#& it reminds me of the old web era of people putting their entire life stories on their silly websites

[bendybonesss]

if im being honest 99% of my reasoning for having a carrd is just that its fun to make a funnie website. thats literally it

[nutty1005]

Xiao Zhan: Extraordinary Journey, Starting from This

Translator’s Note: This article comes from Harper’s Bazaar Oct 2019 Side Issue.

To Xiao Zhan, the Summer of 2019 was destined to belong to “The Untamed”. The drama’s popularity and high viewership garnered Xiao Zhan, who was the lead role in “The Untamed” as “Wei Wuxian”, the most attention of this summer. Our extraordinary journey shall stop its time in the summer. The Abu Dhabi Emirates Palace Hotel glistens under the brilliant sunlight. This grand palace, costing 3 billion USD, carries with it the lovely dreams of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), with hopes that it will become a local landmark building. Whereas for us, this is where we will start our extraordinary journey.

This summer was very hot, and there was not a single shower that was memorable.

We strolled on the Sir Bani Yas Island, the “Noah’s Ark” of Abu Dhabi, the capital of UAE, measuring 5,963km away from Beijing, with ground temperatures at 45°C.

If there were really a “Noah’s Ark”, it probably looked like Sir Bani Yas Island. It carried the hopes of the founding father of UAE – in its history, the clan family of UAE used their enormous wealth on this desert island and created the biggest wild animal reserve; they grew more than 3.5m fruit trees on this arid land and carefully cultivated them everyday; they brought in more than 30 different endangered species onto this island for release.

Xiao Zhan was just 20 meters away from a 4 day old giraffe calf. The young calf stumbled ahead, learning its steps. This was the first time Xiao Zhan was up close to a wild giraffe. Everyone was bending low and looking down, moving carefully and silently, so that we would not provoke the alert mother giraffe. The guide informed us that these seemingly gentle animals actually have a irritable temper, and an angry giraffe could easily kill a grown lion with their kicks. As our jeep got closer to them, the hidden giraffes became clearer, and we saw 5 to 6 adult giraffes surrounding the trees, quietly eating the leaves. Under the sunlight, Xiao Zhan slowly moved closer, until he was standing next to them, quietly observing them, and enjoying the rare peace and serenity of this summer.

“Packing my bags for an unknown journey”

The Summer of 2019 was destined to belong to “The Untamed”. This web drama, adapted from “The Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation”, became one of the hottest topic online after a few days of broadcast. Xiao Zhan, who starred as “Wei Wuxian” in the drama, also became one of the hottest names of this summer.

The first time Xiao Zhan performed on stage was on X-Fire, a talent search show, as an amateur contestant. Thereafter, the first real big performance was when he was part of the performance for Zhejiang New Year Eve broadcast. After multiple rehearsals, as he stood onstage and the spotlights came on with a “pa” sound. Instantly, his mind went blank, and he said that his movements were entirely based on survival instincts.

“I remembered I was especially nervous, and when I was backstage, I was so nervous that I was shaking nonstop, I could not say a word. When the spotlights came onto us, there was one or two seconds of memory loss, as in my mind went blank. After that I had no choice, I saw that my teammates got into their positions, so I quickly walked to mine.”

To the amateur Xiao Zhan then, the entertainment business was all glitz and glory – an interesting world filled with the unknown. Only after he really entered the business, he realized that everyone had to put in a lot of effort in order to gain a little bit of attention. After entering an idol group, Xiao Zhan spent a great deal of effort practicing singing and dancing, wanting to use hard work to catch up with the others’ professional training – once he practiced until his toe nail came off, but even then, he never stopped. His character is warm but tenacious, when he encounters difficulties he rarely speaks of them, instead he will learn to cope, he always says “it will be fine after a night’s rest”, and continue to fight the next day. In 2017, he joined the production of two dramas consecutively, “Battle Through the Heavens” 《斗破苍穹》 and “The Wolf” 《狼殿下》. These two dramas opened the doors to an actor’s world to him. From the first scene until the last, from the winters of Shangri-La to the hot summers of the Elephant Mountains, his exhausted body could not contain his itching desire to become an actor. He was deeply fascinated by the roles and lives of the people in the scripts.

When he first received the script for “The Untamed”, Xiao Zhan felt that he was totally different from “Wei Wuxian”. Xiao Zhan is not a talkative person, instead, he is a very quiet person. When they were script reading for the first time, the producer was there as well, and Xiao Zhan had to continuously remind himself that “I am Wei Wuxian, Wei Wuxian is me, I am WeiWuxian, I am now a very lively talkative person, I have to make everyone adore me”. After establishing this belief, he blended into his character, and allowed the character’s emotions and his merge into one. After the broadcast of the drama, he himself would read reviews online – “It seemed like his smiles are different every time, possibly even his cries are different as well, did he design it as such?”

However, it is precisely that Xiao Zhan does not know all these techniques, but instead he blended into the role, and allowed the story to direct the character’s emotions, and used that character’s status and feelings in his acting.

Xiao Zhan said “The role is really very big, and the span is really long. Because when we shoot dramas, it is according to scenes, for example, the final scenes were shot like 2 days into the start of the shoot, and I needed to quickly get into the situation. And then the next day could be another different scene, switching back and forth, I would get into a confused state. I remembered the most anxious period was in Heng Dian, I would be drowsily doing my make up in the morning, after which I got pushed onto the bus by my assistant, dragged to the studio, start shooting, after that was done my assistant would say ‘We are OK with this side, let’s go to B group’. At that moment made me feel like ‘Am I alright? Is it alright performing this way?’, it was a very concerning period for me.”

But when it was time to shoot, another actor told Xiao Zhan that no matter what happened behind the scenes, as long as the director shouted “Action”, you need to adjust yourself to your best status, you need to give your greatest passion, because the audience will only see what is done after “Action”. Even if you are in low spirits that day, you might be going through the darkest days of your life, but once you are at the studio, standing in front of a camera, the director yelled to start shooting, from that moment on you are no longer yourself.

Xiao Zhan smiled as he said, “That’s cruel, but that’s an actor’s job.”

“I am not a brave person, but I need to become a brave person”

In the winds, a herd of antelopes and deer ran past us, Xiao Zhan grasped the dagger that signified strength and bravery, as he stood on the red rocks on the side of the cliff. The scenery before us are a rarity – it took billions of years of tectonic movements to create this miraculous sight. On an island in the Gulf of Arab, there actually exists such an alien sight. In order to get to this cliff, you need professional guides and you need to climb up and down for half an hour or so. The usually quiet Xiao Zhan also exclaimed “So beautiful!” in spite of himself. We could use an unknown adventure to describe life – the more mysterious it is, the more you want to explore.

Xiao Zhan said that he is not a brave person, but it is life required him to become braver – only the brave can face all of the unknown and mysteries in an unknown adventure. Previously, he had to face the transition from an amateur to an artist, the adjustment from a commoner’s life to a life under the bright spotlights of the stage; now he faced the tight scrutiny of his life under the spotlight.

After the end of shooting of “The Untamed”, many felt that Xiao Zhan became more lively than before, and he spoke more often. In the past, he was always uncomfortable facing strangers, but now he will use a very active attitude to communicate with others, in hopes of receiving more information from that. The role not only gave him more attention, it also gave him strength and growth.

For his future planning, he laughed as he said that he had not decided. He was just passionate about acting and hoped that he could move ahead in the path of becoming a good actor, one problem at a time, and become braver and stronger. He felt that this is not just about himself, many of his friends and young people are the same – undaunted by the difficulties in life, and become stronger as a result. This is like the antelopes who are almost being baked under the intense heat of the desert, unafraid of the sun, sprinting ahead, never looking back.

“No one will like you for no reason”

Xiao Zhan’s father once said this “No one will like you for no reason, if someone likes you, you have to cherish that person’s feelings.” Xiao Zhan truly believes in this.

In his youth, Xiao Zhan liked Stefanie Sun, and went to her concerts and album sales events. He hoped that he could catch a glimpse of her from afar, watch her shine onstage, immerse himself in her voice, and learn from her, become a better person, become a star who could shine for another person. He said that that was how the youth of his era fan an idol. The idol is a truly an idol, the motivation to encourage himself forward. Now, he cherishes all of his fans’ love for him, and he does not reject the term “traffic” – this is a term that many would avoid. (TN: Traffic is a term that is used in China to describe idols with a lot of fan following.)

“You might feel that traffic is not good, right? Feel that traffic is another derogatory term? Actually I feel that traffic is quite fine, of course the term to me means that a lot of people know you, like you, I feel that’s a good thing. At least I feel that no one can be high traffic forever, what’s most important is how you handle it, how you face the traffic, and let this traffic become a motivation to move forward, I think this is very important.”

