#Drunk feminist films

[deadbutbetter]

Hi, i'm sorry this is so out of the blue but would you mind sharing sadomasochistic literature recs pls? I love your other rec lists<33

yo not out of the blue at all. i realise i post a lot of content related to sm.

for fiction: besides the obvious bataille, you should look into colette peignot's collected writings under the name laure.

for some rewritten material on her there's kathy acker's my mother demonology. but everything by kathy acker relates to the subject: blood and guts in highschool, empire of the senseless.

(sidenote from an interview w kris kraus on her biography: According to Eleanor Antin, Kathy worked at a massage parlor in Solana Beach for a while, and she did not give massages. [...] She was also, at the same time, tutoring Latin. / If she didn’t give massages, what did she do? / Well, hand jobs, probably.)

another classic but story of o written by pauline réage plus its beautiful illustrations by leonor fini. it's actually said her fantastical owl masks inspired the character of o + she was really close to andré pieyre de mandiargues, whose one story la marge was adapted by walerian borowczky in immoral tales. then there's sacher masoch's venus in furs. you've probably already heard of anais nin's delta of venus.

i specifically highly rec mary gaitskill. bad behaviour is a great short story collection - one of the stories specifically inspired the film secretary (2002). her essay, the trouble with following the rules, on rape culture and agency published in harper's bazaar (later repub in somebody with a little hammer) is one rare occurrence of nuance and grace accorded to women who've had sexual experiences that are difficult to categorise. it gives a rundown of the ways she personally relates to feminist scholars on the subject too.

there's problems by jade sharma. for a more modern story of the eye, try ryu murakami's ecstasy.

for non-fiction (disclaimer that i mostly haven't read these but they are on my list):

gilles deleuze, masochism: coldness and cruelty ; avgi saketopoulou, sexuality beyond consent ; virginie despentes, king kong theory

if you're similarly interested in boundary-pushing experiences, the limits of the body, attraction to the horrific (i getchu) this is moreso sociology, aesthetics, psychoanalysis focused:

elaine scarry, the body in pain ; anne dufourmantelle, in praise of risk ; sylvère lotringer, overexposed: perverting perversions ; umberto eco, on ugliness

other media: the podcast drunk church, the director catherine breillat.

hope this is of help & if you read anything tell me how it went. i'm always looking for more stuff on the subject too.

[banishedchildofeve]

,, warning, a rant post,,, mentions of s*x work and p*rn in our society below.

A girl at my work asked me why I wasn’t agreeing with her as she and another workmate of ours discussed modern feminism. I was listening, to be polite, as there was nothing else much to do and no customers, and not saying anything. I’m usually quiet at work, but she seemed to take offence to my silence, as if I should be interjecting into the conversation to express how much I agreed with her.

I told her that I don’t believe modern feminism is always a good thing, and before I could even explain myself, she gave me a horrid look and said “right, because it’s easier to do nothing and get all that male approval, isn’t it?”

It was mean and I blinked at her, affronted and confused. Usually people let me explain when this topic comes up and I voice my opinions, if I have to, as I like to not cause conflict. Normally, I explain how I feel, very politely, about issues that feminism has brought up for women like the normalisation of abortion, contraceptives and dangerous hormone-changing pills, not marrying or even trying to find love, ‘sex work’ being seen as powerful etc etc.

I usually use my example of “girlboss” culture to help people understand how I’m not trying to be hostile or anything, but this workmate didn’t even let me and walked off to go talk to the manager who we’re all really good friends with. The other workmate I was with looked confused too and she joked about the awkwardness of what had happened, and I brushed it off but on the train home I was thinking about it again.

I was thinking about how often wives, mothers, homemakers and nuns/sisters/friars etc. are looked down on, often by feminists because they aren’t some business woman who only wears tight office-chic blazers and gets drunk every weekend and posts bikini pics. I thought about the young girls who dream of homemaking and wifehood, and the women who choose it over a career, and who are sort of viewed as pathetic or weak or ‘old fashioned.’

I’ve been told firsthand that my dream of being a mother isn’t good enough and how I “need to decide on a real career path,” or “something other than that, at least.” I’ve been made to feel small or stupid or that I’m offending all the women across all the generations who worked hard for our rights.

And this hurts, because I love women. I look up to who I consider to be the best feminine influence in all of human history, Mother Mary, daily. And I felt confused as I thought, because isn’t it all about choice?

Why is my choice less valuable than hers? Why is my choice to abstain until marriage, not drink coffee or try this pill or that drug or this drink something that I should be embarrassed about? Why is my modest mufti day outfit at school earning me stares and causing snide remarks? Why are we bringing up girls to believe that being a p**n star something empowering, something to do to “make a quick buck.”

Why are we letting young and influential girls believe that their worth comes only from their body, their aptness at reeling in boys, the size of their boobs, the way they dress and how many drinks it takes them before they’re throwing up at a house party outside on the lawn?

Why are we letting men, husbands, boyfriends believe that their wife/girlfriend/fiancé’s body is something that they can both benefit off if they just film that one video, or take that one photo? Why is it okay for a man to watch p*rn while his wife sleeps next to him?

Why is “she has an OF,” an insult, or something that takes away from her worth? Despite the fact she doesn’t feel beautiful unless a man is complimenting her body? How is this her fault? What could she have possibly done? She’s been taught that her body is all that guys care about. She believes that if she doesn’t do this act or send that photo she is wasting his time, she’s not worth his time.

It makes me sad. I hear younger girls talk in the bathroom at work while I’m in their cleaning or whatever about how this boy sexted them this, or how this other boy’s invited her over to his house on this time and how she’s been watching tutorials on how to … well, you know.

It makes me feel sick. These girls don’t know the danger they’re in. They’re being raised in an online world where it’s trendy to wear tiny shirts and post photos of your butt.

Most of the girls I overhear talk of things like this look 14-15.

This is not their fault.

They’re not to blame. It’s the world we let them indulge in. It’s a world where they’ve seen and heard and tried so much before they’re even able to legally get behind the wheel of a car and drive. Before they’ve even taken a proper exam at school.

When our frontal lobes detach, we become so ignorant to danger. Teenagers drive fast, do drugs, dance on the railings of bridges above highways and believe they’re invincible. It’s natural, sure, to an extent. But this is the time when so much can go wrong. Innocence cannot be returned.

I hate to think of how many girls will realise just how groomed and shaped they were by this toxic culture that surrounds us as a society later on and wish they hadn’t done this or that.

I want to protect these girls. I want to comfort them and keep them from these horrible, evil ideologies and that fuel harmful industries and create dirty, satantic fetishes in which people profit and people enjoy.

I want the girls who only dream of marriage and having kids to be safe and protected. I want girls who think it’s cool to smoke cigarettes and steal their parent’s booze to be safe and protected. I want the girls who dream of being billionaires and dating 40 men to be safe and protected.

Young girls are so influential and I wish there were better role models to show them that there is life and beauty and comfort and promise in the life that is ‘old fashioned’ and ‘anti-feminism.’

There is new life in Christ, always, of course. But I really wish the evil didn’t get there first.

I want to raise my own daughters in a world where it’s not okay to watch p*rn and use social media and consider sex work “empowering.”

I want girls and women to see that their worth does not come from how they look; but from within. From their heart, from their charity, from their kindness, from their humility, from their love of helping others, from the words they choose each day.

Of course this means we must make changes now, and step by step, starting with ourselves and our behaviour and headspace and habits. Changing for good can change others for good, inspire good, produce good, spread good.

Our daughters are relying on us.

Okay rant over, God bless all who read this. I hope you’re okay.

