans off the face of the earth so these scientists send this guy back in time to figure out where it came from so they can stop it from ever happening but obviously everything goes wrong and yadda yadda yadda it's amazing

Waking Life (2001)

Gonna preface this by saying this film is definitely not for entertainment, it's kind of an arthouse-type flick. It's the type of movie you have to think really really hard about to watch. The basic plot is the main character is stuck inside his own lucid dream, and is walking around listening to all these characters in his dream talk to him about, idk like the meaning of life and consciousness and shit. It's really good if you're in the mood for that type of thing.

Okay I'm finally done, you probably didnt expect this but I've been meaning to put my movie recommendations on this blog anyway haha. I deleted some just cause it was getting wayyyy too long. If u want a shorter list I can just give u like a top 5 in DMs but there u go have at it, every movie on that list is a banger I swear

#long post #movies #film #cinema #cinephile #ask #movie recommendations #you have no obligation to read all that #really shows how bored i am that i wrote out this whole fuckin thing on my phone lmao #youre welcome?

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d-criss-news · 4 years

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FX’s American Crime Story: Versace is unquestionably producer-director Ryan Murphy at his very best. The unflinching and truly devastating mini-series is the story of serial killer Andrew Cunanan’s descent into madness and murder, told backwards.

Doubling as a fascinating examination of influence, homophobia, and gay culture in the 90s, American Crime Story: Versace’s most unsettling moments have nothing to do with the murders. If you somehow missed this masterpiece, we’re here to tell you why it needs to be your next Netflix binge.

The structure

Ryan Murphy wastes no time captivating his audience, throwing a hook immediately by beginning the miniseries with the killing of Gianni Versace (Édgar Ramírez). Slowly working backward from Versace’s death, the audience’s tension builds as Murphy takes us through the horror-filled path to the origin of Andrew Cunanan’s (Darren Criss) killing spree.

American Crime Story: Versace is loosely based on Maureen Orth’s book Vulgar Favors: Andrew Cunanan, Gianni Versace and the Largest Failed Manhunt in U.S. History. After his murder in episode one, Versace becomes more of a supporting character in the story of his death, where 90s gay culture and Cunanan’s murder spree take center stage.

The casting

There are so many ridiculously amazing performances in American Crime Story: Versace, it’s hard to pick a favorite (don’t worry, we did anyway, but that’s later). Édgar Ramírez and Ricky Martin’s portrayal of a genuine and believable Gianni Versace and his partner Antonio D’Amico have us heartbroken within minutes of the series’ beginning. Ricky Martin portrays Antonio D’Amico’s grief with agonizing conviction.

Penelope Cruz initially feels overdramatic as Donatella Versace. However, upon closer examination of the fashion icon’s character, the portrayal is close to faultless, unsurprising as the two are friends.

Two of the most surprising performances are short, two-episode character arcs, with Max Greenfield (New Girl), barely recognizable as an HIV-positive Ronnie, and Judith Light (Who’s the Boss?) as high-profile cosmetics mogul, Marilyn Miglin.

Ronnie and Andrew Cunanan meet in Miami after Cunanan has already killed four people. In 1997, the shadow of HIV as a death sentence is slowly starting to lift, but Greenfield’s Ronnie perfectly portrays the overwhelming melancholy those who have been affected by the disease are still crippled with.

Judith Light’s role is especially complex. Marilyn Miglin’s husband Lee (Mike Farrell), was a prominent architect and philanthropist, brutally murdered by Andrew Cunanan. Well known in the Chicago social scene, by all reports the Miglins were a happy partnership. Light’s performance of Marilyn is deeply layered, both stoic and heartbreaking.

The real-life Marilyn has always maintained that Lee’s death was a random murder, and American Crime Story: Versace shows Marilyn using her connections to keep the embarrassing details of Lee’s death quiet. Judith Light’s Marilyn is both outraged and overwhelmed by her grief, and she shines brighter than ever.

The only character whose role is more perfectly portrayed is Andrew Cunanan himself, as Darren Criss’s performance is nothing short of career-shaping, so amazing it needs its own category.

Darren Criss

If Darren Criss still has you thinking of Glee, you need to stop what you’re doing and turn on American Crime Story: Versace. He is absolutely everything in this role, fully transforming himself from scene to scene as takes on Andrew Cunanan’s chameleon-like maneuvering as he manipulates those around him.

Andrew Cunanan’s psychopathic nature comes with a charming and shrewd personality. Reportedly able to go days without sleeping as he taught himself everything there is to know about fashion or opera, Cunanan built entire backstories for himself on a dime. Cunanan never lacked for friends, and Criss managed to channel Cunanan’s appeal while never losing his underlying stomach-turning menace.

Honestly, Darren Criss easily could have won an Emmy for the dance scene alone. We’ll never hear Phil Collins “Easy Lover” without visions of Criss breaking it down in a pink banana hammock ever again.

The 90s in Miami

It’s rare that anything covering true crime is marked by its bright neon backdrop. American Crime Story: Versace provides a disarming contrast between the bright background of 90s Miami and the dark content of a sadistic murder spree.

Ryan Murphy is no stranger to 90’s Miami, he began his career working as a journalist for the Miami Herald in the 90s. American Crime Story: Versace is hauntingly authentic, filmed in the house where Versace lived in Miami, and on the actual steps where the legend was killed.

Setting the perfectly genuine backdrop was only part of the full experience. It should come as no surprise that there is some straight-up costume porn happening in American Crime Story: Versace. While yes, there are so many men in tank tops and cutoff jorts, Costume designer Lou Eyrich also bought up hundreds of pieces of vintage Versace from all over the world, claiming that their pursuit drove up the prices for the resale market.

For ACS: Versace Eyrich clothes Donatella (Penelope Cruz) in the era’s bodycon dresses colored in pastels, while Gianni is mostly portrayed in vivid, opulent silk pajamas. Providing a visual contrast, Cunanan’s clothing is just a little off, a little drab. Eyrich describes his look as “a West coast preppy aspiring to look rich”. It’s total perfection.

So much more than a murder story

The overwhelming theme of American Crime Story: Versace is not about death, it’s about the complicated politics and shame of being openly gay in the 90s.

Cunanan evaded police while successfully murdering five men, the last being Versace. A brilliant sociopath, Cunanan’s feelings around his sexuality range from tortured to delighted. Overwhelmed with jealousy over the successful gay men in which he interacts, Cunanan is both repelled by and obsessed with the way money, secrecy, and in Versace’s case, fame insulates them from the challenges of being gay in the 90s.

Equally fascinating in American Crime Story: Versace was the incompetence of the police and investigators pursuing Cunanan, who struggled with infiltrating the gay community and understanding its nuances. While not an outright display of homophobia, at its most benign interpretation, their ineptness is based on ignorance. It’s hard to not see that ignorance as purposeful.

The police almost reject the idea of educating themselves and the gay community enough to stop Cunanan’s spree of violence. Yet they’re seemingly helpless to restrain themselves from sharing the sordid details that enable Cunanan to stay a step ahead of capture. The most frustrating and impactful part of the entire American Crime Story: Versaceseries is how preventable it all was.

You can (and should) stream The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story on Netflix now.

#darren criss #film daily #acs versace #press #jan 2020

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she-who-the-river-could-not-hold · 4 years

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Tagged by @kindclaws to answer her ten questions and then write ten of my own! I adore you and I adore this concept SO much thank you for tagging me!!! 🖤🖤

1. You can capture any smell in the world into a candle. What is it?

The smell of the forest after a rainy night, where the ground is still damp but the pine seems to have been awoken and the air is fresh from isolation and lingering winter from being at such a high elevation. There’s a hint of campfire burning in the undertones.

2. You can bring something back from extinction, whether that’s a dodo or a discontinued chocolate bar from your childhood. What is it?

Part of my instinct is to say “humanity’s belief that we can work together for a better future” and the other half of me says “Taco Bell’s Quesalupa”

3. What fictional world did you always wish you could escape to?

As a kid it was Harry Potter, my best friend and I would play the video games and just self-insert ourselves and like twenty OCs and characters we loved and play “as them” instead of Harry. Which now that I think about it was absolutely what got me into fanfiction. I was just so frustrated in school all of the time I longed for the idea of Hogwarts. I also made up a lot of worlds as a kid! I actually had a mural painted on my wall for most of my childhood that was a big fantasy scene set up with a castle and a forest with fairies, unicorns, elves, etc. and I’d fall asleep pretending I lived in the mural. I’ve been yearning from day one my friends.

4. If you did, say, fall into a portal to another fantasy world with like dragons and swords, what would you consider fighting to come back for? Would you?

My boyfriend because I’m a sap! But then I’d be down for us to go back in as long as I had a camera on me because SO COOL.

5. What would you love to study if there were no tuition costs, no exams, no pressure to be hireable - or why not?

No exams = astronomy. I love space and I’m so fascinated by it but as someone who’s really bad at anything science or math related, I just want to sit in classes and learn about it. No tuition costs = just writing extensive research papers analyzing different movies and shows. My favorite essays I wrote in college were either literature interpretations (ex: Pride and Prejudice through a feminist/marxist lens), the making of the Lord of the Rings series, and a feminist analysis of the Disney Princess film franchise using quantitive and qualitative research. I’d love to do more of that and just take classes that related to it (I would love to do one on religion/myths and the 100 for example).

6. Advertisements are now illegal. What do you fill the empty billboards with?

TAKE THE BILLBOARDS DOWN. Jk mmm. Probably like some type of activism thing either about the environment? Or something peaceful/visually interesting so that people felt inspired when they saw it! So idk maybe pictures or something historical that’s from that location specifically?

7. Best way to eat a potato?

Beyond just saying “every way,” at the end of the day I’m a basic and a sucker for french fries. But I will go on record and say my mom makes the best mashed potatoes and if you’re doing a baked potato don’t forget to hit the ends and roll it before cutting it open #just idaho things.

8. You have an unlimited home improvement budget and full creative control. What fun and zesty nonsense do you do to your house or workplace?

Oh THIS is a thrilling question. A really elaborate bar area so we could easily make all of our own cocktails and host parties. A room for all of our Disney memorabilia that we collect so it would need room for pins, posters/artwork, figurines. Probably Haunted Mansion or Tomorrowland themed. Honestly the living room would look straight out of a 50′s/60′s retro future modernist house. This isn’t even that wild but I just need a lot of surface area so I can have the coffee-table book collection of my dreams. Also a huge makeup room and office area for me to work in.

9. I’m running out of dinner ideas. Pls link me your favourite recipe.

aksldfjs I’m trash at cooking! Big fan of the simpleness of making spaghetti and buying a big ass baguette to split over a glass of cheap wine. Here’s an untested recipe that I’m hoping to try out this weekend though – Asado Chicken and Sauteed Lemon Zucchini!

10. What have you poured your soul into?

Making every thought and creative idea I have take over myself. Never stopping thinking about how things are made, how I could make it, what feeling it gives me. Immediately understanding colors and fonts and aesthetics so that I can try and create the worlds and ideas in my head. I’m consumed by the need to be making at all times and that’s from letting my imagination run the show.

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Tagging: @the-most-beautiful-broom, @formerlyjannafaye, @annabthschase, @dylanobrienisbatman, @immortalcockroach, and @lucascsinclairs! My questions are below the cut!

1. You’re given the chance to be naturally good at something without needing to practice it ever again – what is it?

2. What’s a tradition you have with loved ones (family, friends, romantic, any!) that you really enjoy doing? Even if it’s random or not connected to a holiday!

3. Is there something out there that gives you that aching, yearning feeling in your gut that you can’t quite name?

4. Tell me something that’s made you smile recently!

5. Is there something just out of reach right now? A goal? A dream? If you take a minute or two now, are you able to think of the steps you could take to get closer to it?

6. What do you want people to associate with you? Like if someone says, “I saw/heard/thought of [x] and I thought of you!” – what would fill you with delight because that means they really get you?

7. Think back, any weird childhood obsession or memory that is such a weirdly specific thing from back then that you haven’t thought about until I asked you this question?

8. Describe your life or yourself in fanfic terms like on AO3.

9. Quick! What’s something underrated that you love and that more people need to know about? Can be anything, doesn’t have to be fandom related.

10. It’s game night and you’re determined to be the victor. What game do you bring that you know you’re the champion of no matter how hard your friends try?

#get to know me #THIS IS SO FUNNNNN #I just want to do so many of these

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hermitologist · 4 years

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My 20 Favorite Records of 2019

Lists! Everyone loves them. Here’s another one.

These are the records I liked the most this year. That doesn’t mean they’re the *best*, that means I liked them. You might not. That’s fine! You might be livid that Porpoise Corpse’s neo-classical folk prog double LP isn’t on my list because it’s an easy top 5 record for you, but maybe electric mandolin solos, blast beats, and harpsichord runs aren’t my thing. That’s fine too! It’s infinitely cooler and far more productive to let people enjoy the art they enjoy rather than wasting precious minutes of your life trying to convince the entire internet to have the exact same taste in music.

That said ...

This years list is chock full of the usual, if you’re familiar with my taste at all -- tons of super heavy bummer jams, a handful of Radiohead-adjacent mid-tempo rock of the indie or emo variety, some hearty post-rock, some tried-and-true vets doing the thing they do very well ... again, and a few outliers. The honorable mentions list gets considerably more eclectic if you’re looking for stuff that sounds less like a soundtrack to various stages of the apocalypse.

As always, I welcome your suggestions for records and podcasts I might’ve missed the boat on. There’s way too much good stuff out there to keep up with, so PLEASE help me out.

Also: When I am not being a lazy pile of crap, I try to haul my dadbod around town for a run a few days a week and will listen to/briefly review a record in the process. Almost every record on this list has been a part of one of those posts, so if you’re interested in such a thing, please check out my Instagram.

BONUS: I put together a playlist on Spotify of my favorite song from each of my top 20 records, and a separate one for the 51 other records I liked this year, so if you’re overwhelmed and don’t know where to start, just needle drop a little and see if anything grabs you. And if anyone’s feeling productive and has time to do an Apple Music playlist, I’ll link and credit you.

Top 20 Spotify Playlist

Top 20 Apple Music Playlist -- Thanks, Austin!

Other Faves Spotify Playlist

But before we get to the Top 20, a couple of records that deserve a nod ...

Record I Listened To The Most In 2019 Whether I Wanted To Or Not

Angel Du$t - Pretty Buff

This is my four-year-old son’s favorite record, and while I’m trying to round out his musical palate by throwing on all sorts of different bands while we’re hanging out, he insists on either “no music” or “The Basketball Song” (which is “Big Ass Love”). I have no idea how or why his little amazingly weird brain equates the song with basketball (a sport he doesn’t really play or watch or think about ever, to my knowledge), but it does. He LOVES IT. I’ve got to admit, I didn't care for the song all that much when I first heard it, but it’s an earworm, and some 3000 plays later, I love it, and I love the record. Funny how that works out.

Record That Came out in 2009, But I Didn’t Discover Until 2019

Self-Evident - Endings

Endings was neck-and-neck with my favorite record of 2019 for spins this year. Coincidentally, the it was recommended by someone from the band who made my #1 record, and it has moments where it sounds a whole hell of a lot like my #1 record. Blows my mind that a band that was/is so incredibly in my wheelhouse sonically, that has released nine LPs over an 18 year career, and operates in circles incredibly close to a ton of bands I love and respect and nerd out about music with somehow managed to elude me for the better part of two decades. At any rate I’m incredibly stoked to have finally found them, absolutely love them, and honestly might’ve listened to this LP 20 times in a matter of a few days when I got my first taste. It’s that good.

And now for the list ...

20) Remote Viewing - It’s Better This Way

Super nasty, dark, sludgy, well-crafted noise rock out of London that fits somewhere in between KEN Mode and early-Kowloon Walled City sonically. You’d think it was pretty crazy to have a band be so locked in and fully formed as early as LP2, but then you find out they’re ex-members of Palehorse, Million Dead, and I Want You Dead and it all kinda makes sense. Unfortunately, the song on the playlist is from a previous LP (because the new one is inexplicably not on Spotify), but you can and should get the new record on Bandcamp.

19) From Indian Lakes - Dimly Lit

I’ve been a big fan of FIL for years, but have always been at a bit of a loss when it comes time to describe them. It’s hazy and dreamy, but not quite shoegazey ... it’s insanely infectious and pleasing to the ear, but not really poppy ... it’s forward-thinking and experimental, but not quite art-rock or groggy at all. It’s just excellent. Full stop. If you dig anything from Tycho, to Radiohead, to The Cure, to Slowdive you’ll enjoy this.

18) Stray From The Path - Internal Atomics

Furious, mathy, riff-heavy hardcore from Long Island that sounds like a reformed Rage Against The Machine had spent the past two decades doing steroids, mainlining Red Bull, and studying the finer points of Moshology. The breakdowns are massive, the drumming absolutely mental, and the vocals pissed as hell. At my advanced age, it’s rare that a record makes me want to pit and/or try to deadlift cars, but this one’s got that magic.

17) Glassing - Spotted Horse

Mostly spazzy, occasionally dreamy, black-metal sprinkled post-hardcore that fits in very well with bands like Portrayal Of Guilt and Respire in the rebirth of traditional screamo. It’s fits and starts of chaos and beauty, and it all sounds and feels like it could completely go off the rails at any time which is what made bands like Orchid and Majority Rule and Saetia so great back in the day.

16) La Dispute - Panorama

It’s no secret that I’m a big La Dispute fan (Thrice has toured the US with them twice in the past decade), and I love all of their records, but I’m pretty sure I can say with full confidence that this is the best record they’ve ever made. Everything is firing at peak performance, and the way the record is arranged and sequenced makes it feel more like a film score than a collection of songs. It’s a complete work -- meant to be listened to as such, which is a daunting artistic task, but they pulled it off in grand fashion.

15) Russian Circles - Blood Year

This band has been in the upper echelon of post-rock bands for as long as I can remember, and Blood Year is another incredible addition to their already stellar discography. These guys are all absolute monsters at their given instruments, and one of the best live rock bands on the planet, so getting to hear them do their thing on a record that manages to actually capture that live energy and ambience really does the trick for me.

14) Greet Death - New Hell

This one kinda came outta nowhere for me, as I (ashamedly) was not familiar with them prior to giving New Hell a spin. It blew me away. I’m a total sucker for bummer jams, and this record is full of top-quality sludgy, sad, shoegazey goodness. If you dig Cloakroom, O’ Brother, or Pianos Become The Teeth this is gonna be right up your alley.

13) Sleep Token - Sundowning

Another record that came out of nowhere to knock me on my ass. I downloaded it before a transatlantic flight on a whim (after hearing about 30 seconds of the opening track), hoping that it would be a nice, mellow companion to ease my in-flight anxiety. And it was, but whoa was it so much more than that. It kinda sounds like a collab between Active Child and Deftones -- poppy, melancholic piano ballads, brought to crushing crescendos via super heavy drop-tuned sludge -- which sounds like a mess, but it works so well. It’s a killer record and probably would’ve landed higher on this year’s list if it hadn’t come out so late in the year.

12) Big Thief - UFOF

This one’s a bit of an outlier, and a damn good one at that. I came across UFOF via a friend’s recommendation before the hype train had left the station, and honestly didn’t know what to expect. Said recommendation simply said that it was good and infectious and probably a few other things that I can’t recall, but didn’t mention the folk thing (which is great because I probably would have passed). The friend was right. It’s good (maybe even great), incredibly infectious, and gave me a nice reprieve from the heavy stuff I tend to listen to on the regular.

11) Cave In - Final Transmission

I’m beyond thankful we got any new music from Cave In after Caleb passed. They owed us nothing, and had every right to walk away, but managed to rally to release a killer record that is heavy both sonically and conceptually, and still manages to give me chills despite being live demos recorded in a rehearsal room. There are few bands on the planet who’ve inspired me like Cave In have, and seeing them pull together to grieve and forge ahead to continue to build their legacy is even more inspiring. What a band.

10) Pedro The Lion - Phoenix

My favorite singer/songwriter of my generation decided to revive the project that made me a fan of his in the first place. That project put out a record for the first time in 15 years, and I had unreasonably high expectations for it. Phoenix delivered and then some. I remember sitting at my kitchen table, weeping into my cup of coffee the first time I heard Phoenix, the same way Control used to make it seem like the inside of the Thrice van was getting a little dusty during cross-country drives back in the early 00s. It blows my mind that David Bazan can be such a prolific artist, write such insanely powerful music, and seem incapable of writing a dud song.

9) Coilguns - Watchwinders

This Swiss noise-rock band kicks unbelievable amounts of ass. Their Millenials LP made my favorites list last year, and when I heard they had a follow up coming out a little over a year later, my gut reaction was to worry they’d blow it with a new record that was either rushed and/or half-assed, or lose the plot and take a hard left turn and make something markedly un-Coilguns. They did neither. The made an absolute monster of an album, that was apparently written in the studio, and is full of live energy in rawness that is pretty tough to capture in a sterile atmosphere like a studio. Watchwinders dropped in late October, and if I’d had a bit more time with it, I could see it moving up to my Top 5. It’s that good. I find myself going back to it constantly.

8) Blessed - Salt

This record kinda defies description, but it reminds me of everything from Pile to Menomena to Interpol to La Dispute to Devo at times. As scatterbrained and incongruent as that might sound, I assure you it rules. It was in verrrry heavy rotation this year -- mostly for the utterly filthy drum groove on the final track. If you like your music catchy, but slathered in weird, this is definitely gonna do the thing for you. It’s an incredible record.