He hopes that he can translate the love from his fans to become his motivation to move forward. An actor could depend on a popular drama to quickly accumulate fame and attention, but the art of performance requires professional training and experience accumulation. Xiao Zhan’s favorite actress is Zhou Xun. When he spoke of her, his tone utterly reveals him as a fanboy, “I don’t know how she evolved to this.” Our answer was simple, time and talent, both of which you cannot do without. Talent will help your potential in the domain of acting, and if fate ordinates, help you grasp the opportunities that knock on your door. Whereas time is the sharpening stone, every minute and second spent on the acting career will show itself in the performances thereafter.

“There are no small roles, only small actors.” Staying true to his original intentions and initial thoughts, doing his best in his own profession, seriously working hard in the acting domain, he will eventually find his own place.

Xiao Zhan said, “In this era where traffic comes and goes, staying true to myself, staying real, I feel this is the eventual goal. But it is so difficult to do this.”

Wish him well.

Q&A

Q: Before you came to Abu Dhabi, what you did imagine it to be? A: The image I had was that, endless deserts and wilderness, soaring majestic buildings.

Q: When you knew that our journey is somewhat similar to an adventure, being with animals, what did you imagine it to be? A: I thought about it. Something like African savanna, sort of like animal migration, herds of animals moving past you, especially spectacular. However, the animals on the African savanna are wilder, over here, the wild animals are mostly the gentler antelopes, giraffes.

Q: In your personal life, are you a person who also likes adventures? A: Yes, I can be considered as such.

Q: When there are many things that the results are unknown, does that excite you? A: If there are many things in my life that I already know the results, my interest in the new and unknown will wane. I prefer not knowing the results, there are many paths to take, and the destinations could all be different, this makes me feel more excited.

Q: So in your imagination, Abu Dhabi suits your sense of unknown? A: Yes. It is just very mysterious, a feeling of an unknown land, to be explored, and full of endless treasures.

Q: There are so many animals on the island of Sir Bani Yas, which do you want to contact or wish to take a picture with? A: The giraffes. To be able to take a picture with them, to get up close with them, I just feel this is very exciting. I have never had the opportunity, I used to only go to the zoo. Being able to contact animals in the wild is very rare.

Q: This time you were able to look into a giraffe in the eye, how did you felt? A: Just that I am able to look at it in the eye.

Q: Aren’t you afraid of giraffes? A: I am not afraid, I feel that giraffes are quite cute, why do I need to be afraid of it?

Q: They are quite strong. A: The giraffes?

Q: Did you know that in the culture of Abu Dhabi, daggers signify strength. In the ancient times, the Emirates used them as a self-defense accessory. Their founding father, Sheikh Zayed, almost wore one for half his lifetime, and daggers are found in many of his portraits. Even now, the young Emirates frequently wore them in public. A: The sign of bravery and strength. Actually, when I saw this dagger, I felt that it gave me bravery and strength, the start of an adventurous journey.

Q: Holding the dagger and walking along the cliffs, how did it feel like? A: Wow, every inch of this land is mine, I felt that I could jump down that cliff, there was nothing to fear. Especially when the wind came and blew open my windbreaker, it was especially refreshing.

Q: What did is the biggest feeling this journey gave you? A: Actually, not many people understood Abu Dhabi, after I came here, I was surprised to find that there were many beautiful scenery and interesting cultural traditions, and the underlying adventurous spirit within. It is like a pair of eyes, showing us new discoveries. Actually, the interesting discoveries that we don’t usually find in our daily lives, and this journey is tinted with the colors of adventure and mystery, makes me feel very excited. This city, it has its own cultural background, the collision with new things, is a very wondrous feeling.

Q: If your friend wants to go to Abu Dhabi for an adventure, what recommendations do you have? A: Actually there are plenty. I feel that if the friends around me were to come to Abu Dhabi, they have to experience the unique Arabic culture, the buildings here and their totems, I feel that these have special meanings. Those of my friends who loves art can go to Abu Dhabi Louvre. And there’s one more thing that cannot be missed, that is the adventurous journey to get in touch with nature, I feel this is especially great. Abu Dhabi’s deserts and islands, will really satisfy your adventurous desires to explore the world, you can look up and see the flying saker falcons, then look down to see the running antelopes and cheetahs, and turn around to see the giraffes standing behind you.

[earl-of-221b]

Just finished watching The Legend of Hei. Complicated thoughts, lots of feelings. In this era of climate change, it really does hit home. What are your thoughts on Feng Xi? It was hard to come to a definite conclusion about him - which is, of course, the point. His vengeance, well, wrong word, his choices, are legitimate, but also inexcusable. That massive subversion of the found family trope, though, and also its fulfillment. Your thoughts on the movie? you always have interesting thoughts.

Spoilers for Legend of Hei

Hello! I really enjoyed Legend of Hei, it gave lots of Feelings indeed. I really loved the dynamic and magical and yet realistic world Legend of Hei created. Things are silently complicated beneath the fun and simple cross country story we’re following with the main characters Xiao Hei and Wu Xian. Like we’re just seeing one bit of a really huge picture. The world feels rich, even though the story is simple. There are a lot of hints throughout that things are not great...but people keep living, you know? (The Legend of Hei movie is supposed to be a prequel to the 2011 web series, but I’m going to ramble about it as a standalone film.) 

In the world of Xiao Hei, there exist demons, humans and gods (Nezha should technically still be a god/deity in this verse, right?) -- we get the sense that we’ve gone past the point of all other magical chinese stories. This feels like the world where Legend of the White Snake, Journey to the West, Nezha, investiuture of the Gods, etc all happened in shang dynasty or tang dynasty or other time in history -- but now it’s the present. It’s 2019 and demons and humans coexist. There are demons working at florists delivering flowers, collecting books for libraries, and generally living their life normally. There are demons who live in the Guild Hall, a floating palace in the sky that’s a place of their own, and demons who are basically registered cops (or ‘enforcers’). There’s a central government for demons by demons. And there are also demons who are on the run from the demon law and the demon cops. What I love about Legend of Hei is that demons aren’t straight up bad like usual -- they’re just like humans. 

“It was hard to come to a definite conclusion about Feng Xi - which is, of course, the point.” -- Yes, exactly :) Feng Xi was absolutely destroyed by watching his idyllic, natural hometown get bulldozed and industrialised into a big city, so he was driven by vengeance to get his home back. I agree with everything you said about him, only have one thing to add:

One big detail I caught about him was in the very beginning. Those humans who started smashing up boxes and going through trash to bash up Xiao Hei as a cat. How did they know there was a cat there? Why did they want to spend time messing with a stray cat? Didn’t they seem strange to you? Their glazed over eyes, their speechlessness, their efficient trash bashing. Don’t they remind you of -- maybe those train guys that got mind controlled by the blond haired, beanie wearing demon? The humans waiting in line who went slack and emotionless when mind controlled? 

After seeing that train scene, the very beginning of the movie can be re-contextualised. I think that Feng Xi manipulated that entire beginning scenario. He had his mind controlling subordinate in the shadows controlling those humans to scare Xiao Hei. Then he jumped out at the last moment to save Xiao Hei from the humans he set on him. Feng Xi fabricated that entire scene to stoke hate of humans in a cat to fit his agenda, so he could secure Xiao Hei’s loyalty. It’s very smart of him, and also very dangerous. Cos we all loved him, he was charming and kind and he played us all for fools! The massive subversion of the found family trope was so great and I never saw it coming. 

After working that out, Feng Xi painfully ripping away Xiao Hei’s powers later made total sense to me. His character is, somewhat surprisingly, characterised by ruthlessness. Nothing meant more to him than expelling the humans from his hometown. Not even that one human who was helping demons. Not even the lives of other demons. Not even a little cat boy who loved and looked up to him. Feng Xi was HARD CORE. He was HARD CORE even amongst his own group - “Feng Xi! Don’t do it! Let me talk to him- let me!” And that’s why I love him, cos he’s an awesome, layered ecoterrorist for this cute, cute movie. 

Feng Xi’s justifiably angry and vengeful, but normal humans going to work from 9-5 aren’t morally responsible for his losses. That’s what Xiao Hei learns while walking among humans -- they’re just other people trying to find their way. Xiao Hei sees that girl on the train, “thanks, little bro,” and realises they’re much the same. His experiences have changed and matured him, but Feng Xi clings to his prejudice and loss. 

(I don’t remember his name, but the blue demon with the ponytail was so adorable and he pretty much said what I said above but better^. ‘I used to have a gorgeous cave home that I lived in for thousands of years! It was so beautiful. But then the humans moved in and turned my home into a park. Then I had to pay entry tickets. So I had to move.’ Like, what a story, old boy. Life’s like that. But do remember he said thousands of years -- it’s hard for demons because of the different time scale they live on. That said, he didn’t go awol and try to deport all humans from the park.)

