#I didn’t even see the 1990s movies but I couldn’t find any clips for that donnie so I just put him as the baseline neutral

[thejadecount]

BEHOLD

After a few hours of extensive research (and when I mean extensive I mean watching clips on YouTube and reading their wiki pages) I GIVE YOU

THE DEFINITIVE DONNIE CHART

(My reasoning is in the tags)

[schrijverr]

The Mystery of Castiel

Dean sets out to prove that his husband, Castiel, is an acual angel walking amongst man. He tries to convince his friends with his documentary. much to the confusion and amusement of fans.

Part of the Famous Husband verse, which is also a series)

On AO3.

Ships: Destiel

Warnings: None, but I’ll be happy to tag something for you, no questions asked! :)

~~~~~~~~~~

The video opened with a grainy and moving shot of a dark hallway with lights spilling out of a doorway at the end. From behind the camera Dean whispered: “I think there’s something in my house. It feels ancient, powerful. So, I’m checking it out.”

He was close to the doorway and he took a deep breath before rounding the last corner, finally showing the kitchen.

Standing at the kitchen counter was Cas, he was in his pajamas and looked like a dear in headlights when he heard Dean enter. In his hands he held a cereal box from which he was eating dry cereal. The digital clock beside him displayed the time, 03:07. His voice was gruff from sleep as he hurriedly said: “It’s not what it looks like.”

Dean screamed, then his intro rolled. It was a drawn impala that came down the road, it stopped in the middle of the screen and the drawn Dean gave a wink to the viewers, then he sped off again and the smoke was bridge back to the video.

The backdrop was out of focus, but you could make out a bunch of red string and vague pictures. Dean was sitting in front of it, his hair was disheveled and he had dark bruises under his eyes. Of course, the viewers didn’t have to know that was thanks to Jessica's make up skills. He rubbed his forehead and said: “I can’t do this anymore.”

He sighed deeply and went on: “I love my husband, I do. He is my everything, but the elephant in the room hasn’t been discussed seriously and it’s eating me up. I don’t know how to start talking about it without him turning it into a joke. Which is why I am making this video, I want your opinions and tips on how to handle this or just for you tell me if I’m acting crazy. Because I really need someone to tell me what to do.”

He was now looking straight into the camera as he said: “I think Cas is either an angel or some sort of cryptid. He’s just not human that’s all I know, okay. He has to be immortal, not of this world. I mentioned this before, but no one takes me seriously.”

The video changed and a time line came into view, while Dean did a voice over: “I met Cas in September of 2010. According to him he is born in 1990, so he should be 30, if all of this is correct and he has aged just like a human would.”

A dot appeared on the line and 2013 came above it. Dean said: “I started my YouTube channel in 2013, Cas claims to have been 23 at this time and I have footage of him in one of my videos.”

A clip played of Dean telling the camera he was going to try and drink three liters of soda in one go with no break in between. In the background a man walked past.

“I now see that that might not have been the best clip, so here is a picture as well.” Deans voice was heard as a photo of a young Dean and Cas appeared. They were sitting next to each other on the beach. Dean had a beer in his hand and cheered to the camera while Cas did a peace sign in the background, bee sunglasses firmly on his face.

“To compare this to now, here is a picture Sam took of us last week.” Dean said and another photo appeared beside it. This one was taken on the couch the viewers knew so well from live streams. Dean and Cas were sitting next to each other in this picture as well, they had a blanket thrown over their legs and a bowl of popcorn on their laps. Dean was kissing Cas’s cheek while he flipped of Sam, aka the camera.

“He appears to have aged normally, although he is still dashingly handsome, if I might say so. Not the point. Anyway, since he has aged so normally most people don’t believe me, but I’m going to prove it.”, the photo’s faded and the Dean from earlier reappeared.

“I’ve been awake for days now, trying to find all the evidence I could, just to try and convince someone out there, to hear a voice back saying that I am not going crazy.” Dean said, “I am married to an immortal non-human, an angel in the biblical sense, and I need to tell someone.”

He picked up a manila folder, and opened it. He started: “Okay, so the first thing I have is his family. He grew up extremely Christian, or so he says, but I think he’s hiding behind a facade of biblical households to hide the fact that he is an angel himself and therefor witnessed everything that happened within the Bible.”

Dean chuckled: “He’s not even subtle about it. I mean, seriously. His name is also the name of an angel, Castiel the angel of Thursday. And he has eleven siblings, which makes a total of  twelve children, like twelve as in the amount of apostles Jesus had and they also all have biblical names. His brothers are Gabriel, Micheal, Raphael etcetera. He even has a brother named Lucifer that apparently no one talks to anymore, because he defied their father and is now in prison or something. That’s not a good cover story. That’s the Bible retold, but then bad.”

Cas and Dean had discussed what Dean would say about Castiels family beforehand and they had decided that this was enough. No reason to get into more detail about it. This was supposed to be funny and dumb, not revealing and sad.

“What shoots a hole in this, according to Sam is that we have pictures of him from when he was a child.” Dean said and a picture of a toddler Cas with big blue eyes and a small frown already on his face was shown, before Dean went on: “I think that Sam is wrong. If you’re a powerful entity, you can make fake pictures of a baby-you that has never existed. But I will let you draw your own conclusions about that.”

“Coming back to an earlier point,” Dean went on, “his History knowledge. This is also weird, since he knows everything about History, in particular thing about long long ago. Which as he points out is because he studied History. And that’s fair, but it’s weird.”

He rubbed his face again and groaned in frustration: “Ugh, just let me, let me put this into words better.”

“If you studied History, you know History and that’s just how it is. But what you don’t know is suddenly everything about the ancient times, no matter how much you specialized on it, which I know he hasn’t since he teaches History and you need to know more than just one period in order to do that.” Dean said, “We all on the same page?”

There was a silence, like he was waiting for a response. He acted like he got it: “Good, so why- how can he know everything in excruciating detail about that period? And he knows it like he’s been there and he has an abnormal amount of space in his brain for memories.”

A clip played of Cas, Dean behind the camera. They were on vacation, probably, and standing in a church. Dean said: “Can you repeat what you just said, sunshine?”

Cas looked over, saw the camera and shot it a tired look. He rolled his eyes and pointed at a picture of Jesus: “I said that this Jesus isn’t very realistic, because he isn’t smiling. Well, he has a smile, but it’s like this weird serene one. He was young when he was crucified. You really think a twenty-year-old had any patience or chill? I think not. He had a big happy smile,” then hastily, “probably. I think, at least.”

Disheveled Dean reappeared and said: “Tell me that is not fricking suspicious. And that’s just the one I captured on camera. He’s always commenting stuff like that.” his eyes lit up and he snapped his finger as he said: “Like, like he did in the Q&A video we did!”

The clip played of Castiel talking about the Tower of Babel.

“I mean come on. He talked about it like he knew how it had suddenly turned, because he had been there. I know what you’re thinking, it’s a story that gets told to Catholic children. And you’d be right, it is a biblical story. Yet, Mr. History talked about it like it is something that happened, even though it hasn’t been proven.” Dean explained, “And then he tried to cover it up, by saying how it would be an opportunity to find out. Good cover story, angel, but not happening.”

“And don’t get me started on his lack of pop-culture knowledge.” Dean went on, “I mean, I got him a phone. His first phone ever, for his 21st birthday. No one should get their first phone in 2011.”

A picture of Cas came on screen. He was holding up a phone, but it was all wrong. He held in with his pointer finger and thumb, a thumb that was in the middle of the screen, and he looked at it with confusion written all over his face.

“He also knew nothing about movies.” Dean appeared again, “I had to show him everything. And I mean everything. No Disney, no Star Wars, no Lord of the Rings, no Friends, no Indiana Jones, no horror movies, nothing. Almost like he had been away from earth while all of it was made and only popped down recently, which reconnects to my previous point about the specific History knowledge.”

“Another thing is his social skills.” Dean moved on to his last point, “He had no clue how to interact with people when I first met him and when I asked about it he claimed his ‘people skills were rusty’, like he used to have them, but they had faded over time. Which would be impossible, because at that age you either don’t have them or you do, you cannot have forgotten entirely.”

The screen went black again and a list appeared: “So we now have four strange things about him.”

1. Youth and Family

“His youth is filled with weird biblical details that are so accurate or strange that it couldn’t have been a coincidence.”

2. History Knowledge

“Despite his study, this is still weird and suspicious, but I feel like the evidence I showed speaks for itself.”

3. Lack of Pop-culture Knowledge

“This could also be his sheltered upbringing, but he was already out in the real world for two years when I met him, so why he had never encountered any of it is a mystery. With, in my eyes, an easy explanation.”

4. Lack of Social Skills

“Again this could be his upbringing, sure, but even then. If he isn’t lying about his family that is eleven children and parents along with an entire church to communicate with. You still pick up stuff like personal space.”

Dean appeared again and said: “I’ve laid out this evidence to some of my friends, this were their reactions.”

It cut to Sam sitting on a chair, looking like he’d rather be anywhere else. Sam asked: “Do we really have to do this, Dean?”

“Yes,” Deans voice came from behind the camera, “just hear me out, okay. I get that you didn’t want to listen before, but I have evidence now.”

Sam sighed.

It cut again to Sam shaking his head and saying: “I don’t know, why you’re so invested in this. All of this has a rational explanation, you can see that too.”

“But the family thing is weird, right. It’s so suspiciously correct that has to be fake that just can’t be coincidence.” Dean protested.

“Actually,” Sam replied, “humans have a weird sense of perception about coincidence. So much happens at one moment in the world that something strange or usual is bound to happen, we classify that as coincidence, but it’s just statistics, Math. It’s very interest-”

“Yeah, whatever, nerd.” Dean interrupted, “So, you don’t believe me.”

“No, Dean. I don’t.” Sam told him, “Can I go now?”

