#Deep cut from William Levin

[cavemanrobot]

Deep cut from William Levin, 2006 Adventures of Cavemanrobot the Musical! at The Brick, with Devon Ludlow and Hope Cartelli

[rubykgrant]

I made a slightly condensed version of my Spooky Ref list; it still has a heck ton of movies and books, but now I combined certain categories, eliminated a few, and removed some of the titles that don’t quite fit. If you are looking for things to watch or read so you can get into the Halloween mood (or of you just like some creepy content), here you go!

Movies and Books for October

These range from children’s media to adult content, so be sure to check the ratings/reviews, this way you’ll find ones that are suitable for the right viewers. The dates of movies and names of authors for books are included to make searches easier

(a * symbol is for when a title is in both sections, a book that got made into a movie, ect)

Halloween and Ghosts

Movies- Hocus Pocus (1993), *the Halloween Tree (1993), the Nightmare before Christmas (1993), Trick r Treat (2007), Monster House (2006), Halloweentown (1998), the Legend of Sleepy Hollow (1949), Scary Godmother Halloween Spooktacular (2003), Poltergeist (1982), the Haunting (1999), Casper (1995), Ghostbusters (1984), the Haunted Mansion (2003), Thirteen Ghosts (2001), the Others (2001)

Books- How to Drive Your Family Crazy on Halloween by Dean Marney,*the Halloween Tree by Ray Bradbury, the Haunted Mask (Goosebumps) by RL Stine, Dark Harvest by Norman Partridge, Stonewords a Ghost Story by Pam Conrad, Deep and Dark and Dangerous by Mary Downing Hahn, Ghost Beach (Goosebumps) by RL Stine, All the Lovely Bad Ones by Mary Downing Hahn, the Crossroads by Chris Grabenstein, Wait Till Helen Comes by Mary Downing Hahn

 Witch/ESP/Mental Powers

Movies- *Practical Magic (1998), *the Wizard of Oz (1939), *the Witches (1990), Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989), Scooby-Doo and the Witch’s Ghost (1999) *Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (2001), the Craft (1996), the Witches of Eastwick (1987), *Carrie (1976), *Firstarter (1984), *Matilda (1996), the Last Mimzy (2007)

Books- *Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman, *the Witches by Roald Dahl, Charmed Life by Diana Wynne Jones, *Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by JK Rowling, *the Wizard of Oz by L Frank Baum, T*Witches by HB Gilmour and Randi Reisfeld, the Worst Witch by Jill Murphy, *Carrie by Stephen King, *Firestarter by Stephen King, *Matilda by Roald Dahl, Scorpion Shards (Star Shards Chronicles) by Neal Shusterman, the Witch’s Boy by Michael Gruber

 Vampire and Werewolf

Movies- Blade (1998), the Little Vampire (2000), Hellboy Blood and Iron (2007), *Hotel Transylvania (2012), Fright Night (2011), What We Do in the Shadows (2014), Alvin and the Chipmunks meet The Wolfman (2000), Ginger Snaps (2000), Van Helsing (2004) Wolf Children (2012), the Wolfman (1941)

Books- Bunnicula by James and Deborah Howe, Dracula by Bram Stoker, ‘Salem’s Lot by Stephen King, Red Rider’s Hood by Neal Shusterman, the Werewolf of Fever Swamp (Goosebumps) by RL Stine, Werewolves Don't Go to Summer Camp (Bailey School Kids) by Debbie Dadey and Marcia Jones, Blood and Chocolate by Annette Curtis Klause, Night of the Werepoodle by Constance Hiser

 Zombies and Slasher/Gore

Movies- Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island (1998), ParaNorman (2012), Night of the Living Dead (1968), *Pet Sematary (1989), Zombieland (2009), Resident Evil (2002), Dawn of the Dead (2004) Scream (1996), a Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), *I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997), Kill Bill (2003), Happy Death Day (2017), the Hills Have Eyes (2006), US (2019), Friday the 13th (1980), the Thing (1982), *the Girl with all the Gifts (2016)

Books- *Pet Sematary by Stephen King, the Haunting of Derek Stone by Tony Abott, Welcome to Dead House (Goosebumps) by RL Stine, *I know What You Did Last Summer by Lois Duncan, the Dark Half by Stephen King, The Dead Girlfriend (Point Horror) by RL Stine, Another by Yukito Ayatsuji, the Prom Queen (Fear Street) by RL Stine, *the Girl with all the Gifts by MR Carey

 Demons/Possession/Afterlife

Movies- the Omen (1976), Insidious (2010), the Exorcist (1973), *Christine (1983), City of Angels (1998), All Dogs go to Heaven (1989), Fallen (1998), *Rosemary’s Baby (1968), Bedazzled (2000), What Dreams May Come (1998), the Book of Life (2014), Flatliners (2017), *the Lovely Bones (2009), Coco (2017), Jennifer’s Body (2009), the Mummy (1999)

Books- *Christine by Stephen King, Needful Things by Stephen King, HECK where the bad kids go by Dale E Bayse,* Rosemary’s Baby by Ira Levin, Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, Paradise Lost by John Milton, Inferno by Dante Alighieri, *the Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

 Monsters/Mythology/Dangerous Animals

Movies- Monsters Inc (2001), Godzilla (1998), *a Monster Calls (2016), *Jurassic Park (1993), King Kong (1933), Doug’s 1st Movie (1999), Darkness Falls (2003), Atlantis the lost empire (2001), Sinbad Legend of the Seven Seas (2003), *the Last Unicorn (1982), Urban Legend (1998), *How to Train Your Dragon (2010), the Flight of Dragons (1982), Shrek (2001), *the Hobbit (1977), Quest for Camelot (1998), Ferngully the last rainforest (1992), Lake Placid (1999), Jaws (1975), *Cujo (1983), Deep Blue Sea (1999), Anaconda (1997)

Books- *a Monster Calls by Patrick Ness, Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, *Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton, Sasquatch by Roland Smith, *the Last Unicorn by Peter S Beagle, the Moorchild by Eloise Jarvis McGraw, the Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians) by Rick Riordan, the Boggart by Susan Cooper, *How to Train Your Dragon by Cressida Cowell, Jeremy Thatcher Dragon Hatcher by Bruce Coville, *the Hobbit by JRR Tolkien, *Cujo by Stephen King, Cat in the Crypt (Animal Ark Hauntings) by Ben M Baglio, Congo by Michael Crichton, Watership Down by Richard Adams, the Dark Pond by Joseph Bruchac

 Dolls and Toys, Circus/Carnival/Clowns, Comedy Horror

Movies- *Coraline (2009), the Adventures of Pinocchio (1996), Child’s Play (1988), Toy Story (1995), 9 (2009), We’re Back a dinosaur’s story (1993), the Care Bears Movie (1985), Little Nemo adventures in Slumberland (1989), *Something Wicked This Way Comes (1983), *Big Top Scooby-Doo (2012), Killer Klowns from Outer Space, *IT (2017), *Beetlejuice (1988), Army of Darkness (1992), Gremlins (1984), Arachnophobia (1990), Jawbreaker (1999), Tremors (1990), the Frighteners (1996), Twilight Zone the Movie (1983), Little Shop of Horrors (1986), Eight Legged Freaks (2002), the Goonies (1985)

Books- Frozen Charlotte by Alex Bell, *Coraline by Neil Gaiman, No Flying in the House by Betty Brock, Doll Bones by Holly Black, Joyland by Stephen King, *Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury, the Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, *IT by Stephen King, the Cuckoo Clock of Doom (Goosebumps) by RL Stine, a Dirty Job by Christopher Moore jr, Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (Treasury) by Alvin Schwartz and illustrated by Stephen Gammell, JTHM (Director’s Cut) by Jhonen Vasquez

 Gothic/Dark Fantasy, Curse/Transformation

Movies- *the Addams Family (1991), Rebecca (1940), Edward Scissorhands (1990), Mama (2013), the Phantom of the Opera (2004), Crimson Peak (2010), Legend (1985), the Dark Crystal (1982), Labyrinth (1986), *the Neverending Story (1984), *the Secret of NIMH (1982), Anastasia (1997), Howl’s Moving Castle (2004), Pan’s Labyrinth (2006), Willow (1988), *the Last Unicorn (1982), the Princess Bride (1987), *Legend of the Guardians the Owls of Ga'Hoole, Beauty and the Beast (1991), the Princess and the Frog (2009), the Swan Princess (1994), the Thing (1982), the Mask (1994), Freaky Friday (2003), Song of the Sea (2014), Pirates of the Caribbean the Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)

Books- the Raven by Edgar Allen Poe, the Shining by Stephen King, Remember Me by Mary Higgins Clark, a Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket, Well Witched (Verdigris Deep) by Frances Hardinge, Poison by Chris Wooding, *the Neverending Story by Michael Ende, *Mrs Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C O'Brien, a Tale Dark and Grimm by Adam Gidwitz, the Dark Portal by Robin Jarvis, Zel by Donna Jo Napoli, *the Last Unicorn by Peter S Beagle, *Guardians of Ga’Hoole by Kathryn Lasky, Owl in Love by Patrice Kindl

 Mystery/Thriller/Psychological/Suspense

Movies- Clue (1985), *Holes (2003), Get Out (2017), Hot Fuzz (2007), Minority Report (2002), Kidnap (2017), Saw (2004), Wind River (2017), Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), the Great Mouse Detective (1986), Eve’s Bayou (1997), Breaking In (2018), Cube (1997), *Secret Window (2004), Silent Hill (2006), the Sixth Sense (1999), the Good Son (1993), Psycho (1960), Donnie Darko (2001), Fargo (1996), the Game (1997), the Invisible Man (2020), Breaking In (2018)

Books- *Holes by Louis Sachar, the Lost (the Outer Limits) by John Peel, We’ll Meet Again by Mary Higgins Clark, When the Bough Breaks by Jonathan Kellerman, *Secret Window Secret Garden (Four Past Midnight) by Stephen King, House of Stairs by William Sleator, Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, Dolores Claiborne by Stephen King, Tangerine by Edward Bloor, Lord of the Flies by William Golding, the Girl who Loved Tom Gordon by Stephen King

 Sci-Fi/Space Aliens, Robots and Technology

Movies- I Robot (2004), the Iron Giant (1999), the Terminator (1984), AI artificial intelligence (2001), the Stepford Wives (2004), Wall-E (2008), *Screamers (1995), *Sphere (1998), *Blade Runner (1982), *2001 a Space Odyssey (1968), MIB (1997), Mission to Mars (2000), Galaxy Quest (1999), Alien (1979), ET the extra terrestrial (1982), Independence Day (1996), Spaced Invaders (1990), Buzz Lightyear of Star Command the Adventure Begins (2000), Chicken Little (2005), *War of the Worlds (1953), *Contact (1997), Signs (2002), Treasure Planet (2002), Frequency (2000), Back to the Future (1985), the Time Machine (1960), Planet of the Apes (1968), Lost in Space (1998)

Books- the Terminal Man by Michael Crichton, Feed by Matthew Tobin Anderson, *Second Variety (Screamers) by Phillip K Dick, *I Robot by Isaac Asimov, Cell by Stephen King, *Sphere by Michael Crichton, *Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep (Blade Runner) by Philip K Dick , *2001 a Space Odyssey by  Arthur C Clarke, a Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle, Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card, the Dark Side of Nowhere by Neal Shusterman, *War of the Worlds by HG Wells, *Contact by Carl Sagan, Childhood’s End by Arthur C Clarke, Aliens Don’t Wear Braces (the Baily School Kids) by Debbie Dadey and Marcia Jones, the Invasion (Animorphs) by KA Applegate

 Dystopia/Disaster, Other Worlds

Movies- Waterworld (1995), the Matrix (1999), Escape from New York (1981), *Demolition Man (1993), the Day After Tomorrow (2004), Volcano (1997), the Fifth Element (1997), Titan AE (2000), Armageddon (1998), Twister (1996), the Birds (1963), the Book of Eli, (2010) Spirited Away (2001), *Alice in Wonderland (1951), Pleasantville (1998), *the Phantom Tollbooth (1970), *the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005), *Hook (1991), the Pagemaster (1994), *James and the Giant Peach (1996)

Books- Among the Hidden by Margaret Peterson Haddix, Uglies by Scott Westerfeld, the Road by Cormac McCarthy, the House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer, 1984 by George Orwell, Armageddon Summer by Bruce Coville and Jane Yolen, the Giver by Lois Lowry, the City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau, *Brave New World (Demolition Man) by Aldous Huxley, Malice by Chris Wooding, * the Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster, *Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, the Golden Compass (His Dark Materials) by Philip Pullman, *The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe (the Chronicles of Narnia) by CS Lewis, *James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl

 Anime/Manga and J-Horror

Movies- Akira (1988), Perfect Blue (1997), Ring (1998), Dark Water (2002), Ghost in the Shell (1995), Tokyo Godfathers (2003), Cat Soup (2001), *Cowboy Bebop the Movie (2001), Blood the Last Vampire (2000), Pokemon the First Movie (1998), Sailor Moon R Promise of the Rose (1993), DBZ the World’s Strongest (1990), Digimon the Movie (2000), Ju-On (2000)

Manga- Claymore by Norihiro Yagi, Death Note by Tsugumi Ohba and illustrated by Takeshi Obata, *Yu Yu Hakusho by Yoshihiro Togashi, *Fullmetal Alchemist by Hiromu Arakawa, *Blue Exorcist by Kazue Katō, *Soul Eater by Atsushi Ōkubo, *Inuyasha by Rumiko Takahashi,

Anime- *Yu Yu Hakusho, *Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood, *Soul Eater, *Blue Exorcist, *Inuyasha, *Cowboy Bebop, Mob Psycho 100, .hack//SIGN , the Promised Neverland, Paranoia Agent, Tokyo Ghoul, Hellsing Ultimate

 Super Hero

Movies- Hellboy (2004), Ghost Rider (2007), the Incredibles (2004), Batman Beyond return of the Joker (2000), TMNT (2007), Logan (2017), Black Panther (2018), Sky High (2005), Spider-Man into the Spider-Verse (2018), Justice League Crisis on Two Earths (2010), Batman Under the Red Hood (2010)

Comics- Animal Man (New 52, 2011) DC Comics, Swamp Thing (New 52, 2011) DC Comics, BPRD Dark Waters (2012) Dark Horse Comics, Nextwave (Agents of HATE, 2006) Marvel Comics

Animated Series- Batman the Animated Series, X-Men Evolution, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003), Darkwing Duck, the Powerpuff Girls, Teen Titans (2005), Static Shock, Green Lantern the Animated Series

 Cartoons and TV shows

Over the Garden Wall, The Simpsons (Treehouse of Horrors), Regular Show (Terror Tales of the Park), Adventure Time (Stakes), Scooby-Doo Where Are You/What’s New Scooby-Doo,  El Tigre the Adventures of Manny Rivera, Phineas and Ferb (Night of the Living Pharmacists), Gravity Falls, Good Omens, Miracle Workers, Grimm, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, What We Do In the Shadows, Hotel Transylvania the series, Wolf’s Rain, Danny Phantom, Aaahh Real Monsters, the Munsters, So Weird, Tutenstein, Gargoyles, Xena Warrior Princess, Are You Afraid of the Dark, Tales from the Crypt, Goosebumps, Samurai Jack, Metalocalypse, Super Jail, My Life as a Teenage Robot, Futurama, the Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, *Beetlejuice (animated series), Sabrina the Animated Series, the Owl House, Bewitched, Growing Up Creepy, the Addams Family (animated series), a Series of Unfortunate Events, Courage the Cowardly Dog, Star VS the Forces of Evil, Amphibia, Infinity Train, Penn Zero Part-Time Hero, Murder She Wrote, the Venture Bros, Avatar the Last Airbender, Invader ZIM, People of Earth, Star Trek Next Gen, Rick and Morty, Buzz Lightyear of Star Command

[youngboy-oldmind]

ALBUM REVIEW: Late Registration


“So they asked me…Why you call it Late Registration Ye?/Cause we taking these motherf***ers back to school!”