Even then, no one is saying everyone has to hold hands and be best friends. Wu Xian seems to be the only human enforcer working at the demon govt, and he’s like hated for that XD. He doesn’t even step into the Guild Hall because other demons feel threatened by him. Demons can live among everyone else, or they can go and be in their own enclaves. Things are troubled in the supernatural world, there’s always going to be people who don’t like you, but hey, each to their own. Wu Xian’s still got his own demon buddies and Xiao Hei who do like him.

Feng Xi also extra-hated Wu Xian because of what he stood for to him -- Wu Xian is a human able to directly go against Feng Xi. Because he’s powerful. Because he is human authority. Because he is hunting demons like dogs. But even this view dips the second we see what Wu Xian works for -- and see that Feng Xi is pretty much just going against other demons/ the demon government. We get that Wu Xian went after him and his group for a reason, that he must have done other things in the past to warrant enforcers going after him. That Xiao Hei has been caught up in something much bigger. It’s just very smart re-contextualising. 

Anyhow, now that you put me in a mood I’ll do some more Legend of Hei posts -- I’m like ‘oh dang, someone other than me saw it :D’ Glad to discuss with you. 

[tumblunni]

I had a really weird dream involving Dr Maddiman. Its a shame i can barely remember any of it and also it seems i woke up before it ended? Like i just had this overwhelming sense that allll the plot threads were gonna be wrapped up any second now and then BOOM awake. So just a whole bunch of random stuff happened with no real explanation at all.

It was some sort of post apocolyptic setting i think? Humanity was in these small isolated cities fighting against some sort of invading army but we never actually saw the aliens themselves. And some part of my brain was like "it makes sense its the same rules as a hairdresser and the design takes cues from a pack of AAA batteries". I have NO idea what that means! So basically everythibg was super vague and undescribed and dream-me just had a sense of already being a long time fan of this series and knowing enough to fill in the gaps. Apparantoy this was some sort of adaptation of a thing id already seen, but id been told the ending was different and more accurate to the manga? Also i wasnt actually a person watching this show i was still the protagonist of the show yet i acted like i'd been reincarnated and relived this week a million times or something

ANYWAY the way dr maddiman comes in is that he was some sort of 'brilliant but dangerous' expert the government had hired to help our fight against the aliens. It wasnt really explained why he was.. yknow.. maddiman. Like is this meant to be that ghosts also exist in this sci fi universe? Was he a half alien hybrid instead of a yokai? Was it just human maddiman with the personality of yokai maddiman due to ptsd...? In any case he didnt seem entirely tethered to the laws of reality and nobody knew exactly how he pulled off all his scientific miracles. He was treated as the only guy who could understand the mindset of the aliens, but that also made him dangerous because he trapped in the delusion of everything being okay and fun and happy and he often did evil things by accident while having good intentions. But they didnt have anyone else who'd cracked the code of the alien weaponry so they had to put up with him. He was just sorta assigned a crack team of secret agents whose job was Be The Old Man's Friend So We Dont All Die. Dont let him realise how the world is all destroyed and such, just play along with his goofyness and try and remind him to do his important work while dancing around why its important. it was super creepy how he was locked up and gaslighted like this!! And he was all 'oh im sure when im done with my ultimate experiment i can go home to my wife and kids' and yeah it was implied here that the same backstory applied :( 'distract the old man and validate his false opinion that his family is still alive and waiting for him' :( poor sci fi madds :(

Oh also for some reason he seemed to be wearing elements of Adventure era Dr Eggman's outfit? But just the general style of the coat and the wearing goggles that he never actually uses. And he had a very warm and cuddly autumnal colourscheme

Anyway i was part of the Super Secret Grampa Cherishing Division whose job was to act as his assistant but also secretly be packing a bazillion weapons to neutralize him if he poses a danger to humanity. But i started to genuinely care for the guy and question the 'any atrocity is permitted for the sake of saving the world' philosophy of my bosses. Also it was just very weird how it was this post apocolypse alien fighting action thing yet i didnt see ANY OF IT cos this story was confined to this one laboratory. It was surreal hearing about all this stuff happening offscreen!

I think Maddiman's main project was some sort of dimensional transport thing using salvaged alien tech? It was just a door in his lab that usually led to a closet but if he got it working itd teleport us straight to the alien base and save the world. And a lot of it wasnt explained but i got this great sense that itd all come together with a great twist ending evebtually but then i woke up before i got that far. Same for the reveal of this maddiman's new sci fi backstory and soooo many other dropped plot threads. Alas!

So anyway: closet. Closet with one of those bead curtain things cos i was thinking about them when i fell asleep. It was supposed to be a teleport but when it malfunctioned it had really scary negative effects warping people's biology and stuff. I remember one of the test subjects was sent in for a five day trip to a specific alternate dimension but then when they came back itd been several years and theyd had to survive in a deadly wasteland and been mutated into a hellbeast. And maddiman had a huge breakdown because he felt like his recklessness and optimism towards this experiment had caused this mistake to happen, and he'd never realized just how awful the consequences could be. He was babbling motor mouth discussing theories for where it went wrong and there was something like 'we'd only tested it for one day trips and assumed that just programming two of them would equal two days but actually with each additional number on the screen it multiplies the days by 3" And there was something about like...the bead curtain was the machine rather than the door itself? Like trying it on a bunch of different doors around the lab to try and find a way to cure this person.

And there was some sort of artificial intelligence computer with the personality of an adorable lil girl, who helped maddiman do calculations and stuff. She missed the mistake in this calculation cos her concept of linear time and the limits of human organs was kinda undeveloped. She only existed within the realm of numbers after all, and didbt even have functionality to record footage of her human friends's faces. No idea wtf a human looks like! So maddiman was lost in his desperate grief of potentially accidebtally killing or at least mentally scarring a person and the government would probably kill them now if they saw they were a super mutant. And he was sobbing and begging this AI to help, his last resort was her maybe being able to see a brainwave that he'd missed. But she was freaking out cos she didnt even fully understand why maddiman was crying let alone what to do to fix it. Eventually she did manage to find a solution theough some simple different logic thing that she had from her perspective as a computer. And that person was saved but still traumatized and maddiman had a moment of realizing just how high stakes everything was and freaking out. He was like 'whats wrong with my head, why didnt i notice that, why was i so reckless, why cant i seem to grasp basic human logic that i need right now" Having a big existential crisis of 'wait how did i even get in this lab, where's my family and why do i seem to have superpowers'. Protagonist mission: hide all the goddamn mirrors to avoid this weird ghostgramp (...aliengramp??) from realizing he's dead (..or an alien??) and losing control of himself. And everyone was running around talking about 'containment procedures' and poor maddiman didnt know that if his panic attack continued he might just straight up be killed for outliving his usefulness. So the protagonist was desperate to help him calm down and it sucked SO MUCH cos they had to lie about his past and weave the web of deception around him again for his own safety. In the end they just hugged him close until he calmed down, and all the other employees were like GASP THEY ACTUALLY TOUCHED THE EVIL DANGEROUS SUPER EVIL MAN and protag was like 'i am 1% away from slapping the next bitch who insults this grandpa'. And it was super depressing cos once he'd calmed down he seemed to start forgetting that anything bad had ever happened?? And he was really panicking and scared cos he didnt understand why he was forgetting, and he knew he had to cling onto something important but he didnt know what. And then five minutes later he was back to haha cheerful nothing is wrong and i love doing my fun science in this room im never allowed to leave. And protagonist was crying the tears that this poor gramp wasnt allowed to cry :(

Also actually i think maybe he was a ghost AND an alien? Like he was a scientist who died in some sort of tragedy back when the aliens first invaded, but along the way he'd been infected so his body got back up as a twisted combination of human and inhuman. And this was something unique to him, like he just happened to have a genetic mutation in his blood that was totally undetectable in life but happened to mix unpredictably with this alien virus to turn him into a hybrid instead of just killing him. So the government was very interested in finding a way to replicate this and create new supersoldiers, as well as just taking advantage of this dude's confused mental state that granted him a unique understanding of alien tech that made him more effective than other scientists. And, of course, also made him easy to manipulate :(