“Yeah.” Dean sighed, before it cut to Charlie sitting in the same chair.

Dean asked her: “So do you know why you’re here?”

Charlie nodded: “Yes and I am willing to hear you out.”

“You are?” Dean said, excitement seeping into his voice.

Charlie nodded, then it cut to her reading the final notes in the folder. She bit her lip and said: “I don’t know, Dean. Some off this is pretty suspicious, but I wouldn’t call it evidence of Cas being an angel or other immortal. I mean, the church can be weird.”

“But the History thing is definitely suspicious, right? I’m not being crazy about that?” Dean asked

Charlie answered: “Well, it wouldn’t surprise me, if he had developed a special interest in ancient Christian history while growing up and if he used to be a heavy believer then I suspect he must have thought a lot about how Jesus must have been and stuff.”

Dean huffed, but didn’t respond.

There was a shaky video of Ellen saying: “Dean, I have a bar to run, I don’t have time for your bullshit.”

But then Jo was in the chair and she said: “Dean, I love you and all, but I’m not doing this.”

“Please, just hear me out.” Deans voice was tired and it cracked, Jo relented.

In the end she said: “This is all strange, sure. I might have believed a bit of it, if I hadn’t known Cas. I mean, come on. He’s a dork and a teacher. He loves you, Dean. Don’t ruin that over something stupid.”

A sigh was heard.

After that it was Bobby, who was sitting on the chair. He didn’t look all that pleased. Most knew Bobby from Deans series about Baby where he would sometimes help or appear in the background and stories about Deans childhood.

Dean said: “Bobby, you know me, right?”

“I’d hope so, boy. I practically raised you.” Bobby replied.

“Exactly,” Dean said, “so you know, I’m not one to make random claims about this.”

“I do.” Bobby sighed, clearly not liking where this was going.

“Great.” Dean exclaimed happily, “Because I have collected a bunch of evidence and I want your opinion on it.”

It cut to Bobby rubbing his forehead while he read the last bits of evidence. He looked up and said: “I think you’re grasping at straws, right now. There are more logical solutions than this, but you’re ignoring ‘em, because you want to see this.”

Significantly sadder than before Dean responded: “So you don’t believe me either?”

“No, of course not, you idjit.” Bobby replied, “I walked Cas down the isle, I think I know the damn guy. He’s not some immortal. And don’t go bothering Jody about this either, you hear me.”

Then it cut back to the disheveled Dean, who said: “As you can see they still weren’t ready to listen to me. So I turned to my last resort, Gabriel. Castiels older brother.”

Gabriel was lounging in the chair, smirk playing on his lips and lollipop in hand. He smiled: “Dean-o, it this what it’s come to? Crawling to me?”

Dean sighed from behind the camera and said: “It was either you or Michael, you’re the least worst option.”

“Ahw, you flatter me.” Gabriel said with a wink, then he asked: “So, what is this all about?”

Dean answered: “I’m trying to prove that Cas is an angel, or an other sort immortal, but main theory is angel. I figured you were the best bet to get to the truth.”

The moment the word ‘angel’ left Deans lips, Gabriels face fell although he quickly tried to cover it up. He tried to laugh it off: “You’re being ridiculous. Little Cassie is a nerd, sure, but immortal. Sorry, but that’s hysterical. Besides, how else would you explain me, or the other people at the wedding?”

“I don’t know, other angels? Actors? Lot of possibilities. Maybe it was mind control.” Dean replied.

Gabriel laughed and shook his head, but when he looked up his face was completely serious as he said: “Stop searching, Dean. You won’t find anything, just love your husband in peace and live a long and happy life, okay.”

Dean swallowed thickly and shakily said: “Okay.”

Then it cut back to Dean from before, who said: “As you can see, he wasn’t very helpful. Although he did kind of scare me, the guy nearly threatened me, but he also made Cas more suspicious. He’s hiding something, I can feel it.”

“Anyway, none of my outside resources were helpful, so it’s time to look at our subject himself, Cas.” Dean said and the screen warped to a vlog.

It was filmed in such a way that it was obvious that Dean was trying to be stealthy. It showed Castiel doing the dishes, after a second Dean asked: “Why don’t you use the dishwasher, sunshine?”

Cas looked around and shrugged: “I don’t trust it, Dean. Machinery doesn’t seem to like me and I have not come to an agreement with the dishwasher yet, maybe later.”

Dean laughed: “The dishwasher is not a businessman, Cas. Here I’ll load it in.”

Then it changed to the living room, specifically the couch. It was a solid couch, easily a 1000 pounds. Dean yelled: “Caaaaas!”

From the distance came: “What is it, Dean?”, along with footsteps.

“I dropped my phone and accidentally kicked it under the couch. Can you help me?” Dean answered.

Cas looked at the couch and nodded. First he tried to fit his hand under and swipe the phone out from underneath it, but when that didn’t work, he grabbed the underside of the couch and lifted it as he told Dean to grab his phone, which he did.

Dean smirked at him and said: “Wow, Cas, very sexy. Have you been going to the gym lately?”

He only got an eyeroll in return along with a quick kiss, before Cas disappeared.

What the viewers didn’t get to see was the small carjack that had been carefully edited out, along with Sam, who had operated it.

Then it was Dean running up to Cas, yelling: “Smile, angel!”

Castiel turned to him like a deer in headlights and blinked heavily when the flash nearly blinded him. What was peculiar about this moment was the fact that his eyes seemed to glow an intense light blue, almost as if he was illuminated from the inside, which had been an easy edit, but it looked very cool, if Dean was being honest.

After that Dean said: “I showed these clips, along with a few others that are, admittedly, less convincing to my friends.” followed by a quick compilation of Sam, Charlie, Jo and Bobby shaking their heads and telling him he was an idiot or other variations thereof, “As you can see, they were still unconvinced.” Dean finished.

“They were unconvinced, what I have set out to do isn’t achieved. They aren’t listening and they aren’t seeing the truth. I know what I see, I know what Cas is. And they are just blind for the truth.” Dean told the audience, “So, I’m trusting you to open your eyes and see what is out there. Please, look at this and see the truth.”

Then it went to the endcard. Dean waved and said: “That was it for today. I hope you can support me and tell me that I’m not crazy. If you do, comment about it, like this video, share it to get the word out. Maybe subscribe and ring that bell, so you won’t miss out on any updates about it. Bye Hunters, see you on the-”

He was cut of by the slam of a door. He startled and looked over, but before he could get over the shock the lights overhead exploded and the room went dark. You could hear the heavy and angry voice of Castiel, who bellowed: “Dean Winchester, you have not listened to the warning Gabriel gave you. Your time has come.”

Then the video ended.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Oh my god is he okay?!!!?!?!?!

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Pff anyone who believes this

shit is an idiot

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

I know this is probably fake,

but I’m scared now

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Don’t lie, who’s been a fan of

Dean since day one?

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Okay, but are we gonna talk

about Gabriel???

No?

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

You’re not crazy Dean. I once

saw a ghost. The supernatural

is out there and Castiel can be

who you say he is. We don’t

know what the paranormal has

in store for us. Keep believing,

keep fighting!

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Dudes, if he had time to edit and

upload it then he’s prbbly fine

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Should we call the police??

Is he ok???

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Dean be looking like a raccoon

and still be hella fine

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Cass talking about Jesus is such

a mood, my Christian ass can

relate

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

IS HE DEAD?? DID DEAN JUST DIE!!! HELLO??? ANSWERS PLEASE!!!

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Really? After all the sweet and

loving Cas content we got, we’re

supposed to believe this??

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Get yo self a man whos willing

to make a fake docu bout you

pretending to believe youre an

actual angel

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

~

Dean was grinning as he scrolled through the comments on his latest videos. He was quite proud of it honestly and was very happy with how it had turned out and the reaction of the fans. Cas saw him smiling and asked: “So I take it, it went well.”

Looking up Dean said: “Yeah, you might have to answer some questions tomorrow, if you want those kids to trust you after ‘murdering me’.”

Cas groaned, but couldn’t suppress the smile and fond eyeroll.

Then the phone rang, Dean looked at the screen with surprise, but smiled when he saw who was calling. It was Sam, the picture of him sleeping with a plastic spoon in his mouth lighting up the screen. He picked up: “Heya, Sammy.”

Sam answered: “Dean, come save me.”

“What is it?” Dean asked, serious brother mode instantly activated.

But it was lost with Sams answer: “I know you’re trying to sell the whole ‘I got murdered by my own husband who is an angel’-stick, but you’re fans are worried and mobbing me on Twitter demanding answers.”

Dean laughed and relayed what Sam had said to Cas, who also chuckled. Then Dean turned back and said: “I’ll do something about it.”

“Somehow that’s not very comforting.” Sam said.

“Don’t worry about it, Sammy.”

“That isn’t helping.”

“I said don’t worry about it.”

“Dean? … Dean! … Dean!”

Dean hung up and turned to Cas as he asked: “Would you mind filming me?”

An hour later a video was posted on Deans Twitter and Instagram. It was off Cas walking into the living room, where an unharmed Dean was sat on the couch. Cas said: “Hello, Dean.”

Dean looked his way and smiled: “Hey, angel. What’s up? Why are you filming?”

Cas replied: “Some off your fans were worried about you after your last video, so I’m showing them you’re okay.”

Dean frowned and asked: “Why would they worry about me? It was just a dumb video doing Just Dance, not flattering, but hardly worrisome.”

“Don’t you remember your funny little video about me and some conspiracy?” Castiel asked, way too innocently.

Dean frown deepened and he looked confused and he said: “What are you even talking about?”

“Nothing, it was all just silly. Don’t worry about okay?” Cas answered, still holding onto that innocent voice.

Dean smiled at him and said: “Whatever you say, sunshine.”

