#8 days a week and kill the director and so many other songs about being in love and mad about it

[starshipheartofg-erti]

FUCK THAT POST AND HAPPY BIRTHDAY GORGEOUS

[argumentl]

The Freedom of Expression, radio version - Ep 40, July 2016 - Time cover showing pregnant rape victim, Hiranabe's bad luck, Brexit.

Kaoru starts by saying that at the time this episode is broadcast, Dir will just have finished thier live at Shinkiba Studio Coast. At the time of recording, the live has obviously yet to take place, but Joe assures Kaoru he will be there. Kaoru then says that an extra last minute date has been added to the tour at Zepp Tokyo on the 4th of July. It really is last minute because it was announced only a few ours ago on the 2nd of July.

Kaoru then states that although they have played it at lives, today will be the first public broadcast of the studio version of the new single, Utafumi. He then comments on how they have only been able to play one record per show recently, due to getting to carried away with the conversation. They don't yet know who will join them for the second half of the show, but they hope its Tasai.

Kaoru's first topic is about the controversial March 21st cover of Time International magazine, which featured a nude, pregnant photo of a 17 year old South-Sudanese woman named Ayak who had been raped and made pregnant by soldiers during the country's civil war. She also contracted HIV as a result of being raped. Despite this, she is eagerly awaiting the birth of her child. Kaoru mentions how this is similar to a previous cover of Time, which showed a girl whose nose had been cut off by the Taliban. Kaoru says he feels that war and rape are the same thing in his mind, they are both forms of attack on people. He wonders what the South-Sudanese woman thinks about being on the cover, but he feels no desire to criticize the image. Joe says the image will have been published with the consent of the woman, and she will probably have wanted to send out a message with it. He thinks people who criticize the image might feel sorry for the woman. Kaoru states that feeling sorry for her is out of the question, by which he means that the image isn't intended for that purpose. It's purpose is to show the reality of what is actually happening. He then says that he does not know a lot about it, but the woman has been made into an outlet of this war, and by seening her photo, he gets a sense of how she feels. Joe changes the subject slightly by bringing up the recent hate-speech control bill in Japan, which had been the focus of a lot of debate. The bill included no provision of penalities, which led some to question what is the point of a law with no penalities for breaking it. On the other hand, some people think the bill is important because it shows the state publicly condemning hate speech. Joe says he interviewed one of the people behind the bill, who said that the most important thing to consider is what the people who have been victims of hate speech think about it. Of course, non-hate speech victims also have thier opinion, but we must not forget the opinions of those who have actually been affected by hate speech. Joe relates this back to the topic by saying that the most important thing to consider about this Time cover is the message the woman herself is trying to communicate. In this respect Kaoru thinks that  trying to criticize the image is pretty odd.

Next, they start the Tokyo Sports corner, and lo and behold, its Hiranabe who will join them today. Kaoru tells Hiranabe that for the last few episodes they had been hoping he wouldn't appear this week, because if he gets too carried away talking, they won't have time to play the new single at the end of the show. Kaoru then says its been while since they've seen him, and Hiranabe says he hasn't wanted to appear in public over the last few weeks. Why? When lining up - hungover - to get a public admission ticket to view the first trail of disgraced baseball player Kiyohara Kazuhiro, he had been snapped up close by the paparazzi without noticing, and his face had subsequently appeared in the newspaper. The journalist who took the photo thought Hiranabe looked kinda familiar, and thought he might get a scoop if Hiranabe turned out to be Kiyohara's drug dealer or something. Hiranabe was too embarrassed to show his face in public for a while after this. He now knows what it feels like to be on the recieving end of the paparazzi.

Next he tells a story about getting mugged by a Chinese woman with big boobs in Ginza 8/7 chome. According to him there are a lot of Chinese pimps there, and he warns listeners to be careful of this area. Joe says he doesn't think thats true. Hiranabe knew the woman was trying to scam him as soon as he saw her, so when she called out to him to go for a drink, he declined. She then embraced him, pushing her boobs up against him for 5 seconds. He broke loose and went home, where he realised that the ¥20,000 that had been in his pocket had gone. The woman had snatched it in the 4 or 5 seconds that he was momentarily excited by her. Joe says that was an expensive 5 seconds. Kaoru says to Hiranabe, 'I bet you liked it really', to which Hiranabe admits that he did. But he laments that he is sick of bad things happening to him, and reminds everyone again not to go to Ginza 8 chome. He adds that the woman was cute though. Kaoru and Joe comment on how Hiranabe's ramblings have nothing to do with the Freedom of Expression. Kaoru reckons this will come back up as one of the stories of the year if they do another live special in at the end of the year.

Very swiftly, Hiranabe begins his actual news topic, which is that the UK has declared to leave the EU. This prompts him to say that Europe has many big breasted blondes, but he apologises and says they probably wouldn't steal ¥20,000 from him though. Getting back on topic, he says a lot of people he knows have lost money on the stock exchange since the announcement was made. He comments on how the UK's decision to leave the EU was actually a very close call between leave or remain. Joe mentions the murder of a British pro-remain politician (Jo Cox) which happened shortly before the result, and which made Joe think that UK would probably end up leaning more towards remain. It was a shocking result. Hiranabe wonders what will happen if the UK have stated thier intention to leave, but secretly want to remain. He also asks what will happen if Scotland and N.Ireland declare to seperate from the UK to remain in Europe. The UK would lose its a lot of its manufacturing power, according to him, as London is only a financial centre, not a manufacturing centre. (*No mention of the rest of England and Wales here*). For this reason he thinks the UK secretly wants to remain. Joe comments on the possible economic ripple effects it could have on Japan. The yen was already high at this point, and Joe says further recession in Japan might occur as a result. Its pretty terrible to imagine that the British could have voted to leave the EU without really meaning it, but at the same time have caused financial choas around the world. Hiranabe mentions that the UK itself may suffer economically if they leave the EU, in which case a big breasted British blonde would probably get ¥200,000 from him if she ever tried the same trick as described earlier. (laughs from the others). He'd let her hold onto him for longer. Joe tells him not to put so much cash in his pockets.

Kaoru realises the conversation has gone too far again, and questions whether there'll be enough time to play the new single. There is a light flashing at him to play the record now, but Joe jokes its a warning lamp from the director that Hiranabe is about to get killed. Just as Kaoru is about to play the record, Kami jumps in to sympathise with Hiranabe's paparazzi incident from earlier. Kaoru manages to play the record just in time.

After the record finishes, Kaoru says that he had intended to do a more dramatic, impressive introduction to the single, instead of being like, 'Quick, I gotta play the record, Ok, here it is!'. Hiranabe tells him to explain the song properly now, but Kaoru grumpily says there's no time left, he has to close the show, and this is what happens when Hiranabe comes on the show. Kaoru also thinks that Kami butted in right at the last moment on purpose. He finishes with a quick plug of his tour and says its been an interesting day.

Songs - Dir en grey/Amber, Utafumi.

[almondbiscotti]

Top 10 Netflix Watches in 2020

A roundup of my favourites from what I’ve watched this year on Netflix.

 1.       Alice in Borderland

I only recently finished this (in like 2 days) and it is the best thing I watched this year. 10/10 will recommend, will pine for season 2, will attempt the webtoon even to keep my obsession at bay.

If you have not heard of AIB, you must be living under a rock. Or don’t have Netflix which is close to the same thing. The premise of AIB is that 3 friends suddenly find themselves in an alternate Tokyo where all the residents have mysteriously disappeared. They quickly realise they have to play pretty sadistic games to in order to survive and lives are dispensable. It has elements of Battle Royale (hey, also Japanese! The Japanese have some serious issues.) but I found AIB more engaging and suspenseful than Battle Royale because unlike Battle Royale which can be thought of as one long killing game, AIB is a series of many, extremely stressful but shorter games that aren’t just about killing each other.

What works so wonderful for AIB is the storytelling. It has AMAZING storytelling. How the characters progress from stage to stage and the mystery behind this “country” they’re in is kind of slowly revealed, how there are parallels with Alice in Wonderland, the playing cards, the excellently fleshed out characters. *Chef’s kiss* Chishiya is my favourite character. LONG LIVE CHISHIYA! I don’t care if everyone else dies but CHISHIYA MUST LIVE.

There are things I didn’t like about it, but it’s less to do with the show and more to do with Japanese acting/dramas in general. I find it very unnatural when the characters give very dramatic outbursts or attempt to act gangster-ish but I find this is very common in most Japanese shows. So I like to believe it’s a cultural thing. I also didn’t like the pointless skin showing and sex. I mean, we get an entire scene where a girl in a bikini fights a katana wielding mad man. But I think it might be more because it was adapted from a webtoon and it’s just adapting the anime style? And EVERY SINGLE CHARACTER has a depressing backstory, like every single one has some weird ass issue. (Tell me it doesn’t sound like Battle Royale.)

But overall, AIB’s winning combination of great world building, excellent storytelling and likeable characters, makes it my favourite in 2020.

 2.       Kim’s Convenience

I’ve talked about Kim’s Convenience before so I shall not go too much into it. It’s great, just watch it. If only for Appa. Just watch it for Appa. Appa is best. I love Appa.

 3.       Kingdom (S2)

I started on Kingdom quite a lot later than most people. Mostly because I’m a coward and horror is well, horrifying. So I watched Season 1 about 1-2 weeks before Season 2 was released. Must say I’m glad I did cos hello cliff hanger much?!?!

S2 was great too. Has all the elements I loved in S1. Excellent storytelling, the suspense, the build up, NO ROMANCE (makes it a frickin unicorn in Korealand), believable villains but the thing I enjoyed the most about Kingdom is the relationship between characters. SO PURE. SO REAL. SO AMAZING. MUST PROTECT.

The one thing I didn’t like was how the damn characters like to do this thing where they’d just freeze and AIIIISIH FFFFFFUUUUCCCCKKKKK and draw out the suspense when a literal tonne of zombies are coming for them. Like dude, RUN. But no. They will pose there like fucking idiots for like 2 minutes while the zombies come closer and closer till FINALLY, someone goes “RUN, YOU FOOLS” before they move a muscle. It’s nonsensical, it’s frustrating but it happens in every damn Korean show so… I’ll give it a pass. It’s not the show, it’s Korea.

No news if there will be a season 3 but there is a special episode being released next year, a side sequel of sorts. So… yay?

Still, IS GREAT. WATCH IT. LOVE IT. DESPAIR WHEN IT’S OVER.

 4.       Queen’s Gambit

This baby made chess sexy. How it did it, I have no idea. But 10/10 will recommend. It made chess so alluring, I downloaded a damn app and played 2 games and remembered how much I sucked at chess and promptly deleted the app again.

Anya Taylor-Joy is beautiful. Will recommend just for her face alone. And the beautiful cinematography. Beautiful, the whole thing is just beautiful.

I didn’t like the guy that played Benny though. Seriously what a weird casting choice. Dude is supposed to play some devil may care gangster but he looks like he’d fall over if breeze came by.

I think what makes Queen’s Gambit so appealing is that you see Beth succeed and rise up, then falls dramatically down but she comes back and triumphs over her chess opponents and her own issues. It’s essentially a story of overcoming adversary, of triumph. Gives you hope. Gave me hope. Made me want to play chess. Made me watch entire Youtube videos explaining the chess games featured in it. I’ll say that’s a win.

 5.       Sweet Home

My (and apparently the rest of the world’s) latest obsession. Well, my obsession is actually less the show, more just one character/actor.

CHA HYUN SOO IS A PRECIOUS BEAN THAT MUST BE PROTECTED AT ALL COSTS. So frickin precious, with his broomstick spear and mismatched socks. I. LOVE.

But honestly, it is a pretty good show, my obsession with Song Kang (the actor) aside. The world building in Sweet Home was pretty well done, characters were compelling though as with Kingdom, characters do the same thing where they just stand there and freeze when danger is about to descend on them. Seriously, I lost count of the times I yelled HELLO FOOL RUN!??! at the screen. If the Spanish have magical dicks, then Koreans have idiotic legs.

I think the director/writer made a deliberate decision not to explain how the infection (if it’s even an infection) occurs, how monsters can be defeated or if they can even be defeated, and how the monsters’ abilities/traits are determined. And I enjoyed the mystery of not knowing and could understand the characters’ despair better because they were just as bewildered as me. (Me being me of course went to read a bit and it is explained more in the webtoon the show is adapted from but, I like to think the two are different.)

I find myself comparing it to Alice In Borderland quite a bit. Might be because I watched them one after another but also, the main characters share such similar traits, they even look similar. And with that comparison, AIB won. AIB has better storytelling and pacing. But Sweet Home has more characters you feel for and more deaths you care about. I cried a FUCK TON watching Sweet Home.

It’s good. Would recommend. If only to stare at Song Kang’s perfect face. 😊 Oh oh oh and the Soundtrack is also 10/10.

 6.       Derry Girls

I did not expect to like Derry Girls as much as I did. This was supposed to be a mindless Circuit Breaker watch for me but it was SO FUNNY! I related so hard to the characters because I was from an all girls catholic school in my youth.

Each episode is a bit of a standalone so you don’t even have to watch the episodes in chronological order. But they are all SO DAMN FRICKIN FUNNY. That’s what I loved the most about Derry Girls. It’s just funny. Watch it if you want something to make yourself happier.

Also, Irish accents are LOVE. That alone is worth the A grade.  

 7.       Criminal United Kingdom S2

Depressing as fuck but so engrossing. It’s literally watching a mystery unfold. The acting is also 10/10. Though the episode with Kunal Nayyar (Raj from BBT) made me very uncomfortable because I couldn’t unsee Raj.

What makes Criminal even more amazing is that there is only one set, an interrogation room. So the show can only rely on the writing and acting to be good. And it is really really very good. Not light watching but feed your soul with the excellent artistry.

(S1 is just as good as S2. 100% will recommend the entire Criminal Series TBH. France, Germany and Spain all are good.)

 8.       Teenage Bounty Hunters

CRACK. 10/10 SOLID CRACK. The show is as ridiculous as the title suggests. But I enjoyed it because it was so engaging! Storytelling was great, characters were great and IT WAS SO FUNNY. Great light watching. 😊

 9.       Dirty Money

ALSO DEPRESSING AS FUUUUUUUUCK. But I learned so much from it. Will not recommend watching it all at one go but it was hella educational. I feel like it opened my eyes to many things.

 10.   Dr Jason Leong Hashtag Blessed

SO FUCKING FUNNY. Nuff said.

[dailydj]

A Wild Storm of Hatred

Tornadoes, like snow days and convenient street parking, are a bit of a foreign concept to us who live in Los Angeles. Sure, you might see a movie star at a cafe, or a blazing inferno thirty feet away while you drive down the freeway, but the thing closest to what we might call a “storm” is a sprinkling of rain that forces us to turn our windshield wipers to the fastest setting.

Storms were just another one of those things that I might see on the news, happening in other places, feeling concerned about for the sake of others, but otherwise not really being my problem. And that’s analogous to my experience with police brutality and racially rooted violence in America.

Not that racism is in any way invisible in this city. If I walk in any single direction from my apartment, I’ll pass through several adjacent neighborhoods of wildly fluctuating socioeconomic status, and I’d have to be blind to miss the correlation between race and chain-link fences, boarded up homes, or expressions of safety and contentment on people’s faces. The tangible effects of systemic racism are written plainly on any map of my city, in the ink of poverty, gentrification, and unjust zoning policies. But, these are just light rains compared to what’s going on in other cities.

I’m talking about murder, of course. Power being abused in service of fear, rooted in a belief that we just can’t seem to shake as a nation, that somehow the status of being human has been distributed based on skin color. This is the storm.

Psalm 55. For the choir director: A psalm of David, to be accompanied by stringed instruments.

I’ll be honest; reading through the book of Psalms is super, super boring. They’re nothing like the exciting stories of war and royal drama or mystical symbolic creation myths that precede it. But every once in a while, a psalm creates an image in my mind so vivid and impactful that I have to write about it.

1 Listen to my prayer, O God.    Do not ignore my cry for help! 2 Please listen and answer me,    for I am overwhelmed by my troubles. 3 My enemies shout at me,    making loud and wicked threats. They bring trouble on me    and angrily hunt me down.

This week, I was so stressed, and I wasn’t really sure why. My daily quarantine routine of waking up, eating breakfast, watching Community on Netflix and playing games on Steam, then going to sleep, hadn’t changed. But I had read an article online about a CNN reporter who had gotten arrested at a protest in Minneapolis, just for being a bystander while black. The live television feed from the camera, lying on the ground, while the police led the reporter and his crew away, left a chilling impression. Something in the wall between my relative safety and the rest of the world started to crack, as wind and rain beat against it from the other side.

4  My heart pounds in my chest.    The terror of death assaults me. 5 Fear and trembling overwhelm me,    and I can’t stop shaking. 6 Oh, that I had wings like a dove;    then I would fly away and rest!

What would I do if I was there? What if I was that Asian cop, standing by while his fellow officer choked the life out of another man? What if history had played out just a little differently, or I was born just a few decades earlier in this country, when my people and I were regularly subjected to violence from powerful groups fueled by racism?

I don’t know. I would be so afraid. I don’t know if I would stay and fight for justice, or if

7 I would fly far away   to the quiet of the wilderness. (Interlude) 8 How quickly I would escape—   far from this wild storm of hatred.

Sometimes, I just feel so angry. I feel like the evil of racism is just too great for any of us to do anything about it, and I feel powerless and weak and prone to despair. Why doesn’t God just

9 Confuse them, Lord, and frustrate their plans,    for I see violence and conflict in the city. 10 Its walls are patrolled day and night against invaders,    but the real danger is wickedness within the city. 

The virus is attacking us from outside, corruption and division are tearing us apart from within, and sometimes it feels like

11 Everything is falling apart;    threats and cheating are rampant in the streets.

12 It is not an enemy who taunts me—    I could bear that.

No, how much better it would be if all the racists wore white hoods and name tags that clearly stated their philosophical position of which kinds of people deserve to live or die.

It is not my foes who so arrogantly insult me—    I could have hidden from them.

I might be able to stand my ground and fight, then, if I knew with such certainty that I was on the right side, that I was fighting for the side of good with all the good people and no one I loved would be caught up in the cross-fire, but

13 Instead, it is you—my equal,    my companion and close friend. 14 What good fellowship we once enjoyed    as we walked together to the house of God.

Everywhere on social media, they’re saying that if you side against the protesters, that if you tell them not to protest in the way they’re protesting, you’re just silencing their voices in the same way that cop silenced George Floyd’s. How do I respond, then, to the people that I know are good people who hate violence and want peace but maybe, just maybe, wouldn’t be so quick to advocate for peace if it was a white person killed, instead lauding the sacrifices necessary in war when fighting against a great evil? And what do I do when I find some of that in myself, too?

15 Let death stalk my enemies;    let the grave swallow them alive,    for evil makes its home within them.

16 But I will call on God,    and the Lord will rescue me. 17 Morning, noon, and night    I cry out in my distress,    and the Lord hears my voice. 18 He ransoms me and keeps me safe    from the battle waged against me,    though many still oppose me. 19 God, who has ruled forever,    will hear me and humble them. (Interlude) For my enemies refuse to change their ways;    they do not fear God.

20 As for my companion, he betrayed his friends;    he broke his promises. 21 His words are as smooth as butter,    but in his heart is war. His words are as soothing as lotion,    but underneath are daggers!