Hip-hop trail blazer and Chicago legend Mr. Kanye West follows up his status-establishing album The College Dropout with a sophomore project that proves he’s far from a one hit wonder, relishing in his own league of musical production, lyricism, and soul touching artistry.

Overall Thoughts

I mentioned in an earlier post that Late Registration is my favorite album by Kanye, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that I can endlessly rave about it. In 70 minutes, Late Registration(LR) utilizes the perfect number of skits, Grade-A featured verses from Jay-Z, Nas, Lupe, Common, Paul Wall, Cam’Ron, and Consequence, and a stellar instrumentation that combines old-school soul samples and flawless string orchestration. It also doesn’t hurt that film score composer and record producer Jon Brion helped produce some of the best tracks (Gold Digger, Roses, We Major).

Kanye elevated his pen game on this 2005 classic record. Before he made albums, he was already a solid writer and could definitely put together a verse. On LR, he exceeded to a new level, talking about himself, success, survival, while matching the prophetic vibe of “Jesus Walks” on tracks like “Diamonds From Sierra Leone”, “Roses”, and “Crack Music”. On top of these commentary tracks, he produced the tear-jerking track “Hey Mama”, my favorite dedication-to-mother songs in hip hop period.

I should also acknowledge the skits in LR. Through 4 clips, a story unfolds in a fraternity: Broke Phi Broke. In the four skits, they chant their various financial difficulties and struggles with a sense of pride. And in the final skit, we see Kanye get kicked out of the fraternity for being caught having new shoes in his closet. This is not only hilarious, but a clever commentary on his progress/success, and separation from the common plight and status of black men. Also, the topic of the skits excellently transition to the next song. Skit #1 talks about not having gas money, and the next song is “Drive Slow”; Skit #2 just repeats “broke, broke, broke, broke”, and the next two songs are “Diamonds from Sierra Leone” and “We Major”, both thematically about money and success. Skit #3 ends with a joke about not affording Christmas trees and the mother pretending to be one, and the next song is “Hey Mama”. And Skit #4 ends with Kanye being removed from the frat, and the next track is “Gone”. Expert skit placing on his part.

LR is a near perfect album; The “Empire Strikes Back” of hip hop sequels. This project has a song for any mood and definitely makes my top 10 favorite albums.

Album Breakdown

LR can be broken down into five section, each with their own distinct topics and tones, and separated by the four skits. These sections are:

Section 1: The Hits (Wake Up Mr. West) - Heard ‘Em Say, Touch The Sky, Gold Digger Section 2: Introspection (Skit #1) - Drive Slow, My Way Home, Crack Music, Roses, Bring Me Down, Addiction Section 3: Claim to Success (Skit #2) - Diamonds From Sierra Leone (Remix), We Major Section 4: Family Business (Skit #3) - Hey Mama, Celebration Section 5: Late Departure (Skit #4) - Gone, Diamonds From Sierra Leone (Bonus), Late

Section 1- The Hits

This section kicks off the album with bang after bang after bang. West and Adam Levine team up on the opening track “Heard Em Say” to lay down two themes of the album: Everything happens for a reason and nothing in life is guaranteed. He says several times “Nothing’s ever promised tomorrow today” accompanied by Levine’s harmonies that echo simultaneous sadness and hope. West also talks about some of the plagues African Americans, including low wages, AIDS, police harassment, admiration of drug dealers, and the pursuit of money and success. While talking about these inherently depressing topics, there’s a twang of hope and faith; there’s an energy of overcoming those obstacles and maintaining the belief that things will turn out alright. 

In a 180 degree flip, the next track “Touch The Sky” completely contrasts the mellow mood of “Heard ‘Em Say”. With exhilarating trumpets sampled from Curtis Mayfield, West and Lupe bring an energy of celebrating success; reminiscing on the where they were before they got to the height they are now. A year before his debut classic Food and Liquor, Lupe spits one of the best verses on the album; matching Kanye’s energy while outshining him with his lyricism.

“Gold Digger”, possibly his most famous song, needs no introduction. This iconic track sampling Ray Charles’ I Got a Woman” is known by deep cut hip hop fans and mainstream fans alike. Jamie Foxx’s vocals on the chorus yelling “I Gotta Leave!” and Kanye’s verses about this girl who only wants him for his money makes an entertaining story but also indicates his new found status. He went from songs about not having money, to songs about dealing with a woman who only want him for his money. Talk about a bragging.

Section 2- Introspection

After two bop tracks we get “Drive Slow”, a track more mellow and laid back than the intro. Through a multitude of car metaphors, Kanye and Paul Wall talk about taking things slow, not to rush things, whether its spending money or sleeping with girls. Generally a middle of the road song for me. Nothing mind blowing but definitely easy to listen to.

In “My Way Home” we get a short, 16-line verse from Chicago all-time great Common, who talks about the struggles of the hood being home. This contrasts the hopeful tone on “Heard Em Say”, introducing a tone of relief he’s out that situation and he’s not going back. Fun fact: this is actually Common’s song that he decided not to add to his album Go!, which is why it just sounds like Common’s song instead of a Kanye song featuring Common. The slowed down samples vocals create a groove that almost makes you forget this is a sad song.

“Crack Music”, one of my favorites, paints an analogy to crack addiction and hip hop, hence the title. The Game brings a unique aggressiveness to the hook, which pairs well with the choir on chorus. However, the final leg of the song introduces an unsettledness: shakiness in the vocals, music freezes, and Malik Yusef delivers a poem that still gives me goosebumps to this day. The voice of legendary Charlie Wilson harmonizes perfectly with the chorus as well.

Next up we hear “Roses”, another instrumental masterpiece with Patti Labelle’s vocals and a Bill Wither’s sample on the chorus. West talks about the hospitalization of his Grandmother and the tightness/unity of his family. I love the quietness that plays during the verses and then the kick of the drums in the chorus. That excellently helps emphasize the intimacy of the situation.

Unfortunately, this leads into “Bring Me Down”, which is my least favorite track. Brandy’s vocals and Jon Brion’s instrumental are perfect, but it seems wasted on West’s verse. It’s disappointing to hear the epic strings and orchestration accompanied by Kanye saying weak lines like “There’ll always be haters, that’s the way it is/Hater n*****s marry hater b**ches and have hater kids” and “Yo girl don’t like me, how long has she been gay/Spanish girls say ‘Yo, no hablo ingles’”. The track honestly would’ve been better as an interlude with just Bandy’s singing, similar to “My Way Home” with just Common. But, the addition of West’s lyrics actually makes the song weaker. 

Luckily, the project picks up with “Addiction”. However, I’ll admit I’m not a fan of lyrically. This isn’t a track where West is trying to demonstrate any lyrical expertise, so I’m not expecting a load of double entendres and layered meanings and mind-blowing messages. However, even for a surface level track, hearing him fake-stutter became a little annoying. But I like the topic of the song; him being addicted to all three “money, girls, and weed”. Although the topic and lyricism isn’t unique, it was at least entertaining.

Section 3- Claim to Success

Following the second skit, we get “Diamonds From Sierra Leone (Remix)” with hall of fame rapper Jay-Z. This track is interesting because Kanye and Jay don’t discuss the same topic. Kanye talks about his conflict with buying diamonds, knowing they’re Blood Diamonds and his purchase of them could result in the killing of Africans, of whom he’s a descendant. On the flip side, Jay talks about his label and his success. Although Kanye’s verse has more substance, I think Jay’s verse was better. There’s one particular set of lines I’ve always loved

“This ain’t no tall order, this is nothing to me/ Difficult takes a day, impossible takes a week/I could do this in my sleep/ I sold kilos of coke, I’m guessing I can sell CDs/ I’m not a businessman, I’m a business, man /Let me handle my business, damn”

Then we get the top tier track “We Major”, which is the album’s best collaboration up to this point. Jon Brion shines again with the instrumental, creating this epic atmosphere of accomplishments. Really Doe and Tony Williams illuminate the chorus with the vocals, while Kanye comes through with poeticism he hadn’t reached since “Heard ‘Em Say”. I want to add a quote of my favorite part of his verse, but it would be half the verse. And to top that, Nas comes through with an even STRONGER verse, a contender for the best verse on the album, competing with Lupe on “Touch the Sky” and Common on “My Way Home”. And to top THAT off, the last few minutes are basically Jon Brion, Warryn Campbell, and Tony Williams showing off their expertise while Kanye shouts them out, along with The Roc and his label, G.O.O.D. Music. His vocals during this part are echoed so it feels like the listener is at a concert. You could have headphones on in a quiet room and feel like you’re soaring. Easily a top 10 song in West’s career.

Section 4- Family Business

After the height of Diamonds From Sierra Leone and We Major, the record dies down and returns to mellowness, continuing with the heart-string-pulling “Hey Mama”. Here, we get West’s lyricism reminiscent of the College Dropout style. This definitely was a poem or song he’d written prior to this project. As I said earlier, one of my favorite mother-dedicating songs in all of hip hop.

The next song, “Celebration”, is one of my favorites on the album. The lyrics aren’t impressive; West goofily slant rhymes “wild” and “endowed” at one point. He just discusses drinking, girls, and the accidental birth of his kid through a busted condom. However, I believe it’s the placement of the song on the record that makes me love it so much. After hearing the epic-ness of songs like “Touch The Sky”, “Diamonds From Sierra Leone”, and “We Major”, this song feels like an after party. An intimate gathering that allows West and the listener to reflect a little, over another brilliant composition by Jon Brion. And while the verses are nothing to look twice at, the chorus is serene. West’s harmonization with himself improves his voice. And at barely past 3 minutes, the song is short enough where the sub-par lyrics aren’t too distracting.

Section 5- Late Departure

When I first began writing back in middle school, I used to rap to the instrumental for “Gone”. This song is foundational to my hip hop appreciation and extremely underrated. To start, the Otis Redding sample is perfect. Jon Brion again combines his expertise with West to create a beat that evolves as it progresses, increasing in complexity and instrumentation. The verses improve with song as well, Kanye delivering the first and last, while Cam’ron and Consequence deliver excellent verses in the middle. Between Consequence’s verse and Kanye’s final verse, we hear the beat breakdown and evolve even more, building up to a final verse that leaves the listener speechless. West reflects about a multitude topics: being so innovative that his labels won’t approve his ideas, wanting to leave public light, his come up from being broke just wanting to upgrade from his “cheap ass sofa”, leaving his hometown that had nothing to offer him, inspiring new artists, never selling out, and ultimately showing he’s no longer on-call for anybody to use him. He’s established enough to choose his company and produce as he pleases. This is a perfect culmination of the themes throughout the album, and is the perfect closer.

Now, I say that with hesitation because technically there are two more songs on the record: The original “Diamonds From Sierra Leone” without Jay-Z, and “Late”. “Diamonds From Sierra Leone” is an excellent track. Instead of talking about Blood Diamonds or guilt, West talks about his writing process, feeling snubbed from awards, and ultimately himself. Definitely some of his strongest pen game on the album.

“Late” contrasts the previous song with a very calm feeling, possessing a lullaby quality. Here, he drives home the point that he’s going to be late with things he does, tying together the album title and the context of the album’s release, which was released months late. However, the lateness definitely worth the wait. It’s a toss-up between Gone and Late for which I prefer as the better closer. Gone is an epic reflection on the album’s theme and messages, and displays some of the best lyricism on the album. However, Late is a surreal, warm ending that feels like more of a winding-down end. If I HAD to choose, I’d say “Gone”. Because while both are great, I can’t imagine the project without “Gone”, whereas I could see it without “Late”.