And i also had a feeling that maybe his backstory was mixed up with Adventure dr eggman? Like here it seemed he had a daughter instead of a son, and she had a similar death to Maria Robotnik where she was assasinated by the government he worked for, and it tipped him over the edge. I think Maddiman-alien-scifi-dude originally died trying to save her from being used in some sort of experiment? Like she was already dying of a disease and thats why maddiman took this job to have access to powerful government technology to try and look for a cure. But when the whole alien apocolypse happened, the evil government decided to use her for experiments cos she was 'basically dead anyway'. Theyd just lie and tell maddiman she died of her illness. So this was how they found out that this particular family's bloodline had a mutation that let them form a viable hybrid with alien dna. They were turning this poor kid into a monster in the basement while lying to her dad about her being dead! And maddiman was about to commit suicide from having no reason to live anymore, with the hell of this apocolypse world and the false impression that his kid was already dead. But somehow monster-daughter sensed this or something and broke out of containment to try and save him, and when he saw her he was able to recognise her even in her twisted state. So when the soldiers gunned her down in front of him and fed him some lies about this not being his daughter, he just completely snapped. He tried in vain to fight back and take down as many of them as possible in revenge, but well he was just a simple round dad with no ability to fight a government. So he was unceremoniously executed along with his kid and they shoved the bodies back in the lab to continue testing. "Damn that overemotional science dad, he made us execute our most valable test subject! But at least this way we can analyze his corpse to see if the mutation is passed down on the patrilineal side." But at some point during the fight, monster-daughter's blood had splashed on her dad and gotten into his bloodstream. So the seemingly dead body suddenly got up out of the morgue and started sucking people's blood or something. And this led to the current situation where they have him locked up cos he's a valuable test subject but also hey he has 100% reason to kill all of us and we're screwed if he remembers his past. Also i think the computer AI thing was his subconcious attempt to recreate the personality of his daughter even if he couldnt remember she'd ever existed :(

Anyway at some point things escalated and there was this final showdown versus both the invading aliens and the evil governmebt guys. I think there was some corrupt greedy politician dude who stole maddiman's teleporter tech and sold us out to the aliens cos he wanted money and power or something. And probably predictably the aliens just threw him off a bridge after he gave them the thing, because seriously even this evil army thinks these government dudes are too evil!

So this big actiony event was happening and Maddiman was freaking out like 'no no no i cant leave the lab everyone wpuld be mad at me, i dont even know what its like outside this room' even when he was in the middle of being attacked by aliens. He was forced to face his repressed memories to survive, and he naturally had a massive fuckin freakout! And i think maybe when protagonist character was trying to protect him he accidentally lashed out with his powers and hurt them, and he was so horrified thinking another person he cared about was gonna die because of him. Protagonist was like 'dont worry gramps its just a scratch' but he'd already freaked out and run away into the battlefield to his heavily implied death.

BUT THEN at some sort of moment of dire need, he came back all powered up and re-memoried and was like 'i have every reason to despise humanity but im not gonna let more children die because of these damn corporate monsters (and also literal monsters which are infinately less scary)" And he did some sort of great sacrifice to save the protagonist at the cost of his own life, and it was super dramatic falling from a building into a lake of fire or something. While sobbing and smiling peacefully thinkibg "did i atone for my sins? Will i be able to see my family again?" As his smiling face sunk beneath the flames and the protagonist cried out into the abyss...

Aaaaand then i dont really know what happened in the big battle and i also never found out wtf the solution was to fixing the transporter thing or how the aliens invaded or any of the million plot points that were non gramp related.

I just remember that when we all saved the day and defeated the baddies we found that maddiman had actually survived and it was a big hugs reunion. He was like "OH YEAH i totally forgot i literally already died once and regenerated from it, and this was the entire start to my story. My bad!" *shrugs inexplicably not dead arms*

So yeah in summary im glad my brain summoned up a universe where my favourite sad granddad is literally immortal now, but also why did it torment him with an even sadder plot than his original one

[dailyaudiobible]

03/25/2021 DAB Transcript

Deuteronomy 4:1-49, Luke 6:39-7:10, Psalms 68:1-18, Proverbs 11:28

Today is the 25th day of March welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian it is wonderful to be here with you today as we continue to sail through this week, sail through this month, and sail through this year and sail through the Bible. And, so, let’s dive in. In the Old Testament we…we’re getting ourselves moved into the book of Deuteronomy. We've had a couple of days in Deuteronomy, we’re kinda familiar with what's going on now. Deuteronomy is the last things that Moses has to say to the children of Israel. And, so, there's plenty of reminders in there, plenty of things that we may kinda be like, “haven't I heard that before?” And yes, you probably have. This is what Moses has to say to remind the people because he is about to recede, and Joshua is about to take over and Moses will disappear from history. He is about to die. And as I've said, we've been with Moses for quite a while now. He's been a very major figure in the story. And, so, it does us good to honor the book of Deuteronomy, to honor his last words as if we were among the children of Israel and putting ourselves in their story. And, so, let's pick it up. Deuteronomy chapter 4 today.

Commentary:

Okay. So, in the book of Deuteronomy as we said…well…I mean I guess this our fourth…is this our fourth day in Deuteronomy? I think it is as. As we’ve said every day since we've been in Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy is these three speeches or talks or discourses, like the final important things that he has to say to the entire congregation of…of Israel as he prepares…as he prepares to die, as Joshua prepares to take over and take the people cross the Jordan River. So, we concluded the first of those talks today and we may have noticed that because we got to the end of that talk and then we began this sort of introduction, like where we’re going next, the next things that Moses is going to say. And in this first talk Moses reminds the people of their covenant with God and that there is no other God that they are in covenant with because there is no other God. And if they are to attempt to chase after other gods that going to destroy themselves because they are in covenant. They are under authority. They belong to God. They are His people. And this will be evidenced by their obedience to what they have been told, the way that they are to set up their culture as they go forward. But if they choose not to listen, not to obey, not to heed then things are not going to go so well. And we’ll get a front row seat of watching that struggle as we continue our journey through the Scriptures.

But it's kind of stark similarity when we turn into the New Testament and we hear Jesus saying, “why do you call me the Lord and not do what I tell you?” And if we had to think both of what Moses is trying to instill in the people of Israel and look at what Jesus is saying to His hearers, what are they cautioning against? Generally, they’re cautioning against our propensity to put ourselves on the throne, that we are the sovereign, and that we will worship whoever, however, whenever, wherever we like, which is in stark contrast…contrast to being utterly and hopelessly dependent. One of the greatest battles in the human heart is who sits on the throne, right? Because the whole system is set up that if you can be sitting on throne then you are in control and you are in charge of your own destiny, you make of it what you will when the way of the kingdom is there is a sovereign God and that is something you are not. You are not the creator. You are the created. So, you can try to build your own small kingdom, be your own small God but that will lead to your destruction or you can just simply live as you were intended to be free, free, free from the entanglements of culture, free from having to try to measure up, free from trying to pretend you're something you're not, free to not have a closet full of masks that you have to put on every time you go in to public depending on what you're going to do, free to be utterly and completely and hopelessly dependent among God who will care for you, who knows what you need before you ask, free to let go of expectations, free to simply be here. So, we’ll watch all this play out as we continue to move forward. But there are so many junctures along the way in the Scriptures where the mirror comes up and we have to look at ourselves and we kind of have to look at where we’re going. like where the road that we currently are on is headed and is it headed toward life, will it get us there? And if we think we can be our own sovereign and just keep dodging we’re gonna eventually hit a brick wall or fall into a pothole. We have a choice. And the way of the kingdom is a choice to surrender and come under the protection of the mighty hand of God.

Prayer:

Father, we see this, we see this in Old and New Testaments, so we see this spanning thousands of years from each other and now we are thousands of years from the New Testament, the beginning of the New Testament era. And, so, we’re talking about thousands of years these things have been true and we’re still…we’re still struggling because it is so counterintuitive to the way that the world system is built up and made to work. And You invited us to be aware that we’re here, we’re in it, but we’re not of it and there are other ways to be on this earth. Give us eyes to see we pray. In the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base, it is where you find out what's going on around here, it’s the home of the Global Campfire. So, stay tuned and stay connected. Check it out. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app you can access pretty much everything that's there on the web by using the Drawer icon in the upper left-hand corner.

For example, whether you are on the web or in the app you can find the Community section, which is where the Prayer Wall lives. And, so, matter what's going on we can always reach out and reach back and there’s just never a shortage of need. And, so, there's always things to pray about there at the Prayer Wall. So, be familiar with that. And while you’re there in the Community section you can find links to different social media channels that we participate in. And that's a good way to stay in touch with any kind of announcements, etc., So, following Daily Audio Bible wherever it is that you do what you do on social media pretty much. If it's just big enough…if it's, you know, a regular major platform we’re probably there too. So, the links are in the Community section. So, let's…let’s stay connected as we continue our journey.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. There is a link on the homepage, and I thank you with all of my heart for your partnership. It’s a…I mean there's a mission that we've had all these years to just continue to bring the spoken word of God every day and just give it to whoever…whoever will listen to it because the idea is, these are the Scriptures…if you’re hearing this then you’re hearing…you’re hearing from God and who doesn't need that every day? And, so, just…even if…even if people just encounter it they’re still hearing. And, so, we just keep speaking it, just keep saying it. Somebody's here saying it out over the world every day. And, so, if…if that’s…if that matters, that's part of a journey that is impacting your life than thank you for your partnership. There is a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. If you’re using the app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner, or the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always if you have a prayer request or encouragement, you can hit the Hotline button in the app, the little red button up at the top or you can dial 877-942-4253.