22 Give your burdens to the Lord,    and he will take care of you.    He will not permit the godly to slip and fall.

I guess I’ve been thinking a lot about what justice is and what it means. Sometimes, it seems so clear-cut. Be kind to homeless people, take care of those who have been treated unjustly, work to fix the systems that are broken. Other times, there are more questions. Will violence ultimately set back our fight for justice, or is it necessary to respond proportionately to injustice? Do we hold strictly to nonviolent moral ideals, or does tragedy inevitably beget tragedy?

But beneath all the questions, I think it’s much simpler. I’m afraid, when the National Guard shows up right outside my apartment building, and it slowly dawns on me just how powerful the enemy is that we’re fighting against. How can we possibly win a fight against a racist president who commands the world’s most powerful military, against a whole country of white people who’ve internalized their own superiority, whether conscious or not, against my own people who’ve been co-opted to believe they’ve won a spot among the conquerors? How can we win against an enemy that confuses truth by spreading propaganda, weaponizing Scripture, all while crooning a siren song of personal safety, complacency, and comfort? Every argument and counter-argument, every opinion and piece of information and angle to consider it from, I need to sort through to separate truth from lies, all while knowing that there are people dying because evil is winning, and I could be next.

23 But you, O God, will send the wicked   down to the pit of destruction. Murderers and liars will die young,   but I am trusting you to save me.

[marshmallowgoop]

Doing yearly writing reviews isn’t really a thing. But once you start doing ‘em, it doesn’t feel right to stop, you know?

Seeing progress in other arts is of course a lot easier than seeing progress in writing, but I think there is some forward movement for me, especially when I also consider my compilations from 2017 and 2018.

In regards to 2019, I’ve selected various kinds of writing for this post: analytical essays, opinion pieces, news articles, creative fiction, and maybe some works that can’t be categorized so easily, too. It was a very difficult year on many fronts; I dealt with job struggles, financial insecurity, destroyed relationships, medical hardships, seemingly endless cyberstalking and online harassment. 

But there were good things, too. New friendships. New passions. New outlooks. I feel like I’ve learned and grown a lot more in these past couple of months than I have in a long, long time.

The end of 2019 is more than just the end of one year. It’s also the end of a decade. But I think the best advice I’ve received all decade comes from this year:

✄ Sometimes, you have to say yes to saying no.

✄ If you can’t do something well, do something poorly!

✄ The best option may be to simply not engage.

✄ You don’t have to apologize for disappointing others.

✄ Your worth isn’t measured by how much you “accomplish.”

✄ You have rights: the right to have your needs and wants respected, the right to make mistakes, the right to determine your own priorities, the right to not be responsible for the actions or problems of others, the right to express yourself, the right to be human. It’s not selfish or narcissistic to stand up for your rights.

And, since it is the end of the decade and all, here’s also a comparison between one nerdy fandom essay from August 2010 and another from August 2019:

2010 (with added spaces because yes, this really was just a huge block of text originally):

Also, in my own opinion, nobody really gave a damn for Xion all that much save for Roxas. I mean, yeah, Axel cared a little, but in the end, he got totally mad at her, got mad any time she was mentioned, got mad whenever Roxas worried about her, got mad when she showed up at the clock tower. She was his friend, yeah, and he didn’t want her to go, but in the end, he would have chosen Roxas above her anytime.

The other “mean villains” didn’t really care. Luxord didn’t care, Demyx didn’t care, Xaldin got exasperated once at her, but overall didn’t care, Xigbar didn’t care, Xemnas outright said he didn’t care, Saix was rather cruel to her, but really, in the end, he didn’t give a damn for her. The others weren’t around long enough to have an impression on her. I think even Riku didn’t really care all that much for her, in all honesty. He just wanted his best friend back.  

Also, you have to keep in mind that we played the game through Roxas’ perspective, and it’s in my personal belief that he fell in love with Xion. And if you’re in love with someone, when she gets into a coma, or goes missing, or ignores you, you’re gonna be upset, and talk about it. So Roxas did. 

But you know, he doesn’t actually do a lot of it until the end of the game. Before that, it’s all about the THREE of them. He loves his friends (even if he doesn’t know it), and he wants them to be together forever, but when Xion goes missing or whatnot and they can’t ALL have ice cream together, he gets upset.

2019: 

I’ve written more on the subject here, but to keep it short, Ryuko only tries to take Nui’s life when she’s convinced herself that she’s a monster, and her development is less about her becoming less okay with killing people and more about how she won’t let her anger and rage control her. What makes Ryuko’s attitude so different in the end isn’t that she’s reconsidered her thoughts on murder but that she’s composed. Come episode 22, Ryuko ain’t saying that she’s gonna kill anyone to sound tough or to intimidate. She keeps her cool even against her worst enemies.

But that’s just what I think! Maybe I’ve interpreted the character all wrong. But Ryuko’s freak-out after she goes berserk and hurts others in episode 12, her devotion to defending even people she’s just met… I just struggle to see her as someone who’s actually a-okay with killing. The fact that Ryuko’s perfect fantasy in episode 20 depicts her as a sweet girl without any of the violent tendencies that she has in reality also points this way; not to mention, Ryuko outright admits that her picking fights and causing trouble are bad things when remarking on her childhood in episode 8.

And Ryuko? She doesn’t want to be bad. All the poor girl’s ever wanted is love, and I can’t imagine she’d ever think that getting angry and killing people would get her a lot of that.

Progress may be slow, but it does happen.

At least, I think so.

Image Texts

January 2019

And personally? I find that sweetness just absolutely, utterly charming. When I understood what the rap was trying to communicate, I couldn’t imagine listening to the song without it. Heck, even before I understood, I found the “without rap” edits empty and barren. No matter how “silly” the lyrics might come off, the unabashed cheese is fantastic. The rap section that I was once “meh” about legitimately became my favorite part of the song.

Plus, I really can’t stress enough how sad the song is when it’s purely Ryuko. The official [nZk] remix replaces Senketsu’s rap with a reprise of Ryuko’s first verse, which recounts how she and Senketsu met. And it’s tragic! She says, “But I’m all alone,” and she is. Senketsu isn’t singing with her, no matter her claim that she can hear his voice. Considering what happens to Senketsu in the end, his absence in the song hits even harder.

Full post: https://marshmallowgoop.tumblr.com/post/182361051017/oomoj-marshmallowgoop-the-rap-is-good

February 2019

The focus then shifts away from Ragyo, but Kill la Kill ain’t at all done with building the audience up yet. As the scene moves to the following day, viewers are met with quick, close-up shots of Uzu’s note to Ryuko, timed right to the beat of “Blumenkranz.” Uzu wants to duel, and we soon get to see his full request in an engaging low-angle shot where Ryuko looks up to this sign looming over her. The weight and gravity of the situation is effectively conveyed: the smooth transition from Ragyo to here, as well as the music and shot composition, let us know in no indirect terms that this fight isn’t something to be brushed off. Uzu’s duel is a big deal, and it’s very much connected to Ragyo’s expansive empire.

And the tension just keeps growing. Ryuko’s reaction to Uzu’s note is presented with a dramatic canted, high-angle shot. The camera—which is just slightly tilted—peers down at both Ryuko and the sign, communicating a sense of danger and unease. Viewers already know that the upcoming battle is important, but here, we also understand that it’s not going to be easy.

Full post: https://marshmallowgoop.tumblr.com/post/182841724817/all-the-discussion-around-episode-6-of-kill-la

March 2019

Kill la Kill the Game: IF is currently being featured at the 2019 Game Developers Conference that runs until March 22nd in San Francisco, and a flurry of new gameplay videos are now available for viewing. Notably, these videos feature full English subtitles for the character dialogue for the first time since EVO 2018 last year and never-before-seen stages, such as what seems to be the Fiber Castle in the Kiryuin Manor.

Full post: https://marshmallowgoop.tumblr.com/post/183766224117/kill-la-kill-the-game-if-gameplay-footage-from

April 2019

I mean, Kill la Kill ended over five years ago now. There’s been fairly minimal new content ever since—an OVA in September of 2014, a few pieces of merchandise here and there, a small crossover with Grand Summoners last year. And then, not even 11 months ago, out of seemingly nowhere, there was confirmation for a full-blown Kill la Kill video game. That we now know will be released in just 14 weeks!

Lots of jokes were made about the announcement for a game so many years after the series finale, but, like, seriously, as a longtime Kill la Kill fan, it’s hard to wrap my head around. Ever since the show ended, I’ve dedicated over half a million words to writing about it, spent tens of thousands of yen on books and Blu-rays and CDs, devoted nearly 60 GB to my own GIFs and edits. I’ve loved this thing to death. I’ve always found more and more that I want to write and create from this series, but I never really imagined nor expected that we’d ever get much more official content from the original creators themselves. And now we are getting so much more, and???

Full post: https://marshmallowgoop.tumblr.com/post/184228103137/kill-la-kill-the-game-if-releases-on-july-25th-in

May 2019

Kiznaiver: Oh, I was so excited to love this show! I was lucky enough to see an advanced screening of the first two episodes, and I was totally hooked. It was drop-dead gorgeous—and probably the prettiest series Trigger has ever put out—and I was very intrigued by the plot and characters. I remember just coming back to my hotel room at like 3:00 am after the premiere, utterly filled with excitement. I mean, Kiznaiver  was directed by Hiroshi Kobayashi, the episode director behind the two episodes that got me hooked on Kill la Kill (episodes 5 and 18)!

But… my excitement quickly died. The story tried to develop way too many characters in way too little time, and I never enjoyed the romantic pairing of Katsuhira and Noriko, finding it shallow, undeveloped, and nonsensical (in a bad way), which… kind of ruins a lot of the series when that’s arguably the heart of the whole thing.

Kiznaiver is still super, super pretty, though. That last episode’s animation got me shook.

Full post: https://marshmallowgoop.tumblr.com/post/184700944732/so-have-you-watched-the-other-stuff-studio-trigger

June 2019

I do recognize that many, many matters do not warrant conversation. I do recognize that the phrase “I’m just trying to have a conversation” can be—and has been—utilized as a means of directing criticism away from inflammatory, unacceptable, inhumane remarks. I in no way feel that hateful, discriminatory comments should be promoted.

Simultaneously, however, “conversation” should not automatically be a dirty word in the field of analyzing and seriously engaging with fiction, and thoughtful reactions should be supported and striven for. Nothing in fiction is ever black and white. There are so many nuances and complexities to the storybook realities of our media. I want commentators and critics of fiction to be passionate about listening, considering, and rethinking those nuances and complexities. Isn’t that why we do this work at all? To share our own point of view and open ourselves up to others?

Full post: https://marshmallowgoop.tumblr.com/post/185289615202/we-need-to-change-the-way-we-seriously-discuss

July 2019

Initially, I was really bummed by this lack of development. But as I thought about things more, I… didn’t mind so much. If this dream or universe or whatever is something that Satsuki “experiences” before the events of the anime, of course she won’t grow as a character here. Maybe this game is kind of the Kill la Kill prequel I’ve been begging for for over half a decade.

And as much as I didn’t get anything, I thought the ending bits between Ryuko and Satsuki were so good.

Like, I suppose Ryuko’s absorbing the Life Fibers or something?? But wow, pretty.

And the part where they talk before Satsuki disappears? That’s my kinda anime bullshit. It’s the kinda anime bullshit I wanted from the OVA between Ryuko and Senketsu.

Full post: https://marshmallowgoop.tumblr.com/post/186648065467/goop-plays-kill-la-kill-the-game-if-satsuki

August 2019

That book, Log. 2, is a fan doujin from Kotaro Nakamori, who worked as an animator and animation director in Kill la Kill. There’s a bunch of assorted fanart in there, and I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Nakamori is a fan of Urusei Yatsura and wanted to make a little crossover between that series and Kill la Kill.

Personally, though, as someone not too familiar with Urusei Yatsura, I kinda just saw the image as oni-Satsuki (with oni being demon/ogre-like creatures in Japanese folklore). Oni are traditionally depicted wearing tiger skin loincloths, and Lum herself is definitely basically a space oni. So, I saw the cover and got super excited about oni-Satsuki because I love oni a lot, haha.

Fun fact: character designer Sushio has also drawn Kill la Kill characters as oni for setsubun, a celebration that’s held on the last day of winter (February 3rd). During setsubun, you might see folks dressed up like oni—who get beans thrown at them in an effort to bring in good luck and chase naughty demons away.

Full post: https://marshmallowgoop.tumblr.com/post/187228888187/do-i-see-satsuki-wearing-lums-outfit-in-your-last

September 2019

Though I don’t see it much anymore, I remember lots of comparisons between Ragyo and the villains of Saturday morning cartoons back in the day. She was described as a generic, two-dimensional “evilz for the sake of evilz” baddie and criticized for her simplicity.

And though I did admittedly agree to an extent—I craved a lot more depth and insight, particularly in regards to her haunting line about “still having something of a human heart” whilst brutally attacking her own daughter in the final episode—I also found Ragyo to be a remarkably compelling, powerful, and horrifying villain even without tons of backstory and explanation. Perhaps my write-up on her first scene in episode 6 best details why; this woman has such a presence, and the visual language of the series amplifies that presence spectacularly. Ragyo’s intimidating and scary without the audience even needing to know anything about her.

And… I’d say that’s a good villain. That’s exactly what a villain should do.

Full post: https://marshmallowgoop.tumblr.com/post/187987858537/on-ragyo-kiryuin

October 2019

And, though there are no visuals, so I can’t be sure if it’s an “Ocean of Light” or not, the fourth Drama CD also has the same kinda deal happening. In the CD—which takes place immediately after Ryuko learns the truth of her origins—Ryuko’s pain manifests as an explosion of light that knocks both her and Senketsu unconscious and pushes Senketsu away from her. The sound effect here is familiar, and I’m personally convinced that this is another “Ocean of Light” moment.

Which brings me to the “light” part of the terminology. Light is often associated with good, yes, but light is also associated with heat, and heat is associated with pain. In the Drama CD, Ryuko’s light is so hot that Nui even remarks that Senketsu “almost burned” from it, and when Mako embraces Ryuko after swimming through her “Ocean of Light” in episode 12, Ryuko’s touch scorches Mako’s skin.

I’ve already written an essay on the symbolic and narrative use of fire, warmth, and heat in Kill la Kill (that you should totally read because it’s actually maybe Kinda Good, Maybe), and relating to that, I see the “Ocean of Light” as a physical representation of Ryuko’s fiery spirit. That fire can be used for good, and that fire can also be painful, but no matter what, that fire is a part of Ryuko.

Full post: https://marshmallowgoop.tumblr.com/post/188247077227/i-always-wanted-some-explanation-you-are-smart

November 2019

She looks around her cottage. Her eyes find the walls and the furnishings. Her eyes find the scratched floors and stained wood. She does not voice it to the once-emperor, but she had never been able to remove the stains from the attack. Her son's blood has painted the brown wood red. It is a reminder of what she cannot remember. It is a reminder of the past she has forgotten.  

“This home feels so desperately lonely,” she admits. “I do not know who is missing. But it is not complete.”  

The man is quiet. He did not expect to find himself feeling sympathy for the woman's plight. Perhaps she is a fool, to have given her heart to a demon. But kindness ought not be punished, he thinks. Or has he grown so cold that he believes it should be?  

December 2019

🏀 Michiru and Shirou’s relationship may be the focus, but Nakashima emphasizes that Michiru’s relationship with Nazuna is also involved in the story in a big way.

🏀 Nakashima stresses the importance of depicting teen girls realistically. Two women screenwriters are on board: Kimiko Ueno and Nanami Higuchi. Both wrote for Little Witch Academia. Ueno also wrote for Space Patrol Luluco, and Higuchi was behind the production reports in Trigger Magazine (and, interestingly, wrote the script for the anime adaptation of BEASTARS).

🏀In regards to Michiru and Nazuna’s relationship, producer Naoko Tsutsumi (also an animation producer for Kiznaiver and Little Witch Academia) provides input as well. Nakashima says that they greatly value and take to heart the opinions of the women creators.

Full post: https://marshmallowgoop.tumblr.com/post/189928986922/otomedia-winter-2020-bna-brand-new-animal

[mcrmadness]

I was tagged by @cupcakecurl, thank you so much! I’ll try to remember to tag you whenever I am tagged the next time!

It’s a long post so I put it under the “keep reading” link.

1. Do you ever make your bed? No. I have a loft bed so no one can see to there (unless someone is like 2m tall but I barely have visitors and especially not that tall people lol. Or maybe bit shorter people too but since I’m very short, I can’t see there :D) so there’s no point in making the bed. Plus I tend to sweat a lot during some nights so I like to leave the bed “open” so it can dry properly.

2. What’s your favorite number? 13. But also 23 and 123.

3. What’s your job? Currently I’m on a sick leave but my “profession” is horse groom.

4. If you could go back to school, would you? Ummm, I’ve been to plenty of schools but with a bit bad success... I actually love studying and learning but I don’t like schools nor going to schools. So I’m constantly wanting to learn and study but every time I’ve been accepted into a school, I have asked myself "why tf did you have to do this again when you know you hate this all???” as every time I face the same concentration problems with essays etc.

5. Can you parallel park? Yes, but I prefer not to do that on a busy road since I start fucking up things when I feel like I have to hurry because I’m bothering other people. So only when there’s not other cars going everywhere I will do that, otherwise I’ll find another spot to park.

6.  A job you had that would surprise People? I haven’t really had that weird jobs, all of them have been about horses tbh. And I haven’t done a real job ever anyway, just work trainings and school related trainings. But I might say here that before I figured I want to work with horses, I was trying to study animal caretaking and that certain branch was focusing on farm animals. So I have actually been to a cowhouse with milk cows and I have been milking them and worked with cows and calves there a lot as it was a huge part of my school. I also know how to drive a tractor and how to reverse with a trailer attached because we did this A LOT at school and we had to do this again when I was studying in the horse school and it was one of the tests to reverse a tractor and the trailer had to go into an imagined “barn”.

7. Do you believe aliens are real? Yes. I mean, this universe is such a huge place, why the fuck not??? I actually had this thought from a very early on that there must be life out there somewhere and I’m pretty sure they are aware of us all but let’s be honest, if you was from an another galaxy and found out there’s a this small planet with some puny people on it, would you want to get to know us? No, I don’t think so. If we have to kill each other for stupid reasons, do you really think humans would suddenly agree being friends with aliens too? So I still believe they are out there and are aware of us but don’t really bother meeting us nor even letting us know about them because humans are the most idiotic animal on this planet. If you look at all these scifi movies already (witch a few exceptions) and how we always imagine the aliens: if they are hostile, they are unintelligent, can’t talk and will make monster noises and they will look like monsters. If they are friendly, they are super intelligent, can talk or use even telepathy to talk to us and they are humanoids, never monsters. I guess we’re just so scared of them we’re obsessed with this idea and we’re scared they would be more intelligent and still hostile at the same time...

8. Can you drive a manual car? Yup, I have only ever had a manual car and I actually have never driven an automatic car. I’ve no clue how they work :D In Finland you can choose between a driver’s licence to manual or automatic car and with manual you can drive them both, with automatic you can only drive automatic cars. (Do people say automatic car or should it be “with automatic gears”?)

9. What’s your guilty pleasure? I was thinking about this a lot and I think I will agree with the person who tagged me and also say male/male pairings and shipping. But I don’t want to give the same answer (I think there was a really good points!) so I think I’ll go with an easier one: this doesn’t happen that often anymore but when I was still studying and working 4-5 days/week.