<3

(i wrote this awhile ago and just let it sit in the drafts. sorry it isn’t structured well. i was getting v emotional when i was writing this oop lol. i’m not here to have arguments, i hate arguing and it’s even worse online w literal strangers. i just am so sick of all this evil and damage being disguised as “pro women” and “feminism” and to speak out against it is to sound like a woman-hater, which is the last thing i am. the last thing a girl my age could ever be smh).

[thelesbianpoirot]

could you plz talk about your thoughts on poor things. I havent found the courage to watch it yet and id love to hear your takes on it

I like Yorgos Lanthimos films, he deals in absurd fucked up little worlds, I've seen Lobster, Dogtooth, and The killing of... and enjoyed them. They usually tackle something fucked up in society. How these characters live is deranged, we are also doing these deranged things, but we've normalized it so much that the absurdity on us is lost. Lobster - Our fixation on romantic partnership to the point people who choose not to participate in this societal arrangement as treat unfairly and left out of many areas of society. So where is an absurd situation is where this society forces you to be partnered or you are not human anymore. Killing of a sacred deer (TO ME) was about how we're at the mercy of powerful men with vices (and perversions) that can ruin our life without consequences, the drunk surgeon ruins a family by killing someone, the male doctor has a very scary fetish, assaulting unconscious women etc, when you realize the fallibility of men in charge of our lives, horrifying, so here is an absurd situation where someone has ultimate power and characters have no control. It is horrifying to be powerless to human men. I have been a woman who had to be sedated for a procedure, with a male doctor, my greatest fear was being taken advantage of, it would make me throw up to know my doctor had a fetish for having is wife pretend to be dead/unconscious while they had sex. That is what I took from that film. That is what made it powerful for me. POOR THINGS I thought when people were criticizing it they may not have gotten the satire, (I thought) it was supposed to be about how people only love women, the concept of women, if we are eternally girls, never mature, and always giving them carte blanche to exploit us and have a smile on the entire time. The prostitute who loves sex with random strangers for money, always sexual, always flirting, she just can't control herself. The stripper who loves being an exhibitionist, she's just a freak and has to share it. The woman who loves pain, it turns her on to be hurt by men. We've seen her on TV and in porn. I expected this to be an exploration of how men love this fake woman, and want to control her, because if she loves sex, they should be in control of who she has sex with or it is no longer fun for them. I thought this was going to be another "LOOK AT THE ABSURDITY" of such a woman. She doesn't exist. And if she did, she'll have to be brain dead, literally a shell of a mature adult woman who has killed herself because she cannot cope with this world. An analogy for how the sex industry takes advantage of drug using and mentally ill women. HOWEVER, director man wants to have his cake and eat it too, satirizing the exploitation of women, while exploiting a woman doesn't not make good satire. You're just doing the thing you're condemning. Satirizing sexualization of mentally unwell women, while actively eroticizing fucking someone with the mental IQ of a child is not good. Men already have a fetish of taking advantage of women with developmental issues, would loved if fuckin children was legal, and here you have talented actress Emma Watson making a fucked-stupid face right out of hentai. And she's being alluded for doing what porn actresses do every day, the voice and facial expression that makes me want to throw up. The film more goes on it stops being about (what I viewed, me personally) as a critique of the sex industry, and became about controlling a woman's sexuality, with no character there to present a feminist path that isn't BEING USED BY ANY MAN VS BEING CONTROLLED BY ONE MAN.

HERE IS A SHORT VIDEO of how I don't like satire of objectification/sexualization that uses objectification/sexualization to say it's message. But also I don't even think poor things are anti-sexualization, it is mainly about autonomy, the autonomy of women to sexually exploited. The exploitation isn't criticized, marriage is, a child like woman with unquenchable sexual lust belongs to the world, not one man it says. It was gross to watch and I felt icky. Not the kind of grossness that Killing of a sacred deer felt like, which was necessary to feel uneasy because feeling powerlessness is not comfortable. However, it is up to you to watch the movie and make up your mind, I am just annoyed that when it came to tackling women's issues acclaimed directors always fumble the ball.

[mpov]

Op on the original thread blocked me.

@redfemmayy

I have run down hundreds of examples people gave me of shitty MRAs. Every single time the person was spouting legit hate towards women, they either never said a damned thing about Men's Rights, or declared overt contempt and hatred towards them.

Show me videos from MRAs saying you can't rape your wife, drunk women are asking for it, etc. I want proof. What MRA books? Give me titles.

Why did I bring up Karen Straughan? Because @midnight-roses-candy claimed MRAs wouldn't stand to be "surrounded by queers" when there are literal queer leaders in the movement.

Who the fuck is Pearly White? The MRM has wholly disowned "Red Pillers" regardless. In fact when there was a documentary about MRAs being made "The Red Pill" They begged her to change the title as they don't want to be associated with them.

I'm not an MRA. I have been on this site over a decade begging for a link to one solid example of MRAs being shitty. I'm still begging to this day. Will, you finally be the one to link to something real? I can only hope.

But the proof so far is always the same circular logic.

A classic example is the "Furiosa Effect". In which people decided that MRAs hated Mad Max: Fury Road. When if you actually go to MRAs, or sites they have, you find glowing reviews. There was never an MRA boycott of the film. Nothing of the sort. But then anyone who gave it less than a perfect score was an MRA, so the narrative became:

"MRAs hate MM:FR! Reviewer didn't love MM:FR! Reviewer is an MRA. (which reinforces) MRAs hate MM:FR"

But ya'll never listen to me. Maybe you'll listen to a feminist.

Give me book titles, links to videos, articles, anything. I always run them down in good faith.

[period-dramallama]

How much worse would "Becoming Elizabeth" be if the two-headed monster known as Fraham had written it?

This ask kept me awake for hours.

The key difference would be that we would go in with zero expectations, so we wouldn't be disappointed, for the most part.

I think Fraham would accidentally make the good decision to not give Tommy S too much screentime. They'd give us Gaston from Beauty and the Beast with a side order of child abuse. That's it. Whereas Becoming Elizabeth spent aaaaaaaages trying to flesh out Tommy S and his insecurities and his terrible judgement and his relationship with his brother.

....and nobody asked for that.

Having said that, Fraham would squander 110% of the benefits of this accidentally wise decision.

What does the show look like? AU below cut. You have been warned.

-Upon the death of Henry VIII, Elizabeth receives a Mysterious Box. The label tells her she must open this box on her 18th birthday. What's inside the box? Watch the show and find out.

-Someone calls Jane 'cute'.

-Jane calls Elizabeth 'a mean girl'. References! Look how contemporary we are!

-Anne Stanhope has a pointless scene of her trying on Katherine's jewels, while topless. Why is she topless? No-one knows.

-For her 16th birthday party, Elizabeth does full Anne Boleyn cosplay. Katherine does the necklace thing but doesn't tell her to change. So.... it's still pretty obviously AB cosplay.

-Elizabeth Hates Sewing and wants to be a Leader so Robert Dudley gives her secret sword-fighting lessons. Shippers are torn between thinking this is cheesy and stupid, and the need to have Content.

-While hunting, Elizabeth accidentally shoots a peasant. Robert helps her bury the body in the woods. It's a Serious Moment for Elizabeth's Journey. So naturally it's never referred to ever again.

-The scene where Katherine discovers the truth about Tommy S and Elizabeth is... more graphic.

-Katherine has a graphic C-section.... and survives. Syke! She dies offscreen of a post-partum infection anyway.

-Mary Seymour dies as an infant... because Tommy S got drunk and dropped her down the stairs.

