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popculturebuffet · 4 months

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Thomas And Friends Retrospective: Thomas and the Magic Railroad Theatrical Cut (Commission for Lachie V)

Hello all you happy people and i'ts back on the train gang for more Thomas the Tank Engine

For those of you just joining us, a recap: For the past year and a half or so, i've been covering the first five seasons of thomas the tank engine on and off for @lachievpoststhings, who comissioned these as a fan of the franchise to get an outsider's perspective and hopefully get less jokes about Henry being walled up for always and always. Your free to jump in here and i'll have a post of the restrospective so far soon after this review's finished.

The basics are one day the good Reverend Bawldry, a longtime railway enthusist, made a bedtime story for his son about trains with human faces, kept making more as the kid loved them, and eventually turned these stories into a series of succesful books. Decades later in the 80's, up and coming exec Brit Alcroft seeked to adapt these books to screen and using amazing modelwork, velvety narration from Ringo Starr, George Carlin, Micheal Angelis and more across both ponds, Thomas became a massive success. While his US airings needed a wraparound, it got one in the superb shinging time station, your standard "kids learn lessons in a place" show, except this one has a magical tiny george carlin named Mr Conductor who shows up to give advice and schemer

This glorious large ham cooks up halfbaked schemes, is distrusted by children, and makes every episode better just by existing.

So with this success Brit Alcroftt decided to take her big IP to where all big properties go: the big screen. Luckily for her Barry London, head of Paramount at the time, had a daughter who loved Thomas and greenlight the picture in 1995 with a deal inked by 1996 and a script on the way. Unluckily, sometime after London left the studio and the project was canned because new studio heads are vindictive bastards. See how Final Space was canned after a studio change and goofy movie was given NO advertising after the exec pushing for it left. Thankfully after a false start elsewhere for Alcroftt, she decided to self fiance, finding that the Isle of Mann offered tax breaks. Helping was that London landed at another studio, destination films, so with their major backing and the isle of man cut the film was good to go.

So with that the film got underway and as far as I can tell it was MOSTLY smooth apart from a mishap with a James model.Post.. was a diffrent beast. The film had drastic changes done to it after a test screening caused Execs to panic: they changed most of the voice cast since the voices for most of the main cast were seen as "too old" and the one for one of the big bads, Disel 10 "too scary". That'd be bad enough.. but then they decided to ax an ENTIRE CHARACTER, PT Boomer, who served as a human antagonist.

Shockingly the excutives doing a power meddle did nothing to actually salvage the film: it bombed at the box office, closed the door on any future thomas films and ended Britt Alcroft's time at her own company.

So that leaves us with some questions: Was the film THAT bad? Was the original cut, which we now have thanks to a blu ray specail edition in workprint form, any better? Was their any salvaging this mess or was it always a silly engine? and why was schemer left out?

While i'll never be able to figure out that last question, the rest I hope to answer by tackling both cuts in their own reviews. I'm tackinlg the theatrical first as while it's the second cut, ti's the one most people have seen and i'm not watching the work print till the review of the theatrical cut is finished as i'm judging it as most people watching it would: this is the version that's most complete, wildly avaliable and that most people have seen, so I want to view it on that merit, albeit with the understanding it was cut up quite a bit, so I am giving it a little leeway.

So join me under the cut for the maddening mysteries of the theatrical cut of thomas the tank engine. I warn you the film your about to hear about is nigh incomprehinsible, quite mad, and has alec baldwin acting like h'es taken all the drugs in the world. You've been warned. Let's begin.

So since i've already covered behind the scene's let's jump into the mishmash of scenes hastily cut together then horrifyingcally stitched back together by the studio. Because "Plot" is being more generous than this cut deserves.

So the film follows the fate of two worlds: the world of Shining Time Station and the world of Sodor where thomas and friends live, the two ends of Mr. Conductor's universe. What does that mean?

I think it's supposed to be metaphorical like saying my world.. but having a magical being say that and say that about two parallel worlds is just confusing. Did he create Sodor? Did whatever race the mr conductors are did? This is more confusing than a film about stupid train children should be.

This is also the film's approach to it's world building as a whole: just throw something in that's confusing and hard to parse, never fully explalin it and walk on to the next bit of insanity. I'm not asking for through, complex world building from a Thomas the Tank Engine film, i'm just asking for a world where any of the magic you set up makes any sense.

The two shows this comes from don't have this problem. There is weird shit in both universes.. but both universes are consitent. Sodor is a british island, exists in the 1920's, and has a massive railway ran by Sir Topham "The Fat Controller" hat. The trains all have faces and are wholly sentient and are still treated entirely as trains. That's.. it. It's just the 30's but with sentient trains. It takes getting used to, they cause tons of accidents and weird shit happens.. but it's simple.

Shining time has more magic and what not but it's still consistent: Mr C is a magical entity of some kind with a vast family, he lives in shining time but can travel the multiverse and visits sodor frequently, bringing back it's stories for the kids he mentors. There's also magical puppets in the jukebox. Neither thing is explained, but we really don't need one and how both Mr. C and the PUppets operate is consitent.

The film.. is as consistent as a Warner BRos Discovery exec. The film just sloppily stiches a bunch of magical concepts and cliches together , expects you to just accept it and move on. The problem is unlike thomas and shinging time, it piles so shit on that you have no choice but to ask questions. And yes im aware i'm not the film's target demo.. but the film's target demo, younger children.. still deserve some respect. Shining Time and Thomas never fell like they think the audience is morons and you should never treat children like idiots just to justify your sloppy plotting. And chidlren aside..adults still had to take their kids to this. 5 year olds can't buy movie tickets.. well they can but the theater has to be pretty fucking neglegent. The adults who were kind enough to take their kids to see this didn't deserve to have a confusing mess shoved on them.

Speaking of a confusing mess let's get back to the film. The Film has two major storylines across the two worlds which quickly overlap:

ON earth curious city kid Lily Stone, played by Maura Wilson, is sent to vist her grampy burnett, played by Peter Fonda who to his credit takes the roll seriously. Burnett has an assitant/sidekick/local orphan boy named Mutt who, given the two minutes i've seen of the workprint, marries her in that cut but here is just kinda.. there so Peter Fonda can explain his train backstory: he was once the conductor of Lady, a magical train that could cross betwen worlds and i'm just going to go ahead and get this started

Things the Film Just Wants you To Accept: 2

Lady was injured by Disel 10 , played by Neil crone. I'll point out the original actors when I do the workprint if you were curious. He's an evil Diesel who has a grappling claw and a confusing world domination plan. Burnett's spent his life trying to fix Lady with no luck.

Meanwhile on Sodor, Sir Hatt is going on vacay so he asked Mr. Conductor to go watch his stupid train children for him while he's away. We have a new Mr. C in this film I assume, as while the film never explains it the series did expalin it's swapping mr c's with Ringo Starr's versoin being the cousin of his succesor, the george carlin one. So I assume this is also a cousin as Mr. C also has one he also hands his hat off to. More on that towards the end and more on the ocusin in a bit. Point is new mr. c is played by Alec Baldwin.. and baldwin spends the whole film acting like he's tripping balls. Baldwin is hamming it up so hard trying to be a chldren's character he comes off like Mr. C took enoguh coke before comming to sodor that he dosen't come down for TWO DAYS. Baldwin mostly acts hammily, hyderactively and goofily. It dosen't work on it's own as it's way too over the top even for this film and trying way to hard. It is however a nice jolt of hilaroius nonsense in a film that's mostly confusing nonsense.

Anyways Mr C soon has a problem :his sparkle, his magic dust, is running out. And apparently if it runs out , the magic of sodor and shining time both dies with him. Or something.

Things the Film Just Wants you To Accept: 3

He dosen't notice at first, being late while Thomas and Friends deal with normal business: Thomas is just a tad late, and Gordon, the biggest engine, is being a pompus asshole about it. Gordon is also played by Crone, who adlibbed msot of his lines for both Diesel 10 and Gordon, to the point one line later in the film is just gordon lapsing into a rant about how clever he is, how smaller engines can neve rbe useful, and how he's the best. He did it, he broke Gordon down to his bare essentials.

The two are soon confronted by Disel 10 who someone passed the background check and unveils his plan: he's going to find and kill lady, which will destroy all the magic in sodor and some how make him god emperor of all trains.

Things the Film Just Wants you To Accept: 4

First he plans to kill all the trains and ambushes them at night. Mr C finds his magic isn't working which isn't good. His escape plan is as diabolical as it is horrifying: he's going to poor sugar in disel's gas tank.. by waving a bag of sugar at him

Things the Film just Wants You To Accept: 5

So Mr. C heads off on an epic quest to find his magic, facing off with goblins, a wall of hands, a bog of eternal stentch, chily down with the fire gang and the most dangerous foe of all, David Bowie's Crotch. And I just described Labyrinth because Mr. C's quest amounts to "Dick around looking for clues and get kidnapped by a train" and i'd rather be talking about Labyrinth again... so let's do. Having relistned to it thanks to my nephew putting it on a playlist while I was in the car, i"ve come to realize I was WAY too hard on chilli down. While the actual musical number hasn't aged great the actual music is a fucking banger, having a nice surreal feel, the best drug trip song that's ever drug trip songed. Good stuff.

So back to my neverending torment Mr. C has a nap/is barely concious after Disel nearly threw him off a bridge this time so he has a prophetic dream

Things the Film Just Wants You To Accept: 6

Yes apparently in this time Alec Baldwin is the Kwisatz Haderach

He sees a future where due to him being absent shining time has closed down. The kid are gone, Billy was replaced by a terrible actor, and Schemer is seemingly dead. Wait.. that all happened in the main timeline. How is he sure the interstellar jihad the end of shining time is something he can stop?

Well he isn't so he calls his cousin Mr C Junior for help. Sadly this dosen't mean we get Ringo Starr or George Carlin but instead Micheal E Rogers. While his agressive scottishness is charming, he can't save this character as Junior is just kinda annoying at best. He ALLGEDLY has an arc where he learns his lesson and becomes better.. but he's really just a dumbass who wastes all his uncle's dust and his own remaining dust. He's only here because SOMEONE has to bring lily to Sodor

So before we get to that, let's catch up on everyone else. Burnett's dog is apparently also injesting spike and thus makes sure LIly ends up at shining time and sees Junior briefly. She then gets settled in with grandpa bonds with Dodger, just kinda putters around and...

FATHER THE SLEEPER HAS AWAKENED okay so stupid train children next. For a Thomas the Tank Engine movie the engines.. really don't actually do much in the plot. It's something I didn't notice in the film itself as the cut tricks you into THINKING their doing more than they are, cutting to the engines every few scenes as thomas tries to find Mr Conductor and stop Disesel 10 and his two comedic minions I haven't mentiond till now , who Disel sends to find the magic railroad. They do. That's it.. that's all they've done all film.

So we instead get a bunch of scenes of Thomas saying he's going to do something then just.. I guess doing something. We get bits of James and Percy who were originally voiced by Micheal Angelis, but instead replaced to get younger voices.. and instead got voice actresses who didn't really try to make thems ound masculine, resulting in Gender Flip James and Percy. James in paticular sounds like a dikensian orphan. I will say Eddie Glenn does a really good job at thomas but he and Neil Crone are the only ones who really get their rolls right out of the voice cast. I don't doubt these va's are good nor judge them for this: they werne't given much to work with, with Crone given nothing to work with and simply improvising, and were likely given little time to prepare given the rushed production schedule for the recut.

The most Thom=as contributes is loosing a truck, that will be important later, and figuring out that Disel's after the buffers which somehow allow people to travel on the magic railroad.

Things This Film Just Wants you To Accept: I"m So Tired

He finds out too late but thanks to Junior who brought a child with him because fuck it, they find thomas' missing truck and thomas and Mara Wilson go back to reality. A bad model of Thomas the film expects us to think is anywhere near acceptable

Things This Film Just Wants You To Accept: Stupid Train Models are for Cattle and Loveplay.

We do get a clever solution to the lady thing.. even if we never really get Burnett's backstory as that was cut because reasons. Since they have Sodor coal Lily suggests using it and I like it: it's a symbol of lady being both of this world and sodor. It's kind of cool in af ilm tha'ts mostly just confusing.

So lady returns to sodor, though Mr. C still thinks he and other Mr C who was busy telling Sir Topham Hat to go fuck himself and nearly getting murdered, using the last of his magic to save james, are dying as they still need that sweet sweet smack. I mean sparkle.. which is magical smack so it's better.

Before they can fix the crisis though Disel 10 shows up and we get a hilaroiusly green screneed ifnal chase as Burnet taunts his nemisis the sentient train. The chase scene.. is hilarously, horribly modleed and fun to watch. lady naturally wins, Disel 10 is left in the sludge but apparently comes back, and it's a happy end as Mara Wilson mixes well atter and railroad shavings to somehow create magic dust.

Things This Film Just Wants You To Accept: LONG LIVE THE STUPID TRAIN CHILDREN

So Mr C pases the cap on to his nephew who decides after his near death experince to man up finishing his nonexistant character arc. Mara wilson and co return home, the day is saved and the film just sorta ends.

That's.. the theatrical cut of Thomas and the Magic Railroad and as you can tell I was not a fan. It's entertaining for the most part and delightfully insane but i't sincoherence makes it REALLY hard to enjoy a lot of the time. As a Thomas film Thomas is barely a facotr in the plot, and as a shining time station film only two characters returned

Only. Two. Characters. Returned. The new characters are all bland cyphers, likely due to the cut changing. They TRY, Mara Wilson may of done this for the vacation but like Sir Micheal Caine before her she'll still work hard for the paycheck, but ther'es just nothing to hold onto. This film is a mess and I only recommend it if you have some friends to riff with, as I did with @jess-the-vampire or are good and baked. I was not but I hope to get some weed for my anxiety some day, and on that day I might watch this film. Oh who am I kidding i'm watching David Lynch's Dune and we all know it. Possibly with that episode of Sex and the City where Kyle Mclaclhan plays tennis shirtless at night as a prequel. His two best performances together at last.

So yeah not a big fan of this one. Not the worst thing i've covered but a hell of a film to unpack.. so you can imagine i'm just... PLEASED. AS. PUNCH. to be covering the other cut. Will be it be better? Worse? at least comprehnsible? Will I keep doing Dune refrences because I really fucking loved Part 2? All this and more will be answered next time but for now

#thomas and the magic railroad #thomas the tank engine #bad films #mara wilson #alec baldwin #henry fonda #animation #stop motion #thomas and friends #thomas #percy #gordon'#diesel 10 #schemer #shining time station

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taiblogcomics · 1 year

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Need to X-23 Skidoo Outta Here

Hey there, unshaven science. We're gonna get back into Avengers Arena. And unlike last time, we probably won't be spared the ongoing story today.