We were always listening to radio at work and we usually used channels with music from the 70s and 80s, maybe also 90s and sometimes even older than that. Once one of the workers left the place, we all started using other channels cos everyone was so done with that one particular radio channel :D Anyway, my guilty pleasure was that some songs sometimes stuck in my head, often from old and really popular bands that I couldn’t even link to the band itself. And I really hate earworms when they are not music I normally like to listen to, so I often get really frustrated with them and I start my hunt for the songs so I can listen to them and maybe finally remove it from my head. And here comes my guilty pleasure: reading the youtube comments to some really old songs’ music videos. They are often just so damn hilarious I was often dying from laughter when I did that! And it’s bit sad too because I would have loved to share with them other people but either they would have not understood the youtube comment humour or if I brought it up to someone who actually liked the music, they would just get offended. So I actually realize only now how often this was happening with the songs and I’ve found some really hilarious comments from there too!

I also had several songs I kinda liked to listen to when they were playing. That is something fun too because I wouldn’t say they are guilty pleasure songs but more like... just something for myself you know? I’m often really open but sometimes I like it more when I can keep things only to myself. And it somehow cheered me up when I was driving my car or working in the stable and then heard one of those “guilty pleasure” songs that I could enjoy and at the same time enjoy of the fact no one knew I was enjoying them! I guess I like it because I’m often feeling like being way too visible and I’m afraid that I give away opinions and feels without saying them aloud and what I really want to keep to myself, so that makes me feel REALLY good when I know no one can read me!

10. Tattoos? No. And not gonna have either. I have a fear of needles and pain, I used to have one pair of earrings and even that was terrible enough. And painful.

11. Favorite color? Orange, almost like the neon orange; electric blue, and black.

12. Things people do that piss you off? Ohhh are we talking about pet peeves now? I usually am very calm and it’s hard to make me angry but I’d say that what REALLY pisses me off is when someone/people don’t listen to me. And I mean when they literally tell to my face they don’t care, they don’t want to hear, and that I should shut up. That is what makes me really furious even. One of those rare things that make me really feel like I need to start smashing things. Also people talking over and not listening overall is something a bit annoying but I can take it, but not when it’s intentional. Also I’m very stubborn and sometimes not getting what I want makes me angry too since I kinda got used to that as the oldest siblings, but at the same time I am aware of this and I don’t think I’m surperior or anything. Just some things I need to pay more attention to about myself.

13. Any phobias? Fire (pyrophobia), needles and sharp objects (aichmophobia) and social anxiety (social phobia), for the starters.

14. Favorite childhood sport? I had none. I liked badminton tho but just like... a few times in a summer and then I forgot about it again. And as a pre-teen I actually was horseback riding regularly for about half a year. Then a pony threw me down and it was my first time falling of a horse and of course I had to break my arm. Since that I have fallen just once but I don’t really like riding that much, driving is more of a my thing now.

15. Do you ever talk to yourself? Not really, I laugh aloud more often but I don’t really talk to myself. I don’t like hearing my voice when I’m alone, it triggers my depersonalization/dissociation.

16. What movie do you adore? Oh what movie I wouldn’t adore??? I watch so many movies and it’s almost impossible to say just one... I guess I’m gonna say my favorite one of them all: Beetlejuice by Tim Burton. I have always been really interested in all kinds of different imagines of death because I have always been a bit afraid of death and I just don’t like the thought of everything ending on that. I can basically imagine that emptiness and it’s really scary and something I don’t want to have. So I have always been really into anything that will show death as something else than emptiness or permanent. And I really love it what Burton did with Beetlejuice and I just love all the details in there! I have seen this movie millions of times and still I feel like whenever I watch it, I find something I did not see the last time because there’s just so much to see! And it’s also really funny and full of dark humour which is 110% my thing and I think that movie is a perfect example of Burton’s twisted, dark sense of humour. I feel like I understand his humour so well that every time I go to see a Burton movie in the theaters, I’m usually the only one to laugh at things I get as these weird jokes he likes to put there and everyone else is laughing at things that weren’t always even meant as that funny. It’s kinda weird, but it just shows that he’s my favorite move director for a reason :D And back to Beetlejuice (was that now the third time saying the name..?), Danny Elfman made the music to this one too and the theme is probably my favorite Danny Elfman score as well.

17. Do you like doing puzzles? Yeah! I like both types: jigsaw puzzles and the other puzzles and I really love when video games have lots of puzzles to solve as idk, somehow I just love that :D

18. What’s your favorite kind of music? Uh, this is gonna take a while to explain. Because it’s not that simple... I mean, in a way it is but it isn’t? :D I tend to like bands that basically are of the newer punk rock but don’t necessarily be punk itself, but they all either have roots in punk or their influences were mainly punk bands. And a while back I actually realized that most bands I listen to, actually have lots of the same bands behind there as their influences but all these bands (that I listen to) are all totally different from each other. So I like music that is based on punk rock but with a lot of new stuff added to them and I like music that is very diverse and offers a lot for the ears to hear, lots of layers and instruments etc. but so that on an album there isn’t 10 songs that are hard to tell apart ebcause they sound so alike, but more like 10 songs that are all different enough from each other but still similar enough that they sound like they belong into the same album. I’m very picky with music but the more I look back into what my music taste has been over the years, I still seem to always like the same things, and one of the things I like a lot with music is when there’s violins and/or pianos, I also like brass, but only when it’s there every now and there and not in every song. When not getting too much of something, it stays interesting, otherwise I’ll become very bored and start to look for “new” stuff to have enough stimuli.

So, many probably are already aware that my favorite band is Die Ärzte. And others, from the US: MCR, The Killers and Yellowcard. Rammstein from Germany and there’s some other German bands I might listen to too. From Finland I like bands like: Apulanta, Tehosekoitin, Klamydia, Häiriköt... And have to say here that as weird as it sounds, DÄ, MCR and Apulanta are quite different but all of them have lots of the same bands that influenced them! :D And Rammstein is probably the most different but hey, they also have punk roots! (And I like Feeling B too, btw. It’s very rare to me because I normally don’t like THAT regular punk but I really love the drums, escpecially when Schneider joined the band, and all the other instruments and the synth just made them to stand out!) And even The Killers share some influence bands with DÄ and MCR which is super interesting as there’s nothing punk in their style, but they’re still one of the most important bands from my teenage years. I was about 14 when I heard of them for the first time at school and since there was no Youtube yet, the hunt for the song, “Somebody Told Me”, was quite intense because only way to find it was to one day hear someone mention the song and band name on radio, but fortunately I did catch it! The album I found only 1-2 years later tho, when their 2nd album was released and I found both albums from a record store (R.I.P. record stores...) here.

So, that’s my favorite kind of music. Fast, interesting, lots of layers and instruments, good singing and it has to have lots of melody too. I live from songs with lots of melody.

19. Tea or coffee? Tea, and actually the only tea I drink is Earl Greay and I drink that on a daily basis. Usually just 1 cup/day but sometimes even 2. 3 starts to have bit too much caffeine already. And from here we get to the reason I don’t drink coffee: my head can’t stand caffeine and the only time I do drink coffee is because I need caffeine aka when I drive longer distances with a car, but it causes me exessive sweating and I need to pee 24/7 and increses my panic symptoms and worsens my concentration skills so I try to avoid caffeine as much as I can. Besides, coffee tastes bad. It’s one of the best smells in the world and I HATE how it does not taste like that!!! So whenever I drink coffee, it’s not really coffee, it’s milk and sugar with a little bit of coffee in it. And ice coffee tastes better than normal coffee and I usually buy these readymade ice coffees you get in Finland cos they don’t taste like coffee. More like... milk and sugar with coffee taste lol.

20. First thing you remember wanting to be when you grow up? Oh I think what I said was “I don’t know, probably something to do with animals.” I also am not exactly sure if I was one of those kids being like “I want to be a veterinatian!” or if I did NOT want to be a vet, and so when people would ask about being a vet then, I’d answer no, but more like just taking care of the animals. And I was not wrong, I am a qualified horse groom now.

I want to tag (what? me? tagging people? uncanny!) @stufenlosregelbar and hmmmm... @bleibimmerduselbst, since I haven’t seen this one on your blogs yet. Or at least not lately, not sure if you have already done this before and if so, I’m sorry, I normally do remember things I see but now for some reason I can’t remember that! And of course if someone out there wants to do this but hasn’t got tagged (I’d but I can’t read minds so idk who wants to be tagged I’m sorry!), then I’m also gonna tag YOU so please, steal this and tag yourself :D

[deahsohun]

What Is Ensemble?

How Can ‘Ensemble’ Be Defined?

‘Ensemble’ can have a variety of interpretations, dependent on the situation it’s used in. The Collins English Dictionary (2009) brings attention to the Latin origin of ‘ensemble’ to mean ‘at the same time’. However, in Ensemble Theatre Making by Bonczeck and Storck (2013;7) they write ‘in our work, an ensemble may be a cast, a class, members of a program, students, amateurs, or professionals.’ which helps me to understand that no matter what the circumstance, ‘ensemble’ is used in relation to a group of individuals who come together in order to achieve the same goal. Although it is certain that individual members of the ‘ensemble’ have independent goals that they would like to meet, it is also found that they have a common ground which causes them to work together in order to ensure it is carried through, in turn making it a success. I believe that over time the true meaning of ‘ensemble’ has been lost, particularly in the world of theatre, as I often only see it being used to describe a cast of people who support main roles, when in actual fact, it is the entirety of the cast in a play, or is even relevant to builders on a construction site. All in all, whilst ‘ensemble’ in itself is defined, the people who make the ensemble up, cannot be. An ‘ensemble’ can and will appear at any point in life, there are ensembles all around us, everyday, which is something we fail to recognise. From the ensemble working at the on campus Starbucks, to the ensemble of flatmates working together to make the recent life changing venture seem less scary, the idea of ensembles are something that we have been a part of for a long time, and will be for a long time.

What Makes A Successful ‘Ensemble’?

If I was to be asked ‘what makes a successful ensemble?’ before starting at Bath Spa, I would have answered that it is simply having the co-operation and collaboration with one another to create synergy and order. But after the few short weeks of being here, it has become apparent that whilst those things are essential to creating a successful ensemble as they create balance, above all else there must be a deeper bond and connection between those involved -something that has been brought to particular attention in the work of Bonczek and Storck, in Ensemble Theatre Making (2013). Whilst reading through Chapter 1, ‘What Is Ensemble?’ of their book, their idea of ‘we hope for lightning to strike. Yet think about it: lightning doesn't happen by happenstance.’(pg.8) resonated deeply with me, as it had me thinking about the true roots that bind an ensemble. If we are all seeking the same end goal, then surely, no matter how different we may seem at face value, there is something deeper, something more that we have in common? There has to be a way for us to develop in one like-mindedness, where whilst we retain our unique individuality, we can put any and all judgement aside in order to produce and achieve the result we all desire. Bonzek and Storck make it clear that ‘...change is possible’(pg.8;Ensemble Theatre Making) emphasising that we should ‘...research it, create a plan, take specific actions, and assess those actions as you go...we sometimes hold back from taking action because we fear killing whatever good chemistry remains’(pg.8;Ensemble Theatre Making) this fear is something that I know to be true from my own experience as part of an ensemble, and I'm sure it is something heavily felt by people who have been/are too, as we have a sense of not wanting to hurt other peoples feelings, however from this it puts into the perspective that we have a duty as an ensemble member to do whatever it takes to make a situation work, even if it may feel like you shouldn't, everyone who is a part of the ensemble has the responsibility to step up and smooth out problems with solutions -and be one to ideas of hoe to doses well. ‘Fear of killing good chemistry’(pg.8;Ensemble Theatre Making) is sometimes needed in order to breakdown and re-build the ensemble in a way that everyones desires are met and understood fully, only after this can we move on to taking action and putting into practice what we feel needs to be done in order to succeed.

Within ensembles, or any part of life where we are presented with the opportunity to speak up and give our ideas or opinions, I will happily admit to the anxiety I feel paired with the fear of judgement that comes with it. It’s daunting -no one likes being wrong, let alone being told they're wrong in front of other people who they want to impress. I know I have a need to be validated, and a desire to be accepted by my peers; but this can often be my downfall. Out of consciousness of being told that what I have to say or think will be deemed as irrelevant or stupid, I often bite my tongue and hold back because the idea of rejection is far scarier than opening up -despite knowing in myself that feedback and criticism of my own ideas will be helpful in teaching me something. An ensemble should be a place that is safe. ‘We find that protection in the form of a safe ensemble. It is a place where, for better and worse, we can be ourselves and be accepted’(pg.9;Ensemble Theatre Making) this statement encapsulates why I love acting in general, and why I want to pursue a career into drama therapy, because having a space where you can fully just be, with no limitations is rare and so should be taken advantage of. Ensuring that the ensemble is fully un-judgemental and prejudice free allows for a space where members can feel at ease and ready to share ideas and express themselves fully, which in turn develops the ensemble into a more successful one as there are no limits to what people share, making possibilities endless and ideas to be built on and expanded to reach full potential.  It is through a shared struggle, a common love, and gaining a deeper knowledge that takes any ensemble to the next level, allowing it to blossom into one that is successful -due to being fully reared by the minds of its members giving all of themselves to their craft, without any boundaries. In turn of being ready to fully express ourselves, however, it is also important to learn how to readily accept other peoples ideas fully, and welcome them with a positivity and open mindedness, so we ensure that everyone feels the same sense of ensemble as we wish to experience ourselves.

What Are My Own Experiences With Being In An Ensemble?

One key ensemble I was a part of which stands out the most, is last year when I was part of my high school’s production of Grease. Now, it isn't the fact that I was a cast member and the acting ensemble is what I remember most, but in the final weeks before we were due to perform, the set, which was a mirage of 50s/60s features like jukeboxes and poodle skirts was left un-painted after the art team refused to paint it. With two weeks to our first performance, 13 or so of us worked together to paint, sketch, outline and bring to life the backdrop of our set. Now, putting drama kids who could barely even hold a pencil the right way in charge of creating an artistic set was always going to have it’s challenges, but we made it work. Our drive to get it completed and make our already stressed director feel some sense of release was enough of a common goal to work together during our free time during the school day, and after school, in order to make it look somewhat decent. From begging for paintbrushes, to climbing scaffolding and standing on stacks of chairs, it is a time that I feel wholly represents the true nature of what makes an ensemble -because of how we handled the challenges. We played to each others strengths, listened to each others ideas and our constant communication with one another fuelled us to finish as efficiently as we could. Despite being in the midst of exams and having other life stresses, spending time in the school hall, painting vibrant colours whilst practising the Grease songs and dances was an escape from it all, and it became something we looked forward to just letting go of whatever else was bothering us -and something we all missed when the show was completed. Whilst I would say it was a largely positive experience, as we did indeed manage to put aside the dramatic bickering you’d expect from leaving 13 drama students alone with paint, we relentlessly worked together to complete what needed to be completed. The common goal was to have a finished background -we all took pride in our acting and in how our drama department at school was presented and so we wanted to do everything we could to help, but I also believe it was deeper than that. These were people who were also my fellow actors, we’d grown up and been around each other from 11 years old, we were in many ways a small family -and our ability to bond together in the face of what could have been a disaster, and take that risk was what resonates with me most. And perhaps it felt easier because we were all friends, or maybe its because we used our natural intuition that came with our actor/director nature to divide and conquer and complete our tasks on time, but either way, it is an example of a positive, hardworking, and dynamic ensemble that I always aspire to replicate the values when working in ensembles now.

Bibliography

Collins English Dictionary; 2009; HarperCollins; Glasgow.

Ensemble Theatre Making; Rose Burnett Bonczek, David Storck; 2013; Routledge, London (Page 7/Page 8/Page 9)

[kisskissbanggang]

50 Questions Tag!

Tagged by sublime @rubyyong 💕

1.What takes up too much of your time?

Procrastinating! (Or work lately)

2. What makes your day better?

The sun on my face and a cup of coffee.

3. Whats the best thing to happen to you today?

Ugh I made some delicious fried rice for breakfast this morning, and it's my day off!

4. What fictional place would you like to go to?

One of the first settings that really drew me in was The Matrix to be completely frank with you. Or I really enjoy the waste and weird world of the Tank Girl series.

5. Are you good at giving advice?

Good at giving, but not taking.

6. Do you have a mental illness?

The therapist said I had mild anxiety and PTSD 🤷🏻‍♀️

7. Have you ever experience sleep paralysis?

Nope!

8. What musician inspired you the most?

Okay am I allowed to say Patrick Stump and how I still believe his musical peak has been his solo stuff

9. Have you ever fallen in love?

I'd say so. 👀

10. What’s your dream date?

I'm a sucker for day trips. Pizza Week is coming up in Portland soon, as is Burger Week. There's some national parks around I want to visit. The hotel used as the Overlook Hotel is about an hour away. Plenty I want to do for amazing day trip dates!

11. What do others notice about you?

Mostly, how much deeper my neutral tone is than my "work" voice I put on. Also I have a horrid laugh like a seagull squawk.

12.Whats an annoying habit you have?

Good at giving advice, bad at taking it. I'm a slave to my own desires, laziness being the top of that list.

13. Do you still talk to your first love?

Nope!

14. How many exes do you have?

Like real, pre-fiance era? Because if we don't count middle school past middle school, do we count high school past high school? Anyhow... Like 7? Or 8?

15. How many songs are in your playlist?

My wake-up playlist for my commute is about thirty songs?

16. What instruments can you play?

I used to play saxophone more than a decade ago lmao

17. What do you have the most pictures of?

Selfies and food.

18. Where would you like to go before you die?

Someone bring me to Australia pls.

19. Whats your Zodiac?

Sun sign: Capricorn

Moon sign: Aries

Ascending: Gemini

Chinese: Rooster

20. Do you relate to it?

My natal chart is pretty accurate, I'd say!

21. What is happiness to you?

Happiness is akin to contentedness for me. If I'm content and pleased, whether that's with hard work or relaxing, then I'm pretty happy. I like meeting my goals.

22. are you going through anything right now?

Just getting used to my new job and trying to balance writing with that!

23. Whats the worst decision you ever made?

Oof. Some of the worst are guy related, but I've started some bad fights in this relationship. I have an amazing relationship but it really is work.

24. Whats your favourite store?

Daiso!

25. Whats your opinion on abortion?

A right and sometimes a necessity.

26. Do you keep a bucket list?

A loose one, perhaps.

27. Do you have a favourite album?

Hey surprise it's Infinity on High by Fall Out Boy

28. What do you want for your birthday?

Awh I just had one a few months ago! I just want a yummy cake on my day off. Maybe a day trip to the skating rink!

29. What are most people’s first impressions of you?

Goofy or intimidating and little to no in between

30. What age do you seem according to most people?

Under 25 still, apparently!

31. Where do you keep your phone while you’re sleeping?

Under my pillow when I'm using a regular charger cord. Otherwise it's on my charging pad on the nightstand.

32. What word to you say the most?

"Ugh"

33. Whats the oldest age you would date?

Does it really matter? Though you do tend to lose inherent shared interests the older you go.

34. Whats the youngest age you would date?

Refer to previous answer. 😘

35. What job/career do most people say would suit you?

Ugh people really insisted I should be a teacher. Thankfully my dude agreed that idea was bonkers.

36. Whats your favourite music genre?

Alternative rock or electro-funk.

37. If you could live in any country in the world, where would it be?

I'm fine being here for now, but I've humored Canada a few times.