-John Dudley is a full-on Trump expy. He's racist to Pedro for no other reason than to signal he's No Good Very Bad.

-Alternatively, John Dudley is a Male Feminist who Leans In and Respects Wamen and tells Robert that his girlbossery comes from following his mother's example unlike his father Edmund Dudley who was a Useless Loser Who Got Beheaded. This clumsily foreshadows that John will one day be the Useless Loser Who Gets Beheaded.

-either way, we still don't get Jane Dudley.

-Mary chokes on a communion wafer and is saved by Pedro, because he's a Civilised Spaniard who knows something the Backward English don't know. (Basically the Heimlich Manoeuvre.)

-John Dudley tells Mary "we've had enough of your popish paraphernalia!" This line is so clunky and difficult to say that it becomes a meme.

-In their confrontation in the woods, Mary and Elizabeth get so angry they start to duel. It's surprisingly well-choregraphed. "Romola Fencing Champion" trends on Twitter. (Alicia is also pretty good).

-The duel descends into the two women rolling around in the mud and fighting. This sparks Discourse. Was it kinky accidentally, or on purpose?

-In their director's commentary of the scene Emma Frost calls the fight "their Anakin and Obi-Wan moment". She says this over a shot of Mary trying to crush Elizabeth's windpipe with her thighs.

-Edward's disease uses up presumably a large chunk of the special effects budget. He bleeds from the nose, eyes, mouth, and ears. Oliver Zetterstrom in an interview says this was his favourite bit to film because of course it was.

-John Dudley is so desperate for Edward to survive that he chooses black magic. Pentagrams, chanting, candles, sacrifices, the works. A black cockerel is sacrificed and John Dudley is sprayed with blood. Some members of the audience are kind of into it.

-Despite England being too backward for the Heimlich manoeuvre, Henry Grey performs mouth to mouth and CPR on Edward.

-No sign of Frances Grey, it goes without saying.

-Edward is dying and Elizabeth has just turned 18. Time to open the Mysterious Box! Inside are two canopic jars and a letter. The letter is from Henry VIII. He tells her that Anthony Denny is tasked with sending her the Mysterious Box. Henry says he has had a prophetic dream revealing that Elizabeth has been Chosen. He apologises for dismissing her because she was a girl and her mother was a Wicked Slut. She must wait for Edward and Mary to die as it has been foretold, then she will be Queen and preside over a Golden Age. After his death, the canopic jars will be filled and given to her as proof of his faith in her.

And what's inside the canopic jars? Why, the heart and stomach of a king! And of a king of England, too!

The End.

[super-hero-confessions]

I went to watch the first Aquaman movie because I wanted to support Amber Heard. I wasn't interested in the movie but I watched it in theaters to support her, exclusively. I am a woman, a feminist, and I believed her completely. I enjoyed the movie, she was a good, stunning Mera, and I was happy to see her thrive. But I am pretty conflicted about whether I should watch the sequel or not. Just to be clear: I am not a fan of Depp, so you can save anything negative you might want to say about him 'cause I don't care. It's not that I support him, it's just that I supported her and I am extremely disappointed. Most of her fans also disappoint me - from saying she is the "better Ariel" as opposed to Halle Bailey who is black, to attacking Rihanna, a black victim of abuse, for supporting Depp (it's giving white feminism) to saying Depp is a drunk, addict, unprofessional actor. Being those things is wrong but not morally wrong. And again, idgaf about Depp, I simply point this out because there are plenty of people going through addiction out there and they don't need to hear how much of a "failure" they are. You throw Depp under the bus for being an addict, you're throwing most addicts under the bus too. Not cool. I think they claim he's unprofessional and drunk and a mess because they know it's no longer smart to claim he's an abuser.

He is not a savior, he is not an angel, he is not perfect. The thing is, he's not the one who was speaking for us, representing feminism or movements like MeToo. So, deflecting attention by saying the things he did wrong is unhelpful. "He admitted the things he did!" He admitted he took drugs and he was rude to Heard. I'm still waiting for Heard to admit something, anything. I am a woman, I am often inclined to believe women; and because of that I believe all his ex-girlfriends who claimed he is a flawed partner, toxic at times but not the monster she made him out to be. I believe Rihanna who was not afraid to tell her story of abuse and I believe Courtney Love, who was the most hated woman back on her day, before and after Cobain's death, and said she had empathy for Amber yet still hoped justice would be served. What you're doing is sacrificing the word of other women to keep giving this one woman validation, spreading misinformation/trolling. Why does her word matter more than Kate Moss' word or Vanessa Paradis'? Take a look at known abusers from Hollywood - once one of their victims speaks out, so do the other victims. This wasn't the case but you all keep defending her. This is why a lot of people are no longer taking feminism seriously. We need to be more careful about who we choose to represent us. With that being said, don't use this post to be sexist. That's all I ask.

I'm still conflicted, I still don't know what I'm gonna do but I think I will watch the sequel. Even after the way she lied about abuse, I choose to support the movie because this is probably the last blockbuster she will make in a long long while and while she absolutely brought her ruin upon herself by being vindictive, some people on the internet took things way too far with her. And as I said at the start of this post, I ended up actually enjoying the first film, even though I was only watching it for her. The queue is long so this probably won't be posted before the movie comes out, but I want to thank this blog for giving all of us a haven and I also want to thank you for reading, whether you agree with me or not.

[ambientsoundtrackfan]

The problem with true detective night country was that HBO clearly made Issa López turn her film script into a six episode continuation of one of their last interesting franchises' to recapture the (viewership) high of season 1. I'm really fed up with production companies creating unnecessary conflict with women/minority writers. It was so blatant this season they ran this season off spite which kind of colors it permanently for me. It does not work to try and replace a classic with a shitty amalgamation storyline thats "female" and "native". I actually really loved Kali Reis and her and Jodi carried that show but I'm sorry it was a mess. One, nothing about the story was unique, never attempted to use the actually mythology/literature of the Alaskan location it was based (very ironic the whole thing was filmed in Iceland..), the "crime storyline" was like an AI generated with prompts from Wind River, X-Files, Devil's Pass....

it was also personally annoying to trash season 1 for being "too male" and ok...but all the female characters were just as violent and crass. The show also lacked a real feminist intent or realism to life as women in very rural areas of america imo. I'm sorry but when Navarro was fighting all those drunk men it would have been way more violent, perhaps even sexually violent. Weirdly, even though violence against women has always been a theme in True Detective this season airbrushed these issues away? I actually think these themes would have been very interesting to fully tackle and explore, part of the ethos of the show is its nihilism and I wish López had actually been interested in exploring violence against women and women in native communities. I get what all the pieces of the story were trying to achieve but it just felt really sterile and didn't ground me in the location. There was very little atmosphere, there was very little mood and the only interesting storyline was Navarro.

I think I would have less of a problem with this season if it didn't try to aggressively pit itself as a legit reboot comparable to season 1. I don't even like all the seasons of true detective and I also have other critiques of the show but to pretend like night country was even tangentially on the level of season 1 is crazy to me. Also López (who solely wrote every ep) is white so idk why she's acting like the storyline cannot be understood from a "Eurocentric" perspective. Maybe commit to writing a female nihilist noir if you say you really want it.

[spinningalbinoturtle]

LotR TikTok headcanons

My headcanons for what the Fellowship would post on TikTok

Frodo- mostly informational videos about culture and linguistics. He also does videos highlighting queer and disability issues especially post-quest. Sam makes appearances sometimes

Sam-rarely shows his face but makes lots of organic gardening, botany, and cooking videos. Frodo can often be seen in the background

Merry and Pippin have a comedy channel together but they each also have their own account. Merry’s random videos of his family in Buckland who don’t know he’s filming or his thoughts while he’s stoned. Pippin’s is extremely chaotic and contains lots of videos of him doing incredibly stupid things. He has more followers than Merry which he will never shut up about.