And that's it for today. I’m Brian I love you and I'll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

I want to pray for Steve from Maryland. And you explained that you're a widow and you’re… you've adopted five children and there are quite a few struggles going on right now. So, let's pray. Heavenly Father I pray for Your strength I pray for Your blessing upon Steve. I thank You God for the work that he and his wife started together, and he finds himself in a lonely and falling apart place. And I pray Lord that…that You would just comfort him and help meet his needs. Help him to grieve and get the support he needs to grieve the loss of his wife and help each of those children Lord to know that their loved. I pray that You’ll bring supportive people from the church into their lives to work to walk right next to them and to show them the love that they need God. Fill the void and fill the place where mom was and now is not and…and help the church to just wrap loving arms around them and love them well. Help each one to get their needs met in You and…and give him strength for the journey Lord. None of us can do this alone but we can rely on You and we can take one step at a time and so I just pray that over my brother, and I pray for success and love and each one to continue in Your loving arms in Jesus’ name I pray.

This is Timberly calling for Steve the adopter…the adoptive father whose wife passed five years ago. Steve I just wanted to let you know that I come alongside you as fellow adoptive parents. We have two daughters that we adopted from the foster care system and I just want to let you know that I'm sure that on many levels we can connect on the unique challenges that present themselves through adoption and especially adopting children who have been through trauma or the foster care system or both. So, I just wanted to lift you up in prayer Steve along with your children. Father God, Lord, I pray for Steve and his children. Father God I pray that You give Steve strength or help him understand the strength that he has through You Father to be able to make wise decisions for himself and his children Father God. I pray a hedge of protection around this entire family Father God, that the forces of evil would not come against them Father Jesus, that You would protect them, Father that Your presence would be palpable, that Your presence would be unmistakable in their lives Father God. Please help them through this journey that they're on Father God we know that You will organize their paths and we pray…we pray Father for them to understand how fully loved and fully accepted and fully known by You that they are Father God. I lift them up today to You Father and I pray that today is the day that they can see Your Salvation and they can feel Your love and that Steve would be encouraged Father God. Please give him some give him some…help him know Father…help him know Father the good things that he's done, help him see the fruits of his labor today Father in Your precious son's name I pray.

Hey Daily Audio Bible family this is John calling from Bethlehem PA it's the 22nd of March the 81st day of the year and spring is in the air. Brian thank you so much for this program and for the opportunity to dive into God's word every day. I wanted to give a shout out and say hi to friends here in the Lehigh Valley area in Pennsylvania that have decided to take the journey for the year this year through the Bible and you all know who you are. And I love you and I hope that you're just hanging in there and taking it day by day and step by step and that…that God’s word is washing over you and having an impact on your lives as it’s had on mine in so many almost indescribable ways. My call this morning is to pray for Steve from Maryland. Steve, I heard your prayer request come in on the community prayer and praise on the 22nd, it aired on the 22nd and you called in asking for prayer for you and your family because you're going through a lot of struggles right now. You mentioned that you've got five adopted children, that you lost your wife five years ago, and you're struggling right now through with your son with home schooling and just home life with the pandemic and also over that loss of your…of your wife and his mom and then, you know, also with a daughter that's got herself in a legal jam and a daughter who's going to be having a baby. You've got a lot going Steve. Jesus, thank You so much Father for Steve thank You for what he's doing in raising this family Lord God. Give him strength. Help him to endure Father God, to stay close to You. Help him to be prayerful, to remain calm and cool and collected. There's nothing too hard for You Jesus and this isn't a surprise to You. In Your name I pray. Amen.

Hey DAB family this is Gods Tree but I have many branches but I am yet rooted in the Lord. I'm calling because on behalf of two prayer requests this is March 22nd. This is for Paul in Ohio. Paul you blessed my spirit because you said you've been praying for several things and it hasn't come to fruition yet and you've been a faithful man before God praying and, you know, in a routine of giving God what you had and God spoke to you and said, you know, I can do something for you but you need to do something a little different so now you're setting out to do something different and that spoke to my spirit because I once heard a message said that you have to do something different in order to get something that you never had. And, so, you've put that little fire under me to do the same thing because there's some things I’m believing God for as well. So, I'm going to be doing some things a little different too so that I can see God move. God wants us to work our faith and that's what I'm going to do. And also I want to honor a prayer request. Tomica, I didn't get where she was from but I'm praying for the healing in your shoulder and your workman’s compensation go through, but more importantly I'm not only praying for just blessings for your children but I’m praying blessings for yourself because you deserve it. And, you know, you said there's so many obstacles that’s keeping you from getting the housing that you need. But know this, sometimes the enemy puts obstacles in the way just so he can keep you from seeing the blessings that are on the way. So, don't give up. Keep praying and keep trusting God. Housing is going to open up for you and it's going to be a better than what you ever imagine, and your children are going to be blessed more because you're highly favored and loved by the Lord. And again, I want to thank you all for this ministry and continue to bless for you as I…

[singing starts] why should I feel discouraged? Why should thy shadows come? Why should my heart be heart be lonely and long for heaven and home? When Jesus is my portion my constant friend is Him. His life is on the __ and I know he watched me. His eye is on the __ and I know He watches me. I sing because I'm happy. I sing because I'm free. For His I is on the __ and I know He watches me [singing stops]. And brothers and sisters in Christ just know that the Lord…

[mikelumsden]

Interview: ALAN LICHT

We met on the morning of June 4, 2017, after his performance at Montreal’s Suoni Per Il Popolo festival, with Kristin Thora Haraldsdottir and Vicky Mettler.

***

ML: Last night, we talked about your Minimalist Top Ten lists [published in Halana magazine starting in 1996]. You said they had kind of taken on a life of their own.

AL: Yeah. People have done blogs where they post the albums, or links to them on Youtube. It's a little bit different, because I had to do a lot of digging to track those things down. Even when I wrote that article, I probably didn’t own the actual artefact of every album. It was either a CD reissue or someone had taped it. Now, some of them I have been able to track down, and a lot of them get reissued on vinyl too. It's a different era now where you can actually read this thing and actually listen to all the albums, whereas when I wrote it, it would have taken quite a bit of doing to actually hear the stuff. Like the Henry Flynt cassette “You Are My Everlovin” -- it got reissued a few years later, but before that it would have been virtually impossible. I only heard it because Donald Miller, the guitarist in Borbetomagus, had it. He played it and copied it for me. That was really the way I heard a lot of that stuff, someone copying it. Like Tony Conrad's “Outside the Dream Syndicate.” Originally that was a tape of a tape of a tape I got from someone who had gotten it from Phil Milstein, who ran the Velvet Underground Appreciation Society.

ML: Because that only came out on CD after you wrote that list?

AL: It came out maybe the year before, but it was sort of an encouraging sign, the CD reissue. It was a pretty unlikely record to be reissued at all. That was the great thing about CDs when they came out - it's a new format, maybe people will buy it this time around.

ML: You wrote about Tony Conrad. You've interviewed him?

AL: I interviewed Tony - this is kind of a long story. The long version is - I interviewed him but it was sort of after one failed attempt to interview him. That was for the piece I did on Theater of Eternal Music that ran in Forced Exposure in 1990. I was kind of researching that for a couple years. Tony was giving a presentation of his videos in New York and I introduced myself to him. I called him up and had no idea of the whole feud over the tapes between him and La Monte [Young], and that opened a can of worms, and so I didn't end up interviewing him for that article. A year or so later, while I was still in college, I had met this guy Neil Strauss. He later went on to write this book called "The Game".

ML: The same Neil Strauss?

AL: The same Neil Strauss who wrote this bestselling book about, like, picking up chicks. I met him in college. He turned out to be an experimental music enthusiast and he was getting involved in starting to write for magazines. In 1989, he pitched an idea of doing an article about minimalist composers now, and "where are they now," to Option magazine, which was the big experimental music magazine of the day, and they went for it. We split it up. I interviewed Charlemagne Palestine and Tony Conrad, and he interviewed Phill Niblock and Glenn Branca.

My interview with Charlemagne was kind of a disaster. That's one that lives on on the web, because he was kind of drunk, and went off on this whole rant about being excluded from the "big four" of minimalism, or whatever.

But then Tony - I had a very long conversation with. He was a little more amenable to talking about his own music than talking about La Monte. And that was right when he was starting to do Early Minimalism, kind of around the time of the first performances of that. He was doing it in New Music America and some festivals in Europe. Neil had seen him do it in, I think, Ars Electronica. He had taped part of it and played the tape for me. I was totally blown away by it. This was years before the CD of Early Minimalism came out.