Here's the cover:

We won't linger on this one, folks, there's not much to it! It's kind of a cool close-up on X-23, but it's not the most exciting cover ever. But it's also not the worst, and that's something at least. Especially for this series, which has had a few worst covers. Maybe you can pretend she's beckoning you over to come buy the terrible comic she's in. It's this thing's only hope! Also, might just be me, but her eyes are a bit far apart, aren't they? Like, I'm no great shakes at anatomy, but I can feel my own face and my eyes aren't nearly that far apart as that looks~

So our focus character narrator for this one is Cullen Bloodstone, and oh boy is he a treat. Like, think of what kind of image comes to mind when you picture a brush-cut blond boy wearing a black shirt with a skull on it in 2013, and you can pretty much exactly guess his character. Seriously, he starts with "Want to hear a secret? 'Course you do, but you won't like it. Plans fail, people disappoint. Life is nothing but dreadful chaos over which you have zero control." Isn't he fun? Isn't he exactly the headspace you want to share for the next twenty pages??

Anyway, Sullen Cullen here is whining about how badly their plan has gone since. Reptil flew up to get a better look of the land, and hasn't come back down since. Hazmat noticed something in the woods, yelled her dead boyfriend's name, and wandered off. X-23 followed her, and neither of them has come back either. So it's just Cammi and the Braddock Academy kids, which is like the least amount of people I care to read about. So, where did their three days of wandering in the woods get them? Turned around until they came right back to Hazmat's beach. Well done.

Nara, of course, immediately abandons the group to go for a swim, while the remaining three of them attempt to actually plan something. Cammi realises her compass isn't working, so they should think of something else. And then Cullen blows up, having finally reached his breaking point. He's fucking frustrated and figures there's no way to outthink Arcade. He thinks Cammi's fooling herself to even try, and then accuses Anachronism of being too horny for Nara to even pay attention to reality. Anachronism thinks this is where the line is, and they come to blows.

It doesn't last long, though. Cullen may be an angsty teen pushed to his limit, but Anachronism is powered by a Celtic god. So Sullen Cullen goes down in one punch. Nara comes out of the sea to break up the fight, proving she's not so useless for once. So Cullen opts to drop it, and Cammi sits with him and asks him to spill. She even offers her own personal secret: only man she ever loved? Drax the Destroyer. Who's not nearly as sweet and goofy as he is in the movies, I believe. And if that's not compelling enough, Cullen at least agrees that it’d be better to spill his secrets before they have to deal with his secrets.

So Cullen here is the youthful son of Ulysses Bloodstone (which, for all you Nextwave fans, makes him Elsa's younger brother). Pretty standard tenth birthday in the Bloodstone household: pick up some weapons, go to another dimension, set up camp, do some Monster Hunting for reals. Then dear old Dad leaves for the night, and Little Cullen has to survive 'til morning as a rite of passage. Six hour shift that any FNAF fan could handle. But Dad gets held up by something over on the other side of the portal, and Cullen gets left behind for two years.

Before we continue with his story, we catch up with wherever Hazmat and X-23 got lost to that morning. Hazmat admits she might be cracking up, but she definitely saw Mettle. And to her relief, X-23 confirms she sees him up ahead too. Hazmat hesitantly reaches out to touch her lost boyfriend, begging him to be real... And he's not. Of course he's not. He turns his empty skull face back to her and sprays her with a huge cloud of trigger scent. And with X-23 just a couple feet away, she immediately goes berserk, slicing into Hazmat as we cut back to the beach.

Say, speaking of Elsa, turns out she's the one who eventually found Cullen. It's not exactly shown how, but Cullen figures he wandered out of some open rift and back into our world. He doesn't really remember much at all, in fact, since he seems possessed by something. He's floating, covered in bangages, and glowing in the ocular region. Never a good sign. Eventually he comes to in his sister's lap and also the wreckage of their entire mansion, and she assures him it was just the usual vanquishing of the forces of darkness. Day in the life for the Bloodstone family.

So he's left with a magic ring that keeps his darkness inside, and his sister ships him off to Captain Britain's stuffy boarding school for supers. And we leave it off there, because suddenly a big orange smoke cloud rises across the sea, and they need to react to it. Anachronism and Nara come tearing out of the woods, since the trees are spraying the same orange mist too. They're all engulfed in it, and Cullen wonders if it's poison. Cammi notes grimly that if it was merely poison, they'd be lucky. And indeed, out from the woods comes an enfrenzied X-23.

Nara trips as she runs, which might be the most stereotypical thing her character's done yet. X-23 also slices through Anachronism's axe as he defends her. Cammi buys them a minute to get away by shooting X-23 a few times. Cullen begs her to keep it up and put her down, but Cammi's not stupid. A little handheld laser pistol isn't going to stop X-23. Nothing they've got can. Except maybe... Cullen realises what could be their only chance, sliding the ring off his finger and turning into a great scaly beast to close the comic as he leaps at X-23.

Well, I don’t think this is necessarily a bad issue, but it is mostly revolving around the backstory of a character we already don’t care about. Nothing about his backstory endears us to him more. Honestly, it’s really just kind of an average origin story, as well as an excuse to set up his powers at the end of the issue. But yeah, otherwise I don’t give a damn about Edward Sullen and his teen angst dramas~

#comics #reviews #Avengers Arena #Taiblog

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passionate-reply · 3 years

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I swear, you get caught eating barbequed iguana once, and you absolutely never live it down. That’s what happened to Wall of Voodoo, who are known almost exclusively for their quirky novelty hit “Mexican Radio.” But the rest of the album it appeared on is surprisingly serious, and actually rather dark. Find out all about it by watching my video review, or reading the transcript below the break!

Welcome to Passionate Reply, and welcome to Great Albums! On today’s episode, I am once again diving into the realm of alleged “one hit wonders” who had a lot more going on than just one song. This time, it’s Wall of Voodoo, and their 1982 LP, Call of the West. It’s a shame, if you ask me, but most people who have heard anything at all by Wall of Voodoo know them for what is probably the least interesting song anywhere on this album: “Mexican Radio.”

Music: “Mexican Radio”

Get caught eating barbecued iguana once, and you never live it down, I suppose. “Mexican Radio” isn’t a terrible song, but I do think it’s the least effective expression of this album’s core themes on offer. As its title implies, Call of the West is a semi-concept album, focused around the mythic image of America and the Far West. It was actually Wall of Voodoo’s second LP--a followup to their 1981 debut, Dark Continent. Despite that title, it isn’t an album about Africa, but rather one that has a lot of thematic common ground with Call of the West: blue-collar angst, disaffected and brutal masculinities, and a whiff of things strange and surreal.

Music: “Two Minutes Till Lunch”

Aside from the themes, the basic musical structure of tracks like “Two Minutes Till Lunch” is reminiscent of the style of Call of the West as well: dense, clattering mechanical rhythms, ghoulish flourishes of harmonica, and frontman Stanard Ridgway’s unmistakable, dipthonged speak-singing, seemingly delivered exclusively through the side of his mouth at an odd angle. But Dark Continent is a bit harsher overall, with more of a foothold in the punk side of post-punk. Call of the West is an album in the full flush of New Wave: quirky, tongue-in-cheek, and not afraid to lay down a bit more synthesiser. While “Mexican Radio” reads as almost disposably gimmicky, like a musically competent novelty song, I think the other tracks on the album strike more of a balance between wicked irony and being unironically enjoyable.

Music: “Tomorrow”

“Tomorrow” is, by far, the track on this album that I think most deserves to have been its big hit single. Despite its privileged position as opening track, an affable, lightly electronic soundscape, and rather singable pop hookiness, it was actually never released as a single at all! I think “Tomorrow” does a great job at being something very fun, but also something a bit daring and artistic. It’s easy to love a sort of relatable, goofy song about procrastination, but its “apocalyptic” finish turns it into something a bit more profound. I think Call of the West shines even more once we get away from three-minute pop songs and into the album’s more atmospheric tracks.

Music: “Hands of Love”

While the heavy use of rhythm machines is a hallmark of the album overall, and stands out given its rarity on such an early and rock-oriented album, “Hands of Love” is probably the composition centered most tightly around the instrument. Aside from that, what I think always brings me back to this track is the vague, shadowy quality of its lyrics--some details are familiar, but the overall picture is hauntingly unnerving. Several tracks on Call of the West present the theme of loneliness and social isolation, toying with the American myths of rugged individualism and the empty expanse of the West. “They Don’t Want Me” tackles outright rejection by others in a direct manner, whereas the narrator of “Tomorrow” ruins their own relationships through fecklessness. “Mexican Radio,” of course, introduces a character so desperate for companionship that they seek it in a language they don’t even understand. But I think “Hands of Love” reigns supreme here, with its motif of hands losing their grip...perhaps losing their grip on reality.

Besides the loneliness resulting from the spread-apart American landscape, other tracks on the album address the lifestyles of the down and out--people who have put their faith in an “American Dream” of independence and self-reliance, but failed to achieve prosperity. We meet compulsive gamblers in “Lost Weekend,” a doomed secret agent in “Spy World,” and, on “Factory,” perhaps the album’s most riveting character of all: a factory labourer whose work has disabled him both physically and mentally.

Music: “Factory”

Like so many exploited workers in America, the narrator of “Factory” has no class consciousness, and seems unable to imagine a better or different life for himself, or strive for anything more than the banal comforts of consumerism. But he tells of a phantom itch in his missing thumb, which we might interpret as a metaphor for the vague, gnawing idea of other possibilities...particularly as he remarks that as a child, he was told he could be anything he wanted. The arrangement of this track buries Ridgway’s lead vocal to an extent, though never so much that we can’t make out its harrowing lyrics. I imagine it’s a representation of how suppressed the narrator’s internality and sense of self has become.

On the cover of Call of the West, we find a mysterious, crooked door, which is just slightly ajar, inviting us into this album’s strange world. It’s the only feature in a desolate red desert-scape, besides the outline of some bluffs against its horizon. It could be the landscape of Mars just as easily as it could the wide-open emptiness of the Far West. Just as the album’s title implies being welcomed or beckoned into the mythic West, the cover art is darkly inviting to the viewer.

While I don’t normally discuss the visual identity of albums outside of their front cover, I do want to make an exception for Call of the West, whose liner notes show the interior of the implied dwelling, decorated with a slew of peculiar trinkets: a taxidermied crocodile, a spilling bottle of liquor, a statue of a buffalo, and what appear to be antique slave shackles. There’s a lot of rich symbolism here, and I think it’s a beautiful addition to the album’s themes, but I never saw it until I owned this album on vinyl! In the age of digital music, we often lose some of these more complex touches when “album art” is reduced to a single square image, and that’s quite unfortunate.

Despite having a relative breakout hit, Call of the West would prove to be the final album Wall of Voodoo released with their original lineup. Frontman Stanard Ridgway would pursue a solo career, scoring a surprise hit in Germany with his 1986 single “Camouflage,” a ghost story set during the Vietnam War. He’s remained active as an independent artist through the 2010s. The rest of the band kept the name Wall of Voodoo alive for the remainder of the 1980s, replacing Ridgway with Andy Prieboy.

Music: “Camouflage”

My favourite track on Call of the West is its title track, which is the final track on the album. Like a lot of title tracks, it’s lengthy enough that you can really sink your teeth into it, and serves as a sort of summation of everything that’s happening throughout the album. It’s got cowboyish guitars, yipping coyotes, and a striking transition to a spoken-word bridge, which flows naturally from Ridgway’s unmannered vocal style. That’s all I have for today--thanks for listening!

Outro: “Call of the West”

#music #album review #album reviews #wall of voodoo #stan ridgway #daily reminder stan ridgway's full name is stanard #new wave

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they-say-you-go-blind · 4 years

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Close Around the Campfire | Jack / Davey Fanfiction

Davey and Jack were close. It was different, instantaneous kind of close that neither had experienced until this point. Did either of them intend to find the person they were meant to be with forever at counselor orientation day of a summer camp? Never in a million years.

———————————————

Davey had turned 19 less than a week ago. With one year of Political Science under his belt, but a hearty student loan to pay off, he was desperate for a job. With that first application, and a couple of phone interviews later, and he was set for the summer . However, now that he was pulling into the staff parking lot at Blockwood Summer Camp, he wasn’t so sure. He turned the keys of his beat up car and typed a text to Les.

I made it to camp safe. Going to do some counselor stuff for the next few days so probably won’t be able to talk much. I’ll see ya in a couple of weeks for A.R.K. camp.

He slumped in his seat. 10 weeks of leading campfire songs and doing archery and making sure a weekly rotation of kids stay alive... maybe he hadn’t thought about it enough. He opened snap and took a picture of his bags that were crammed into the back of his car. He looked at the photo for a second, captioned it with ‘I believe I’ve made a horrible mistake’, and sent it to the groupchat with his best friends.

He knew he had about ten minutes until he should start making his way to the Mess Hall, as it said in his Orientation Day email. His best friend, Katherine, was trying to call him and he nearly let it ring out. At the last second, he pressed answer and spoke,

“I don’t think I should be here.”

Katherine and Davey had been best friends since diapers. In Kindergarten, their teachers were convinced they were twins just because of they way they acted with each other (and their aversion to all others). In middle school, the two of them sang and did a choreographed dance number at the talent show. They were the Closet Gay prom king and Queen, most representation that their school had ever had. And now, going into their sophomore year of college, they were honest with one another about everything, could joke about anything, and be trusted with the deepest secrets the other had. It’s no surprise that Katherine blurted out,

“I’m sorry, have you seen your co-workers?!”

Davey was taken aback.

“How the hell do you know what they look like?”

Katherine blushed. Her secret was out.

“You gave me access to your email before you left, in case you got anything important.”

Davey nodded and and whispered out an ‘oh no’. Katherine started to send the screenshots as she spoke.

“I saw your orientation email... it wasn’t hard to find their socials from there...”.

Davey couldn’t believe it as he swiped through the profiles of the three other boys who were his new co-workers. Katherine started to narrate each of her discoveries.

“First off, is Harrison “Race” Higgins. Seems fun and all. Also, I’m sure you can see in the profile picture, but Rainbow Flag!”

“Ah yes, Christian church camp is where I’m going to find my b...”

Davey could barely get the words out. Katherine was the only person in his “real life” who knew that the “you two should just get married” comments about him and Kath would absolutely never happen. Katherine just giggled, like a schoolgirl keeping a secret.

“Just you wait, Davey.”