Aragorn as Strider mostly posts videos of wildlife he sees. Sometimes he does wilderness survival tutorials. Once he becomes king he does videos highlighting different people in Gondor and public service announcements.

Boromir does battle play by plays and sword tutorials with Merry and Pippin. He does adventure stunts. He also does a lot of drunk videos with Faramir

Legolas does lots of aesthetic shots of him in the woods. He also does lots of get ready with me makeup and hair tutorials. He also does lots of travel videos and is not conscious of his privilege

Gimli- he has two types of videos 1) gym and weightlifting 2) geology info videos about precious gems and working with stone and metal

Gandalf doesn’t know how to use tiktok but he does occasionally post blurry videos of Pippin doing something stupid. He also will post a video of him and Bilbo getting high or drunk

BONUS

Eowyn does sword tutorials and highlights feminist issues.

Bilbo doesn’t have tiktok but he does have Facebook where he tags his relatives in things he knows will annoy them. He also has a secret ao3 account where he writes fanfiction about people he knows.

Elrond has twitter and he gets in trouble on there a lot for saying controversial things

[filthforfriends]

The bitch with all the opinions does, in fact, have an opinion.

"But he was really drunk"

That is the phrase I've been hearing used to justify Damiano's shitty behavior at the club a week ago. "He was wrong to hook up with Vic's friend, but he was really drunk." Let's try that phrase in more familiar context. "He shouldn't have forced her to have sex, but he was really drunk." Now, when we look at it through the lens of rape culture, do you too how problematic it is? People are responsible for their actions when inebriated. It was their choice to become inebriated and the consequences of that choice are there's alone.

To be clear: I am not implying the kiss was nonconsensual. I am illustrating how the phrase could be used to victim blame to remind people that they already have a firm opinion on the subject. Using inebriation to justify criminal or generally shitty behavior is, of course, unacceptable. Remember that you are not okay with men dodging accountability for how they treat women, even if they look like Damiano.

I'm not here to scold you for being an imperfect feminist. I'm here because I find the finer details of Damiano's hookup upsetting.

Many of us suspected it was an open relationship, but there wasn't a shred of hard evidence. If you think about the logistics, that is truly miraculous.

When they manage to find a partner while too famous for apps, clubs, bars, and public dates, paparazzi know their address and Dam’s car/license plate. If Dam or Gio are seen going into a hotel in Rome, it would be tabloid fuel. Giorgia’s chronic illnesses make travel difficult. Fans track Måneskin’s location, so there’s no privacy anywhere in the world for Dam. If they manage to find space to explore a new relationship, they still have to get the NDA signed by their partner. That’s how they’ve kept this quiet, but legal documents mean hiring a lawyer.

Do you see the incredible amount of detail that has gone into keeping this quiet? Damiano was BEYOND capable of making his hookup with Martina private.

Vic was DJing and Dami intentionally made his presence very obvious by dancing next to her. In the span of 10 seconds you can 3 different phones capturing them both, with the video being taken by a 4th. Standing right next to Dam is a dude with an actual video camera. He knew he was being filmed and photographed. Of course that was gonna continue when he made out with someone and became even more interesting.

He and Giorgia had already agreed to disclose the end of their relationship later. Instead of that respecting that, he made out with this girl knowing he’d get caught.

I hope he and Martina were already seeing each other, because otherwise he chose the most cruel option. Someone from Måneskin’s inner circle who’d spent time around Gio+Dam as a couple, but much more time around Dami when G wasn’t there. So she gets to wonder forever. A younger, skinnier, healthier, and more European looking model. Might as well have stabbed her in the back and twisted the knife.

[bluetomorrows]

The Top 10 of the '10s (Part 1)

Many moons ago I noticed something about my history of watched films on Letterboxd. There was a huge drop off in the amount of films I had seen pre-50s. I'd say it's normal to have seen more recent movies than older ones, but I didn't like just how sparse my viewing was of those earlier decades. So I set out on a mission to familiarize myself with every year I was missing. I decided to watch 5 of the most popular films from every year that ever had films. I finally finished the 10s today. The 1890s and 1900s are also very interesting, but the 10s are when the film industry really began to take off and movies took a form more recognizable to modern audiences. Maybe some other time I'll talk about my favourites from those more experimental decades, but today I wanna talk about my 10 favourite films from the decade where modern film was born.

10. The Rink (1916, dir. Charlie Chaplin)

The Rink is a comedy where Chaplin really gets to show his strength at creating gags that continue to build, and his surprisingly strong roller skating skills. By this point, the tramp character is really coming into his own and Chaplin continues to invent new and exciting ways for him to be stupid. The specificity in the action and choreography make this occasionally feel more like a Keaton short than a Chaplin one.

9. One A.M. (1916, dir. Charlie Chaplin)

One A.M. is an incredibly interesting short for Chaplin as it's just him performing by himself on one small set. He plays some guy who comes home piss drunk at One A.M. and struggles to navigate the foyer of his own home. It really speaks to Chaplin's talent as a performer that this is as consistently entertaining as it is. Maybe there's something just primordially funny about people failing at simple tasks, but he seems to squeeze every ounce of potential out of this setup. It feels like this guy is Sisyphus if he was crushed by the weight of his own stupidity. Great stuff.

8. Coney Island (1917, dir. Roscoe Arbuckle)

While he's now remembered as one of the "big three" silent comedians, Buster Keaton got his start acting in smaller roles in films by and starring Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, who was also funny in his own right. I would describe the plot here but it's pretty meandering and unfocused, all you need to know is Fatty is hiding around Coney Island. The plot being weak doesn't really matter in this kind of short, it's just a vehicle for gags which is all it needs to be. Adding a theme or moral to this through a more focused story would honestly bring the short down. There are some great gags here with Buster getting his girl stolen from him and Fatty crossdressing (something he apparently did a lot), as well as plenty of slapstick and humour derived from carnival games. It gets incredibly ridiculous and is not at all interested in being grounded or feeling real. This whole style is a nice change of pace compared to some other silent comedies that tried to be something they weren't. This is primarily interested in getting you to laugh, and it gets there in some quite impressive ways. Something I do want to note is that the original release of this movie has an extended ending which is super racist. Modern restorations use the later versions which cut this out, but it still exists and is pretty gross.

7. The Unchanging Sea (1910, dir. D.W. Griffith)

The Unchanging Sea is a much more emotional and subtle film than much of Griffith's later plot-focused work, however, the ways it stands out from the style he went on to refine in this decade is what makes it so interesting and memorable. It's really a film about longing and the quiet sadness and isolation women experienced in this time period. I've always maintained that despite him being behind on other groups (i.e. being a vile racist), Griffith's films were always much more feminist than his contemporaries. Perhaps his willingness to portray complex female characters with unique issues was a factor in his early success. For the women in The Unchanging Sea, the work of their husbands out on the open ocean transfers them to a liminal state, unable to tell if their lover and possibly only friend would return until the moment he did. The sea does not care for their sorrow and their concern, it's a force much greater and mysterious than any fight they could muster. The light plot here lets us sit in the anxiety of these women and understand the way that their experience of life is fundamentally limited by the circumstances they were born into. There isn't even any real way to protect each other, as the ways of love for a woman in this time and place are a force more powerful than their pleas for other women to stay alone and self-reliant. The Unchanging Sea is about how human connection is all we have yet for many it's a prison. It's a kind of story that was only possible by someone like D.W Griffith when he and film were in this more primordial state, more willing to experiment and craft experiences that differed from the stories pioneered by other mediums, and is a shining example of exactly why this period of film history is so worth returning to.