7) Herod - Sombre Dessein

I hadn’t heard of this band before they popped up on a Spotify playlist early this year, and when “Reckoning” hit, it absolutely flattened me. You know that nuclear apocalypse scene from Terminator 2? That’s what “Reckoning” did to me. It was undoubtedly my favorite ultra-heavy track of the year, and while it’s my favorite song on the record by a pretty large margin, the rest of Sombre Dessein kicks ass too. It’s 42 minutes of crushing heaviness that kinda sounds like a blend of Cult Of Luna, Meshuggah, and Gojira. Heavy. Pissed. Unrelenting. And Outstanding.

6) Pile - Green & Grey

Every time I try to describe Pile to someone I fail. On Wikipedia they’re described as “indie rock”, which ... sure, I suppose? There’s a little post-punk in there, a little post-rock, a little noise-rock, nods to classic rock (maybe?), a little of that southern magic that made Colour Revolt so great (but Pile’s from Boston so hmm ... ), some country even? Do you like weird guitars? Freakish musicians? Melancholic crooning? I dunno. It’s all over the place, but in the best ways possible. They’re a singular band, and so damn good. Green & Grey is stellar addition to a discography that is already full of incredible music ... even if the album cover gives makes me want to fold those blankets and put them away.

5) PUP - Morbid Stuff

Was this the year that PUP broke? Definitely seems like it, and rightfully so. Morbid Stuff is my favorite thing they’ve ever done, but I’ve absolutely loved everything they’ve ever put out, so that’s saying a lot. Per usual, it’s insanely infectious and anthemic without being traditionally poppy or relying on tropes to burrow into your skull and take up residence there. It’s uplifting musically, but kinda depressing lyrically, which does this weird push/pull thing in my brain that makes it impossible to stop listening to. The musicianship is fantastic, the guitar parts especially -- like the guitar line in “Scorpion Hill” wow. I really needed a record to fill the gaping void between the metal/sludge/noise and the ambient/downtempo electronica I listened to this year, and Morbid Stuff fit the bill perfectly.

4) Cult Of Luna - A Dawn To Fear

These guys belong on the Mount Rushmore of Post-Rock/Metal with Neurosis and Isis. Nobody has done it better than them over the past two decades, and A Dawn To Fear is arguably their best work to date. It, like any Cult Of Luna requires a great deal of patience, but man if they don’t make the wait worth it. They’re the masters of the slow build to an absolutely crushing climax, the dynamic shifts that leave you feeling like you got hit by a freight train, the nuanced instrumentation that tells a different story each time you listen to a certain section of a song. They’re absolute masters at their craft, and this record is them at their peak.

3) Big|Brave - A Gaze Among Them

Another record that came out of nowhere to completely floor me. I hadn’t heard a single note from this band until a friend recommended I check out the opening track, “Muted Shifting Of Space”. I did ... and that plodding drum and bass pulse with dark, swirling, ethereal guitar swells/feedback and soaring vocals building into a huge release of sludgy, drop-tuned goodness checked off all the boxes for me. I was hooked. The atmosphere and dynamics Big|Brave have built their sound around give every song a cinematic feel -- if you close your eyes, can you see drone footage of landscapes too? . If you dig post-rock/metal that is experimental around the edges, moody, absurdly heavy, and has both feet firmly planted in sludge, this is a must-have record.

2) Cloudkicker - Unending

If you’ve been following me on social media or reading these year-end lists for a while you’re probably pretty familiar with Cloudkicker by now because any time we get new music I can’t shut up about it and the record invariably ends up on this list. This instance is no different. Unending is the first LP we’ve gotten from Ben Sharp in four years, and it’s worth the wait and then some. He’s managed to pull from every era of CK and turn it into a masterpiece mash-up of styles without it ever feeling rehashed or uninspired. I’d go far as to say this tops Beacons and Fade for me, and comes awfully close to challenging Subsume for my favorite Cloudkicker record of all time and space. There’s soooo much progressive and djenty masturbatory metal garbage floating in the ether right now. Hearing the one of the kings do the damn thing properly is incredibly refreshing.

1) Town Portal - Of Violence

No surprise here. I’ve been crapping my pants about this band ever since my good friend Scott Evans shared their music with me a couple years ago. I’ve been unhealthily obsessed ever since. The magical progressive rock/metal these three guys are capable melts and massages my brain in a way few bands ever have. Of Violence is incredibly mathy without ever feeling awkward, it’s melodic without being conventional, it’s discordant without being abrasive, it’s heavy as shit without being overloaded with distortion, it’s progressive as hell without ever coming remotely close to devolving into a wankfest, and it’s damn near perfect in every way. Songwriting? Great. Tones? Phenomenal. Musicianship? Otherworldly. Execution? Flawless. Mix? Perfect. Replayability? (Not a word, but ... ) PUT THIS RECORD ON A GODDAMN LOOP AND NEVER TURN IT OFF. Can you tell I like it? You might too, so give it a listen. And if by chance you do not like it, please see a doctor. You’re broken.

OTHER STUFF I REALLY ENJOYED THIS YEAR

HEAVY JAMS

METZ - Automat

Buildings - Negative Sound

Helms Alee - Noctiluca

Minors - Abject Bodies

Periphery - Periphery 4: HAIL STAN

Employed To Serve - Eternal Forward Motion

Elizabeth Colour Wheel - Nocero

Defeater - S/T

Pelican - Nighttime Stories

Spotlights - Love And Decay

Great Falls - A Sense of Rest

Baroness - Gold & Grey

The End of the Ocean - -aire

Vous Autres - Champ du Sang

Brutus - Nest

Torche - Admission

Glose - The Second Best of Glose

Throes - In The Hands of an Angry God

Slipknot - We Are Not Your Kind

meth. - Mother of Red Light

SECT - Blood of the Beasts

Kublai Khan TX - Absolute

Seizures - Reverie of the Revolving Diamond

Dead Kiwis - Systematic Home Run

Norma Jean - All Hail

Refused - War Music

Chamber - Ripping / Pulling / Tearing

MIDRANGE JAMS

Jimmy Eat World - Surviving

Elbow - Giants of All Sizes

Raketkanon - RKTKN #3

Bad Religion - Age of Unreason

The Appleseed Cast - The Fleeting Light of Impermanence

DIIV - Deceiver

Idiot Pilot - Blue Blood

Microwave - Death Is A Warm Blanket

Low Dose - S/T

SWMRS - Berkeley’s On Fire

Self-Evident - Lost Inside The Machinery

B. Hamilton - Nothing and Nowhere

MELLOW JAMS

Trade Wind - Certain Freedoms

Square Peg Round Hole - Branches

Great Grandpa - Four of Arrows

Local Natives - Violet Street

Rhone - Leaving State

Shlohmo - The End

Tycho - Weather

Bon Iver - i,i

Drowse - Light Mirror

Bonniesongs - Energetic Mind

Telefon Tel Aviv - Dreams Are Not Enough

GoGo Penguin - Ocean In A Drop

Bent Knee - You Know What They Mean

THE PODCAST QUEUE

The Deadcast (RIP) - sports, culture

Chapo Trap House - politics

The Rich Roll Podcast - health, wellness, endurance sports

Hang Up & Listen - sports

Effectively Wild - baseball

The Gist - current events

The Downbeat - drums, humor

To Live & Die In LA - true crime

FilmDrunk Frotcast - movies, culture, humor

The Modern Drummer Podcast with Mike & Mike - drums (duh)

The Trap Set - also drums

Song Exploder - songwriting

#music #AOTY #endoftheyearlist #topalbums

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mainstreettalk · 5 years

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My Top 5 Disneyland Attractions

Disneyland is home to many fun attractions and rides for guests of all walks of life. When you go to Disneyland, one of the hardest decisions to make during your trip is choosing which attractions to visit first and which attractions you’ll have to skip on. So, here are the attractions that I personally deem are the top 5 attractions that every guest should experience at least once during their trip.

5. Mickey and the Magical Map

Image by D23

It’s important to note that though many guests go to Disneyland to enjoy the rides and food, the live shows really should not be skipped out on. Mickey and the Magical Map is a musical live theatre show located at Fantasyland Theatre near the back of Disneyland park. This show features the titular icon of the Walt Disney Company, Mickey Mouse, but also incorporates some of Disney’s most popular characters, including Rapunzel, Mulan, Stitch, and many others. I could go on and on about how much I love this show, but there are a few distinct characteristics that make this one stand out above the rest. The fact that so many of Disney’s most recognized ballads and anthems are performed by live actors and singers really makes you feel like you’re immersed in Disney canon. The dancers have incredibly creative routines and perform them flawlessly. The show uses a visually stunning blend of live characters and set pieces as well as a digital background that’s really able to capture the magic that Walt Disney had originally intended for all guests of his park to experience. This show runs only about 20 minutes long and it’s a great place to just sit down, relax, and keep yourself entertained. Personally, I think this is the best live show at the park, even topping the live Frozen show at the Hyperion Theater in DCA. Mickey and the Magical Map is definitely worth your short amount of time to go visit and watch and it will really help round out your whole Disney experience.

4. Storybook Land Canal Boats

Image by Disney

The next attraction on this list is one of the original 13 attractions that debuted on July 17, 1955 when Walt Disney first opened the gates to Disneyland park. The Storybook Land Canal Boats take the guests through a calm, narrated boat ride on a river that winds through various detailed dioramas of iconic buildings, scenes, and sets from Disney films. Some of my personal favorites are Pinnochio’s village, the sultan’s palace from Aladdin, and a London-set park from Peter Pan. Though the ride starts with the boats entering Monstro the whale’s mouth, it’s all smooth sailing from then on. It’s sad to see that many of the original 13 rides that Walt himself had a hand in creating- including these canal boats- have lost their popularity to the newer, flashier rides at the park. However, this is a ride that guests shouldn’t sweep under the rug just because it isn’t thrilling; the lines are usually short and move fast and the ride itself is a substantial length, so there’s no worries about you or your children getting antsy waiting in line. This attraction is especially a must-ride for couples- there is a beautiful fairy-light adorned overhang that the boats pass through that is notably stunning when it gets darker outside, and the overall ambiance of the ride itself is very romantic. The Storybook Land Canal Boats is honestly my favorite ride when I just want to sit, rest my feet, and enjoy that nostalgic old-timey Disney feeling you get when you ride classics like these.

3. The Haunted Mansion

Image by Disney

Now we’re finally getting to the E-Ticket attractions. The Haunted Mansion is a celebrated fan favorite attraction at Disneyland, and this is reflected by its often extensive wait times. The thing that makes this attraction- and the next 2 picks- so fun to ride is the level of in-depth immersiveness that the theming of the ride gives to the guests. The exterior facade of this ride is quite possibly the best themed facade in the entire park. It just fits perfectly in the land that it’s in (New Orleans Square) and the antebellum-style of the mansion accurately emulates the large manors of the old South. When guests are taken in, they are immediately thrown into the story of the Mansion before the ride even begins. The guests are placed into what is known as the “stretch room,” where the walls of the room, by an optical illusion (I’ll talk about this in a future post), look to stretch up vertically to show the morbid demises of the portraits hung up on the walls. While this is happening, the prologue of the story is presented by the Ghost Host, who reveals that he himself is the spirit of a corpse that is hanging from the ceiling of the room. It should be noted that the Ghost Host’s voice is done by Paul Frees, a voice actor that is legendary for lending his voice to other Disney attractions like Pirates of the Caribbean, and Adventure Thru Inner Space. After the stretch room, guests are ushered down the hallway that has portraits hung up on the walls that look to be changing or following them. The ride itself includes some of the best of Disney Imagineering, and each scene makes great use of Disney’s animatronics system as well as hybrid-projections. One of the most famous Disneyland characters, the Hat Box Ghost, is from this ride. The Haunted Mansion is a prime example of how perfect theming, memorable characters, and an invigorating story can truly immerse the guests in the fantasy world that it has created. This attraction would be higher up on this list if not for the fact the next two rides are not just my favorite attractions at Disneyland, but are likely my two favorite rides ever.

2. Splash Mountain

Image by Disney

Ever since it debuted in 1989, Splash Mountain has been one of the most popular E-Ticket attractions at the park. Splash Mountain takes the guests on a log-flume ride through “The Laughing Place” and the woods where the Br‘er animals live. The story is based off of the controversial live action Disney film Song of the South (again, I’ll go over the controversy in a future article), and the charming woodland creatures are some of the most entertaining animatronics at the park. The joke, they dance, they sing, and the light-hearted tone of the characters really balances with the scarier, darker part of the ride (The Laughing Place), as well as the large drop down the waterfall. Speaking of the drop, I believe this drop is the biggest drop at Disneyland (not counting DCA) at a height of 52.5 feet, a 45-47 degree angle, and up to 40 miles per hour. Personally, Splash Mountain is far and away my favorite “mountain” at the park, beating out Space Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain, and the Matterhorn. This is objectively the most physically thrilling attraction at Disneyland. Funny personal story about the Splash Mountain ride- I hadn’t ridden this attraction until about a year or two ago since, before that, I was too young/scared to get in line. However, I unknowingly already cherished a part of the ride from a young age- the “Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah” scene during the Disneyland Railroad was my favorite scene during the train ride and I was pleasantly surprised to see that it was actually a scene from Splash Mountain. Disclaimer- this ride will get you wet. I tend to enjoy this attraction the most in the middle of a particularly hot day, and I try to avoid it at night or on colder mornings.

1. Pirates of the Caribbean

Image by Disney

For my number one, absolute top favorite pick of the attractions at Disneyland, the Pirates of the Caribbean ride was a no-brainer for me. Pirates of the Caribbean is often the first ride I’ll run to as soon as I enter the park, and the last one I’ll visit before I leave. There are not enough words to say all the good things that I want to say about this attraction. Aside from being an iconic, classic attraction at Disneyland, PotC features some of the most impressive and quality animatronics to ever come out of Disney Imagineers. It has one of the largest collections of advanced animatronics at any given theme park and has beautifully designed set pieces. The guests are taken on a boat ride through a Louisiana bayou, passing by an old man on his banjo, before being dropped down a waterfall and transported back in time to an era where pirates openly ruled the high seas. The attention to detail in every single scene of this attraction is what truly makes it, in my opinion, the most immersive ride at Disneyland. The guest is truly made to feel as if they are experiencing the battles of the pirates on Isla Tesoro. From the moment you step foot onto the cobblestone pathways of the queue, you instantly feel the connection to the adventure that you’re about to embark on with the characters. The song “Yo Ho (A Pirate’s Life for Me)” plays every now and then during the attraction and, like “It’s a Small World,” it’s a catchy tune that guests will find themselves whistling as they spend the rest of their day at the park. Another thing to note about this attraction is the immediate wave of smell the guests notice when they walk into the building. The famously dubbed “pirate water” scent is one that was so popular that it is one of the things that guests remember about the ride, if nothing else. It truly makes the guest feel as if they are sailing the seas with the crew (although technically, the smell of the pirate water is actually the cleansing chemical Disney puts in their water attractions called bromine). A great thing about the PotC ride is that the ride vehicles are constantly moving and seat approximately 20 guests (5 rows of 4) and sends through about 3,400 guests per hour. This means that the line is consistently moving so you and your young ones will never get too antsy. Though it seems as if I’ve exhausted this attraction of all it could offer, there’s actually one more notable feature about this attraction that makes it stand out from the rest- built right into the attraction is the Blue Bayou restaurant, which is one of the best dining options at the park (and very expensive at that). Though this isn’t a necessity by any means, it is just another unique characteristic of this attraction that makes me love it so much. Though I’m always sad when my day ends at the park, I’m comforted by the fact that I can end the day right by riding Pirates one more time and then, if it’s early enough, grab a snack from the Mint Julep Bar right beside it.

So there you go guys, my top 5 Disneyland attractions of all time. Let me know if you agree, disagree, or if you just want to talk about anything Disney parks related with me!

*Revised 2 Oct 2019

#disney #disneyland #wdw #anaheim #california #theme park #universal #walt disney #adventureland #new orleans square #pirates of the caribbean #potc #pirates #splash mountain #haunted mansion #mickey #mickey mouse #mainstreettalk #disnerd

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theartoflovingthomashunt · 5 years

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The First Date

* * * The Art of Loving Thomas Hunt Fan Fiction Masterlist * * *

———

Characters: Alex (MC), Thomas Hunt

Setting: Alex and Thomas have recently decided to start a relationship but they are keeping it private for now. This story takes place after The Last Duchess party, but before the film’s release, so it takes place during the last chapter of Red Carpet Diaries Book 2.

*Note, the bar in this fic actually exists. If you live in the LA area, you should definitely check it out. I’ve never been there, but it looks amazing! -->Inspiration: Photo Post of Bar

Rating: PG

———

Alex just finished up a radio interview for a local news station. Interest in The Last Duchess had been growing ever since its release was publicly announced. Chazz could barely field all the requests that came in for Alex to promote The Last Duchess. The secret production led to a lot of last-minute press. Despite a few wonderful moments together the day after the party, Alex and Thomas had not found time for the proper date.

Once Alex was in her car heading home for the day, she took out her phone. Alex couldn’t help but smile as she pulled up the number she was looking for.

“Hello,” Thomas answered.

“Hi,” Alex replied. “I was hoping you might be free, tonight.”

“For you, I can make myself available,” Thomas responded.

“That is exactly what I was hoping to hear, Mr. Hunt,” Alex teased. “I was thinking we could try that dinner thing?”

“I could not think of a better way to spend an evening,” Thomas explained.

“Pick me up at 8?” Alex asked.

“I take it you have a place in mind?” Thomas questioned.

“I do,” Alex started.

“Care to share?” Thomas wondered.

“Nope,” Alex smiled to herself. “I think you will find it to your liking.”

“As long as you are there, I know I will,” Thomas agreed.

“Look who is already getting better at the romance thing,” Alex teased. “8 o'clock! Don’t be late.”

“As if I would ever be late,” Thomas stated. “I will be there at 8:00 and will attempt to wait patiently for you, as you so far seem incapable of being on time.”

“Being late would just prolong the time until I see you,” Alex admitted. “I’ll be on time, just be there.”

***

“8:04!” Thomas quipped as Alex got in the car. “I’m impressed.”

“Shut up and kiss me,” Alex demanded.

Thomas wasted no time fulfilling Alex’s request. His lips were on hers, her mouth was warm and inviting. He let himself relax under her touch. After a few moments, Thomas pulled away. “I expect that satisfied your direction.”

“For now,” Alex smiled.

“Where to?” Thomas asked.

“Old Man Bar,” Alex smirked. “It’s in Culver City.”

Thomas looked at Alex. “Are you trying to tell me something?”

“It’s not as out of the way as you would like, but it seemed fitting. And no, not because of the name!” Alex continued with a smile as she ran her fingers through his hair. Thomas’s face didn’t change. “It doesn’t seem like a place we would run into anyone who might see us, so we should have some privacy. Oh, and they have about two dozen types of Scotch on the menu.” Thomas smiled. “I thought that might be of interest to you.”

Thomas leaned over and kissed Alex softly. “You should have led with the scotch.”

***

Thomas and Alex enter the Old Man Bar. They both take a moment to look over the scene. The rustic bar was small and dimly lit. Beautiful stained glass windows adorned the outer walls. A fireplace warmed the other end of the room. Wood and leather surrounded them. Thomas's eyes landed on the bar stocked with row upon row of varied liquors. Luckily they had chosen a slow night. Only one other couple sat in a booth near the entrance. Thomas and Alex made their way wordlessly to a booth in the back.

“Penny for your thoughts,” Alex asked.

“I don’t understand that sentiment. Are you giving me a penny? Are my thoughts only worth a penny?” Thomas complained.

“Don’t overthink it,” Alex played. “What are your thoughts about this place?”

“It is a little less authentic than my typical haunts,” Thomas started. “However, I appreciate the attention to detail in setting the mood. It is quite tasteful.”

Alex smiled, “I’m sure the purveyors of this establishment will be pleased to know that the Great Thomas Hunt approves.”

“How did I do for our first proper date?” Alex questioned as she looked at him across the booth. His face was unreadable.

“As ever, you continue to astonish me,” Thomas answered with a slight smile in the corner of his lips.

“Good!” Alex smiled.

Alex and Thomas looked over the menus. Thomas, of course, went straight for the list of scotch. After they ordered, they turned their attention back to one another.

“So,” Alex began. “What is your favorite childhood memory?”

“What?” Thomas asked as he nosed his scotch savoring the pleasing aroma.

“Come on,” Alex pressed, lightly. “This is technically our first date, but it’s not like we don’t already know each other. You’ve never mentioned your childhood. I’m curious. What was young Thomas Hunt like?”

Thomas took a sip of his scotch, rolling it around in his mouth as he savored the taste. He narrowed his eyes on her.

“Fine, I’ll go first,” Alex decided. “When I was 4, my parents took me to the Iowa State Fair. It was the best day ever! We ate so much food, petted all sorts of animals, played games, went on rides, and of course, saw the famous butter cow. 600 pounds of butter! Like why is that a thing? I don’t know but it was AMAZING!”

“I am imaging 4-year-old you with pigtails and denim overalls,” Thomas smirked.

“It’s possible,” Alex grinned. “There may have also been a flower crown too.”

“Of course there was,” Thomas interjected. “Cowgirl boots too?”

“Maybe…” Alex admitted. “It was the first time I stood on a stage. There was a band playing. I had never heard them before, but I just walked up on the stage, not even thinking about what I was doing and asked if they could play me a song.”

“And what song did you request?” Thomas questioned.

“Only the greatest song ever, Baby Beluga,” Alex laughed.

Thomas choked momentarily on his scotch from laughing.

“I was 4,” Alex protested. “And it was Iowa!”

“That might be the best story I've ever heard,” Thomas teased.