Davey pondered on Race’s profile picture. Seemed cute, a little goofy, a lot like a best friend. Katherine continued.

“Next is Zachary “Spot” Conlon. Don’t tell me why they both have nicknames. But he is...”

“He looks like he could beat me up with a glare.”

Katherine laughed at that.

“They’re dating, by the way. They give me forever together vibes.”

Davey swiped between the two profiles as she talked. She wasn’t wrong, forever vibes were There.

“Huh, noted.”

“And the last one,” Katherine cleared her throat.

“ and I’ll let you narrate this one yourself, is Jack Kelley.”

Jack Kelly was the most attractive boy Davey had ever seen. His profile picture looked like it was him in a painting class for University. He had a little bit of pink paint on his cheek and a beautiful smile. His eyes were the color of a clear blue sky. It looked that his cover photo was one of his paintings as well,... a landscape piece with the initials J.K. in the bottom right corner. His “about me” was a gold mine, and he would be sure to read every detail later.

“Dibs on this one.”

He told Katherine. It had been their thing, that once they’d both seen someone attractive, the first one to call dibs would have zero roadblocks to them. Davey was so enthralled. He just kept staring at the profile picture.

“He’s just...”

“Perfect? I know...”

She chuckled to herself.

“And, there’s one more thing you should know.”

She spoke and sent him the final screenshot. When Davey opened it, he was confused.

A picture of Katherine’s Facebook?

She nearly squealed, but kept composure to say.

“You really were not observant when you pulled into the parking lot. I expected better from you, Davey J.”

Davey was in shock. She couldn’t have made this up! He got so excited and nervous and relieved all at once. Looking around, he saw her car and waved.

“You’re not pulling my leg, right? This isn’t some twisted joke... really?!”

“Yes! Apparently one of the female counselors was Not who she said she was, so they called me last night and I am here for the summer!”

She spoke quickly, Davey could barely understand what she was saying.

“You’re literally my favorite person in the world.”

He spoke with sincerity. He couldn’t believe his best friend in the world would be spending the summer with him.

“I might have to become your second favorite. If I’m not mistaken, Jack Kelly just pulled in the parking lot.”

Davey turned his head to see him and couldn’t help but stare for a few seconds. Photos did not do Jack Kelly justice. Davey’s head was spinning. He didn’t know if he could manage spending five seconds with him. How was he supposed to survive the summer? Davey’s face grew red as he realized Jack was pulling into the spot next to him.

———————————————

“Kath, holy shit.” Davey blurted out as he snapped his head to the front. “Language, Daves. Christian children’s camp...”

Katherine snorted as she laughed at Davey, who was now flustered and red in the cheeks.

“What are we gonna do?”

He asked, his forehead falling on the steering wheel in defeat. Katherine pondered.

“We? No, you. You called dibs! I’m just along for the ride.”

“You’re an asshole. I’m actually going to die. He is... God Kath-”

Davey stopped mid-sentence as he heard a knock on his window. He lifted his head to see Jack Kelly.

“Good luck with that, babe.”

After making a frustrated noise, and trying to refrain from looking like an idiot, he hung up the call, cranked the window down, and smiled, waiting for Jack to speak.

“Hey there. You must be working here, too?”

Davey nearly combusted as Jack leaned back onto the passengers door of his car, which was nicer than his own. Did Davey care about that? Not really.

“Yeah, I’m David Jacobs. Most people call me Davey.”

“Jack Kelly.”

He stuck out his hand, Davey shook it through the window and chuckled. Jack continued.

“It’s nice to meet ya. You’re radiating ‘camp counselor’, but don’t wanna assume.”

Davey’s brain was all but melted. This boy wanted to talk to him. He got out of his car and made the effort to talk to him.

“Yeah, course. I- yeah.”

“What’s got ya so bothered you can barely form a sentence?”

“No, nothing it’s just- did they have other jobs? Not like I would want one but like-“

Jack laughed. This Davey kid was adorable.

“Sure they do, got my buddy Finch running around as a lifeguard, couple of others do maintenance, and I think they brought on Albert to be a ‘activity coordinator’. That basically means when we do archery, he’s in charge of us not shooting each other in the leg.”

Davey chuckled.

“So you’ve worked here before?”

Jack nodded and looked around. This place was a second home to him.

“My ma’s the camp director. Been goin’ here since I was like, 7 and workin’ for the past two years.”

Jack smiled wide and continued on.

“Speaking of workin, we should probably head in. I usually come early to help set up but she insisted I try to be more “normal” this summer. Famous last words, I guess.”

They both laughed quite a bit.

“You’re very friendly, Jack.”

Davey spoke, metaphorically walking on eggshells as to not mess up the friendship that he hoped was forming. He got out of his car and realized he was the same height as Jack, if only a little bit shorter. They were very close to each other.

“Why thanks, Davey. Tell her you said so...”

Jack laughed with him as they made their way to the mess hall. He explained to Davey the in’s and out’s of Blockwood. Most of the people who worked their had gone to camp in their teens and it was just natural to apply for a job there, too.

Before Jack walked in the mess hall, he turned to Davey. Jack had made eye contact every time he spoke with him. It was nice.

“Just double checkin, because ma ain’t always good with hiring ages, ya 18?”

“Oh, yeah. Just turned 19.”

“Good good. I’m about to turn 21, if that matters.”

“It’s good information to have, especially when we’re about to spend all summer together.”

Was Jack blushing? He didn’t know, and it was hot out. Either way, he didn’t care because Jack Kelly was talking to him and adorable.

“Yeah, Davey. For sure.”

Jack opened the door to see Race and Spot all over each other. He snapped his fingers at them and both looked towards Davey. Jack spoke up.

“Hey boys, we got a new one. Be civil, this here’s Davey.”

Race smiled, got up from his seat, and stuck out his hand.

“Name’s Racetrack. You can call me Race or Racer or Sweetheart. It’s good to meet ya, Dave.”

Davey chuckled and shook it. He really was late to the party. They all knew each other.

“It’s nice to meet you too.”

“That shortie there is my pal-“

Race shot a look at Jack, who shrugged. He continued.

“Sorry, are you?”

Race gestured to his rainbow friendship bracelet. Hoping that would be enough. At camp, they tried not to use the word. Some people had gotten very angry when their child had come home saying, ‘my counselor was gay’.

“No, no, no. I am. Not out, but, I guess I am, now. Yes.”

Race nodded and amended his statement.

“I gotcha, Davey. That’s my boyfriend, Spot.”

Davey gave a wave and Spot nodded and waved back. Had Davey really come out to people he met ten seconds ago? Jack looked surprised. At least you’re not obvious.

Katherine came inside soon after. She was immediately swooped up by Race and told to “lose the good girl vibe” from Spot. She laughed with them for awhile about the instant ‘Davey and Jack’ connection. It wasn’t hard to see for either of their friends.

Jack introduced Davey to the whole gang. Finch and Albert were in the corner trying to decide who was right about a candy from the snack shack. Sarah and Chutchie dancing to the approved “Camp Playlist”, and his mama trying to finalize a little bit of paperwork.

He got to Romeo, trying a pick-up line on Katherine, and stopped.

“Hey there, Miss. Don’t believe we’ve met before. My name’s Jack. Jack Kelly.”

He stuck out his hand and she shook it.

“Charmed. I’m Katherine, Katherine Plumber-Jacobs.”

Katherine and Davey smiled at each other and laughed. Jack looked between the two of them and his’s face was turning red.

“What... y’all ain’t married or something, are ya?!”

Davey and Katherine started to laugh without cease. Davey tried to explain through snorts.

“No... she just uses that line because she wants to be my twin. Kath, here, she’s my best friend.”

Romeo spoke up.

“Oh goodness. Well ain’t that the best of both worlds for ya, Jack?”

Jack narrowed his eyes and shot a glare Romeo’s way.

“Now that I know there’s two of ya, I won’t be so scared to let Davey wander. Thought I was gonna have to be glued to his side!”

“Don’t think he’d like me very much if you stopped leading him around.”

Davey was flustered, but Katherine and Jack laughed and laughed. She waved goodbye, going to talk to Sarah instead of interrupting their “together time”, as she called it while recounting the day with Davey. He tried to apologize to Jack.

“Sorry about her.”

“No way, she’s spunky and loud. She’ll fit right in.”

Davey looked around. He wasn’t wrong. It was chaotic and were Romeo and Race arm wrestling? Was Katherine really cheering them on?

“Yeah, she’s... great.”

“You’re great.”

Jack backtracked as his face grew red.

“Oh shit, um sorry about that. That didn’t-”

“Hey, it’s... you’re great, too. Just cut that language out before kids get here in a few days, Kelly.”

Davey smiled and Jack swears that if this was literally any other setting, he would kiss him or draw him a picture or do anything to see that smile every day. Unfortunately, Jack decided to revert to a Jack that didn’t like getting emotional in front of his friends. Chalk it up to force of habit.

“So, you enjoy it here?”

“Is that even a question? It’s awesome, Jack.”

———————————————

It had been a full day of training. Ms. Medda, as Davey had learned was Jack’s mother, and some of the more experienced staff got newcomers ready for camp. She explained how these first three days were training and that there were still things that needed to be done before kids came on Monday. Everyone did some basic first aid and some get-to-know-you games.

Katherine and Davey worked on learning names and people’s jobs. It seemed that when you thought you had it all figured out, Jack or Race would call ‘em a whole new nickname and the pieces would all fall apart. Maintenance (Elmer, Buttons, and Jojo) and lifeguards (Finch and Romeo) had a bit more training to do. Albert and Crutchie, outdoor and indoor activity coordinators, needed to organize some things for the first day.

That left the counselors. Davey, Jack, Race, Spot, Katherine, and Sarah decided to go on a nature walk. That group, of all people, would be spending the most time together. They took them through the woods, showed them the cabins, made sure that Davey and Katherine were somewhat oriented on the camp property. During the walk, Jack took the lead to explain where they were and what needed to be done.

• “Alright, adventure course- never go there without Albert... or me, I’m more fun.”

• “Cabins- good stuff. We can drive down the path to unpack cars later. But Ma’s got me on a tight schedule.”

• “Swimming house- also doubles as a bath house. None of us are going to smell particularly great until Off Days. But please, for the love of our Lord and Savior, make sure your kids shower.”

Race chimed in on this one, acting as if he were passing down an urban legend as Spot started to chuckle.

“They will try to persuade you, tell you they don’t need one. But they do.”

Sarah and Katherine had instantly been drawn to each other. Davey didn’t know how, but Katherine had already managed to be given two friendship bracelets. She would be just fine. He would be, too.

Jack sighed as the timer on his phone went off.

“Sorry gang, walk’s been terminated. But, now it’s time for my favorite part of camp.

Please don’t say hazing. No hazing.

“Building the campfire!”

Davey chuckled as the others wooed. Jack was the leader everyone needed.

———————————————

Over the past three days, Katherine and Davey had melded into this friendgroup seamslessly. They would roast each other and laugh and exist as a family. Neither were quite sure how they pulled it off. Each now had friendship bracelets from fellow counselors, and likewise made them for others. They had swam in the pool and laughed and sang and, Davey recounted, prayed together. It didn’t make sense how it could all be so perfect.

More than anything else, Jack had instilled the need in Katherine and Davey for a ‘Perfect Cooking Fire’. He knew that, of all things, this would have to be the thing they remember how to do. They built it well, only with a little help from Sarah, as Jack filed paperwork for him mom.

He would do that often. Disappear and reappear like a magician. He knew what needed to be done, and did it before his mother even asked. Davey had tried to offer help, but Jack just took out his reading glasses and said ‘No, no. It’s stuff I gotta do, Dave.”

The final night before campers were here, and all the college kids just wanted to drink in the moment. Race and Spot went to get the food for the “Last Supper” as they called it. Hot dogs, of course.

Davey was relived that Jack came to sit next to him after the food was done. The entire staff was sitting around, laughing and chatting and eating. Jack knew that he needed to talk to Davey, just not with everyone around. David blurted out exactly what was on his mind.

“I really like it here.”

“I’m glad, Dave. You did a great job with the cooking fore, too.”

“Thanks, I thought I wouldn’t. Ya know, in the car that first day, I was convinced that I made a horrible mistake.”

“I’m glad I knocked on your window then.”

“Why’d ya do that? Just to be nice?”

Jack looked around as he grew flustered.

“Can we, talk abou that later?”

“Of course.”

The festivities lasted until “Light’s Out” at 11pm. Medda suggested that everyone should turn in soon, as they would all have to be ready by 8am tomorrow. Race asked her, fishing for laughs, as she walked away-

“What if I just never got to bed, Miss Medda?”

“Then you would be unfit for the job, Mr. Higgins. Get some shut eye!”

The entire fire laughed at her retort.

The gang started to slowly disband. Katherine and Sarah were the last to go, hand in hand, except for Jack and Davey. Davey made a comment.

“God only knows what they’re off to do.”

“God is one lucky son of a gun.”

They both laughed at that.

They both sat there, next to the ashes of a once great fire.

Jack looked around and talked in a low tone.

“Davey.”

“Yeah, Jack.”

“I’m ready to talk about it...”

Davey gulped. This was it. He was going to tell him that it meant nothing that they always say next to each other. That talking until four in the morning wasn’t real. That these past few days weren’t an indication of anything.

“I, whew, that first day you were so nervous. Now look at me...”

Jack’s palms were sweaty and he wiped them on his pants.

“Hey, dude. It’s okay. We don’t have to talk about it.”

“No, no I want to. We need to.”

Davey’s stomach turned and he closed his eyes.

“I- shoot. I knocked on your window, because you’s were the prettiest boy I’d ever seen.

Davey opened his eyes and looked at Jack, who was now near tears.

“God, I’m real emotional about this, sorry.”

Jack took a breath and looked Davey in the eyes.

“Just, you’re perfect. And, I know we just met and all, and it’s highly unprofessional to say this but... I really think these three days have been a dream come true.”

“Oh Jack...”

Davey held out one of his hands. Jack took it with his.

“Honest, ya know... I’ve got so many friends and they’re always dating and everything but, you came along and just...”

He put his head on Davey’s shoulder and kept going.

“You’re just really nice and kind and, I don’t know, make me feel a new sorta way.”

Davey couldn’t believe it.

“You, like me, Jack?”

Jack spouted off, sarcastically as ever.

“No, it’s all an act! I caught ya in a gay lie!”

Davey laughed as Jack lifted his head and squeezed Davey’s hand.

“Nah, I do. And, nothing’s gotta happen, tonight or this summer or ever, especially since there’ll be kids and it’s a Christian camp and-“

“Your mom?”