6. The Cook (1918, dir. Roscoe Arbuckle)

Don't worry, this post isn't all silent comedy shorts. But in said genre, The Cook stands above the rest. This one feels a bit more focused than Coney Island, I know I ranted about how a proper plot wasn't super important in that one, but it did still feel a bit too disconnected overall, where here there's a full funny throughline from beginning to end. Not a throughline that's really trying to say anything, just a method to build tension and add onto gags to make them the best they can be. There are a lot of setups that take quite a while to pay off, often with several gags in between them, as well as some gags that feel like Rube Goldberg machines. It's an impressive piece of work that clearly took a lot of planning and care to execute. It has workplace safety violations and a cute dog, what more do you want?

5. Dante's Inferno (1911, dir. Francesco Bertolini, Giuseppe de Liguoro, and Adolfo Padovan)

Dante's Inferno/L'Inferno is the oldest surviving feature film, and the first one ever produced in Italy. I hate to call a film "an experience" but it really applies here. The narrative simply consists of two guys wandering around hell for 70 minutes. It's just an excuse to look at some really gorgeous visuals. The sets and effects in this are gorgeous, and the film seems determined to keep outdoing itself in its scope and ambition. This is much more inspired by Meliés than the likes of Griffith. It's something you look at and take in like a painting. You really need to just appreciate the artistry and imagination. It doesn't work for everyone, I'd forgive you if you got bored, but for me, it's a wonderful and astounding piece of art, that exemplifies the facet of early film to portray sharp and impactful images.

I'm realizing now that I have much more to say about these films than I expected, even ones that didn't make it into the top 10. So I'll end this post here! Look forward to seeing the top 4 and a ton of honourable (and dishonourable) mentions.

[messandamiracle]

So, in honor of the continuing hubris-driven journey I have yeeted myself on, here’s some thoughts on Wonder Woman 2009 (DC Animated Universe). 

Now, just to preface all this, I’ve never actually seen a Wonder Woman movie/cartoon/show or anything like that before, and I haven’t read any comics either. But lemme tell y’all, I was so ready to be impressed by an absolute queen of a badass Amazon warrior woman. And the first part of the movie seemed like it was going to deliver on those expectations. The opening fight with Hippolyta and the Amazons was so great - it was nice to see that they had uniforms which (to my poor and measly brains) looked reasonably like what any soldier might have worn in ancient Greece, rather than just being glorified leather bikinis. The fact that the crown which later becomes Diana’s wasn’t just a crown but also a bladed weapon capable of decapitating a man was a fantastic touch I did NOT see coming, and the fact that Ares was let off with imprisonment due to Zeus’ interference after committing a string of heinous crimes a mile long was both on-brand for the mythical character depiction and deeply frustrating in a way that made the Amazons’ retreat quite understandable and really tragic: they couldn’t live safely in a world where justice was constantly twisted in men’s favor, to the repeated detriment and harm of all others. 

(I would die for you ma’am)

And when Diana ends up experiencing the outside world for the first time, it’s revealed that these problems haven’t gone away, which gives us some moments that are really hard-hitting. There’s the scenes where Steve Trevor shows up on the island where all he does is a) ogle women b) violate their privacy in a way that is in fact criminal, and c) repeatedly weird sexual comments about the amazons. When she goes to America, there’s a really sweet scene where she teaches a young girl to swordfight because the boys she’s playing pirates have relegated her to the sidelines as a damsel in distress, and then the girl goes off and just absolutely DEMOLISHES them.

And there’s this killer quote (which I love), “Remarkable. The advanced brainwashing that has been perpetrated against the females of your culture. Raised from birth to believe that they’re not strong enough to compete with the boys. And then as adults taught to trade on their very femininity.” As someone who grew up surrounded by a lot of male relatives, this quote hit hard and was really relatable. And then there’s (to my mind) the MOST uncomfortable scene, where Steve takes Diana to a bar and is clearly trying to get her drunk with intentions that literally COULD NOT be more suspect. 

(can you FEEL the toxicity tonight?) (also the fact that Diana looks vaguely uncomfortable with Steve in every scene she’s in with him, including the ones where it’s supposed to be romantic)

And then it hits. It’s like you can FEEL the moment when the scriptwriters were like “whoo boy, guess we better pull back on this on guys, we might have made it a little TOO feminist. Time to pump the brakes!”

Because the next thing you know, she and Steve are going on a mission to stop Ares from taking over the world (or killing everyone in it - he doesn’t really have clear-cut goals, because he feeds off human suffering but if he kills everyone then won’t he just starve to death?). And they get beaten back by Ares’ forces and there’s a whole bit where Diana tells Steve to save the world and he DOESN’T and rescues her from the flying creature that had grabbed her instead and it’s like...supposed to be this whole redemptive moment where, despite the fact that he has done nothing but be an absolute sleazeball this ENTIRE film, NOW he’s a great guy. But like, look at Diana???

This is her waking up in the hospital. You know what I see? No cuts, burns, abrasions - there’s some kind of drip or transfusion line off to the side, but it’s unclear what exactly it is. She’s not in the ICU and doesn’t seem to have been in surgery, and like five minutes later she’s off to fight again anyways. But Steve claims he’s saved her life and it’s supposed to be some kind of “moment” for them, where she realizes he “cares” and whatnot. But like, if she didn’t need saving, as evidenced by the lack of serious injury, then Steve has just put his need to /feel/ like a rescuer over actually rescuing the ENTIRE WORLD. Keep it up Stevie. That whole hospital gimmick is sure gonna mean a lot when countless numbers of her relatives are dead because of your warped sexist savior complex. And what’s even worse is, in this scene, he actually has the GALL to chastise her for her negative view of the society she has found herself in, as well as men in general, and that not every man who opens a door is part of a misogynist plot. Which, like, first of all, she has seen NOTHING in her LIFE to dissuade her from this view Steve, least of all your sad sexist hide. Second, when EVER has this been about opening doors??? This is about your harassment and toxic behaviors, you stale box of apple jacks. But then she like??? Responds?? To this crap???? And seems to BELIEVE it so some extent??? Whish, given that she has STILL seen nothing to dissuade her from her opinions is HIGHLy out of character and makes me wonder what was in that drip line. 

(excuse me while I go screech out the window in horror and rage)

This is followed by a scene in Diana’s (very cool) jet where Steve accidentally truth-lassos himself and says (I kid you not) that he isn’t as much of a pig as he seems and just acts this way because he doesn’t “want to get hurt again.” But Steve, Stevie, Stevie my dude, YOU ARE A PIG. You don’t SEEM like a pig, you ARE one. There’s a difference. And with this ONE phrase, we’re just supposed to forget the harassment, the bar scene, the ogling, and creepy behavior in general. Good GRIEF. 

It gets worse from there. At one point, Diana tells Ares “How could you hope to defeat Zeus if you can’t even defeat a girl?” which is weird and even MORE out-of-character for her, and then the president’s assistant calls the Amazons “Armored supermodels,” and apparently the whole motive for one of the Amazons betraying them by letting Ares out in the first place was woman’s inherent need to produce children being thwarted by the island’s all-female nature (which, don’t even get me STARTED, because before this whole Ares mess in the first place, Queen Hippolyta SAYS that he killed their husbands and families, so there is NO. REASON. That family options would have been off the table for the Amazons to have again in the future if they wanted them. We don’t even see the queen saying that they CAN’T have them). And the movie ends with Diana being lectured by [the pig] Steve over how she should act more feminine and let men open doors for her or some crap like she’s a child, and then it closes with her running off to fight a female villain. Which, villains can be women, it just feels like the final nail in the coffin of Diana’s forced domesticity (because apparently she and the pig are a THING now (someone please bleach my brain DIANA DESERVES INFINITELY BETTER)) that of COURSE they end with the trope of the female hero fighting the female villain now that she knows BETTER than her TERRIBLE feminist ways. 