Then it was over, needless to say that fans weren’t reassured, neither were the kids at school the next day, when Cas pretended he had no idea what they were talking about and shut them down the moment they tried to show him the video on their phones.

@Deanmustbeprotected posted about it on their Insta and multiple conspiracies were posted on every platform.

Dean and Cas along with everyone they’d gotten involved watched from the sidelines with amusement. Mission accomplished!

[duhragonball]

Dragon Ball Z Super Broly 4: The Quest for Peace

I don’t know what image to use to start this off, so I’m gonna go with this shot of Bulma, because it’s pretty non-spoilery, and I thought she looked cute hiding back there in her li’l snowsuit.  

I’m not sure how to organize my thoughts on this, so let’s start with just a general overview of the movie.   It was really good, and I think this movie proves that Akira Toriyama still has a tremendous talent for storytelling.   I think he’s taken a lot of lumps from critics over the years, but personally I prefer to lay the blame on the other creators who work with him or for him on these types of projects.  The filler scenes I’ve been covering on my Dragon Ball Liveblog sort of bear this out.   The stuff adapted from the manga has very clear characterization and plot continuity.   Point A always leads to Point B and the loose ends tend to get tied up later on.    But whenever the other guys at Toei get involved, things get a little wonky, and the details don’t always add up.    The worst parts of the Dragon Ball Super anime have a similar feel to the dopiest filler scenes from Dragon Ball and DBZ, so I don’t think I’m lionizing Toriyama too much in this.   He’s not perfect, but he knows how to make these characters work. 

The best evidence of this is how he took a glorified monster heel like Broly and made him into a sympathetic character.   The Movie 8 version of Broly had a very similar origin story to this newer, greener Broly.   For the sake of discussion, I’m going to be calling them Broly ‘18 and Broly ‘93, all right?  

Broly ‘93 was born with a really amazing power level, and King Vegeta had him killed because he might become a potential danger some day.  Paragus tried to intervene, and ended up sharing his son’s fate, but they ended up saving each other’s lives and Paragus raised him in exile, dreaming of the day they could take revenge against King Vegeta. 

Broly ‘18... pretty much everything I just said, only King Vegeta shot him into space instead of trying to stab him.   That makes a huge difference, because it allows Paragus to run off and find him instead of getting condemned to death for defying King Vegeta in person.   One of the plot holes in Movie 8 was that Baby Broly ‘93 managed to survive getting stabbed and Paragus ‘93 managed to survive taking an energy blast from King Vegeta, and then they both survived the planet exploding.  

Watching this movie, I could really tell that Toriyama went over the 1993 film with a critical eye.    Not too many people watched Movie 8 and felt much sympathy for Broly, even though he kind of deserves some.  Broly ‘93′s dad controlled him with a creepy device, and tried to use him as a weapon of revenge against people he’d never met.  The trouble is that Broly ‘93 never got the spotlight to demonstrae why he might deserve some pity.   He just stood around and then he went bonkers and destroyed those aliens’ home planet.   Toriyama watched this and realized it’d be a more compelling story if the audience felt sorry for the big guy.  

And so you have scenes of Kid Broly trying to survive on his own.    You have new characters introduced who befriend Broly ‘18 and confront Paragus for how he treats him.   And when it’s time for Broly ‘18 to fight, he’s actually at a disadvantage.   Vegeta really works him over good for a long time before Broly starts building up enough power to defend himself.  It was rather shocking to me to see this character being treated as a weaker fighter, even temporarily.   This was probably something Movie 8 lacked.   Broly ‘93 looked pretty pathetic in his base form, but no one ever picked on him or anything.   Later, when Gogeta is finally turning the tide against Broly ‘18, it becomes clear that Broly ‘18 is definitely losing, and he’s going to be killed, and it’s not right, because he never asked for any of this.  

There’s a definite Android 8 quality to Broly ‘18.    It’s not quite the same.  Broly ‘18 isn’t a pacifist and he’s not afraid to fight, but he’s in that same boat where he’s a character introduced as this enormous threat, and then it turns out he’s pretty gentle at heart, and he’s only on the front lines because he’s been coerced into it.   I think Toriyama looked at the 1993 version and said “Okay, he’s way stronger than Goku and Vegeta.   That’s his gimmick, so he has to keep that aspect.   But there has to be some trade-off for that.   He has to have a great weakness to balance out his immense strength.” 

That’s pretty much true for all of the Dragon Ball characters.   Master Roshi is introduced as an invincible fighter, but he’s consumed with lust and other carnal desires.   Goku’s the great hero who always rises to the occasion, but he’s really naive and careless about a lot of things.   Bulma’s a technological genius, but physically weak and also very self-centered.   Vegeta is powerful, but often blinded by his ego.    Most of the movie villains lack that balance.   Broly ‘93 is a great example of a movie villain who’s just sort of unstoppable until the end of the movie, when Goku finally punches a hole in him and he explodes.  Broly ‘93, Bojack, Super Android 13, none of these big galoots are brought down by a fatal flaw.   They’re just really strong until it’s time for them to not be really strong any more, and then they get wrecked.

Improving this single aspect of the Broly concept opens up a world of possibilities.    For one thing, it makes all the fights in this new movie distinct.   I saw clips of Broly fighting different guys in this movie, which made me wonder how this was supposed to work.    Well, it’s actually pretty simple.   Broly steps off the spaceship, fights Vegeta, and then he starts losing.    Then he begins to learn how to keep up with Vegeta, and things get dicey.   Before it gets too tough for Vegeta, Goku decides to cut in and he fights evenly with Broly for a while, until he finds that he can’t keep up with him even at Super Saiyan Blue.    Then Goku and Vegeta tag team him for a little bit and pawn him off on Frieza.    By this point Broly’s gone so bonkers that he can’t distinguish one opponent from another, so Freiza becomes the object of his wrath while Goku and Geets take a breather to learn how to fuse.   Frieza can’t win, but he doesn’t need to, he just has to not die until Gogeta can return to close this thing out.    Then Gogeta fights Broly.  At this point Broly seems almost powerful enough to keep up, but Gogeta eventually wears him down, and Broly on the verge of defeat.  

It’s a beautiful thing.   You couldn’t do that with a 1990′s movie villain, because most of them were big dumb brutes without enough personality to function this way.    Broly ‘18 isn’t just an underdog who becomes and overdog and then becomes an underdog again.   What makes this formula work is that Cheelai and Leemo feel sorry for him on the sidelines.   On top of that I think Paragus truly does care about Broly ‘18, even though he’s a pretty lousy parent.   In the end, Paragus finally recognizes that King Vegeta had been right to exile Broly ‘18 all along.    He’s simply too dangerous for a combat situation.

I also really like how Goku tries to befriend him at the end of the movie.   It shows that Gogeta was only using lethal force as a last resort.    Once the battle is over and Broly’s no longer a threat, Goku wants to make things right and reassure Broly that they can be Saiyans and not have to kill each other or isolate themselves from the rest of the universe.   They could spar for funsies, like Goku and Vegeta did at the start of the movie.  

In particular, I’m very fond of the line at the end where Goku tells Cheelai his name, but adds “But Broly... Call me Kakarot.”   I love that because it’s like Goku is embracing this Saiyan custom of addressing each other by their Saiyan names.   He doesn’t call himself Kakarot, but all the other Saiyans do, and he wants Broly to feel like he can as well.    He can relate to Broly as a fellow outsider who had to grow up on another world.   He’s trying to give Broly a piece of the Saiyan culture, even if it’s a very small one.   It’s a big change from back when he angrily demanded that people not call him that because he was Son Goku.   After all these years, Goku’s comfortable being a Saiyan.   He doesn’t have to choose between being Goku or Kakarot.  He can be both.   He wants Broly to know he doesn’t have to choose either. 

It’s definitely a great Dragon Ball film.   The animation is well done, the writing is solid and on point.   There’s never really a place where things get dull for any appreciable length of time.   Even the space travel scenes are interesting, despite being rather low key. 

Is it better than Movie 8?   Well yeah, but I’m reluctant to say so, because I sort of have a soft spot for Movie 8, and I hate to just turn on it completely.    This new movie is superior in every objective way, though.   The characters are more developed, the action is more balanced, and the visuals are more compelling.   It’s forty minutes longer than Movie 8, and it shows.   There’s a lot of plot points that get breezed over in Movie 8, probably because there simply wasn’t room to explain how Piccolo got to the South Galaxy so quickly, or whatever else didn’t get explained.  The DBS movie actually used the Dragon Balls in the plot, which is usually a plus as Dragon Ball films go.   Call me stupid, though, but Movie 8 had Future Trunks and King Kai in it, and that makes a bigger difference than it really ought to.  

Is DBS: Broly a better movie than Fusion Reborn?   Hell no.  Fusion Reborn is friggin’ fantastic from start to finish.   Better plot, better music, cooler villain, beter visuals.   Yeah Gogeta got more time to shine in “Broly” but I’ll take a few seconds of Gogeta one-shotting the bad guy over ten minutes of Gogeta showing off.   Sometimes less is more, you know?   Fusion Reborn is untoppable, the end. 

Is it better than the Bardock TV Special?   Definitely, because the Bardock TV Special has some problems.   Is it a better Bardock/Destruction of Planet Vegeta story?  I’d have to give that some thought.   I don’t hate Dragon Ball Minus, but I don’t necessarily love the Father of Goku TV special either.   DBS: Broly pretty much adapted the entire Dragon Ball Minus story and just added in scenes of Paragus and King Vegeta.   Honestly, I’m not sure any of these really gets it right.   Each of them seems to treat Frieza’s betrayal and Goku’s trip to Earth as boxes on a checklist.   I’m not sure I can explain what I mean.    Best to save that for later.  

I’ve got other thoughts on this movie, but I think I’ll call it here for now.    If you want me to go on about a particular topic, shoot me an ask and I’ll talk about it.  But definitely, you should check this movie out.    It’s a really fun experience.