“She doesn’t care. You’ve seen the way some of ‘em hang all over each other.”

“I know that, just wanted to check.”

“Yeah, but- like, God. You’re perfect Davey Jacobs.”

“C-Can I kiss you?”

Davey didn’t mean to say it, but he did. And Jack did. His eyes lit up and he closed the distance. It was warm. Davey had never kissed a boy before. He was certain Jack had, though.

Jack hadn’t. Coming out to himself was one thing, his family and friends was another, but to kiss a boy next to a campfire when you’re about to spend all summer with him? No, he hadn’t. Kissing girls was one thing, but this? With Davey? Was something he could never compare anything to. Jack pulled away for a second, wanting to be frank with him.

“Did you like that?”

“Do that again, Kelly.”

Davey pulled Jack back in. And that’s how they stayed, for a while. Neither could tell if it had been an hour or just a few seconds when they finally pulled away. Davey wanted to be honest.

“I’m not, out-out yet, if that could be an issue.”

“No, nah... and it doesn’t have to, nothing’s gotta come of this, ya know.“

“I know. It’s, it’s nice, though. I want it to.”

Davey leaned on Jack’s shoulder. He was so hesitant, usually. Jack Kelly might’ve been the only boy in the world who could do that to him.

“God, I was so worried I was scarin’ a closeted catholic boy away.”

Davey laughed. Everyone seemed to get that vibe from him.

“One, non-denominational. Everyone gets thrown off by that. Two, you’re not scarin me at all.”

Jack pressed a kiss to Davey’s temple and started to play with his hair.

“This okay?”

“Yeah, this is wonderful.”

They don’t know when they turned in for the night. But, 8am rolled around and camp was in session. Jack came up behind Davey, right before campers were about to enter and spoke calmly, putting his hand into David’s .

“It’s gonna be a good summer, Davey.”

“Yeah, it is, Jack.”

David gave his hand a tight squeeze as Jack walked away to unlock and the door. Upon opening the door, a boy, while looked to be no older than ten, ran to Jack and threw his arms around him.

“Cowboy!”

“Hey there, dude! How are ya?”

Davey smiled and looked at Katherine, who was standing by with the other counselors. He gave her a nod, and that was all they needed.

This summer is going to be great.

34 notes · View notes

nerianasims · 4 years

Text

Billboards #1 1965

Under the cut.

Petula Clark – “Downtown” -- January 23, 1965

I love this song to bits. I don't entirely know why. Petula Clark obviously sings it wonderfully. There's that little bell that sometimes chimes in. There's a pattern to the song that makes it feel like Broadway, which is, of course, downtown. It's a fantasy version of a downtown in a big city. One thing I love about fantasy is a sense of place, and that's what this entire song is dedicated to. It's an unusual subject for pop music, and it's great.

The Righteous Brothers – “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling” -- February 6, 1965

How does one even talk about this song? It feels somehow eternal. This is Phil Spector's production at its best. But Bill Medley's singing is the point. This song is one of the greats.

Gary Lewis And The Playboys – “This Diamond Ring” -- February 20, 1965

Gary Lewis is Jerry Lewis' son. Unlike his father, he does not consist entirely of annoyance-producing molecules, but the song's not good either. In it, the guy's fiancee dumped him and he's selling the diamond ring. A boring, bland heartbreak song that belongs three years or so back.

The Temptations – “My Girl” -- March 6, 1965

My mom used to sing this song to me when I was a little kid. I think a lot of parents sing this song to their little girls; it's that kind of love song. Yet it's not irritatingly antiseptic. It's about true love. True love can be a lot of things. This song is every superlative you can think of. Brilliant in every aspect.

The Beatles – “Eight Days A Week” -- March 13, 1965

It's a good, but not great, Beatles song. Very fun, with a lot of interesting things musically, like the bassline (as usual) and whatever George Harrison does with his guitar.

The Supremes – “Stop! In The Name Of Love” -- March 27, 1965

Finally, Diana Ross actually sounds kinda pissed off. It's also got more of a rock edge. She's still begging, and not threatening to leave the guy's cheating ass. Yet, though there is no explicit threat, I feel like there is an implied ultimatum here.

Freddie And The Dreamers – “I’m Telling You Now” -- April 10, 1965

It sounds like this guy is exaggerating his English accent. Considering the British Invasion, probably. He cackles like a monkey on acid, which is the only interesting thing about the song, which is otherwise a bland love song. Though the cackle is interesting, that doesn't make it good. It's creepy. I don't like this one.

Wayne Fontana & The Mindbenders – “The Game Of Love” -- April 24, 1965

"The purpose of a man is to love a woman, and the purpose of a woman is to love a man." Whoo boy. Dated. But the song is 55 years old. Attempting to put that aside, the music is good. The lyrics sound pushy, though. Also it gets terribly repetitive at the end. Meh.

Herman’s Hermits – “Mrs. Brown, You’ve Got A Lovely Daughter” -- May 1, 1965

Was it once usual for guys to go to their ex-girlfriends' mothers to talk of their heartbreak after the girlfriend dumped them? This song is painfully "look how English I am! You Americans like to throw money at English pop singers, right?" It wears out its welcome quickly.

The Beatles – “Ticket To Ride” -- May 22, 1965

It's interesting how the Beatles seem to have matured five years in one. I can't imagine this group having performed "I Want to Hold Your Hand." The harmonies and rhythms in "Ticket to Ride" are far more complex, the sounds are more varied, and the lyrics are much more mature. His wife/girlfriend is absolutely determined to leave him, and he seems taken by surprise. Yet there are hints he shouldn't have been: "She would never be free when I was around." He goes on, "My baby don't care." Yet underneath there's the suggestion that she simply hasn't got it in her to care any more, because he's exhausted her. Layers of harmony and layers of meaning. It's an intelligent heartbreak song, and those are rare.

The Beach Boys – “Help Me, Rhonda” -- May 29, 1965

I know Brian Wilson was a musical genius but I usually don't like the Beach Boys. It's the lyrics. The narrator was dumped, now he's begging Rhonda to be his rebound. Lucky Rhonda. Then they sing "Help me Rhonda/ Help, help me Rhonda" about five dozen times. Not for me.

The Supremes – “Back In My Arms Again” -- June 12, 1965

Urgh. Don't listen to the Supremes' #1 hits close together. She's got her man back because she stopped listening to her friends' advice. In isolation, there's nothing wrong with that. After all the songs about rotten cheating assholes whom the narrator is desperate to keep, though, it's super uncomfortable. Also using the names of the two backup singers as the friends who give bad advice is in poor taste. And "Flo, she don't know, cuz the boy she loves is a Romeo"? You solely date Romeos! Taken alone, without the context of the other songs, it's good, though I still don't like the strange insult toward the backup singers. Taken with the rest of the Supremes' hits, though, I'm not happy. Especially considering these were all written by men.

The Four Tops – “I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)” -- June 19, 1965

The Supremes weren't the only people in Motown singing about being hopelessly in love with someone who treated them badly. That's what this song is about. I like it, though the line "I'm weaker than a man should be" is a bit wince-inducing these days. But it's an honest sentiment about how men often feel they're not allowed to be idiots over love, though that's a near-universal human experience. Anyway, good song.

The Byrds – Mr. Tambourine Man -- June 26, 1965

The original version of this song was by Bob Dylan, but the Byrds didn't like it, so they changed the sound and ditched a bunch of the lyrics. The lyrics they were left with don't matter at all. This is all about the music, especially the guitar. It's mellow without being soporific, groovy without requiring drugs to understand. It's nice.

The Rolling Stones – “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” -- July 10, 1965

The Rolling Stones were almost never nice. They went straight for the gut -- or gonads -- found all the nastiest things that people are afraid to say and embarrassed to feel, and hung them up on the front porch. "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" sounds kind of silly today, since it's been played and overplayed so much. But that beginning riff still goes straight to the back-brain.

Two years before, pap like "Hey Paula" was clogging the airwaves. Funnily enough, it's the same subject matter: Goddamn I want to get laid. (The idea that Mick Jagger had trouble getting laid is pretty ridiculous, but anyway.) And then there's the critical bit about hating advertisements. They managed to stick a cultural criticism into a song that's about wanting sex. When you can't get no satisfaction, everything is annoying, and things that were already annoying to begin with start to feel unbearable. The Stones go harder in every way than any #1 before them.

Herman’s Hermits – “I’m Henry VIII, I Am” -- August 7, 1965

And here's the opposite. This song must be meant to be annoying, right? One of my friends and I used to sing it at our parents to drive them nuts, and that was before Ghost. It was their fault for exposing us to it in the first place.

Sonny And Cher – “I Got You Babe” -- August 14, 1965

Cher with Sonny is eternally confusing. Though their marriage didn't last, their love was real, and Cher was heartbroken when Sonny died. But anyway, the song. Sonny saying Cher has a "little hand" is goofy. Actually the whole song is kinda goofy, especially the beat that seems to be made of kazoos. Cher's got this powerful, deep voice, while Sonny has a squeaky little thing, but somehow they mesh. The sentiment is sincere, and a good picture of what it's like to be in a happy relationship. It's good.

The Beatles – “Help!” -- September 4, 1965

John Lennon was only 25 when he sang about being "younger, so much younger than today." But for the Beatles, that could have been two years before. They got so famous so fast and so young, I don't know how any of them lived through it. And that is what this song's about; Lennon called it a "public freak-out." But it's still universal. I love this song, and it helped carry me through some tough times.

Barry McGuire – “Eve Of Destruction” -- September 25, 1965

I remember when I first heard this song on the radio in the car with my mother, I asked her what "Old enough to kill/ But not for voting" meant. That's when I learned people used to not be able to vote until they were 21, though young men could be drafted at 18. I was absolutely stunned, and obviously it stuck with me. When you're a little kid, you tend to think the people in charge are generally fair. Then you find out that's not true at all. That's what this song is about, to me.

The McCoys – “Hang On Sloopy” -- October 2, 1965

Speaking of fair, I'm about to be totally unfair. I hate this fucking song. I had to play it endlessly in middle school band, and then I had to play it AGAIN in high school marching band. And the flute part in the arrangements was the most boring thing that has ever been conceived. I hate this song and I will not be listening to it or thinking about it more than this.

The Beatles – “Yesterday” -- October 9, 1965

Why do people in songs lose their significant others so often because they said something wrong and they don't know what it was? That can't be common. Anyway, this song is beautiful and sad. I'm kind of tired of all the covers of it though.

The Rolling Stones – “Get Off Of My Cloud” -- November 6, 1965

I'm listening to the original mono version of this, and mono sounds very strange these days. I keep wanting to check that my speakers are plugged in. Anyway, thanks to Jagger's marbles-in-mouth singing, I can't understand a word of this song except "Hey! you! get off of my cloud!" and I've never known the lyrics until now. And they're not important. Even the chorus isn't that important. This is all about the beat and the music, neither of which I find interesting for the entire length of the song. Not for me.

The Supremes – “I Hear A Symphony” -- November 20, 1965

A thoroughly happy Supremes song! I think Diana Ross is more suited to happy lovesongs than what she had been singing. She has a lot more emotion in her voice than she has before. The violins are lovely. I love this song.

The Byrds – “Turn! Turn! Turn!” -- December 4, 1965

I have always found this song slightly annoying. The Bible verse set to light pop thing doesn't do it for me. The music isn't anywhere near dramatic enough. This should be operatic, or heavy metal, or something else with serious weight. This is thin.

The Dave Clark Five – “Over And Over” -- December 25, 1965

This song is a bit of a throwback to three or four whole years before. It would have been good then. At this point, it's pretty boring. It's about going to a party he didn't want to go to, hitting on a girl, and getting turned down. The snare drum beat is very repetitive, and so is the melody. A big meh.

BEST OF 1965: "My Girl", with stiff competition. WORST OF 1965: "I'm Telling You Now"

#billboard number ones

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dweemeister · 4 years

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Saludos Amigos (1942)

In the wake of the Disney animators’ strike and the end of the studio’s Golden Age with Bambi (1942), Disney’s industry rivals and the upstart United Productions of America (UPA) stood to benefit from the terminations to come. After seizing control of Fleischer Studios from Max and Dave Fleischer, Paramount set up Famous Studios – against the Fleischers’ sensibilities, Famous Studios doubled down on appealing to children while continuing the Popeye the Sailor and Superman short film series. But Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) and Warner Bros., though neither were making animated features, had most to gain from Disney’s misfortune. MGM would pool its resources into self-referential, highly suggestive short films that could never exist under the Disney banner. The works of William Hanna, Joseph Barbera, Fred Quimby, and especially Tex Avery flourished. Under MGM, Barney Bear, Droopy, and Tom and Jerry became part of the American animated canon.

Elsewhere in Burbank, Leon Schlesinger Productions, partnered with Warner Bros., became Disney’s crosstown antithesis. Schlesinger, as arrogant a person as Disney was socially awkward to his employees, harbored no illusions that Merrie Melodies and Looney Tunes could ever compete with the sheer artistry of Disney’s Golden Age features and its Silly Symphonies. Fostering the talents of Chuck Jones, Friz Freleng, Tex Avery (before his defection to MGM), Bob Clampett, and Robert McKimson, Warner Bros. – in a studio as ratty as Disney’s was pristine – operated anarchically. In this culture spawned a style that leans into anything that might make an audience laugh. No matter how outrageous a proposed story’s premise or behavior, Schlesinger would not be one to say “no”*. Take the characteristics of Mickey Mouse and friends and maximize them. As a result, you have the wiseassery of Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, the situational ineptness of Porky Pig and Wile E. Coyote, and the dimwittedness of Elmer Fudd. Warners’ films had a disorderly, unrestrained (and sometimes callous) energy that Disney’s animators were on record of being envious towards.‡

Disney’s animators wanted to channel some of this mania into their next two films: Saludos Amigos and The Three Caballeros (1944). Both films are the result of Walt Disney’s 1941 goodwill trip to Brazil, Argentina, Chile, and Peru, organized by the United States Department of State. The United States was concerned that South American nations might sympathize, if not outright ally with, the Axis. Thus, the federal government offered loan guarantees to Disney’s financially struggling studio if Walt would partake on the tour. Walt agreed, with an ulterior motive – he could leave his brother Roy and studio counsel Gunther Lessing to handle the post-strike wave of layoffs. With Norman Ferguson, Wilfred Jackson, Jack Kinney, Hamilton Luske, and Bill Roberts as supervising directors, Saludos Amigos is the first of the Disney “package films”, and the result of vastly conflicting interests. It is an inconsistent film, its comedy overshadowed by the Looney Tunes series, and the first non-masterpiece Disney animated feature after five inspiring triumphs.