“Don’t make fun or I won’t show you the picture the Des Moines Register took and published in the paper. It was on page 2! All of my friends were very jealous!” Alex said proudly.

“How could they not be,” Thomas laughed. Alex smiled slyly at him. “What?”

“You should laugh more. It looks good on you,” Alex replied.

“I will keep that in mind.” Thomas’s face returned to his stoic composure. “I suppose now I owe you a story.”

“It would only be fair,” Alex answered.

“As you wish,” Thomas complied, taking a deep breath. “This might not count as the best childhood memory, however, it is one that I hold dear. I have always been drawn to film and the dramatic arts. When I was 5, we were cleaning out my parent's garage and I found a box of cassette tapes. One of them was a recording of Orson Welles’ War of the Worlds from 1938. I didn’t know what it was, but I saw Orson and since that was my middle name, I thought it must be good. I played the tape and was instantly transported into another time and place. I felt excitement and fear, but also wonder. I was completely captivated. I listened to that tape hundreds of times over the years. It was my earliest inspiration. I have spent my life trying to capture that level of storytelling purity in my own work. It didn’t need over the top Hollywood noise and clutter. It didn't even need pictures. It stood on its own, simply because of the story and the talent and passion from those who brought it to life. It is my life’s greatest goal. I haven’t gotten it quite yet, but I will.”

Alex stared across the table at him at a loss for words.

“Sorry if that wasn’t as exciting as the Iowa Fair. I’m sure you can imagine, that even as a child, I was...different,” Thomas said, drinking his scotch, feeling a bit self-conscious.

“Thomas” Alex stammered. "You don’t know how incredible you are. I have no doubt that one day, a great filmmaker will tell his or her story, and when they do, they will share how it was you and one of your projects that inspired them to strive for greatness. Your work is a significant part of this city’s story.”

They sat wordlessly staring across the table at each other until their food had arrived. Their conversation shifted to upcoming events and the World Wide Premiere of The Last Duchess.

After savoring a delicious meal, Alex joined Thomas on his side of the booth to enjoy being a little closer to him.

“Is this okay?” She asked, hesitantly as she scooted next to him, letting her fingers graze his hand.

“You may be surprised to know that I am not overly fond of public displays of affection,” Thomas started, as Alex began moving away. “However, you somehow make it more bearable.” He let his fingers find their spot between hers as they held hands under the table.

“I’m glad you can withstand this torture,” Alex played, before continued. “But seriously, please let me know if you ever feel uncomfortable. I want us to be a team that supports one another, no matter what.”

“I want that too. Honestly, after you called me earlier, I was apprehensive about what tonight might bring. I tormented over how difficult moving forward might be. As I have told you, this is not my strong suit. I have little trouble writing and directing stories filled with deep connections and relationships, but I have never been notably comfortable with it in my personal life. Nevertheless, you find ways to make me feel contented.”

“I don’t expect big romantic gestures. I don’t need that. The only thing I need is you, just the way you are.” Alex kissed Thomas’s cheek.

“I am desperately afraid of dissatisfying you,” Thomas admitted.

“You could never disappoint me,” Alex reassured him. “We will figure us out, together.”

“I wish you knew the joy you bring to me.” Thomas kissed her forehead. He closed his eyes momentarily to commit the moment to memory. The way she looked, the way she smelled, and the pure happiness he felt.

“The feeling is mutual,” Alex replied, touching her hand to caress his face. Letting her thumb graze the side of his mouth where she knew a smile was hiding. Alex shifted closer to Thomas in the booth as he put her arm around her. She nuzzled her head into his shoulder, letting him rest his head on hers.

“How do you feel about dessert,” Alex questioned. “Maybe sharing something…”

“Anything,” Thomas started, feeling secure with Alex in his arms. “As long as I don’t have to share you.”

_ _ _

First Date Photo and another short fic from this night here.

———

Thomas Hunt Tags: @hopelessromantic1352 ; @alleksa16 ; @pinkcoloredmarshmallow ; @the-soot-sprite

#thomas hunt #thomas x mc #red carpet diaries #choices #pixelberry #rcd #alex hunt #fan fiction #the art of loving thomas hunt #taolth #orson welles #old man bar #red carpet diaries 2.5 #rcd 2.5 #war of the worlds

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myaekingheart · 5 years

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1, 2, and 12!!

Bless you, Jessie 🙌💕

Alright so since I reblogged like 20 ask memes, I’m just gonna go ahead and take the liberty of doing all of these numbers for every single one I’ve reblogged that’s applicable to give myself extra stuff to do xD

Fanfiction Asks!

1. Do you read fic? Do you write fic?

I actually write fic WAY MORE than I read fic. I find that the issue I have when reading fic is that I get really giddy and inspired and then I lose my concentration on the story in front of me and my interests rather shift more towards the story in my own damn head. I really need to start reading more of other people’s work, though. I have a handful saved on AO3 that I just have not gotten around to, but I really should. I really have so many damn things I want to read, fanfiction and otherwise, but lack the motivation to sit down and actually read it.

2. Favorite genre of fic?

I feel like it’s kind of hard to pinpoint exactly what kind of fic I’m drawn most towards, but I guess the best descriptor would be drama? I don’t know, I just really like stories that focus heavily on character development and interpersonal relationships (so bildungsroman lmfao), especially when there’s some imperfect romance and action/adventure involved. Both of my main fanfics, my Narnia series Temptation and The Scarecrow and the Bell, my Naruto fic, both are pretty much just that: heavy focus on character with imperfect romance and action/adventure. I just think it’s fun seeing characters, especially ones that have feelings for each other, in stressful and dangerous situations trying to work through them together and oftentimes disagree and have to figure out how to handle the disagreements, too. Or have personal stuff they’re dealing with on top of things. I don’t know, I just really love focusing on relationship dynamics and situations like that are a fun lens to look through.

12. What turns you away the most from a fic?

Honestly, grammatical issues and whether or not the story feels believable. I guess I’m kind of picky when it comes to that stuff, but I’m also used to being critical of writing solely because I’m a creative writing major and a big part of this degree’s curriculum is workshopping peer writing. Grammatical issues in terms of a misplaced comma or something aren’t that big a deal, I’m not that stingy, but things like lacking paragraph breaks, or not knowing when to switch paragraphs, bug me as well as habitual misspellings of common words--the one that peeves me off the most is spelling “definitely” like “defiantly” or “definately” or any other misspelling under the sun. The idea of a story feeling believable might just be me being really picky but I’ve opened up fics sometimes where I could hardly get through the first paragraph because the story didn’t feel genuine to me. It’s kind of hard to explain, but I guess as someone who puts a ton of research into my own fanfics and also really tries to perfectly capture the tone of the source material, sometimes I’ll read stuff that just feels out of place and it really takes me out of the story and honestly makes me cringe. I feel like saying all of that makes me sound like some kind of asshole, though. I don’t know, I’m just so goddamn picky when it comes to what I’m reading and especially with fanfiction, since it’s a lot more organic and it doesn’t go through the same fine toothed editing process that professionally published works do (although I’ve picked up on some questionable stuff even in print books; one such thing was so minor, but it was a forgotten period at the end of a sentence and I kept laughing about it saying to myself “Someone missed a period!” You know, like an asshole.)

Music Asks

1. your favorite album opener

Beartooth’s Greatness or Death off their most recent album, Disease. It just really sets the tone for the rest of the album and feels like such an appropriate intro overall. They have a playlist for the entire album on Youtube with the correct track listing so that was the first song off thei newest album that I had heard and it just felt like such a great and appropriate intro, it really got me into the vibe and energy of the rest of the album and I just...I love it a lot. The song, the album, the band in general.

2. a song starting w/ the same first letter of your first name

Aurora Avenue by Defeat the Low. I’m a huge Nirvana fan, and the song is all about Kurt Cobain. The entire first verse was literally pulled straight from his infamous suicide note (”Speaking from the tongue of an experienced simpleton who obviously would rather be an emasculated, infantile complainee.”) I stumbled upon this song by pure chance-- it was playing at the end of a video for a different song, which I think was actually a Beartooth one-- and it sounded interesting so I pulled it up and the minute I heard the first verse, I, who had read Kurt’s suicide note already, was like “WAIT A SECOND THIS SOUNDS REALLY FAMILIAR” but it didn’t hit me that that was what it was, and that the entire song was about Kurt, until later and it made me love it even more.

12. a song you can scream all the words to

Hospital for Souls by Bring Me The Horizon. It’s an all-time fave, made even more so by the fact that it’s one of my top ship songs (for my Naruto ship, Kakashi Hatake x my OC Rei Natsuki, who I write the fanfic about, and even made an AMV for them with because I’M CRAZY). It also just hits really hard personally, especially the line “Have you ever put a blade to your wrists, or have you been skipping meals?” because it relates to my own mental health struggles. I’ve never had the right opportunity to actually scream all the words aloud along with the song, but I desperately need to find the right place to do it one of these days because I have a lot of feelings I need to get out that can only be done through that exact act and I need to do it in a way where I will not end up getting the cops called on me for being way too loud. I just need a soundproof room in general (not just for these purposes, but also because I’m a voice actress for an independent animated series called Space Hotel and I need someplace to record shit anyways.)

Soft and Ethereal Asks

1.secret garden or forest?

Secret garden! I love the idea of having someplace only I know guarded off by a wall with vines running up the side of it, the kind of place you enter through a wrought-iron gate, where flowers are growing through the cracks and there’s a bubbling fountain in the center you can sit by either on the edge or in the grass or on a dirty old cement bench from times before I was even a thought in my parent’s head, and just revel in the silence with a good book or a pencil and sketchbook and make flower crowns and daisy chains or have a little personal picnic laying out a checkered blanket and carrying everything in a big basket like strawberries and little sandwiches and homemade cookies and shit. I’m such a sap but I live for the idea of that gentle, pastel-tinted quiet afternoon. Pure solace.

2.the stars or the moon?

The moon. I love stars to death, too, but there’s something about the moon that really hits me. Maybe it’s because it goes through phases but no matter what is still whole even when it appears not to be. Maybe it’s because it’s kind of comforting to look at. More than anything, though, it’s probably at least partially because one of my favorite films is Rise of the Guardians (and by extension, the book series it was based upon, The Guardians of Childhood) in which the moon is a major character, or at least The Man in the Moon. In the movie, he’s never seen or heard but he’s always there watching over the world. Jack Frost, the protagonist, doesn’t understand his purpose in this eternal life of his where no one can see him and no one believes in him, and constantly looks to the moon for answers but never hears any. The very first lines of the movie are even “Darkness. That’s the first thing I remember. It was dark and it was cold and I was scared. But then...then I saw the moon. It was so big and so bright. It seemed to chase the darkness away.” Not to get super religious here but in a way the whole moon thing even reminds me of Christianity a little bit, and I’m not really religious in the slightest (maybe spiritual, but not very religious) but this movie also came to me at a time when I was very at odds with the idea of God and faith and everything, and I felt like Jack Frost constantly questioning what the point of it all was and questioning whether something greater even existed and if so, then how could they let terrible things like this happen? Without any solid answer? I don’t know, I don’t want this to get into a debate about my own religious beliefs, but yeah. The moon and I have some history, so I’ll choose the moon over the stars.

12.fiction or short stories?

Fiction. By nature of my degree, I have to read a lot of short stories for college and some of them are really enjoyable and interesting but then we get to the debate of genre fiction versus literary fiction, which I think is a stupid fucking debate and literary fiction needs to get off it’s damn high horse with it’s “holier than thou” complex or whatever. Or maybe it’s not the literary fiction itself so much as the people who praise it. Like yes, I get that literary fiction is contemporary fine art and nuanced and shit but sometimes I like stories about vampires and ninjas and teenagers with weird names and social anxiety. Literary fiction is fine and all, but let’s face it, genre fiction is way more fucking fun and that is why I chose “fiction” over “short stories.”

65 Questions You Aren’t Used To

1. Do you ever doubt the existence of others than you?

If I’m going to be brutally honest, sometimes. Hell, sometimes I even question my own existence but I guess that’s just the depersonalization aspect of anxiety talking.

2. On a scale of 1-5, how afraid of the dark are you?

With 1 being the lowest and 5 being the highest, I’d say I’m at about a 3? I’m not as afraid of the dark as I used to be, but it’s situational. If I’m alone and it’s dark, then I get panicky because my awareness is impaired and I’m admittedly a very visual person so if I can’t see and I suspect there’s something going bump in the night, I’m going to freak out. Even hearing something, even when logically I know exactly what it is, freaks me out because I can’t know for sure unless I’m looking straight at it but if it’s dark, I can’t do that. I prefer to sleep when it’s like fully dark, though. I even used to wear a sleep mask to help with that and because the feeling of something soft over my eyes was comforting??? I don’t know, like I can sleep perfectly fine with the lights on, too, and sometimes if my anxiety is bad that’s what I’d prefer to make things easier on myself but for the most part, I guess it’s situational. I also feel like this is an appropriate place to say I have a duck nightlight in my bathroom, which doesn’t really have anything to do with being afraid of the dark so much as darkness in general but I also have a thing for rubber ducks so having a rubber duck nightlight is very on brand and I love it.

12. Who told you they loved you last?

Probably my boyfriend. He’s the one whose always here anyways. If not him, then from my mother but I don’t particularly want to think about her right now because I’m kind of upset with her so we’re just going to go ahead and say my boyfriend.

Sensory Asks

[sight]

1. favourite colour(s)?

Red is my top fave, and has been since I was three. I think it was when I got a red VW Beetle for my Barbie dolls that I really fell in love with the color. All the accessories that came with it were red plastic and looking at them just filled with me a lot of energy and joy, which I later realized I felt whenever looking at red in general. It also helps that I can now make the joke whenever I’m asked this question that I love red “like the blood of my enemies,” which is always fun.

2. least favourite colour(s)?

I’m really not a fan of yellow, chartreuse, and tan/beige. I can handle yellow in certain instances like with sunflowers or lemons or sunshine related stuff, but I prefer gold over straight up yellow. I don’t dislike yellow nearly as much as tan/beige, though. That one I can also handle in certain instances but for the most part, it reminds me of a time I got sick as a kid so looking at it for too long brings back that nausea. Chartreuse is the end-all, be-all of the colors I’m not big on, though. It just...reminds me of snot. It feels really unappealing to look at for me, too.

[smell]

12. favourite scent?

Clean laundry, hands down. I love nothing more than the smell of fresh laundry, like sometimes I’ll catch myself literally sitting at my laptop sniffing my shirt because I love the smell so much. It’s just so comforting, and I think that’s because it reminds me of this doll I’ve had literally since birth. I called her Baby Doll and she was just a basic baby doll with a plastic head and cloth body that my grandmother got from Avon and I was so damn attached to it as a kid. I brought Baby Doll everywhere with me, even in my backpack on my first day of preschool. I slept with her for way longer than I’d like to admit, too. But she smelled like fabric softener, and when I was a little kid and was having bad anxiety attacks (which I’ve been dealing with since I was three), I would hug her really close and the smell was just really comforting. So now I have to get it from my own laundry because I still own Baby Doll, but I’m a grown-ass adult and she’s very fragile now (and also currently in storage for safe-keeping). So yeah, clean laundry hands-down.

Fashions Asks

1. What season has your favorite looks?

Fall! I’m such a sucker for big cozy sweaters and jeans. Back to school fashion lowkey excites me, too, and besides: I feel like it’s a lot easier to find appropriate outfits for my personal fashion sense that fit cooler weather than the seventh circle of hell 106-degree-heat-index I’m currently living in. I adore oversized sweaters, leggings, skinny jeans, combat boots, creepers, hoodies, layers, all that good stuff but you can’t do that when you feel like you’re dying of heat stroke even standing in front of the fridge butt naked. Not that I do that, but it’s hot enough here that I could if I wanted to. That’s not an issue in fall, though, which is super fucking nice. I just really love being cozy all the time always.

2. Formal or casual?

Casual! As much as I love the look of formal clothes, I am chronically ill. I am anxious. I am depressed. I want to be comfortable all the damn time, and I just can’t be genuinely comfortable in formal clothes. For example, I attended my cousin’s wedding last spring and wore these really cute Mary Jane heels that I love. They fit my aesthetic and make my legs look great, too, if I say so myself. I was able to get through the ceremony with them on but after the fact, they started getting so damn uncomfortable that I went to the car and changed into my ratty five year old combat boots like a total punk because comfort. At least they still looked good with the dress I was wearing, though, so that’s a plus.

12. What fashions do you hate?

Okay, I feel like a lot of people might get on my case about this but I really can’t stand Birkenstocks. They just...look like what your overbearing uncle would wear with socks to the summer barbecue to me. I don’t know, in certain cases they’re at least fitting for a certain look and I commend the people who can pull them off but as for me? I just can’t wrap my head around them. I dislike them even more than Crocs, which I am also not a fan of. But then again, like...I’m also not big on today’s fashion trends in general. There are some things I do like, like oversized t-shirts with leggings especially if they’re a band t-shirt, and those cute Japanese uniform style pleated skirts (I admittedly own one and I love it). The whole ethereal quirky pastel modern grunge e-girl shit, though, just doesn’t vibe much with me. My fashion sense is more on par with Luanna Perez’s alternative looks and the 2007-2012 era of the emo/scene style, as well as some pastel goth, genuine 90′s grunge, and kawaii/lolita inspired stuff. Like I will gladly tease the hell out of my hair, add in extensions and coontails and a little pink bow, and throw on a pink polka dot dress with fishnets and creepers or something. I don’t know, I just feel really disconnected from what’s considered trendy in today’s fashion sense. Maybe it’s because I tried so hard for so many years to fit what was in style despite it not feeling genuine to who I was personally, that now that I’ve finally mustered enough confidence to leave the house wearing what makes me happy even if it is unorthodox and alternative (like black lipstick!!!), I just can’t get on board with what everyone else is doing. Sure, I feel a little weird dressing like it’s ten years ago when everyone else is walking around wearing like those dinky crop tops that say “I have no tits” or have like applique roses on them or whatever and anything else that’s considered modern on-trend but like...in the wise words of Kurt Cobain, “I’d rather be hated for who I am than loved for who I’m not.” I’m tired of trying to fit the status quo and doing what everyone else is doing. If I want coontails and snake bites in 2019, then goddammit I’m gonna go for it (though not gonna lie, the 20NINESCENE craze has me crying because I regret not having “the phase” in middle school that everyone else did so much sometimes that it’s physically painful so to think that there are still people out there rocking the thick side fringe and heavy eyeliner and the RAWR MEANS I LOVE YOU IN DINOSAUR shit makes me feel like maybe I’ve been given a second chance to be true to myself and become a part of a community that means something to me, rather than what I was actually doing in middle school being dragged through the mud trying to redeem myself of some sense of popularity because I was losing my best friend to the alpha female clique mentality and I was so damn unhappy, I legit had a breakdown in her pool about it once so you bet your ass I’m going to say screw it and do everything I wanted to back then now that I actually have the confidence and stopped caring what people thought about me.)

#this got so long i am so fucking sorry xD #answered asks #ask memes #lasaraleen

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wintersongstress · 5 years

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Writer’s Questionnaire

tagged by: @a-shakespearean-in-paris - Whew, girl, this tag was hard. I don’t think I’m smart enough to do it but I love talking about writing more than actually doing it so strap in...

EDIT [1/5/19]: @the-darklings Thank you for tagging me as well!

Short stories, novels, or poems?

POETRY?! #TRIGGERED

Ya’ll I want to talk about poetry. That Illuminati Cryptology.

On the one hand, I’m actually quite decent with writing poetry. I like the poems I’ve written. I’m proud of my sonnets, sestinas, villanelles, and free verse. Albeit, the restrictions of closed forms and writing in iambic pentameter grinds the gears in the computer science part of my brain, but I can do it. Some of my best lines are poetry. Poetry is what resonates the deepest, what loops through my head when I think about writing. Its the ultimate mastery of words that makes your work endure.

Look at Peonies at Dusk by Jane Kenyon. Nice poem, right? Lovely imagery, the tone is somber and sweet. But, you have to remember, poetry is a puzzle. You have to put the pieces together to understand the picture.

Kenyon arranged her poem in tercet stanzas to link it to the Holy Trinity. (???)This was because she found God during the time so wrote this poem and wanted to pay tribute to how it grounded her life by grounding her poem the same way. In the final stanza, the narrator bending to smell the peony is supposed to be the narrator bending over to take care of someone who is bedridden with cancer. Propping them up with stakes and twine- taking care of a sick loved one. Peonies were also known for their medicinal properties, as well as them withering being an omen for disaster and death. The fading of light and the dusk is all blatantly symbolic. JUST. POETRY PISSES ME OFF SOMETIMES. AND I HATE THAT I KIND OF LIKE HOW CONVOLUTED IT IS ONCE I FIGURE IT OUT.

tl:dr; I prefer short stories and novels when it comes to reading for the obvious reasons why we love novels. Ya’ll already know why novels are good. When it comes to writing I usually do short stories and poems. I haven’t been able to tackle a novel yet.

What genre do you prefer reading?

I’ve always enjoyed fantasy, historical fiction, and of course, romance. I like a good contemporary every once in a while, too.

What genre do you prefer writing?

Same as what I prefer to read. I absolutely love exploring settings and writing the relationships between characters and how they transform and develop them.

Are you a planner or a write-as-I-go kind of person?

I like to make an outline at the beginning of a new project just to have some semblance of order and to know what the journey is going to look like. This helps a lot in my Research stage because I’m able to identify what I don’t know and what tools I’m going to need.

What music do you listen to while writing?