[miloswanders]

When I was a kid -- say, between the ages of 4 and 10 -- my mother would spend her Saturday afternoons ironing in the living room. Since she has always found this particular task to be extraordinarily tedious, she would pick a movie out of her rather large collection of VHS cassettes and keep it as background entertainment while she went about her chores. 

After a while, out of sheer curiosity, I would splay out on the sofa and watch whatever movie she had selected for the day, regardless of the rating. Since I was the one who, at 7 years old, had forced my mother to sit through Critters (carnivorous aliens terrorizing a rural American town... don’t even ask), she wasn’t too concerned about my young mind suffering any irreparable trauma at this point. 

Which brings me to the following: I’ve been feeling nostalgic, as of late, and have to find new ways to procrastinate doing all the things that I should be doing right now; thus, I’ve decided to present you with a List of Films That Were Meaningful During My Childhood, in no particular order.

Enjoy!

The Fly (1986). Of course, the first one has to be a horror film, and a great classic at that! The ambitious scientist, the tragic love story, the terrifying metamorphosis... I’m pretty sure I couldn’t shut up about it for the next week or so. 

Beetlejuice (1988). Another classic, which I am proud to say I personally selected from my mother’s collection. It’s been years since I last watched it, so I only remember bits and pieces of it, but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t even remotely appropriate for a six-year-old. But! there were ghosts involved, and at the time that was the magic word to spark my interest.

In & Out (1997). This one was my introduction to LGBT media and themes. Being mostly satirical in its intent, it has to be taken with a grain of salt; but I’d laugh my head off every time we watched it, as my mother explained all the stereotypes they were making fun of. After the first viewing, I distinctly remember asking: “What does “lesbian” mean?”, and her answering: “Same as “gay”, but for women”. I thought it was a really cool word. 

Mrs. Doubtfire (1993). This one... this one is special. I already knew Robin Williams from Jumanji, but, of all the roles he has played, this is the one that really stole my heart. My family was sort of falling apart when I first watched it, so it did a lot more than strike a chord -- it made me consider that maybe, just maybe, even if things were going to change drastically in my life, everything would work out all the same. A divorce didn’t have to be such a terrible ordeal, because there were a lot of different ways to remain committed to one another, and “family��� didn’t mean the same thing to everyone. So, yeah... Thanks, Robin <3

American Beauty (1999). Picture this: it’s almost midnight, I’m bored out of my mind and should be going to sleep, but I’ve decided to stay up and see what’s on TV at this hour. I come across the first sequence of this film: girl speaking into the camera, creepy conversation with unseen interlocutor, then cut to the voiceover and the aerial view of the gloomy suburbs. My mother found me glued to the screen just as the “rose petals” scene was playing. She asked what I was watching, and I was like: “Uhm... American Beauty, I think it’s called”; she stared at the TV, verified her suspicion and went: “It’s late. I have the VHS, you can watch it tomorrow”. And I did. If anyone ever wonders how I got into the suburban-gothic genre, blame Kevin Spacey. 

The Color Purple (1985). The film that introduced me to Whoopi Goldberg. I had never heard of her before, and I remember repeating her name over and over to make sure I was saying it correctly. I doubt I’d even bothered to ask, let alone memorize the name of any actor before, but with her it was love at first sight. A few months later, I found a radio programme where the host would read “literary classics”, one or two chapters per episode; sure enough, Alice Walker’s novel was on their list. I listened to the whole thing. And, as I did, I guess I thought a lot about the word “lesbian”.

The Miracle Worker (1962). The autobiography of Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan. To this day, I cry at the end. Anne Bancroft was amazing. Also, possibly the first black-and-white movie I ever watched all the way through... and wanted to rewatch.  

The Elephant Man (1980). David Lynch’s debut film; it completely changed how I thought of “monsters”. It was a milestone in my growth as both human being and horror fan, precisely because there was nothing “scary” about Joseph Merrick, at all. It filled me with a sadness the depth of which I still find difficult to convey. Also... Anne Bancroft. Again. 

Divorzio all’italiana (1961). A film about infidelity, social hypocrisy and honor killings in Southern Italy. Not exactly kids material, but it’s not like anyone gave a damn. It’s the main reason why I laugh so hard and hysterically when people claim that misogyny concerns almost exclusively non-Western cultures. And by “laugh” I mean “scream into the void”. 

The House of the Spirits (1993). Saw the movie before I read the book. Five minutes in and I was enraptured. It may or may not have been the source of my fascination with magical realism and historical novels in general. I was missing out on a great deal of context, in order to fully understand the more “political” parts of the story, but over the years I did learn a thing or two thanks to Clara, Blanca and Alba. And yes, Clara was played by Meryl Streep, but I did not care to learn the actress’ name back then.

Stephen King’s IT (1990). Since I’ve started the list with the horror genre, why not have another one? The TV film that exacerbated my fear of clowns to near-pathological levels. It (both the film and the character) scared me so much that I could never bring myself to re-watch it. Instead, by the time I reached the 9th grade I’d gathered the courage to read the novel. “IT” and “Stand by Me” were my gateway into Stephen King’s fictional universe, although the former was branded so deeply into my subconscious that the mere mention of that damned clown used to give me chills. Surprisingly, I have recently convinced myself to watch short clips from the film, only to discover that I now like Pennywise as a character. I mean, that’s still Tim Curry beneath the makeup! 

The Exorcist (1973). Another classic. 9-year-old me was obsessed! I honestly don’t know how many times I re-watched it, but I can assure you they amounted to A LOT. I also tried to convince a dear friend of mine to watch it with me, once, but she freaked out halfway through, leaving me rather disappointed. 

So, there you have them: the highlights of my youth. 

And yes, before you ask, I did also watch cartoons like a normal kid. 

[scary-movies-on-netflix]

Okay, after that little rest stop in TV-land, let’s continue on our journey backwards through time.  It’s 1990 or 1991.  I’m at home with my dad and we watch “Communion” (1989) on HBO (or some other cable channel).  My parents tell me I had nightmares that evening.  The memory of a certain scene has always given me the heebie-jeebies.

This movie is based on a book of the same name by Whitley Strieber.  He states it’s based on true events-namely, his abduction by non-human “visitors” in 1986.  The book, with its iconic cover, reached best-seller status and raised the alien abduction phenomenon to its highest level of cultural awareness.  Unfortunately, I couldn’t find the film on any streaming service, but if you look around you can find the entire movie on a video site.

Whitley (played by Christopher Walken) and his family go up to their cabin the in woods.  He wakes up from his slumber, looks around, and goes to sit by his bed.  He’s staring at the door and whispers, “Is that someone there?”  Look at the door, wait a beat or two, and then AN AYYLMAO PEEKS AROUND THE DOOR AT HIM AND FUCK ME FUCK MY LIFE FUUUUUUUUUU.  It’s a stupid, simple thing, but it’s devastatingly effective.  There are clips on YouTube, and if you check out the comments you can see that this one single scene has launched a million night terrors. 

Continuing, there are bright lights and a strange hand reaching out to touch him and the next morning everything is creepy.  They return to the city and things are weird.  Whitley’s wife gets pissy at him: “What the fuck is wrong with you?” and stuff like that.  She’s not very understanding.  They go back up the cabin and there’s another abduction.  Eventually Whitley undergoes hypnosis and the full experience comes out.  Ugly little blue men carry him to an examination, the gray aliens float around, and he’s rectally probed.  All the standard stuff.

To gain some sort of resolution, Whitley drives up the cabin by himself, he boards the ALIUM spaceship, and things become even more bewildering.  He (literally) dances around with the ugly blue dwarves.  He talks to himself (dressed as a magician).  He takes off the “mask” of the gray alien to see a reptilian mouth underneath.  Whitley goes home to start writing his book and now he sees the ALIUM face everywhere (because he embraces them).  THE END.

To be blunt, this isn’t a great movie.  It bombed at the box office.  It has an awful 1980s sensibility and terrible 1980s music (strumming, soulful guitars…by Eric Clapton?!) and it’s weird and strange and a lot of people didn’t understand it.  Christopher Walken chews up the scenery like an actual madman.  He sings and dances and acts the fool, but there are times when he pulls it back in and there’s real fear and bewilderment.  The aliens look cheap and fake, but (in defense of that point) they’re supposed to be that way.  Strieber’s whole thing is that the “visitors” may be benign, and the “face” they show us certainly isn’t what they really are.  Whereas other characters are terrified of the experiences, he is open to the encounters.

The tropes here are familiar, but only because “Communion” (along with one or two precursor works) introduced them widely for the first time.  Most have been refined over the years, but that one scene, with the black-eyed alien looking around the door, that’s still horrifying. 

[christiandoenges]

Kevin Smith, The Continuation of Style, and What it Means to be an Auteur

     In 1994, Clerks debuted at Sundance, jumpstarting the career of young filmmaker Kevin Smith. Made on a shoestring budget, this grainy, raunchy, quirky comedy made its way into the spotlight, and quickly became a household name, thrusting Smith into the Hollywood scene. In the years since his debut, Smith has made many films, on both independent and Hollywood budgets. Die-hard fans of Smith have stuck with him over the decades, even when his big-budget films are critically panned at the box office, such as his 2010 effort Cop Out. However, despite the critical acclaim or disdain Kevin Smith may receive, he has a distinctive style when creating his films. This paper sets out to explore how Kevin Smith crafts his films, on both low and high budgets. This includes how he writes his stories and characters, along with how he shoots his films, while finally answering the question ‘Can Kevin Smith be considered an auteur?’.

          Clerks debuted in the midst of the independent film boom of the 1990s. The film’s grainy, black-and-white style, matched with minimalist shots fit in perfectly with the do-it-yourself feeling that was present during this time. Clerks is not a complexly-shot film; most of its scenes are shot/counter-shot conversations between two characters, or one camera pointing at characters during dialogue. Smith has even said this himself; when asked if he is a stronger writer or director, he had this to say: “A writer. I just don’t think I have a directorial instinct. I think it all comes from writing and that’s why the films don’t have a fantastic visual style to them. In fact, there’s no visual style to them. There’s a lot of banter and a lot of talk.” (Smith).