Saludos Amigos is barely a feature film, clocking in at forty-two minutes (the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the American Film Institute, and the British Film Institute all define a feature as a film longer than forty minutes). As such, the movie is essentially a selection of four glorified, narratively unrelated short films. Also included is behind-the-scenes footage of Walt Disney’s entourage (“El Grupo”; including Walt, Lee Blair, Mary Blair, Norman Ferguson, and Frank Thomas) to transition between segments. In order, the segments are: “Lake Titicaca” (Peru), “Pedro” (Chile), “El Gaucho Goofy” (Argentina), and “Aquarela do Brasil” (Brazil).

Beginning with “Lake Titicaca” – named after the eponymous lake on the Peruvian-Bolivian border – the film opens with a Donald Duck short. In the years just before Mickey’s appearance as the sorcerer’s apprentice in Fantasia (1940), Donald Duck had briefly overtaken Mickey Mouse in popularity. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the studio enlisted Donald Duck to be the center of its World War II propaganda – it would be hard to imagine Mickey Mouse going to war. Donald’s appearance in “Lake Titicaca” is a rare non-propaganda outing for the barely understandable duck. It just so happens to also be a lazy Donald Duck short. The best Donald Duck shorts exploit his infamous temper – gradually. Instead, Donald is subjected to what amounts to a travelogue where his tourist’s mentality occasionally endangers him. Though it may not be the prototypical Donald Duck piece, the segment adds nothing to his characterization. The narrator reveals brief, exotifying factoids that could not have played well to a presumably Latin American audience – something that colors the rest of this film.

Next up is Peru’s Andean neighbor, Chile. “Pedro” follows the daring of the anthropomorphic mail airplane of the same name and packs in a lot of storytelling in just several minutes. Pedro, the child of Papá Plane and Mamá Plane (wait, some will say – planes don’t grow as they age!), is tasked to deliver the mail across the Andes when Papá comes down with a cold. Why doesn’t Mamá Plane fly the mail? “High oil pressure” – but knowing the boys’ club that was the Disney studios of this era, that probably isn’t the real reason. Pedro must brave the turbulence as he ascends over the Andes, and especially as he nears Aconcagua. At 22,837 feet (almost 7,000 meters), Aconcagua is the tallest mountain outside Asia – and with a mountain of that size, it invariably creates its own unpredictable weather.

Flight in the 1940s was still a relatively risky proposition, and “Pedro” captures this during the stormiest sequences that define its closing minutes. As the most inspired moment not associated with “Aquarela do Brasil”, these moments are made possible due to the special effects honed in during previous Disney animated features and a crashing sound mix that sells the danger that Pedro faces. To its credit, this second chapter of Saludos Amigos feels the most like a potential feature film that went unrealized. “Pedro” does not suffer as much from exotified elements in comparison to other segments in Saludos Amigos. But nevertheless, it inspired Chilean cartoonist René Ríos Boettiger (“Pepo”) to create the character Condorito, a comic strip condor whose adventures are read widely across Latin America.

In Argentina, we find “El Gaucho Goofy”. This third part adopts the tone and style of the How to… series (1944’s How to Play Football, 1950’s How to Ride a Horse) featuring Goofy. It might as well be entitled “How to Be a Gaucho”. The omnipresent narrator imparts culturally specific terms and Gaucho equipment that spontaneously appear for Goofy to react to. As always, the narrator is moving too fast for poor Goofy, who can barely keep up. This is hilariously subverted in the scene where Goofy is pursuing a rhea (a distant relative of the ostrich) while on horseback. A fast rewind occurs, and the scene is played back in slow-motion. But it is obvious that the scene has been re-animated in slow-motion and the narrator has also recorded his lines to fit the hilarity on-screen. This is a hysterical touch and a rare (and effective) instance of a mid-century Disney movie breaking out metatextual jokes. “El Gaucho Goofy” also boasts Argentinian artistic input – illustrator/painter Florencio Molina Campos served as consultant for this segment, The Three Caballeros, and Fun and Fancy Free (1947). Campos’ style (muted colors and an emphasis on the Pampas’ skyward horizon) and preferred subject material (life on the Argentinian Pampas for Gauchos and their families) are apparent across “El Gaucho Goofy”. The segment undoubtedly benefits from his influence.

Moving north, the film ends with “Aquarela do Brasil” (“Watercolor of Brazil”). The segment is framed by an extended cover of the song of the same name composed by Ary Barroso and sung by Aloysio Oliveira – the song was popular in Brazil at the time, but Saludos Amigos vaulted the composition to international fame . Easily the most abstract of the four Saludos Amigos chapters, it also adopts a conceit later replicated in Chuck Jones’ Duck Amuck (1953) in which the background, foregrounds, and characters are painted by an artist’s brush onto a previously blank canvas. “Aquarela do Brasil” features Donald, but also marks the debut of the cigar-smoking, samba-dancing parrot, José Carioca. José (pronounced with a hard “J” in Portuguese) is Donald’s fun-loving foil dressed in malandro attire, but this clash of personalities will not be as apparent until The Three Caballeros. Following the interruption of José’s introduction, the film resumes with its splashy, colorful, romanticized abstractions of what life in Rio de Janeiro is like. It is the better and more aesthetically interesting Donald Duck short film when compared to “Lake Titicaca”, if mostly because José Carioca is a scene-stealer.

If the transitions between the descriptions of the four segments in this review feels abrupt, that is because there is little to no transition between the four segments of Saludos Amigos. Each segment is a hard reset after the last, and the supervising directors make no attempt to establish any linkages between them. It results in pacing issues that make “Pedro” – the most narrative-dependent of the four – feel much longer than it is.

When released in the United States, Saludos Amigos surprised American viewers. For many, the film upended their preconceptions of Latin America as a dour, unfashionable, and backwards place. Americans – rarely regarded as being worldly people – who saw Saludos Amigos more positively viewed their southerly neighbors. For Latin American audiences, interest in American culture, already deeply immersed in Hollywood movies, solidified. But for the Latin American governments in power during World War II and after, Saludos Amigos and The Three Caballeros’ intended aims had a muted effect – especially in Argentina, which waffled between the Allies and Axis due to its historic rivalry with Great Britain and its sympathies to Nazi Germany.

With a muted reception, Saludos Amigos begins the package era of films within the Walt Disney animated canon. For the next few years, Walt Disney and his animators would be making mostly propaganda short films for the United States government. These propaganda works helped stabilize the studio’s finances, if nothing more, and reflected Walt’s increasing political conservatism. His turn to the Republican Party for the remainder of his life was not due to long-held political convictions, but the outsize influence of studio counsel (and hardline anti-communist) Gunther Lessing on Walt’s political opinions. Walt Disney’s artistic soul would rarely surface over the next few decades, following the bitter disappointment of how the later Golden Age animated features were treated by audiences and critics. In the meantime, the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank kept their focus on fulfilling government requests for propaganda pieces, and now resembled more of an industrial factory than the happy, extended artistic family Walt had once sought.

My rating: 5/10

^ Based on my personal imdb rating. Half-points are always rounded down. My interpretation of that ratings system can be found in the “Ratings system” page on my blog (as of July 1, 2020, tumblr is not permitting certain posts with links to appear on tag pages, so I cannot provide the URL).

For more of my reviews tagged “My Movie Odyssey”, check out the tag of the same name on my blog.

* Even Schlesinger’s successor, Edward Selzer (who took control in 1944 when Schlesinger sold the studio to Warner Bros., renamed “Warner Bros. Cartoons, Inc.”) – described by Chuck Jones as humorless and more intervening – came to respect the instincts of the animation directors and gag men.

‡ Disney animator Dick Huemer on Warner Bros. animated shorts: “It was like admiring the kind of dame that you couldn’t introduce to your mother.”

#Saludos Amigos #Walt Disney #Norman Ferguson #Wilfred Jackson #Jack Kinney #Hamilton Luske #Bill Roberts #Lee Blair #Mary Blair #Donald Duck #Jose Carioca #Goofy #Disney #My Movie Odyssey

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willmelon · 4 years

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i don’t usually do this but i feel Compelled to do a liveblog/review of Mouth Dreams so here goes

Please don’t read this if you haven’t heard the album yet as it’ll spoil Everything

(i’ll admit the idea came to me After i listened to Just a Baby so these first ones are gonna be relistened reviews)

first we got Yahoo. what can i say about this song? neil starts off Strong with incredibly sustained notes and just one phrase, in typical neil style. and he makes it work in so many different ways! honestly didn’t expect myself to get so attached so fast but that’s just the way his magic works ig. when the hoooooooos harmonise it almost brings tears to the eyes. i would love to see a group of choristers singing this with another guy on an electric keyboard. what a cold open. 9/10

of course then we go on to the titular track, the dimension of sound, the dimension of imagination, the dimension of doors. rod serling narrates the intro in his traditional monotone as the warbling twilight zone theme plays in the background. i tell ya i was actually Screaming when the track finished and he dropped the title! it may not be a song per se, sort of like Blockbuster from Mouth Moods, a ‘filler track’ if you will, but the effort in those fifty seconds cannot be ignored. it just goes to show once again how Good he is at what he does. 6.5/10

oh lawd, my favourite so far, Spongerock. reading the title i had absolutely No idea what to expect. the goofy goober song from the movie? winner takes all from band geeks? i was pleasantly surprised to find myself tapping out queen’s distinctive boom boom CLAP as the song progressed, and i was in complete Hysterics the whole way through, chanting along with the kids as the pirate encouraged me to sing louder. it’s such a beautiful fit the way they mesh together, and it’s one of those mashups that you listen to and think ‘why has nobody done this before?’ but neil is on a higher plane of existence than us and Knows where it’s at. you’re never the same after you’ve listened to Spongerock. 7.5/10

Just a Baby, where i stopped to begin this thing, is a melancholy song, which i’m not usually a fan of. i admit i don’t know the original song so i kept quiet until the last chorus or two. it’s the yang to the yin of Wow Wow from Moods, another sentence-mixer that was like a full Bop and barely gave you time to catch your breath. in Just a Baby you begin to empathise with the singer as he regales confusing times of his constant youth, including the time his mother (a train) shot a man in cold blood. it’s a powerful ballad, and it’s got a tasteful amount of justin bieber adding backing vocals to the chorus. i may have to deduct a few points cos the lyrics are gonna be hard af to remember. 7/10

ok next up we got Superkiller. this one’s totally blind! i’m. ehhhhh okay not diggin this one very much. ok that say something once line being repeated was comedy gold but talking heads are just like. kinda tuneless tbh. i’m glad he’s trying to lassoo it together with u can’t touch this but it’s kinda falling short tbh. i wouldn’t skip it but it’s not as memorable as the previous ones. 5/10

starting Get Happy. i’m not gonna lie i think i Know what this is, there are only so many options after all. i predict it’s a mix of “get dancin’” by disco-tex and the sex-o-lettes and “happy” by bahrrel williams, and i really hope that ain’t the case cos i Love the first one but despise the latter. oh well let’s see if he can pull it off. sounds like village green by the kinks so far lol uhhhh i have no idea what to make of this. okay i feel like i’m gonna like this after all. hey it’s got memorable lyrics at least! is it gonna get faster? or just more bassy? yknow maybe i was too critical at the start, but i had no idea what to expect. this is a feel-good pop song and it’s definitely making me feel happier than i was when i was listening to Superkiller. 7/10

Ribs? wtf do i expect from a song called Ribs lmao another song i’ve never heard of IH IT’S EVERYBODY WANTS TO RULE TH WORLD OH YEEEEEEEEES omg i Love this song i sing it to myself when i’m walkin my dog cos his little paws click-clack on the pavement to the exact rhythm of the song omg i’m in Love! another one with odd lyrics but i think after a Lot of repeat listening i’ll be able to properly croon along to this one omg! it reminds me of Best from Mouth Silence in that they’re both about products, only instead of folgers in your cup it’s about chili’s baby back ribs omg neil you’re Perfect! how come more advertisers haven’t contacted you for a product placement deal?? 7.5/10

next we got My Mouth. welcome to? who knows let’s hit play. ooooh minor key. is this a real song? it sounds like oney singing a cover of something. oh That’s the gimmick? 2:30 long i hope there’s something else tbh cos otherwise it’s gonna get pretty thin pretty fast. mm not a fan. the weakest so far imo especially after Ribs blew me away. definitely a bad dream. 3.5/10

Aerolong don’t fail me now! okay see This is how you do a mashup. I DON’T MISS YOU BABAY AND I DO WANNA MISS A THING THAT’S GOLD!! this is just a song about saying bye to your ex lmao i love it. wish it was longer though. 6/10

Sleepin’ here we go! ok in the youtube version the first half of this song is just silence so that wasn’t fun. gee this one’s only moderately better than My Mouth i’m feeling very shortchanged. 4/10

what to expect from Aamoorree? hopefully this one’s another jam but...okay i’m likin this one. it’s Fun and isn’t trying too hard! it’s just a drunk dean martin singing about pizza pie on karaoke night, what more could you ask for lol. 6/10

Where Is My Mom? by the p-p-p-pooo-oo-ooo-oooool of course. i don’t recognise the other song but it’s decent. i’ve listened to slowed-down songs before (the sludgefest chipmunks albums lately) and this one’s kinda ok. not a fan of the ending but points for effort ig. 5.5/10

Fredhammer ay? might there be some peter gabriel in there? undoubtedly. yup there it is lol ok now bring in the flintstones? oh ig that’s fred durst? mm not totally feeling it so far but censoring he** was funny lmao HEY THERE’S SEINFELD i’m wheezin that was a good way to end a song, well done neil. 6.5/10

here goes Limp Wicket. i’m on the edge of my seat. and Again i’m disappointed. is this a bunch of ewoks singing some kind of star wars song? or is it jarjar? either way this is Not a good song. it probably wasn’t before he mashed it up but this wasn’t an improvement. bringing in Fredhammer didn’t help this song much at all, in fact i think it brought both songs down actually. last one was a 7/10 but i Have to dock it points now that it’s a two-parter. as for this one? i’m being generous cos the limp bizkit song was good. 1/10

Cannibals runs for 4 minutes. PLEASE don’t let this be a repeat of the last one. i get that miners can’t dig up gold every time but don’t just show up with a bunch of rocks and iron pyrites yknow i’m just gonna start. i don’t want to be angry at this album. i recognise that sound in the bg! from a cyriak vid i think. thx comin in. loooooooong drone. ugh UGH there are Too many lucid dreams on this album. starting to regret liveblogging this cos i Loved the other three mouth albums. this one’s just falling flat again and again. 3/10

here comes The Outsiders. there is NOTHING to say about this. 1.5/10

come on Johnny. okay that got a laugh out of me, not many songs start with a booing crowd like that, is that meta? wouldn’t put it past him tbh. ah i’ll give it a 5/10, for a kinda filler song it wasn’t too bad.