Video game soundtracks mostly. They’re designed to keep you engaged and I don’t want to focus on anything else but my work, I just need a little white noise. Jeremy Soule’s compositions are great for setting the mood, as well as Debussy. I also like those nature ambiance videos on YouTube, crackling fire, forest/river sounds, etc.

Fave books/movies?

Amazing. This question never fails to make me forget every piece of media I have ever consumed. 😂

I’m kind of at a stand point right now because I’m 20 and I don’t read YA books anymore and that’s the bulk of my personal library. (Sorry Sarah J. Maas and Cassandra Clare!). I used to read a COLOSSAL amount of YA; I’m talking 15 books a month, 2 books a day sometimes and I used to do arc (advanced reader copy) reviews through Macmillan for Miss Literati. Looking back now though, there are some novels I read that I still stand by.

The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness - amazing, stream of consciousness writing at its best.

Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor - my favorite writing style. Period.

Half Bad by Salle Green - just brilliant.

The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway - fight me okay.

Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury

Passion by Lauren Kate - This book was just, everything I wanted. 😭

The Abhorsen Trilogy by Garth Nix - the first series that REALLY got me into reading.

List of my favorite films I like to tell people to impress them:

The Sixth Sense

The Last Samurai

Brokeback Mountain

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

Rear Window

List of my favorite films when life is sad:

Confessions of a Shopaholic

The Mummy

Star Wars

Back to the Future

Some Like It Hot

The Princess Bride

Forrest Gump

Romancing the Stone

As you can see, I’m not a huge film buff (though sometimes I wish I were...)

I’m sure I’m forgetting some...

Any current WIPs?

gee let’s look at my documents folder...

This is gonna sound silly but the majority of my personal WIPs are actually games I want to write. I know, I know, but I want to go into narrative design, possibly even creative direction. Much to my mother’s chagrin. So I don’t write novels per say, I write scripts and game concept documents. I do write short stories but my longstanding projects I am not talented enough to start writing. I write ideas for scenes while I let the rest stew in my head, like a bubbling cauldron of ideas that is constantly simmering. I’ll get there, eventually.

If someone were to make a cartoon out of you, what would your standard outfit be?

My standard get-up is high-waisted jeans, Blundstones, and an over-sized knitted sweater. God I love winter.

Create a character description for yourself:

Hi,my name is Isabell. My worst nightmares include getting C’s, being late for work, and getting back together with my ex-boyfriend from 9th grade.

Do you like incorporating people you actually know into your writing?

The best writers are thieves, and I steal a lot of details of real people into my writing. Patterns of speech, outfits, unique traits, that sort of thing. I pay a lot of attention to the people around me, especially strangers. So I don’t incorporate actual people I know, rather, the strangers I see and who I think they are or could be in the context of story.

Are you kill-happy with characters?

By all means, I will put them in near death circumstances and give them critical injuries. However, I rarely kill them. So, no. I don’t happily kill my characters.

Coffee or tea while writing?

Self-proclaimed Chai tea slut.

Slow or fast writer?

Slow’er than the molasses in January.

Where/who/what do you find inspiration from?

Ideas strike anywhere, anytime. I could be standing in the check-out line at the grocery store and get an idea. However, most of my inspiration comes from consuming other stories. Video games have honestly been the most inspiring and immersive mediums for storytelling. I find inspiration from learning new things, especially in history. A lot of stuff from myth and history inspires me.

If you were put into a fantasy world, what would you be?

I’d like to think I would be an adventurer, but let’s be real I’d probably be an Alchemist’s apprentice. Or a sculptor. Maybe even a tutor.

Most fave book cliche? Least fave book cliche?

Hero/Villain Ships. Enemies to lovers. dYING CONFESSIONS OF LOVE.

Wait, are those cliches? As for what I hate...Oh, I don’t know. I hate the reckless heroine. I just hate reading about girls who make stupid decisions and think they’re the right ones. Not to say they can’t make mistakes, but you know, other characters are like, don’t do the thing, and they do it anyway.

Fave scenes to write?

SMUT. FIRST KISSES. Yeah. Been writing that sort of thing since I was 11. I had one of those notebooks with a cover that made a zippery sound when you scratched it and it was my first foray into fanfiction and smut lmao. Good stuff. Pandora’s box, though.

I love writing scenery descriptions. I’m acutely tuned to setting and creating atmosphere and I love determining the specific details that take you exactly where I want the reader to be. The mise-en-scene, if you will.

Most productive time of day for writing?

Dead of night or the wee hours of morning, when the world is quiet.

Reason for writing?

Because when I write, I feel like I belong. I write because I have a certain taste, and I’m the only one who knows how to capture that. I write because storytelling is intrinsic to me and a part of myself I can never deny, forget, or neglect. I write because my mind has always been full of ideas and worlds I want to explore. I write because deep down I know I’m meant to.

Tagging:

I’m gonna keep it chill because this tag takes more than 2 minutes to do, but I would love to see your guys’ responses!: @shadows-echoes || @sunstrain || @connorshero || @deviantsupporter

This tag is totally 100% optional!

#tag meme #tag game #personal #long post #this took 5ever #god this is so personal i hate hearing myself talk lmao

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getaroomyouheck · 5 years

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Album Analysis #14: Swans, To Be Kind (2014)

(ayy if you never followed my old blog i sometimes made these album analysis’, where i went down an album track by track and analyzed it, at the end giving it a cohesive rating. it’s been a while since i’ve done one, but here’s the newest one! it’s nearly 5000 words, i hope you enjoy!)

I had never listened to Swans until quite recently. It actually started when I began watching Anthony Fantano’s content, and saw that this was one of the 5 album’s he had ever given a 10/10 to. That plus the general universal praise for this record intrigued me more and more.

The first song I had listened to from this record was Oxygen. And it was a brutal piece, 8 minutes in length, but feeling like 4. Intense, animalistic, primal, and utterly captivating. Michael Gira’s ferocious screams and barks over chugging guitars, blasting drums, and overwhelming brass.

Since this initial listen I have checked out later records like Filth (1983), Children of God (1987) and Soundtracks for the Blind (1997) among others. But this was my first Swans record, so I’d like to review it in that context. Well, let’s begin with the first song, and go from there.

Screen Shot: Starting off with what might be my favorite song from Swans and one of my favorite songs ever, huh? Well, let’s begin. This 9 minute song is an experience in of itself. Starting with this sinister bass riff, it slowly adds in sounds and builds an eclectic soundscape. Each hit of the snare echoes and resonates with this perfect ring to it. Whirling synths build in as Gira begins singing out different aspects of life. These menacing chimes and echoes with Gira begin to layer in and build this sinister energy further. Gira begins again, voice even more detached and sinister. As he finishes his 2nd verse, these absolutely stunning piano arpeggios begin to layer into the song, giving it this urgency. Something’s coming, and you don’t know what, only that it is. This builds further as he sings “No knife, no mind, no hand, no fear”. It’s sinister, but you always feel like there’s something swarming and squirming underneath it. That this isn’t the best to come. That despite how hypnotic and unrelenting it is, even more absolute energy and life affirming power is soon to come.

The final 2 minutes of this song where the build up finally breaks as guitars scream out, drums blast, synths and percussion blair loudly, is one of the most captivating experiences of sound I’ve ever heard in my life. Gira repeatedly screams out “Love, now, breath now.” and his voice is this commanding presence among the chaos. Then it ramps up even further with these hauntingly piercing guitars and synths as he yells “HERE, NOW”. It’s absolutely wonderful in its intensity. It’s a moment that makes me just silent and still, the music hits me with such ferocity and anguish that I can only stay still and absorb it in it’s full majesty. It’s one of the only songs on the album that I can’t even do anything else when listening to it. Every time this hits, my eyes close and roll back into my head and all I can do is just let the music hit me. Even months later and after I’ve listened to this particular song hundreds of times these final 2 minutes hit me with the same overwhelming absolute mind melting cacophony and grand fury that i felt the first time I listened to this song.

Not to downplay the lyricism either, it’s simple yet wonderfully beautiful in the way it captures the modern world. It defines all of reality and the universe into a single still, a “screenshot” if you would. In the 1st verse Gira lists out different aspects of life, things like light, and mind, and kindness, and anger, etc. All aspects of life caught in this still image, this encapsulation of ourselves. Yet in this stillness, there is no joy, yet at the same time there is no anger or hatred. It is quiet, it is nothingness. Hence why Gira repeats lines like “No pain, no death, no fear, no hate. No time, no now, no suffering.” in the 2nd verse. The song is showing how everything is in the present. In one moment, there is no anger, but there is no joy. There is simply existence, and it’s beyond perfect in how it displays this message.I have no complaints, only endless praise. Despite being the first song on the record, it might be my favorite on the album. Maybe one of my favorite songs ever made. It’s definitely fucking up there I’ll tell you what. 11/10

Just a Little Boy (For Chester Burnett): Unlike the prior song, this one is a far slower burn at 12 minutes. It is also probably the most menacing song on this album. Not as intense as tracks like Screen Shot or Oxygen, but equally as captivating. It starts slow, and sinister. Very subtly, pieces of guitar and drums bleed themselves into this very spacious synth lead. Gira’s voice is lo-fi, and softly sings as these echoing snares slam with intensity, to then dial it back, and repeat. Then Gira gives this honestly scary vocal passage where he snarls “I’m just a little boy” repeatedly as this laugh track shows up and it’s deadass pretty frightening. Gira then repeats these haunting drones as he sings out “I need love”. We go back to the intensity as he screams out “I’m not human!” and the laugh track comes back, even scarier this time. It’s like Gira took old terrifying home movies or abstract Lynch films and decided to make it into a post-rock song. Ending with alternating bouts of intensity and menace, a pushing and pulling as Michael mumbles out “Living in a Wonderland”. It’s hypnotic and unrelenting in it’s sinister edge. Whilst not showing off the grand cacophonous aspect of To Be Kind, it most assuredly shows off the disturbing churning underbelly of life and love that this record revels in Lyrics are fascinating, Gira speaking about sleeping in the belly of woman and of man, clinging to them for comfort. He screams out “I’m just a little boy” admitting to himself what he actually is. His vocal presence on this one, while not as commanding as Screen Shot, is still incredibly terrifying to me. His insane laughs and screams adding only to the manic atmosphere of the song. To be completely honest it’s these moments I feel in Swans that are the strongest. When Gira forgets the lyricism and babbles, letting the music do the speaking. Moments like these are where I find the power in Swans. Driven by both sound and word, this album showcases the more subdued emotion and raw intensity the record loves to relish in. Leaving multiple lines and interpretations within cryptic lyricism, emotions convey into the sound of the song itself. While I don’t think lyrically it’s as grand or as interesting as the prior song, it’s still a masterpiece in its own right, and worthy of being on this record for sure. It’s terrifying, yet at the same time undoubtedly captivating. Another excellent track for sure. 10/10

A Little God In My Hands: At 7 minutes, this is one of the shorter songs off the album. But don’t mistake that, it’s just as captivating and intense as every other song on this record. Like basically every song on the record it has the hypnotic repetition and overwhelming quality. Not as unsettling as Just a Little Boy perhaps, but easily one of the most cacophonous songs on the entire record. Funnily enough it starts pretty normal, with these groovy guitar riffs and a fairly standard ¾ drum beat. Yet it very quickly descends as Gira gives an incredibly strange vocal performance which while not as commanding like Screen Shot or manic like Just a Little Boy is unsettling and kinda makes my skin crawl a little bit. The relatively simple and groovy sound of the song very quickly descends into what I can only describe as a hellish cacophony of sound. It dials back, beginning to build up again with added chimes and piano chords as Gira gives this very guttural vocal performance. It’s not animalistic like Oxygen or earlier Swans work like Filth or Greed, but it’s still quite intense. These soft background vocals begin to layer into the song, and while I have no idea what the fuck they’re saying, it’s super atmospheric and adds to the soundscape of the song perfectly. It then goes back into that hellish cacophony of sound with blaring brass and galactic synths, it’s horrifically intense. It’s another buildup and release that shows an utter mastery of ebb and flow, minimalism and maximalism, exactly when to push and when to release.

The lyrics themselves are also quite interesting, comparing a god to a child, and the imperfections that arise in both. Phrases like “Pink little lamb on a granite slab” alluding to what may perhaps be a religious sacrifice in name of this little god. The refrain before the 2 walls of sound is “Oh yeah, oh yea. The universal mind.” which could perhaps be in reference to the “word spirit” that’s referenced in the poem The Second Coming by Y.W. Beats. Both pieces make reference to god and have overwhelmingly dark and drab tones to them. It’s another song where Gira seems entranced by the little nothings about life that we never really give thought to. Comparing the power of a god to just human nothing's like bleeding and excretion. Giving this manic joy to the aspects of life and love, yet condemning and revealing the utter meaningless to them all in the same breath. It’s utterly intense, utterly disgusting, and utterly magnificent. 10/10

Bring the Sun/Toussaint L'Ouverture: A fucking behemoth of a song at 34 minutes, yet just like Screen Shot, Just a Little Boy, and A Little God In My Hands it’s built and resonates with sublime precision. Offering brutal guttural moments alongside very transcendental, dimension ascending instrumental progressions. It’s home to some of the best moments on the entire record to be completely honest. Some of the best “lay back and just let your eyes roll out of your sockets” moments on the album are here, where the music just hits you full force. From the beginning where it slams in with a repeating guitar and drum crash, pounding and destroying all in its wake, to when it breaks and we enter a intermediate stasis. Carried by drones, light guitars and drums, this small stasis begins transformation, transformation into one of the most overwhelming pieces of instrumentation on the record. Babbles from Gira transform into chants of “BRING THE SUN!” underneath a chorused chant. Small cymbal taps become a layering, utterly jaw dropping snare pattern, which just becomes smashing cymbals. Bass chords and guitar licks build and become amorphous masses of energy and flame. It feels like Gira is leading a cult, and they are succeeding in bringing the sun down to earth, and the world is being scorched in flame and agony. The earth is ablaze, and its captured by the sonic atmosphere in a way I can only say is just mind melting. You can imagine everything through just the sonic palate and texture alone. And then the sound bursts.

We then travel from Bring the Sun to Toussaint L'Ouverture, and these 4 interstitial minutes are fantastic as well. Floating within pockets of little guitar licks and bell taps, until Gira comes in with his commanding yell of “Freedom”. Following is just an incredible swell of sound, guitar, bells, everything. This then bursts, you’re left in the darkness, wondering what happened. Then you hear the light dings and taps of cymbals, into an electrifying snare hit, into Gira’s scream of “TOUSSAINT! TOUSSAINT, L’OUVERTURE!!”. What follows for the next 10 minutes is a song that, while not mind melting like Bring the Sun, is unsettling and restrained in a way that builds tension and suspense. Even if Gira is giving some of the most unhinged vocal performances on the record. Some vocal passages literally just dissolve into him rolling his R’s, barking like a dog, or actually just screaming gutturally like in the final few minutes or so. And like i mentioned prior, the moments when Gira just descends into babbling or muttering incoherently, letting the songs speak for themselves, are some of the strongest in the entire Swans discography. While not as sonically overwhelming as Bring the Sun, Toussaint L'Ouverture has this sludgey ethereal quality to it. It creeps slowly along, with little sounds and textures coming in between pockets of sound. A sudden blast of snare hits, tiny cymbal taps, a gloriously unsettling jangly keyboard smash. The sound palate is unsettling, sludgy, languorous and creeping. It compliments the smashing crashing sun bursting sound of Bring the Sun near perfectly.

Lyrics aren’t especially as prime a purpose on Bring the Sun, mainly just repetitive chants of said phrase. On Toussaint though, the lyrics have purpose. Sung in both French and Spanish, he repeats certain phrases like “Blood of God. Son of God. Love of God.” and “Liberty. Equality. Fraternity.”, that phrase specifically being the national motto of Haiti. The song itself is titled after the man who lead the Haitian slave revolution, Toussaint L'Ouverture. Gira in past interviews mentions Haiti as a kind of fulcrum for everything both negative and positive in the world. A place wrought with exploitation, from capitalist pigs and from Haitians themselves. It’s a fascinating idea to make into a song, and it does match the themes of the record. The aspects humans do to one another and why we specifically do them, in this case being exploitation and ruin. God, this song is, it’s beyond fucking perfect. I have no complaints, lyrics, sound, production, everything is crisp and vibrant and full of color and sound and energy. One of the most overwhelming songs I’ve ever listened to, and a 34 minute song i could repeat until my ears go fucking numb. 11/10

Some Things We Do: The shortest song here at only 5 minutes, and serving as the end of the 1st disc to this album. It’s a slowdown, much needed after the brutal awe-inspiring power of Bring the Sun. In that pure sense of offering a cooldown I think it’s absolutely necessary and placed perfectly, but in regards to the sonic palate I feel it falls somewhat flat. Yes, it’s laced with these beautiful yet creeping strings and waning synths that soar above the rest of the song. And yes, Gira lists out all the different things we do as people. Mainly bringing up the lines “We love” and “We fuck”. It’s similar to Screen Shot in how it lists out the aspects of life and us as people, making them appear vain and without meaning. This song does feel in line with the rest of the album in theme and spirit. It’s beautiful, yet at the same time it feels like, a little bit empty. My only real faults are that it’s probably the most repetitive song on the album, and arguably the least standout song on the record as well. Lacking the buildup and intensity of every other song on here, even songs like Kirsten Supine. In the grand context of the album, I feel Some Things We Do does fall a little flat. Still a fantastic song, but in the face of the other songs here it lacks some power. 9/10

She Loves Us: This track kicks off the 2nd half of the album, and I think it’s one of the most direct and grooving records on the album. Instantly it builds in with this fantastic frenetic bass crunch and drum pattern. Later adding in jangling guitars, a background vocalist going “Nanana, na, naaa” and eventually Gira just coming in babbling mania. I can’t understand anything he’s fucking saying, but damn it sure sounds good haha. Eventually this bursts and we’re lead into another ethereal pocket of sound, floating in interstitial space. This gives way to guitar feedback and slamming tom hits, until it eventually all reduces to a simple bass riff. Once again the buildup begins again, layering in an utterly infectious drum beat and guitar pattern into my head, it’s something you can just jive your head to and have fun with. Gira then comes in with one of his more strange vocal performances on the entire record. Not as brutally intense as Bring the Sun or Oxygen, or creeping as Just a Little Boy, but god he chooses some weird inflections to take with his words. What is undeniable is the aggression and power he places into his words, even if they are phrases as nonsensical as “Your name is fuck!” or “Come to my mouth!”. They blend into the production and crisp instrumentation perfectly, adding this special ingredient that just ties everything together. The groovy drum pattern, the chimes and bells, all of this concocts into a swirling vortex of chaos, energy, passion, and power. A dedication of humanity, of life, of love, of death, of sex.

That specific theme of sex and meaningless in it is abundant heavily with She Loves Us. Specifically the youthful ideas of false love, sex and that intrinsic lack of passion in said meaningless sex. Youthful abandon, seeing these connecting mystifying aspects of love and sex as little more than carnal pleasures in the now. The title itself alludes to it, She Loves Us. The song includes lyrics of people inviting others around houses and gatherings simply for sex, passion and love notwithstanding. Constant references to meaningless and celebration, being most apparent in the repetition of “Your name is fuck. Hallelujah!” in the 2nd half of the track. Contrasting a sentence where a person is reduced to nothing but a sex object to a chant for a godly divine figure. Hell, the title itself alludes to love, an intrinsic contrast to the utter lack of it within the track. In both lyrics and sound, this is a great start to the 2nd disc, and a great follow up to the slow languorousness of Some Things We Do. Not as strong an opener as Screen Shot, but few things are. Still perfect. 10/10

Kirsten Supine: A nice slow down after the kick in the mouth She Loves Us was, another slow languorously creeping track dripping in despair and wallowing sounds. Soft plucks of guitar, a drone that inspires melancholy, a buildup into layered female vocals joining Gira’s, slight drum hits, small chimes, eventually bursting into a huge colossal wall of sound, with crashing cymbals and bells alongside a genuinely frightening droning synth. It’s captivating and churning with power. The lyrics themselves are quite interesting to read, taking imagery and context from the Lars Von Trier film Melancholia. Specifically the scene of the main character (played by Kirsten Dunst) stares naked into the blue planet soon to arrive and turn the world into naught but ash. Specific stanzas and lyrics from Gira mirror this theme, lines like “May moonlight fall upon your breast” and “May planets crash. May God rain ash. To sear our skin. To fold us in” being direct references to the scene within Melancholia. Yet, of all the tracks I’d say this is the least stand out. It’s the only track here besides Some Things We Do where the buildup of intensity and layering isn’t done to pitch-perfection. It’s the only song on here where I feel it can sometimes drag on a bit too long, where the others are the perfect lengths and have utmost precision and intelligence to their cacophony. It is by no stretch awful indeed it is an awe inspiring song. Yet, with the context of the prior 6 songs before it, and the 3 songs to follow it, Kirsten Supine feels a bit empty. Nothing worse scoffing at, but not as strong as it could be. And it is more than made up for by how strong the rest of the record is. 9/10

Oxygen: Probably the most urgent song on To Be Kind, and fuck I love this one so much. Starting off with this absolutely sinister guitar riff, it layers in more sounds as the song progresses. At about 8 minutes, it’s actually quite similar to Screen Shot in structure, yet the execution is far more primal and intense. After about a minute of the riff, these explosive drums come in and I love it. Each hit of the snare sounds like a gunshot, it’s so powerful. Gira isa monster on this track, this is the most animalistic and unhinged he’s sounded in a song since the early no-wave Swans on records like Filth and Cop (1984). It’s primal, and horrifically intense, more than every song on this album. This breaks again when he gives the vocal performance about how he body is hurting as he is denied oxygen, only to scream out “I’LL STEAL ALL THE OXYGEN” and come back in with even more intensity. The final minute of the song is one of the most primal and ferocious pieces of music I’ve ever heard. Drums blast, guitars scream, horns blare, and Gira is just fucking screaming nonsense, completely unhinged and with complete ferocity. You can hear the fucking strain in his vocal cords, the bubbles in his throat, it’s so unhinged and intense that every time I listen to this song it does 1 of 2 things. Either I just sit and absorb it all, or my blood starts pumping so hard I have to go punch something. The final few seconds as everything crashes in between this hit of the drums is compelling, and caps off the song perfectly.