     However, for many people, this is what made Clerks so interesting and cool. It didn’t pretend to be anything more than it was, which is representative of Smith, too, in a way. While researching Kevin Smith, I found that ever since he was a kid, he has been infatuated with comic books, and writing and drawing them. In fact, Smith writes his films similarly to the way one would write a comic book series. Many of his movies take place in what he refers to as “The Askewniverse”. This “universe” contains the characters, cities, and events that happen in most of Smith’s films, just like how a comic book universe, like the Marvel Universe, would contain all of its superheroes and worlds. This approach to writing films feels very organic and personal, with Robert Ebert describing it as a “...great invention, a natural feel for human comedy, and a knack for writing weird, sometimes brilliant, dialogue.” (Ebert) in his review when the film was initially released. When watching Clerks, and listening to the dialogue written by Smith, the viewer gets a sense that he is writing about experiences that he is very familiar with. This gives the dialogue a genuine feel to it, since Smith seems to know what he’s writing about, like he has actually experienced these situations he is putting on the screen. However, it can also feel amateur and immature after some time. This way of writing is fine for Clerks, since it was Smith’s debut, and therefore it couldn’t be compared to any other works of his, but as one continues through his catalogue of films, a pattern quickly emerges when looking at Kevin Smith’s dialogue choices. Clerks, Clerks II, and Mallrats all share a common theme of raunchy, immature, and frankly gross dialogue that is entertaining in Smith’s debut, but quickly grows tiresome when that is all the viewer is exposed to. The writing in Clerks, albeit focused on gross topics, is still smartly written, and comes off as witty, without trying too hard. However, if one was to watch a clip from Clerks II, they would recognize Smith’s characters, because frankly, they don’t grow at all between the two films, and neither does their writing. Clerks II takes places ten years after Clerks, and yet the writing did not age at all.The raunchy humor loses its wittiness, and instead feels forced in Smith’s later films. Most of his big-budget films do not take place in his “universe”, and yet the writing feels like it could. In Cop Out, for example, Smith relies heavily on jokes involving raunchy descriptions of sexual innuendos, and continues with the vivid bathroom humor, both elements that audiences were introduced to in Clerks, 15 years prior. Die-hard fans of Smith may appreciate this continuation of style, because it fulfills their expectations that they have built-up over past films of his, but new viewers may not like what they hear.

     Smith himself has said that he is not much of a director, and instead focuses on the writing aspect. This actually has lead to him developing a style of sorts. This style is very simple, often medium-long shots of characters talking to one another, and close-up shots of action. The former example is littered all over Smith’s films, and really is what the rest of the film is built on. An example of the latter is in Clerks when Dante is opening the store, Smith uses close shots of him snipping the string holding the newspapers. This simple way of shooting scenes shifts the focus of the film from the visuals to the dialogue, which is what Smith wants. By giving the audience nothing of much interest to look at, he forces them to listen to what is going on in the scene, playing upon his strengths as a writer. While this is a clever way to direct your shoestring-budget debut in 1994, it is surprising that Smith has decided to carry this practice on in his later films. This could be an answer as to why Smith’s big-budget films always seem to be critically panned at the box office. While his quirky style may work on the independent circuit, large audiences are not satisfied with barebones shots of two characters talking. It is simply not entertaining anymore after he has used the practice for so many years. Again, Smith shows consistency in his work, giving the feeling that he is always creating these films exactly how he sees them, and not giving much thought to what a larger audience may desire.

     Over the course of his career, Kevin Smith has certainly developed a personal style, but does this carry over into being considered an auteur? By definition, an auteur expresses great creative control in their films, and this leads to their styles being recognizable. So it is this creative control that really becomes the deciding factor for whether or not someone makes the cut. Smith surely shows a continued style in both his writing and directing, but how do these translate into control? His writing, although consistent, does not show much merit. What began as snarky, witty dialogue that dealt with gross topics, it transitioned into a lazier style, but still dealing with the same topics. For his directing, Smith began his career by relying on shot/counter-shot, and medium shots on subjects’ conversations, and he has stuck with that method since. Cop Out, which was made on a much higher budget than Clerks, is certainly flashier than its predecessor, but the muscle memory that Smith has for shooting scenes is still there. We continue to see shot/counter-shot, and simple shots focusing on dialogue throughout the film. It could be argued that this completes Smith’s style of creating films, when in reality, it is more likely that this is simply a crutch that he has developed over his career. When discussing Smith and his style, Andy Williams states that “...usually his [Smith] films are distinctive; his style is that he has no style.” (Williams). Just because a filmmaker expresses consistency in their work does not make them an auteur. Smith misses the mark for holding this title at a fundamental level, simply because he lacks the creative control of other directors. Directors such as Wes Anderson utilize familiarly-styled shots, such as his perfectly-centered scenes, but use them in ways that are refreshing and fun to watch. Compare this to Smith, who still uses familiar shots, but not in a dynamic way like a true auteur would. Kevin Smith’s career has been built on him taking an uncompromising approach to his work. He writes characters he finds funny, in worlds that he has created and continues to populate with weird, uncomfortable stories. In an article featured in The Guardian, Dave Schilling has similar thoughts on Smith’s career: “If there is one constant in his [Smith’s] career, it’s a marked lack of interest in servicing anyone’s taste but his own.” (Schilling). There is a certain amount of respect that can be given to Smith and this approach, however, this may be overshadowed by the many grievances fans and critics have of his film career. Realistically, Smith will continue his career with raunchy, simple films, continuing to carve himself into Hollywood history as a would-be auteur.

[ecotone99]

[MS] One of my strangest cases

My name is Police Chief Brian Morrison. I started as a patrol officer in 1978 and retired in February of 2020. I was the police chief of a small beach town on the East Coast of Florida. Orange Grove Island was the name of the city. It was North of Daytona Beach (between Daytona Beach and St. Augustine) but a quiet town for the most part. The town didn't allow for large condos or building above four stories high to be built. That kept the town character rather quaint.

I was married back in the 1980's and then divorced. I have two grown children and three grandchildren. I remarried back in 1990. Sadly my second wife Sally died in 2004. Totally unexpected. For the past several years I've dated a woman who lives in Penscola. We have a long distance relationship. Because of Covid-19, we talked on the computer or on the phone. Haven't seen her since March. My kids like her which is good.

Since the early 1980's, some anonymous person has sent a variety of audio tapes, VCR tapes and DVD tapes with a note saying that crimes has been committed and stuff that was being sent was connected. They were sent to several law enforcement agencies up and down the Eastern Seaboard of Florida. Most of the people on the tapes couldn't be identified.

Now that I'm retired and Covid-19 has basically confined me to my house, I decided to take a second look at these audio tapes, VCR and DVD tapes. Several agencies threw away these audio tapes, VCR tapes and DVD recordings. My uncle kept them and gave them to me shortly after he retired. He really didn't know to make of them as no actual crime was spoken of or recorded. I had heard some of the recordings when he first got them back in the day.

Most of the audio tapes are of private conversations of citizens about very mundane things. A few of the conversations I recognized the voices. One of them was rather amusing. It was the first audio tape that was sent in April of 1982. Clara Matthews was about 80 years old in 1982. She was at her home which was right on the beach talking with her best friend Florence Gray about an orchestra concert that Orange Grove College put on. Her grandson played the clarinet in the Orchestra.

For those who don't know, Orange Grove college is a private Episcopalian college. About 1, 000 students, many of whom are in the orchestra. Robert Hall is Clara Matthew's grandson. I knew him as we attended the same high school, Orange Grove High.

"I really enjoyed going with you to the concert Clara. Robert did so well."

"I know he did very well. I know that he was pretending not to look at me but I know he was."

"Well, Clara you were whispering to me rather loudly during the performance."

"I wasn't that loud, Florence, I mean really."

I had to laugh when I would think of their conversations. Their voices carried. I lived next door from Clara, so I often heard the conversations that she had with Florence. The two women passed on decades ago.

Robert Hall played the clarinet and he recently retired from the Kansas City Orchestra after many years playing there.

The family had a good reputation. I tried to figure out what crime was committed. Maybe the person didn't like classical music, didn't like how Robert played the clarinet or maybe the person was jealous of Robert. I remember my uncle saying this.

We both laughed about this one but it was wasting the time and resources of the law enforcement agencies. Because it was labeled evidence of possible crime, the agencies that got it had to investigate to see if this was the case. It was nearly 10 years before the law enforcement agencies realized that other agencies were getting the same thing.

One of the VCR tapes which was made back in 1989 was leaked to a tabloid magazine who had a field day with it. Everyone knew that Monica Snowden was probably going to make it big as an actress. She had talent and was in many local plays. Rock Star Kevin Press had gone to the little dinner theater in 1984 and had seen Monica perform in the play Snow White. She had just graduated from high school but didn't know what to do with her life.

She ended up being a dancer in several music videos and they got married two weeks after her 18th birthday. Kevin was 26 years old. The marriage lasted 5 years and produced twin daughters. The video recording was secretly done. Kevin and Monica were separating and they were at her grandmother's home talking. Both were sitting at a table across from each other. Both were quite upset with each other.

"I'm going to tell everyone in your family's church what you did Monica. Do 'want me to do that? You weren't some sweet innocent virgin when we got married. I tell them that we sleep together before we were married. I'm sure they already know this, but they pretend like they don't.

"You know Kevin, I don't care if you do. I'm sure they already know that. You told everyone on nationwide TV about it."

That I do remember. My then wife Karen liked to watch one of the late night shows and Kevin made a comment about it. Monica couldn't stop laughing but I could tell she was mortified. A couple of weeks later, they split up due to his cheating.

They argued about his cheating. Kevin blamed her for his cheating. She wasn't having any of it and they had a rather heated but surprisingly civil discussion about it (they didn't cuss each other out or call each other names). It was Monica that happened to notice people on the beach had gathered and had listened to most of their arguing. She went back into the house as did Kevin.