Closerflies, this has gotta be gold. PLEASE. intro’s goin on for a little too long...mm having never heard the original version of closer i gotta admit i thought it’d be faster, like the one used in Rollercloser in Silence. this version seems very sloppy and sluggish, especially the bassline. 3/10

Nightmovin’ i’m not expecting much OH good intro oh YES now here we go. this is a good one, it’s got clear lyrics and a catchy tune, i’m liking this one more and more by the second. cuts off weird but it’s going into the next one. so i’m gonna leave the rating out of this one and see how it is after the next one.

Whitehouse i’m holding my breath. mm it’s Good but not great tbh. criminal that the last one was half as long as this one. think i’m gonna give both of these songs a 5/10 i doubt they’ll be anyone’s favourites. the title is a nice little joke too i respect that.

Wah! what’s neil’s obsession with using wannabe as a source lmao! it’s another decent one but nothing memorable again. 5/10

Pee Wee Inc i’m expecting big things. good intro I’M IN LOVE okay this is Much better than i imagined it’d be. did he use the radio edit of feel good inc? this is a heck of a way to bring it back to the gold stuff and i wouldn’t be surprised if this is what neil’s head sounds like all the time. 7/10

on to 10,000 Spoons. not sure what to expect from the title. okay this is a Nice one i think. throwback to the likes of Just a Baby with the two songs and the sentence mixing and it’s Good. and really 10,000 spoons is So ironic anyway, don’t you think? 7/10

oh another song called Mouth Dreams? an extro? that was Weird lol ok the intro i wasn’t too keen on, def not as much as the intro, but i got to appreciate it as it went on. like Rlly appreciate it i was beginning to reflect on what a journey i’d been through tonight, especially writing it all down. felt very poetic. and then WHAM, out of nowhere, after being gone for 23 songs, all-star came Back and How! gotta give this one a 7.5/10

keep the train rolling Brithoven! i can hear faint bits of instruments in britney’s song in the back of her audio which sound like a mistake but knowing neil.......yah lmao. this song’s kinda like Promenade (Satellite Pictures at an Exhibition) from Mouth Sounds, i liked what i heard. very nice. 6.5/10

the final song. we’re gonna be hit one more time for Ain’t! and i have NO idea what i’m in for! in the hall of the mountain king eh? is this like a way of looping around to the first song of the first album with classical music? ok the snoring’s a nod to Bustin i’m sure lmao funny anyway. i thought i heard a hey now in there but i must be going nuts. wouldn’t call it a grand finale but it is what it is. 5/10

now the question that must be asked - was Mouth Dreams trying to make a point? was there a reasons so many songs were of lower-quality than previous albums? perhaps it’s just a matter of taste, or perhaps it’s as rod said back on track two, that this album is a doorway into another dimension, and the further you progress, the more mind-rattling, brain-melting concepts you come across. the album gets an average of 5.5 which is kinda disappointing. don’t think i’ll be listening to the whole thing again. thanks for reading!

#mouth dreams #neil cicierega #liveblog #review

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maxsmusicmacrology · 4 years

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Album Analysis: Best of Crush 40

Halfway through the 90s, everything changed. The PlayStation came out in 94, allowing games with 3D graphics and high-fidelity (for the time, that is) audio. Big Red came hopping onto the scene with Super Mario 64 in 96, and Sonic Adventure came onto the scene at the very end of 98. As a latecomer to the 3D party, arriving over 2 years after Mario had such a successful romp, they needed something special. They needed…

Children’s media! I’m of the opinion that there are two main categories that children’s media can fall into: there’s media that is specifically made for children, like Blue’s Clues or Peppa Pig or those licensed Sesame Street games. Then there’s kid-friendly media that, while made for and marketed towards children, can still appeal to adults. This would be most Pixar movies, shows like Phineas and Ferb, and the object of today’s article, the Sonic franchise.

While there’s some pretty huge differences between children’s media and kid-friendly media, one thing they both have in common is the goal of teaching children a moral lesson. With varying degrees of success. This can be something simple like “stealing is bad”, but oftentimes there’s some greater nuance, like how the protagonist of Inside Out learns to value sadness and other “negative” emotions. But when working with hardware that has some intense limitations, like the NES or Sega Genesis, telling a complex story isn’t easy, which is why Save the Princess plots (Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda, the opening to Final Fantasy) were so common: it allowed for a moral hero without requiring any deeper discussion. Sonic the Hedgehog went with a bit more of an environmentalist message- saving animals from an evil scientist- which was easy enough to portray in only 16 bits.

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I’m going to review this album out of order. This is a “Best of” album, so rather than being a picture of the band’s musical vision at any given time, it contains some of their best work from over a decade-long span. What I’m especially interested in is how the music interacts with its respective game and how it evolves with the franchise, so let’s take a look at song #15 first.

Open Your Heart kicks off Sonic Adventure with a bang. It’s the first thing you hear when you boot the game up and it accompanies the final battle. Well, most of it, anyway- part 1 of the battle gets Open Your Heart and part 2 gets generic “tense orchestral music”, which is a flat-out awful decision, but I digress. Tonally, it’s perfect- it starts out tense, preparing you for the fight ahead, and then the guitars kick in to pull you forward. But more importantly… this is why I brought up the moral conflict earlier. The story is simple, so the game leans on the song to deliver its message.

Much of the lyrics are as relevant today as they probably were for most of human history: the quieter intro bit describes various catastrophes, and describes the fear and confusion that follows (much like the one we’ve been living in for the past few months). The song’s chorus is built around a dialectic: Can’t hold on much longer/but I will never let go, but then ends with Open your heart, it’s gonna be alright. Together, these components combine the fear of catastrophe with the innate desire to make things better. It instills the idea that it’s okay to have conflicting feelings about a course of action, then promises that your heart will make the right choice.

Live and Learn is the main theme of the direct sequel, Sonic Adventure 2, and fills the same roles as Open Your Heart. The opening riff plays when the game is launched, the full song plays over the final battle, and it delivers the moral lesson of the game. If Open Your Heart introduces a lesson about conflict, then Live and Learn teaches you what to do when you’ve made the wrong choice. What happens if you trust the wrong people, stay when you should’ve run or run when you should’ve stayed, let something important fall into the wrong hands?

The very title of the song hints at its message- you learn from your mistakes and do better- but to me the line that really hits comes in the second verse. But you can’t save your sorrows/you’ve paid in trade. It recontextualizes all the regret someone feels from a mistake as a sort of currency: it’s not to be saved, kept in your mind and dwelled on- you’ve exchanged it, traded it for valuable life experience. If you focus on the mistake instead of the lesson, you’ll never grow, and it’ll all have been a waste. Not only is it a natural progression from the last song, it’s an absolute banger of a track.

Next up is Sonic Heroes, the intro track to… Sonic Heroes. That won’t be confusing. I don’t have a whole lot to say about this one, it’s not the big moral apex of the game and it’s much more of a title theme than the song the game wants you to walk away from. It’s goofy as hell to listen to, but it always puts a smile on my face.

What I’m Made of is the final battle theme to Sonic Heroes and is, in my opinion, the finale of the Open Your Heart trilogy. Looking at the three songs is a sort of rudimentary 3-act structure: you have the introduction and first conflict, the dark part at the end of act 2, and the triumphant closer. The protagonist takes the lesson they learned through the story and uses it to defeat their opponent. What I have in my two hands is enough to set me free. Use the lessons you’ve learned through hardship to better yourself. The songs form a very nice trilogy when viewed like this that parallels the games quite nicely, and I’m confused as to why they’re all out of order on the album.

That finishes off the Adventure and Heroes saga, and now onto… Shadow the Hedgehog… god. I Am… All of Me is the opening track to the game and also the first song on the album, and it’s so goofy. It tries to be all dark and intimidating because Shadow is the dark and edgy character, who has guns and says “damn” because he has a tragic backstory, and the character isn’t edgy because he’s a cartoon hedgehog and and the song isn’t edgy because it’s a song about a cartoon hedgehog.

That doesn’t mean it’s bad, mind you. I enjoy it, and in a way it’s a perfect fit for the game. It’s like a kid wearing a vampire costume on halloween: they can try to scare you all they want, but the worst they can do is make you smile.

All Hail Shadow is the next Shadow the Hedgehog piece. This one was originally by a group called Magna-Fi, and was covered by Crush 40 for use in later games when the band broke up. Shadow the Hedgehog features multiple paths and multiple endings, and this is the “true hero” ending when the player makes all the heroic choices. This song does a good job painting Shadow as Sonic’s foil: both of them are heroes from this point forward, but while Sonic is more of a classical hero, Shadow is an anti-hero. Somewhere in chaos we all find ourselves/this destruction is the only tale we tell. The game features Shadow trying to recover his memories and find his true self, figure out who he really is, and this is the song that has him rediscover himself as a hero.

Finally, Never Turn Back is the true ending theme for the game, and the last Shadow the Hedgehog song in the album. This is the “moral lesson” song I’ve been on about so much, and it’s a damn good one. It starts with a slow cover that samples I am… All of Me, then it gets a powerful kick that rings in the rest of the song. The message in the song is similar to Live and Learn about not repeating mistakes, but Never Turn Back gives a sense of a much more arduous period in one’s life. If Live and Learn is about recovering from a mistake, Never Turn Back is about recovering from a long series of them. It’s been a long rough road but I’m finally here/Move an inch forward, feels like a year. It’s very much about cutting yourself free of a bad period in your life and how difficult it can be to even stay put, but the positive vibe of the song reminds us to celebrate the small victories. It’s a bit more mature of a message for a game that… at least tried to be more mature.

I haven’t talked a whole lot about how the music interacts with the events of the game partially because this is a music review, but partially because it’s gone perfectly hand and hand with the music so far. There hasn’t been much dissonance between “rock music that gives life advice” and “young-ish hedgehog learning how to live life”. That’s about to change, though, because it’s time for Sonic 06. At the end of Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic declared that he was no one special, “just a guy who loves adventure”. This is when that ceased to be true.

The first three songs we discussed weren’t about Sonic. The singer was a nameless narrator occasionally fighting a nameless opponent. They were relevant to the series, but they could be about anyone. That’s what made them so versatile. His World is the main theme of Sonic 06, and where the other 2 versions of the song existed more to hype up Sonic as a character, the Crush 40 cover was more about the events of the game. As a song, it’s pretty good: it’s a more intense version of the original song, and it’s got a slower but steadier pace to it. But here’s what sets it apart from the other main themes: it’s about Sonic. It’s not a lesson about facing conflict and overcoming adversity wrapped up in an upbeat rock song, it’s about the events of the game and how awesome Sonic is. He isn’t the everyman anymore, he’s an important figure, a chosen one to save the world from this point forward. The music reflects that.

To really drive home this new direction they were going, Sega released two games for the Wii called “Sonic Storybook” games, where Sonic would become the main character of two classic stories: Arabian Nights and the legend of King Arthur. They’re both terrible in… just about every aspect, but the first entry Sonic and the Secret Rings is godawful. The main theme Seven Rings in Hand wasn’t written or originally performed by Crush 40, but for some reason they decided to cover it for their album, so I have to talk about it: it’s trash. It’s a bunch of empty lyrics about nothing with some pretty subpar mixing.

While Sonic and the Black Knight isn’t much better, it at least has a killer main theme. Knight of the Wind as a song is pretty badass, but it suffers the same issues as His World. There’s no more important meaning, it’s just about Sonic being a knight and saving people. It has a few familiar “never give up” themes, but it doesn’t do anything as well as Open Your Heart or Live and Learn. It falls into the Sonic Heroes mold where it’s fun to listen to and less fun to really take apart and analyze. The ending theme (which strangely precedes Knight of the Wind) Live Life samples Knight of the Wind, but that’s pretty much the coolest thing it does. It’s slow and pensive, making a sense of faux-thoughtfulness to cover mostly shallow lyrics.

With Me (Massive Power Mix) is the last Sonic and the Black Knight theme here, and was originally written by Crush 40 and performed by singers from the band “All Ends”. The album features a version performed by the band itself, and the song is unique in that it’s sung from the POV of the game’s villain. As a result, it features a look into a character who walked a “dark path”, weighed down by the mistakes they made. Don’t blame [me] for what I have become. It’s an ideological clash against the values in the other songs, arguing that anyone can be tempted to become evil. It’s deeper than anything in the game, but it’s shockingly good considering its source material.

That does it for the main series themes, but there’s a few others on here- a couple tracks for the racing games, an oddly placed cover of Fire Woman, and a too-slow ballad-sounding original song called Is It You. However, I think I’ve gone on long enough, and I’ve discussed everything I wanted to: how the songs showcased on this album elevate the messages given in the games.

Ultimately, all these songs are mirrors of the game they’re in, for better or worse. For that, I have to applaud the band’s versatility- even if most of the songs are the same genre, they cover a wide range of moods and messages depending on what the game demands. They can write a kick-ass guide to getting over failure or a fun little romp to introduce a game. Even divorced from their source material, many of the songs stand well on their own, and there’s a very good reason why fans of the franchise want Crush 40 to return for future installments.

Videos cited:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJYxYzxFyZw Peppa Pig - Caddicarus (warning: weird shit)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JWYDUYqhlc&list=PL5F29F0909BF08B56&index=15 - Best of Crush 40 Playlist

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voI-9TdS0Jw - Seven Rings in Hand (Crush 40 Ver)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HrOjyltyEM - With Me (Massive Power Mix)

#children's media #sonic the hedgehog #crush 40 #album review #coming of age #rock music #upbeat music

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loveislattes · 5 years

Text

NSFW Alphabet - The Author

These are all personal opinions of mine. Of course, others might see it differently, but I hope you all enjoy the read no matter what!

(Re-post! The original got removed because I had an actual sex gif in here, so now there’s just a link!)

A = Aftercare (What they’re like after sex)

While he can be quite an asshole, he understands that you need him after sex, especially since he tends to be pretty intense. He won’t hesitate to pull you into his chest and make you lay there until you’re practically pushing him away and complaining. Only when you complain or tease him, does he really feel you’ve recovered.

B = Body part (Their favorite body part of theirs and also their partner’s)

No doubt, his favorite part of his body is his arms and hands. He loves to flex them and show off his strength any time he can, and of course, his hands create the beautiful work that is his narrations.