So yeah, Wonder Woman 2009. I have to say, despite the trash hand dealt by the writers/producers/directors/whoever was responsible for this travesty, I did love Wonder Woman. She’s now one of my favorite superheroes and this makes me want to go and watch the live-action moves she’s in because I’ve heard those are a lot better. There were some parts I really loved and some parts I really hated (every frame of Steve), and way more things I could talk about. I guess I’d watch it again, if only for the absolute amazingness that is the first section and (of course) Wonder Woman. However, I shall press on in my journey. 

[theskyexists]

watching stick it and the main character is insanely pretty. like. literally sublime.those clothes !

AND the boys are super cute too?

so she gets forced back to school and instantly goes attack mode. literally bullying the hell out of joanne lol. she ain’t no vicitim here

the dialogue is incredibly natural

they do nuance the ‘adult forces kid into competing’

WHO did they cast for this???? actual elite gymnasts? how much did the main actors train??

that mishap stunt - HOW DID THEY DO THAT

did she unintentionally sabotage her younger peers?

i LOVE her boy friends

poor Joanne. she isn’t...like. evil at all. she’s genuinely just slow and confined and childish. id be the same tbh. but she’s also a little evil - but she probably learnt from her mother and everybody she’s ever trained with. doesnt’make it right ofc. but she can def unlearn that shit. she already is

dudeee haley’s gotta realise shes fucking these kids up (even though she means what she says)

fuck. her mother, and the others, and the coach. fuckin hell. she’s gonna break something isnt she. to be alone in the world, nobody caring about you, that’s the worst a human can be

at least shes got her boys though. she got her boys!!!

i actually love joanne haha. she sso....

this is such a chill film. it really takes its time

OH NO POOR JOANNEEEEEEE

what the FUCK. joanne doesnt mind poot thinking shes a bitch even though he doesnt care???? jaflsdjflkds

god. this film flawlessly shows how every young athlete’s parent is a total psychopath. actress for phyllis is incredible!!!!

this film is very subtly completely feminist and progressive.

so why is vickerman known for his injuries when the film insists on him being a good coach

so joanne decided to stick with vga? whats her mum up to

amazing scene of the adults being drunk

so whats with the whole thing where bert got injured and then lots of his girls get too...

whoever made this film LOVED the sport and the athletes and everything around it. this is some sports anime shit

ahhh this film really was just roasting some traditional judging shit. wonder if it got fixed.

why does tricia look like evan rachel wood

HOW did they get body doubles for these people. DID THEY? OF COURSE THEY DID

SOLIDARITY AMONGST WOMEN!!!!!!!!!!!!! or actually, GIRLS!!!!

one question tho: where did this kid SLEEP

[shhlima]

Hey, Lima, I’m JANE HAYWARD but everyone calls me JANE, I identify as a CIS WOMAN and use SHE/HER pronouns. I was born on JULY 16TH making me TWENTY years old and a CANCER. Most people call me the ACTIVIST, maybe that’s because I am PASSIONATE but also JUDGMENTAL. If I had to describe my vibe, I would say it revolves around SPIRITED DEBATES, DESIGNER PANTSUITS, 80S HORROR FILMS. Of course there is one thing I hope no one ever finds out, and that's MY PARENTS ARE PAYING PUCK OFF TO CONCEAL THE FACT THAT I’M HIS BABY MAMA. Anyway, on a more fun note, people always say I look like ZARIA.

FAMILY INFORMATION

HOMETOWN: westerville, ohio FAMILY: hayward TYPE OF SIBLING: full BIRTH ORDER: middle PARENTS STATUS: yes POSSIBLE SIBLINGS: full or adopted

SCHOOL DATA

YEAR IN SCHOOL: sophomore MAJOR/MINOR: political science EXTRACURRICULARS: glee, GSA LIVING QUARTERS: 2 br apartment with bree OCCUPATION: what is a job when your family is wealthy?

HEADCANONS

Growing up, the Haywards expected perfection from their children, and Jane was always one to comply with whatever was asked of her. After all, they were wealthy and given all sorts of advantages as children, such as music and dance lessons, creative summer camps, vacations that were both luxurious and educational. It only felt right to soak up the vast opportunities being presented to them, so by high school, Jane had never gotten any grade lowered than an A, could play multiple instruments, had been in show choir for years, had a dance background, and had developed a knack for fighting for what was right.

Call her a feminist, a social justice warrior, an activist — it's all true. After her parents had to sue the all boys' academy that her father and uncle attended for high school just to get her enrolled, Jane grew passionate about fighting for women's rights, as well as the rights for any and every one that was ever discriminated against or unjustly mistreated by the law. She's constantly attending protests, she started a Ride Home program as a teen that allows sober teenage girls to drive drunk girls home from parties to keep them safe, and she's regularly forcing her parents' friends to donate to important organizations and to even help the wrongly accused in Ohio hire good lawyers instead of public defenders. For her parents, this is practice for the political journey they plan to see her go through on her road to becoming the first female president, which is their goal for her whether Jane truly wants it or not.

One summer, Jane met one Noah Puckerman at a party, and him taking her virginity turned into her getting pregnant. The Haywards were not about to allow their gifted daughter be a teen mom, so they told everyone that she'd signed up for a study abroad program, while she was really staying with relatives on Martha's Vineyard and being homeschooled to conceal her pregnancy. Her family wanted her to either abort the baby or give it up for adoption, but Jane asked Puck what he wanted and Puck chose to keep their baby, a daughter they named Maya.

Thus the other part of the secret was born: in exchange for keeping Maya and raising her without their side of the family being involved, the Haywards pay Puck to keep the identity of Maya's mother a secret. Jane doesn't like it per se, but she also knows better than to go against her parents, so she's kept her word to stay out of her daughter's life and let Puck raise her alone. To do that, she didn't come home after she had Maya or after she got her diploma, enrolling in the University of Massachusetts at Amherst to keep distance between her family.

Unluckily for Jane, she spent her first year of college partying and drinking to get rid of her mom guilt, and for the first time in her life, she'd even failed a few classes. Her parents were pissed, as one would expect, so they made her take a year off afterwards to get her shit together. Now, she's getting back to her old self, and her parents thought it was time she come back to Lima so they could keep her on track.