I had heard that Charlemagne was getting back into music at that point too, which he was, but it was still very sporadic. Because of CDs he got more into it in the mid-90s than he was at that point. You gotta say, in 1989, hardly anybody remembered these guys as musicians. Charlemagne had his heyday in New York in the seventies, and in the eighties he didn't do music at all. Sort of the same with Tony, he had done the stuff with La Monte and John Cale in the sixties, and in the seventies he was doing a little bit, but not a lot.

ML: Because he was mostly doing film?

AL: He was teaching film, and that was mostly what he was working on. Although it seems he was kind of working on music on his own, there was just no public outlet for it.

ML: You mentioned Phill Niblock, who's also been featured on a Minimalist Top Ten list. Did you work with him?

AL: I've played Phill's music a number of different times. He has one piece for e-bowed guitars, and I'm on the recording [“G2,44+/x2,” Moikai, 2002] that Jim O'Rourke's label put out, and I've done it live a number of times. And I've played at Experimental Intermedia. I know him pretty well actually.

ML: When you were writing that article, you were working in film distribution?

AL: I was a film student at this point, when I'm talking to all these guys. After I got out of college, I got a job at a film distribution company. Film was an interest but music was always the main interest. I'd contemplated majoring in music, and could never get my head around music theory. Most of the stuff I was working on didn't need to be notated in that way. Actually, the composition teacher I had as a freshman in college was Annea Lockwood, who does a lot of experimental music. Funnily enough, she was actually very strict about rules of harmony.

ML: We were also talking about Kelly Reichardt. You said that you introduced her to Will Oldham. I love his acting in her film “Old Joy.”

AL: I had a number of friends in common with Kelly. She knows a lot of people in the music scene. I got to know her that way, and in fact, I even got her a job at the film distribution company I was working at at one point. I think after I left, she actually worked there full time for a while. Will was living in New York at one point in the late nineties, around when “I See a Darkness” [Palace Records, 1999] came out. I think I introduced them. We'd done this film series at Tonic and we showed “River of Grass.” I don't think Will knew it, and at the screening I introduced the two of them. Then he did the score for “Ode,” this Super 8 movie Kelly did because she had one script that was in turnaround for years and years. She said, forget it, I'll make this shorter movie on my own. Will did the score for that, and then she cast him in “Old Joy.”

ML: And then Yo La Tengo did the score for “Old Joy.”

AL: Kelly is pretty good friends with all of them. And this guy Smokey Hormel is sitting in with Yo La Tengo on that score. Smokey is married to this woman who did lights for Sonic Youth and Nirvana and lots of bands, who is also a good friend of mine. It's one circle of people.

ML: We were also talking last night about “Calvin Johnson Has Ruined Rock for an Entire Generation,” [1994] your solo record on Tom Scharpling’s label 18 Wheeler. With that, and the Love Child and Run On records, how did you fit with the whole New Jersey/New York scene in the nineties? How did you end up dedicating one of the tracks on “Rabbi Sky” [Siltbreeze, 1999] to James McNew of Yo La Tengo?

AL:  I think the dedication to James is because that track is using an MXR Blue Box, which is an octave fuzz pedal, and James really liked that pedal. I guess it just reminded me of Phill [Niblock]'s music, so that's probably why.

ML: That kind of thick sound.

AL: Yeah. Now, the music scene… Tom [Scharpling] and I, and this guy named Jim Romeo, were all from New Jersey. They were from a little different part of NJ than I was. Jim Romeo - this is funny because it does all kind of tie together - was my roommate when I first moved to Hoboken.

He moved into a place in Hoboken that had been lived in by these guys that were friends with a guy named Ken Katkin, who put out the first Love Child single [“Know It’s Alright,” Trash Flow, 1989]. These friends of his kind of abandoned this apartment, I think, and Jim moved in. It was super cheap rent. The total rent of the apartment was four hundred fifty dollars, and there were two of us. Even in 1990 that was unheard of.

One of the guys that lived there, Eric [Fischer], went on to become the road manager for the Stooges. He also shot a video of Love Child, the only real video we made, for the song “Sofa,” using Pixelvision.

Jim moved in there and was looking for a roommate. He had just started working at this booking agency that Bob Lawton ran. They booked Yo La Tengo, Sonic Youth, and so forth. The way he got that job was because he somehow knew somebody in Big Dipper, and I think they were booking Big Dipper at that point. Bob would have known them from the New England scene. Anyway, I was Jim’s roommate, and Tom was Jim’s best friend from New Jersey. Tom actually worked at this weird music store in Summit, which was the town next to the town I grew up in. Once or twice I kind of stopped in and said hi.

ML: I’ve heard him talk about that sheet music store. I think that’s where he and Jon Wurster would do these telephone calls to each other before they had “The Best Show” on WFMU.

AL: So that was kind of the connection. He would go see Love Child. He was a fan. He did the fanzine 18 Wheeler and was starting to put out some records. I don’t remember the genesis of it, whether he said, “if you want to do something let me know.” I was kind of fooling around in the rehearsal space with the guitar cable through distortion pedals and getting feedback, but also with the delay pedal getting this rhythm to it too. That’s actually what Tom liked. He said, “It’s got the pulse.” I think Suicide was probably the influence, like Martin Rev’s drum machine.

ML: We were talking about the new record [“Currents,” VDSQ, 2015]. This is the first of yours I’ve heard that is acoustic.

AL: It’s the only one that’s acoustic. I’ve played acoustic in my house a little bit. I started off playing a Yamaha classical guitar and then I didn’t own an acoustic guitar until 2009 or so. It’s a pretty big gap. The guitar I was playing last night, I bought before I had an actual acoustic. It’s an acoustic-electric that I bought in 2005.

It was something I only really did at home. All the stuff I played last night was originally worked up in my bedroom, not really knowing what I would do with it. Over the years I realized I had enough things to make an album. I started thinking about the things I could rework. The third piece I played last night was an example of that, something I wrote towards the end of Run On. I had post-rock in mind when I was writing it, but I never did anything with it then. Then I reworked it as a solo guitar piece for this. Some of the other ones –- I started playing guitar like that more once I started playing in Lee Ranaldo and the Dust. We were touring a lot, and then I would spend more time at home just playing guitar because I was more used to playing guitar everday from touring, and also I wasn’t so concerned about finding other ways to make money in between.

ML: You’ve mentioned Keith Richards as an influence on some of the new songs. I was wondering about Steve Gunn.

AL: I know him. In fact, he toured a little bit on a bill with the Lee Ranaldo band. We did a bunch of shows together and I guess I had met him a little before that. There was one bill with [John] Truscinski – their duo played. Apparently we were both at this talent show at somebody’s house, which I remember doing but don’t really remember him. He’s been up in Brooklyn for a while. He and Steve Shelley and I just played as a trio at this benefit concert for Bruce Langhorne. We did one piece from the soundtrack to the Hired Hand and one from the Dylan soundtrack to Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid.

The other influence is Michael Hedges. He was on Windham Hill in the 80s. He was one of these guys who would do tapping stuff. There was one record called “Aerial Boundaries,” the second album. I heard that when I was a teenager and really liked it. He was a really great guitarist at that point. I listened to him again and some of the stuff on “Currents” is kind of from listening to Michael Hedges again, and translating that into more of the Steve Reich thing.

ML: The percussive pulse that comes through.

AL: Right, and the piece “Aerial Boundaries” really sounds like Steve Reich. Kristin [Thora Haraldsdottir]’s piece “Currents” is a little like that too. I don’t know if she’s listened to Michael Hedges. I sent the music to Steve Lowenthal from [record label] VDSQ and we met up to talk about doing a release, and he got the Steve Reich influence right away. I was really encouraged by that.

ML: Earlier, we were talking about Will Oldham, which made me think of his frequent collaborator Emmett Kelly. Have you heard the record Emmett put out with Jim White as the Double [“Dawn of the Double”, In the Red, 2016]?

AL: I wrote the liner notes for it! (Laughs.) So I’ve heard it, and heard them play live before I heard the record.

ML: My first thought was it could grab a spot in the next top ten list.

AL: It’s definitely within that. It was amazing to see it live when I didn’t know what to expect. I was talking to Jim beforehand and he said it was dance music. I didn’t really understand what that would mean coming from those two guys. I think they actually did it for a choreographer. Setting a groove, and keeping the groove going as long as possible. I’ve met Emmett a number of times and talked about doing something together, but it hasn’t happened yet. I sat in on one secret show Will was playing with Jim and played a couple of songs. Maybe “Cinnamon Girl”. That was a long time ago, maybe around 2000.