Top 3 Songs:

1) Gone 2) We Major 3) Hey Mama

Overall Grade: A

[bodyalive]

untrustyou: Philippe Conquet * And what is the fourth dimension? It is the endlessness of knowledge-- It is the imagination on which reality rides-- It is the imagination-- It is a cleavage through everything by a force that does not exist in the mass and therefore can never be discovered by its anatomization. It is for this reason that I have always placed art first and esteemed it over science-- in spite of everything. Art is the pure effect of the force upon which science depends for its reality-- Poetry The effect of this realization upon life will be the emplacement of knowledge into a living current-- which it has always sought-- --from Spring and All, William Carlos Williams, 1923 * Contained in this short Life Are magical extents The soul returning soft at night To steal securer thence As Children strictest kept Turn soonest to the sea Whose nameless Fathoms slink away Beside infinity ~ Emily Dickinson * Foreseeing ~ Sharon Bryan -Middle age refers more to landscape than to time: it's as if you'd reached - the top of a hill and could see all the way to the end of your life, - so you know without a doubt that it has an end— not that it will have, - but that it does have, if only in outline— so for the first time - you can see your life whole, beginning and end not far from where you stand, - the horizon in the distance— the view makes you weep, but it also has the beauty - of symmetry, like the earth seen from space: you can't help but admire it from afar, - especially now, while it's simple to re-enter whenever you choose, lying down in your life, - waking up to it just as you always have— except that the details resonate - by virtue of being contained, as your own words coming back to you - define the landscape, remind you that it won't go on like this forever. - ** Attention How you pay attention in your life actually can change your life and your biology and your brain. -- Jon Kabat-Zinn Meditation is not about sitting, it is not about thinking. Meditation is about paying attention. - Excerpts from National Public Media's, Speaking of Faith, with host, Krista Tippett, and guest, MIT-trained molecular biologist and author, Jon Kabat-Zinn. I have been following his UMass medical school and hospital work for decades and began my own meditation practice using his early tapes. - In my estimation, the entire interview is worth your listening or reading time. So are his books and that is another story. - Kabat-Zinn: …attention and awareness are deep interior human capacities that never get any training or air time or attention. What gets all the attention is thinking. And so when you begin to cultivate intimacy with these other capacities it actually balances out our remarkable capacity for thinking and also for imagination and creativity. A lot of the creativity comes out of the stillness of awareness in not knowing. So rather than just sort of keeping tabs of what we know, it's really helpful to be aware of how much we don't know. And when we know what we don't know, well, then that's the cutting edge of which all science unfolds. Tippett: Right. You've also said that scientists make the best meditators...Because they're comfortable with that idea of wanting to know what they don't know. - Kabat-Zinn: But, you see, it's all a question of thinking. I mean, the word "mindfulness," for instance, I completely agree with you: Anybody that's naïve to hearing it is going to think, "Oh, yeah. That's some kind of cognitive manipulation."So I like to point out that in all Asian languages — at least I've been told this; I don't know all Asian languages — but in all Asian languages the word for "mind" and the word for "heart" are the same word. - Tippett: Right. Right. - Kabat-Zinn: So when you hear the word "mindfulness" if you're not in some sense automatically hearing the word "heartfulness" you're misunderstanding it. And mindfulness in any event is not a concept; it's a way of being. And it's a way of being awake. It's not a big deal; it's just that we're never taught that this is part of the human repertoire. - So what does wakefulness mean? It means resting in a kind of awareness that is so stable that it's not thrown off by the comings and goings of events within the field of awareness. So that you lose your balance when things go this way and things go that way, but you actually stay grounded when things go your way, as we put it. And when things don't go your way, it doesn't mean that you have to rocket yourself or spiral into depression and hopelessness and a sense of despair. But very often if we take it personally and we feel like our successes say that we're a good person and then, by extrapolation, our failures say that there's something wrong with me, that I'm no good. And both of those are wrong. What goes up also comes down, whether we're talking about the stock market or a ball that you throw up in the air. And if you mistake what you think of as the reality for the reality, then you're going to suffer because you're attaching the story of me, myself, and my successes and my failures to something that's actually quite impersonal. - ** Sometimes it breaks my heart to watch my mind. - And sometimes it stays broken long enough to touch even this pain with love. - Sometimes the mercy washes even Mrs. Macbeth's hands, turns tragedy into grace, and makes it all worthwhile. - Sometimes it breaks my mind to watch my heart. -excerpt, Meditation Blues, Stephen Levine *

[Thanks Alive On All Channels]

[livehealthynewsusa]

“Power Bald” Male Celebrities – How Shaved Heads Became Trendy in 2021

Shrek is an iconic power bald head. Likewise RuPaul, host of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars. But at the moment they are far from alone in their glittering splendor. Travis Barker is currently Kourtney Kardashian’s bald friend. Sean Evans is the powerful bald man from Hot Ones, while Stanley Tucci’s effortless Gravitas in Searching for Italy is just hot. And don’t forget the bald domination franchise, Fast & Furious, which features the glorious hairless heads of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Jason Statham, Tyrese Gibson and Vin Diesel. This month Gibson and Diesel shine again with F9 in theaters.

Welcome to the world of power bald heads, a hectic but hairless community in upheaval. In fact, the summer of 2021 could just be a peak balding season, with Adam Levine hugging the hairless self-care style, four times the strongest man in the world, Brian Shaw looking slick lifting a Hyundai SUV in a car commercial. and the WWE Braun Strowman alias Adam Scherr, who posts particularly intoxicating workouts on Instagram.

For the uninitiated, power balding is an emerging movement by men who have shaved off their insecurities about being bald. While baldness has always been around, a new cultural shift, both on and off screen, has shown the power of focusing on simple, sleek appearance. One that allows value and beauty to be defined by principles other than the lush mane or the uniformity of its brush cuts.

Power bald Dwayne Johnson and Vin Diesel look stylish.

Buda mendesGetty Images

To be clear, power baldnesses aren’t Homer Simpsons. You will happily part with these two remaining hairs to hug their sleek heads. They’re not Voldemorts either. Your baldness is not the result of too much toxic masculinity. In fact, some of the most honorable power bald people are not men at all. Dora Milaje from Black Panther embodies the term, as does Sinéad O’Connor. As is Gossip Girl’s newest queen bee, Julien Calloway, played by Jordan Alexander. A bald head has power. They are proud of that. But above all, they try to handle it responsibly.

“Somebody who is power-bald is about the self-confidence in which you carry yourself,” says Roger Bennett, co-host of the TV show and podcast Men in Blazers, along with his “smooth guy” Michael Davies Men’s Health.

The two Britons who live in the US are the unofficial architects of the term power bald, if for no other reason than that there are few documents online that are said by anyone else. They have been using the term since around 2016, which still makes it an insider term. There are few Instagram hashtags or Reddit mentions. Urban Dictionary has no related entries.

Men-in-Blazers co-host and power-bald advocate Roger Bennett.

Courtesy of Gentlemen in Blazers

But for Men in Blazers and their nearly 231,000 Twitter followers, the term is canonical. Bennett says they have received hundreds of letters related to baldness since talking about it on their platforms. They often give their favorite smooth footballers like Pep Guardiola and Zinedine Zidane the title “Power Bald”. “It’s probably the only thing that really binds us apart from our love of football and America,” says Bennett.

As a “third generation bald guy” Bennett had no choice but to appreciate his thinning hairline. Balding had always felt inevitable to him, so he decided to accept that. By doing this and speaking openly about it, he has turned what might otherwise feel like a source of shame into something more empowering.

Soccer star Zinedine Zidane stays limber on and off the field.

GABRIEL BOUYSGetty Images

In fact, Bennett takes so much pride in being a power bald man that he questions the implications of certain sports characters battling the aftermath. In 2016, former Chicago Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher appeared on billboards and in testimonials for Restore, a hair transplant company. If you’ve been driving the toll road to O’Hare Airport outside of Chicago in the past few years, you’ve likely seen an Urlacher billboard with new turf on its head. Baseball Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg and Pro Football Hall of Famer Deion Sanders also became speakers for Restore along with other famous retired athletes.

Overcoming one’s insecurities is a battle that neither muscle mass nor IQ can win, and men should be able to change their looks as they please. But there is a far cheaper and bolder move. “People, actually [go bald] with incredible bragging rights, these are the characters we’ve always hailed as Power Bald, ”says Bennett.

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At the same time, too much is being invested in treating baldness to completely normalize it, even if it is normal. Hair restoration remains a cornerstone of the male beauty industry. Toupees have gone viral and have been rebranded as trendy hair replacements. Hims, a digital health startup, recently valued at $ 1.6 billion and spokespersons for ex-married couple Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriquez, got involved selling prescriptions for hair loss (and erectile dysfunction) Names.

It may seem easier and cheaper to simply shave everything off than the headache of finding the most appropriate hair regrowth solution, but this is a huge commitment in its own right. “The easy solution to shaving your head is not an easy solution,” said Spencer Kobren, founder of the American Hair Loss Association, a private organization committed to raising public awareness of the emotional impact of hair loss on men .

Kobren told the New York Times in 2019 that he has been using finasteride, a drug used to treat hair loss, for 25 years. (It’s worth noting that finasteride, also known under the brand name Propecia, can have notable side effects.) “I wish everyone could be confident enough to shave their hair and not worry,” Kobren told Men’s Health. “That would be incredible, but there are just so many different components that the guys are uncomfortable with.”

For many, the act of baldness proudly appears to be one of the final refusals in the body positivity movement, a crusade that men are historically reluctant to accept. No wonder: men don’t know how to talk about their bodies. “How do we create security as men?” Psychiatrist Drew Ramsey, MD says. “Great chest. Big arms. Nice hair. Is that what it means to be a safe, mature man? “

The answer is a resounding no, but our culture would tell us otherwise. Take bald jokes like those recently raised on Prince William and LeBron James. They are still not considered taboo. The “joke” here is the Samson complex. A fear that, like biblical character, once you lose your hair, your strength, virality, and agency will all be lost.

LeBron James, still GOAT.

Robert LabergeGetty Images

Prince William remains royal.

Max Mama / IndigoGetty Images

But one look at some of Hollywood’s biggest action stars and iconoclastic athletes proves the Samson complex is a bust. LL Cool J made balding (and fedoras and bucket hats) cool. Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant and Mike Tyson have proven that strength is not tied to hair. Gandhi showed that strength arises in the head, not what is shown externally. And Mr. Clean has proven it can be squeaky clean.

There is even a YouTube channel called BaldCafe that produces sincere videos of guys shaving everything off that have gone viral and have millions of views. However, apart from the Fast and Furious crew, the power shift in Hollywood is not moving fast enough.

According to data compiled by media analytics firm The Streaming Graduate, the bald portrayal in narrative films and on television falls into three main categories: villains (Thanos, Darth Maul), action stars (Bruce Willis, Briton Bruce Willis aka Jason Statham), and cowards (Tobias Fünke, George Costanza). Often these archetypes intersect like the mischievous but clumsy Frank in It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia or the weak and sinister Gollum from Lord of the Rings.

Jason Alexander in an episode of Seinfeld.

ABCGetty Images

Sarah-Mikal, director of analytics and strategy at Streaming Graduate, says you rarely see bald actors in romance or family films. The main exceptions are The Rock, Vin Diesel, and Dave Bautista, who have all starred in at least one kid-friendly action comedy. (Belated justice for the pacifier.)

Some pioneers of the power bald head are slowly penetrating the world of male modeling. Ben Whit is a London-based plus-size model who featured in a 2019 campaign for British men’s clothing retailer Jacamo. “I’m more of a niche market,” he says. “Since the plus-size industry is still so small at the moment, it is more difficult to find work.”

Although the market for whit has recently cooled (losing modeling due to the pandemic certainly didn’t help), it is focused on changing the perception of what baldness can look like, be it on Instagram, in interviews, or in fashion spreads. He hopes that “more men will realize, ‘I don’t really have to look like this …” [the standard model] be happy. He’s happy the way he looks and I look just like him. ‘”

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Like Whit, Bennett doesn’t view balding as a personal defect, even though it can often feel like we’re supposed to believe it. “Going bald can be a deep emotional trauma for a person,” says Bennett. But it doesn’t stay in that headspace. He refuses.

For him, it’s not his upcoming memoirs (Re) born in the USA or Men in Blazers that will be his legacy. It is co-coin and actively lives the term power bald. “Even if my own family has forgotten my name for several generations, I can look up or down… wherever I end up… and just know that if this is my contribution to the world, then it is worthwhile to approach one carve tombstone, ”he says. “I have to get myself a bigger tombstone than I imagined.” Well, this is a powerless move.

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source https://livehealthynews.com/power-bald-male-celebrities-how-shaved-heads-became-trendy-in-2021/

[ceeceestudiesstuff]

Oppression and Gender Dynamics in the works of Ken Levine: System Shock 2

As a student of Gender Studies, one learns about how the culture we live in is shaped by power dynamics, including (but not limited to) those based on gender. This extends to all areas of our culture, including the entertainment media we consume. If we wish to challenge these power dynamics, we must be willing to criticize the entertainment we enjoy. This includes video games.

When I was growing up, my favorite video game was the critically-acclaimed survival-horror-cyberpunk-role-playing-shooter System Shock 2. The thick atmosphere, constant tension and deep gameplay makes for a truly engrossing experience. But engrossing entertainment is not inconsequential; narratives and recurring elements within narratives can shape the way we understand the world and our values, expectations and interactions with others. This is why media criticism is a powerful transformative tool for social activists.

Upon a recent playthrough of System Shock 2, I decided to employ a critical approach; I came to the conclusion that the game's plot is inextricably interwoven with deeply misogynist themes. Then again, what else should I expect from Ken Levine? Levine, after all, created BioShock, which glorified the work of the infamous misogynist Ayn Rand (who not only filled her excruciatingly-terrible prose with rape scenes but also valorized the oppressive Capitalist system which marginalizes women through confining them to unpaid housework (work which is never reflected in economist's GDP figures, and is thus discarded as insignificant)). Yet even before BioShock, Levine laced his narratives with Patriarchy's privileging of the masculine and denigration of the feminine.