38. What is your current favourite song?

Come Alive - Chromeo ft. Toro Y Moi

39. How long have you had this blog for?

Only a handful of months! I started this blog right before Christmas.

40. What are you excited for?

SUNSHINE UGH I require photosynthesis.

41. Are you a better talker or listener?

Talker. I can speak to crowds, I can talk to strangers, I can make small talk. However, I do love listening. That being said, I'll speak for you if you think you can't or don't want to.

42. What is the last productive thing you did?

I just came back from the mall where I dropped off an Amazon return?

43. What do you want for Christmas?

I currently get the majority of my cosmetics and skincare products during holidays from my mother since she knows I don't want to spend that kind of money. I look forward to it!

44. What Class do you get the best grades in?

English and art!

45. On a scale of 1-10, how are you feeling right now?

Solid 6? It's a fair enough day.

46. What can you see yourself doing in ten years?

Hopefully living in our own place with a couple of dogs!

47. When did you get your first heartbreak?

Awh, like romantically? I must've been 12? After my first boyfriend?

48.  What age do you want to get married?

I mean we're getting married next year 👀

49.  What career did you want to have as a child?

I wanted to be a zookeeper or marine biologist or a movie director! And I did end up studying something akin to one of those.

50.  what do you crave right now?

Someone make me some s'mores my sweet tooth has been killing me.

Tagging: @wildernessuntothemselves @00-k @ultimate-kpop-trash-scenarios @justanotherblackchick @taurusjaehyun 💕💕💕

[jonsafan-blog]

GOT Season 8 Teaser Analysis

HBO has released a new teaser for the final season of Game of Thrones, and I am going to analyze what this trailer might mean.

But first, if you have not already watched it, I suggest doing it now by watching the video below.

The Difference Between Teaser and Trailer

The footage used in this video is not footage from the primary narrative. Rather, it appears specifically shot which non-narrative footage to invoke anticipation.

This is common in a lot of shows, but the majority of teasers are little more than pretty, animated slideshows that introduce a theme for the next season.

That is not what is happening here.

Rather, the directors of the show have chosen to pull some of the biggest actors of the series for a very expensive commercial which requires blocking, lighting, and CGI. Kit, Sophie, and Maisie do not talk, but there is dialogue from three dead actors, two of which have not been on the show for many seasons, and all which would require payment (or previous contractual agreement) for using their likeness.

That means this is not just a simple anticipatory teaser, but something which required days or even weeks on planning, filming, and editing all combined.

The Previous Teaser Is Important Too

That said, this is not the first teaser of the season, as that goes to the Dragonstone teaser, which you can rewatch below:

The Dragonstone teaser is exactly what most people think of high production teasers, and they are usually used by studios to hype their projects before editing is complete. In it, the winds of winter descend upon the North, freezing the Direwolf piece on the chessboard near a castle, presumably Winterfell, before moving further south. It is difficult for me to see exactly where but almost certainly still in the North, but it appears as if a dragon is frozen.

However, what is most interesting about this trailer is what happens next: the South is not frozen, but set aflame, seemingly from King’s Landing... as if it had self-immolated. That fire travels towards the Neck where it collides with the coming winter and creating a black wall.

Teasers are essentially metaphors - sort of like visual poetry that implies themes for the coming season. Shows with better budgets, like Game of Thrones can make a lot out of their teasers, and this teaser suggests that Game of Thrones is now a song of Ice and Fire (like the name of the book series).

Speaking of visual poetry, the title of the book series actually comes from a poem by Robert Frost, called Fire and Ice:

Some say the world will end in fire, Some say in ice. From what I’ve tasted of desire I hold with those who favor fire. But if it had to perish twice, I think I know enough of hate To say that for destruction ice Is also great And would suffice.

This poem is interesting because there is this general idea that the worst sort of destruction comes from fire, and we actually do see that in the south with its traditional way of self-destruction through Cersei Lannister (what is clearly being implied in the teaser and prior seasons). However, that is not the only danger to Westeros, as the Winter itself is creating victims, and in a very particular order - first the Starks, and then the Targaryens.

But, if you go back to the poem that is alluded to in the series title, fire and ice are equal in its ability to destroy, and in the teaser what happens? They collide, but neither overtake the other. Rather, their war creates a wall ... and that wall appears to be made of Dragonglass.

You can be burned by fire. You can also be burned by ice.

This is a war on two fronts, and the fronts will collide and a weapon will be created that can kill. An article on Fansided by David Harris actually detailed the boundaries created in this collision. While I think some of what he says is wrong, I will post what I think is most relevant to my post.

None of what I am saying is unrelated to the new teaser - I will get there in a moment - but you need to understand the previous teaser to better appreciate what is happening in the new one.

But, back to what Harris said, the wall is created in a very particular geography. I mean like... super particular.

The Dragonglass Wall begins at Dragonstone and extends to Ironman’s Bay, effectively creating a new boundary... which wars tend to do. Harris also points out that fire and ice first collide on camera at the Trident, which is where Rhaegar Targaryen was defeated by Robert Baratheon.

This was a decisive battle that was decided by the figureheads of two opposing sides. It resulted in a terrible loss for the Targaryens, and prompted Aerys to send his pregnant wife Rhaella (with unborn Daenerys) to Dragonstone with Viserys. However, he kept Elia Martell’s children as hostages in King’s Landing to secure Dornish loyalty.

Robert Baratheon was wounded in battle, which meant Ned Stark had to lead Stark forces to King’s Landing to win the throne. Jaime later implies in the show that Ned could have taken the throne at that moment, but didn’t. However, it was not the Starks which sacked King’s Landing - that honor went to the Lannisters, who also ended up killing the King and Elia’s family.

I bring this all up because there is a heavy link of metaphor in alluding to this event. First, there will be another decisive battle, possibly at the Trident, and in that battle, if we remember the poem... then in this second touch of death it will be ice that is chosen.

But again... that wall is not breached... right?

Look at that map again. Here is what we know about that region before Season 8:

Everything North of the rivers are lands that Robb Stark easily defended in the War of Five Kings until he made poor decisions of alliance and leadership

The families with the most negative feelings towards the Starks, the Boltons and the Freys, have been eradicated to the last man.

The North and the Vale are definitely within the borders entirely. However, it is strongly implied by the teaser and the dividing line that Dragonstone may also be included in that wall, and since we know that the dragon was frozen in the teaser, something Targaryen is on that side, so either Daenerys is their ally, or Dragonstone is within Jon’s Targish hands.

The Starks have possible allies in the tenous lands that border what is solidly under their control: the Iron Islands and the Riverlands. Not secure allies, but possible allies.

To put it another way... all the lands in that dominion have some sort of familial tie to the Starks. The Starks have the North, but Sansa and Arya are also related to the Riverlands and the Vale. Theon is from the Iron Islands, and his loyalty seemed to be shifting back towards the Starks. And Jon is, of course, half Targaryen.

So let’s consider what happens when fire and ice collide again - what is the result?

I do not think an actual wall of dragonglass is going to be constructed - teasers are essentially extended metaphors after all. So what is this metaphor saying, exactly?

Metaphors, Poetry, and Teasers

Remember the poem? Because George R. R. Martin does, and he explains in this interview what he thinks about it, that informs the series:

Why your saga is called A Song of Ice and Fire, because of the Wall and the dragons or is something more beyond that?

Oh! That’s the obvious thing but yes, there’s more. People say I was influenced by Robert Frost’s poem, and of course I was, I mean... Fire is love, fire is passion, fire is sexual ardor and all of these things. Ice is betrayal, ice is revenge, ice is… you know, that kind of cold inhumanity and all that stuff is being played out in the books.

In the poem, the speaker says that “From what I’ve tasted of desire / I hold with those who favor fire” but this is the second battle at the Trident... and what happens the second time?: “But if I had to perish twice, / I think I know enough of hate / To say that for destruction ice / Is also great / And would suffice.”

There are only two families involved in the Trident in the past and in the future: The Starks and the Targaryens. Martin says that he sees fire as love and passion, but ice is betrayal and revenge - specifically the “cold inhumanity and all that stuff that is being played out in the books.”

The first war was about love. The Fiery Rhaegar Targaryen fell in love with Lyanna Stark, who essentially and icily betrayed her betrothed, Robert Baratheon. Robert Baratheon got his cold inhuman revenge against Rhaegar.

The second war?

First, let us remember that the Trident was seemingly about two mega forces, but in the end, resulted in the Ned Stark almost taking the throne. It was also a battle on behalf of a Stark woman who fell in love with the wrong man.

My theory is that the expanse of snow and the dragonglass wall does not represent the end of the North, but the renewal of it. The Starks took back the North from the Wall. Then... they commandeered a dragon for their cause.

And then?

They set their sights on the south to secure their kingdom, and from that conflict was a boundary protected by a weapon which symbolizes the struggle of the North: dragonglass. And what does dragonglass do?

Eradicate two enemies to their sovereignty: the White Walkers and Daenerys Targaryen. However, just like with the Battle of the Trident during Robert’s Rebellion, the war did not end there. Ned Stark had to go south in order to free his sister from King’s Landing... only she was not there.

In Robert’s Rebellion and in the War of the Five Kings the Starks were interested in taking King’s Landing.

My theory is that the wall represents a heroic figure created out of the conflict - a weapon personified: that weapon is Jon Snow.

Some have suggested he will carry lightbringer, but what I think the myth of Lightbringer tells us is that it is a weapon used against a series of three enemies.

And three enemies are what the Starks have.

Heroes are Forged, Not Born

When lightbringer was crafted, it was first tempered in water, but broke, and then tempered through the heart of a captured lion, but broke, and finally successfully crafted out of the heart of his wife, Nissa Nissa. Her cry of anguish and ecstasy left a crack across the face of the moon.

So are you noticing some interesting parallels?

Jon is first tempered in water. Or rather, after his resurrection, he fights against the undead in the poorly considered wight hunt and fails. When he returns to the wall after being narrowly rescued an onboard Daenerys’s ship he bends the knee... something he did not look too happy about. All of his scenes with Daenerys are near the sea, by the way, and that position left him vulnerable. However, it was necessary in order to procure the power he needs to protect the North.

We know going into Season 8 that Jon will encounter more Lannisters. He has yet to see a captured Lion, but I am willing to bet that this next season will result in something of that sort. Either Tyrion, who appears to be growing more upset with Daenerys, Cersei, who will Cersei something, or even Jaime - perhaps repeating what Robb did by capturing him. Either way, I think what is really going to happen is that Jon is going to have to take a decisive action against the Lannisters even before the Dragonglass wall is forged.

However, the third time is the most interesting, because it will be in this moment that the metaphorical dragonglass wall is raised and Jon becomes the central hero of the story - and I think it requires betraying Daenerys.

Speaking of betraying Daenerys, isn’t she supposed to be betrayed three times? Once for blood, once for gold, and once for love?

What is those three betrayals line up with the decisions Jon makes in the war? Daenerys thinks Jon is falling in love with her, but really, he just needs her dragons. And perhaps Jon will act against the Lannisters in a way which will hurt her. After all, in the teaser, the lions on the board are not just on fire, but melting. And third... the third betrayal is for love. And not for her.

I think that in the penultimate moment of the series, Jon will betray Daenerys for a girl stranded south of the Trident. This will result in her death, but Jon’s rise to power since he will then control her dragons.

In season one, her handmaiden Doreah tells her that dragons came from two moons in the sky, but one wandered too close to the sun and cracked from the heat. From this, a “thousand thousand” dragons poured forth and drank the fire of the sun, allowing them to breathe flame.

If Jon is going to wield Lightbringer, he is going to be wielding a flaming sword, and if Doreah’s story is a metaphor about Daenerys getting too close to another Targaryen (Jon in this case) it will not end well for her. Jon will essentially be wielding her dragons... and her heritage.

And let us not forget - that is Aegon’s the Conqueror’s painted table. What is Jon’s real name? Aegon.

But how does this relate to the new teaser?

In the last season there was another teaser which was rather on the money in regards to its metaphors. Most of the teasers are ambiguous, but the Long Walk was anything but:

Jon had just been crowned King in the North, and in the teaser he was not happy with his rule, unlike Daenerys and Cersei. But like Daenerys and Cersei, he was functionally isolated because of his decisions, though for entirely different reasons.

Daenerys and Cersei isolated themselves out of pride, but Jon isolated himself out of need for the North. And if you listen to the lyrics of this song, Jon ends up having to ally himself with these very prideful rulers.

And this is exactly what happened.

Why?

If you take the singer as a metaphorical allusion to Jon’s thoughts, it is clear that he spends the entire season trying to convince Daenerys and Cersei to join him out of sympathy for others. We know from the lyrics that Daenerys eventually does agree with this after seeing how powerful the Night King was, but the Queen “touched by madness” (literally in the song) has a special scene at the end where she breathes cool air. And ice represents betrayal. And in that betrayal? The struggle begins.

This promo teaser is similar in that it brought in actors and had a teasing narrative almost identical to what happened in the actual season it teased.

So let’s get to the “Crypts of Winterfell Teaser.”

The Crypts of Winterfell and the Haunting of Past Regrets

The new teaser has three characters walking through the crypts of Winterfell and encountering winter - Jon, Sansa, and Arya. Interestingly, and this is not a coincidence, the first person we see is Jon holding a lighted torch. Sansa and Arya do not. Jon is literally the lightbringer.

Jon, alone, walks past Lyanna Stark’s statue as she holds the feather. We hear the actress of Lyanna telling Ned “You have to protect him.” Jon does not notice her, and the feather falls behind him as he passes. When it falls to the ground, he turns, as if he heard something... but you never hear a feather falling.

We know that Lyanna Stark died in childbirth, and that what she wanted most in the world was for Jon (whom she named Aegon) to be protected.

At this point she likely knew that Rhaegar was dead and Robert now commanded a lot of power. At best, Jon would be allowed to live as a bastard, but in all likelihood, she feared he might be hurt for his claim to the throne.

Interestingly, Lyanna and her feather have been seen multiple times.

The first time we see Lyanna’s statue and that feather is when Robert arrives at Winterfell. He leaves a feather at her statue, a call back in the books history of him giving her feathers of an exotic southern bird, and then bemoaning Ned’s decision to bury her in Winterfell instead of on a hill with the sun. He then says he dreams of killing Rhaegar every night.

So clearly Robert was not the kind of man who just let things go.

However, the next time we see Lyanna and her statue is in season five.

Sansa has just lit the statue of her father, likely doing it for many of the recently deceased Starks since the Boltons certainly will not, and comes upon Lyanna. She lights her statue, no doubt considering how similar their situations were. Sansa was under the house of an enemy, just as she believed Lyanna was.

But then she notices the feather that Robert’s left and picks it up. Its dusty, meaning it has been on the ground for a while.

Littlefinger then appears and tells her the story of Lyanna meeting Rhaegar at Harrenhal. Rhaegar ended up snubbing his wife, and this resulted in a war because Rhaegar fell in love with the wrong woman.

Interestingly, the feather that Robert gives Lyanna is not related to any of her own interests, nor is she symbolized by a bird, though it could be argued she was rather uncaged. However, “Little Bird” Sansa is symbolized by birds... and frequently. That she picks up the feather of Lyanna is as if she is picking up her own symbol and dusting it off is pretty important.

We never see Sansa putting it back, but she does continue using feathers as motifs in some of her costumes, and the end of this scene has Littlefinger telling her she is taking control of her own destiny now. Remember - Lyanna, in reality, was not an unwilling participant in her abduction, but a willing instigator.

I have seen some people suggest that the feather being knocked down on Lyanna’s statue represents the false romance between Robert and Lyanna being knocked down. I like that theory too, but it disregards Sansa’s clear connection to Lyanna.

When Arya returns, she does not go to Lyanna statue, but Ned’s.

However, we do see Lyanna’s statue again. When you watch the clip below, pay attention to Littlefinger’s entrance. He comes between Jon and Lyanna’s statue in the background, and then when they talk (essentially about Sansa via Catelyn) Lyanna’s statue is in the background, blurry but there... between them. Not an accident.

Near the end, when Littlefinger declares his love for Sansa, Jon attacks Littlefinger, Lyanna between them, and then behind Jon as he pushes Littlefinger further out of frame. We know that later Sansa ends up executing Littlefinger, but this is an interesting directing choice.

No matter what you have to say about Jonsa, Jon has very strong feelings for his sister. However, the point is that it may not be so platonic, given that the undercurrent of this entire situation is that Jon is not actually Ned’s son. He thinks he represents Ned, but he also represents his father, Rhaegar Targaryen, and his lower, Lyanna, is behind him.

Jon knows that Sansa was forced into an unwanted marriage by Littlefinger and that they owe Littlefinger a lot. If unchecked, this could have been another forced marriage... and unlike Ned, I do not think Jon would have left this kind of Robert-Baratheon inspired betrothal happen to his sister.

Sansa Walks into the Teaser

But speaking on Sansa being weirdly connected to Jon through Lyanna, the next person to appear in the teaser is Sansa, walking directly toward the camera in a straight shot (Jon is tilted upward, we see Arya first from the back in a more anonymous shot).

Sansa’s introduction in the teaser is sequentially after Lyanna saying that Jon needs to be protected and the feather falling. Sansa is essentially the answer to Lyanna’s wish, and the direction of the camera suggests this. We also see her braided hair. Though not identical to Lyanna, it is very similar.

I think Sansa’s scene is very clever. She walks past Catelyn who inadvertently fanned the flames of war, bringing horror upon her family. Sansa also did the same - alerting Sansa to the Stark flight from King’s Landing. It is possible Cersei may have still found out, but Sansa ensured it would happen, and I am certain it is something she rued.

However, what Catelyn says is this: “All this horror that has come to my family... is all because I couldn’t love... a motherless child.”

I put in those ellipses because Sansa’s scene is cut to Arya’s anonmyously walking down the hall on the second set of lines, “is all because I couldn’t love” and then us seeing her face “a motherless child.”

When editors cut a scene they try to cut it to represent the characters as best as it can. Clearly Catelyn loved Arya, but I think what that shot is meant to represent is Arya being “no one.” She never walks past a statue of a character who represents some part of her past. And she is a “motherless child.”

I think Sansa and Arya’s storyline will be intermingled here, but ultimately what Catelyn was saying needs to be answered by loving Jon. This can be platonic, no doubt, and shared by Sansa and Arya, but all things being equal... I think it ultimately leads back to Sansa because of all the other connections.

Sansa is represented by both Lyanna and Catelyn in the show. Lyanna by implication and Catelyn by direct reference.

Catelyn feels haunted by her mistreatment of Jon in Winterfell. She did not hurt him, but she did not love him like her own. Sansa (and Arya) will do that, but I think they will do that in different ways.

That mistreatment still haunts the crypts of Winterfell though, because Jon likely does not feel like a full Stark, as he talks about this a number of times in the show, even though Sansa reminds him that she is a Stark to her (fulfilling Catelyn’s desire, ironically).

Ned’s Statue

Like Sansa, Jon walks past another statue and actually looks at it. This time, it is Ned. Because of the short distance between the Ned and Lyanna statues, this meant he must have taken only a few more steps before turning to look to at it. But he does not glance, he stops.

We hear Ned saying, “You are a Stark. You may not have my name, but you have my blood.”

We know that Ned was haunted by his decisions about Jon. A lot of his feelings were ambiguous, but we know he regretted some of the ways he went about it - and it was something he thought about a lot before he died in the dungeons of the Red Keep.