ML: One of the things your writing pointed me to was connecting the blues with minimalism. I was thinking of how you collaborated with Tetuzi Akiyama [“Tomorrow Outside Tomorrow,” Editions Mego, 2016], who really explores those genres on “Don’t Forget to Boogie” [Idea, 2003]. How did you come to collaborate?

AL: There’s probably two parts to that. Tetuzi, I met in New York. He came and played at Tonic and this guy – Toshio Kajiwara – was DJing the basement of Tonic every week, and I guess he knew Tetuzi. He was like, you should really play with this guy, and that was unusual for him – ordinarily he wouldn't suggest people to play with. I took it pretty seriously and saw him play, around 2004. I forget if “Don’t Forget to Boogie” was out then or not. He gave me a CD-R of it, so maybe it hadn’t quite come out yet. There’s one track, “Fast Machine”, and he said, “that track is dedicated to you”. He said that he and Taku Sugimoto used to listen to “Sink the Aging Process” which probably inspired the dedication. On the track he’s just playing one chord for ten minutes.

That record came out, and Oren Ambarchi put out “Triste” [Idea, 2003] on the same label, and the record that became “YMCA” [Family Vineyard, 2009] was also originally going to be on that label before it stopped production. I suggested to the two guys that we do a tour of Japan, Australia, and New Zealand, where we would each organize one country. Both those guys dropped the ball, but I did get a tour of New Zealand together – four shows for the trio, then Oren left and Tetuzi and I did a few other pick-up shows for another week. We got one recording from the tour that was really good, which became a 3” CD called “Willow Weep and Moan” [Antiopic, 2006]. That name, “Blues Deceiver”, that’s Tetuzi’s. I can definitely hear the blues influence in there, but it’s probably a little more his thing than mine.

La Monte always talks about the blues being a big influence in this kind of thing -– like the dominant seventh, which is an interval he favors, comes out of the blues, to him. A lot of his pieces from the early sixties are called “Sunday Morning Blues”, “Tuesday Morning Blues”, which he claims are extremely slow moving blues chord progressions. It’s a little hard to actually ascertain when you listen to them, but I'll take his word for it. I know he did one sound installation where he had a chords made with sine tones in the room. It was a twelve-day thing that was structured as a  twelve bar blues, and each day was equivalent to one bar-- the chord only changed (or not) each day. A mind-blowing idea.

Maybe I mentioned Junior Kimbrough [in the Minimalist Top Ten lists]. There was a movie of the book “Deep Blues”, a documentary. That was, I think, before he had records out, but he’s in the movie. It’s a ten-minute drone thing. I remember seeing it and thinking, wow, who was that guy? I realized he was the same guy when his records started to come out.

ML: Now, Taku Sugimoto -- I love some of his recordings, like “Saritote” [Saritote Disk, 2007] and “Opposite” [hatNOIR, 1998].

AL: I don’t know his records very well, but I saw him play live in Switzerland with [trombonist] Radu Malfatti. It was this venue where I was playing the next night. I was hanging out backstage and Taku and Radu were playing a game of chess. One of them would make a move, and five minutes later the other would make a move. Then, they go out on stage, and of course, one guy would play one note, and five minutes later the other guy would play one note. I was like, okay, I get it now. It was almost like the Cage 4’33” piece, where the focus shifts from what’s going on onstage to becoming more conscious of every other sound in the room.

ML: And then as far as New Zealand…

AL: Bruce Russell put out that CD of mine, “The Evan Dando of Noise?” [Corpus Hermeticum, 1997]. I contacted him and got the names of people to set things up. The first show was in Auckland on a bill with the Dead C. They were amazing. I had seen them in the US but they were so incredible down there, in their element, using their own amps. Lawrence English was on that bill, who at that point was starting out, but has since become a big figure in that music scene. I’ve played with Bruce a little bit. Maybe he sat in on one show with the trio. We did at least one duo thing at this funny bar near his house. He lives in a small town on the South Island.

ML: So many of your works have been collaborations. Is there anyone who’s still on your list?

AL: There’s people like Emmett [Kelly] where we talk about trying to do something someday, and who knows where it’ll go. Now, the CD I did with Henry [Kaiser], “Skip to the Solo” [Public Eyesore, 2016], which came out last year – I studied with him. He did a summer workshop in improvisation guitar when I was about nineteen. I’d been a fan of his from reading this article he did in Guitar Player. They had this whole column called “Essential Listening” where guitarists would talk about records that were significant to them. Henry did a pretty long article and a lot of it was non-guitar stuff, and I probably wouldn’t have paid attention except I noticed he had “Trout Mask Replica” and “Live/Dead,” and I liked those. His list had Derek Bailey, Evan Parker, Terry Riley, Masayuki Takayanagi, all the stuff that has since become pretty crucial to my development. I went and bought his current record “It’s a Wonderful Life” [Metalanguage, 1984]. The first side is this sidelong improvisation that he says is inspired by Terry Riley and Evan Parker. That in turn became a big inspiration to me.

In that course he really showed me how to listen to free improvisation. Then I could start to think about doing it as a musician. That was extremely valuable and I’ve stayed in touch with him ever since. Jim O’Rourke met Henry at the same time and had a similar mentor/mentee relationship with him, and that was common ground I had when I met Jim. Once Jim produced “Hoffman Estates” [Drag City, 1998] with Loren [Connors] – it might have been around that time that Henry called me up and proposed doing a record together. We talked about it from time to time for years after that.

We did a gig at the Stone in New York as a duo. At one point, he said, “play two chords so I can fuzz solo over them”. I remembered on this other record of his, “Outside Pleasure” [Metalanguage, 1980], there’s one section where he’s doing a fuzz solo over two chords he has looped behind him, just A minor and G – a rock move in the middle of free improv. So I said, I’ll play the two chords from “Outside Pleasure”. After the show he told me it was the chords from [the Seeds’] “Pushing Too Hard” which I’d never realized.

A record I really like is “Shut Up ‘n Play Yer Guitar” [1977-1980] by [Frank] Zappa, that series where he takes out guitar solos from some of his songs, gives them a new name, and calls them a new composition. I suggested doing a record like that to Henry, I booked the plane ticket, and we did it in two days – one of recording and one of mixing. But that’s an example of someone I really wanted to do a record with for a long time and finally got around to doing it two years ago. I didn’t want to just to a guitar duo record, since he’s done that with other people. I wanted to go deeper because I had this longstanding relationship with him and wanted the full Henry treatment, with him producing, designing the cover – things I would ordinarily want to control myself.

Because most of it is rock-oriented, it’s also the path not taken, in a way. This is the road I was on until I discovered this article that Henry wrote in Guitar Player and discovered Derek Bailey. Who knows what would have happened if I hadn’t. Would I have been a famous rock guitarist or just lost interest after I was out of my teens?

***

[oselatra]

Open letter to Rep. Bruce Cozart

I read your response to the Arkansas Times' request for comments about what happened in Charlottesville, Va. It is obvious that you are not well educated on the facts of history surrounding the Civil War.

Open letter to Rep. Bruce Cozart

I read your response to the Arkansas Times' request for comments about what happened in Charlottesville, Va. It is obvious that you are not well educated on the facts of history surrounding the Civil War. On the other hand, maybe you do know your history, and you are simply sympathetic to the cause of white supremacy. I hope your comments were made out of ignorance, and not out of bigotry, because ignorance can be cured.

Certainly the Civil War was fought for economic reasons, as you said. However, slavery was the foundation upon which the Southern economy was built. I won't go into detail on this matter, but the most superficial perusal of the facts (the actual facts, not "alternative facts") shows that many people in the South, especially plantation-owning elites, believed that black people were put on this planet to serve white people. Just do a little research and you can find evidence that supports this. In other words, it wasn't just about control of the cotton trade, or states' rights.

Mr. Cozart, you also said that monuments and memorials to the Confederacy are part of our history, which we shouldn't be forced to forget. That's interesting, because some people have been asking black Americans to forget their history for a long time. The armed rebellion in which the South took part to keep their slaves is part of our white Southern heritage, but it is also part of black heritage, too, just from a very different perspective. Regardless of what you may believe, those statues were not erected immediately after the war to commemorate the fallen heroes of a noble cause. Those Confederate monuments and memorials were purposely placed in highly visible public places during the era of Jim Crow as a reminder to blacks not to step out of line, and as a way of metaphorically giving the finger to the North. I agree we shouldn't destroy such historical items, but there is a more appropriate way to display them, a way that does not insult an entire segment of our population.

Please share this with fellow legislators who share your views, especially Sen. Jason Rapert. I would send the same message to him, but every time I ask Mr. Rapert to justify his position on matters of any sort he just accuses me of being a non-believer.