His favorite part of his lover is their mouth. Whether it’s their quick wit and sarcastic responses or his name falling from their lips, he loves it. He loves seeing their soft lips curve into a gentle smile when he makes them laugh, and can’t get enough of them moaning his name when he’s wrecking them.

C = Cum (Anything to do with cum basically… I’m a disgusting person)

He’s never ashamed to come all over his lover. On their ass, thighs, face, inside them, he doesn’t care. Whether it's seeping out of them or showing proudly against their skin, he considers it a claim.

D = Dirty Secret (Pretty self-explanatory, a dirty secret of theirs)

He gets off on fear. While he’d never hurt his lover beyond what they agree to, he’s not above threatening to do it. The fear in their eyes, the shaking of their body, it all makes him that much more excited.

E = Experience (How experienced are they? Do they know what they’re doing?)

The author is plenty experienced. From his dashing good looks to his smooth words and powerful aura, people with a masochistic or submissive tendency flock to him. It doesn’t hurt that when he’s having a dry spell, he can invite someone looking for a similar situation into his realm of the world.

F = Favourite Position (This goes without saying. Will probably include a visual)

AuthorFavoritePositionGif

G = Goofy (Are they more serious in the moment, or are they humorous, etc)

Author is as serious in bed as he is out, not very often prone to laughter unless something extremely ridiculous happens.

H = Hair (How well-groomed are they, does the carpet match the drapes, etc.)

He keeps himself trimmed and cleaned up, and he requests his lover to do the same.

I = Intimacy (How are they during the moment, romantic aspect…)

Author is very serious and almost overwhelming. Passionate and wild are the best words to describe him when he wants you. You can tell by the look he gets on his face when his mind has shifted into intimacy territory.

J = Jack Off (Masturbation headcanon)

He jacks off once a day, at least, if he’s unable to have you that day, but he’s quick and flippant about it; using it for more of a quick-release rather than taking the time to enjoy it.

K = Kink (One or more of their kinks)

BDSM; He is a dom in all aspects and absolutely requires submission out of his lover.

Breathplay; He’s skilled and careful in this kink, but adores the look of fear and elation it evokes in his lover.

Consensual nonconsent; He loves the thrill of the chase and a fight. He wants to feel that rush of power and dominance over his lover, but once he hears your safe word, all bets are off and he’s back to the man you love and care for.

Predator/Prey; Falling under the consensual noncon, he adores the chase. Whether it's through the house or the woods, his adrenaline gets pumping into overdrive by chasing, catching, and pinning his lover into submission.

Name-calling; You’ll be his little whore, slut, cum princess, whatever dirty name he feels like calling you at the moment. He is cautious if you have certain trigger words and respects not using them if you request it.

L = Location (Favourite places to do the do)

Anywhere. As long as he has the space to twist you into whatever position he wants, he’s fine. Against the wall, on the floor, on the counters, against a tree; everything is fair game to him.

M = Motivation (What turns them on, gets them going)

As stated above in kinks, submission and resistance turn him on like no other. Whether he’s getting his way with his willing lover or tracking them down to fuck them into submission, he thrives off the power play.

N = NO (Something they wouldn’t do, turn-offs)

He absolutely refuses to ever sub. Gentle sex is usually a turn off for him as well, so it’s a once in a very great while act.

O = Oral (Preference in giving or receiving, skill, etc)

Receiving. He wants to see you on your knees, hands behind you back, taking his cock like the good little slut you are as he listens to you moan and choke and gag until he comes in your mouth; enough for it to flow down your chin as you can’t swallow fast enough.

P = Pace (Are they fast and rough? Slow and sensual? etc.)

Fast and rough, 24/7. The only slow he will ever engage in is when denying your orgasm, which is not often. He wants to hear you screaming, hear how his body slaps yours, hear how his hand connects with your ass beautifully in the act.

Q = Quickie (Their opinions on quickies rather than proper sex, how often, etc.)

He’s completely fine with a quickie, seeing as he’s used to fucking his lover so roughly their head might spin. Got to leave for work in thirty minutes? He’ll take ten to fuck you against the door of your car as you’re heading out. Have company over? He’ll sneak you into the back room and fuck you on the washer while covering your screams with his hand.

R = Risk (Are they game to experiment, do they take risks, etc.)

Author engages in very many risks. From brutal sex to consensual non-consent play, he likes to take it to the edge, but he is very careful and practiced in what he does. He would never endanger your life.

S = Stamina (How many rounds can they go for, how long do they last…)

He can last a fair bit longer than most men, but nothing extremely abnormal. Fifteen minutes to one hour is his usual, depending on how much time he has with his lover. He can go one to two rounds at a time but would be ready for more in an hour or so after.

T = Toy (Do they own toys? Do they use them? On a partner or themselves?)

He doesn’t feel the need for toys. He won’t object if you bring one and ask to use it, but he won’t let it be a regular occurrence.

U = Unfair (how much they like to tease)

While he can do a fair amount of teasing, he’s much more likely to get down to business, unable to control himself once at a certain point.

V = Volume (How loud they are, what sounds they make)

He’s loud, incredibly loud, but it’s mostly feral growling and groaning, mixed in with degrading names and demanding phrases. Once in awhile his lover’s name will add to the fray.

W = Wild Card (Get a random headcanon for the character of your choice)

He likes it rough, and he knows just how to balance his lover right on the edge of pain and pleasure. He delights in the way their body fights to get away and as close as possible to him at the same time. He doesn't mind pain in return, such as biting his neck or scratching at his back. The more animalistic, the better.

X = X-Ray (Let’s see what’s going on in those pants, picture or words)

Slightly over average in length and much thicker than average, he is hung to please the pickiest of lovers but not harm them with his size.

Y = Yearning (How high is their sex drive?)

He has quite the high sex drive but keeps it in check for his lover.

Z = ZZZ (… how quickly they fall asleep afterward)

He falls asleep quite easily, more so when it was a strenuous session, and you’re cuddled up to his side as he drifts off. He’d never admit it to anyone else.

#author #the author #alphabet #Author/Reader #smut

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madamewriterofwrongs · 4 years

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5, 6, 23, and 25!

Thank you, dearest one <3

5. What character that you’re writing do you most identify with?

Evan freaking Buckley. We all know I’m the Chimney of the group and I love that, but when I’m writing about Buck, it is so easy for me to project my insecurities and my ambitions onto that puppy.

Not bad people, just bad parents. Loves to shower people with love but also takes their criticisms to heart and stews. Covers intimacy issues with another physical activity. Found their purpose in life and forced to face losing it forever because of something out of their control. No life outside of work. Surprisingly curly hair. The list goes on.

The reason Show and Tell had to take a hiatus was because that story is about Buck recognizing and finding tactics to deal with his insecurities. This bitch is not mentally prepared for that at the moment.

6. What character do you have the most fun writing?

I mean, right at this very moment: no one. Writing is not a fun activity and I really wish it was. I liked writing the 911 characters in more upbeat and scenarios where they got to be goofy or outlandish. Writing drunk scenes for the crew was enjoyable because it’s something I crave from the show: more comradery and comedy. Figuring out the different drunk personalities and how they would all interact with one another was a hoot. The different dynamics with all the people was what I enjoyed more than any individual character. The way people change when they’re with different people is super interesting to me.

23. What’s the story idea you’ve had in your head for the longest?

LEGENDARY!

I wrote the first iteration of Legendary in my Grade 8 science class when we were doing space study and I was bored. I filled a notebook with my tiny printed narration about a group of girls who were reincarnated to a place (suspiciously similar to my home town), and they were battling an evil that had followed them across time while trying to maintain a normal life, and sometimes, they died and got replaced.

The story has changed A LOT from location to characters and motivations and plot. But the concept has stayed the same.

I wrote the latest version for NaNoWriMo 2019 and put a 52k dent in it (there’s still about 1/3 of the story left to write and lots of changes but the fact that I finally put it down in writing is a huge win for me).

Publishing Legendary specifically is on my bucket list. Like, yes, I want to publish a novel. But before I die, I will send this monster into the world for two people to read.

25. What part of writing is the most fun?

(MADS!)

I actually really do like writing dialogue. It’s easy for me. I think, if I wasn’t so in love with the limitless nature of novels over scripts, I would be writing those instead. The reason I tend to write dialogue first, is because I can hear them first. I can embody the characters and find their personalities and their actions through how they interact with one another.

I guess that’s similar to why I liked writing the 911 crew as a unit. Because it’s a look at their dynamics through their words. Huh.

Yeah, I guess I use dialogue as a character study. Once that’s on the page (once I can hear the scene), I can then picture it much easier than if I were switching between dialogue and action all the time. Which is strange because in terms of learning, I am kinesthetic first, then a weird combination of visual and auditory where my auditory comprehension is shit unless accompanied by a visual. Brains are weird.

Meta Writer Ask

#meta writer ask #cj answers things #letmetellyouaboutmyfeels #love mads

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booksandchainmail · 5 years

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nanoha vivid liveblog i guess? episode 1

Some background: I watched Nanoha, A’s, and StrikerS about five years ago in my mid-teens, and also read as much of the vivid manga as was out then. So I probably have seen about as much as the anime covers, and also know a bunch of spoilers, which will show up in this often. This franchise meant a lot to me back then, and I’m suddenly reinterested in it. Feel free to ask me anything about these shows!

So I’m going to try liveblogging nanoha vivid. I figure I’ll make one long-ish post with a read more per episode so as not to clog my blog up. Also, sorry but all my screenshots have the progress bar in them, because I guess piracy does have a cost after all

This opening narration is fucking hilarious, considering how generally moe this show is It would not be out of place in a relatively dark historical show then again, this is nanoha, which is kinda famous for dark scifi worldbuilding mixed with magical girls

Whos that?I thought I had a pretty good grasp on the various rulers of the end of the Belkan War, but apparently not

OLIVIE!!!!!!!! It her!!! and is that mysterious figure possibly jeremiah girl?

And claus looking appropriately mopey

Now for the op

ITS THEM the true otp being all cute and domestic

Nove!!! Confession that I looked up all the numbers a few days ago or I wouldn’t have remembered which one she was. A good good punch girl

All the other contestants... and i dont actually remember any of them. Except for Sieg! I really liked her when I read the manga, don’t actually remember why

And the entire old gangs here Gods I still love Subaru and Teana so much Also, feels like forever since ive seen an op with the sponsor talk at the end

This reminds me a lot early nanoha Particularly vivios little side ponytail things

That is the most boring possible way to say “my mother is an s-class military combat mage”

oh gods this is sweet

shes been in combat since she was nine, cut her some slack

High fives are an objectively good family goodbye

“Four years, to be exact. When I was adopted. Because, yknow, that was very definitely a major incident”

Theyre ten, let them be goofy kids. On the other hand, those girls are probably like 14ish, so its pretty in character

@hogwarts

rio is adorably exicted about getting to learn how to punch from a convicted criminal

IT HER Gods im gay I wasn’t interested in nove at all during strikers but uh Yeah

Her last name being nakajima now is good. Nanoha is all about adopted family

Oh gods shes adorable

I appreciate that is an actual gym of normal people that is just currently being invaded by anime protagonist girls

MORE NUMBERS I DIDN’T EXPECT THIS Im really happy about this

Shes so happy about getting to teach children how to punch

All the ordinary people are visibly confused about this small child fighting a grown woman Though I suppose by some ways of looking at it, nove is like 7ish years old herself Though by those standards vivio is 4 which probably makes it worse

Domestic nanofate is just good

And fate still looks at nanoha like that after fifteen years

Pure

This setting is very chill about giving children lethal weapons

Theyre! So! Cute!

It probably would have been to much to ask for this franchise to get less nude and boob about its transformation sequences. blech. That said, this is pretty good aesthetically speaking. Lots of rainbows and stars and she punch

Oh gods they never told fate

Im picturing fate frantically worrying that she missed a few years somehow

To quote vivio, “WHAT DO YOU MEAN ‘KINDA’!?”

~mood whiplash~

ginga! Serial assault case on hand-to-hand combat fighters who get challenged to duels is really hilarious for some reason Like, is it still assault if they agree to these fights? They presumably could decline

Larping your ancestor *something something homestuck something something*

oh she definitely thinks that mask makes her look cool and intimidating

dont make Fate cry!

though their “whoops” faces are great

Fair point! Though in fates case that’s actually a really bad example because she very much did not have a choice about that And nanoha also ended up hospitalized. So maybe not the best argument to make

nanoha is just mildly embarassed. “why yes we did have potentially lethal fights back then, didn’t we? how time flies”

these guys!

Your daughters a nerd

Ok now I have a lot of questions about midchildan religion given the reference to heaven. Because the only church weve heard about is the sanktkaiser one, and that would be… awkward for obvious reasons Reasons being that vivio is the clone of their jesus-figure

This is fucking adorable And especially given that vivio is adopted. this show is just good about family

I like to imagine that these apparently umprompted emails from vivio show up about once a week and everyone else just rolls with it

EVEN MORE NUMBERS And otto is as butch as ever, excellent

Fuck, this is where never having listened to the soundstage is going to be a problem Oh she was probably the other ruler in the opening montage

I appreciate cinque’s fashion sense

This must be a weird family dynamic, where your sister’s student is also clone-jesus and you’re a nun who gets to wear a suit

Awww Also definitely the correct way to honor your god-king who is also ten

can we see it? please?

knowing this is actually a very shy ten year old makes this all hilarious

we get it, you larp

#nanoha vivid liveblog #magical girl lyrical nanoha vivid #nanoha vivid #magical girl lyrical nanoha #mahou shoujo lyrical nanoha #vivid #long post #i am so sorry to anyone on mobile

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90secondnewbery · 5 years

Video

youtube

The Inquisitor’s Tale: Or, The Three Magical Children and Their Holy Dog by Adam Gidwitz

2017 Newbery Honor Book

Adapted by Noemi Bischoff, Grant Lewis, Sage Thankachen, and Athan Eklund (2018)

From Orange County, CA

Judges' Remarks: What a knockout! This was a witty, crisp, and accurate sprint through the book. Not a moment was wasted, and yet the movie didn’t feel rushed either — with lots of goofy details and well-crafted jokes that made this a pleasure to watch. It got off to a rousing start with the characters posing in the same tableau as the cover of the book (I like the additional detail of Jacob clutching a flower in his teeth) which plunged right into an old-fashioned newsreel tthat efficiently set up the conflict and stakes of the story. Good use of stock photography, green screen, extra sound effects, and costumes throughout to made the movie more vivid and believable. The story in the book is complex, but the voiceover narrator manages to guide us through it with a clear, pithy explanation, amusingly supplemented by pictures popping up as they’re mentioned — for instance, the events of Gwenforte the dog showing up, dying, and coming back to life again all zoomed through in a matter of seconds, or Jeanne’s and William’s and Jacob’s respective exiles from their communities all vividly indicated with the pointing fingers (good visual storytelling!). I like the repeated use of the Charlie Brown Christmas music to indicate sad parts of the story, and especially how the movie accelerates as it goes on, mentioning the events of the book faster and faster as the appropriate images flash by — a rhythm that is amusingly slowed down here and there with mentions of the donkey left behind at the inn, or the the revelation that Michaelangelo was an angel (complete with wings and halo!). I particularly liked how the whole thing wrapped up with an a capella song over the credits. Charismatic actors, tight script, polished production — this one is a winner. Fantastic work! (By the way, everyone involved in the making of this movie has their own channel you should check out. You can find more of their work at Sage Sam and Laugh Zilla and MineLabs Athan and Mushroom Kid.)