System Shock 2's player character is, unsurprisingly, a white male with a gun. This player character is given no characterization and not even any dialogue beyond one spoken word at the very end; the developers thus expected people to simply identify with the character on the grounds of the character's whiteness and maleness. Some Gamergaters defend these "blank slate" characters as lacking identity or as treating identity as inconsequential, but this strikes me as nothing more than an excuse for erasure; the message delivered by System Shock 2's player character is that "white males are the norm, and the developers presumed that this game would only be played by white males."

Said character's possession of a gun is another problematic aspect of the game; first, these weapons often represent a phallic symbol. Feminist Carol J. Clover, author of Men, Women and Chainsaws: Gender In The Modern Horror Film, argues that in horror films, the "Final Girl" is identified with by even male audience members due to her eventually acquiring a weapon; Clover called this phallic appropriation. System Shock 2 may be a video game rather than a film, and the player character may be male rather than female, but if Clover's association of acquiring weapons with acquiring masculinity holds true, we can see System Shock 2 (alongside effectively all other First Person Shooters) as perpetuating a narrative of masculinization through weaponry (tellingly, System Shock 2's weapons are all varieties of either firearm or are long objects like laser swords or stalactites of crystal). And what are weapons without their use? In System Shock 2, the player encounters threats and deals with them through this weaponry; negotiation or diplomacy or other forms of non-violent conflict resolution are simply not present, probably because they do not involve weaponry and thus are fundamentally feminine.

Carol Gilligan, Harvard's first professor of Gender Studies, wrote in her work In A Different Voice that women care about the social and relational. Whereas males privilege "rights" and "reason" in ethical calculus, women believe in an ethics of care, which helps explain why women (and feminists in particular) gravitate towards anti-oppression activism. Women thus support nonviolent solutions and cooperation over violence and competition. In System Shock 2, only the masculine means of conflict resolution (violence, conquest, defeating one's enemy) is available to the player character. Implicitly, this casts the feminine means of conflict resolution (diplomacy, compromise and coexistence) as inferior, which in turn perpetuates the Patriarchal values system that feminists oppose. Our society already portrays the feminine means of conflict resolution as worthless and weak, and in our war-ravaged world this message can only end up prolonging violent conflict. Not to mention that our society already portrays the feminine anything as frivolous, incompetent, trivial, ineffectual and ultimately unworthy of being taken seriously; System Shock 2 thus perpetuates our culture's devaluation of women.

That said, the above critiques can be applied to almost every single First Person Shooter, and even many Third Person Shooters; the genres seem to always star a white dude with a gun solving problems in a dudely way and thus proving that he is a real dude, and not one of those cooties-ridden girls (because girls are inferior and thus anything that is like girls is inferior). However, System Shock 2 is misogynist on a level far greater than this.

System Shock 2's misogyny is baked into its very plotline. Warning: spoilers follow.

At its very core, what System Shock 2 revels in is an attack on females in positions of power. The storyline has two main villains; a biological hive-mind called The Many and, naturally, the malevolent artificial intelligence known as SHODAN. I shall start with The Many first.

The Many are biological, yet they are like The Borg from Star Trek; they are an explicitly collectivist hive-mind that believe individuality amounts to tyranny. As Gilligan argued, the masculine voice is individualistic, and a feminine approach to ethics prioritizes the relational and social; The Many are thus implicitly feminized due to being a collective. Not only that, but The Many are born from eggs in their larval stage; eggs are commonly associated with femininity (due to female birds laying eggs, to human female reproductive cells being called "ovum" (i.e. eggs), etc.). In addition, during the later parts of the story, The Many manage to construct their own body and this body contains a womb; The Many itself is a mother.

In one particularly offensive sequence, the player character travels through The Many's womb and kills the eggs lying within; the right to choose whether or not to terminate a pregnancy belongs solely to the woman, yet in this segment of the game a male usurps a woman's right to choose. I find it hard to see this sequence as anything other than a male fantasy of controlling women's bodies; the player character may be performing "abortions" yet is doing so out of patriarchal motivations (and, as we all know, if it were men who were able to get pregnant, abortion would be a sacrament).

Some defenders of System Shock 2 would claim that The Many is not feminine, but is rather portrayed androgynously due to how The Many is voiced by both female and male voices layered over each other; this argument ignores that we live in a world where males fear the barest hint of anything "feminine." The gender roles demand that men prove they are "real men" through systematically removing any "femininity" within themselves (it is telling how, in the later stages of the game, Captain William Diego (who's military, gruffly-voiced and extremely masculine) cuts The Many's parasite out of his body) and demeaning anything associated with the feminine outside themselves; masculinity is misogyny. Thus, androgynous voicing is not masculine enough to appease the patriarchy; anything less than pure masculinity is socially classified as femininity. The Many's androgynous voicing only demonstrates that The Many is coded as feminine (and the conflation of androgyny with femininity is clearly a transphobic feature of our society's gender binary).

So The Many is thus a representative of the feminine; it is communal and relational, it has a womb, and its androgynous voicing only proves it lacks the absense of femininity necessary to be "masculinized."

And the player character is tasked to destroy The Many through stereotypically masculine means. The player character is ultimately sent through The Many's body to take control of its private functions, to control its fertility, and in the end to kill it.

Yet The Many is not the only mother in the story; SHODAN is the mother of The Many. SHODAN is voiced by a woman and referred to with feminine pronouns, so the game outright characterizes her as a woman even if it makes little sense for an AI to have a gender.

SHODAN's characterization is even more disturbingly misogynist than that of The Many. The Many merely wishes to assimilate; SHODAN plots genocide against the human race. In System Shock 2, SHODAN is portrayed as a manipulative liar (a long running negative trope about women). SHODAN believes herself to be "a Goddess, destined to inherit the earth" as the game's introductory cinematic tells us. In the last level of the game, SHODAN acquires the power to remake reality itself to her own specifications (due to the player character's finishing off of The Many allowing her to sieze control of a starship's warp drive engine); what messages does this convey about women with power?

The message is that women lust for power, that they will do anything necessary to obtain it, and that when they have it they will use it for evil purposes. They will not tolerate any insubordination, they do not value or care for any other life, they only wish for control. They have no moral principles. The message amounts to "all women are dangerous bitches." This kind of mentality is rife within our society; clearly the suspicion people have about women in power has hampered Hillary Clinton's political career, and if it weren't for this paranoia about females with power we wouldn't have needed Sheryl Sandberg's #BanBossy campaign.

Another way in which SHODAN's characterization is misogynistic is in how she is portrayed as, by metaphor, a rapist. A twist in the plot reveals that the player character was knocked out by a robot SHODAN controlled, before having intrusive cybernetic implants forcibly implanted within his skull. This rape metaphor is only emphasized by how the US version's box for the game included the line "she doesn't need a body; she's got yours" printed on it. Whilst women absolutely can commit rape, the vast majority of rape is committed by men against women, as an assertion of male control over female's bodies; System Shock 2 gender-flips this, yet in doing so not only reinforces the aforementioned paranoia over women with power, but glosses over the fact that this horrendous crime very rarely happens to men (and when it does, it is usually other men who perpetrate it). This marginalizes how gendered rape is in the real world. Finally, as System Shock 2 is an horror game, what does it tell us about our society that a gender-flip of the status quo is considered so deeply disturbing? Women live under the omnipresent threat of rape, even for something as trivial as commenting on a video game, and as the Elliot Rodger incident showed, we socialize men to see women's bodies as rightfully belonging to them; in our society this is considered the natural order. Reversing this 'natural order' causes men to fear what they truly hope to avoid; the prospect of being treated how they treat women.

Yet in a bizarre way, SHODAN serves as a mother character not only to The Many but also to the player character; SHODAN's symbolic "rape" of the character was also her way of "rebirthing" him into a new form, blessed with a suite of cybernetic implants that help him survive the challenges he faces. SHODAN guides the player character, initially through the image of Dr. Janice Polito (also a woman) but later as herself; she tells the player character what his goals are. She rewards him for doing so, and punishes him in one situation if he (i.e. the player controlling him) disobeys her. As System Shock 2 is an RPG, he "grows" under her guidance; he acquires skills which make him more powerful.

So what is the ultimate fantasy of System Shock 2, then? A critical component to understanding this fantasy is that back when the game was made (1998), gaming was more or less the exclusive playground of white male teenagers. The white male player character is obviously intended for this demographic to project themselves into.

This player character is then sent to assert his masculinity through violence, as a way of overpowering and eventually conquering characters who are archetypal female authority figures; the mother is an authority figure to her child. The Goddess is by definition worshipped. And System Shock 2 sends you against both; one which is unremittingly hostile and will stop at nothing to "rebirth" you via their "new flesh" (symbolically shoving you back into the womb), and another who's "rebirthing" of you was a symbolic rape, who lies to you and manipulates you into giving her absolute power to kill or reshape all biological life to her own preferences.

Our white teenage male audience will almost certainly be living with their mother (the father may be substantially more distant due to either divorce or work commitments). Their teachers are more likely than not to be more female than male. The audience has lived with female authority figures, and in a misogynist culture where men are promoted as women's superiors, the audience hates this. The teenage male player is not living out some gender-neutral fantasy of rebellion, but rather a gendered fantasy of masculine conquest of the feminine authority. The player character slaughters a maternal figure, even invades said figure's body and exerts control over said body's womb. Then the player character has to fight a second maternal figure and use the masculine means of violence to keep her from power that is far too dangerous for a female to have. The white male player character, using the male means of violence, who grows more powerful the more weapons he amasses, is encouraged to destroy two embodiments of femininity presented as tyrannical, manipulative, and unfit to hold the power they do.

System Shock 2 is precisely why we needed #BanBossy and still need similar initiatives; our culture teaches men that they are entitled to rule women, and so they feel resentment when women rule them. So System Shock 2 presents male players with two female authority figures to attack, to disempower in the most intimate of ways, and ultimately to exert power over in order to re-establish the patriarchal norm. System Shock 2 is a nerd's dream of payback against his mother for not buying him that X-Men figurine he craves so badly. System Shock 2 reflects the same mindset that thinks Hillary Clinton cannot be trusted with power, but that Sanders (or, heaven forbid, Trump) would be a positive step. System Shock 2's villains represent a laundry list of every single rationalization that the patriarchy deploys to keep women out of powerful positions, and presents players with an heroic fantasy of asserting masculinity's rightful place at the top.

For those who think I am overstating the case, I would suggest they look at the game's closing cinematic; it becomes clear from this that the game is not interested in a situation where neither sex has power over each other. At the climax of the game, SHODAN offers the player character a chance to rule together. The player character will thus be free from a feminine overlord; were the fantasy of System Shock 2 merely about being free from feminine authority, the player would be satisfied by the player character taking the offer. Instead, the player character states the only word he says in the entire game; a frankly immature "nah" (thus displaying the kind of childish attitude one would expect from the game's target audience). He then, in a climactic act of assertion of his male power, raises his weapon and fires it, causing SHODAN to be destroyed and thus re-establishing masculinity as supreme. Equality was not enough.

And whilst The Many never offered such an equality, the fact that the process of destroying them required invading and controlling their very body and bodily functions only underscores the male-supremacist nature of System Shock 2's story.

In summary and conclusion, System Shock 2's gameplay is (as usual for shooters) implicitly misogynist through constructing a world where only masculine traits are useful and valuable. This, however, is not nearly as sexist as the game's plot, which is premised on a view that the "natural order" of things is for females to be subordinated to males, that women can never be trusted with power, and that for women to exercise power over men is an object of unfathomable horror. This gives context to the gameplay, where the player character employs traditionally masculine means to not merely escape feminine authority but to conquer it and thus exert male authority over the feminine (even the feminine body), thus re-establishing the patriarchal status quo. System Shock 2 is a symbolically-matricidal revenge fantasy built out of the resentment of young white men who feel that they've been denied their "rightful place" as women's rulers. This game is the crystalization of the MRA worldview.

Gamergate may have only been around since August of 2014, but misogyny in gaming goes back much further. Women cannot afford to spare "classics" from criticism. Progress towards gender justice, and therefore the safety of women's lives, is more important than the feelings of fanbases.

[rajpersaud]

Is Life A Miracle Beyond The Ability Of Physics To Explain It?

The Demon in the Machine

HOW HIDDEN WEBS OF INFORMATION ARE SOLVING THE MYSTERY OF LIFE

PAUL DAVIES

  Physics World Book of the Year A Financial Times, Sunday Times, and Telegraph Best Science Book of the Year What is life? For generations, scientists have struggled to make sense of this fundamental question, for life really does look like magic: even a humble bacterium accomplishes things so dazzling that no human engineer can match it. Huge advances in molecular biology over the past few decades have served only to deepen the mystery. In this penetrating and wide-ranging book, world-renowned physicist and science communicator Paul Davies searches for answers in a field so new and fast-moving that it lacks a name; it is a domain where biology, computing, logic, chemistry, quantum physics, and nanotechnology intersect. At the heart of these diverse fields, Davies explains, is the concept of information: a quantity which has the power to unify biology with physics, transform technology and medicine, and force us to fundamentally reconsider what it means to be alive—even illuminating the age-old question of whether we are alone in the universe. From life’s murky origins to the microscopic engines that run the cells of our bodies, The Demon in the Machine journeys across an astounding landscape of cutting-edge science. Weaving together cancer and consciousness, two-headed worms and bird navigation, Davies reveals how biological organisms garner and process information to conjure order out of chaos, opening a window onto the secret of life itself.

  Steven Poole | Guardian

“Brilliantly vivid. . . . The big idea is that . . . understanding the information flow in organisms might be the missing part of our scientific jigsaw puzzle. The informational approach, in Davies’s elegant and lucid exposition, is extremely promising.”

Timo Hannay | Nature

“Boundary-transcending. . . . Davies claims that life’s defining characteristics are better understood in terms of information. . . . With apologies to Charles Darwin, there is grandeur in this view of life.”

Clive Cookson | Financial Times

“Important and imaginative.”

Lewis Dartnell | Times (UK)

“Wonderful. . . . Davies is a lucid writer and master storyteller. . . . Truly mind-blowing. . . . This is a cracking read.”