R.L. Hutson Cabot

From the web

On the Aug. 31 cover story, "Kids in Isolation: locked away in Alexander" by David Ramsey:

The Arkansas government does not seem capable or interested in protecting the lives of children who are outside of the womb. I have been reading articles from other sources that report the same thing: The majority of Arkansas government has turned a blind eye to the neglect and lack of oversight in the Department of Human Services' youth correctional facilities. Why are there so many horror stories about foster care children and youth correctional facilities in Arkansas? Governor Hutchinson and DHS Director Cindy Gillespie appointed longtime executive staff employee Betty Guhman to be director of Youth Services in July 2016.  But I keep reading articles about the Division of Youth Services having problems with staff, funding, abuse, resignations, contract disputes, out-of-state for-profit vendors and a lack of oversight and transparency on the part of DHS and Director Guhman. My opinion is the Arkansas government does not believe in or want to fund rehabilitation programs for anyone. They are cheap about providing the mental and emotional health services that are needed for children that are locked up. They just continue to create mentally ill people that they will eventually lock up in prison. They do not care about human lives if it decreases the money in the general improvement fund. Does the state ever get back the funds that state legislators steal? Sen. Jake Files (R-Fort Smith) goes to work every day at the state Capitol and collects his paycheck. What kind of justice is that? I hate saying these terrible remarks about the state government, but I also get tired of hearing comments from pompous legislators wanting to erect Ten Commandments monuments while they ignore the needs of children in our state. Maybe Rep. Jim Dotson (R-Bentonville) or a church could go hang plaques on the walls of the youth correctional facilities that say "In God We Trust." I bet that would impress the youth that are locked up.

ShineonLibby

On the Arkansas Blog reporting on Twitter posts criticizing Barack Obama for not going to New Orleans during Katrina and mistaking Condoleeza Rice for Michelle Obama:

I'm proud that we conservatives not only invented fake news ("Obama wasn't born in the U.S."), but continue to improve it, as the "Obama at Katrina" meme shows.  As Pontius Pilate said: "What is Truth?"

Ivan the Republican

I pine for a simpler time when we could come together and acknowledge that all the ills of the world were Clinton's fault.  "[Poetry] is the lava of the imagination whose eruption prevents an earthquake." — Lord Byron.

CyberBiker

On the Arkansas Blog posting on President Trump's decision to overturn President Obama's limitation on providing military surplus, like grenade launchers, to police forces:

Though I can see how bayonets "could" have daily use in roadside trash pickup, I fail to understand why the other items are necessary to quell dozens of WAND members at a vigil. Perhaps a local sheriff could have a good old boy hunting trip with his campaign contributors in a tracked armored vehicle with 50-caliber guns mounted on top. But nothing, nothing, happening in this country can justify its use at all, let alone daily. The thought of weaponized drones in the hands of the federal government in this country, let alone in the hands of the Barney Fifes, is enough to evacuate the bowels of most residents of 71909. Already, there are private companies on the sidelines eagerly waiting to customize former military drones with shotguns, grenade launchers, and bombs for local police. Are we saying that police are so incompetent that they need such weapons to do their job of protecting citizens? Many Americans already fear police. Do you think arming them like invading Stormtroopers is going to dial down that fear? What in this country can justify police having such a lethal arsenal against its own citizens?

Jabberwocky

In response to an Arkansas Blog post about an article on Democratic Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards that asks the question whether Arkansas Democrats should support support pro-life candidates if they could win more seats:

Hell No! Let them stay in the Republican Party where they belong.

DeathbyInches

DBI, you are wrong. I'll take a social conservative Democrat like Mark Pryor or Blanche Lincoln over John Bozeman and Tom Cotton every time, and you should also. The same goes for Mike Ross, the Blue Dog Democrat whom many in the party abandoned in 2014. The party has to get back to its economic basis, livable wages for the working man, better health care for all. I hope our new party chairman can find a candidate such as John Bel Edwards to run for governor in Arkansas. I would become an active party member again. Philosophical purity will get a person nowhere in conservative Arkansas if they want to win. I have been preaching that for years.

plainjim

Open letter to Rep. Bruce Cozart

[mfclassy]

Ink Life, Fox Fight: Prologue

It was a quiet early Thursday morning. The shade was down within my dorm, but the clock on my screen said it was about 3:17am.  I could barely keep my eyes open due to the fact that I had been up for about 48 hours since I was working on a school project. I attend Meadows Ridge University in Toronto, Canada to study Computer Animation as my major. My professor had told the class and I about the animated film festival that happens each year and that we each had to participate, present and make it our own original story because it would be reflected on our final grade for the semester. I personally don't understand why we had to but if it was mandatory then I had no choice but to do the project. The professor had us pick a topic from a hat to see which era of animation we will be working on. “How did I end up getting the art style of the 1920s? How come I couldn’t get anything else but the 1920s!? The black and white art style is too dramatic, over exaggerative and there’s nothing really serious about it.” I complained to myself as I slowly grabbed my mouse to click on the web page that was marked “Student’s ID and Final Project.” When it opened up, it showed the picture of a short black haired, mixed race male with glasses. Every time I looked at that picture, it reminded me how much I had changed over the past few months. I now have bags under my eyes and anxiety just from looking at it. Some things haven’t changed though, for instance, my hair is still black and still shining and eyes are still and will always be light brown. Even though they hide behind a pair of silver trivex glasses. The screen also says that I’m 5’6, and that I was born and raised in Boston, Massachusetts. “So far all of this is about right.” I said to myself. As I looked at the time on the screen, I noticed the more I looked at my information, the more I procrastinated and that's more time I lose. I have to find good motivation for me to finish this project. I decided to do a quick web search on the art style, and of course all I find was the common stuff that didn't peak my interest. “Okay, all I could find was a well-known mouse that is still making an impact on modern day viewers. He is still putting smiles on children's faces and taking people's money every time they enter his worldwide theme park. On the other hand there's the “almost forgotten” Cat that was growing in popularity at the time.” I kept scrolling and locked eyes with a fox dressed up in a bowtie and vest. “I've never seen or even heard of this character before. Maybe he's someone's recent creation.” When I clicked on the picture, the character’s information page opened up. I fixed my glasses and started to read it out loud. “Frederick “The Fancy” Fox, created on August 9th,1927. He was a well-known Fox for his famous animation titled “Fancy Dining” which starred his mate, Samantha Snow, and his best friends named Hoppson, a bunny rabbit. The signature fox with a bowtie, vest and a black patch of fur around his left eye, made an impact once the animation aired two days after he and his crew were created. After an entire year of great classical hits such as “Fancy Meeting You Here,” “Fancy Flowers” and “Fancy Friendship,” the unknown creator was about to make a very loving and heartwarming animation called “Fancy Wedding” where Frederick was finally going to marry Samantha. Originally it was going to air on May 25th 1929, but sadly the unknown creator passed away due to old age. However, after that announcement was told to the public, the episode still aired. While the wedding was commencing and Samantha was walking down the aisle, a loud boom occurred. The cartoon crowd was confused until they noticed Frederick drop to his knees and died right in front of his soon to be wife. Right after that aired, another episode aired called “Fancy Funeral: The Curtain Falls,” where the whole community was attending the funeral of Frederick Fox. His girl and best friend couldn't stop crying and the others who knew the Fox were very heartbroken until a long limo showed up, and the scene paused. The show zoomed into the window, the car rolled down it's windows and showed a laughing smiling face. And that's how they end the episode.” As I finished reading the information sheet about Frederick, I quickly stood up to the point where my chair hit the ground, stared at the screen in fear and said the first thing that came to my head. “What the effing hell did I just read!?”As those words left my mouth, someone banged on the wall and screamed “Keep it down!” since I was being too loud. As I slowly recovered after what I just read, I went back to my desk and just sat there. My brain wasn't allowing me to move, or even think straight right now. After a few moments of collecting my thoughts, I decided to scroll down that web page a bit more. The rest of the search didn't surprise me anymore. It was showing detailed pictures of his death, the chalk outlines, and what his tombstone said. I fixed my glasses and read “Here lies The Fox who stole a heart from the wrong woman.” I had to reread what I just read and panicked. While I'm collecting my thoughts and still scrolling through the history of this decent character, an ad popped out of nowhere saying “Do you want to know the truth of Frederick?” Normally I would click the [x] on the ads but something felt off about this one. It had a vortex like swirl repeating over and over, with a voice begging for mercy, screams echoing in my head. All I can hear is: “Frederick, why did you leave me?! Why like this?!” “He never loved you! Not like I will” “That Fox put people first, who would kill him!?” “Breaking News: Police are ending the investigation of Frederick Fox.” “This wasn't supposed to happen…” But lastly, as I slowly lean towards the screen, one last voice screamed out… “Save my friends and find the man who killed me!” That's when I finally blacked out.