But the way Jon reacts is as if he heard Ned’s (though he likely just remembered it). This is an important reaction, because the next shot is Arya and Sansa standing in front of each other and Jon walking up between them, Arya and Sansa looking at him.

He is bringing the light, by the way. I think here the teaser is implying that Jon may be the one to bring the news to Arya and Sansa, or at the very least, it will not be either of his sisters learning the truth before him, even though they feel he is a Stark anyway. They look at him in unison. The Starks are united.

By the way... where is Bran?

Something is in the Crypts

Arya turns to look at something, and then Sansa, with Jon appearing behind Sansa with the light. The camera switches to the three walking side by side, again, united, in this order: Arya, Sansa, and Jon.

Jon has the torch in his dominant hand, which he then switches to his non-dominant hand as the three look at states of themselves.

The crypts of Winterfell only ever put statues for their deceased members, so this would be unsettling.

Arya sees a statue of her holding Needle in front of her face, while Jon and Sansa are standing side by side without weapons held out. It makes sense why Sansa would not be wielding a weapon, but strange that Arya would and Jon would not.

Jon once joked that Arya would die with a needle clutched between her frozen fingers. So these creepy statues, which are already bad, are worse for Arya who no doubt remembers this.

However, that is not the only thing in the crypts. A wind blows, and the torch in Jon’s hand blows out as he is looking at his statue.

Metaphorically, the truth will not matter when winter descends on them. It is also possible that Daenerys’s fire may not be there when Winterfell is attacked.

The feather, lying on the ground further down the crypt, is then frozen. The truth, as it were, is literally frozen. And so too is Sansa threatened, as she is represented in that same feather.

Jon and Arya draw their swords, stepping forward and getting ready to fight. Everyone believes this will happen, but if you pay attention to this scene Jon actually steps in front of Sansa more than he needs to as he draws.

Some suggest Jon and Arya are protecting their queen. I like that idea, but they would do that even if she was just their sister. That said, it is interesting that Sansa is placed in the middle, and while this could be done because of her height, it is just as likely the director wants Sansa to in the center frame.

The three stand there, preparing to greet their enemy... and it is a wind of winter.

Which some of the Internet thinks is Bran, but I digress.

What Does This Teaser Mean?

This teaser is meant to be more literal than Dragonstone, but we can use Dragonstone to aid her comprehension.

First, this teaser is very much about the truth and what is haunting the Starks of Winterfell.

The truth is that Jon is Aegon Targaryen.

What is haunting the Starks is:

Lyanna wanted Jon to be protected from Robert’s wrath.

Catelyn regretted not treating Jon as a loved Stark.

Ned regretted the way he chose to carry out Lyanna’s wishes.

But this trailer is also about a lot of resolutions for the Starks too... specifically what is haunting the family.

The major resolution is that they stand united as Starks... despite the truth that Jon brings them, and in the end, Jon abandons that truth to stand with the Starks... not as a Targaryen.

Which is exactly what the Dragonstone teaser was saying. The story will not end with Jon as a Targaryen on a throne, but Jon as a Stark on the throne. And the only way he can become a Stark is through his sisters.

Or specifically, his cousin Sansa Stark. She has the name, whereas Arya is “no one.”

But it is not just past hauntings in the crypts... Jon, Sansa, and Arya have their own haunted nightmares.

Every Stark needs to play by different rules. They are now backed into a corner, and if they do not fight their way out, it will become their tombs.

Arya is haunted by her desire to be someone.

Sansa is haunted by her fear of being alone.

Jon is haunted by the fear of the unknown.

When they see themselves, they see their worst nightmares reflected back at them. Arya sees a fighter memorialized as a heroic statue. Sansa sees a dead woman, reminding us of Lyanna. Jon sees himself - and all the things his identity implies.

Going Forward

We will see a repeat of Robert’s Rebellion but with a different turn of events. The South is setting itself on fire with a mad Queen hell-bent on getting revenge on the Starks and distrusting a Targaryen from Dragonstone with a claim to the throne dallying with a Stark.

It is believed by some that Sansa will be kidnapped by Cersei, and I think that could incentivize Jon to act in ways that would result in betrayal against Daenerys. After all, Jon wanted to leave the North after he was resurrected. He only stayed for Sansa - who stubbornly refuses to leave Winterfell for any reason.

In the first Battle of the Trident, “Rhaegar fought valiantly, Rhaegar fought nobly, Rhaegar fought honorably. And Rhaegar died.”

Sansa tells Jon that they need to be smarter than Robb and their father to survive - they need to play the Game of Thrones. It is not enough to fight, they have to fight dirty. And that is what is going to happen on the road to the Trident because Jon has no other recourse.

And due to that, Rhaegar’s son will not die like his father did, allowing the Starks to survive the war and retain their independence... possibly even taking the Iron Throne and being reunited with the woman he loves - Sansa.

Because the battle does not end at the trident, and the Dragonstone teaser only teased the collision of two fronts, not the end of a war, but I think it suggests a bittersweet ending that favors the Starks and favors Jonsa.

[sinsins52]

Everything Wrong With Everything Wrong With Teen Titans Go! To The Movies

ORIGINAL VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bq3g4pJY07Y&t=0s

1.He’s slightly improved in a few ways, but he still has the same terrible intro that begs for likes.

2.He also still refuses to put his sinning intro over the actual title card. So really it’s Everything Wrong With _____

3.”A full minute of intros and I’m not even sure because two of them were for the WB” The 2nd one was for WB Animation, which is no different from all the other major animated films, it ain’t that long of a log sequence until the Marvel joke one.

4.”And already the first joke is them playing off the Marvel Cinematic intro. There’s so many Marvel jokes in this movie one might think they’re a bit bitter because they’re kicking their ass in the movie industry” Marvel is the dominating force in the superhero movie industry, and this movie spoofs a lot of that, so no duh there’s some Marvel jokes. Hell, there’s some potshots at DC, even in the first trailer!

5.”The welcome to Jump City sign is well within the center of the city. I think everyone knows where they are by the time they get that far in” That’s how it works in real though, or in the least my city is like that. And get used to him being pedantic, even by Sin standards..

6.”I don’t think anyone’s accidentally going to Jump City, one of the most riddled with crime places in the world, right next to Gotham or Metropolis” I…don’t get this one. I mean I don’t even know how to explain why you’re wrong I don’t even get your point. That accidentally really throws me off.

7.He sins all the references in this establishing shot, even though they are basically cute Easter eggs that are not sins.

8.”Batman’s not even liked in Gotham yet he has his own building” But maybe Jump City likes him fine. Also, this version of the DC characters is different in tons of ways, so why are you assuming it’s exactly like the other version in this case?

9.”I am upset that this isn’t even a gag character. It’s an actual person who exists in the DC world” That same world also has Kite Man and Condiment King. Just saying, the DC universe is weird and it’s not weird for a spoof movie to acknowledge this.

10.”Before he was crushing buildings with no problems, but now he can squeeze between them without them even building” He was punching at them before to destroy them as they were smaller than him but these two were a bit taller and there was a small space. Do the math.

11.”The safe is comically huge in comparasion to the actual bank” Congrats, you noticed.

12.”This why you can’t bring Starfire to a petting zoo” They were balloons. They pop. Come on.

13.”I get it, they’re supposed to be failed heroes but they’ve done plenty of stuff even in the TTG to be known within their own city” Maybe to the citizens or something, but not to this random villain we’ve never seen in the show before, and maybe he’s not super up to date anyway.

14.”Can’t Wonder Woman still fly in this world? I’m not sure why they gave her the invisible jet other than lol references are funny again”. If I had an invisible jet, I would show it off as much as possible…Maybe not “show” per say…

15.Also, the jet isn’t really a joke so that doesn’t apply here.

16.”Of all the heroes in Jump City, they had to pull out the A squad for Balloon man?” He still a pretty decent threat though, with all the destruction he was doing.

17.”They only make movies about real heroes” “But they’ll sure as hell make a Netflix original about just about anyone” If you’re referring to the Marvel shows, they're about pretty well liked and solid heroes, even Iron Fist isn’t that silly or an idea given their roster.

18.”The titans can afford to make their own movie, they have a private island and own a giant building” You mean like they do make? The one Robin dislikes because it is is so rnky dinky and he wants a serious Hollywood movie?

19.He really over analyzes a background reference to Young Justice.

20.”Further proof that the bat credit card has been canon all along” How does that Utility Belt movie prove this?

21.He shows off a fairly lo0ng clip just to sin another background gag. He likes to run the clips for too long, almost like he wants the video to be longer for extra watch time…

22”Breaking the 4th but yeah, he’s not Deadpool” That would work better if not for the actual Deadpool joke they make later. Oh and this character that character!

23.’I get it, this is a comedy movie-” And that’s when you should have stopped talking. His sin is that Slade being more comedic is “insulting” even though it really isn’t.

(By the way, this scene has them thinking Slade is Deadpool and Slade finds that comparison stupid because there’s plenty of guys with swords like him. The Titans would be amazing at Cinema Sins!)

24.He says he’s removing a sin for the Circe of Life spoof…but he ends up adding one. Whoops.

25.”Batman kills a baby-” In a dream sequence.

26.”This improvised song already has a billboard” A visual gag for a song is a sin I guess. Also, no sin removal for this?!

27.”This might be a bit overboard for a nitpick-” Lol.

28.”Would it have been okay if his dad wasn’t a cop?” No, but that fact does make it a bigger deal.

29.”Stan’s cameos are not subtle but neither are the references in this movie” And yet when they are subtle, you sin them anyway.

30.”Leaving them with the permanent injures” “And huge medical dat making him go right back to that life of crime-” Yes, because if he didn’t have bills, he’d just…give up crime for no reason? Also, I have no idea what he says but it sounds like “Dat” for screw it.

31.”Raven, who didn’t know the time cycles even existed prior to this was able to summon them from an unknown location because that’s how her powers work now” That’s how they’ve always worked but okay.

32.”When I think of rad, I definitely think of terseness are on tricycles” What, you don’t?

33.”What’s up with the 80’s fetishim in this movie? Take on Me, Tricycles-” I don’t think Tricycles are an 80’s thing.

34.”And Batman doesn’t remember the Teen Titans being the ones that pushed his parents into an alleyway to be brutally murdered” Eh, it’s scarring and all but I can buy him not remembering their exact faces and hey, they don’t dwelll on it too much since you’re not supposed to think about the logic in this silly movie too hard.

35.The bit where Cyborg and Beast Boy fal to be saved prompts him to go into this long winded rant on how it’s not possible. And I thought the previous sin was pedantic. This is after he sinned the movie for having bits that go on too long, by the way.

36.The sin counter randomly drops to 42 before going back to 85 in the next sin.

37.”Superman skips leg day, because that’s what happens when you can fly anywhere” …K?

38.”You already have Netflix, so there’s literally no reason for this” This is on a bigger scale and tell that to DC.

39.”Can you guys mainly do this so that Robin can get the movie? Wouldn’t this be the right choice?” I have no idea what you just said.

40.”He would have to keep up this facade all these years to compete these movies” Correct me if I’m wrong but there’s nothing to indicate “Jade Wilson” has been around for years, just that she’s a big director and those can rise fairly quickly sometimes.

(Frankly the real sin is that he didn’t just give the Robin the movie right away so can finish his plot quicker. Seriously, he just made it more complicated for himself)

41.”Slade, instead of using the swords and guns he has, decides to instead blow up an entire town” I think that’s far more efficiency in this case though.

42.”For a plan this is pretty retarded” Ugh.

43.”Added camera shake to make things more intense” Yes, that is why they did that, well done. Also, I hardly even noticed that here.

44.”-And I don’t mean that shitty Netflix original series were Starfire looks like a hooker” It’s not for Netflix and something that way you worded that bugs me.

45.It says Episode Sin Tally.

SINS VIDEO SIN TALLY: 45

SENTENCE: Mind Manipulation

Yep, our old friend Moliminus actually beat SeriesSins to it. I wanted to give SeriesSins time to do his video, but his taking his time so here we are. I will do his sometime in January if all goes well. I think this is the most sins for an off brand video, but that’s only because this video is 27 minutes long for some reason.

Anyway, I want the SinsSin post that goes up closest to Christmas to be a Cinema Sins video, so we’re doing Off Brand sins next week as well. And with it, we go back to a 2000’s animated movie.

[couldnt-think-of-a-funny-name]

Okay I also have so many Thoughts on Rise so if you want someone to rant to, I’m definitely here lol

My official Thoughts™

Okay so first off I’m pleasantly surprised I didn’t hate it as much as I was expecting? Lol I didn’t wanna watch at all because it seemed too dramatic, like something I would’ve eaten up in high school but I’m too tired to deal with these days. But my mom made me watch it with her and it definitely wasn’t as bad as I expected lol

What…was UP with the camera work????? I was loosing my mind over it omfg. Sometimes normal, sometimes shaky, and we had like three or four dramatic documentary zoom-ins ala Parks and Rec or the Office??? Why was that happening??? They were all in dramatic moments but it was so fucking funny I couldn’t handle it.

SPEAKING OF WHICH, when the coach asked ‘are you a teacher or a director’ and Josh Radnor was like ‘well, both’ and then it zoomed in on the coach as he cut off ‘Actually, no, you’re a teacher’. Like. That was clearly supposed to be dramatic but it was PEAK comedic timing. My mom and I were cackling we almost missed the rest of the scene omfg

That principal is a mess??? Giving one dude the drama department just because he doesn’t like the other teacher, and then???? Approving the show before he READ it???? Allowing a coach to try to bribe a kid’s bad grade away???? What in the Lord 

What….is with the troupe….of the Athlete having to pick sports or theater. Like literally what is that. It happens too often and I’ve never? Seen it happen in real life? Like I know you can’t apply your life experiences to everyone else’s but as someone who also went to a sports crazy high school in small town PA like….the senior sports™ boys went out for the musical every year??? Like every year there’d be at least 7 or 8 football or basketball or literally whatever players that were like ‘You know the fuck what, I’m a senior, I’m doing a musical now’ lmao. It was never dramatic or anything. Being in a play isn’t going to ruin someone’s sports career 

Okay so auditioning for a musical…doesn’t….work….as extra credit??? They wanted his grade raised and he wanted the kid in the show. The actual play the musical is based on has been picked apart and analyzed as a piece of literature so many times….so I could see “If he does my musical and writes a report on the play, I’ll give him extra credit” or something to that effect but just. ‘Audition and all your Problems will go away’. Lord What. 

WE’RE GONNA TALK ABOUT THIS SIMON KID.

Okay. Okay. The kid…is stereotypical ‘gay high schooler’ and we all damn well know that. Not my complaint. The thing was, bumping him down from Melchior to HANSCHEN made it SEEM like he was only getting cast as Hanschen because he’s The Gay™, because frankly, considering they were struggling to find boys, I would’ve initially put him as Moritz, from the brief scenes it seems like he could handle Moritz’s songs??? Moritz is the third lead and like, the fan favorite character, you’d wanna cast him pretty quick. And THEN they bust out he has a ““““““Very Religious”““““ family, like….really. Really. We’re doing that. Okay. Fine then. I can sit here and pretend I’ve actually met a homophobic Catholic person before if they’re at least gonna handle this well. But THEN. THEN. OKAY. We got that trailer for the full season at the end of the show and the kid playing Ernst said ‘Do you feel something when you’re with me’ and now….I see exactly what they’re doing….They’re having this kid play Hanschen while in real life he’s going to be in an Ernst-like situation….That’s so fucking cheesy and I haven’t yet fully decided how I feel about it??? I’m already tired tho. Anyway if someone hurts that boy I’m gonna go down to NBC with a baseball bat and start swinging. I can get in no problem. Just making that known.

Auli’i Cravalho….,,,we Stan

Her plot line seems a little muddled and Peak Dramatic right now but that scene near the end with her mother???? GIRL. KILL THEM.

Listen idk who the hell is playing the football player (Robbie was it?) but I already love him with my entire heart but like….the scene where he just started rapping at the pep rally….no one Does That lmao. Although I appreciate that he’s a lot less conflicted about joining the show than other athletes caught in this troupe before him? He was a little hesitant but it wasn’t Over The Top (looking at you, Troy Bolton). He seems really cute tho. I was Worried when he started rapping ‘All That’s Known’ but then he slid into actually singing and he was so good!! 

LMAO when they were doing the song montage and all they could do for ‘Totally Fucked’ was “BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH” I was cracking up

I liked that they appear to have established the football player is into the shy girl BEFORE they do the show. Like, it’s still cliché as all hell, but at least it’s not like ‘I never noticed you were pretty or a cool person before the stage lights were on you’ type deal bc that’s exhausting.

My mom was cracking up when Simon was telling his Religious Parents™ about the show at the dinner table aasdfgh like yet another clearly intended to be dramatic scene turned funny by the camera work and editing but also like it was so….like my mom isn’t familiar with Spring Awakening itself but she’s familiar with a lot of other ~~~edgy~~~ shows bc I’ve either been in them or gotten her to see them with me and like. I’ve worked in and on shows with kids who’s parents were SUPER against the shows material and the roles their kids played but no one ever like….stopped their kids from doing it??? And like his parents being against the stuff in the play is like….the Point of the play? And also if he already knows the script he’s already been Exposed to it, so it’s not like keeping him out of the show is gonna keep him pure or whatever?? Idk I really just don’t get why they’re bothering with that plotline tbh

Rosie Perez is always so over the top and I am always so okay with it

On that same branch though like…I know Josh Radnor loves giving impassioned speeches…but who….talks like that? Lol. Just everything he said sounded like they were trying to hard for that Big Dreamer Life Changer Teacher troupe you know???

Listen I GET why that one girl would be mad because she usually gets the leads but also….Ilse….has the better songs???? Like if someone cast me as Ilse I’d fucking cry I literally want to get a tattoo for the ‘I Don’t Do Sadness’ song bc it fucks with me so much lmao. ALSO…..I’m very interested in the whole thing with Auli’i character’s mother sleeping with her father and her thinking Auli’i is a ‘whore just like her mother’ since Wendla is the tragically innocent character in the show who was too sheltered to know anything about sex and Ilse is a victim of incest who dealt with it by acting out sexually….like it’s definitely not the same as what I’m expecting them to do with the reversed Hanschen/Ernst storyline but it’s interesting to see the parallels between them since they’ve clearly had very different upbringings when it comes to mature issues like that

Speaking of tho, Auli’i struggling with ‘Mama Who Bore Me’ until she had a big fight with her mom and can suddenly belt it to hell and back……come on

Let Me Tell You How Much I Cringed When The Teacher Outed Michael To The Entire Cast

Like, dude….you know that only like yourself and one other student knows he’s transitioning and he didn’t even tell you himself….Like yes he auditioned for a male role but he signed with his birth name like…The teacher had that list before rehearsal he literally could’ve just pulled the kid aside and asked him what he wanted to do??? I’m glad they didn’t film any of the other kids, like, caring or being weird about it though. That might be a delayed plot line but they all seemed relatively accepting so that definitely made the whole situation a little more bearable to watch

OF COURSE the lights kid is homeless….because there wasn’t enough drama

Don’t get me wrong like it’s definitely an important issue but that’s my problem with shows like this, they just Pile Everything On to the point where it’s so much like…

And then he took the kid home which we all saw coming but like, did you see the wife’s face??? He has a cell phone, he could have at least called to warn her. Their marriage seems stressed, they’ve got an emo ass son Going Through Some Ambiguous Problem That Has Lead To Drinking, and now they‘re moving a homeless kid in on top of it like. It just feels less like ‘real life’ and more like ‘how much drama can we pile into this for views’ and also it was a lot for literally the first episode? 