Lyrics are also pretty primal, being written about a time Gira had a particularly bad asthma attack, being conscious but unable to breath. The song itself sounds like a man trying to surface for oxygen, yet being denied. Gira screams out things like “Oxygen! Amen!” hailing the base instinct of animals rather than a higher power. The interlude between the 2 pieces of the song talk about his body and its pain. Lines like “Feed my mind, Dance and spin, cut a hole” among others show the desperation in Michael's body to try and obtain oxygen. It’s primal, it’s ferocious, it’s disgusting and it’s animalistic. And it’s one of the best songs on the album. Just perfection. 10/10

Nathalie Neal: A much needed cool down after the throttling blood pumping intensity of Oxygen, starts in one of the most interesting ways I think any song on here does. An ambient sharp drone kicks on, and subsequently Gira’s babbling low baritone vocals get layered into and meshed with the drone to make a hypnotic interstitial bubble of sound and energy. Actually reminds me of the song A Piece of the Sky from the album prior to this one, The Seer (2012). Little sounds and synths layer into the drone, eventually leading to an audiotape recording of none other than Nathalie Neal herself, an individual Gira cared for and was a close friend too. This sample gives way to a small acoustic guitar pattern, which repeats and layers into one of the more groovy and infectious sounds experimented with on the album. Like She Loves Us, but more commanding. Each hit of the snare sounds like a horse galloping, the song literally sounds like charging into a battlefield with heads held high. Perhaps knowing you may perish, but finding comfort in giving your life for this duty. Gira’s vocals are another key piece to the power of this song, they sound monotone but commanding. Constant repeats of “Hey hey hey Nathalie!” and other lines in reference to Neal herself show his genuine love and compassion he felt for this woman, dedicating the song in her memory.

Unlike the rest of the album which takes dark, synoptic, and unassuming gazes at that which binds us as people, this songs lyrics seem like Gira’s own cries and dedications to Nathalie. Ascribing lyrics like “Love is strong, hate is gone. Live forever in this song.” and “Cut your name on to the sky” show Gira’s genuine compassion he had for her as a friend. Stating that love remains strong, any hatred he has ebbed away, and that she can exist forever within the song. She won't be forgotten after Gira’s death, she’ll forever have a piece dedicated for her, that will exist until infinity’s mouth closes. It’s genuinely kind of charming, seeing a man as untethered and intimidating as Gira can be dedicate a song to a friend he misses is a little warming to see. The song itself is another masterclass of tension and how to perfectly place and build intensity and crescendos of sound and color. A perfect fit right after a song like Oxygen, and another favorite from the album for sure. 10/10

To Be Kind: This is one of the best songs on the record (surprise surprise). It's unyielding in its brutal intensity, yet also calm and precise in the beginning, slicing through with razor sharp accuracy. It begins very folky and acoustically soft, something that could fit on My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky (2010). Gira sounds very soft here, as he repeats specific lines with the mantra “To be kind” and “To be loved”. Akin to something like Screen Shot and Some Things We Do with the repetitious aspects of life. What makes it though, are the final 4 minutes of the song that begin with these wailing guitars and echoing cymbal hits. It’s the push and pull, every time you think the cacophony ends it slams back in with even more intensity. Screaming guitars, crashing and punishing drums, whirling synths. Like Screen Shot it’s like a sonic odyssey, yet only even more manic and huge. Every smash of the this sonic wall of sound is louder and louder than the one before. Until it fizzles out and you’re left fucking shaking in your chair or on your couch cause of how utterly manic it is. It’s incredulous. The best description I can make of this song is that it’s like a post-rock simulation of a newborn child kicking and screaming being born into a world of cruelty and the worst humanity has to offer. At the same time though, I think the final few minutes of the song feel like the sonic equivalent to drowning, being pulled up for air as a false lull, and being re submerged until you drown. It’s overwhelmingly intense, probably the most brutal piece of the entire album. more cacophonous than any prior point on the album I feel. Even cuts like Oxygen or Bring the Sun/Toussaint L'Ouverture don't reach this level of brutalism and maximalism. I think the flip interpretation of it being a newborn child/being a simulation of drowning kinda reflects some of the themes of this album. Life, death, and what makes us who we are as people. It’s a fantastic encapsulation of the entire sound and lyrical palate of the entire record. A fantastic cut, and probably the best ending an album like this could have. No issues with it. 10/10

Final thoughts + rating: An album that, in every sense of the word, inspires me. As an artist and an individual placed in this shell of a body, albums like this are what drive me to improve and create that which surpasses me. Bodies of work like this are what motivate me to create art the way I do. Bodies of work like this are what make me understand the wonderment and disgust we can entrap and ensnare ourselves with simple human relative aspects. Bodies of work like this are what show how ideas and energy can be conveyed through sound alone, how to embrace sound as a passage into a life and a place greater than us, into a transcending place where Man is God. Bodies of work like this, are what I feel should be mandatory listens.

Anything lower than a 10 would be criminal for this album, I truly feel that. It is such a commanding, sheer mystifying wondrous monster of a record, that I can’t bring myself to give it anything else besides a 10/10. If you have yet to listen to this album, please, please fucking do so. Let yourself be taken by the overwhelming sound Gira and company have created here. Let yourself be consumed, and see what it really means to be human. To see what lies within us and beyond us. To be vengeful, depressed, obsessed, carnal, joyous. To be kind.

Favorite songs: Screen Shot, Just a Little Boy, A Little God In My Hands, Bring the Sun/Toussaint L'Ouverture, She Loves Us, Oxygen, Nathalie Neal, To Be Kind

Least favorite songs: None of them, they’re all fucking fantastic

#swans #swans (band)#to be kind #tbk #michael gira #album analysis #album analysis' are back baybee!!

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precuredaily · 6 years

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Precure Day 091

Film: Futari wa Precure Max Heart The Movie 2 - Friends of the Snow Laden Sky Date watched: 30 October 2018 Original release date: 10 December 2005 Screenshots: https://imgur.com/a/SCywSDw

Can you believe there’s actually not any group shots while they’re in Phoenix Form?

This movie is quite possibly my favorite movie in the entire Precure franchise. Where the first movie was good, this movie is excellent, and that’s not something I will be saying about every movie because there’s definitely some duds in this series. In the Max Heart movies, though, you can really tell they put a lot of time, money, energy, and effort to produce a polished product. This is most evident in the clarity and consistency of the art and the fluidity and dynamism of the animation. It’s not outstanding, not on par with the studios that subsist only on theatrical animation, but compared to the average episode, there’s a lot more to appreciate, so let’s dig in.

Right out of the gate we get a gorgeous shot of the moon, and some creatures flying past it: a flying squirrel with the voice of Goku carrying a diminutive old sage with the voice of Master Roshi (just kidding, he’s the voice of Kami), who is carrying an egg with the voice of nobody because eggs don’t talk. Right after promising not to drop the egg, Sage drops the egg and it gracefully descends into a snowy landscape as all the animals stop and watch.

The next day we find most of the main cast at a nearby ski resort! Akane and Hikari have set up shop inside the lodge; Shiho, Rina, and Fuji-P are snowboarding; Honoka and Kimata are skiing, and Nagisa.... is struggling, to put it nicely.

Her lack of skill does not go unnoticed and Honoka frequently rushes over to pull her out of snowbanks and back onto her feet, but despite the encouragement from her friend, Nagisa is still self-conscious about crashing on the bunny slope and not being able to really ski with everybody else, especially her crush. This plants the seed of a subtle tension between the two, but before anything can come of it, everybody goes back inside for a bit. While they were all out on the slopes, Hikari has found the egg and in her arms it hatched into a very plump bird! The girls all gather around and try to decide what it is and what to do with it. After agreeing that bringing her inside was a better idea than leaving her alone outside, and unable to figure out her species, they at least try to name her, and they settle on Hinata, which means “the sun’s warmth”, because she is also very warm. Then everybody goes back out to the slopes for another round, but this time Nagisa gets even more frustrated with herself, Honoka chastises her for giving up so easily, and lets slip that she could ski with Fuji-P..... who happens to be passing overhead on the ski lift as she says this. Embarrassed and frustrated, Nagisa snaps at Honoka and runs away. Honoka gives chase, but before they can settle things they see a Zakenna chasing Hikari. The girls rush to the scene and save her from being squashed by a tree, and then they all transform. The fight is excellently animated, making full use of the movie budget, but the choreography between the two girls is off. Cure Black blocks a punch on the ground as Cure White does a flying kick.... increasing the strain on Black. In frustration, Black deflects the giant fist back up and it accidentally strikes White. They both fall and the zakenna chases after Hinata, ignoring the warriors of light. Luminous freezes it with Heartiel Action, giving Black and White enough time to recover and destroy it with Marble Screw Max. Luminous remarks that the two seemed uncoordinated and they awkwardly walk it off.

Off to one side, the two villains who summoned the monster, Freezen (future voice of Coco from Yes 5) and Frozen (future voice of Girinma from the same) comment that they are the number one duo, and they’re not through yet. Off to the other side, Sage and Muta realize that Hinata is the egg they dropped.

Later that night Nagisa and Honoka are both clearly upset about their fight and want to apologize but struggle to face each other. Just as they come face to face, they hear Hinata’s cry and go running to discover that Sage and Muta have found Hikari and Hinata. Without explaining what’s going on, Sage drops some magic beans and a beanstalk sprouts, quickly taking everybody to the Garden of Clouds. (Yes they did just go full Jack and the Beanstalk) Nagisa and Honoka’s faces are priceless.

that’s worth the price of admission right there

Up in the Garden of Clouds, Muta and Sage drop a lot of exposition, thanking the girls for saving their Houou, and explaining the lifecycle of a houou. Hinata, the houou, reveals she can talk and is annoyed at Nagisa for trying to give her a stupid name, but because she’s Honoka’s friend Hinata will forgive her. Cue awkward glance between the two. They settle down to eat in celebration of the birth and return of the houou and are joined by more flying squirrels. During the meal Mepple sadly observes that Hinata will always be alone as there can only ever be one houou, but Sage counters that the houou has all of them and they have sworn to protect her as she is the source of all warmth and peace, that without her the world would be cold and bitter. After this obvious foreshadowing, Freezen and Frozen turn up again and ransack the Garden of Clouds, capturing Hinata in a pillar of ice. They declare that the houou is the greatest obstacle to their domination, and with it gone they can surpass the Dark King and freeze all the worlds. The girls won’t let that happen without a fight, naturally, so they transform and while they engage Freezen and Frozen, Luminous tries to take the pillar holding Hinata, but she can’t. This is another really great fight with some unique tension, like Black getting her arm frozen and White kicking her free of Freezen’s grip, which clearly causes Nagisa some pain. White asks if she’s okay and Black just kind of turns away from her partner. They summon the Sparkle Braces and hit the villains with Marble Screw Max Spark, but the villains prepare their own combo attack: Freezing Blizzard. They comment with disdain on the weakness of their opponents, because they’re the number one duo, and they become the first enemies to ever overpower Marble Screw Spark. Freezing Blizzard covers everything in ice, freezing all of the residents except Sage and Muta, and it creates a giant ice fortress that the villains flee into with Hinata. The trio of heroines quickly pursue them into the fortress, but Luminous gets separated. At her request, Black and White press on while Luminous is stuck fighting a Zakenna with only Sage and Muta for help.

Inside the fortress is an arena, and Freezen informs the duo that they must fight each other in order to advance. As he says that, Frozen pours ice into White’s heart, enhancing her negative feelings for Nagisa and silencing all voices but his own so that he can direct her to fight Cure Black. And let me tell you, evil Cure White is a scary sight indeed.

she will murder you

She lays the smackdown on Cure Black, who doesn’t want to fight her friend and screams at the unfairness of this. As White kicks Black out onto the roof, Black tries to appeal to her friend. It stirs Honoka’s memories but not enough to break the control. The villains comment that the one-sided fight is boring, so Freezen puts the spell on Black as well, and their fight is heartbreaking. It’s the culmination of the building antagonism between them throughout the film so far and it’s beautifully envisioned but also horrible to watch because of the emotional investment the audience has in their friendship.

As White has Black pinned, Honoka comes to her senses and starts crying over her partner as she calls out to Nagisa by name. Black looks up and there’s a question of whether she is awake or not, but she answers “White...” and then kicks her away. Their roles are now reversed, White won’t lay a finger on Black and stands up straight to silently plead with her. Black starts to flash back but charges straight at White and punches her off the cliff. However, right afterwards, Black catches White and calls out "Honoka!” She has broken the spell. They’re both relieved, but the moment doesn’t last because the ice crumbles beneath their weight and they go hurtling back down to the ground below, so the villains return to deal with the Houou.

Elsewhere, Luminous is still struggling with the Zakenna when Sage remembers he has more magic beans. As Freezen and Frozen arrive back at the room where Hinata is being kept, Luminous, Sage, and Muta arrive by beanstalk. Luminous once again exerts her strength to try and free Hinata, and this time she’s able to pull the entire ice pillar out of the ground and runs off with it.

I’m honestly impressed

On the ground level, Black and White wake up and finally have a moment to themselves. They make very tearful, very moving apologies to each other, for everything, in one of the movie’s most iconic scenes, and with their friendship rekindled, they start climbing back to the top.

By the time they reach the top, Luminous has fled to another ice tower with Freezen and Frozen in close pursuit, so to get there, Cure White breaks off a huge slab of ice and says they’ll have to snowboard across to get to their partner. Black boldly takes charge on this, overcoming her apprehensions and remembering a tip Fujimura gave her earlier, and she manages to steer and jump them right into the villains! She doesn’t quite stick the landing but hey, it’s only been a few minutes. They boldly take a stand against the ice villains.... and promptly get pounded into the ground. However, they stand back up, clearly exhausted, and place themselves between Freezen/Frozen and Luminous with Hinata. The villains taunt them, asking why they continue to fight when they have no energy, what they have to gain from being heroes protecting the world. They fire back that it’s not about being heroes, they just want to save their friends, and especially after the trials they’ve been through, they never want to feel the pain of losing a friend ever again. The villains retaliate by firing a Freezing Blizzard at them, which they can’t avoid, and they are frozen solid.

You’re as cold as ice! You’re willing to sacrifice our love!

With their greatest threat now out of the way, the villains advance towards Luminous, Hinata, Sage, and Muta. Hinata is weakened but moved by the strength of her friends, and she summons all her energy into a fireball that she fires at the frozen heroines. Suddenly Black and White break free of the ice and power up into new forms! These are their Phoenix Forms, seen at the top. They are able to fly around now, and they make short work of Freezen and Frozen before throwing them into each other face-first in a great fight. The brothers bicker with each other over who’s at fault for this and try to fire another Freezing Blizzard as the girls fire a Marble Screw Max Spark. The attacks converge but the icy duo can’t stop arguing with each other. Black and White accuse them of being fake partners who blame each other the moment things go badly, and lecture them on the lesson they’ve learned about true friendship. Then they blow the villains to kingdom come.

Black and White rush back over to where Luminous, Sage, and Muta are protecting Hinata, only to find them crying over Hinata, who has collapsed after giving Black and White all her power. Sage mourns that the Houou is gone and now there will never be any more warmth or peace, and if only they could have made it to see the Queen of Light after all this could have been avoided. This stirs a realization, and Luminous begins to channel her power into Hinata to save her precious friend. Hinata stirs, and everybody else joins Luminous: Black, White, Mipple, Mepple, Porun, Lulun, Sage, and Muta all contribute their power. Luminous transforms into her own Phoenix Form and sumons her Shiniel Baton, basically the Heartiel Baton in white, to imbue Hinata with the power of the Queen. As she does so, an image of the Queen appears behind her, and Sage is in awe that this girl is the Queen of Light.

Hinata transforms into a full-grown Houou and thaws the frozen wasteland, restoring warmth and peace to nature, and she even takes the heroines on a ride back home. After a very tearful goodbye from everybody, especially Porun (more on that later), they promise that even if they never get to see each other again, they’ll all always be friends, so with balance restored, Hinata flies away, back into the Garden of Clouds.

The next day, Nagisa and Honoka are tearing up the ski slopes together while everybody else looks on kind of dumbfounded. They ask when Nagisa got so good at snowboarding and she and Honoka just kind of share a glance before laughing it off and running away. On a nearby bank, Porun, Lulun, and Hikari all look at the sky and muse about their friend being out there somewhere in the clouds, and the credits begin to roll.

Where do I start with this movie? It introduces the central conflict early and slowly builds on it. Nagisa’s frustrations about not being a good snowboarder make sense, and she gets a bit defensive about it, especially when brought up in conjunction with her crush. Nagisa has always been sensitive to talking about him, so it fits her character. The villains, purposefully or not, take this chance to drive a wedge in between Nagisa and Honoka so they never get the chance to apologize to each other properly, even when they know they’re wrong. They subtly remind you of this throughout the entire first half of the film, with lots of awkward glances and other little cues, they’re out of sync during the Zakenna fight which results in them accidentally hurting each other, and it all comes to a head when Freezen and Frozen make them fight each other. That fight breaks my heart but it makes it so much more meaningful when they can finally sit down, say “I’m sorry”, and hug it out. They then get to show off their renewed bond and strength in the final battle with the icy duo, as well as flexing their desire to protect all their friends, Hikari and Hinata in particular. The dispute, the fight, and the resolution making them more powerful and closer than ever is, in my opinion, Precure at its absolute best. They don’t always have to come to blows but showing people that disagreements happen, even between friends, and if you swallow your pride and make amends you can pull through stronger than ever to overcome anything, that’s what it’s all about. Obviously this isn’t always applicable in real life but it’s a good foundation, and the way they visualize it in this movie with something as simple as a well-meaning statement when someone is in a bad mood, something neither party could really be faulted for, that’s something most people have experienced. Friendship takes work, and they also demonstrate the other side of this with the villains. Freezen and Frozen start the film taking advantage of the subtle strife between the girls, overpowering them at every turn. However once Nagisa and Honoka resolve their differences, they move as one and after a single attack, the villains start to squabble with each other. Their own partnership begins to crumble as they accuse each other of getting in the way and they can’t pull together an attack to save their lives (literally). Now it’s true that we don’t have as much investment in the villains of the movie relative to our heroines, because we’ve spent almost two years with the girls, but you get enough to understand them: all they do is brag about their bond and plot to freeze the world. This indicates there’s not much more to their partnership than what meets the eye, whereas the protagonists don’t really brag about their closeness, either in the show or the movie, it’s presented visually with how they behave around each other. They reflect on it sometimes but if anybody holds them to a lofty standard it’s their other friends commenting on how close Nagisa and Honoka are. They say pride comes before a fall and the villains demonstrate this.

Nagisa and Honoka aren’t the only friends in this movie, of course. A very big subplot that I didn’t really bring up in the summary is the bond between Hikari, Porun, and Hinata. Hinata hatched in Hikari’s arms, presumably because she’s the Queen’s life, and instantly took to her more than anybody else. While Hikari had to tend to the stand, Porun and Lulun played with Hinata and Porun especially found himself in a nurturing position for the tiny bird. He tried to help her fly, he encouraged her at every step, and both he and Hikari were beside themselves when she apparently died. I know I’ve written before about how Porun gets a lot better as a character over the course of a season and a half, well, this movie exemplifies that. When the day is saved and Hinata is all grown up, she has to go, and Porun cries that he doesn’t want to say goodbye, he wants to stay with Hinata forever. Nagisa starts to tell him not to be selfish and Porun responds that he knows. He cries, because he knows he has to let her go but he doesn’t want to and it’s hard. For a character that started out as a little brat, seeing him struggle with his selfish impulses at the moment he has to say goodbye to a friend forever is honestly really moving. Hikari sympathizes with him and Lulun offers her support as well. Hinata kindly tells him that they’ll always be friends, no matter how far apart they are, and sincerely thanks him and Hikari above the rest of the group. And indeed, while Hikari isn’t much of a fighter, she put in the bulk of the work in actually saving Hinata, and this is one of those times where I think they did a good job emphasizing Shiny Luminous’s unique strengths when they’re different from the Precures. Like in the first movie, they still separate her from the fighters, but this time she has her own purpose, her own path through the movie, and they don’t just knock her out until the climax of the film. This furthers the theory that the first movie wasn’t written with her in mind but I already discussed that in that review.

The art and animation are a step above the show, of course, because of the increased budget. This means the fights have a greater impact, and I like the early battle against the snowman zakenna in the snowy forest, that’s not a setting we’ve ever seen before and it presents unique obstacles. There’s more fluidity in the motions, and then you factor in the bit where Black and White are slightly at odds with each other, and it presents a great battle. But there’s other smaller moments too, like when Honoka is on the phone with her grandma the evening after the fight telling her everything is fine. While she does this she fidgets with the cord on the phone as a visual indication that she’s nervous and it’s little moments like this which I live for.

if you don’t remember corded phones, you’re too young to be reading my blog

The skiing scenes are also fun for the same reason as the action scenes.