Someone had called concerned about a verbal argument between them. When I responded to the call, Kevin was still at the house. I've been to many domestic disturbances. I asked the usual questions and determined it was a verbal dispute and there was no violence.

Everyone had to put their two cents in after this VCR tape was released. It wasn't aired on TV but people got copies of it. The tape didn't include me going into the house but did include me talking to Kevin in front of the house.

Two days later, Kevin called me on the phone as I had left my business card. He was upset about the VCR tape. I already knew about it because it had been sent to our agency by a concerned citizen. I decided not to tell him this.

"What about the people that gathered on the beach near Monica's grandmother's home when you were arguing? One of them could have filmed you. It wouldn't be too difficult and secondly you were out in a public where you could be filmed from a public place. I know that they weren't locals. I have no idea who they were."

I found out later from Monica that they had tried to find out who had sent out this VCR tape and were never able to do so. Technically this wasn't a crime as the person who did it didn't come on the property to film them.

Monica became an actress and did many TV shows and movie. A lot of the movies were family type movies as Monica was one who would not do R rated movies. She married a guy who played the drums in a progressive Christian rock band. This was probably more her style. She had three more children.

The VCR tapes like the audio tapes were of being doing mundane things. Most of the people I had no idea who they were. Again no criminal activity. The DVD's were the same except for one. The tape didn't involve criminal activity but involved some very upset people about a change in their college status. This involved Monica's twin daughters.

2016

Both daughters Stephanie and Vicky were art teachers at an arts and drama college in Maine. The school had been struggling financially and was being bought by a religious college known to be very conservative. The art school had been secular and basically the facility and the students weren't subject to being censored or told what they could or couldn't do. The college then would decide who they would hire. None of the facility or students knew this, so it was a shock.

A week later - Party at the art school

Stephanie and Vicky were talking about losing their jobs. The twins were very different. Stephanie marched to the beat of her own drummer. She had done art for various promotions of heavy metal bands. When her father had gone on tour during the summer, she had played the guitar. She often dressed like a woman who would be or hung up with a heavily metal band. Her art work was very edgy at times.

Vicky dressed more classically. Her art work was more conventional, not anything that would be controversial but the religious group found fault with her work.

Neither one of them was surprised when they heard they had been fired. In fact the religious group had fired the entire art staff as they didn't fit into their vision of the college. None of the 350 students were accepted into the college because they refused to sign a college student code.

At the party they had talked about this. Monica was at the party as was her father Kevin.

One of the students was sobbing.

"Stephanie, Vicky, I'm going to miss you."

"It's okay, Sally, It's okay. I'm going to hate to leave."

"Well, guys, I will be on tour with my dad playing the guitar in his band. I also will be doing the art work for the T-shirts for his band. My sister Vicky will be at her art gallery."

Everyone clapped and cheered. Then people went off in their own areas.

"You know Stephanie, you were really good when that radio host attacked your personally."said Monica.

"Mom, I know that he wanted me to get upset, cuss him out (he would have loved it if I did that) but I wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of it. "

"Oh, why didn't you, Stephanie. You're good at cussing.." said Kevin.

"Yea, I am. I'm already been called out by two pastors for having a mouth like a sailor. I cussed even more just to rattle them. Vicky also joined in. Poor mom, I'm embarrassed her.""

"Not really, I knew it was coming but Vicky I was rather surprised."

'Stephanie's a bad influence on me, what can I say?"

The rest of the tape showed clips from Stephanie touring with her father's band. A male voice was condemning her and the rest of the group at the art school.

I heard that Stephanie just laugh at it but Vicky was quite upset about it. Monica and Kevin had no comment. This one was put on youtube and quickly went viral.

That was the last audio tape, VCR tape and DVD that I received. About ten years ago the other agencies that were getting these tapes told me that they were going to trash them as no crimes were committed.

I never caught who was doing this. Again no crimes were committed so what was the motive of this person? The tapes were never mailed from the same place. All over the country. We had a few residences who were world travelers but they were older people.

Did this person think it was funny what they were doing? Were they taunting law enforcement? On one of the tapes, the voice which was altered had said that they got no money from this and weren't the person who released the tapes to the public.

I really believe that the person who was doing this had died. It's one case I will never solve.

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[aion-rsa]

The Best Geek TV Deep Dives on YouTube

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From the heyday of Television Without Pity to niche podcasts that cover every small screen angle you can think of, TV show deep dives have always thrived online, and popular platforms like YouTube and Vimeo provide opportunities for talented creators to add a visual angle that can often make a well-edited analysis of your favorite series even more compelling.

YouTube is positively teeming with potential rabbit holes for TV obsessives to fall down. Sometimes at 3 a.m. Sometimes after a few beers. Sometimes when you should be working (couldn’t be us) but whether you’re drawn in by a near-obligatory shocked reaction thumbnail or you accidentally stumble across an interesting take on something you’re passionate about, there’s usually a rabbit hole waiting that feels like it could have been made just for you.

With any luck, falling down one of those rabbit holes ends with you landing far away from the world of destructive opinions, of which there are many, and not just on YouTube. Most of us have probably seen a clip floating around of someone spouting the most harmful, misinformed nonsense at one time or another, and asked ourselves whether giving that person a platform was really the best idea.

Well, this isn’t that. Instead, we’ve pulled together some weighty YouTube-accessible examples of what happens when someone loves a TV series or franchise so much, they can’t stop talking about it – even decades later. Most of these deep dives are a labor of love, which is not to say that they always have a happy ending.

The Retrospective

Ian Martin, who runs the YouTube channel Passion of the Nerd, says his journey began rather accidentally in his early 30s when he found himself feeling a little lost in life. He admits he tried a variety of ways to rid himself of the sensation, including “too much alcohol,” but after deciding on a career change and fruitlessly looking for ways into the voiceover industry, he decided the best course of action was to go ahead and just …make stuff. After all, this course of action didn’t require anyone else to give him a break, and made him the master of his own destiny.

“I sat down and wrote a script about a show I’d become consumed by and edited it into a video called Why You Should Watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” he wrote. “In that video, I mentioned that Buffy’s first season was a little rough and, for people who just wanted to get into the show, I would create a short little episode guide just to get them through the first season.”

Six years later, Martin is still at it, and his audience has grown into a supportive community that includes over sixty thousand subscribers, propped up by funding from Patreon. Not only is he still covering Joss Whedon’s first series in depth, episode-by-episode, he’s now delving into spin-off show Angel and Firefly.

Martin’s videos don’t pore over every aspect of these shows, and rarely does an instalment hit the 30-minute mark. Rather, they tend to examine the philosophy behind their themes, citing absurdist and existentialist influences. The host himself doesn’t push these ideas on his audience, but if you don’t end up buying a copy of Jean-Paul Sartre’s Nausea by the time you get to the end of Season 3, it may be that you’ve missed out on a pretty essential element of Buffy’s enduring appeal.

“It took me a long time to figure out what Passion of the Nerd was but I started to find its shape through the journey it was taking ME on,” he explained. “On any average day it’s a chance to make someone laugh over our shared interests. But my favorite experience of art is the one in which we find ourselves. That movie, piece of music, performance, or show that makes us feel like its creator opened up our heart to take a picture of its inner depths. And I love talking about why media MATTERS and finding those moments in popular culture. Sometimes I get to distil those moments for other people and when I do, I hope it does for them what the channel has done for me.”

Martin’s coverage of the very first episode of Buffy lies below. If you continue watching his series of videos after that, it’s unlikely you’ll want that time back. They’re incredibly thoughtful and, frankly, an absolute joy.

The Deconstruction

Ah, Twin Peaks. The show that changed television forever, and one that has been hard to forget ever since. You’ve not been able to throw a golden shovel without hitting a Twin Peaks deep dive online in the last three decades, but occasionally one arrives and threatens to pull apart the backbone of its dreamscape for good.

Twin Perfect’s Rosseter turned in a Twin Peaks deep dive last October with a running time not for the faint of heart. His deconstruction of David Lynch’s endlessly puzzling mystery, supported by myriad quotes from its beloved co-creator, is over four-and-a-half hours long, but its length certainly hasn’t put off curious viewers – over a million people have already chosen to hear what Rosseter has to say about the real meaning behind Twin Peaks.

“Garmonbozia, the Black and White Lodges, Mike, Bob and the Little Man, Judy, Audrey and Charlie, Season 3’s ending… The mystery of Twin Peaks has survived for nearly 30 years… until now,” the video promises, which is a tease that even casual fans of the series can’t possibly resist. Their mileage may vary with the host’s loud impression of Lynch throughout the video, however, even as he produces what feels like a fairly accurate interpretation of Twin Peaks’ initial intentions, its ongoing message in the prequel film Fire Walk with Me, and a gut-punching look at 2017’s The Return.

Rosseter starts out by warning his audience that if they haven’t consumed all three Twin Peaks seasons and the film, they should consider stepping back until they have, which stands to reason: he’s about to spoil most of their various twists and turns. But he then goes on to say that die-hard Twin Peaks junkies should also reconsider watching the video, because after they’ve heard him out, they might never be able to look at Twin Peaks the same way again.

For many, the temptation to potentially peek behind the red curtain has been too great to ignore, and the comment section is filled with people who sat through the whole thing, having felt truly changed by the experience.

“David Lynch didn’t even know what this show was about until he saw this video,” someone joked, while another added more solemnly “I just feel regret. I appreciate the show on a whole other level but the haunting magic that it had for me is gone.”

One viewer thought that Rosseter’s comprehensive offering “may legitimately and unironically be one of the most intelligent and well-constructed videos ever put on YouTube,” but others hit the nail on the head when they realised that unwrapping Twin Peaks’ clues over the years had only led to one significant discovery: “we were controlling Twin Peaks the entire time.”