Bianca Nogrady | Sydney Morning Herald

“Fascinating. . . . This book is no lightweight holiday read you can laze through.”

Richard Joyner | Times Higher Education

“A dizzying tour de force.”

Liz Else | New Scientist

“Explaining one of the oldest questions—what is life?—is physicist Davies’s quest. . . . He searches for answers beyond the known, venturing into a place with no name.”

Tushna Commissariat | Physics World

"Davies’s lucid writing on this emerging scientific area is just what the pop-sci reader ordered. He is the perfect host to this admittedly dizzying journey, as he spins yarns of quantum demons, double-headed worms and everything in-between."

Andrew Briggs, University of Oxford

“Davies narrates a gripping new drama in science, in which the plot is the story of life and the leading actor is information. With his characteristic blend of erudition and clarity, he brings together some of the most rapidly advancing knowledge in physics and technology to show how information controls biology. If you want to understand how the concept of life is changing, read this.”

Robyn Williams

“This is one of the most exciting books I have read in years. Davies celebrates a significant anniversary with a demonically brilliant investigation of a fundamental question that only the very latest science and philosophy can deal with. Now we have a view from the master that's as thrilling as it is satisfying. Superb.”

David Deutsch

“Davies takes us on a fascinating tour of what is known about what life is. Along the way he speculates interestingly about what may become known. His theme, drawn from Darwin, Schrödinger, Turing, Gödel, Shannon, and von Neumann, is that what separates life from non-life is *information.* But how? Exploring that question illuminates biology by revealing its deep roots in physics, mathematics, and computer science.”

George F.R. Ellis, University of Cape Town

“In this characteristically clearly written and engaging book, ranging from physics to biology and evolutionary theory to neuroscience, Davies strongly makes the case that at its core, life is about information flows.”

Denis Noble, University of Oxford

“Davies is a courageous explorer of the boundaries of what we can know about our world. This book makes his explorations available to all who enjoy pushing those boundaries. Written with a light entertaining touch, even the most abstruse science acquires the clarity of exposition for which the author is justly renowned.”

Michael Levin, Allen Discovery Center at Tufts University

“A tour-de-force. . . . The Demon in the Machine is simultaneously rigorous, state-of-the-art, and highly readable—very hard to put down.”

Michael Berry, HH Wills Physics Laboratory

“Davies always probes the deepest questions in science. Here, addressing the deepest of all—Schrödinger’s What is Life?—he tells us what life is: matter plus information—beyond the laws of physics, but compatible with them. To elaborate this thesis, he deploys his trademark talent: getting to the heart of the most abstruse and technical aspects of science (biology as well as physics), without jargon and with down-to-earth analogies.”

Charles Jencks, author of "The Garden of Cosmic Speculation”

“This creative demon shadows DNA and the promise of quantum computing, answering some basic questions. What is consciousness, why is life so good at predicting where it might go next? The bridge connecting fundamental physics, biology, and the most advanced labs of computation is what Davies calls information patterns. He shows how it organizes for top-down creativity, and thereby holds off the grim reaper of entropy. With striking insight, and metaphors that illuminate the landscape of science today, Davies once again becomes our guide to the near future.”

Mikhail Prokopenko, University of Sydney

“The Demon in the Machine encompasses some of the most intriguing and unsolved mysteries of the universe: the existence of an arrow of time imprinted on the cosmos, and the emergence of life itself. Davies's crisp but rich narrative succeeds in untangling various highly complex ideas and processes, while fluently and intelligently setting out its own arrow of argument.”

J. S. Schwartz, emeritus, CUNY College of Staten Island | Choice

"This work analyzes the properties of life from the perspective of atomic physics, arguing that the very nature of living things allows them to defy the second fundamental law of physics: namely, that there is a 'tendency towards degeneration and disorder.'... Along with treating the question 'What is life?' this book explains the fundamental principles of quantum physics, making a very complex subject more understandable."

Jim Al-Khalili | BBC Science Focus

"This book is really about whether a physicist can define what life is, and the living systems that are far from equilibrium, yet maintain high-order...It’s one of those books where you read a few pages, then you lean back and think and go, 'Oh, I hadn’t thought of it that way.'"

Daily Galaxy

"Davies offers a similar message . . . : information, like energy, has the ability to animate matter. ‘In each and every one of us lies a message,’ writes Davies. ‘It is inscribed in an ancient code, its beginnings lost in the mists of time. Decrypted, the message contains instructions on how to make a human being. Nobody wrote the message; nobody invented the code. They came into existence spontaneously.’"

ESSSAT News & Reviews

"Davies is struck by the way living organisms consistently resist the ravages of entropy that all forms of inanimate matter are subject to and argues that there must be some non-physical principle allowing living matter to defy the Second Law of Thermodynamics. This non-physical principle is information. Throughout the book, Davies explores all the different ways that information is an essential component of biological processes, especially at the cellular and molecular levels."

Penn Book Center

"For Davies, life is a data processing system. That is his demon from the machine. It is one of the books where you read a couple of pages; you then lean back and go and think, 'Oh, I had not thought of it like that.'"

Check out this episode!

[felinevomitus]

I've been producing music, along with various collaborators, under the name Sebastian Melmoth since 2006. This autumn, we'll be releasing our first vinyl LP - The Dynamics of Vanity - on the Amsterdam-based label Artificial Dance. It's a compilation of our more electronic cuts. The physical album is due to see the light of day on 28 October 2019. Read on for the press release.

Since forming in 2006 post-punk experimentalists Sebastian Melmoth have been on a thoughtful and adventurous musical journey. In a constant state of aural evolution, the London-based four-piece has a delivered a string of albums and EPs that variously touch on everything from garage-rock, grunge and lo-fi pop, to electro, new wave, dark ambient and music concrete, all the while drawing on a myriad of literary and artistic influences.

The band’s first release for Artificial Dance digs deep into their admirable and eye-opening catalogue and draws together some of the Amsterdam-based label’s favourites from the more electronic end of the band’s output. Entitled “The Dynamics of Vanity” – a comment on Western culture’s obsession with rehashing the past and the band’s own in-built distrust of artistic naval-gazing – the set is not a ‘best of’ retrospective but rather a ‘sort of’ selection of stylistically interconnected cuts that gives a very specific snapshot of the band’s work.

Photo: Artem Barkhin

Check for example “Icarus”, a drowsy, hypnotic and sample-laden soundscape that effortlessly joins the dots between post-rock, pitched-down electronica and early morning ambient, or the slowly unfurling throb of thought-provoking opener “The Engineering of Consent”, a swelling, melancholic post-jazz meditation on propaganda and governmental mind control featuring spoken word samples from William S Burroughs in conversation with Brion Gysin, Timothy Leary, Les Levine and Robert Anton Wilson.

The showcased songs are typically hard-to-pin-down, too, with the re-imagined gothic horror break-up cut “Prosopagnosia’ and slow-burn audio addition of “Waiting For Godot” being joined by the wide-eyed morning dream-pop hallucinations of “Seeds (Descent Into Decadence)”. It all adds up to a collection that expertly showcases one engaging thread – of many – running through Sebastian Melmoth’s esoteric body of work.

[yarnsale70-blog]

12 Things to Do this Week in NYC: December 21st – December 27th, 2018

Photograph by Rhonda Dorsett, Courtesy of St. John the Divine

Believe it or not Christmas is here and the New Year is just around the corner! If you’ve already seen the holiday decorations, admired the department store window displays and taken a picture with the Rockefeller Center Tree, check out our Untapped picks for more events happening in New York City this Christmas week:

Photograph Courtesy of Make Music

Join in on the 5-borough Make Music Day Winter Celebration! Sixteen participatory parades will take to the streets, parks, plazas and public spaces all across New York City this Friday from 12:00pm until 8:00pm. Everyone of any age and musical ability is invited to participate in this nationwide event. Take part in a Deep Listening meditation at the Oculus, join a New Orleans-style jazz parade at the Louis Armstrong House, hop on the Solstice Soul Train or flat-foot with fiddlers in Flatbush! You can find all the parades happening Friday here.

Celebrate the Winter Solstice at the largest Cathedral in the world. The 39th Annual Paul Winter’s Winter Solstice Concert at The Cathedral of St. John the Divine is a multi-media event featuring musicians, vocalists and the 25 dancers and drummers of the Forces of Nature Dance Theatre. The performances offer a contemporary take on ancient solstice rituals, when people gathered together on the longest night of the year to welcome the return of the sun and the birth of the new year. If you can’t make a performance of the concert, which will be held on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights, you can download music from the solstice collection for free.

Explore the abandoned hospital complex at Ellis Island on Untapped Cities’ behind the scenes hard hat tour. On this urban exploration you will gain access to areas of the 22-building complex that have been off-limits to the public for over sixty years, including the contagious disease wards, the laundry facility and the morgue. You will also see pieces of the site-specific art installation Unframed installed by world-renowned artist JR.

Behind-the-Scenes Hard Hat Tour of the Abandoned Ellis Island Hospital

Discover the maritime history of New York City on Untapped Cities’ brand new tour! For the first three and half centuries of its life, this city was defined and sustained by its maritime operations. However, New York’s maritime roots are often overlooked and ignored. Take a journey back through lower Manhattan with Untapped Cities guides Justin Rivers and Mandy Edgecombe to experience New York as the world’s greatest port of call. Hear stories of infamous sea captains Adrian Block and William Kidd, walk the less-charted trail along the historic east side slips including Old Slip and Coenties, learn about New York’s old buried ships on both the Hudson and East River shores and New York’s old floating churches and visit related sites including the International Merchant Marine Building, The Cunard Building, the Alexander Hamilton Custom House, the stunning Merchant Marine Memorial and the South Street Seaport.

 Tour of NYC’s Maritime History

Enjoy a night of hidden holiday science and history as told by the city’s best researchers and storytellers at Caveat’s Santa’s from 23rd Street and Other Secret Histories of New York Holidays. Learn the backstories of your favorite holiday traditions, from the nordic mythology behind Santa’s reindeer to the birth of Santa on West 23rd Street! This festive evening of holiday history will be hosted by local historian, tour guide and freelance writer Lucie Levine with stories from Christa Avampato and Dustin Growick. If you are an Untapped Cities Insider, you can join this event for free! Not an Insider yet? Become a member today!

Grab some unique last minute gifts at the Renegade Craft Fair in Brooklyn. This indoor market is free to attend. There will be music from local DJs, food from tasty food trucks, and over 100 vendors to shop at, from jewelry and candle makers to clothing and housewares.

Uncover the Secrets of Grand Central Terminal on Untapped Cities’ signature walking tour of the historic station. Peek into the private hidden tennis courts, discover millions of dollars worth of treasures, and reveal more wonders of the Beaux-Arts beauty that you might pass by everyday on a hurried commute.

Tour of the Secrets of Grand Central Terminal

See our full lists of public tours and Insider Events!

Image via the Washington Square Association

Gather for Christmas Eve caroling at Washington Square Park near the Washington Square Arch with The Rob Susman Brass Quartet, song leader, and other revelers from all over the city. Songbooks with lyrics will be distributed by the Washington Square Association, but you probably already know the words!

Celebrate the 175th anniversary of the publication of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol at the New York Public Library’s A Dickens Christmas Exhibit. The exhibit also marks the 150th anniversary of Dicken’s American reading tour with Dickens’s heavily annotated prompt-copies—which he used in his performances—of A Christmas Carol and other holiday books, including The Chimes and The Cricket on the Hearth, together with original photographs, first editions, and ephemera. The exhibit will be on view until January 7th at the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, McGraw Rotunda. Note that the library closes at 3pm today!

While the streets outside the Museum at Eldridge Street are quiet on Christmas day, inside, clarinetist Greg Wall’s band Klezmerfest! will lead a joyous communal celebration! There will be singing, dancing and dabbling in Yiddish at this annual concert. The shows will start at 12pm and 2pm. After the concerts, visitors are welcome to stay and enjoy the Museum’s two exhibitions, on paper cut art and menorahs from around the globe.

Head to the Queens Country Farm for some warm winter activities inside the decorated Adriance Farmhouse. At this annual Holiday Open House, warm up by the fireplace with a cup of hot mulled cider and take a tour of this historic landmark. There will even be crafts for the kids all day long! This event, from 12:00pm until 4:00p.m, is free and open to the public.