I know I’ve commented in recent reviews that Shiho seems to be eclipsing Rina in characterization, and while neither of them are major players in this movie, Rina does get a particular moment of insight. After Shiho and Rina come back from the bath to see Nagisa slumped in her chair and no Honoka in sight, Rina instantly nails that she had a fight with Honoka, and offers her some advice. Rina remarks that if they’re true friends, they’ll apologize and pull through, but if they fall apart and let this ruin their relationship, they were fake friends.

also we see Rina with her hair down and that’s cute

It’s a small scene but it carries the entire film, as it’s now a journey for Nagisa and Honoka to make up with each other, and Nagisa repeats this mentality to Honoka after they make up, and to Frozen and Freezen during their final stand. I’ll have to look back at the series but I think this is the most importance Rina has ever had.

Here’s some thoughts on the voice cast. The guest stars (Kuaso Takeshi as Freezen and Hiyama Nobuyuki as Frozen) really ham up their roles and that’s glorious. Hiyama in particular is always a delight to hear, especially when he gets to use his upper range. I first remember hearing him as Viral in Gurren Lagann and since then he’s stuck out at me. Yukana gets to show off more of her range with evil Cure White, and her evil voice is terrifying coming out of Honoka. Masako Nozawa, as I mentioned, gets the dual roles as Yukishiro Sanae (a bit part if we’re being honest) and Muta, but as far as I can tell nobody else is double cast, which results in characters like Fuji-P, Kimata, and Akane only having a few lines each, although they offer mild justification by cutting away to them at key moments during the events in the Garden of Clouds so they can comment on things like the worsening weather, Nagisa and Honoka’s long absence, and..... actually that’s about it. It seems arguably not worth the cost of getting them onboard but maybe they recorded their lines during other sessions, I don’t know. It’s not like the boys are major players in the show either.

The soundtrack is good, if not especially memorable. There are a lot of themes and songs that are reused from the first movie. I do want to give a quick shoutout to "Pretty Cure Super Version”, the song accompanying Black and White’s resurrection. It feels regal, powerful, and inspiring and does an excellent job of bringing the audience back from the brink of defeat along with the girls. I don’t want to downplay the music of this film, but there’s some movies you watch and you’re humming the soundtrack for days afterwards. This is not one of those. The songs are nice in the moment and one or two may stick with you, and when I go back and listen to it again I’m like “Ahhhh yes this is a great song” but then I immediately forget how it went afterwards.

If you recall from MH1, there was an insert song as well as an ending theme, and there’s a third vocalized song on the soundtrack (besides the op and ed) called “Crystal”, but I went back to find it and it only plays in the background of a few scenes, it’s meant to be music actually playing in the ski lodge. Nice song, not much to say about it. The ending is a poppy, bubbly tune that doesn’t inspire much feeling. Very much just a song to get kids out of the theater.

youtube

As you can see it’s just a slideshow of stills across the two seasons, but two in particular stood out to me. First is the shot of the girls walking to work in their winter uniforms, because I’m pretty sure the girl walking by Shiho is a freshman player on the lacrosse team, which would imply it’s from a future episode of the show. (I thought it was Miu at first but it’s not, and now I’m stumped because I recognize her but I can’t identify her) Next is one I didn’t notice until writing this paragraph, and that’s the shot of Nagisa and Honoka in front of Akane’s cafe when they went to the highlands, the first time Baldez attacked them.

Compare to the TV version:

I’m not sure if they completely redrew all of these shots for the ending but they sure did some work on this one. Note that those two girls in the back feature very briefly in the film, commenting on how good Honoka and Fuji-P looked together and fueling Nagisa’s feelings of inadequacy.

Sorta speaking of the art, let’s take a moment to appreciate everybody’s winter clothes, but especially Honoka’s bun, because it’s cute as heck and also I have a thing for when animators draw characters with different hairstyles.

Last little point of note, the first film was strangely sponsored by a jewelry company. As far as I can tell, this movie has no such misplaced sponsorship.... except maybe a ski resort? They never name the place so it seems unlikely, but I wouldn’t rule out the possibility that it’s at least based on a real location. There seems to be an onsen on-site and that absolutely sounds like a relaxing way to spend an evening after a day on the ski slopes so it’s probably a real thing at one or more ski resorts in the country.

To wrap this up, I want to reiterate that everything about this film works extraordinarily well. They establish a central conflict early, reinforce it in subtle ways, and resolve it to create the climax. The villains are threatening and demonstrate their power well, countering the girls’ strongest attacks with little effort and almost winning at the halfway point. Incidentally, the basic plot of both movies so far is the same: the villain beats the girls because of internal strife, only for them to get their act together and have a Big Damn Heroes moment to defeat them in the climax with help from a new form. However, as I stated at the outset, I love this movie a lot more than the first one, because the conflict is between two characters we know have good intentions and not just from Nagisa getting annoyed because a frog was being an ass. The Precure movies range in quality from damn near perfect (this) to acceptable popcorn entertainment (Dream Stars, Go Princess movie) but I’m glad that they started off strong. Next time, we return to the series proper for Fuji-P’s birthday!

Pink Precure Catchphrase Count: Amazingly, 0 “Arienai”. I went back and checked a few times.

#Precure #Pretty Cure #Futari wa Precure Max Heart #FWPCMHMV2 #PCD091

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joyofcrime-elinorhigh · 5 years

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Samurai Jack Season 5 REVIEW:

Thirteen years have passed, but the series does not age. It was a modern classic. Yet, the film's setbacks continued...Hope was lost. Got to get back, back to the past. Samurai Jack. Jack Jack...Jack Jack Jack.......Watcha? Well that was literally the worst intro conceivably possible and I've just lost all of my credibility. Let's do this!

Hello everybody, my name is JoyofCrimeArt and it's finally time for me to finally talk about the show that everybody in the animation community was talking about...about a month or so ago. (Dang self imposed hiatus.) From the director of "Adam Sandler get's into wacky situations as a vampire for ninety minutes 1 and 2" come the long awaited fifth season of Samurai Jack! Now before we start this, I feel that it's important for me to talk about my feelings on the first four seasons of the show. the first thing to get out of the way is that I did not watch Samurai Jack much when I was a kid. I started watching the series about a year ago, after I heard that a fifth season was announced. So basically, I have no "nostalgia." for this series. Also I haven't seen every episode of the old series, but I have seen a good handful and from what I've seen, it was pretty awesome. The show has one of the most creative premises for an animated series I've ever seen, and takes full advantage of all the possibilities that it's world presents. The show has a level of artistry that I have not seen from any other animated series except for maybe "Over the Garden Wall." And it has a very memorable cast of characters. (Even if said cast of characters is only about three guys.) The show was sometime truly unique, and there really isn't anything else like it. Except for Genndy's "Star Wars: Clone Wars" series, which is more or less Samurai Jack with a "Star Wars" mod skin over it. The show isn't perfect though, at least in my opinion. Sometimes the pacing can be a bit too slow, and a lot of times episodes are really just one long action scene. This wouldn't be a problem except most of the time it's Jack fighting some generic bounty hunter or monster who was just introduced in the episode, so it's hard to find them that interesting. Unless it's Aku, or a few other stand out villains, most of the foe's that Jack face tend to have really cool powers and designs, but not much personality. But those are small problems in an otherwise great show. . But how does this sequel season hold up. (And yes, it's a sequel season not a reboot. It's set in the same continuity as the old show so it isn't a reboot, dang it!) A lot of times in the past when a series comes back after being cancelled for a long time, it tends to come back not as good (*COUGH COUGH! FUTURAMA! COUGH! COUGH!*) does Samurai Jack fall into this trap or is it a rare exception to this rule. Let's dive in and find out. Oh, and the first part of this review will be mostly spoiler free, and then I'll have a warning before I get into spoilers. And when I say spoilers, I mean anything major that wasn't revealed in the first official trailer. Just for a heads up. Samurai Jack season five opens up fifty years after the first four seasons. It's basically the same old story, as Jack travels around helping people from the clutches of Aku and his minions. Only this time it's a more grizzled Jack, who has a beard, wears all black, uses really big guns, and has a motorcycle-HEY, COME BACK! I PROMISE IT'S NOT AS DUMB AS IT SOUNDS! Jack has become tired of all of this. Aku has destroyed all of the time portals, so he has no way to get back to the past. And to make matters worse Jack has lost his sword years ago, which is the only thing that can kill Aku. So Jack has been basically trapped in this limbo for fifty years, with no hope of every truly defeating Aku. (He doesn't age anymore due to a side effect of the time portal.) Meanwhile, we get introduced to the Cult of Aku. A cult who worships Aku as a God and is for some reason only made up of woman. I guess Aku likes his cult EXTRA THICC! (*Obligatory "Extra Thicc" joke...check!*) The High Priestesses of this cult gives birth the seven daughters, and we see that they are all raised from birth to become the perfect killing machines. And so this team of assassin's known as the "Daughters of Aku" lead by one of the daughter named Ashi (You know she's the leader cause she's the only one who has a name.) head out to find Samurai Jack and destroy him once and for all. So in case you couldn't tell, this season is MUCH darker than the past seasons of this show. But it manages to be dark without coming off as needlessly edgy, which is a really impressive feat. In fact Samurai Jack may be one of few "darker and grittier" continuations of ANY franchise actually works to the series advantage. It's not infallible, as there are a lot of scenes that do feel like there just being needlessly bloody and violent just because they can now, but for the most part the darker tone works to the series advantage. Serious issues are tackled, and they treat them seriously. Jack is driven by guilt over not being able to save people from Aku, and this guilt haunts him, both in the form of visions from his "past self" who is very reminiscent of Mad Jack from the old series, but also in the form of a ghostly horseman who wants to claim Jack and make him fall into despair.

The series tackles themes of depression, PTSD, child abuse, suicide, and weather or not it's okay to kill in self defense, and it doesn't sugar coat it either. So many adult shows just use raunchy humor and violence for a quick joke. And there's nothing necessarily, I like a lot of adult cartoons, but it is great to see an adult cartoon actually tackle adult issues with this level or respect and seriousness. So many adult cartoons just have characters kill people just cause' but this series actually poses questions about weather it's right or wrong, and makes it clear there's not always an easy answer. I have a lot of respect for this season for tackling these issues, and for doing it in a way that feels natural. This series really plays up all the implications that the first for series posed when it comes to the world that Jack lives in. Innocent people do die, and Aku and his bounty hunters do kill people. And the fact that Jack's been seeing this destruction and carnage for fifty years, and is powerless to truly stop it, it makes sense that he's beginning to lose sight between right and wrong. It makes sense that's he's getting PTSD visions in the middle of fights. And it makes sense that he's contemplating suicide. He can't die of old age, and no robot or bounty hunter is able to kill him. He feels like he's going to be wandering this world forever, and you quickly see why he wouldn't want that. It's really well done, and I give the series a lot of props for tackling these issues. In fact this type of stuff is probably my favorite element of this season. The show also still looks amazing. The designs and creativity are still very much there, and in some respects are even better than the old show. There are some scenes like the temple battle in episode two that honestly feel down right cinematic. The show still has it's quite, atmospheric moments, but the show also has a much brisker pace, due to actually having a continuous narrative. I like the brisker pace of the season...for the most part, but I'll get to that later. The action is still amazingly well done, and it's great to see an action show that is actually successful both critically and in terms of popularity. It's been so long since we had that. It's also neat to see an american action show that is target strictly for adults. We so rarely see that, and I'm glad that this was successful, and hopefully this seasons success could lead to more action adult animation in the future. Honestly, this is how a sequel series or a reboot should be done in my opinion. It captures the essence of the original, but does add enough new elements to make it unique. It would of been so easy to not make the series any darker, and just make it a bunch of standalone episodes, and then maybe do a two part finale wrapping everything up. But I like how it took a risk, and it clearly worked out for them. But yeah, onto the flaws, I... HEY! You're not allowed to have criticisms of this! This is Genndy Tartakovsky we're talking about! He can't do any wrong you casual plebe! Well, I believe that no one is perfect, and that everything has some pros and some cons, okay? I respect Genndy a lot, but even he has his duds. Have you seen his Cartoonsitute pilot "Maruined?" Of course you haven't, because it's awful! And before you say that Samurai Jack is flawless, I present you this scene where the animators forgot to give Jack a beard...

0 out of 10! Needs more beard!!!1! One thing, I don't really like what this season did with Aku. I kinda get what they were trying to do. They wanted to show the similarities between Jack and Aku, and give them a sort of symbiotic "Batman/Joker" style situation. Both are immortal, but neither of them can be happy until they kill the other and neither can. That is actually a really cool idea, and in theory I think it could really work. But the execution is where it falls a bit flat for me. He's just to silly. And I know he was silly in the old show, but he was also scary and a real threat. He doesn't feel that threatening in this season. The world he created is threatening, but the problem lies in the fact that, while everything else in this season is given a darker tone, it's surprisingly the villain who stays the same. I think this Aku could work for Cartoon Network, but not adult swim. Characters like the High Priestess come across as more intimidating then the God they worship. Aku also seems kinda like a wimp, afraid to fight Jack if Jack has his sword, even though he fought Jack in the old show a ton of times while Jack still had his sword. Because, even with the sword, Aku was still a shape shifting demon God who could kill you with heat vision. But here they all just act like once Jack has the sword he can just walk up to Aku and just kill him. Episode seven and a bit of episode nine are really the only episode where Aku feels like old Aku. I know they want to make him silly because everything else is so heavy, but if Gravity Falls can make a villain be as terrifying and comedic as Bill, then they could of balanced it with Aku.

Oh, check it out. Aku twerking. Interesting how NOBODY CARED WHEN SAMURAI JACK DID IT! Also, there are point in the season that are incredibly rushed! I know earlier I like the pacing, and I do in terms of actually events in particular scenes and episodes, but when looking at the season as a whole, it's impossible for me to not notice the pacing problems. Event's weren't necessarily rushed, but arcs where. I can't go into the specific problems until I get to spoilers but the pacing is probably my biggest problem with the season. If there is one thing you can say about Samurai Jack is that it NEVER felt rushed. It always took it's time when it came to presenting a scene. That's why so many episodes would start with Jack just slowly walking across a landscape. I can't really go into specific examples without going into spoilers though so...let's get into spoilers. THIS IS THE SPOILER SECTION! So let's talk about Ashi. I really like the concept of her. An assassin trained from birth worshiping Aku who ends up becoming Jack's sort of sidekick. Ashi and Jack do have a good dynamic going on once Ashi begins her redemption arc. I like how it's not just a student/master relationship, as they both teach each other things. Jack teaches Ashi to let go of her hate, and Ashi teaches Jack to let go of his regret. This stuff I really like, and I think it works really well. The problem I have is that Ashi's whole character arc feels incredibly rushed! the issue stems from just how devoted Ashi was to her cause at the start of the season. She literally spends all of episode four trying to kill Jack while inside the sand worms stomach, and makes it very clear that she is willing to kill herself as well as long as she makes sure the samurai dies with her. She is completely unphased about her sisters being killed, because her life and the concept of life in general hold such little value to her. But then she just see's Jack not kill a ladybug and suddenly, Bam. She no longer wants to kill him. MIRACULOUS! And yeah, I know Jack tells her that everything she knows is wrong, and she wants to know why, but if she's this brainwashed then why does it work so quickly. She's known Jack for like a day, and has spent at least eighteen years being told to never trust him. I know she see's him sparing the ladybug, but she also saw Jack sparing her life countless times, and that didn't effect her. It was only when he saved the ladybug when she decided to not kill him. And speaking of rushed, oh boy oh boy, let's talk about episode eight. Let me get this out of the way, I can see a scenario where "Jashi" as others have called it COULD work. The two have very good dynamic together. Yes, it is a little weird cause Jack is literally old enough to be her grandfather, and he is also the only man she's ever had any form of serious interaction with, and it could be seen as a bit of taking advantage of her, but I can let that go on the grounds of it just being a cartoon. I'm not totally closing the door on the possibility of a relationship. The issue is that nothing in the previous episodes seems to imply that there relationship was like that. And then in episode eight were just suppose to buy it. And I don't. This relationship needed more then just one episode to establish itself. Still though, Jack being hilariously awkward almost made up for it.

Jack: So Ashi, did either of our parents explain to us how sex works? Ashi: Nope. Jack: Damn it. And there are even more examples of times where the pacing seems to be a bit rushed, but those are the two main ones. Honestly, I don't know why the pacing is like this. Part of me feels like maybe the series could of been better if it had a few more episodes to flesh out all of the ideas, like maybe thirteen instead of ten, but even then I'm not so sure. Cause there are a lot of moments in this season that, while usually cool, aren't exactly needed for the plot. Like Scaramouche's whole subplot in episode six. All that is needed plot wise is that he reboots, sets out to go tell Aku about Jack losing his sword, and that's it. We don't need to see him come up with all those schemes to board the boat, our minds would naturally just fill in the blanks on how he got there. Then we could have more time on Jack contemplating suicide. Yes, we would of missed Tom Kenny saying the word "penis" which would obviously be a tragedy, but from a purely plot perspective, we didn't need it. Or Ashi's whole battle with the orc army in episode seven. We don't need that. All we needed was Ashi to fight her mother. It's not like the orc army really accomplished anything. Heck, honestly did we even need Ashi to fight her mother. I mean I guess it was to give her arc a sense of closure, but she had already denounced Aku and, now knowing the ending of the series, it's not like the priestess was going to survive anyway. Then we could of had more time with Jack on his spiritual quest, instead of him just making tea with Buddha, and just laser zapping Old Jack. And then there was that one episode in the middle of the season, where Jack and Ashi weren't even in it at all, and the whole episode followed around some old guy in a lab coat ranting about McDonald Schezwan Sauce! I have no idea what THAT was about!

Look, I'm not saying that Genndy Tartakovsky jerks off to Ashi being shown in immense pain but...No, that's exactly what I'm saying. I'm not kink shaming, I'm just sayin'. Speaking of which, I wanna talk about something in episode six that really bugs me. I find the reason Jack loses his sword to be kinda stupid. Or at the very least, flawed within the logic of the show. In this episode, Aku turns a couple of baby goats into giant monsters and has them attack Jack. Jack, angry about the loss of the last time portal, ends up giving into his anger and kills the baby goats. This is treated as a bad thing, as the Gods make Jack lose his sword because of this. But what was Jack suppose to do?! Let the goats kill him, even though Jack is the only one who has a chance of stopping Aku? There was no way to reverse the effects of Aku's curse. And this wouldn't bother me to much, except earlier in the season we got a whole arc about how it is okay to kill in self defense. The Daughters of Aku are a lot like the goats when you think about it. They were turned against there will to kill Jack. The only difference is that the Daughter's of Aku were mind controlled from birth and the goats were mind controlled with magic. How come it's okay to kill Aku's Daughters but not the goats. If anything Aku's Daughters should have more value, not just because there human, but because Ashi proves that they could be turned good. Who's to say that Ashi is the only one who Jack could of shown the light? There really isn't much implying that all seven daughters couldn't have been reasoned with if they went through the same things that Ashi did? The show just seems like it has some conflicting messages on this subject, and for some reason acts like Ashi was the only one of the Daughters of Aku who could ever possibly be redeemed. Also we see Jack eat meat! So he clearly kills animals! But whatever. I know it's kinda a nitpick but when the whole season makes such a big deal about killing and Jack's sword it's hard not to notice the inconsistencies. So let's talk about the finale. Outside of episode eight this seems to be the thing that fans are the most split about. Some fans think it's great, while others find it to be a bit of a disappointment after thirteen years of build up. Before I get into the finale though, I just want to say that I CALLED ASHI BEING THE LITERAL DAUGHTER OF AKU! (Kinda.) When the series first started I guessed that Ashi would be the literal daughter of Aku. But then when it seemed like they weren't heading that direction I figured, "Eh, I guess I was wrong." But I was right! Ha!