Who…has ever actually put on Pirates of Penzance….who has ever actually seen Pirates of Penzance….I’m not convinced it’s a real show lmao I laughed when he said he wanted to replace Spring Awakening with it what a JUMP

BURNING THE COSTUMES WAS SO FUCKING DRAMATIC ASDFGH WHO WOULD EVER?!?!?! I LOVED IT

Also though like why were they singing ‘I Believe’ for that part???? It definitely helped with the Drama And Aesthetic™ but it’s also. the rape song? Idk I think situation wise ‘Totally Fucked’ would’ve just been a better choice. They could have just done what the original broadway cast did on televised performances and changed it to ‘stuck’ lmao. Now, the moment definitely would’ve felt more….Glee-ish, with that song, so I guess they were trying to avoid that since this is a serious™ show but like again I just don’t see how ‘I Believe’ worked thematically

Also like the biggest problem this show had was PACING. Holy shit. This one episode felt like the entire season. Like literally…what else. What else can they do. These kids have apparently already been at it for weeks and are professional singers who have all the songs down for some reason. Like how many rehearsals do they have before the show??? Damn. They definitely could’ve slowed it down and dragged things out, it would‘ve felt a lot cleaner 

All in all tho….For a first episode I’d give it like a solid 7 or 8???? I’m interested enough to check out episode two but I’m also cautiously expecting to fall out of the show either because of the pacing or just them piling on too much drama just for the sake of it. What did you think???

[independentartistbuzz]

Indie 5-0: 5 Questions with Reggie Harris

A teaching artist in the Kennedy Center’s CETA program (Changing Education Through the Arts) and a fellow for the prestigious Council of Independent College lecture program, Reggie Harris also serves as Co-President and Director of Music Education for the Living Legacy Project—an advocacy group that sponsors Civil Rights pilgrimages throughout the South and online education seminars worldwide. His new album On Solid Ground is about all healing and inspiration in the face of injustice and dissension. From love songs (“Come What May”) to protest songs (“Standing in Freedom's Name”) to the album-closing tribute (“High Over the Hudson”) to his friend and mentor Pete Seeger, On Solid Ground has a little bit of something for everyone. Harris is the 2021 recipient of Folk Alliance International's Spirit of Folk Award and is a DJ on the new program Prisms: The Sound Of Color on SiriusXM’s The Village. He was recently featured on CNN’s Silence is Not An Option with Don Lemon and in The New York Times.

Listen to Reggie Harris via Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/0HWFtZHIDLRaW9POYMsAtp

1. At what age did you realize that music was the career you wanted to pursue? What was your ‘ah-ha’ moment? Wow. It came late. I mean, I’ve been singing since I was three or four years old, but I never really had any reason to think of music as a possible career. No one in my family or for that matter, in my social circle, did anything of the sort. People asked that question “What do you wanna be?” all the time but I saw music as just something you did in church or at school or in family sings around the piano. I always loved music and I was always good at it. I learned to harmonize really early and I sang all through high school but never gave any thought to it as a profession. I thought I’d be a teacher. But the “aha moment” came when I heard James Taylors' "Fire and Rain" on the radio one night in 12th grade. Something about his guitar and his expressive voice lit a fire that burned inside until I got a guitar in my hands in 1974. That happened when a young woman I was dating dared me to learn 3 chord on the guitar. That event unleashed something inside of me that had gone untapped in all my years of singing in choirs and groups and at school. I now had the ability to accompany myself with music that I heard from within. I bought the album Sweet Baby James and played the grooves out. That opened the door to Gordon Lightfoot, Don McClean, Cat Stevens, Kenny Rankin and the singer songwriters. I started watching shows like The Midnight Special or Don Kirschner’s Rock Concert and I started going to concerts. And around that same time, I met another young woman named Kim who played guitar and loved the same artists I did. She and I started meeting up and practicing songs, then we began writing songs and quickly became singing partners. Eventually we got married and I’d say, we pushed each other out the door and onto the stage. We were both passionate about making music and helped each other learn and grow and we were both willing to struggle to make it work. We did that for forty years and then separated and I became a solo act in 2016. I love the way it feels to spend hours making music and I really love how it makes other people feel when they hear it. It also gives me a voice to express what I see in the world. My passion for creating music and connecting the dots is stronger than ever. 2. Who are your musical inspirations? What artists inspired you to start your career and find your musical passion? My musical inspiration started early and there have been so many streams. Hearing the “old folks” in my church sing spirituals and hymns was formative and Sunday afternoon church events where 6 or 7 or more church choirs would travel around and have a gospel song fest at another church was exciting and grounding. All those amazing singers covering those great songs. I remember hearing Harry Belafonte, Mahalia Jackson, Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Ella Fitzgerald, Sam Cooke and others on my mother's radio in the morning as she got ready for work. Their voices just made you feel emotions like nothing else in the world. Our teachers in elementary taught us the songs of Woody Guthrie, Paul Robeson, Pete Seeger and Bob Dylan and we sang “Blowing in the Wind” (The Peter, Paul, and Mary version) and "If I Had A Hammer" for 6th grade graduation. I remember standing on the steps of my house in Philly with three of my friends, in the summer of 1964, singing “I Wanna Hold Your Hand” at the top of our lungs. We all took different roles as The Beatles. I thought I was Paul of course! That strikes me funny now… four little black boys in inner-city Philadelphia thinking they were English rockers? Why not The Temps? Or Smokey and the Miracles? There was also Aretha Franklin and The Stones in 1965 with "Satisfaction." Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder fascinated me and all those great Motown artist’s voices came floating down the hall to my room as my sister came of age. I paid attention to the musicians and the arrangements too. Years later, after I discovered the guitar, I met Pete Seeger, Tom Paxton and Ritchie Havens and other folk musicians and started to find a groove that combined what they were doing with other music I loved. My inspiration stream crosses genres, race, decade and style. Stevie Wonder to Pete Seeger, to Bach to Dolly Parton to Joan Armatrading to the Yellow Jackets to Beyonce. Listening across genres gives me more information to process which I can incorporate in melodies, harmonies or language for lyrics. 3. What inspired you to write & record On Solid Ground? I got home on March 8, 2020 after my tour was abruptly ended by COVID-19 shutdowns. For 3 weeks, I sat watching the news, talking with friends, feeling the world come apart as concert dates disappeared from my calendar for months and months into the future. Since concerts, lectures and school programs are the major ways that I get to sow seeds of hope in the world, I felt at a great loss. Like everyone else, I saw tensions building and protests against the various issues of hate and division exploding in the streets and felt that I needed to make sense of it all.

Music is the place I go when I need the world to make sense. So I started doing online concerts and that helped me to see how hungry people were for music and connection. My answer to the desperation and fear that I saw rising all around was to write the song "On Solid Ground." It’s written in the style and frame of the spirituals which are songs I grew up singing and that I still sing now. They are songs composed by people who endured slavery…people who were suffering through devastatingly tough times and still found ways to persevere through music and community. So my message? We can get through this time of challenge and change if we pull together and face ourselves.

Then the floodgates opened. I watched people flood into the streets to protest the George Floyd and Breonna Taylor killings and the growing acts of election suppression and wrote “Standing in Freedom’s Name” and “Let’s Meet Up Early.” I also arranged Malvina Reynolds' “It Isn’t Nice" as a tribute. Inspired by articles about workers who were being put in danger by callous factory owners and government officials, I wrote “My Working Bones.”

In the isolation of missing my girlfriend, who lives 10 hours away, I wrote “Come What May.” Then, watching street scenes on TV in 2020 that mirrored C.T. Vivian’s classic stand-off with Sheriff Jim Clark in Selma in 1965, I was inspired to write “It’s Who We Are.” It’s my challenge to the avoidance of questions of race, inequality and disenfranchisement that we as a nation are still struggling to face. But the protests showed a possible willingness to change?

I wrote the song "High Over the Hudson" about Pete Seeger in 2014 but never put it on a CD. And "Maybe It’s Love" was a fun writing exercise about the nature of romance.  Song after song was born as a timely reflection on what was on my mind every day and as I would finish one song, another would rise up.

Soon I had 9 originals and 4 songs that I was inspired to arrange as covers and I thought, ”Looks like a CD to me.” 4. What was the process like bringing the album to life, and who did you work with to create it?

Recording this CD was both supremely challenging, deeply therapeutic and also the most relaxed I’ve ever been in the studio. The project gave me an outlet for stress. We had to be very careful about COVID-19 protocols and close proximity at all times. Travel was weird and in a few impossible moments, we worked remotely. I was also wondering if I’d ever get to go out and perform the songs once they were done or if anyone would ever buy physical music again since that has been decreasing for years. But as I called on musicians who were not only good friends but who I knew would respond to my vision, the way to proceed got clearer.  My core co-contributors, Greg Greenway and Dave Schonauer, have been critical collaborators on my last three CDs. Greg and I have known each other for over 30 years and were born three days apart. So we have a language that just flows. We met and did pre-production in August and then hit the studio in September. Dave, the engineer at Morningstar Studios, is just brilliant. He makes things possible that most people don’t think of. Pat Wictor is my improvisational exploration brother as is Tom Prasado-Rao. Pat got up from a bout with COVID-19 and a recovery from tearing a tendon in his arm and played his newly retrained fingers off. Tom came out of a major bout with cancer and simmered with vocal ideas. They were all amazing at helping me chase my vision and “letting me be me" while adding brilliance and calling me on things didn’t quite measure up. We work at a level of trust that transcends words. I met bassist Chico Huff and drummer Matt Scarano when I recorded the CD Ready to Go in 2017-18 and they both play my music like they were there when I wrote it! Eric Byrd is a friend who is an amazing musical force and funny as hell. And Colleen Kattau, Mark Murphy and Ken Ulansey are longtime friends who just find the right temperature and vibe all the time. Everyone did what I love: They came in the door with passion and flexibility, brought their “A” games and didn’t leave until we got it right. And now Kari Estrin, Sarah Bennett and my friend Joann Murdock are helping me get it out to the world. 5. What do you have in store for the rest of 2021? I’m looking forward to continuing to unveil these songs, first during online concerts and then, as things begin to open up, with the start of whatever the new in-person performing landscape will become. I’ll continue to provide education videos for schools and doing lectures and residency work with colleges and universities on my own and through the Council of independent Colleges. The pandemic also gave me the time to work on a memoir which I’m trying to finish with a friend who is co-writing. And I’ll continue my work in civil, voting and human rights with the Living Legacy Project organization as we work to extend awareness and social activism. In my spare time, I hope to go to a few baseball games, see fully vaccinated friends for visits and hugs, watch a few movies and hopefully see my 76ers win the NBA championship. And I think I also need to get some rest.

[ikenbar]

Mr. Love: Ike’s Choice CH5 PT 4

Warnings: Spoilers for Chapter 8 of the game!! Words have been taken directly from Stage 8-14 and 8-21 of the game as well! If you’re interested in which ones, message me and I can tell you! (I don’t want to spoil anything in the chapter :P)

Also! There are some harsh themes! Such as ptsd, amnesia, feelings of being trapped, actually being trapped! 

Along with all that though, we have adventure! Fluffy time with Kiro! Some angsty time with Kiro! (only like a line of it tho. You’ll get wAY more of that next week ;P) Plot uncovering! and more! Including cliffhangers galore!... ok there is only one but still!! :D

(Chapter Five (Kiro and Youran) Prologue and part one, two, and three can be found here~)

((Please read the author’s note (and the beginning of the story) on chapter one part one if you’re new here :D))

Chapter Five:

Part four:

As Kiro and I continued down the hall, I kept my defenses up high. Kiro almost got killed because of me. I wasn’t going to let it happen again. Especially if it was me that Montu was after, I couldn’t let Kiro get mixed up in it. Although, as I walked down that hall, I couldn’t help but admire the work that Montu had put into destroying me. From the lights to the dark metallic sheen of the walls, everything looked particularly upscale. If we were under any other circumstance, I would feel honored to have so much money spent on me. 

We had walked for a good amount of time before either of us spoke up. “So!” Kiro snapped and clapped his hand on his fist, “When are you taking off the helmet?”

“Never.” I deadpanned.

“Oh come on! Please?”

“Nope.”

“Well what if I guess who you are? Would you take it off then?”

I felt my palms start sweating.  “How could you guess? I came to the studio when you were on stage. You haven’t met me yet.”

“Hm, I guess you’re right.” Kiro paused for a moment, “... Then how about we play 20 questions! Ya, know, so I can get to know you better?” 

“Um…”  I bit my lip. I guess there was no way I could keep stuff from my Song Bird now. 

I sighed, “Sure. Why not?”

“Awesome!” I heard Kiro excitedly clap from next to me, “Ok, uh,... What do you like to do for fun?”

“... Joyride on my bike.” Even though Victor took that from me...

“Makes sense! Do you have any siblings?”

“Two brothers and two sisters.”

“Names?”

“Nope. Too personal.”

“Ah, dang.” Kiro laughed, “I thought I had you there. Uh, what do you do for a living?”

I paused, “...I help the police with consulting investigations.” 

“Really??” Kiro giddily asked, “What kind of investigations??”

“I’m afraid that’s classified.”

“Ah, I see... So, what is your job at Ike ‘n Bar Productions?”

“... I assist Bart.”

“Like his personal assistant, assistant?”

“Sure.”

“I can’t imagine you being a personal assistant.” Kiro scoffed.

I stopped and turned to look at Kiro with a raised eyebrow. “Excuse me?”

Kiro waved his hands defensively, “I mean-” The floor underneath us lit up. The same blue light that outlined Kiro's hand, outlined a square around my feet. The ground underneath me started shaking, making the both of us lose our balance. The light got brighter and brighter as the ground became more and more unstable. I closed my eyes and threw my hands in front of my face.

“What the hell?!” I yelled, still struggling to find my feet.

“Ike!” Kiro’s voice was coming from above me. I looked up and saw that the ground Kiro was on had started rising while I was descending. He reached his hand out to mine, “Give me your hand!” I stood on my tippy toes and reached for his hand, but I couldn’t quite close the distance. The gap between us slowly grew.

“Almost…” Kiro muttered, “Just a bit more.” He leaned forward as much as he could. Eyes brimming with concern and urgency. (Stage 8-14) I looked below me. 

“Ah, screw it.” I stepped back, “Brace yourself!” I called to Kiro. The ground stopped shaking. I took a step and leaped into the air. Kiro’s hand wrapped around my forearm and held tight as I slammed right into the side of the wall, breaking the strap to the helmet on my head and causing it to fly off of me. I looked down to see the helmet plummet down the endless chasm below me. I quickly turned to look up at Kiro.

“Don’t. Let. Go.” I spoke through my teeth as I tightened my grip on his forearm.

“Wouldn’t dream of it.” Kiro grinned through a pained expression. Kiro and I worked with each other to pull myself out of the hole. I took a step onto the rising wall, then a strong force pulled me upwards. I landed onto the ground and right into Kiro’s chest, where I could hear Kiro’s rapid breathing in my ear. “Are you all right?” he asked urgently, “Are you hurt?” I looked up and into Kiro’s starry eyes. The eyes that were such a beautiful ocean blue, I could almost swim in them from how close I was to him.

“Kiro.” I breathed, leaning closer to his face.

“Yeah?” Kiro said just as softly, a blush starting to form on his cheeks. I leaned in closer, further increasing the blush on Kiro’s cheeks. We were mere inches apart when I punched his arm. 

“Ow!” He scoffed, rubbing his arm, “Why did you-”

“You jerk!” I hit him again, “You knew it was me the whole time?!”

“Wh-”

“You called me ‘Ike’ just then! Don’t you dare try to get out of this!”

Kiro paused, then he laughed, “Of course I knew it was you Super Stranger! I knew it the moment you yelled at that poor director!”

“And yet you still asked me that stupid question?!” Each syllable ended with a hit to his chest, “You made me think you hated me!” Kiro grabbed my hands.

“Would you quit it?!” He laughed. I glared at him. His smile gradually fell. “I thought we were still playing our little game… which I guess wouldn’t have been so fun from how bad of a mood you were in.” Kiro looked me sincerely in the eyes, “Ike, I’m really sorry if I hurt your feelings. I really didn’t mean it. Please don’t be mad at me.” I huffed, struggling to find an excuse to keep my anger towards him. Then I sighed. I backed away from Kiro and sat on the ground. Kiro sat up, the worried expression he wore further deepening. He opened his mouth.

“I’m not angry at you.” I interrupted, holding up a hand, “We’re cool.”

“Thank goodness.” Kiro sighed heavily, “I don’t know what I’d do if The Super Stranger hated me.”

“Haven’t I already said no one can hate Kiro?” I arched my eyebrow, “Besides, you’re my sidekick. What was I going to do? Wait for your redemption arch?” Kiro laughed heartily, bringing a warm feeling to my heart. I looked down and the warm feeling vanished. Blood dripped down his forearm. Kiro followed my eyes and looked down.

“Oops!” He held his arm up to reveal a cut running down his forearm, “I must have cut it when I caught you.” Kiro smiled at me, “We need to find a better way of saving each other. One of us keeps getting hurt!” I glared at Kiro and took his arm. 

“Yeah, but I don’t have anything to patch you up with.” I mumbled, looking around the small room. 

“Wait! You do!” Kiro reached inside his pocket and pulled out a small white handkerchief. He handed it to me, “The one you had given me the day we had met was stained. So I got you another one! Too bad this one will be stained too.” I took the handkerchief and dressed Kiro’s wound.

“I don’t care about a handkerchief.” I said, “Just as long as you’re healthy.” I could feel Kiro’s stare bore a hole in my eyes but I didn’t dare meet them, keeping my focus on the handkerchief.

“Thank you, Ike.” His voice was so soft that I nearly missed his words. I looked up at him.

The floor we had been riding passed through a dark room then to an opening to a new room. This one was much bigger than the last, looking to be about the size of a basketball court. It was windowless and had the same dark metallic panelling and blue lighting as the previous hallway. 

Kiro and I stood up and looked around the room. The room was seemingly empty except for a long, dark, metallic door standing on the far wall. I nudged Kiro and walked over to it. There was another keypad beside the door but this time it had a QWERTY keyboard.

“What do you think it could be?” Asked Kiro. I hummed and drummed my fingers on my arm. 

“Well, with the last one, I put in a random code to see how many numbers were needed for the code. Maybe we could start there?” I bent down and started typing in random letters. The keyboard stopped typing after four letters then flashed red. A grinding noise came from behind us. Kiro and I turned and saw a panel from the floor slowly opening. The sound of metallic buzzing filled the air as drones flew out one by one from the hole. They formed a line in the air and flashed red lasers right towards us. Their laser zeroed in, pointing directly at my forehead. 

“Watch out!” Kiro lunged at me just in time for the drones to start shooting. The bullets whizzed over us to the control panel for the room, completely destroying it. A loud click came from the door as it swung open. The drones stopped shooting as their lasers came back on to look for their target.

“Go!” I shoved Kiro off of me and to the door, “I’ll distract them!”

“Are you nuts?” Kiro scoffed, “You’ll be-”

“They are after me, not you!” I looked up just in time for the drones to spot me with their lights again, “Go! I’ll follow!” I pushed off of the ground just as the drones started firing again. But, instead of stopping this time, the drones followed my movements. Keeping close to my tail as I ran around the room to lose them. I looked back and caught a glimpse of Kiro running into the room. Satisfied with the fact that he was safe, I started looking around the room for a way out of the predicament I was in. I spotted the opening on the floor.