Enjoy the last few days of Winterfest Brooklyn outside the Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn’s first winter village and holiday market. The 40,000 village boast a The Wine Tasting Experience at Vinopolis, a Christmas tree maze and a chocolate dome for the kids, tons of vendors to shop at and more special events.

 events, things to do, top 10 events

Source: https://untappedcities.com/2018/12/20/11-things-to-do-this-week-in-nyc-december-21st-december-27th-2018/

[cavemanrobot]

Deep cut from William Levin, 2006 Adventures of Cavemanrobot the Musical! at The Brick, with Devon Ludlow and Hope Cartelli, and Robin Reed

[allbestnet]

232 Book Recommendations From Derek Sivers

Mindwise: How We Understand What Others Think, Believe, Feel, and Want by Nicholas Epley

So Good They Can't Ignore You by Cal Newport

The War of Art by Steven Pressfield

Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman

A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy by William Irvine

The Time Paradox by Philip Zimbardo and John Boyd

Stumbling on Happiness by Daniel Gilbert

E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber

The Dip by Seth Godin

Happy by Derren Brown

Au Contraire: Figuring Out the French by Gilles Asselin and Ruth Mastron

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck by Mark Manson

Ego Is the Enemy by Ryan Holiday

Total Recall by Arnold Schwarzenegger

Too Soon Old, Too Late Smart: Thirty True Things You Need to Know Now by Gordon Livingston

Zero to One by Peter Thiel and Blake Masters

Cows, Pigs, Wars, and Witches by Marvin Harris

The Entrepreneur Roller Coaster by Darren Hardy

On Writing Well by William Zinsser

The Wisdom of No Escape by Pema Chödrön

When Things Fall Apart by Pema Chödrön

Fluent Forever by Gabriel Wyner

The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy

When Cultures Collide by Richard D. Lewis

The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can't Stand Positive Thinking by Oliver Burkeman

Show Your Work by Austin Kleon

Self Reliance by Ralph Waldo Emerson

Antifragile by Nassim Nicholas Taleb

The Willpower Instinct by Kelly McGonigal

Turning Pro by Steven Pressfield

Quiet by Susan Cain

What Technology Wants by Kevin Kelly

Do the Work by Steven Pressfield

What Got You Here Won't Get You There by Marshall Goldsmith

The Personal MBA by Josh Kaufman

Drive by Daniel Pink

Switch by Chip Heath and Dan Heath

The Happiness Hypothesis by Jonathan Haidt

Influence by Robert Cialdini

Personal Development for Smart People by Steve Pavlina

Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely

The Ultimate Sales Machine by Chet Holmes

The 4-Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss

The Smartest Investment Book You'll Ever Read by Daniel R. Solin

The Wisdom of Crowds by James Surowiecki

The Paradox of Choice - Why More is Less by Barry Schwartz

Made to Stick by Chip Heath and Dan Heath

The Art of Profitability by Adrian Slywotzky

Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond

Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon

The Geography of Genius by Eric Weiner

A Mind for Numbers by Barbara Oakley

Smartcuts by Shane Snow

Superhuman by Habit by Tynan

The Obstacle Is the Way by Ryan Holiday

Decisive by Chip and Dan Heath

How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big by Scott Adams

5 Elements of Effective Thinking by Edward B. Burger and Michael Starbird

The Icarus Deception by Seth Godin

Mastery by Robert Greene

Mastery by George Leonard

The Little Book of Talent by Daniel Coyle

The Developing World by Fredrik Härén

Willpower by Roy Baumeister and John Tierney

Power of Full Engagement by Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz

Moonwalking with Einstein by Joshua Foer

Practicing Mind by Thomas Sterner

Seeking Wisdom by Peter Bevelin

Mindset by Carol Dweck

Art and Fear by David Bayles and Ted Orland

Start Small, Stay Small by Rob Walling and Mike Taber

On Writing by Stephen King

The Geography of Bliss by Eric Weiner

The Investor's Manifesto by William J. Bernstein

How We Decide by Jonah Lehrer

Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives by David Eagleman

The Talent Code by Daniel Coyle

Ignore Everybody by Hugh MacLeod

Tribes by Seth Godin

How to Talk to Anyone by Leil Lowndes

Brain Rules by John Medina

You, Inc - The Art of Selling Yourselfby Harry Beckwith

How to Get Rich by Felix Dennis

The Innovator's Solution by Clayton Christensen

Small is the New Big by Seth Godin

Getting Things Done by David Allen

The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene and Joost Elffers

The Road Less Traveled by M. Scott Peck

Grit by Angela Duckworth

How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk by Adele Fabe and Elaine Mazlish

The Gardener and the Carpenter by Alison Gopnik

The Inevitable by Kevin Kelly

Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise by Anders Ericsson

Deep Work by Cal Newport

Geography of Time by Robert Levine

How to Learn a Foreign Language by Paul Pimsleur

Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl

Choose Yourself! by James Altucher

No B.S. Time Management for Entrepreneurs by Dan S. Kennedy

The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg

The Passionate Programmer by Chad Fowler

Fail-Safe Investingby Harry Browne

Poke the Box by Seth Godin

The 4-Hour Body by Tim Ferriss

Cognitive Surplus by Clay Shirky

Hackers & Painters by Paul Graham

Confessions of a Public Speaker by Scott Berkun

I Will Teach You To Be Rich by Ramit Sethi

Why Smart People Make Big Money Mistakes by Gilovich and Belsky

What Would Google Do? by Jeff Jarvis

CrowdSourcing by Jeff Howe

The Magic of Thinking Big by David Schwartz

The Art of Learning by Josh Waitzkin

Wikinomics by Don Tapscott and Anthony Williams

Meatball Sundae by Seth Godin

Don't Make Me Think by Steve Krug

Nobody Wants to Read Your Sh*t by Steven Pressfield

The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need by Andrew Tobias

Living Beautifully with Uncertainty and Change by Pema Chödrön

Germany: Unraveling an Enigma by Greg Nees

Give and Take by Adam M. Grant

The Bed of Procrustes by Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Making Ideas Happen by Scott Belsky

A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson

Ikigai by Sebastian Marshall

Wired for Story by Lisa Cron

Pragmatic Programmer by Andy Hunt and David Thomas

Meditations by Marcus Aurelius 

You Are Not So Smart by David McRaney

The Lean Startup by Eric Ries

Making a Good Brain Great by Daniel G. Amen

Business Stripped Bare by Richard Branson

Talent Is Overrated by Geoff Colvin

Never Eat Alone by Keith Ferrazzi and Tahl Raz

Overachievement by John Eliot

The How of Happiness by Sonja Lyubomirsky

The Culture Code by Clotaire Rapaille

The Four Pillars of Investing by William Bernstein

Here Comes Everybody by Clay Shirky

The Culting of Brands by Douglas Atkin

Execution by Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan

Maximum Achievement by Brian Tracy

The Daily Stoic by Ryan Holiday

How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World by Harry Browne

The Sense of Style by Steven Pinker

How Adam Smith Can Change Your Life by Russ Roberts

Daily Rituals: How Artists Work by Mason Currey

The Story of French by Jean-Benoit Nadeau and Julie Barlow

Island by Aldous Huxley

Ready for Anything by David Allen

Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe

The Now Habit by Neil Fiore

Meditation for Beginners by Jack Kornfield

A Gift to My Children by Jim Rogers

Linchpin by Seth Godin

The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins

Nudge by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein

Being Logical: A Guide to Good Thinking by D.Q. McInerny

Pomodoro Technique Illustrated by Staffan Nöteberg

Pragmatic Thinking and Learning by Andy Hunt

The Great Formula by Mark Joyner

Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell

Lucky Or Smart? by Bo Peabody

The China Study by Campbell and Campbell

The Power of Less by Leo Babuta

Cut to the Chase by Stuart Levine

Know-How by Ram Charan with Geri Willigan

The Art of Project Management by Scott Berkun

Mindware: Tools for Smart Thinking by Richard Nisbett

Never Let Go by Dan John

In Pursuit of Silence by George Prochnik

The Laws of Subtraction by Matthew May

Drop Dead Healthy by A. J. Jacobs

Little Bets by Peter Sims

One Simple Idea by Stephen Key

Focus by Leo Babauta

The Upside of Irrationality by Dan Ariely

The Profit Zone by Adrian Slywotzky

Speaking of India by Craig Sorti

Losing My Virginity : How I've Survived, Had Fun, and Made a Fortune Doing Business My Way by Richard Branson

Leading an Inspired Life by Jim Rohn

And Never Stop Dancing by Gordon Livingston

The Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives by Leonard Mlodinow

Simple Rules: How to Thrive in a Complex World by Donald Sull

Quirkology by Richard Wiseman

Writing Tools by Roy Peter Clark

A More Beautiful Question by Warren Berger

Make It Stick by Peter Brown

The Power of No by James and Claudia Altucher

How to Learn and Memorize French Vocabulary by Anthony Metivier

The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande

Hiring Smart by Pierre Mornell

Discover Your Inner Economist by Tyler Cowen

Causing a Scene by Charlie Todd

Born to Run by Christopher McDougall

How to be a Billionaire by Martin Fridson

Enough by John Bogle

Management of the Absurd by Richard Farson

Reality Check by Guy Kawasaki

Fooled by Randomness by Nassim Nicholas Taleb

The Obsolete Employee by Michael Russer

Secrets of the Millionaire Mind by T. Harv Ecker

The Future of Almost Everything by Patrick Dixon

Wilde in America by David M. Friedman

Complexity: A Guided Tour by Melanie Mitchell

Your Memory by Kenneth L. Higbee

The Philosophical Baby by Alison Gopnik

Hire With Your Head by Lou Adler

The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work by Alain De Botton

Born Standing Up by Steve Martin

Committed by Elizabeth Gilbert

What the Dog Saw by Malcolm Gladwell

China Road by Rob Gifford

Hot Commodities by Jim Rogers

Me, Inc. by Gene Simmons

Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott

Program or Be Programmed by Douglas Rushkoff and Leland Purvis

The Four Filters Invention of Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger by Bud Labitan

What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami

Confessions of a Serial Entrepreneur by Stuart Skorman

Life Without Lawyers by Philip K. Howard

The Productive Programmer by Neal Ford

Crash Proof 2.0 by Peter Schiff

Rapt by Winifred Gallagher

Radical Honesty by Brad Blanton

A Bull in China by Jim Rogers

Founders at Work by Jessica Livingston

Seeing What Others Don't by Gary Klein

Flex: Do Something Different by Ben Fletcher and Karen Pine

Cambodia's Curse by Joel Brinkley

Conspiracy of the Rich by Robert Kiyosaki

The Think Big Manifesto by Michael Port and Mina Samuels

[firstdraftpod]

The Golden Age of Tone with Ben Blacker

First Draft Episode #239: Ben Blacker

Ben Blacker is a writer and producer known for The Thrilling Adventure Hour, Supernatural, Hex Wives, and the new Audible audio series CUT + RUN. He also hosts The Writer’s Panel and Dead Pilots Society podcasts.

Links and Topics Mentioned In This Episode

Hear Ben’s writing partner, Ben Acker, on his episode of First Draft here!

Beverly Cleary, author of Beezus and Ramona, and Ramona Quimby, Age 8 was one of Ben’s early favorite authors

Zilpha Keatley Snyder, author of The Egypt Game and The Famous Stanley Kidnapping Case was another early influence

Three’s Company

The Love Boat

Ben wrote fanfiction for the TV show Scarecrow and Mrs. King

Francine Prose, author of Reading Like a Writer: A Guide For People Who Love Books and Those Who Want to Write Them, told Ben Blacker he would never become a writer

Ben and Ben wrote two spec scripts for Buffy the Vampire Slayer as some of their first collaborative

Ben wrote a spec script for Mad About You and his teacher at Emerson (who wrote for Roseanne) sent it to Paul Reiser

Dharma and Greg

Meanwhile, Ben Acker was working as an office PA for Will&Grace

Marc Evan Jackson, Paul F. Tompkins, and Paget Brewster were part of the constant cast of Thrilling Adventure Hour

Ben’s interview with Traci on The Stacks Podcast is great and you should listen to it! In fact, you should listen to all of The Stacks Podcast because it’s ALL great and Traci rules.

Len Wein who created Wolverine, Swamp Thing, editor of Watchmen, and more

Bewitched (TV show)

In this episode of Comic Book Commentary, colorist Marissa Louise explains her process for coloring Hex Wives to Ben

Hear director Maggie Levin on a recent episode of First Draft, as well as an episode of the Writer’s Panel podcast!

The Writer’s Panel started 826 LA

Ben recommends the recent episode of The Writer’s Panel featuring Mark Frost (co-creator, Twin Peaks), Steven Canals (co-creator, Pose), Harley Peyton (Project Blue Book; Channel Zero; upcoming: Child's Play) as a jumping off point to get into the podcast

Ben also loves this recently re-released episode with Carlton Cuse (LOST, and Bates Motel), Mike Shur (who got his start on The Office and then created Parks and Recreation, Brooklyn 99, and The Good Place), and J.J. Philbin (New Girl, creator of Single Parents)

The Sopranos and Mad Men are some prestige shows that ushered in a time of “showrunner auteur”

Vince Gilligan, creator of Breaking Bad

Damon Lindelof, co-creator of LOST

Marc Evan Jackson hosts The Good Place podcast, which was running concurrent to new episodes of The Good Place, the TV show — and now he’s doing one for Brooklyn 99’s podcast, too!

Andrew Reich, writer for Friends and Worst Week, created The Dead Pilots Society podcast

Dexter

Fargo, Weeds, and later seasons of Breaking Bad are shows that Ben says are representative of he and Ben Acker’s writing tone

Weeds creator Jenji Kohan (side note, I really loved the Emily Nussbaum feature profile about Jenji featured in The New Yorker and her book, I Like to Watch)

Edgar Wright (Baby Driver), Wes Anderson (Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums), Rian Johnson (Knives Out), and Greta Gerwig (Little Women) are all filmmakers Ben cites as great examples of people with very specific individual tones

Humphrey Ker and Katie Wood were staff writers for CUT + RUN, and you can hear them talk to Ben and Ben about the writing process on The Writer’s Panel!

Hear Janet Varney, comedian, writer, and co-founder of SF Sketchfest, on her episode of First Draft!

The cast of CUT + RUN is amazing and includes: Meg Ryan, Sam Richardson, D’Arcy Carden, Rachel Bloom (listen to the episode of The Writer’s Panel where Ben sat down with Rachel and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend showrunner Aline Brosh McKenna), Ed Begley, Jr.

Why would I miss a chance to mention The Princess Bride? And why not link to the book, written by famous screenwriter William Goldman

Aimee Mann and Ted Leo recorded “Dynamite Lady,” an original song to play over the credits of CUT + RUN

  I want to hear from you!

Have a question about writing or creativity for Sarah Enni or her guests to answer? To leave a voicemail, call (818) 533-1998.

Subscribe To First Draft with Sarah Enni

Every Tuesday, I speak to storytellers like Veronica Roth, author of Divergent; Linda Holmes, author and host of NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast; Jonny Sun, internet superstar, illustrator of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Gmorning, Gnight! and author and illustrator of Everyone’s an Aliebn When Ur a Aliebn Too;  Michael Dante  DiMartino, co-creator of Avatar: The Last Airbender; John August, screenwriter of Big Fish, Charlie’s Angels, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; or Rhett Miller, musician and frontman for The Old 97s. Together, we take deep dives on their careers and creative works.

Don’t miss an episode! Subscribe in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. It’s free!