[magsgoestocollege]

i want to capture this feeling, this moment. near the end.

i am sitting in my college dorm room, my fourth one but not my final one, and i have been home from my last college class for roughly thirty minutes. i stalled leaving the classroom because i was sure that i would cry. we spent the semester studying knights, chivalry, romance, and fantasy. it was queer, feminist, and beautiful. i'm so glad i planned my courses to end with this one.

it feels wrong, i think, to be done. to feel done. i still have two-ish finals left, but not really. one just needs to be edited, and the other is a series of knight-themed aita posts. because. liberal arts college. neither are putting the weight of the world on me. my final film screening is in an hour and a half.

i'm throwing a graduation party for myself tonight in the basement of my dorm because reading period starts tomorrow night and i don't want to annoy my housemates. i feel at home here, finally, after 4 years. and i leave it in less than three weeks. there are more than thirty people planning to come to my graduation celebration, more than i ever could've expected. i thought i had three friends, if that. to see so many people want to celebrate my success? well.

senior ball and senior banquet were this weekend. both were unexpectedly wonderful. i got all dressed up in my jumpsuit and crystal. my friend burned my forehead with the curling iron. it still hurts, but i can only be a little mad. it was a special night. i pregamed with my housemates, my second (third?) time being invited. i'm still surprised to be included, honestly, which my therapist raised her eyebrows at. I'm working hard to undo the idea that i have to earn the right to be around other people.

the dance was in the campus center, and they legally can't turn the lights off, so imagine around 200 drunk seniors in formal attire dancing under fluorescent lights middle school-style. it was perfect. i was skeptical of the french fry bar at first, but actually, that is exactly what i wanted. i flitted between housemates and senior friends and graduated friends who were brought by senior dates. i had a beautiful time. the misting rain was cold against the alcohol-flush of my cheeks. i was warm. happy.

senior banquet was perfect. in true banquet fashion, the tables were arranged in a big square with seniors on one side. everyone knew each other. there were no cliques for the first time since I've been attending. the underclassmen showed up in droves. the first years and sophomores performed their skits, recounting tales from the seniors' time in college. someone monologued as me. it was touching. the juniors presented their prophecies. mine was very sweet. I gave my wills away to three juniors and three first years.

i think i'm excited to graduate. i'm certainly ready to leave. to try something new. four years, I've found, is about the longest i can stay somewhere without growing bored or getting too comfortable. i studied video production, indigenous critiques of settler colonialism, and knights this semester. a fine lineup if i do say so myself.

i'm excited to join the school's legacy. alums are known for making waves, after all, and i hope i get to start a ripple. with all its ups and downs, traumatizing experiences, and bright spots, i have certainly come away from college a different person. i'm more self-assured. i'm confident in my ability to succeed. my perspective of the world has opened up and closed at the same time. i can hold nuance and gray area better than most of my peers. i'm still learning who i am, but that's okay. you never really stop learning who you are.

i have to go. my party is in a few hours, and i have a screening to get to. i'll see you soon, though. there's much to say in the next few weeks.

[lizzygrantarchives]

BBC News, January 27, 2012

Lana Del Rey has been praised, sued and vilified – all before her album hits the shelves. But the US star says she's more concerned by the global financial crisis than her critics.

Last year, with almost no fanfare, a song called Video Games popped up on YouTube.

An achingly beautiful piano ballad by an unknown singer, it had been rejected by almost every record company that heard it.

The song was too long, they said, too melancholy. And it needed drums if it was to get any radio play.

Lana Del Rey didn't believe any of them. She persuaded a tiny independent label to release the song, and created the promo clip at home on her MacBook.

Twenty-two million views later, she's got a major label deal, a contract with Next Model management, and is about to release one of the most-anticipated albums of 2012.

So who is Lana Del Rey?

"It was G, C, A," she recalls, absent-mindedly stretching her fingers into the chord formations. "It was D minor, A minor and some diminished chord as well. Some trick, some shortcut.

"I realised I could probably write a million songs with those six chords – so I moved to New York and I took a couple of years to just write whatever I wanted."

She had an early stab at recording an album – 2008's Lizzy Grant aka Lana Del Ray – which was made for $10,000 (£6,000) with Paul McCartney and Regina Spektor's producer David Kahne.

But it was never formally released, popping up on iTunes for two months in 2010 before quietly disappearing.

"I had signed to an independent label but they couldn't fund the release of it," says Del Rey.

"People act like it's so shrouded in mystery, the 'forgotten terrible album'.

"But if you look on YouTube, all 13 tracks are available with millions of views, so it's not like no-one's heard them.

"We were all proud of it. It's pretty good."

The singer recently bought back the rights to the record, and says: "I'm re-releasing it, maybe in late summer."

Cinematic

Her major label debut, Born To Die, refines the formula set out on that early material.

A sweeping epic of doomed love affairs and bruised glamour, it could be the lost soundtrack to a film noir.

Del Rey's vocals have a cinematic quality, too. One minute, she's a breathy femme fatale; the next, a languorous, sultry diva: Marilyn Monroe and Marlene Dietrich competing for control of the microphone.

In person, however, the singer is more down-to-earth.

Softly-spoken and doe-eyed, she comes from a close-knit family. Her left hand is tattooed with a capital letter "M" for her grandmother, Madeleine.

And while her lyrics revel in seedy romance ("he loves me with every beat of his cocaine heart") they were largely inspired by a single, happy relationship.

The affair was so all-consuming that Del Rey "let go of my musical ambitions" and "settled" into a life of domesticity.

In Video Games, she is completely smitten: "He holds me in his big arms. Drunk and I am seeing stars. This is all I think of."

"People talk about me being an anti-feminist because of that song," the singer says.

"They think it's coming from a place of submissiveness. But in reality it was more about coming together and doing your own things happily in the same living space."

The relationship eventually ended but Del Rey doesn't mind revisiting the memories.

"You should honour love, even when it's lost," she says.

"I've been separated from various things and people in my life that I wanted to stay close to. By staying calm and being strong, I was honouring the memory of those things and those people.

"I'm proud of that, and I continue to do that."

Legal troubles

After Video Games became a break-out hit last October, Del Rey was snapped up in a joint UK/US deal by Polydor Records and Interscope – the latter of which is home to Lady Gaga and Madonna.

"I got sued over the video for Video Games," Del Rey explains. "That was a bad day. A million views and it got wiped out."

The video had been cut together from faded, vintage footage the singer found on YouTube. She had assumed it was free. It turned out to be a legal headache.

"So now I have a specialist who reaches out to get permission when I make a video."

But there are also disadvantages to working with two of the world's biggest record companies.

Some of the people who championed Del Rey early in her career have turned their backs on the singer, accusing her of selling out.

To them, authenticity and pop are separate sides in an inexplicable and unwinnable musical cold war.

They have attacked her professionally, accusing her of not writing her own songs, and personally, claiming she's had plastic surgery.

"My publicists, in their long career, say they have never seen someone be more fictionalised," sighs Del Rey.

But the singer insists she's unfazed by the criticism.

"I know what people say about me and I'm not really that concerned, because those kind of problems I'm not really interested in.

"I'm concerned about the potential collapse of the euro, the state of the global economy. We have serious problems.

"Of course I hope the record does really well but, regardless of how things end up turning out, I'm not concerned about my future. I'll be OK."

Originally published on bbc.com with the headline Love, the law, and Lana Del Rey.

Interview transcript

So, last week I met up with Lana Del Rey, who was coughing and spluttering after cancelling her gig at London's Koko venue the night before. Demure and softly-spoken, she was absolutely charming. More homebody than homewrecker, despite whatever impression you may have received from her lyrics.

Our chat formed the basis for a BBC profile piece, which was published over the weekend. But I thought you might like to see a fuller transcript. So here it is...

Can you remember the first time you thought "I can write a song?"

I didn't really start writing until I was 18 and my uncle sort-of taught me six basic chords on the guitar. I realised I could probably write a million songs with those six chords – so I moved to New York and I took a couple of years to just write whatever I wanted.

That's quite a late start.

It's really late.

Had you been creative in other ways before that?

Yes, in some ways. I don't know if I'd say it was my focus. I never really thought about writing my own music but I did like to sing.

Do you remember the chords your uncle taught you?

It was G, C, A. It was D minor, A minor and some diminished chord as well. Some trick, some shortcut. When I learned F, which I assumed would be easy, I was like "fuck". F was just never going to happen. Four fingers? Never going to happen. It's too hard.