So, what’s at the heart of Rosseter’s theory? You may want to find out for yourself, and he certainly makes an incredibly detailed case for it. In this event, a brief explanation in the next paragraph will be a SPOILER.

While it’s common knowledge that David Lynch didn’t want to reveal who was responsible for killing Twin Peaks’ central victim, Laura Palmer, and that he was forced by TV bigwigs to wrap up the storyline and the investigation into her murder during Season 2 in late 1990, Rosseter posits that the reason we were never supposed to uncover the mystery of who ended her life and get closure on her death is because Lynch fundamentally believes that consumable TV violence is rotting our brains, and that’s why he created the series in the first place.

Still intrigued? Take a look…

The Discussion

Two-time Shorty Award winner Kristen Maldonado launched her YouTube channel in 2014 as a place where pop culture meets community, and she has the kind of drive, ambition and fast turnaround skills that make other creators look like they’re napping on the job, frankly.

While working as a social media manager for MTV, she’s used her YouTube platform to support women, diversity, and LGBTQ+ representation, discussing everything from the acknowledgement of Kat’s identity on The Bold Type, to the highs and lows of TV’s YA-skewed failures, emphasising the importance of why representation matters “on screen, behind the scenes, and critically.”

Along the way, she’s become a notable queen of deep dives, and not just where TV or movies are concerned – at one point she was even documenting her own musical journey on Spotify, where she was keen to bring attention to emerging artists. Discussing TV still feels like Maldonado’s reigning passion, though, and she usually explores her favorite shows in bite-sized segments that add up to a comprehensive look at their subjects.

One show she’s been extremely passionate about is the Charmed reboot, which she was beyond excited to see come to fruition on The CW. The fantasy drama series originally ran for eight seasons between 1998 and 2006, and CBS had tried and failed to reboot it before, but this time The CW intended to get the job done, bringing the story of magic and sisterhood back to TV and hoping to entice both fans of the old series and a new, younger audience.

The reboot was initially touted across industry trades as a project that would star three Latinx actresses, and that casting choice meant a lot to Maldonado. When news later emerged that only one of the new Charmed sisters would be played by a Latina actress, she posted a video addressing her feelings of confusion about how the show was originally announced, her disappointment that the roles wouldn’t be filled by three Latinx performers, and why series creators need to start using valuable representation opportunities properly.

Maldonado has covered the Charmed reboot comprehensively since it began in 2018, and this year has moved into livestreaming her reviews, switching from shorter videos to longer discussions about the episodes. If you’re a fan of Charmed, or any of the other series she covers (and there are quite a few) you might well find her channel to be an insightful addition to your subscription list.

The Takedown

Chances are, a TV show has pissed you off or upset you before. That Game of Thrones ending? Probably. Bobby Ewing stepping out of the shower? Sure. Quantum Leap? We’re not over it. Only a few of us take the time to make a video detailing just how upset we are about a show and upload it to YouTube, though.

Mike Stoklasa is likely to be a pretty familiar face to some of the Very Online movie and TV addicts reading these words. He’s the founder of production company RedLetterMedia, through which he’s been creating content and offering his desert-dry opinion on various facets of pop culture for well over a decade.

On YouTube, Stoklasa is regularly accompanied by cohorts Jay Bauman and Rich Evans as they take a hard look at some of their favorite films from the past, some of the worst straight-to-video movies of all time, and some of the bigger releases, too. He also voices a character called Mr. Plinkett, and when he does, viewers know that they’re about to peer screaming into the void, because ‘Mr. Plinkett’ does not hold back, especially when it comes to Star Wars or Star Trek.

Stoklasa is one of the most vocal Star Trek fans alive, and is known to consistently derail otherwise unconnected discussions with his Trek references, often explaining how Star Trek may have influenced the subject’s storytelling, and how it might have been – or should have been – a positive lesson from TV past.

To say that he’s not a fan of Star Trek’s fairly recent resurgence under the eye of executive producer Alex Kurtzman is probably an understatement. He covered CBS All-Access’ Star Trek: Discovery, a series that has, for the most part, chosen to abandon Trek’s previous lean towards standalone stories and episodes in favor of season-long arcs, and he seemed interested but trepidatious ahead of Star Trek: Picard’s arrival on the streaming service. But after the show had run its course, he uploaded a 94-minute takedown called ‘Mr. Plinkett’s Star Trek Picard Review’.

The broader world of YouTube takedowns is, objectively, a cesspool – misogyny, racism and homophobia have often run rampant – but Stoklasa has been in the business of keeping more of a constructive balance going for a long time, so when ‘Mr Plinkett’s’ review of Picard appeared online towards the end of May, anyone with even a little backstory on his recent problems with Trek’s TV universe suspected that the fresh adventures of the aging ex-Enterprise captain had finally pushed him over the edge …but they weren’t quite prepared for the ‘Dear John’ letter that ultimately arrived.

Whether you enjoyed Picard or not, Stoklasa makes some constructive points in his video review, and his breakup with the current Star Trek TV world is one for the ages.

The Art of More

If it’s the visual element of a TV show deep dive you’re into, YouTube has plenty to offer.

Art meets skill as Skip Intro takes a fascinating look at the editing behind David E. Kelley’s Big Little Lies, Ladyknightthebrave spends the best part of an hour pondering how Fleabag’s gimmick of breaking the fourth wall serves the show’s characters and story, and balancing ‘point of view’ vs ‘the big picture’ becomes the focus of Lost Thoughts’ It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Island.

Here, Thomas Flight explores how HBO’s award-guzzling Chernobyl became a masterclass in perspective…

We hope you found something worth your time in this piece, and writing it up wasn’t really an excuse to discover more of them, but it also wasn’t NOT an excuse to discover more of them. So, if you’ve found any notable examples to keep us busy, please direct our attention to them in the comments, thank you.

The post The Best Geek TV Deep Dives on YouTube appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[sherylattewellunit73]

Evaluation

The first thing we did was research examples of both fine art and commercial cinemagraphs, looking at the way they used cinemagraphs to portray a message. This step was important as we wanted to explore both genres and not limit ourselves too early on in the creative process. We then brainstormed our own ideas, creating 5 examples for both fine art and commercial styles before narrowing them down to 3 potential fine art ideas. Next, we pitched these ideas during group crit and received feedback, helping us to develop our final idea. Once we decided on our final idea, we researched photographers whose work influenced us. This helped us to put more thought into our desired aesthetic. We created sketches, mind maps, bought props from local charity shops and did a test shoot prior to shooting and editing our final cinemagraphs. This was important as it enabled us to plan out exactly what we wanted to do, allowing for smooth running.

Our group was made of Emma, Sheryl and Paige. Emma was the creative director which meant she was in control of the overall idea development and creative direction of the project. Sheryl was the project manager which meant she was responsible of the smooth running of the project as ell as organising people, materials and equipment. Paige was the chief editor/retoucher which meant she was in control of the post production process and making sure everything was documented. One of our main strengths as a team was that we organised ourselves into the roles we were most comfortable with and believed we would be best at which made the project run smoothly. Another one of our strengths was that we communicated effectively which meant we were able to develop ideas as well as create a plan for this project. However one weakness we had was bringing the larger pieces of written work together as we shared the workload. We communicated effectively by making a Facebook group chat so that we would have place just for discussing the project with each other while at home. As well as this, we met up a couple of times at someone’s house to review and talk about our work. One way that we could have communicated better is by having video calls while at home so we could talk to each other about what work we needed to complete.

We originally came up with a punch of ideas, both fine art and commercial. A butterfly on fruit, hair flicking, make up highlight dripping and foot tapping on record player for commercial. Then isolated mood dinner table, person in the middle of trees, abandonedness durning an apocalypse, distance in family reflected in home. These ideas were the ideas we first had when given the brief before we had decided what we wanted to focus on.

From this collectively, as a group we decided to narrow it down to our three favourites. These consisted of the Shoe advert, with tapping of a foot on a record player for a collaboration of brands such a Dr Martens and Rough Trade in a grungy feel for commercial. The apocalyptic scene of the kitchen showing abandonedness that we captured inspiration from Emma’s photograph for fine art. Then finally the triptych of distance in the family, show by lived in homes but without people again for fine art.

To help us come up with the final idea, we pitched our 3 ideas to our class. We started off with the commercial one which is the one we had least confidence in, as we thought our fine art ideas were better. Our tutor mentioned to us how it was a good concept and idea, but we would have try find business around nottingham that fitted with aesthetic we wanted. He then expressed his interest in our second idea. Which we thought was a good idea however could come off as cringey and over done. He believe if we didn’t stick with the common and typical apocalypse photographs/movie ideas, it could be executed very well. He suggested, that we come up with and idea of why the apocalypse happened and have a subtle hint of it in our cinegraph. We then shared our finally and favourite idea. Our tutor and fellow peers, expressed a liking to this idea. However at first didn’t understand it to the extent we were trying to explain. Once explaining the idea in a more understandable way, everyone enjoyed the idea. They believe if well executed this could look very good and even the best out of all the ideas.

With help from this, we thought the first idea was not what we wanted to do. It was gonna he a cinemgraph to be a cinemagraph. We wanted it to have deeper meaning but, it didn’t. The second idea we did like more though, we thought the idea was over done and was going to be hard to have an original idea that hadn’t been done before. From that we also thought the idea had a cringey, cheesy feel. This is because in general apocalyptic films, books and photographs can feel that way.

As a collective, Sheryl, Emma and I, decided to go with our favourite and most loved idea, which is as the Distance in the family. We took on board what or tutor and peers said however, we thought as this was the idea we related to more personal and had a connection to us all. We could work better on this idea and make the best cinemagraph we could.