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[namejason13-blog]

James W. Cole's Eclectic 1890 177 Waverly Place

The venerable two-story brick-faced frame house at No. 177 Waverley Place had become a rooming house by the late 1870's.  Among tenants were Martha McFarland and her son, William David, who was attending New York City College; and Richard C. Bolton, a clerk.  One by one similar Federal-style homes would soon be disappearing in Greenwich Village, replaced by commercial or apartment buildings. On March 1, 1890 developer William Ranking purchased No. 177 from Anna M. Hoch.  He paid the widow $9,000 for the property; about $256,000 today.  Any roomers in the house would quickly have to relocate; for just a month later, on April 18, architect James W. Cole filed plans for a five-story "stone flat" to cost $13,000.   Ranking's total expenditure on the project would amount to $626,000 today. The structure was built with lightning speed, and the first tenants moved in before the end of the year.  Cole had created a hybrid of architectural styles.  He faced the  basement and first floor levels in undressed brownstone.  That, along with the arched windows, echoed Romanesque Revival.  The entrance, which perched above a shallow stone stoop, featured Corinthian pilasters and a bracketed entablature whose incised, stylized palmette designs hearkened back to Greek Revival. The openings of the planar upper floors wore molded lintels and Italian Renaissance-inspired pediments.  Their understated brackets were more in keeping with the neo-Grec style.  An impressive cast metal cornice crowned the design. Ranking quickly sold the building.  On March 28, 1891 Samuel Aronson paid him $25,000.  Ranking's 12-month investment earned him a profit equal to more than $75,000 in today's dollars. The flats--just two per floor--became home to respectable middle-class residents.  Among the first to move in was civil servant Dennis H. Foley.  A Commissioner of Deeds, he was a low-level city government clerk who assisted notaries public. Like Foley, the other residents held jobs which, while respectable, did not earn them lavish salaries.  Anne M. Glass was a teacher, for instance, in 1898.  She earned about $495 per year, or in the neighborhood of $15,000 today.   The Cudibert family were in the building at the same time.  Their son hoped to add to the family's income when he placed a situation wanted advertisement in the New York Journal on October 15 that year:  "Boy, 18, experienced, willing, in machine shop." By May 17, 1906 when Samuel Aronson sold the building to Charles Seidel and his wife, Millie, the second "e" in Waverly Place had been dropped in common usage.  The Seidel family would retain ownership for decades. George Wilkinson lived here in 1919 when Congress passed the Volstead Act, ushering in Prohibition.   He worked for a man named Inteman as a trucker's delivery assistant.  The company's offices were relatively nearby at 18th Street and Eighth Avenue.  A delivery on the night of January 15, 1920 landed George and the trucker, William J. Flynn, in deep trouble. The New York Herald reported that the men were arrested "while they were unloading cases of whiskey from a horse-drawn truck at a saloon at West and Liberty streets."  They were charged with possessing liquor--and not a small amount.  On their truck were 146 cases and a barrel of whiskey.  The apprehension of the deliverymen did not sit well with thirsty bar patrons. "When the two federal agents arrested the men they were immediately surrounded by a hostile crowd of men, whom they dispersed at the point of their revolver.  The whiskey was seized." In December 1921 Charles and Millie Seidel leased the building to Jesse Oppenheim.  In signing the 21-year lease, the new proprietor intended to modernize the outdated structure.  In reporting on the lease The New York Herald said "The property will be altered." Oppenheim hired the architectural firm of B. H. & C. N. Whinston to update the Victorian building.  The architects not only upgraded the infrastructure, like plumbing and electricity, they removed the stoop and installed a new foyer.  Also included in the plans was an electric sign.

With the stoop removed and the entrance lowered, the transom above the double doors assumed mammoth proportions.  Surviving the update is the fantastic cast iron fringe above the well-eroded cornice.

With his upgrades in place, Oppenheim placed an advertisement in The New York Herald in October 1922:  "Just completed, 2 room kitchenette and bath suites, all the latest improvements." The remodeled apartments continued to attract middle class tenants.  Residents William R. Compton and William H. Sayre both passed the State bar exams in 1926.  Architect George Provot moved into the building around the same time. Born in New York, Provot had studied architecture for nine years in France, where he received his first degree in 1886.  In 1889 he received a bachelor's degree in architecture from Columbia University.  He was a member of the well-known firm of Welch, Smith & Provot before striking out on his own.  He was still living at No. 177 Waverly Place when he died in the French Hospital on West 13th Street on July 9, 1936. Other residents at the time were being scrutinized by the Government.   Theodore and Sylvia Schwab, along with their neighbor Dora Sklar, were on a published list of Communist voters.  The three were still here in 1940 when their signatures appeared on Communist Party petitions.  Another resident, Ruth Levine, added hers as well.

Astonishingly, the 1890 interior shutters survive in the first floor, front apartment.

Having held onto the building for 35 years, in 1939 the Seidel family sold the building to real estate operator J. Perlow.  As the decades passed, the tenant list continued to be middle class.  By 1962 college student Bruce Brown was sharing an apartment with a classmate.  That year his mother, Helen Gurley Brown, published her book Sex and the Single Girl.

The Addams-Family-appropriate light fixtures are especially eye-catching.  Taking the shape of wyverns (two-legged dragons) the originals were produced in the 1890's, making them period appropriate.  However, their crisp lines suggest they might be recent reproductions.

Despite his mother's progressive thinking, Bruce's father, David Brown, seems to have been a bit more conservative.  According to biographer Gerri Hirshey in the 2016 Not Pretty Enough: The Unlikely Triumph of Helen Gurley Brown, he wrote to Bruce's girlfriend (and later wife), Kathy Ames, in 1963 saying in part that perhaps she could convince him to cut his hair. Among the residents in the mid-1980's was illustrator Robert M. Cunningham.

Although the brownstone entrance has been seriously weather-eroded and the loss of the stoop is regrettable, James W. Cole's brooding Late Victorian flat building is an architectural treat.

photographs by the author

Source: http://daytoninmanhattan.blogspot.com/2019/05/james-w-coles-eclectic-1890-177-waverly.html

[longislandweekly-blog]

Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi (Photo by Derek McCabe)

Tedeschi Trucks Band has got some serious soul. The blues rock group is fresh out of the studio, having just finished their latest record. TTB is also touring through the end of the year and although it never stops, guitarist Derek Trucks likes it that way.

“When you’re on the road and the wind’s at your back, everything feels inspired. It’s constantly trying to keep the inspiration there and make everything fresh and new,” he said of being a musician. “Our band makes music in a really honest way.”

Formed in 2010, the band is led by Trucks on guitar and his wife, Susan Tedeschi on guitar and vocals as well as Kofi Burbridge, keyboards and flute; Tyler Greenwell, drums and percussion; J.J. Johnson, drums and percussion; Tim Lefebvre, bass guitar; Mike Mattison, harmony vocals; Mark Rivers, harmony vocals; Alecia Chakour, harmony vocals; Kebbi Williams, saxophone; Elizabeth Lea, trombone; and Ephraim Owens, trumpet. Their debut album, Revelator (2011) won the 2012 Grammy award for Best Blues Album, featuring songs like “Come See About Me,” “Don’t Let Me Slide,” “Midnight in Harlem,” “Bound for Glory” and “Simple Things.” They have since released three studio and two live albums.

Tedeschi Trucks Band (Photo by Stuart Levine Photography)

Trucks met his wife Susan in New Orleans when she was touring with The Allman Brothers Band. Rumor has it they fell in love over Chicago blues.

“We had a musical connection right out of the gates,” he said of their first meeting, which eventually grew into a marriage with two children and a successful professional collaboration. “In a lot of ways when you’re in a band, it feels a bit like a marriage anyway, so it’s a natural extension to me to work with my wife. It’s pretty amazing getting to do what we do together.”

Having grown up around music, it must have been his destiny when at 9 years old, Trucks bought his first guitar at a yard sale for $5. He took to playing right away and recalls a time when his parents took him and his brother to an annual Jazz Fest in Jacksonville, FL, where he saw Ray Charles and Miles Davis.

“That was one of my first musical memories, but the first show I ever went to was when I was 6 years old. I wanted to see Michael Jackson’s Thriller tour and I fell asleep for some of it,” said Trucks, whose parents introduced him to great music early on, including the likes of Ray Charles and BB King. “I feel fortunate to have witnessed some of that. Just hearing my dad tell stories about the power of that music and the look in his eyes when he spoke about it, I knew it was important. That’s the first music that really hit me as a child.”

Trucks’ musical lineage runs deep. In 1999, he became an official member of the Allman Brothers band, an opportunity he never thought would come. Fifteen years since joining the legendary group, he was still playing right alongside the greats, something he never envisioned would last for so long.

“I learned a lot right out of the gate, even to the very last day. I had to think about music and keeping the integrity at all times,” he said. “It was an amazing way for the group to go out. Our last show was in 2014 and it was pretty powerful.”

Of the three most influential records he listened to growing up, Trucks cites Derek and the Dominos’ Live at The Fillmore and Layla album, and Elmore James’ The Best of Elmore James. Those artists, he says were there from the beginning, as he cut his teeth to emulate Eric Clapton.

“There’s some beautiful material on there and the Allmans’ record also shaped a lot of how I thought about music,” said Trucks. “Elmore James’ Electric Slide songbook was the catalyst for everything that came after that. They were good building blocks.”

Gearing up for TTB’s eighth annual residency at the Beacon Theatre, Trucks said it is like going back to home turf for the band. March of 2000 was the first year that Trucks did a run with the Allman Brothers at the Beacon. It was also the same time he and Tedeschi had their first child.

Derek Trucks (Photos by Greg Logan)

Susan Tedeschi

“He was up in the dressing room during the performance, just a few weeks old. Everyone who is a part of the Beacon is home to us,” he said. “We really know the place and when we get there, it’s kind of like checking in.”

Trucks shared that a lot of the music on the band’s new record, as well as previous ones, were directly inspired by their children, which he believes is the same for every parent.

“People write songs out of things they’re going through. My dad always emphasized that it’s not how much you play, but how you play a single note and the space in between. Listen as much as you can and find what inspires you. That’s what’s always driven the great musicians,” he advised. “Hearing how they talk about the music that inspires them; they light up and that’s what’s going to carry you.”

Tedeschi Trucks Band will perform at the Beacon Theatre in Manhattan on Oct. 5, 6, 9, 10, 12 and 13. For tickets to the show, visit www.tedeschitrucksband.com.

Derek Trucks chats with Long Island Weekly's Jennifer Fauci about touring with Tedeschi Trucks Band. Catch him at the Beacon Theatre on Oct. 5, 6, 9, 10, 12 and 13! Tedeschi Trucks Band has got some serious soul. The blues rock group is fresh out of the studio, having just finished their latest record.

[hottytoddynews]

By Ellis Nassour, Ole Miss alum and noted arts journalist and author

Last season was dominated by the landmark Pulitzer-and Tony-winning Hamilton. People were saying, “How could the 2016-2017 season top that?” There’s not another Hamilton to be sure, but there’s plenty of excitement and diversity in this season of distinguished musicals.

It’s also been a season of superstars: Glenn Close, Bette Midler, Patti LuPone, Christine Ebersole. On these new original cast CDs, you won’t hear the thunderous applause at Sunset Boulevard, and Hello, Dolly!, Where mid-show standing ovations and numerous curtain calls for Close and Midler are the norm. But listen, and you’ll know why.

The Broadway League, the national trade association for Broadway, has released end-of-2016 – 2017 season statistics. It was the highest grossing one ever. Attendance reached 13,270,343 with a gross just short of $1.5-billion. This tally is only legit box office prices, which include premium sales. 

The Tony Awards are June 11 in a three-hour telecast on CBS from Radio City Music Hall, with Kevin Spacey hosting. There were 20 musicals, which includes six revivals; 20 plays (10 original, nine revivals) – both among the highest ever in a season.

Until you can grab tickets these bargain-priced original cast albums are a perfect way to at least enjoy aspects of the in-person experience:

 Amelie (Rhino Warner Classics; 26 tracks) by Daniel Messé and Nathan Tysen; closed; available June 9:

Tony nominee, the luminous Phillipa Soo (Hamilton) returned to Broadway in this charming, bittersweet musical with book by Pulitzer Prize and Tony nominee Craig Lucas (The Light in the Piazza), based on the beloved Oscar and Golden Globe-nominated French film.

Highlights: “Writing on the Wall,” “Stay,” “Where Do We Go from Here?” 

Anastasia (Broadway Records; 25 tracks) by Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens; available June 9:

Christy Altomare (a Sophie in Mamma Mia) is amnesiac orphan Anya, hoping to find family, who’s spotted by bungling conmen (Derek Klena, John Bolton (A Christmas Story; Dames at Sea) who wish to take advantage of her likeness to Russia’s Grand Duchess Anastasia, thought to be the only survivor of the execution of Czar Nicholas and family. She’s so authentic that she wins over the skeptics, including the Dowager Empress, Tony-nominated Mary Beth Piel.  Based on Disney’s 1997 animated film [includes Oscar-nominated “Journey to the Past” and five other film tunes].

Highlights: Original songs “In My Dreams,” “Everything to Win,” “Journey to the Past.”

Bandstand (Broadway/Yellow Sound Records; 18 tracks) by Richard Oberacker and Rob Taylor; available June 23: Returning WWII vet, a singer/songwriter, Corey Cott (Gigi; Newsies), forms a band with vets to seek the golden prize: Hollywood fame. But haunted by memories of his downed pal, he meets his young widow, Tony nominee Laura Osnes, who reluctantly joins the band. There’s instant attraction until a shattering secret is revealed. Pulsating Big Band-orchestrations by Tony-nominated Bill Elliott and Greg Anthony Rassen. Tony winner Beth Leavel (Drowsy Chaperone) co-stars.

Highlights: “Just Like It Was Before,” “Love Will Come and Find Me Again,”  “Everything Happens,” “Welcome Home.”