An idea in mind, I made my way to it. The bullets rained relentlessly around me as I slid to the flooring. I grabbed an edge from the paneling and pulled it up. From the force of my Evol, I was able to peel it away easily, holding it in front of my face and blocking the bullets as they pelted the paneling. The bullets stopped and red lights lit up the ground around me. Taking advantage of the pause. I quickly bent the panel in my hand into an arch and threw it at the drones. The panel flew in a curve, crashing into the drones in their perfect line.

More drones came from the flooring. With no time to waste, I booked it to the door. Kiro stood there with an outstretched hand. I took it and, with help from his pull, I flew into the room. Kiro raced to the door and shut it. I ran over to it as well, offering extra support. 

We waited for what seemed like forever for any sign that the drones would come back. Eventually, Kiro sighed. “I think… we’re good.” He said, a hint of uncertainty playing at his tongue. I let go of the breath I was unaware that I was holding and panted heavily, falling to my knees and resting my head on the door. Kiro slid down next to me, placing a hand on my shoulder. “Are you alright?” He asked urgently, “Are you hurt?” I shook my head, answering both of the questions honestly. Kiro sighed and removed his hand. “Man.” He laughed, “They’ve got some weak defenses if that flimsy flooring could take them down.”

“Right.” I sighed, turning to sit next to Kiro. I looked around the dark room. It was nothing like the others. It was an average size, the walls and floor a dark grey, making the room seem dreary and uninviting. The carpet under us was hard, likely flattened after years of being walked on. At the back of the room was a metal desk with a keyboard and mouse. Six flat screen monitors hung from the wall and pointed to the singular wheely chair that sat in front of them. A computer sat under the desk, buzzing slightly.

I groaned as I slowly stood up. Kiro grabbed my arm quickly. “I don’t have a good feeling about this.” He whispered to me. I looked over to the computer.

“I’m sure we could take it.” I winked at Kiro. He smiled slightly but still kept a firm hold of my arm. I motioned for him to stand up. He did so, sliding his hand down into mine, stopping my heart in the process. I looked up at Kiro. 

His focus was locked on the computer. He had a strange look in his eyes. As if he had some idea what the computer might hold. But that would be impossible. Unless Kiro knew Montu in some way…

I shook my head. No. He couldn't. Kiro's life was just as at risk here as mine. 

Kiro’s eyes finally fell from the computer and onto me, catching my eyes in his. “Everything ok?” He asked, tightening his grip around my hand. I slowly nodded, turning from him and looking at the computer. 

“Let’s get a closer look.” I walked to the computer, releasing my hand from Kiro's to take the lead. Kiro stalled a moment but eventually joined my side. 

I inspected the monitors. Nothing seems off about them. I looked down at the desk.  A keyboard and mouse sat in the middle of it. I tapped the enter key. The screen in the middle of the six turned on. Another password needed to be typed in. “Ok, we get it.” I groaned, “You’re hiding something. Can we just get on with this stupid gambit?” I moved the keyboard to me. Kiro moved the keyboard back before I could start typing. 

“I don’t think we should just type something willy nilly into the computer.” He said seriously, “This isn’t the same as the others. If we don’t do this carefully, we’ll get kicked out.”

“That’s very inquisitive of you, Kiro, but what other choice do we have?” I reached my hand out to him, “Do you see a sign or a post-it note in here that tells us the password?”

“But-”

“Kiro, the only other way out of here is through the killer drones behind that door. If you’d rather deal with them then be my guest.” Without wasting any more time, I moved the keyboard back to me and typed in random letters. The screen went black again. I braced myself… but nothing happened.

“Did I really guess it right the first-” My words were cut off by a loud siren. The screen glowed red as bright red text flashed on the screen.

“System Wipe commencing in 3:00”

The time started counting down from three minutes. I cursed and tried hitting the escape button. Then, when that didn’t work, every other button on the keyboard. In a flash, Kiro whipped the keyboard from me and took a seat in the chair. He pulled something from his vest pocket and bent down to the computer. When he sat back up he was holding a phone with a wire connecting it to the computer. I froze. He had a phone all along? Why didn’t he tell me? Why didn’t he use it? Why was he using it now…?

Kiro’s phone suddenly filled with small, green text, appearing and disappearing quickly. Kiro tapped at his screen quickly, eyes skimming the screen quickly as he did so. I looked back up at the time on the monitors. 

1:30 

and counting. 

I clenched my teeth and looked down at Kiro, helpless. With nothing else I could do, I placed my hand on Kiro’s shoulder, clenching it tightly, hoping for it to be comforting in some way. 

Soon the time had gotten to 10... 

9...

8...

7...

6...

5...

4...

3...

With one theatrical flourish, Kiro tapped a sting of letters into the keyboard in front of him. Everything went black. Then text appeared across the six monitors.

“Welcome, Key.”

I whipped my head to Kiro. He met my eyes. A look of worry and surprise splayed across his face.

“You’re Key?!” My voice became loud and uneven.

“I can explain.” He said, holding his hands up. I grabbed a bundle of his shirt and lifted him up and off of the chair. I held him close to my face.

“Then you’d better start talking.” I said through my teeth. 

Before he had the chance to talk, the chair under Kiro spun in place. One of the hand rests caught Kiro in the side and pulled him from my grasp. Kiro roughly fell back into the chair as it turned and pointed away from me. The chair extended forward, launching Kiro out of it. He fell to the floor harshly and with a grunt. The chair spun back around. The hand rest hit my knee, making it buckle just enough for it to scoop me into the seat. The chair pushed itself into the desk, locking me in place. I moved to push away but bars shot up from the sides of the handrests, locking my arms down onto it. 

I was stuck.

I cursed and struggled against the straps. “Ike!” Kiro called from beside me. I turned to look just as Kiro reached out to me. The floor rumbled from underneath us. With no warning, walls shot up from each side of me, cutting me completely off from Kiro and the rest of the room. I pulled at the arm rests. The chair seemed so dainty! It was just a casual chair a moment ago! With my evol, I should be able to just bust out of-

The monitors went completely black. 

They were soon replaced by more text:

The Black Swan Collective.

I stopped struggling.

We come from the future, with the sole purpose to accelerate Human evolution. We possess Evol. We create all.

I hitched my breath. A group of Evolvers? Here? What were they planning? What did it have to do with me?

No one can stop us, for we hold the world in our hands. The Queen will soon awake. As will her Rook.

A strange feeling overcame my chest. What does that mean? I didn’t know a queen or a black swan collective… then why did I feel so strangely at that statement? Why did it almost seem… familiar?

Together, they will reform this world into one that will be worthy of our existence.

We look forward to marching together into a new world.

Pictures began to flash on the screen, one after another, the scenes depicted all not quite clear. A sealed room with no light, an empty experiment table with several beakers of chemical compounds next to it. A wall full of cabinets. People in white gathering under a surgical lamp.

I heard blood rushing to my temples. I struggled to find composure, something to pull me back into reality, But I couldn’t. My mind was focused solely on the pictures on the screens as more pictures overwhelmed my senses. One picture made my breath hitch.

There, on an experiment table, lying peacefully, was a familiar looking brown haired girl. 

The next picture came on the screen. The girl was lying next to a boy. One with bright blonde hair and a dazzling aura. Another picture came. This time that small brown haired girl was in a room, sitting on a bed next to another girl. The other girl’s hair was also brown but her hair was different. It was bushy and a mess of rats and tangles. And her eyes were a bright blue. They shone as she spoke to the little girl next to her. They were holding hands. 

My own hands started shaking.

The next picture showed a lab but things had gone awry. Tables were flipped and broken glass scattered the floor. Strange substances laced through the floor tiles and coated the bushy haired little girl as she stood in the corner of the room. She was protectively standing over the first girl, who was curled in a ball against the corner. The bushy haired girl’s eyes showed no fear as she protected the girl. Not only that, 

but they were now crimson red.

My hands shook even harder as hidden memories came crashing to my senses. Sounds of glass smashing, people yelling, sirens going off, and screaming.

The next picture made all of the sounds disappear. Men in lab coats were separating the girls. The little brown haired girl was protectively blocked by the men while several men struggled to hold down the bushy brown haired girl. Her mouth was open as if she was screaming as tears streamed down her face. 

My hands stopped shaking.

Don’t take her away, I found myself thinking, She’s hurting. Leave her alone! She doesn’t want to be hurt any more! I told her I would protect her! I promised I would! Get away from-

Unable to take the noise in my head any longer, I screamed. A power like I had felt only once before flooded my body. I closed my eyes, finally regaining my composure and remembering the state I was in.

 I was trapped.

 I needed to move.

 Now! 

With my new found power, I ripped my arms from the restraints. Bands snapped at my strength, clanking to the floor loudly.  I stood up and threw the chair aside. Avoiding any more eye contact with the pictures, I raised my fist and threw it into the monitors. Electricity sparked from them with every hit I threw. I didn’t stop until the only thing that was left was rubble. I panted heavily, looking down at the mess I had just made. My eyes skimmed over the computer under the table. I picked it up. Without hesitation. I crushed it between my hands, letting sparks fly and enjoying the screams it gave off. They can’t hurt her anymore. They won’t hurt her again. 

I won't let them.

(Next)

[feraldavestrider]

i never check my mentions apparently @alpacalmond and @uiyutrentasei tagged me in a GTKM thing so im gonna do it oh uhhhh 2 weeks later LOL because i cant sleep and i hate myself

i tag @hal-strider if they didnt do it? and @noctiilucent, @kiyumiarashi, @whimsicmimic and @ataliaf uwu and anyone else who wants to do it!!

how tall are you: this is a cryptid question. i get a different result every time i try to measure myself and ive never asked anyone else to do it for me. some people tell me im very short, others have told me im average height for someone who is afab. im gonna hazard a guess at 5′5 tho.

what colour are your eyes: very dark brown

do you wear contacts and/or glasses: glasses. i literally CANNOT see without them. i mean like 2 inches from my glasses-less face is so blurry its unbelievable. i get super triggered by eye stuff tho so contacts are a no go ALSO i look weird w/o glasses anyway.

do you wear braces: no my teeth r p good actually. one is a bit wonky but thats life

what is your fashion style: i mean 90% panties and a sweaty 4 day tshirt because i just spend all day in my room like a goblin. BUT when i actually go out im ur basic ass post-emo trans dude with skinny jeans, converse and a too-big graphic tee. sometimes i spice it up with a plaid shirt because im fuckin GAY.

when were you born: october 12th 1999, babey

how old are you: 18 motherfucker flashes my titties and gulps a bottle of vodka im an ADULT

do you have any siblings: yes. a younger brother and hes a cunt

what school/college do you go to: im at sixth form rn (last yr of highschool technically if ur american but im not and hs finishes at 16 yrs old here deal with it). im going uni next yr tho and this years almost over for me academically since we go on study leave soon for our final exams. uwu overshares

what kind of student are you: the asshole who never studies for tests and does homework at 5am the morning before and still manages to pull straight As to everyones anger. im also the adhd class clown who makes random noises and cant concentrate half the time. ik i hate myself too im so annoying irl even more so than online.

what are your favorite subjects: in terms of actual content of the subject, english lit fs. in terms of classmates/teachers/general atmosphere DEFFO drama we spend half of our time eating cake, singing random shit and just losing our minds while filming it on snapchat which shouldnt at all be allowed.

what are your favorite movies: god idek. um. fuck. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA i cant think of a single movie. ok ok ok i got it: white chicks, premium rush, scott pilgrim vs the world, the cornetto triology too i just love edgar hes such a great director. i like a lot of the marvel movies esp the spiderman hc and thor ragnorok and both gotg were p good. i love a lot of movies my brains just a void that sucks memories up into its fat gob and steals them from me forever.

what are your pastimes: sleeping, crying, used to be rping but i gave up on that, playing overwatch way too much and getting tilted because im shit, reading fanfictions did i say sleeping

do you have many regrets: dude. my guy. come in close. let me whisper in ur ear. are you close? no, closer. ok. 

YES

what is your dream job: whoo boy. im do indecisive and i think a LOT of jobs seem super cool that id never do i.e. be an actor or be in a band. my dream job since i was like 8 was to be a writer which is unlikely since i cant even finish a pwp oneshot. but thatd be cool. id also like to write plays and direct them but thats also wild and v dream > reality. 

would you like to get married: honestly. marriage as an institution? angers me. i dont like a lot of things about it. BUT. part of the reason i hate it is honestly if ur in a long long term relationship with someone ur better off married than not in terms of the benefits so. id happily get married if the other person wanted and/or we felt like it was the right thing to do, i just dont really care about being married or having a wedding tbh.

do you want kids? how many if so: no. hard pass. i might adopt if im long-term with someone who SUPER wants kids but that likely wont happen because i dont want to get into a long-term relationship with someone so desperate for kids since i dont have that same enthusiasm. sorry. ill be ur uncle gabe but im not having my own children im just not well equipped to literally have a full time job of making sure little idiots (meant affectionately) who dont know fuck from shit dont just straight up die. i can barely do that for myself.

how many countries have you visited: shit dude actually ive only visited like... uh... 4??? a lot of my holidays tend to be to the same countries (portugal/america) so i dont have that much experience like i feel like i do.

what was your scariest dream: hmmmm. when i was a kid i had these recurring dreams where i worked at this like. “zoo” where these MASSIVE, i mean ABSOLUTELY MASSIVE string rays that were also pancakes were like. hooked up to make electricity? anyway i hated the job because we all abused the rays super bad to make them generate the power and it sucked and it was all dystopian. there was stuff where like we had to kill the baby rays and stuff. anyway one day it went all planet of the apes and they broke out somehow and could fly and they killed loads of people and i had to go into hiding because they were super clever and could id who had worked at the zoo plant and wanted revenge. its super weird ik but this is pretty tame for my dreams they go HARD and BIZARRE and this one always made me wake up feeling super sick and scared idk. ur welcome.

do you have a boyfriend/girlfriend/significant other: no im lonely but its ok because i need to work on me 

put your playlist on shuffle and without skipping the first 15 songs: ok so i dont really have a “playlist” per se so im just gonna use my top 100 2017 songs on spotify which ignores a lot of my non-spotify non-2017 bangers but whatever.

1) ‘My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark’ by FOB

2) ‘Tuxford Fall’ - Vasudeva

3) ‘Our Lawyer Made Us Change The Name Of This Song So We Wouldn’t Get Sued’ - FOB

4) ‘Fried Noodles: Getter Remix’ - Pink Guy, Getter (listen ive never watched any filthy frank he weirds me out but this is a banger)

5) ‘Brick By Boring Brick’ - Paramore

6) ‘Thnks Fr Th Mmrs’ - FOB (i really dont listen to this much fob this is crazy)

7) ‘Death Note L’s Theme Goes Metal’ - Charlie Parra del Riego (theres no defence for this)

8) ‘Turnstile’ - Vasudeva

9) ‘Idle Worship’ - Paramore

10) ‘Monster’ - Paramore

11) ‘Miss Missing You’ - FOB

12) ‘The City’ - Madeon

13) ‘Far Too Young To Die’ - P!ATD

14) ‘Don’t Stop’ - Nothing More (really this is the band i listen to much smh these results are so skewed)

15) ‘Smile Like You Mean It’ - The Killers

[zirawrites]

Hey I really like your blog! I got quite a few questions from the questionnaire I'd like to ask, you by no means have to answer them all if you don't want to! Questions 2, 4, 5, 8, 10, 13, 20, 24, 26, 27, 29, 31, 43, 47. Hope that's not too much, okay love you bye

FALLOUT OC QUESTIONNAIRE

I’m honestly so glad someone wrote me with questions about my OG/OC Fallout 4 character! I only have one playthrough because I feel like I’m cheating on my character when I make another one. Her name is Zelda Draper (goes by Draper) and she sided with the Railroad. She romanced Cait, MacCready, Hancock, and Gage (though she killed him), but I like to pretend she’s really married to Deacon.

2. Which faction(s) did they join and which did they destroy? Why?

Draper initially joined all the factions, but she ended up choosing the Railroad. After seeing how terrible humanity treated itself after the bombs fell, Draper had little faith in other people. She rather help innocent synths that were a creation of the same species that killed her family than “waste time” building up settlements.

4. Give us a summary of their backstory.

Draper was a double-agent who played both the Railroad and Institute. On one hand, she couldn’t imagine taking down her own son. Shaun was her entire life. She dreamed of building a family with Nate. But after the bombs fell, Draper couldn’t care less about the fate of humanity. She almost wanted the Commonwealth to suffer because of how bitter she was.

She found solace in both the Railroad’s mantra of saving innocent synths and her partner Deacon. The more missions Draper went on with him to help escaped synths, the more she was falling in love with the organization. Draper felt that the synths were being abused in the Institute, so when she found out her son was dying, it solidified her position that the Institute must be stopped before they looked for a new figurehead. She didn’t think the other scientists would give her the Director title without a fight.

5. What’s their full name and does it have a meaning? Do they have any nicknames and how did they get em?

Her name is Zelda Draper, but everyone calls her Draper (or Charmer, of course). Draper comes from an affluent family that avidly enjoyed the gossip surrounding the Fitzgeralds. 

In reality, I found out Codsworth could say Draper and got super pumped. If it hadn’t had been for that aspect of the game, I would have simply called her Zelda. I thought you had to choose a name he could say (I was new to video games, give me a break!).

8. Do they have any medical conditions? Is medicine/ treatment available for them?

Draper is extremely healthy. Though she sometimes struggles with an on-and-off relationship with chems (especially Mentats and Buffout), overall she is perfectly normal.

EDIT: I’m adding this as an extra blurb. Draper is extremely mentally withdrawn. She obviously is suffering from PTSD after the trauma of losing her family and being thrown in to a post-apocalyptic wasteland. Instead of feeling anxiety, Draper is very detached from her emotions. This may be depression, or just a mental break. She actually joined the Children of Atom as a way to filter through her grief and animosity towards the nuclear fallout. She knows the fanatics are full of lies, but it makes her feel better treating the bomb as fate.

10. What do they fear the most?

Losing people who are close to them. Draper used to be warm and outgoing. When she lost Nate and Shaun, she refused to let her mental health slip any further. Draper rarely interacts with her settlers, or even the synths she saves. She keeps to her close companions, figuring if she has less of a chance of being hurt if she only has a handful of people to lose.

13. What Wasteland threat do they fear the most? (ex. Deathclaws, super mutants, raiders)

Draper hates running in to rouge Institute scientists or remnants of the Brotherhood. It reminds of her of the atrocities she’s committed to secure the Railroad’s success. She is also extremely uncomfortable by feral ghouls, especially because they remind her of what just a few more rads could do to Hancock.

20. Do they have any hobbies? What are they?

Draper loves collecting things from her travels. She has an entire shelf dedicated to trinkets. Among those are toy collectibles of different General Atomics robots and gifts her companions give her. MacCready’s wooden soldier sits proudly in the middle.

She also keeps a lot of clothing from her enemies. After freeing the slaves from Nuka World, Draper brought back all different sorts of garbs. For weeks all of Sanctuary was dressed as raiders. Preston didn’t appreciate the particularly pink and colorful outfit she saved just for him from The Pack.