The aim of our final cinemagraphs was to portray a feeling of disconnect within the family home. We did this by producing 3 cinemagraphs (a triptych), each taking place in a different room inside the home. Each room looks lived in however, we are unable to see the identities of those who live there, creating a feeling of unease within the viewer. By keeping the identities of the family members hidden we reflect the disconnect between them, portraying a feeling of loneliness. We decided upon this idea because a dysfunctional family life is something all 3 of us had experienced, making it more personal to us. We felt that our idea needed to take a fine art approach as neither of us thought our styles suited a commercial approach, and we wanted to be able to convey a meaning in each cinemagraph. Inspiration was mainly gathered through our own experiences, alongside outside influences such as Gregory Crewdson, Todd Hido and Alexander Gronsky. The way Crewdson staged his images inspired us throughout this project, prompting us to think about the way we wanted each room to look and buying the necessary props to achieve our desired aesthetic. Hido's body of work named 'Interiors' also inspired us, as we liked the way he used natural lighting to create an atmosphere within the photograph. The images feel familiar, as scenes most of us can relate to are featured, such as bedroom walls. The feeling of familiarity is something we really wanted to achieve within our work and I think we achieved this.

What we have learned about animation in history is that it’s come far from what it was at the beginning. Starting off with low resolution websites with few but bright colours in 1990. slowly moving onto low resolution images in 1994/5. Then the leading search engine ‘google’ was created in 1998. From this graphic interchanged format or ‘gifs’ were created. Very pixelated moving objects and images which became very popular. In 1999 adobe flash was created, this platform for graphic designers to create graphics and web pages. This meant a lot of websites become more ‘professional’ for the time. This was moving images, hiding pages, and more colours.

The animation we knows today seeming a different, however it’s not very different. The same type of format and layouts are the same. this said it has more of a current feel which changes through out time.

Animation in advertising is very important, it allows more creative freedom for directors and brands as it’s not just film or photography.The main new skill we all learned during this project is how to make a working and effective cinemagraph. Another skill we have learned is how to edit video clips using photoshop. Knowing how to make a cinemagraph could be very useful in the future because we may be hired to create advertisements, which could include cinemagraphs, for a business/company. As well as this, having this skill may make us stand out from others when applying for jobs and could be what gets us the job. This project has helped us develop as photographers because it has taught us about how video can be a part of our photographic work. It has also made us consider the composition of our shots because once it had started recording, we couldn’t move the camera.

We are all very happy with our final pieces because they work together well as a series. They match well in terms of colour and composition. Another thing we are happy with is how well we worked as a team. We were able to give feedback and constructive criticism when discussing each others ideas. However, something that didn’t go so well during the assignment was when we tried bring all our work together as we would split questions and bring them back together. This meant we fell a little bit behind when it came to completing the written work. If we were to do this project again, we would try different compositions as the kitchen cinemagraph stands out slightly because it is straight on instead of at an angle. As well as this, we would improve how we brought our work together by emailing each other the work as soon as we had finished so we don’t lose track of what has been done.

During our group critique, the majority of people were positive towards our cinemagraphs however some didn’t understand their meaning which is understandable because our ideas were displayed quite subtly. We got good feedback on the technical aspects such as the composition, lighting and overall aesthetic. As well as this, people said we have edited our cinemagraphs very well as there aren’t any jumps and the loop is smooth. We were able to voice our strengths and weaknesses to the others during the group crit.

[jillhejl]

Chris Cornell Part 2 (Early Morning Searching, A Rainy Phone Call, and Guitarist Pete Thorn on Chris Cornell)

I know I wrote about Chris Cornell extensively yesterday, but I'm not done. I spent over an hour walking around in the drizzle talking to my friend Cindy about Chris Cornell today.  I had to--to mourn with her, discuss him. She really is the only friend I have who knows Chris (from afar of course) and his music the way I do.  She and I saw Chris twice together, once when Chris was supporting his "Scream" album and the last time 10 months ago. We talked about how rare it is to even have a TRUE artist such as Chris or Prince or Michael Jackson.  How when they are lost, who do you look to?  I said to her, and he was smart.  He wasn't someone looking for the quick fix.  He was someone who sat in his basement with a stack of Beatles albums and memorized them.  Prince studied James Brown and Sly Stone.  These are people who knew a history of rock music, blues, funk, punk, so there were layers of influence to them. I said it's like cooking.  You're supposed to season all the components of a dish as you go along to coax all the nuances of flavor to come out.  You don't just sprinkle a little salt on at the end and expect it to have any complex depth to it.  Chris had the Beatles in him, and The Stones and Led Zeppelin, but also Black Sabbath and Elvis Costello.  When you stir that all together, along with true emotion, intelligence, and vocal skill, well that's how a superstar comes along rather than someone just looking to lay down a beat track with two 7-word verses that loop over and over again.  Ugh. Now, prior to that conversation earlier this afternoon, I woke up at 1:00 a.m. unable to breathe.  I felt a tightness in my chest and had to get my inhaler to get through.  But in that eerie early hour, as soon as my mind and eyes opened, I thought of Chris.  I couldn't go back to sleep so from 1 a.m. until 5 a.m., I searched for more clues and read more articles and watched more videos (something I had been doing every moment since hearing the news and while not at work). The unreality of a world without him is starting to feel real.  I had to try to get that through to my head and heart. Here's some worthwhile finds. Please check out the following if you, like me, are in  mourning. In no particular order: It makes sense to me that there was something else going on with Chris that motivated him to "commit suicide."    Read his wife, Vicky's statement re: the possible influence of the drug Activan in his system in Spin Magazine's article here. Here's a link to Mark McGrath (from the group Sugar Ray) on "The Woody Show."  It's totally worth listening to the whole thing, but here is a right on the head quote from Mark that sums up why we feel so sad when a beloved singer dies: "You loose someone of that magnitude, it takes awhile to resonate.  When you lose someone like Prince, you lose a Scott Weiland, you lose a Chris Cornell, I think it takes awhile for all of us to mourn the loss.  Music is super personal, too.  You internalize music and it becomes a family member if you're really that vested in music & it means that much to you.  It's like losing...you feel almost like a family loss. To loose that, it hurts, it's tough, it's very tough." This Washington Post article of the history of Soundgarden and of Cornell's vow to make it as an artist doing original music no matter what it took, even if he/they were never a 'success' is excellent. Here's a very short clip from "American Masters" on Chris Cornell discussing the camaraderie of the bands in Seattle--how they inspired one another, and the development of Temple of the Dog. The Chicago Tribune's article on how Eddie Vedder is the last grunge frontman still standing.  There is a great point made in the article where rock critic Steven Hyden is quoted from his book, "Your Favorite Band Is Killing Me" as saying: "By the early aughts Pearl Jam was actively subsuming the operatic emotionalism of their more popular early records in order to cater to hard-core loyalists," Hyden wrote. "The way Vedder purposely piloted Pearl Jam toward a significantly smaller audience is still remarkable. Other than Radiohead, no rock band has ever been more deliberate about ferreting out precisely the people it wanted to care about its music." This article from Variety is a really great one and a good rock history lesson of how Soundgarden paved the way for all the Pacific Northwest bands, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains (and Stone Temple Pilots by association) who followed.  Note this point which Jem Aswad, Senior Music Editor, makes: "But Cornell was a true original in his own right. And the sound and culture of the 1990s would not have been what it was without him or Soundgarden, who cut the path that so many followed." Here's Charles R. Cross from "Music from NPR," writing on how Chris was Grunge's "True Seattle Son"  Charles knew Chris Cornell personally--read his perspective on how the band had been together for 10 years before it broke through--the slow burn to success. From Heavy's Chris Bucher, the police report that outlined the timing after the concert, his last call to his wife, and what went down.  I had to read that...find that.  I still had the thought, does anyone question if this was a murder?  I pieced several different articles together, and it seems the band left in shuttle bus from the theater at 11:25 p.m.  Chris' body guard was in his room with him around 11:35; Chris spoke to his wife Vicky at 11:40 p.m. and by midnight he was dead.  I had to know this...make sense of that span of time.  It still is unbelievable. I wrote in my previous blog post yesterday that I had watched 3 clips of his final concert, and Chris didn't seem right.  He seemed to be moving slowly--a little strangely to me.  His vocals weren't as "on" as normally.  I thought he looked exhausted.  Somewhere else--on YouTube--someone wrote that he seemed "low energy."  This well-articulated article from the Detroit Free Press, by Ashley Zlatopolsky, "Chris Cornell's final performance:  Something Clearly Wasn't Right, corroborates my thoughts that Chris wasn't the Chris I was used to seeing. By the way, here's a link to the entire final concert.  I've listed the set list at the bottom of this page. Here's Alexis Sottile's Rolling Stone Magazine article on Cameron Crowe and the 25th anniversary of the movie, "Singles."  He really has wonderful stories of the musical genius and unbelievable creativity of Cornell as well as his impressions of living in the midst of the development of the Seattle scene.  Please read it so you can put into context this quote: "And holy shit, this is Chris Cornell, as Cliff Poncier, recording all of these songs, with lyrics, and total creative vision, and he has recorded the entire fake, solo cassette. And it's fantastic. And "Seasons" comes on. And you just can't help but go, "Wow." This is a guy who we've only known in Soundgarden. And of course he's incredibly creative, but who's heard him like this? And we got to use "Seasons" on the soundtrack, and Chris did some of the score. And some of the unreleased score is on the new version of the album." Here's Pete Thorn, his guitarist who supported him through his "Carry On" tour and "Scream" tour.  I saw his play during both of those tours.  He relates poignant memories of playing with Chris, and describes what kind of honorable, supportive, creative, strong person and friend he was.  If you look at the time it's says 37 minutes and you'll think, I'll never listen to all of that.  But you will. It will break your heart a little more though.

Detroit, MI, 5/17/17 Set List Ugly Truth Hunted Down Non-State Actor Spoonman Outshined Kickstand Black Hole Sun Crooked Steps Day I Tried to Live My Wave Zero Chance Fell on Black Days Mailman A Thousand Days Before Burden in My Hand Blow Up the Outside World Jesus Christ Pose Beyond the Wheel Encore: Rusty Cage Slaves and Bulldozers interspersed with lyrics from Led Zeppelin's "In My Time of Dying"