There isn't much guitar on the album. When did you switch to piano?

I didn't switch because I don't really play piano – unless it's a Wurlitzer and I'm sort of just holding sustained chords. On my first record, I played guitar throughout most of it. With this one, I started working with this guy Justin Parker who's never really done anything in pop music. I just started freestyling over his sustained, melancholic chords. And that was how, really, the second evolution of my style began.

You said you were always a singer... Where did that start? Do you remember singing with your family when you were young?

I remember singing with my mom and with my dad. There were musical children's movies, like Mr World and Raffi.

In my house, my sisters loved Grease.

We loved Grease, me and my sister. [Sings Summer Nights] They're really beautiful, those songs.

The movies that inspire you now come from a slightly darker place.

It's not my fault that my inspirations are dark. I'm not a very dark person, but I find that most great works of art verge towards darkness. My favourite movie is The Godfather II – the settings alone are just so epic. The same with film noir. It's not the darkness I'm attracted to, it's the fact that it's so beautiful. Visually stunning.

I'm interested in the montages you've made for your music videos. The clips you use don't really bear any narrative relation to the lyrics, so what makes you choose them?

I think they must share an aesthetic, or a mood. When I go to Germany and France, people always ask me about the Hollywood imagery – but when I started putting the movies together, I wasn't necessarily looking for clips of Hollywood. I was looking for vintage film from the 50s. I liked the texture and the colours of those films.

It's funny, when I was putting the montages together at first and showing them to people, nobody seemed to get it. They thought it was a very weird juxtaposition, verging on creepy. It's strange now that people think that it's a really cohesive package, because for a long time it seemed like a really disjointed project that I was alone in believing in.

Where do you find all those film clips?

YouTube. I steal them! But I have a copyright specialist that I work with, so she reaches out to get permission now. Ever since I got sued.

Really? Over which one?

Video Games. That was a bad day. A million views and it got wiped out.

You've got more than 25 million streams on YouTube now. You must get royalty payments?

I don't think so. Why aren't you on my team, honey? Where the fuck have you been?

Those viewing figures must translate into some kind of material value. I mean, there are adverts streaming before two of them.

What's the story behind Video Games?

I've been coming to London for a long time now, off and on. But I'd been coming for about 14 months before I wrote that song. I found one of my musical soulmates, Justin Parker. I just sat down with him and said "I'm tired of trying to be good and be noticed. I just want to write whatever I want to write." And he said, "then just write whatever you want to write". And he played out some sustained piano chords, and I leaned back and started thinking about one of my favourite times.

I usually draw inspiration back from the same few moments in my life, and so I started thinking back to when I was really happy in this one relationship and had just let go of my musical ambitions and... settled.

I was always a wanderer. I never stayed in one place for very long. I never thought I'd have the luxury of loving someone and being loved. I always hoped that that would happen and when it did, it really was what they talked about in the movies.

Geek question: What was the video game he was playing?

It was World Of Warcraft. It's actually an all-consuming game.

Did you play it, too?

He... Well, he wouldn't let me.

What was his character?

I think he played as a monster. You can't really see the character when you're in the game.

What I love about that lyric is that songs don't usually talk about the bits of relationships where you're just slobbing around the house doing your own thing.

People talk about me being an anti-feminist because of that song. They think it's coming from a place of submissiveness. But in reality it was more about coming together happily and doing your own things happily in the same living space.

What would you say the theme of the album is?

You should honour love, even when it's lost.

Is the relationship from Video Games over now?

In the end, we couldn't be together. When I've been separated from various things and people in my life that I wanted to stay close to, I felt pride in not sabotaging myself with fear. By staying calm and being strong, I was honouring the memory of those things and those people. I'm proud of that, and I continue to do that – try and live gracefully.

How difficult do you find that now that you're in the public eye?

I've lived a really quiet life for the last decade and I don't see that changing. I have a really big life outside of music. I have a really big family, I have friends, I have other work and I have my studies that I've continued to pursue.

What were you studying?

Philosophy.

Does the fact that this album is doing so well when the first one disappeared without trace make you suspicious of success?

Well, why would that make me suspicious? I guess I'm always wary that beautiful things that happen to me aren't for real. Really great things are rare. But maybe sometimes they're genuine.

What exactly happened with the first album?

People act like it's so shrouded in mystery – "the forgotten terrible album". But if you look on YouTube all 13 tracks are available with millions of views. So it's not like no-one's heard them. I was the only one signed to that independent label. They gave me $10,000 and I made a record but they couldn't fund the release of it. It's not like it was bad. We were all proud of it. It's pretty good.

Would you consider buying the rights back?

I already have the rights. I bought the rights upon my exit. I'm re-releasing it, maybe in late summer.

A lot of people have claimed you "re-invented" yourself after that record failed – but it's actually called Lizzy Grant aka Lana Del Ray [sic].

Exactly! It was never really a shift in persona, it was just the name of the music I was making. The name of the project. They're not even separate personas.

People don't spend a lot of time criticising Florence Welch because she doesn't have a machine.

[Almighty laugh] The way I've lived my life is so straightforward, it's ridiculous. I've been so clear and upfront about everything but most articles I see... My publicists, in their long career, say they have never seen someone be more fictionalised.

I know what people say about me and I'm not really that concerned, because those kind of problems I'm not really interested in. I'm concerned about the potential collapse of the euro, the state of the global economy. We have serious problems. Of course I hope the record does really well but, regardless of how things end up turning out, I'm not concerned about my future. I'll be OK.

Originally published on discopop.co.uk on January 31, 2012.

[sparkboyproductions]

Captain Cool: Facts & Backstory.

Captain Cool (real name as Kate Bergdahl), but sometimes known as the "Indestructible Woman" is the leading female superhero as well as a fellowing founder of Team Honour.

She is a feminist tomboy who cares so much in the welfare in woman and wanted to spread the word of woman's rights to the world over. Although she's tough against men who use woman as objects, she is however a straight person due to the fact she's currently dating SparkBoy, viewing him the only man who understood the opposite sex.

Powers:

Retrometabolism: the ability to self heal from fatal injuries.

Able to leap and jump high areas.

Body to push bullets out of body when self healing.

Martial arts skills.

Mighty punches and kicks.

Can swim fast.

Weaknesses:

Rest of body can heal, except head.

Radiation sickness.

Mind under control though psywaves.

Likes:

Fighting for woman's rights.

Leading girls into becoming supers.

Being with SparkBoy (as she's in love with him).

Aiding Sparkboy on missions/ helping him when needed.

Watching Classic films.

History and cultures.

Cooking foreign foods.

Kicking bad men in the nuts!

Dislikes:

Misogyny.

Women being abused.

Children hurt.

The League of Sin.

SparkBoy in danger.

Backstory:

Kate Bergdahl, born in Leeds, England started life as normal, but when she was about six years old, her parents married life ended in failure as she witnessed her own father getting drunk on night and beating her mother to death. She managed to fight against her father and there discovered her healing powers when he hurt her. After her father got arrested, Katie was taken into her grandparents custody who taught her a lot about of the Suffragettes and telling her to fight for her rights.

So throughout her adolescent and young adult years, Katie studied history and politics, and there she took part in feminist groups, hoping to bring women's rights at the next level. In secret she used her healing powers and martial art skills in doing some vigilante activities. But however, in 2013, was one of the superpower beings who encountered SparkBoy in action, there it inspired her to become a superhero. She earned the name Captain Cool as many view her powers to be something so amazing that no one could enocunter.

After multiple combat missions together, Captain Cool is currently dating SparkBoy as she viewed him as a one true good man. A amle who really respects the female side in life.