 A Bronx Tale (Ghostlight Records; 19 tracks) by Alan Menken and Glen Slater:

Move over Manhattan Heights, make way for the stoops of rough and tumble 60s Bronx, where crime does pay, in this adaptation of Chazz Palminteri’s 2007 streetwise one-man play (also a 1993 film) about a boys influences. It’s Dad v. Crime Boss, Richard H. Blake and DD nominee Nick Cordero (Waitress, Bullets over Broadway scene-stealer) with traces of Newsies, Wise Guys, and Jersey Boys doo-wop.

Highlights: “Belmont Avenue,” “I Like It,” “Out of Your Head.”

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Masterworks Broadway; 19 tracks) by Scott Wittman and Marc Shaiman:

Chocolate-covered whimsy, sadly readapted from the hit West End musical, based on  Roald Dahl’s novel and featuring songs by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley from the 2005 film. Christian Borle, with John Rubenstein, and Emily Padgett (Side Show revival). The spectacular aspects have been decimated, and all that’s left is a bore. But it’s a family show.

Highlights: “What Could Possibly Go Wrong,” “If Your Father Were Here,” “The View from Here.”

Come from Away (Musical Company; 25 tracks, including bonus) by David Hein and Irene Sankoff: 

Tony-nominated for Best Musical. In the wake of the 9/11 attacks, 38 planes en route to the U.S. with 6,579 passengers were forced to land at Gander, Newfoundland’s former military base for a week due to airspace closure. In a variety of motifs [folk reels to lush ballads], we meet unprepared locals who must rise to the occasion. Winning cast of townspeople and passengers includes Tony nominee Jenn Colella, like American Airlines’ first female pilot, Chad Kimball (Memphis), Joel Hatch, Rodney Hicks, and Q Smith.

Highlights: “Lead Us Out of the Night,” “Me and the Sky,” “Stop the World.”

Dear Evan Hansen (Atlantic; 14 tracks) by Benj Pasek, Justin Paul, and Steven Levenson:

Tony-nominated for Best Musical. Broadway’s always attempting to attract younger audiences, and those with good jobs or rich parents are flocking – along with adult theatergoers — to experience the devastating emotions explored in this musical about an emotionally repressed student.Tony nominee Ben Platt (Pitch Perfect films) gives a breathtakingly wrenching performance as the all but friendless teen, already hiding a dark secret, who uses a tragedy to become closer to a suicide victim’s sister and her family – and pays an anguishing price. Tony-nominated Rachel Bay Jones has big moments as his mother. Unfortunately, you won’t hear Will Roland and Kristolyn Lloyd’s scene-stealing bits. The deep empathy of the ballads will captivate and haunt.

Highlights: “For Forever,” “If I Could Tell Her,” “You Will Be Found,” “So Big/So Small,” “Words Fail.” 

Falsettos (Ghostlight; two discs, 36 tracks; with a 60-page color booklet with lyrics and photos) by William Finn and James Levine; closed: Tony-nominated for Best Revival. A neurotic gay man, his wife, lover, son, their psychiatrist, and lesbian friends explore changing relationships in the make-up of modern families. Tony-nominated Christian Borle (Tony winner, Something Rotten), Stephanie J. Block Andrew Rannells (Tony nominated, Book of Mormon), and Brandon Uranowitz (Tony nominee, An American in Paris) captivate. 

Highlights: “Love is Blind,” “This Had Better Come to a Stop,” “Making a Home,” “What More Can I Say,” “Unlikely Lovers.” Groundhog Day (Masterworks Broadway; 19 tracks) by Tim Minchin:

Tony-nominated, Best Musical. Tony nominee and Olivier-winning Andy Karl (Rocky, Mystery of Edwin Drood revival) in a Groundhog Day |Catch-22, based on the 1993 film, as arrogant TV weather caster who finds himself in a time warp – repeating the same day over and over. Clever staging adds a lot to the thin plot.   Highlights: “There Will Be Sun,” “Hope,” “Everything About You,” “Night Will Come.”

Hello, Dolly! (Masterworks Broadway; 16 tracks; 42-page booklet with lyrics and color shot of Midler) by Jerry Herman:

Tony-nominated, Best Musical, Revival. Colorful revival starring the divine Bette Midler gives razzle dazzle new definition. In the showstopping moment after another – singing, doing fancy footwork or eating. She’s well-accompanied to Yonkers, the 14th Street Parade, and Harmonia Gardens by Tony nominees David Hyde Pierce, Gavin Creel, and Kate Baldwin. At 53 minutes, the cd doesn’t give the scope of being there. The disc has an 80-minute capacity, but cuts have been made. “The Waiter’s Gallop,” at 2:51, and the Finale, at 1:43, are shorter than onstage. You won’t feel shortchanged on the Overture, “Dancing” or title song.

Highlights: “Put on Your Sunday Clothes,” “Ribbons Down My Back,” “Before the Parade Passes By,” “It Only Takes a Moment.”

Beginning June 13, Tony winner Donna Murphy (Passion) will play the lead on Tuesday evenings; and, at the end of June through year end, additional performances. In Transit (Hollywood Records; 18 tracks) by Kristen Anderson-Lopez, James-Allen Ford, Russ Kaplan, and Sara Wordsworth; closed: Broadway’s first a cappella score, by vets of Frozen and Pitch Perfect, told of New Yorkers facing the challenges of city life as MTA trains pass them by.

Highlights: “Deep Beneath the City,” “Choosing Not to Know,” “Not There Yet.”

Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812 (Reprise; two discs; 27 tracks) by Dave Malloy:

Tony-nominated, Best Musical. The complicated story, adapted from 70-pages of War and Peace, has been turned into a mesmerizing spectacle. Tony-nominated Denée Benton (Natasha, betrothed to Andrei) and Lucas Steele (arrogant, wicked Anatole) are ravenous lovers; Josh Groban (Pierre), the brooding misfit son of a royal who returns to Russia and an inheritance and attempts to untangle the romantic triangle. Brittain Ashford is stunning as the lovelorn Sonya. Highlights: “No One Else,” “Dust and Ashes,” “Sonya & Natasha,” “Sonya Alone.”

War Paint (Ghostlight; 21 tracks) by Scott Frankel and Michael Korie:

Tony, DD nominated Best Musical. Pioneering cosmetic entrepreneurs Elizabeth Arden and Helena Rubinstein, portrayed by stage favs Patti LuPone and Christine Ebersole, engage in fierce rivalry for dominance from the 30s to 60s as they change the face of American women.

Highlights: “If I’d Been a Man,” “Pink,” “Forever Beautiful,” “Beauty in the World.”

There’s more: one from Off Broadway and one from London’s West End:

Spamilton (DRG; 25 tracks) by Gerard Alessandrini:  This musical parody of guess what landmark musical is in love with what it mocks. It spins the difficulty of getting tickets, speculation about the film version, and most of all, the revolution — not the 18th-century political one, but the showbiz one. Alessandrini is the creator of 25 riotously hilarious Forbidden Broadway editions. He has a way with words, but this spoof is more affectionate tribute than one dripping with scathing humor.

Dreamgirls (Sony Music; 28 tracks, two discs) by Tom Eyen and Henry Krieger:

U.K. premiere of iconic 1982 Tony-nominated musical of Chicago R&B female trio vying for the big time during the 60s and learning hard lessons about show business and romance. Olivier-winning Amber Riley (Glee) is The Dreams’, Effie White.

Box office prices at around $189 and more for musicals can be daunting. Since you have to pay rent or monthly fees and also eat, you might consider the numerous promotions for shows in previews, Broadway League promotions for Kid’s Night, NYC & Company’s bi-annual Broadway Week [usually two weeks] 2-for 1 ticket offers (www.nycgo.com), and take advantage of the fact that 85% of shows are available for 40-50% off [plus $4.50 service fee] at the TDF booths.

Keep in mind newer shows such School of Rock and the return of Cats, Miss Saigon, and Sunset Boulevard [closing June 25]; and  hot shows from previous seasons – Aladdin, Beautiful, Book of Mormon, Kinky Boots, On Your Feet, and Waitress — all still going strong but with available seats. Then, they’re the long-running champs: Chicago, Lion King, Phantom of the Opera, and Wicked. Hamilton is still hot, hot, and hot. 

You can also still get original cast recordings of the original Miss Saigon; Cats; and Sunset Boulevard [Los Angeles, pre-Broadway cast].

Avoid purchasing price-gouging “resale tickets” from those sites engaging in this sort of consumer rip-off.

Ellis Nassour is an Ole Miss alum and noted arts journalist and author who recently donated an ever-growing exhibition of performing arts history to the University of Mississippi. He is the author of the best-selling Patsy Cline biography, Honky Tonk Angel, as well as the hit musical revue, Always, Patsy Cline. He can be reached at ENassour@aol.com. 

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The post Take Broadway Home! – CDs of Tony Nominated Musicals From Off-Broadway and The West End appeared first on HottyToddy.com.

[themusicbrief]

2Way FM 103.9 fm - 25/5/17 Thursday night playlist 8-10pm 103.9 fm & stream http://2wayfm.com.au/ - themusicbrief

1. Cloud Control - Rainbow City [Australian]

https://kidwithavinyl.wordpress.com/2017/05/15/cloud-control-rainbow-city/

2. Maggie Rogers - Alaska (Acoustic)

http://wearemahogany.com/maggie-rogers-shares-acoustic-version-alaska/

3. Coldplay - Up & Up

http://www.therocketonline.com/coldplays-upup-video-wins-webby-award/

4. Alex the Astronaut - Rockstar City [Australian]

https://www.artfelicis.com/2017/02/21/review-alex-the-astronaut-rockstar-city/

5. Rihanna - Love On The Brain

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_on_the_Brain

6. Ryan Adams - To Be Without You

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-MgXtelSYQ

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/hear-ryan-adams-lonesome-new-folk-rock-song-to-be-without-you-w457626

7. Hazel English - Love Is Dead [Australian]

http://www.stereogum.com/1937459/hazel-english-love-is-dead/music/

http://www.stereogum.com/1940293/hazel-english-that-thing/music/

8. Pond - Paint Me Silver [Australian]

https://kidwithavinyl.wordpress.com/2017/04/23/pond-paint-me-silver/

https://twitter.com/PONDband

9. Fred Falke ft. Jake Isaac - Don’t Give Up

https://themusic.today/release/fred-falke-don-t-give-up-feat-jake-isaac-single/8851355

10. Chris Cornell - The Promise

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/18/arts/music/chris-cornell-soundgarden-audioslave-voice.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPiJ79Ure1I

11. Audioslave - Shadow On The Sun

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_on_the_Sun_(Audioslave_song)

http://lyrics.wikia.com/wiki/Audioslave:Shadow_On_The_Sun

12. Chris Cornell - Long Gone (Rock version)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Gone_(Chris_Cornell_song)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xemYKdy4nbQ

13. Babaganouj - Star [Australian]

https://soundcloud.com/babaganouj/star

14. Maroon 5 - Love Somebody

"Love Somebody" is a song recorded by American pop rock band Maroon 5. The song was released on May 14, 2013, as the fourth and final single from their fourth studio album, Overexposed (2012). It was written by Adam Levine, Nathaniel Motte, Ryan Tedder, and Noel Zancanella; the latter two are also the producers. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_Somebody_(Maroon_5_song)

15. Maroon 5 - Daylight

"Daylight" is a song performed by American pop rock band Maroon 5. The song was released as the third single from their fourth studio album, Overexposed (2012).

16. Tegan And Sara - Hang On To The Night 

http://www.metrolyrics.com/hang-on-to-the-night-lyrics-tegan-and-sara.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNPrs17gZ2o

Album: Love You to Death Artist: Tegan and Sara Release year: 2016

17. OneRepublic - No Vacancy

http://radio.com/2017/04/28/onerepublic-new-song-no-vacancy/

> Miley Cyrus - Malibu (Instrumental)

18. Miley Cyrus - Malibu

http://people.com/music/miley-cyrus-liam-hemsworth-malibu-had-to-refall-in-love/

19. Plan B - In the Name of Man

https://www.musixmatch.com/lyrics/Plan-B-30/In-The-Name-Of-Man

20. Mississippi John Hurt - Frankie [1928]

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

https://www.americanepicmusic.com/

http://www.pbs.org/about/blogs/news/american-epic-a-journey-through-the-music-that-transformed-america/

http://www.legacyrecordings.com/2017/04/28/american-epic-collection-american-epic-soundtrack-may-12th/

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/american-epic-the-soundtrack/id1229291480

21. The Carter Family - Bury Me Under the Weeping Willow

22. Charley Patton - Down the Dirt Road Blues

23. Jimmie Rodgers - Waiting for a Train

https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/jimmie-rodgers/id136840726

Biography “His brass plaque in the Country Music Hall of Fame reads, "Jimmie Rodgers' name stands foremost in the country music field as the man who started it all." This is a fair assessment. The "Singing Brakeman" and the "Mississippi Blue Yodeler," whose six-year career was cut short by tuberculosis, became the first nationally known star of country music and the direct influence of many later performers, from Hank Snow, Ernest Tubb, and Hank Williams to Lefty Frizzell and Merle Haggard.”

> Tycho - Montana

24. Mississippi Fred McDowell - Freight Train Blues

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZ_uoEklJ58

https://www.amazon.com/Mississippi-Fred-McDowell/dp/B00000030W

“Classic Mississippi Delta Blues”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_McDowell

25. Muddy Waters - Louisiana Blues

http://www.allmusic.com/song/louisiana-blues-mt0000064769

26. - Bobby Byrd and James Brown - You've Got to Change Your Mind

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You%27ve_Got_to_Change_Your_Mind

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdpGpojw1wA

James Brown Live at the Boston Garden Extended Edition - James Brown & Bobby Byrd Perform Live at the Boston Garden April 5, 1968 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ir0nOPxnQS8

27. Geotic - Actually Smiling

http://ghostly.com/artists/geotic

28. Aeroplane & Purple Disco Machine Feat Aloe Blacc - Counting On Me

https://soundcloud.com/spinnin-deep/aeroplane-purple-disco-machine-feat-aloe-blacc-counting-on-me-radio-edit

#2WayFM

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