Jack: DAMN IT, AKU! STOP MAKING ME FALL IN LOVE WITH FEMALE VERSIONS OF YOU! FOOL ME ONCE, SHAME ON YOU. FOOL ME TWICE, SHAME ON ME! Anyway, there are definitely a lot of good elements in the finale. The army of past characters coming to Jack's aid, while definitely predictable, was really cool. It really helps fit the theme of Jack's actions having an influence on the world. The fight itself was also cool, and it was great seeing The Scotsman actually reunite with Jack one last time, even if it was a bit brief. My only main gripes with the finale are that, one.) We never really get a truly epic final battle between Jack and Aku. All we get is a quick curb stomp battle between Jack and Past Aku. We don't get any fight with Jack and future Aku, and it's a bit disappointing since this is literally the only Jake/Aku fight in the whole season, not counting the one in episode six where Aku just runs away. We don't really get a truly epic Jack/Aku on the same level that we got in the old seasons. and two.) I honestly find the ending a bit to happy. I know that sounds weird, considering the fact that it's a bit of a bittersweet ending, but it just felt a bit out of place to me that Jack actually did make it back to the past. The whole season prior really made it seem like it wasn't going to go that way. They seemed to set things up like they were saying "No, Jack can't undo all the horrible things that Aku has done in the past. But that doesn't mean he should give up. He can still defeat Aku now, and free the future from his reign of evil." I mean it kinda makes all the grief he felt in the begining of the season seem less meaningful if he just undoes it. And yes, I know he still had to experience all off that, but still. Also I don't like how it just erased all of the characters who we've come to love over the years. Or are they alive in the future, just a less evil future? I don't know, the show doesn't tell us. It feels really sudden and, again, kinda rushed. I know this ending is kinda controversial, and I don't hate it, but I do find it interesting that a series that fans waited so long for the conclusion to was so unsatisfying to so many people. Like what if other series that have continuations come back and have unsatisfying endings, even if those endings were the ones the creators intended. It'll be interesting to see. So yeah, I didn't hate the ending by any stretch. I wouldn't even call it bad as much as I would call it off. But then again, maybe after thirteen years we all had the ending sort of worked out in are heads to the point were any ending that didn't match our head cannon would seem a bit off. There's also some weird fridge logic things to. Like why does Ashi wait till there wedding to stop existing. Did they get married that day? Considering how quickly they feel in love I wouldn't be surprised. Also, did going back in time undoing the whole "immortality" thing or not, it wasn't very clear. What happened when the Emperor dies? Will Jack just be emperor forever. Considering all the crap Jack's been through in the future there's no way ANYTHING in the current timeline would be able to kill him...and he no longer wants to kill himself. Have we just gone full alternate history here? Will Jack live till WWII? Will Japan in this timeline join the allies, as Emperor Jack refuses Hitler's offer to join the Axis due to how much Hitler will remind him of Aku? WILL JACK FIGHT HITLER? CAN HITLER'S "SPEAR OF DESTINY" WORK AGAINST JACKS SWORD? WHO'S MAGIC WOULD BE STRONGER? CAN WE GET A SEASON SIX WERE JACK FIGHTS HITLER? PLEASE adult swim?! PLEASE!? PLEASE!?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ct9h_BtUZKI

SPOILERS ARE NOW OVER! So those are my thoughts on Samurai Jack season five. You might get the impression from all of my complaints that I didn't like the season all that much, but that couldn't be further from the truth. I may be critical, and yes, I do have my problems with the season. But that doesn't make the good stuff in the season any less good. In general I tend to be more critical and nit picky about things I like than things I hate. This is because I expect more from them. Despite it's flaws Samurai Jack season five was still a fun ride from start to finish. The animation is just as, if not more, amazing than it was in the first four seasons. The acting was great, especially Phil Lamar does some really amazing acting as Jack. The darker story line required a lot more emotion behind some of these lines, and he was able to pull them off great, despite how stoic is performance usually is. The action was just as good as ever, and I love the darker road the series took. While I do like a lot of immature adult cartoons it was nice to see one of the only adult shows that actually felt "adult." Sure parts were rushed, the ending was a little wonky, and there are definitely plot holes but as a whole, I think I liked the episodes in this season more than the handful of episodes I've seen of the previous seasons. While that run may have had less plot holes and was less rushed in it's delivery, the stuff in this season is just so good that I can overlook some of the flaws. In the end I'm glad that this story did finally got a proper conclusion, and that the road that we have followed Jack on for last sixteen years has finally come to an end.

So that was my review of Samurai Jack season five. I know I'm a little late to the party on this, but I wanted to make sure that I got it right. What did you think of the review, or the season or series as a whole. Leave your thoughts in the comments down bellow. I'd love to hear what you think, even if you don't agree with me one hundred percent, and start some kind of conversation. Leave a fav, follow, or comment if you liked the review and have a great day.

(I do not own any of the images or videos in this review all credit goes to there original owners.)

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evenstevensranked · 6 years

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#1: Season 3, Episode 5 - “Band on the Roof”

ANNNND... “BAND ON THE ROOF” TAKES THE CAKE!

I cannot believe I’m publishing the #1 ranking. Next month will mark two whole years since I created this blog and now, after countless hours spent on 64 reviews, we’re finally here! Never thought I’d see the day. I never anticipated that I’d be this emotional about it either. I’ll save the mushiness and some final thoughts for the end of the post.

When The Twitty-Stevens Connection gets back together, Tom shoots a documentary -- excuse me, “rockumentary” -- detailing the highs and lows of the band’s reunion! What we get is a rollercoaster of an episode featuring (almost) all of our favorite characters, the most legendary quote in the entire series, a mockumentary approach to filming that was ahead of its time, a heartwarming plot for our two main siblings, and one hell of a catchy song to boot.

For the last time...

Let’s get into it!

I know I throw the word "Iconic" around loosely sometimes but this is genuinely an iconic episode for the series. I feel like everyone remembers this episode. Even if you didn't watch the show too often, you still remember this episode. This one kinda makes me wish that Even Stevens was one of the first popular American comedy sitcoms to pioneer the mockumentary style gimmick for the entire series. (i.e. The Office, Modern Family, Parks & Rec) Because it works here. Really well. I’ve mentioned a few times before that The Office is my other all-time favorite comedy show, so I absolutely ADORE those strong vibes here.

According to Wikipedia and their list of “Mockumentaries” (which includes this episode!) -- as far as the genre in television goes, it seemed to become a big thing in the UK first and then spread to places like Australia and Canada. The United States mockumentary television format boom started in the early-mid 2000s, specifically at or around 2003 with Arrested Development and then in 2005 with the humble beginnings of The Office. "Band on the Roof” premiered in 2002. Hmmm. Very interesting! Not sayin’ Even Stevens was ahead of its time once again but that’s exactly what I’m saying. It’s almost like this show trial-runs ideas before they take off. First with “Influenza” and then this. Even though this episode was definitely more of a spoof of VH1′s “Behind The Music,” it still totally falls into that mockumentary TV category.

It opens with the introduction to the documentary, narrated by Tom in a super unnaturally deep voice with a little reverb slapped on there for dramatic effect: “First, there was The Alan Twitty Project... Then, there was The Louis Stevens Experience... The coming together of these two musical forces begat the supergroup The Twitty-Stevens Connection! ...But the band broke up temporarily when bassist Artie Ryan’s mom made him take pottery lessons.”

Tragic.

Tom introduces himself as “Thomas Gribalski: Rockumentary Filmmaker.” Wow, he’s wasting no time loading up his IMDb page. You document one Junior High band and it’s all uphill from there. He goes on to explain that when The Twitty-Stevens Connection got back together, Louis Stevens asked him to capture those “little moments” for them to look back on once the band becomes “rich and famous.” But, of course, no road to stardom is without its bumps.

I wanna know how Tom, a 14-year-old, got this swanky studio to record in...

It cuts to band rehearsal in the Stevens basement where they’re jamming to “Crazy” from the Battle of the Bands episode!! Everything’s fine until the band randomly stops playing in the middle of the song and Louis goes off on a never-ending drum solo that he refers to as “a groove.” It always bothered me how the music just… stops. Why did everyone but Louis decide to stop playing for seemingly no reason?! Whoever was in charge of audio here couldn’t be bothered to make it sound more organic lol. It’s really weird and abrupt. Sorry for the nitpicking there.

I love how Tom got that shot of a messy hamper in the foreground. It really amps up the grittiness.

It’s pretty great how Louis subtly changed roles from the band’s manager to the band’s drummer. For once, this was an arc in Season 3 that actually aired in the correct order. In Episode 2, Louis became interested in playing the drums and was gifted a drumset. In Episode 4 he started taking lessons, and here in Episode 5, he’s officially the drummer of the band. Shia is playing for real here as well! So that’s very cool.

While Louis is drumming his lil heart out during his self-indulgent extended solo, it cuts to shots of everyone killing time and I love it.

Tom, lol.

Ren eventually rips the drumsticks out of Louis’ hands and the two start arguing. Tawny reminds them that they promised to get along if the band got back together. Just then, we hear that shrill, annoying and unmistakeable voice chime in: “Can I say something?” The camera searches around until it lands on Beans just chilling there like he owns the place. Oh my god.

Louis: “Where is he? BEANS! HOW DID YOU GET IN HERE?!?!” -- Why is that mockumentary style sooo funny though?! The shaky camera looking around and zooming in is what makes this.

I seriously wish every episode was filmed this way. But honestly, just getting this liiiittle glimpse into what a mockumentary version of Even Stevens might’ve been like is enough to make me feel #blessed. If a reboot ever happened, I’d definitely looove to see it reborn à la Modern Family for at least an arc or one special season. I know the gimmick is a little outplayed at this point but I mean, the Stevens are an eccentric enough family for a documentary crew to follow! Am I wrong?! All of the flagship American mock-doc shows have already ended or are ending soon. The door’s open for a new one. Just sayin’.

It cuts to Louis ranting about Beans in the first interview portion or “talking head” of the documentary. This is the greatest thing. Holy crap. He says: “Beans is like that policeman in Terminator 2, you know who I’m talking about? I swear, he goes liquid! He can fit through cracks in windows... under doors... through little keyholes!!” And right on cue, Beans appears outta thin air -- “I’m hungry. Let’s get a sandwich!” Again, the camera work makes this 10x funnier and Shia’s face is just too good:

Note: “Terminator 2″ is yet another completely solid reference to make!

Something I’d like to point out before I forget: While reviewing the series, I couldn't help but notice that the show could be even funnier if there was no background music all the time. (I tested that theory with this edit and was proven correct, tbh.) If you pay attention.. you'll notice that there's some sort of background music during almost every scene. Sometimes it works if it's heightening a moment or adding some flavor comedically. But during scenes where there’s just dialogue, I feel like it would be much better with silence -- because 1. It's more raw/realistic, and 2. the performances/writing is already so strong, it doesn't need extra sound clogging the material. And that's one of the reasons why this episode is so great! It's dead silent the entire time except for the Twitty-Stevens songs of course and some transitional music for the documentary. I love it.

So, yeah. Turns out Beans is a bassist?! He walks over to Artie and tells him “you’re horrible. Read my lips -- take a lesson!” Artie quits on the spot and leaves in a fit of rage (”I don't have to take this! I’M ARTIE RYAN!”). Beans backs up his insult by showing off his sick bass skillz to the gang, immediately earning himself a place in the band as Artie’s replacement. I love how Beans isn’t even touching the neck of the bass at all at one point. Seems legit.

It cuts to an interview with Artie and it’s so good: “I was thinking about quitting the band anyway. I didn’t like the direction it was going... NOWHERE. Since then, I’ve started my own band. Artie Ryan and the Funky Kats. I had some promotional materials made up!! Tom, you want a free one?!”

Tom (off-screen): “N.. no, thanks.”

Also... A frisbee?! LOL. I had to write out that whole Artie quote because it’s the last we hear from him in this episode and Artie is the best.

Next, it cuts to an interview with Twitty who claims that there was a whole new energy after Beans joined the band. It’s hilarious because Beans is this tiny, annoying 8-year-old, yet Twitty’s talking about him as if he’s some amazingly respected bassist who helped take them to the next level. He goes on to say that the ~revitalized spirit~ Beans brought to the table motivated everyone to work on new material... Including Louis & Ren, who teamed up to write a song together!! Ahh! It shows us the two of them writing out the skeleton of “Another Perfect Day.” I always laughed at how they’re not just writing lyrics like most middle schoolers would do... Nah. They’ve whipped out the staff paper and suddenly know music theory like it’s nothing. They’re literally transcribing their ideas by ear. I’m a Berklee grad and I still struggle like hell with theory.

Donnie happens to walk by and notices that his brother and sister are getting along for the first time, like, ever... and calls for Steve and Eileen to come quick and bear witness to it themselves!!

This show throws in some great little lines here and there that are easy to miss sometimes. When Steve and Eileen come running, Steve shouts “Donnie! Hang in there! You still have 5 minutes left on that hot oil treatment!!” thinking Donnie desperately needed help with his hair. HAHA! I never paid attention to that until recently. We get interviews with Donnie as well as Steve and Eileen here.

Donnie: “It was just... the sweetest thing. I wanted to hug them!! But I didn’t wanna ruin my hair. Wait!!! That sounded stupid. Don’t use that, ok?”

Gotta love the trophies as a backdrop lol.

Eileen: “It was amazing! It was as if the music brought them closer together.”

Steve: “Those were the happiest days of our lives. It was bliss! Sheer bliss!”

Hey! This is real stuff, though. Never underestimate the power of music!!

One of the funniest things about this episode is that Tom prefaced the documentary by saying the reunion happened a mere TWO WEEKS AGO! These interviews are so extra, as if they’re recalling something that happened years ago when it literally just happened and is fresh in their memories. It’s great.

We get a voiceover from Tom elaborating on Steve and Eileen’s sentiments, telling us that Louis and Ren had “reached a new level in their relationship” over corny footage of them casually playing freaking cat’s cradle like a couple’a besties! hahaha.

At their next rehearsal, the band starts working on “Another Perfect Day.” Once they have it down pretty well, Louis decides that they have a hit on their hands and need to do something big to get the word out. He comes up with the idea to hold a free concert on the school roof. Twitty interjects “Ya know, that’s not a bad idea because The Beatles did a free concert on the roof once!” Tawny adds: “So did U2!” and Louis finishes: “And now... The Twitty-Stevens Connection.” -- As if they’re anywhere near the level of either of those bands and should easily be mentioned in the same breath. That always cracked me up. (Speaking of The Beatles, the title of this episode is supposed to be a play on the Paul McCartney song “Band On The Run.” Or at least, that’s what I’ve always assumed.) Also, take a look at their single art. Amazing.

Things start to go sour now. Everyone’s on board for the rooftop concert except for Ren. That’s a shocker! She’s totally against the idea. She agrees that free publicity is great as long as you’re not violating any rules. She even double checks with Wexler who confirms that students on the roof is “strictly forbidden.”

At lunch the next day, Louis is super excited about the concert and giving Twitty and Tawny a rundown of his plans to set everything up. He says they should “get there early. Really early. Like... before school starts early” so they can get all the equipment and set it up on the roof. Another little exchange that’s easy to miss here is between Twitty and Tawny. Twitty says: “Sweet. What if we wore camouflage?” And Tawny sarcastically bites back: “That is a brilliant idea. What if we dressed up as giant metal vents to blend in with the roof decor!” HAHAHA. I’m just imagining that in my head right now and all I can picture is them looking like Eric Matthews dressed as a couch. Oh, yeah. They’ll blend in, no problem.

When Ren starts approaching their lunch table, Louis invites her over yelling “Hey, sis!!” Awww. Since we all know that Ren is practically Vice Principal, he asks her for help and advice on how to get up to the roof and such. But then it does a hard cut to Tom:

This needed to be gif’d.

Ren starts blabbing about how they’re forbidden to step foot on the roof and that she got a permit to perform in a public park instead, but Louis cuts her off before she can ramble any further: “Ren. You’re chickening out.” Ren protests and insists that she’s not a chicken and is just being smart about the situation, but Louis ain’t having it and explodes: “JIMINY H. CRICKETS THE THIRD JR., REN!!! We’re not robbing a bank or anything!! We’re singing on the roof!!!"-- I love this so much. He tells her to take a risk for once in her life. But, Ren being Ren, decides that she doesn’t want to get in trouble and essentially quits the band. As Ren storms away from them, Louis stands his ground and shouts at the top of his lungs:

Possibly the single most-quoted quote of the entire series. Actually iconic. I have this quote on my Facebook, it's my © footer quote on this very website, people have used this quote in their high school yearbooks. Yeah. It’s a big deal. Plus, it’s a pretty great quote to live by if you think about it tbh.

Ren leaving the band was only the beginning of their downfall. I love this photo the ‘documentary’ uses to illustrate the in-fighting lol.

There’s super melodramatic music with an ~emotional~ guitar lick playing here. It always gets stuck in my head. I’m humming it right now. As hilarious as the music is, it actually does make me feel a little upset...

And just like the ending of an America’s Next Top Model episode, Ren disappears from this photo of the band:

At home that evening, an instrumental knock-off of “Kiss Me” starts playing in the background of the doc while Ren contemplates the meaning of life. Tom does a voiceover saying that Ren’s decision to leave the band would lead her down a path to “self-discovery.”

She ends up having a heart-to-heart with Eileen about why she’s so reluctant to take risks. We get a glimpse into Ren’s childhood with “home video” showing her being a total caution freak at her 8th birthday party. She ate a single potato chip so she waits an extra 20 minutes before going into the kiddie pool with her friends. I’d like to point out that Young Ren is played by Alexa Nikolas, who would later go on to be a regular on Nickelodeon's Zoey 101.

Eileen assures Ren that she’ll find something worth taking a risk for someday and go for it!

CUT TO THE DAY OF THE CONCERT! Ren’s decision to leave the band causes everyone else to rethink the rooftop performance as well. Twitty decides to back out because he has one too many detentions already and can’t afford another. His initial poor attempt at an excuse plays out in the most hilarious way possible. (”TWITTY, I WROTE THAT NOTE FOR YOU LAST WEEK!”) Tawny just agrees with Ren. She decides it’s not a good idea and peaces out. And lastly, Beans calls at the eleventh hour and says he can’t make it because he has a hamster cage stuck on his head -- which amazingly, is not a lie. In the end, Louis is the last one standing. Or as Tom says, “A man without a band.”

At lunch, the sound of someone drumming starts to fill the air, leaving everyone confused for a minute. It’s Louis, of course. He’s up there drumming away and singing his background vocals alone and fully intends to perform the whole song that way. His determination to continue with the concert as the lone remaining member of the band is so admirable and badass honestly. It really shows how bold he can be and how he’ll always try to see his ideas through. Not only does this highlight Louis’ fearlessness, it also leads to an amazing moment for Ren as a character. As everyone runs to get a view of Louis, Ren starts remembering what Eileen told her. She slowly realizes that this could be her chance to seize the moment.

One by one -- Twitty, Tawny, and Beans join Louis up on the roof! They pick up their instruments and jump right in, each one building and building on the song. All leading up to Ren being the last one to finally run up there as the final piece of the puzzle! It’s a cheesy and predictable climax, but it’s still amazing. Seeing Ren take a chance like that always makes me emotional, not gonna lie. You can FEEL the happiness radiating off of everyone here. It makes me beam every time.

youtube

This gives me legitimate goosebumps. God. Watch this and tell me it isn’t freaking epic and CLASSIC. The final interviews paired with that tasteful background music always tugs at my heartstrings, too.

The gang ends up facing the consequences of their stunt and are punished by Wexler putting them on trash pickup duty. ^ That ending (seen in the video) is probably my favorite Louis/Ren bit ever. Seeing them both secretly admit to the camera that they had a great time together just warms my heart. I love how they say the same exact thing at one point too: “Don’t tell her/him I said that” lol. It’s so simple but so effective and really sums up their relationship. Two siblings who are always at odds, but at the end of the day, they’re family and have that unconditional sib love whether they want to admit it or not. I love the little slideshow of photos from the rooftop gig to wrap everything up.

...and the very last frame of the episode is this picture of THE GREATEST DISNEY CHANNEL SIBLINGS OF ALL TIME and it’s so precious. This photo is so genuine. You can tell it captured more of Shia and Christy than Louis and Ren. It's just so nice:

I would have this framed and hanging in my house somewhere if I were them. Wow! Also... What could possibly be a better final shot for the episode that’s concluding my specific project?! Tell me. I’ll wait.

And that’s it.

This is one of those ~special fun plot~ episodes, but it’s not super wacky or zany. Like most of the schemes Louis pulls, they somehow manage to make it seem like a couple of middle schoolers could successfully put on a school rooftop performance like this irl. There’s super solid humor, great dialogue, some incredible character moments and plenty of heart to top it all off! It ends on such a satisfying and happy high note. And even though I prefer Comedian Louis over Musician Louis, this episode is just too damn fun for me to care. It sort of benefits from the “Influenza” effect. If you add a song to an episode, odds are it’ll automatically make it that much more memorable. The only difference between this episode and “Influenza” is that it has a lot more going for it story-wise.

This episode has everything for me. The way it's filmed is unique to every other episode in the series. The humor is extra dry and a little different for the show here, but still feels very distinctly Even Stevens and stays true to what we love about the show. This episode includes practically every major character, too! Let’s round up everyone who makes an appearance here: Louis, Ren, Twitty, Tawny, Tom, Beans, Steve, Eileen, Donnie, Coach Tugnut, Principal Wexler, and even Artie Ryan! My only complaint is that Larry and Ruby should’ve made appearances. Like, just a little scene of Larry taunting Ren about not having the guts to go up on the roof or something would’ve been cool.

Just adding some extra photos from the episode to break up this sea of text.

This is the only episode other than the finale that actually manages to make me shed a tear. But the tear this episode squeezes outta me has more meaning behind it imo. In the finale, I’m pretty much solely crying over the resolution to the Louis/Tawny saga and the fact that it’s the last episode of the series. Here, I’m crying over the pure relationship between brother and sister (the root of the show) as well as the gang’s friendship. No other episode gets me in my feelings like that across the board. It honestly feels like a finale in its own right and I can’t think of a better one to wrap up this countdown with.

Is this the best episode of Even Stevens? You tell me. Is it one of the most memorable, iconic, hilarious, unique, and feel-good episodes of Even Stevens? Absolutely. Is there even a way to determine what episode is "objectively" or scientifically proven to be the best? lol who knows! If there's anything this whole project has taught me, it's that perhaps this show is just so good, there simply is no "best" episode. In which case, this whole blog has been a complete waste of time.

SIDE NOTE: It was brought to my attention that this episode shares similarities to a Saved By The Bell episode titled “Rockumentary.” While the overall outline is pretty dead on (the rise, fall, and rise again of a garage band) the actual episodes themselves are extremely different. Annnnd Even Stevens did it better. No surprises there. So, WHO CARES?!

Aside from this being my personal favorite episode of the series and meeting my ranking requirements, I have a few little bonus stats to back up my decision to deem "Band on the Roof" worthy of the top spot:

It's the highest rated episode of the entire series on TV.com, boasting a 9.6, which I wasn’t aware of until a few days ago and was honestly surprised.

Back in 2003, while the show was still popular/on-air, some fans held a march madness style poll for the Best Episode of All Time and "Band on the Roof" was the winner.