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recentanimenews · 3 years

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Tearmoon Empire, Vol. 6

By Nozomu Mochitsuki and Gilse. Released in Japan as “Tearmoon Teikoku Monogatari” by TO Books. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by David Teng.

It can be hard to let go of a gimmick, especially when the gimmick in question is the main reason you got readers in the first place. One reason everyone loved Tearmoon Empire 1 was not only the dissonance between Mia’s own thoughts and actions and what everyone ELSE thought of these, but also the snarky narrator constantly pummeling her. I’d theorized before that the narrator was hired by future Mia to try to slow the publishing of hagiographies about her. That being said… Mia has grown and matured a little bit, and I feel now that the goofy “she only thinks about herself and food” shtick is holding her back. And the narrator, especially when he’s making fat jokes, is starting to grate. Most importantly, though, I’m starting to feel like all the other cast members Mia has misled: if you ignore Mia’s intentions and the narrator, this remains a fantastic read, filled with intrigue, action, character building, and plot twists. Mia being a dumbass and the narrator pointing it out all the time isn’t needed anymore.

Mia is in the background for this cover picture, which is a good thing, as it shows us that Bel is, finally, going to get some actual attention. Much of the book is about Mia trying to avoid her own assassination in various ways, though honestly she mostly just avoids thinking about it, as she doesn’t want to get anyone else in danger. So we get things like a massive mushroom hunting party in the nearby forest (where she accidentally discovers deadly poison mushrooms that were what killed off a large number of people in the prior timeline) and preparing for the Holy Eve Festival, which we do not get to see because, of course, Bel is kidnapped in order to force Mia to leave the island and then kill her. There’s only one thing Mia can do… exactly what they say, hoping that if she managed to rewind time once she’ll be able to do it once she’s killed again.

Not to spoil or anything, but Mia is not killed off again, this is not that kind of time loop book. And I’ve complained about the parts of the book I didn’t like above, so let me talk about what I did like. Sometimes Mia’s thought processes are wonderful, such as when she discovers Bel is kidnapped and tries to think of the many very good reasons that going after her is a mistake… all the while getting dressed up and preparing to leave, because unconsciously she knows she’ll never abandon her granddaughter. Bel is basically a shoujo protagonist here, winning over the villains by the power of being sweet and kind, and it’s adorable. The villain is obvious and hammy, but hey. There’s also some good worldbuilding here, showing us the underside of the Yellowmoons and also a few flashbacks to the previous world, where everything went terribly. And the chase and fight scenes were wonderful, and also introduce a new minor villain who I hope we’ll see again, along with his huge puppies… OK, wolves.

So yeah, I don’t expect Tearmoon Empire to drop Mia being thought of as smart when she’s really thinking about cookies, or the narrator pointing out how her altruism is bullshit, but I’d like more of the growth we saw in Book 4-5. Also, I have no idea why the narrator is insulting her “mushroom outfit”. She looks stylish! That’s clearly a raffish cap!

By: Sean Gaffney

#Anime #News #Manga Bookshelf

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passionate-reply · 3 years

Video

youtube

Do you “fucking love” science? Have you ever been blinded by it? Well, it doesn’t really matter, because that goofy little number isn’t really supposed to be on Thomas Dolby’s debut album in the first place. Find out about all the awesome OTHER stuff that’s actually meant to be here, in this new installment of Great Albums! Transcript below the break.

Welcome to Passionate Reply, and welcome to Great Albums! Today, I’ll be talking about a stellar album by one of those artists who have gone down in history as “one hit wonders,” despite producing a deep catalogue that’s often more impressive than that one song they end up known for: it’s The Golden Age of Wireless, the debut LP of Thomas Dolby. Chances are pretty good you’ve heard his big hit, “She Blinded Me With Science,” before...at least, if you’re American.

Music: “She Blinded Me With Science”

Like I said, if you’re American, you’ve heard this one before. If anything, it’s oversaturated! But if you’re from elsewhere in the world, you might not know it. Growing up in the US, I went through the whole gauntlet of alleged “one hit wonders” of 80s synth-pop, and a great many of them turned out to be British artists who had perfectly respectable careers in their native UK: Gary Numan, Soft Cell, and OMD, for example. Thomas Dolby is also British, but he’s apparently more famous here than he is across the pond--which is still not that famous.

He really ought to be, though, because The Golden Age of Wireless is a true masterpiece. Or, at least it WAS, in its original form. It’s actually a tough album to talk about, insofar as it’s hard to pin down what exactly constitutes “The Golden Age of Wireless.” It’s had quite a few different pressings, and a variety of different track listings. And the original version of it does NOT include “She Blinded Me With Science.” While I’d never argue that it’s a bad song, since it is insanely fun, and catchy to the point of being irresistible, it really does not belong on this album. I’m sure it helped them move copies of it, but its inclusion kind of ruins the vibe, to be honest. Its in-your-face and flamboyant hooks make it feel like a very unwarranted intrusion on an otherwise fairly serious and contemplative LP, which seems to have been intended as a fairly tight and thoughtful concept album.

Aside from that glaring issue, there are a few other tracks that have appeared on later versions of the album that weren’t there from the start, namely, the two tracks from Dolby’s first ever-release, a double A-side of “Urges” and “Leipzig,” as well as “One of Our Submarines,” the B-side of some versions of “She Blinded Me With Science.” All of these tracks are excellent, and mesh with the thematic and sonic character of the album quite well. “One of Our Submarines” in particular is often considered one of the best tracks of Dolby’s career--melancholy, claustrophobic, and stinging in its poignant sense of tragedy. It captures the misery and futility of modern war, as well as the sunset of the British Empire after the Second World War...and there’s a sample of a dolphin, too. It’s easily the track that I most wish had been included from the very start.

Music: “One of Our Submarines”

But now that that’s over with, I’d like to drill down and talk about how the album operates in its original form, as the artist intended. Like I said earlier, The Golden Age of Wireless is best understood as a concept album, and I think of it in a similar league as classics like the Buggles’ The Age of Plastic, OMD’s Dazzle Ships, or even Kate Bush’s Hounds of Love. The original track listing opens with “Flying North,” a stellar introduction to one of the most prominent themes of the album: freedom!

Music: “Flying North”

“Flying North” is an exultant anthem of self-determination, and one clearly mediated by “metal birds”--aeroplanes, that is. It’s a celebration of the independence allowed by technology, and a rather winsome one, in which this almost macho image of a heroic pilot takes center stage. The final track of the album, “Cloudburst At Shingle Street,” is a bit more esoteric, but seems to be aiming for a pretty similar idea overall, and I’d argue that the two of them form thematic “bookends.”

Music: “Cloudburst At Shingle Street”

“Cloudburst At Shingle Street” leads us through the technological evolution of mankind, from swinging from trees to paving concrete beaches--but the spacey synth warbles beneath those lines give them an ominous bent. The assertion that we might be heading into a cloudburst “mindless,” “naked,” or “blindly” is unnervingly cynical, but, we’re told, “there’s no escaping it.” Despite all of these signs that our better judgment should be resisting the temptation of this miraculous cloudburst...this triumphant, rising coda, with its powerful choir encouraging us onwards, seems to muddle the whole thing. The untethered, free-roaming nature of modern life isn’t always this sexy and exuberant, though--consider the track “Weightless,” as a counterpoint.

Music: “Weightless”

“Weightless” certainly seems to be about modern transients of some sort--in this case, traveling by car--but never lionizes them or makes them too terribly enviable. Instead, the focus is on the image of the draining fuel tank: the constant emptiness and craving for meaning, validation, and genuine love. No matter the allure of this very American, Route 66-like setting, the gas stations, cinemas, and decadent diner meals along the way are never any real substitute for an emotionally authentic life. That setting is, of course, a wistfully backward-looking Midcentury one. Nostalgia and childhood naivete are also among the album’s major themes, and are expressed the most clearly on “Europa and the Pirate Twins.”

Music: “Europa and the Pirate Twins”

Narratively, “Europa and the Pirate Twins” is a bittersweet story of childhood playmates who never quite re-unite, despite promising to be together again someday. The really interesting wrinkle is the fact that the narrator’s beloved Europa has become a famous celebrity as an adult, and the narrator is essentially a fan of her despite their real-world relationship. It’s an uncanny, confused parasocial relationship dynamic that feels extremely contemporary, despite the fact that it’s ultimately more of a commentary on the rise of teenager-oriented marketing during the Midcentury than anything else. The strange, often unhealthy relationships between young people and mass media, particularly radio, are another one of the major sources of tension on The Golden Age of Wireless. “Europa and the Pirate Twins” is also one of the more interesting tracks, instrumentally, featuring a prominent harmonica part, performed by Andy Partridge of XTC. Given how much the album strives to be about the future and past simultaneously, steeped in nostalgia and utopian visions alike, it makes sense to hear Dolby blend elements of traditional folk or popular music with forward-thinking synth-pop sensibilities. Listen also for a flute on “Windpower,” and a substantial amount of guitar on “Commercial Breakup,” a song that proves Dolby certainly can rock, if he feels like it.

Music: “Commercial Breakup”

The cover art for The Golden Age of Wireless isn’t exactly the most iconic, but I’ve always thought it was very beautiful. You’ve got this very eye-catching, lurid, pulp magazine style illustration of Dolby as a diligent, yet glamourous engineer, radiating with the complementary colour palette of orange and blue, the perfect picture of retro cool. But it’s framed and inset, to give us a conscious sense of observing something that’s coming to us from another time, an artifact preserved. That patina and sense of the antique is amplified by this dull-coloured background, which actually shows a marble sculpture gallery in a museum, though that’s tough to make out unless you have it right in front of you. The numerous shades of irony operating here are another thing that make the album feel strikingly contemporary.

I’m also a huge fan of the album’s title. “Wireless,” if you weren’t aware, is an old-fashioned term for radio. Radio itself is a strong theme on the album, most obviously on the track “Radio Silence,” but the use of the term “wireless” isn’t just another piece of retro nostalgia--I think it’s also evocative of that sense of free-flying, untethered independence I talked about earlier. The first half, i.e., “golden age,” is perhaps even more important. “Golden age” is an extremely loaded term that brings a number of rich associations to the table. “Golden ages” are simultaneously longed for, but not fully believed in. They’re bygone eras that usually felt like nothing special to the people who actually lived through them, despite their greatness being palpable to anyone reflecting on them in hindsight. In every golden age, there’s a poetic tragedy.

I think that even if someone did buy this record just to get their hands on “She Blinded Me With Science,” they’d probably be at least a little bit disappointed in what they got. The album does have some decent pop singles, chiefly “Radio Silence” and “Europa and the Pirate Twins,” but they’re still humming with nostalgia and unease, and not without some substantial experimental DNA.

Music: “Radio Silence”

While they cut the single weirdest track on the album, “The Wreck of the Fairchild,” they still retained some fairly ambitious tracks, such as “Windpower”--clearly an ode to Kraftwerk’s “Radioactivity.” It’s hard to be angry with an electronic musician for trying to rip off Kraftwerk, since they all do it one way or another, and in this case it invites a natural comparison between two great concept albums focused on the theme of radio.

Music: “Windpower”

Overall, though, The Golden Age of Wireless is still a reasonably accessible album on the whole. Possibly not what you expected, and certainly, a work that’s more sentimental and affecting than good for the dance floor, but as far as poignant, ballady, diesel-punk odes to the tragic techno-optimism of the Midcentury go, I’d say it’s not all that hard to get into! Dolby does have a pop core, as an artist, that he’s quite capable of selling to us if he chooses to. For proof of that point, look no further than the single “Hyperactive!” which he followed this up with a few years later:

Music: “Hyperactive!”

When discussing an ostensible one-hit wonder, there’s a distinct temptation to resort to “they deserved better” style rhetoric. On one hand, yes, I do think more people should hear Thomas Dolby’s music, and that it has a lot to say to us. I’m all about obscure music finding new life and being appreciated. That said, in the case of Dolby, I think he basically got what he wanted, in the end. He’s always been more keenly interested in music’s many behind-the-scenes roles than he has in chasing pop stardom himself--he’s produced music, and scored a number of films and video games over the decades. It feels kind of wrong to tell someone who’s successful at one thing that they “deserve” to be successful at something different, just because we may want to hear him do it, or because we esteem one skillset more highly than the other. Ultimately, The Golden Age of Wireless is a Great Album on its own terms, whether Dolby ever decides to grace us with another synth-pop release under his own name again--which he did in 2011, with A Map of the Floating City. But it’s his decision, as an artist, and the fact that he can choose to or not is a luxury that allows him integrity. I think that’s the way it ought to be.

My overall top track on this album has got to be “Airwaves,” a song in which the narrator dies, tragically and suddenly, in an automobile accident. It’s not the sexy, “Warm Leatherette” sort of car accident, but rather a dismally realistic one, that shows quite frankly how undignified death can be. Sometimes, we aren’t so much doomed heroes as we are frightened, sickly children, defeated by our own fickle bodies. The last thought our narrator gets is “I itch all over, let me sleep”; their honour perishes just moments before they do. Meanwhile, the radio is a constant presence throughout, and serves as both something to anchor the scene in the droll and quotidian, as well as ultimately becoming something transcendent. The promise of “airwaves” is not only the human interconnectedness made possible by technology, but also a hint at the ultimate destiny of human souls, a kind of ethereal afterlife in the sky. The meandering lulls of the verses contrast sharply with the song’s eerily soaring refrain, which enhances that feeling that those “airwaves” occupy some sort of higher plane. On that surprisingly heavy note, that’s all I’ve got for today, so thanks for listening!

Music: “Airwaves”

#music #album review #album reviews #thomas dolby #one hit wonder #one hit wonders

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