24. Do they express their emotions freely or hide their true feelings?

She is stone fucking cold. The only emotion Draper lets you know she is feeling is annoyance. If she’s upset, Draper usually gets sarcastic. When she knows she’ll feel particularly upset about a certain mission, she wears duplicates of Deacon’s sunglasses. Draper raided the entire Institute wearing aviators so Shaun wouldn’t see her cry.

26. How do they come off to others? What first impression do they usually make?

Draper is a woman of many trades. It’s extremely hard to read how she’s feeling, especially because she’s always wearing shades and long, dark clothing. If you meet her through the Railroad (people like escaped synths or new agents), she is actually friendly. Draper tries to put her allies at ease, and doesn’t mind asking you about yourself.

If you meet Draper as regular Commonwealth folk, she is more reserved. She won’t be outright rude to you, but Draper likes to make sure you know she’s the most fearsome in the room. She’ll usually let her companion do most of the talking.

27. Do they prefer to travel alone or with company? Who have they traveled with if any? Current companion if any?

Surprisingly, Draper rarely travels alone. She has no problem being by herself, but bring along friends makes the time pass a little quicker. If she is visiting settlements or doing any positive work, Draper brings Nick or Hancock. Both of them are quick enough to keep the conversation interesting, and appreciate her helping other settlers.

In most other cases, Draper brings along Deacon or Cait. Her choices most align with causing a little trouble and not always doing the right thing. Neither of them seem to mind.

29. What do they find most attractive in others? Name at least one psychological and physical trait. (doesn’t have to be romantic attraction)

The best way to catch Draper’s attention is to have a sense of humor. She tends to be cynical, and anyone even more dramatic would bring both of them down. Quick wit and sarcasm will always catch her attention and gain her admiration.

Draper isn’t too picky about physical traits. However, she’ll never turn down a warm smile or bright eyes. It’s more about how confident you present yourself versus what you aesthetically look like.

31. What’s their love life like? Are they interested in anyone or in a relationship?

Draper had been in several relationships with companions before marrying Deacon. She was first involved with MacCready and even exchanged Nate’s wedding ring for his wooden soldier. Additionally, Draper wears his hat everywhere she goes. I mean, it’s a pretty great hat. She eventually had a fling with Hancock because their sense of humor is the most similar. He also didn’t judge her for her occasional stint with chems. Draper was briefly involved with Gage before destroying Nuka World. Luckily she didn’t physically kill him, it was Curie who shot him when he became hostile. Probably to spare her anguish.

Draper’s only bisexual experience has been with Cait. She had never been involved with women before the war, and hasn’t been with another woman since (though Piper often makes constant advances… I haven’t shut down her final affinity speech yet). It was only after securing Nuka World and going on a few more missions with Deacon that Draper realized she was in love with him.

43. What weapon(s) do they always carry with them?

Draper has heavily modified the Deliverer that Deacon gave her on their first mission together. She rarely uses it, but it’s always a sweet memento and she feels like he is with her when they’re apart. 

Draper also always has some kind of radiation gun from the Children of Atom. Since joining the cult, it just feels natural to have something like that if she ever runs in to her brethren. 

47. What’s their favorite radio station and song? (post-apocalypse)

You can’t beat the classics in Diamond City. She usually listens to “It’s All Over But The Crying” because that was the first song that played when she left the vault. It makes her think of her first day in the Commonwealth when she seemed to be the only one mourning an event that happened 200 years ago.

[weekendwarriorblog]

WHAT TO WATCH THIS WEEKEND November 8, 2019 – DOCTOR SLEEP, MIDWAY, LAST CHRISTMAS, MARRIAGE STORY and more

Well, last weekend was a thing, wasn’t it? The movie I liked the most didn’t do great, the movie I really wasn’t into did better than expected, and Terminator: Dark Fate? Yeah, that’s the end of that franchise… hopefully?

This week, there’s some good, some bad and some okay to decent. I’m probably under embargo on the two bad movies so you’ll just have to guess which is which.

Actually, I already reviewed Mike Flanagan’s DOCTOR SLEEP (Warner Bros.) over at The Beat, and my review of Roland Emmerich’s MIDWAY (Lionsgate) will probably havegone up over there by the time you’ve read this. That just leaves Universal’s holiday rom-com LAST CHRISTMAS and Paramount’s PLAYING WITH FIRE.

Doctor Sleepis the latest Stephen King adaptation, this one based on his 2013 novel that is a sequel to The Shining, the movie starring Ewan McGregor as the older Danny Torrance, Rebecca Ferguson as “Rose the Hat” and newcomer Kyliegh Curran as Abra Stone, a young girl with powers who turns to Danny to help her face Rose and her gang of roving power vampires. As you can read in my review, this one isn’t so bad, and if you’re a fan of The Shining, there’s stuff for you to enjoy even though it’s not nearly as scary.

Not sure what more I can say about Midway, other than it’s Emmerich’s version of the WWII Pacific battle with a mostly-male cast that includes Woody Harrelson, Patrick Wilson, Aaron Eckhart, Randy Quaid and many more, most of whom have done better work. Basically, I wasn’t a fan, and I’m not sure how well it will do even with Monday being Veterans Day. I’ll be curious to see how others feel about the movie.

Also, not much to say about Playing with Fire other than its John Cena doing a family comedy with director Andy Fickman, Kegan Michael-Key, John Leguizamo, the wonderful Judy Greer, and honestly, I doubt anyone who might read this column would have any interest. Put it this way, it’s no Instant Family, one of my favorite movies from last year.

In many ways, my favorite movie of the weekend is Last Christmas, directed by Paul Feig from Bridesmaids and Ghostbusters, which is indeed based loosely on the George Michael song of the same name, but it brings together Emilia Clarke with Henry Golding from Crazy Rich Asians, as well as Michelle Yeoh from Crazy Rich Asians, and Emma Thompson, who co-wrote the film.

I’ll have an interview with Feig over at Next Best Picture very soon, but here’s my short review…

Mini-Review: You know you have to be doing something right if you make a Christmas rom-com that’s able to get a Jew into the Christmas spirit while watching your movie even before Halloween, but that’s the case with this great collaboration between Paul Feig with Emma Thompson.

I’m not sure what I was expecting, but I was definitely surprised by how much I liked Emilia Clarke in the role of a fuck-up who can’t seem to find a regular living place since her roommates keep kicking her out. She works at a Christmas shop in London’s busy market owned by Michelle Yeoh, who is lovingly known as “Santa.” One night, her character Kate encounters a handsome and mysterious young man named Tom (Henry Golding), and the two become friends and then get closer.

It’s pretty amazing to see Clarke doing something we really haven’t seen her do before and that’s being funny, but she also sings in the movie and has a nature that some might deem “Manic Pixie Dream Girl”-ish. In fact, she plays an elf. (rimshot) It’s hard not to think of Zooey Deschanel in Elf as you watch Clarke spend time in her work costume but Kate is very likable and nothing like Clark’s previous roles. Golding is as charming and handsome as ever, making him come across like the new Hugh Grant, but their scenes together propel Last Christmas into a place where you really feel for both of them.

There are aspects to Last Christmas that are predictable, including a twist that’s literally spoiled in the first few minutes of the movie, but the movie is just so enjoyable overall that this can be forgiven. Even if you’re the worst Scrooge about the holidays, it’s hard not to enjoy all of the Christmas spirit permeating this movie, particularly Yeoh’s character, but it also finds a way to make you feel good about helping others during the holidays, something that I hope rubs off on anyone who sees this.

Basically, Last Christmas is a romantic comedy that’s actually romantic and very funny, as well as a great way to kick-off the holiday movie season! It’s taken some time, but Love Actually finally has a worthy successor.

Rating: 8/10

You can read more about the new wide releases over at The Beat.

LOCAL FESTIVALS

The big festival hitting New York this weekend, today in fact, is this year’s installation of DOC-NYC, which boasts 300 films and events circulating around the world of documentary filmmaking, including many World Premieres, as well as screenings of some of the year’s biggest commercial and critical hits in terms of docs.

Oddly, tonight’s Opening Night is Daniel Roher’s Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and the Band, which was also the opening night gala of TIFF this year. I still haven’t seen it. Closing night is the NYC premiere of Ebs Burnough’s The Capote Tapes, which I also haven’t seen. The festival is giving Visionary Tribute Lifetime Achievement awards to Michael Apted, who will screen the latest in his ongoing doc series, 63 Up, as well as to Martin Scorsese, whose Netflix film Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story will screen. I actually haven’t seen too many movies in this year’s festival just cause I’ve been busy with other things, but I have seen Joe Berlinger’s The Longest Wave about windsurfer icon Robby Naish and Keith Fulton and Lou Pepe’s He Dreams of Giants, a great follow-up to Lost in La Mancha, which follows Terry Gilliam’s efforts to finally make The Man Who Killed Don Quixote. Other movies include the World Premiere of Beth B’s Lydia Lunch: The War is Never Over on Saturday night, the NYC Premieres of Oren Jacoby’s On Broadway, Beth Kopple’s Desert One, Kristof Bilsen’s Mother plus many more. (On top of that, my own group, the Critics Choice Association will be announcing its own Critics Choice Documentary Awards this Sunday.)

LIMITED RELEASES

There are two can’t-miss movies this weekend, the first of them being Noah Baumbach’s latest Marriage Story, which in my opinion is the best film he’s made in his entire career, and that’s saying something. This one stars Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson as a couple going through a divorce, and if this sounds familiar, it might be since Baumbach’s 2005 movie The Squid and The Whale was also about a divorce, that of his parents. It’s hard not to think that at least some of Marriage Story might be based on Baumbach’s own divorce from actor Jennifer Jason Leigh as Driver plays a theater director and Johansson plays an actor who appears in many of his plays. The real sticking point is their 6-year-old son and the fact that Johansson’s character wants to put him in school in California where she has an upcoming job, but his father, who is about to bring his play to Broadway without his wife, wants him in New York. At first, the couple plan on divorcing without lawyers and remaining friends, but as lawyers are brought on board – played by Laura Dern, Alan Alda and Ray Liotta – things just get more vicious. Not only is this one of Baumbach’s best-realized screenplay but the performances he gets out of his cast are indelible, particularly Driver and Johansson who have a number of highly charged scenes together, including one that’s absolutely unforgettable. It’s easily one of the best movies of the year, and it will be very much in the awards race. Marriage Story opens on Wednesday (today!) in New York – at the City Cinemas (formerly the Paris Theatre) and IFC Center – in L.A. and a few other cities. It won’t debut on Netflix until December 6.

Another movie that definitely needs to be seen is HONEY BOY (NEON), written by and starring Shia LaBeouf and directed by Alma Har’el, who has previously directed documentaries and music videos. It’s loosely based on some of LaBeouf’s own experiences as a child actor dealing with a turbulent relationship with his father with Noah Jupe from A Quiet Place and next week’s Ford vs. Ferrari playing the young actor “Otis Lort” who later in life (played by Lucas Hedges) is dealing with the repercussions of an alcoholic father, played by LaBeaouf, apparently based on his own father? It’s a really amazing film that obviously was extremely cathartic for LaBeouf to write while he was going through his own rehab therapy, plus he also has singer FKA twigs making her feature film debut as an amorous neighbor of Otis who lives at the motel where he stays with his father. I’m not going to say too much more about the film other than it’s extremely powerful and emotional

There are a couple decent docs opening this weekend, the one I recommend first and foremost being Roger Ross Williams’ THE APOLLO, which will open at the Metrographafter opening this year’s Tribeca Film Festival. It’s an amazing look at the landmark Harlem theater that’s made so many careers over the years from performers like Aretha Franklin and James Brown, combining amazing archival footage with new interviews.

I haven’t gotten around to seeing Lauren Greenfield’s new documentaryThe Kingmaker (Showtime), which will open at the Quad Cinema in New York before it airs on Showtime, but this one is about the political career of Imelda Marcos, the Philippines’ first lady who became almost more famous than her President husband Ferdinand, mainly for her collection of shoes.

Samuel Bathrick’s doc 16 Bars opens at New York’s Village East Cinema and in L.A. next Friday. It follows Arrested Development’s “Speech” Thomas as he works with in mates in a Virginia jail to write and record original music as part of their rehabilitation.

Netflix is also releasing Despicable Me co-creator Sergio Pablos’ animated film Klaus in theaters this Friday in advance of its worldwide streaming debut on Netflix on November 15. It features Jason Schwartzmann as the voice of Jesper, a spoiled rich kid son of the postmaster who is sent to a frozen island in the Arctic circle where he finds allies in a local schoolteacher (voiced by Rashida Jones) and meets a mysterious carpenter named Klaus (voiced by J.K. Simmons).

Opening at New York’s Cinema Village is Joel Souza’s CROWN VIC (Screen Media) starring Thomas Jane as a veteran cop with Luke Kleintank (also in Midway) as his rookie cop who are looking for a missing girl and hunting two cop killers in Los Angeles. It also stars Bridge Moynihan.

Nicolas Cage stars in PRIMAL (Lionsgate) as Frank Walsh, a hunter and collector of rare and exotic animals who catches a rare white jaguar, except that the ship taking his cargo also includes a political assassin being sent to the U.S. who breaks free and lets the jaguar loose. So this is like Life of Pi only with more Nicolas Cage? It also stars Famke Janssen, Kevin Durand and Michael Imperioli and opens in select cities asnd On Demand.

Similarly, Danger Close (Saban Films) will be in theatrs, On Demand and Digital, this one starring Travis Fimmel (Warcraft) as Major Harry Smith in Kriv Stenders’ war movie, written by Stuart Beattie. It follows Smith as he takes a group of 108 young soldiers from Australia and New Zealand into the Battle of Long tan against 2,500 Viet Cong soldiers. I guess this is an alternative to Midway for Veterans’ Day?

STREAMING AND CABLE

Debuting on Netflix is Luke Snellin’s holiday rom-com Let It Snow, starring Isabela Moner (Dora and the Lost City of Gold), Odeya Rush, Shameik Moore and Liv Hewson as a group of high school seniors in a Midwestern town who are snowbound on Christmas Eve. It’s based on a book by John Green, Maureen Johnson and Lauren Myracle.

REPERTORY

Let’s get to some old(er) movies, starting with the Metrograph in New York, who begins a series with filmmaker Noah Baumbach in Residence in conjunction with the release of Baumbach’s latest and greatest, Marriage Story. Besides screening Baumbach’s own 1995 film Kicking and Screaming, 2005’s The Squid and the Whale and 2007’s Margot at the Wedding, Baumbach will present screenings of Spike Lee’s Crooklyn (1994) on Saturday, Eric Rohmer’s Pauline at the Beach (1983), which inspired Margot with more movies to come between now and November 22. The Metrograph also continues its Welcome To Metrograph: Redux series with Shunji Iwai’s 2001 film All About Lily Chou-Chouon Thursday and again on Saturday. This weekend’s Playtime: Family Matinees is Steven Spielberg’s 1981 classic Raiders of the Lost Ark, while Late Nites at Metrograph  will screen Bong Joon-wo’s The Host on Thursday through Sunday, way too late for this old man. You’ll also have another opportunity to see Hitchcock’s 1971 thriller Frenzy on Thursday night.

TheFilm Forumwill be screening Yasujirô Ozu’s 1957 film Tokyo Twilight in a new 4k restoration starting Friday, as well as bringing back his 1953 film Tokyo Story, as well, continuing from the Shatamachi series which ends Thursday. The Forum is also screening Henry King’s 1949 movie Twelve O’Clock a few more times this weekend, and on Sunday and Monday, it will screen Rowland Brown’s 1933 film Blood Money. This weekend’s Film Forum Jr. is George Lucas’ American Graffiti.

The IFC Center is gonna be pretty busy with Doc-NYC (see above) but its Waverly Midnights: Spy Games offering will be Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997) and Late Night Favorites: Autumn 2019 will screen Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange (one of my favorites).

Opening at the Quad on Friday is a 4k 20thAnniversary restoration of Joan Micklin Silver’s A Fish in the Bathtub, starring real-life husband-wife comedy duo Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara. The 1999 comedy from the director of Hester Street and Crossing Delancey is about a woman who finally had enough with her stubborn husband so she moves in with her married son (played by Mark Ruffalo!!!), driving him crazy enough to convince his sister (Jane Adams) to try to repair the relationship.

The Roxy Cinema will be screening Valley Girlo n Weds and  Alan Parker’s 1984 film Birdy on Thursday, both starring Nicolas Cage, and the 1979 film Draculastarring Frank Langella on Saturday.

Uptown at Film at Lincoln Center, they’re kicking off a short series called Jessica Hausner: The Miracle Worker, including a sneak preview of her sci-fi thriller Little Joe, and showing her earlier films Amour Fou, Hotel,Lourdes, Lovely Ritaand a bunch of shorts.

MOMA continues Modern Matinees: Iris Barry’s History of Film and Vision Statement: Early Directorial Works, the latter showing Sebastian Silva’s The Maidon Wednesday evening, Jane Campion’s The Piano on Thursday, Debra Granik’s Down to the Bone on Friday, John Cassavetes’ Shadows(1959) on Saturday and Kelly Reichardt’s Old Joy (2006) on Sunday, as well as Cristian Mungiu’s 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days.

The Alamo Drafthouse in Brooklyn will show Tom Hanks’ The ‘Burbs on Thursday night in conjunction with Rotten Tomatoes, then next Monday’s Fist City is America Ninja 2: the Confrontation from 1987, Terror Tuesday is one of my favorites, Final Destination 3 (2006) and Weird Wednesday is the 1984 film Decoder.

Out in Astoria, the Museum of the Moving Image will screen Paul Verhoeven’s Starship Troopers (1997) on Saturday as part of its ongoing “No Joke: Absurd Comedy as Political Reality” series. Friday night, its showing Godfrey Reggio’s 1982 classic Koyaanisqatsi, introduced by Ramell Ross as part of his “Some Other Lives of Time: Subjective Spaces for Nonfiction” series. I have no idea what that means. MOMI is also showing Vassilis Douvilis’ The Homecoming as part of “Always on Sunday: Greek Film Series,” which apparently has returned after a six-month hiatus.

Out in L.A., Tarantino’s New Beverly has been showing double features of Jackie Brown with Lewis Teague’s 1980 film Alligator, and no, I don’t know the connection either. Friday’s horror matinee is David Cronenberg’s The Brood while the midnight movies are Pulp Fiction on Friday night and Maniac Cop 3: Badge of Silence on Saturday night. The Kiddee Matinee is one of my faves, The 7th Voyage of Sinbad and then Monday’s matinee is James Mangold’s Cop Land, starring Sylvester Stallone. Next Tuesday’s wacky triple feature is Stunts, Walking the Edge and The Kinky Coches and the Pom-Pom Pussycats. Now THAT is what I call a triple feature...

The Egyptian Theatre is showing Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman in a limited engagement but on Saturday, it will show Raoul Levy’s Hail, Mafia! (1965) as part of “Joe Dante’s 16mm Spotlight” with Mr. Dante in person. Over at the Aero, they’re having a series called “All the Right Stuff: The Artistry of Phillip Kaufman with the director in person and double features of Raiders of the Lost Arkand The Wanderers on Friday, Invasion of the Body Snatchers/The Great Northfield Minnesota Raid on Saturday and The Unbearable Lightness of Being on Sunday (with Juliette Binoche)!

The Friday midnight at Landmark’s Nuart Theater is the anime classic Akira.

Next week, James Mangold’s Ford vs. Ferrari takes on Elizabeth Banks’ Charlie’s Angels and Bill Condon’s The Good Liar, starring Ian McKellen and Helen Mirren.