This episode has popped up on various nostalgia articles as one of the greatest in the series. One of my favorites is by a published author and screenwriter in the biz who also ranked it #1 on her Top 7 favorite episodes of Even Stevens list. [article]

In the comments of this episode on YouTube, (which I probably should’ve saved before Disney recently deleted the video... ugh) the general viewer consensus was that it's a widely beloved episode and one of the greatest/solidly written/most memorable. Easily Top 3 or Top 5 in the opinion of others.

I've gotten quite a few comments across the socials for the blog from readers asking about where this episode will be ranked and/or simply randomly stating that ‘Band on the Roof’ is the greatest and iconic.

Basically, there is massive love for this episode. No matter what, there’s a good chance you'll consistently see this one mentioned as one of the best or at least in someone's personal favorites -- Myself included. Obviously, me being a musician and loving the mockumentary style/drier humor here has contributed tremendously to my favoritism -- but the general fan love and praise, mixed with the actual solid content of the episode, makes me feel like ranking it #1 is justified. As objective as I tried to be throughout this process -- I created Even Stevens Ranked to get some personal thoughts and opinions out of my system. Well, that, and to do my best to highlight how fantastic this show is. Please remember, at the end of the day, this is my list. So. :)

Now that I’ve finished the project, I’m honestly quite satisfied with the outcome here. Not only am I so unbelievably proud that I actually saw this thing through to the very end -- I feel like my Top 10, in particular, (or the Top 25 on a larger scale) is the most solid crop of episodes I could’ve ever come up with. I think they all include nice and important moments for all of the characters, some of the strongest humor, and capture the spirit of the show the best. They’re objectively pretty darn good ones to subject a newbie to if ya ask me!

This project was extremely difficult. It was time-consuming and stressful, but it was also such a blast and only solidified Even Stevens as my favorite show of all time in my heart even more than it already was. When I started, I always knew that “Band on the Roof” would be #1, “In Ren We Trust” would be dead last, and “Influenza” would be #15, but other than that I made countless changes to the list as I went on. The closer I got to the end, I was worried that I’d look back and hate my list, but I’m so relieved to feel very confident in my final decisions and reasons for those decisions. If there’s anything I’d change, it’d probably be to rank “Stevens Manor” sliiiightly higher. But still, I don’t even wanna say that because I have no real problem with placing it at #17. It’s not a bad slot. As I’ve said many times, anything in the Top 25 is pretty much top notch to me.

So... What else is there to say? Here we are. 65 episodes down. 0 to go. The entire series ranked and reviewed. Mission accomplished. From the moment I posted my very first review, I always hoped I’d make it to this point but for whatever reason, I never thought I actually would. I talked about this a little bit when I hit my one-year milestone. Milestones like that are what kept me going, though. Even the littlest ones. I’ll seriously never forget when I completed 5 reviews and hit #59! It felt like the greatest accomplishment ever. And so on and so forth...

For years, I felt like I was some weird, lone fan of this show. I thought that maybe 5, 10 people tops, would care enough to read this blog. I am shocked at the decent following Even Stevens Ranked has garnered over the last two years across Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and right here on Tumblr. My strange urge to rank and review every episode of this fantastic show has somehow turned into a ~community~ that is 1k+ strong if you combine all four social accounts. That is staggering. Meeting other fans of the show through this blog has been so, so awesome and I plan on keeping Even Stevens Ranked alive because of that. I can’t just leave it behind. I have some cool ideas moving forward, including a pending podcast. :D

I can’t thank you enough if you’ve actually bothered to read even just one of my reviews and found it the least bit interesting. We went on this weird little journey together. So thank you! Truly.

I’ve completed what I initially set out to do, but you can definitely expect a bonus video review for a change of The Even Stevens Movie sometime in the near future. I mean, how could I do a project like this and NOT discuss the big finale film?!

Just a reminder that there’s a Twitty-Stevens Connection design up on Redbubble! Available in black text and white text.

Thank you sooo much for reading. You know the drill! Please, journey into the Disqus comment section below if you’re so inclined. I’d love to hear any of YOUR thoughts now that this crazy project is complete. Ahh.

- Brittany

Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | Redbubble

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de-boeldieu · 6 years

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My Aviation Films List

I know some of you might be wondering why I did this to myself, and the answer is simple; I’m bored and I like movies, and I stumbled across so many films that I felt it was my duty to watch some regardless of quality. Oh boy did this prove to be a challenge.

There were a total of 22 movies on the list. Two films I was unable to watch Journey Together ( 1945 ) (anything on the film seemed to be lost, unfortunately), and a 30 minute Hitchcock French propaganda short called Bon Voyage ( 1944 ) (version I watched was slightly screwed up, and some of the English subtitles were translated incorrectly).

However, I was able to watch every other film on the list! Granted, completing this took a LOT longer than I anticipated.

I’m not quite sure how I should go about writing, but I suppose I will rank each film to my own personal opinions of what they were like, with a brief summary, and any small notes I had whilst watching. If you’d like a more in depth summary or any additional details I had while watching the film, ask me, or look the name up if it interests you.

Also I’d just like to say THANK YOU SO MUCH to anyone who takes the time to read some of these. You’re ace.

In order, from my favorite to least favorite:

1. La Grande Illusion ( 1937 )

Oooh my god you guys, this film made me cry so hard. Trust me, the dramatic music on the title card is there for a reason. A French film set in WWI, where French pilots get captured and sent to German POW camps where they make attempts to escape. It also has low key socialist sentiments. Some parts are a little cheesy because it’s a 30s film, but still amazing.

The only thing I was not terribly fond of was the last half hour or so, just really wasn’t my thing. But overall? Absolutely brilliant.

2. Dark Blue World ( 2001 )

A Czech film about two WWII Czech RAF pilots and their friendship, both loving the same woman. This one will also make you cry. Really beautiful film.

I was super worried that the romance in it was just sort of going to be thrust in there, but it certainly was not. Drama was great and all the characters were super memorable and had their own personalities. Highly recommend this one.

3. Riders In The Sky ( 1968 )

Another Czech film about WWII Czech RAF pilots. About the dynamic between a bomber crew and how they cope with the war, and the Battle of Britain. It’s adorable and I highly recommend this one too.

4. Into The White ( 2010 )

A Norwegian movie based on the story of how an RAF bomber crew and a Luftwaffe bomber crew both get shot down in the middle of Norway, and then had to learn to get along and work together to survive. What a wonderful film. Some parts can be predictable, but as a whole good. An interesting character study. Also it gets bonus points from me because it has a ginger, Scottish RAF Air gunner.

5. Wings ( 1927 )

A VERY long silent film. Takes place during WWI, two American fighter pilots, both in love with the same girl, and another girl is in love (requited) with one of them. About their rivalry and friendship, and how they deal with training and the war. The training scenes were delightful. I was worried I was going to get bored, but it was actually super excellent (and sad too). The camera work was brilliant and the musical score was amazing. It also has the first ever on-screen same-sex kiss. A really great film, even if silent films aren’t your thing, there’s SO much drama in this one. If you already love silent films, you will adore this movie, but I’d recommend it to most anyone.

6. The Dawn Patrol ( 1930 ) & ( 1938 )

About an RFC commander during WWI, who is distraught over casualties, an RFC captain, and his friend. The captain lashes out at the commander over the casualties as well after the death of a friend. Eventually the captain replaces the commander and starts to understand the stress of the job the previous major had, as his friend begins to lash out at him.

I thought it was an interesting take on both the pilots and the authorities in the RFC during the war. Both provided interesting perspectives.

I can tell you right now, unless you’re dedicated like I am, the 1938 version of The Dawn Patrol is MUCH better than the 1930 one. I’d recommend watching that version, if this movie interests you.

7. The One That Got Away ( 1957 )

About the only Luftwaffe pilot to ever escape from British POW camps. Usually I’m very wary of films that have WWII German characters, but this was very well written and remained predominantly neutral through the whole thing. Lots of clever escapes. If you like Luftwaffe pilots, escape films, and / or old movies, you will adore this film.

8. The Dam Busters ( 1955 )

A damn fine film. About the invention of the RAF “bouncing bomb” used to destroy German dams in WWII, and the RAF Squadron that flew the Lancasters to drop them. The writer of the movie was R.C. Sheriff, the original author of the play Journey’s End. Really enjoyed every aspect of the movie, my only complaint is that it was dreadfully long. Overall, a good movie, if this sort of thing interests you.

9. One Of Our Aircraft Is Missing ( 1942 )

Hands down the most intense opening scenes I had watched in any of these movies. About an RAF bomber getting shot down over Nazi occupied Holland, and they have to escape to England without being caught.

I remember being really engaged in this movie and I quite enjoyed the witty British banter. A good movie, if you like old ones.

10. La Grande Vadrouille ( 1966 )

A French WWII war comedy film about two Frenchmen who help a British bomber crew who crashed in France escape to Britain. Very strange? But also funny? But also a little dated but also incredibly hilarious? I was just really intrigued by it honestly. Reminded me of a few Monty Python sketches, despite this film being made years prior. You will either really enjoy it or not at all, but if it interests you, I’d recommend giving it a watch.

11. The Eagle And The Hawk ( 1933 )

Takes place in WWI and is about two American pilots, and various other ones, and how the war affects them, some more than others. I remember this movie surprising me quite a lot, which I think is good for a war film dealing with the sudden deaths of your comrades. Good movie, although not as well executed as The Dawn Patrol.

12. Reach For The Sky ( 1956 )

This one is LONG. About Douglas Bader, pretty much. A cute film though. You will like it if Bader or famous World War aces are your cup of tea.

13. Aces High ( 1976 )

So this movie was based off Journey’s End, except with aeroplanes. It also draws from Sagittarius Rising by Cecil Lewis (a book I’ve been meaning to find and read). If you know the plot of that play (and now more recently a movie), you will know the plot of this movie, except the names are changed. It’s a character study of three RFC pilots during WWI and the life expectancy of “Green pilots” AKA newly trained pilots.

Was a cute movie, not as good as the Journey’s End film from this year however. A lot of awkward silences and I really didn’t understand why? There was also a L’Armée de L’Air Officer who was having NONE of the British banter.

But if you liked Journey’s End and wished there were more pilots then you will enjoy it. The movie might be an interesting watch for those of you who are fans of the original play and / or movie as well.

14. The First Of The Few ( 1942 ), also titled The Spitfire

About the invention of the Spitfire fighter plane. Good if you’re really into aviation. Really liked the witty banter, however.

15. Johnny In The Clouds ( 1945 ), also titled The Way To The Stars

A romance drama. Takes place during WWII in Britain. Initially about two RAF pilots, one married and the other one with a girlfriend that he goes through a serious of hardships with. Then the 8th USAAF come, then it’s about two USAAF pilots and one RAF one, and the widowed wife. One of the USAAF pilots looks and acts like a Tarantino character. Really boring until the Americans come. I’d recommend this to people who like period romances and dramas, but the cultural stuff between the Brits and Americans was pretty good. An alright movie that takes a little bit to get into.

16. Memphis Belle ( 1990 )

REALLY CHEESY. About 8th USAAF in Britain, the bomber crew of the B-17, Memphis Belle. Except it’s not actually the crew, it’s just characters based on them. I remember the dialogue being cheesy, but still somehow better than Flyboys. Also felt pretty entertained the entire thing. A nice detail I liked was that all the bomber crew had their own individually painted A-2 jackets. Characteristic of mostly American bomber crews, and I thought that was a unique touch.

If you like cheesy, feel-good, American WWII movies, you will really like this film.

17. The Red Baron ( 2008 )

About Manfred von Richthofen. Not super accurate, but a decent amount of research done. I remember it being boring, but some of the camera shots were beautiful, looked like paintings. Boring though.

18. Angels One Five ( 1952 )

About an RAF Squadron during the Battle of Britain, except it’s more about the superior officers in that Squadron rather than the pilots. Boring, but the camera work was super high quality for a 50s film? There’s a scene where a Hurricane crashes into a base home. But mostly just officers talking and ordering folks around.

19. Twelve O’Clock High ( 1949 )

Incredibly dull and boring. Nothing but USAAF generals talking, then a bomber scene that was also boring. Flat, bland, and uninspired camerawork. Would not recommend.

20. Flyboys ( 2005 )

I’m sure many of you lads have seen my rant on this film. It’s an ugly, awful, waste of film. I can’t describe the plot of the movie, because there really isn’t one, except that a group of American volunteer pilots, called the Lafayette Escadrille, go to war. That’s it.

I found myself either laughing or yelling at the absolute ridiculousness of this film. It’s dreadful, but depending on your sense of humor, it’s VERY entertaining.

Would recommend watching it drunk, for an even more enhanced experience. I’d also suggest it if bad, horribly inaccurate, and ridiculously American action movies are your thing, you’ll have an absolute blast.

Thank you so much if you took any time to read even just one of these. I super appreciate it, this list was loads of fun and a rollercoaster of emotions. Thank you to those of you who enjoyed hearing my ranting about these bloody things.

#AHHHHH ITS DONE LADS #FINALLY #its been MONTHS im so sorry #what a fantastic journey this has been #i am not a critic these are just my opinions!#anyways i hope this was at least a very interesting read #c’est moi

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comicsinkcorporated-blog · 6 years

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Interview with Screaming Villains, developer of Night Trap 25th anniversary.

CI: So how did development for Night Trap 25th anniversary first come about?

SV: It honestly started out as sort of a joke. Sometime after the failed Kickstarter, hardcore fans started attempting to recreate their own remake of Night Trap and some gaming sites were writing articles about it which I found kind of odd especially since they either didn't work or barely worked. I was already messing around with FMV stuff as a hobby and a friend of mine came up with the idea of myself making a working version running on a phone.

I threw it together in about 3-4 days, posted a video of myself playing it on Youtube and sort of remained anonymous about it. I got a local arcade owner that I know to post the video on his Facebook account since he was friends with an absurd amount of retro gamers and it started to spread and got about 5000 views within the first 24 hours.

The website fmvworld.com found it too and decided to contact Rob Fulop (one of the creators of Night Trap) to get his opinion on it. Another website called segabits.com also contacted Tom Zito (producer of Night Trap) to find out if he had any involvement so that sort of put me on their radar. After that I figured "what the hell?" and sent an email to Tom at about 3am and got a response in about 15 minutes. He just asked a couple of questions about it and asked for my phone number. The next day, he called me and 20 minutes into the conversation he asked if I would like to do an official version and I said yes.

CI: Limited Run Games PS4 version of Night Trap remains their fastest selling game, while the Nintendo Switch version may end up being their best selling game. Were you surprised by the popularity of this remaster?

SV: I don't think anyone was expecting that. It just came out of nowhere which I think helped a lot so thank god my friends were able to keep their mouth shut while I was working on it. Originally, there was only going to be 5000 copies of the game available. Once the announcement was made Josh Fairhurst from Limited Run Games and myself were pretty much stuck on Twitter the entire day so we definitely wasn't expecting the reaction it got.

After that, Josh said something like "We might need to increase the quantity" which at the time I don't think they ever exceeded 5000 on a game so it got bumped up to 6000. After that, he came back again and said "Maybe we should add a collectors edition" so now we're at 8000 for PS4. Then it was "Let's release a big box version for PC" so now there's another 2000. It just kept growing and growing and still didn't meet demand. What's funny is the guy that made the announcement trailer and myself was constantly googling Night Trap that day just to see what was being said but then we went to the trending section on Youtube and we're like "Oh my god! The trailer is trending higher than Gucci Mane!" For a brief moment a game that a lot of people considered terrible was all of a sudden popular and I think that's rad.

CI: What do you think it is about Night Trap that has made it so beloved amongst fans?

SV: It has a b-movie feel to it and doesn't take itself seriously. A lot of hate that it gets is sort of undeserving. The popular ones are usually "this is barely a game" or "this has bad acting". NT was made 5 years before it was finally released and intended for a console that used VHS tapes and the acting is very similar to 80's horror/thriller films. Unfortunately, it was the wrong time period when it was finally released in 1992 and at that point nobody was really reminiscing about the 80's like they do today. The fans that are super hardcore about Night Trap are usually gamers that have a great interest in movies in general. What surprised me was the number of people that I've talked to that said Digital Pictures influenced them to pursue a career in the film or tv industry.

CI: Were there any notable, unforeseen difficulties during development?

SV: Engine restrictions was the biggest issue. I figured out pretty quickly that a lot of the gaming engines available weren't really designed with FMV in mind so because of this I think the video quality suffered more than I would've liked. Luckily, this is no longer an issue with future releases.

CI: How did the Limited Run Games physical release come about?

SV: The dudes from My Life In Gaming actually brought it up. One of those guys lives down the street from me and very early in the development process I told him I was working on Night Trap and wanted a documentary to go along with it since it has a crazy history and I thought it'd be a cool promotional tool. He immediately suggested that I work with Limited Run Games. Over the next several months I kept telling him that I'd think about it whenever he brought it up.

About a month before the game was announced, Coury came to my house to film my interview for the documentary. After we were finished he brought up Limited Run again so I told him to go ahead and tell them what I was working on. Ten minutes later, I got an email from Josh Fairhurst. Limited Run is super rad and I honestly can't imagine doing any game without their involvement so I'll most likely harrass them with each release that I do. They actually ported Night Trap to Nintendo Switch. I can't say anything bad about those dudes. They've helped me tremendously.

CI: So the Nintendo Switch version of the game comes with Japanese & French audio, was this something Screaming Villains commissioned themselves? Did Night Trap have an original Japanese and French release? And what was the reasoning behind including the new audio?

SV: The Japanese and French audio actually came from previous releases. I got ahold of copies of the game that were originally released in Europe and Japan and just ripped the audio from the disks. Before it was released I started getting messages and emails asking for additional language options so that's where that idea came from.

CI: So Night Trap as a copious history with Nintendo, when the company called out the game out in court, vowing it would never appear on a Nintendo system, which lead to some bad blood between the original Devs and Nintendo. How did it feel to finally put Night Trap on a Nintendo System?

SV: I think it's cool. Digital Pictures always released their games on Sega consoles and 3DO so it's super rad that one of them finally ended up on a Nintendo console. Definitely long overdue. With Night Trap getting released on there with a Teen rating without cutting any content might hopefully stop people from claiming that the game uses violence against women to move the story further which is absolultely ridiculous along with everything else that people claim is in there that doesn't even exist.

CI: What was the decision to go with Double Switch as the next FMV game to remaster?

SV: Double Switch just seemed like the obvious choice since it's the same type of game as Night Trap but everything is improved on. You could I guess call it the spiritual successor to Night Trap. It's also my favorite game from Digital Pictures. I think it was expected too. Back in February, I met a lot of the people that worked on Friday The 13th The Game. When I was introduced to the Executive Director Randy Greenback the first thing he said to me was "Are you doing Double Switch next?!" Josh from Limited Run was campaigning for it pretty hard too since his aunt is a childhood friend of Debbie Harry who appears in the game. A very short teaser for it was showng during the Limited Run E3 conference. While watching the conference there were people leaving comments like "Just announce Double Switch already!"

CI: Night Trap special editions in the past have come with cassette tapes, patches, and even a VHS tape. Can you tell us if Double Switch special edition will come with anything like that?

SV: It most likely will but I have no idea what since I haven't really talked to Limited Run about those options yet. Usually what happens is they throw an idea at me and I pretty much agree to all of them. They're huge Sega nerds like I am so I trust them with their ideas. The idea of pogs came up for Night Trap but we ran out of time so it wouldn't surprise me if that happened with Double Switch.

I'm sure it'll come in a Sega CD jewel case too since Limited Run ordered about 15,000 of those. I will say that it's getting a completely new cover since the original ones are kind of lame and don't really fit with the type of game that it is.

It looks super rad! DS also has a super rad soundtrack that was done by Thomas Dolby, who wrote and performed the hit song "She Blinded Me With Science" so I was hoping that a stereo version of the soundtrack existed so we could release that but sadly it's all mono.

CI: There was some rumors that Screaming Villains have been working on bringing, Marky Mark: Make My Video to the PS4. Can you confirm this?

SV: Oh dear....that was a joke that went too far. What happened was Josh Fairhurst and I kept getting our tweets captured and used as news articles for very minor stuff. I hated it because I wasn't used to this sort of thing since Night Trap was my first console release and Josh was beyond frustrated with it because of a random person making a negative comment about Nintendo, which led to a gaming site writing an article claiming that Josh spoke negatively about Nintendo when it wasn't even him or even anyone affiliated with LR.

They were forced to update the article and admit that they were wrong. After that, we started tweeting each other about a re-release of Marky Mark but making it sound official like it was an actual thing that was happening just to see if anyone would start turning that into articles.

One night, I took it a step further and made a working version of the game running on a PS4 in about an hour and then the next day we both posted a link to a video showing it. That got yanked from Youtube within the first 20 minutes. We used to talk about it all the time trying to figure out how to make it happen since the idea is too ridiculous to ignore but no. No remake of Marky Mark Make My Video.CI: What other FMV games do you want to bring to modern consoles?

CI: What other FMV games do you want to bring to modern consoles?

SV: My original goal was to get as many games from Digital Pictures as I can which is pretty much happening now. Night Trap and Double Switch aren't the only ones coming. Outside of DP releases the goal is D which was originally released back in 1995. I feel like there's a ton of different things you can do with that one.

CI: Lastly is there anything you would like to say to the readers?

The obvious thing would be thank you to everyone that played NT25. It was a stressful process so it made me happy to see that people that were fans of the original enjoyed it. Also, if you're a fan of Digital Pictures releases then stick around because some super rad stuff is coming!

#Night Trap #nintendo #Sega #horror #playstation #interview

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