#No Context Crow No. 36

[corvidsofthedeep]

No Context Crow #36: Argumentive Crows

Originally posted by druid on Pinterest.

[mieczyhale]

crow bros - ‘beach too sandy’ out of context [4/?] / memes [36/?]

[gardenvarietydemon]

I've seen people mention that Crowley and Aziraphale might be swapped at the very end, but I really think they were swapped for the entire final 15, it doesn't really change anything other than the context under which the conversation is happening, but it makes more sense. They're a lot of little things that I'll list below but I'll put the three biggest things at top

Tartan collar: they are wearing the outfits they wear when switching in S1 and "Crowley" appears to have on The tartan collar ( This can be seen by pausing S2E6 at 36:27 it is red earlier in the same episode at as well as in the prior episode the first picture where it's red is when he was coming back from taking Nina and Maggie to the coffee shop)(you have to pause it as Aziraphale and the Metron are leaving the shop to be able to see it is not red)

Crowley gives away a book which we've established he would not do, but Aziraphale has in this season.

Crowley mentions a conversation that happened between Aziraphale and Maggie, not Crowley.

This is everything:

After seeing the metatron talk to Nina we come in to the middle of conversation showing we have missed something.

Azira seems stoic while being threatened (How Crowley portrays him when switched)

Crowley stops walking like Crowley after they (Met and Azi) leave ( He takes a few steps then starts to walk with less sway) then sees Muriel and is startled. (Becuase he was caught out of character?)

Crowley More sarcastic/unnecessarily cruel with Muriel (See swap in S1 Aziraphale plays Crowley as more sarcastic)

Crowley gives away a book (established earlier in season he would not however Azira gives away a Doctor Who Annual and allows Maggie and Nina to throw encyclapidias)

Gives Muriel the crow road. They said they want a book because books are like people but portable, He gave her a book about life, love, death and being human. And says "here you'll like this one" which comes off as a snarky remark (Or is this Azira breaking character to give a book recommendation because he just can't help himself?)

Crowley mentions seeing Maggie crying (only Azira saw this, and when he told Crowley the reason for helping her he did not mention it)

He says he was meddling because Nina needing saving the audience assumes they mean from her relationship but the ineffable idiots never found out about her relationship they would be talking about saving her from demons but that occured at the ball (Crowley tried to get them together before that so it doesn't make sense to say that's when he started meddling, but the ball is when Aziraphale started meddling)

Azira's voice in a higher register during scene (Azira's voice goes lower usually when upset or making a point (correcting Furfur, quieting fighting demons/angels, telling Shax they can't come in) Crowley's normally goes higher)

Azira has spent this season reflecting on the cruelty of heaven and his feelings for Crowley (sudden change from the rest of season does not have narrative flow)

Crowley has spent the season focused on protecting/saving

Opposite sides (through the season as they have changed focus the sides (Crowley on the left Azira on the right) have changed but now they are changed back. It seems normal but is still a juxtaposition from what we have seen in the season) IE in this season the person on the left is the one who wants their needs over the needs of humanity person on the right is the protector.

Azira has been reflecting on the cruelties of Heaven and would know Crowley does not want to go back (Crowley says so multiple times in s1) but looks surprised that he says no. (If they are switched Crowley would not know Azira has been reflecting on this and would be surprised the he said no)

Azira saying I can make a difference (the other angels have beat him down and shown him he can't so many times I doubt he believes that but Crowley does)

Azira specifies Crowley will be his second in command (there is no reason for him to specify this but if it is Crowley he is telling Azira that he is not up to anything and will answer to him)

Crowley says you are better than this (means very little unless it is the other way around Azira has spent the whole season reflecting on Crowley being better than heaven)

Crowley confessing does not move the narrative he has said all of that before in S1.

Crowley says you are always there for me (Crowley always saves Azira)

Crowley says they pretend not to be a team (Azira pretends they are not a team Crowley always says they are.)

The confession mirrors pride and prejudice, (aziraphale is loves with pride and prejudice.)

Crowley says if Belzebub/Gabriel can do it we can (Crowley suggest they running away together in S1 he already knew, Belz/Jim's story didn't change things but Azira can be seen in the background excited and reaching for Crowley when they confess this is when HE realized they could be together)

Azira is shocked Crowley is leaving (Every time they fight Crowley leaves until he calms down and comes back and Ariza waits, this is the normal dynamic so why is he suprised, if they are swapped it would be weird for Aziraphale to be upset and leaving especially in the wrong body)

Azira uses some of the same language Crowley used to convince him in last season. (Azira using Crowley's speech patterns)

Crowley has at least seen movies with kissing and would know not to kiss like it was a fight (if they are switched Azira is drawing from experience of their past for how he should kiss while still looking like Crowley and this looks like the scene where Crowley pushes Azira against the wall for calling him nice(Also that's probably been in his head for a minute))

Azira seems shocked but has been trying to work towards something like this all season (Crowley would be shocked)

Azira holding his lips and looking shocked (if they are switched Crowley not realizing that Azira was confessing but thought he was pretending to be Crowley did not realize until this moment)

After a fight Crowley always runs and Azira always waits (Crowley is waiting by the Bentley)

The Bentley can tell them apart and plays modern not bebop music and drives away slowly

After the credits roll Azira smiles and the smile doesn't look like how Azira smiles but it looks like Crow as Azira in the hell fire scene in S1

Neil gaiman repeats/forshadows earlier in this episode Azira is waiting for Crowley to save him from demons and Crowley comes back after because he left to go to heaven.

Neil repeats/ shell game mentioned multiple times they make similar movements in the intro

Crowley knows from the Gabriel docs that Armageddon 2 is in plan and would have a reason to go back to heaven Azira would not necessarily know this yet or have a reason to go back especially if he had already said he was not going.

[vanilladrpepper]

SHARE COLLEGE AU

HBDJVBDJFH ok. ok.

the basic premise is that like. any character that could be hced as indigenous. is hced as indigenous . and then u take everyone and plop them in 1999 in a college setting with some added bg for each of the characters and motivations and stuff yk

i will admit it is ww centric as its written from his vague pov (third person limited omniscient) but i digress. hes in november trying to get a degree asap so he can fulfill an ultimatum proposed by chapel so he can get livio out of the system and fuck off back to the reservation he grew up on (for context ww is crow+seminole and livio is crow) but he shows up to the college and his roommate is this . scene guy. enter legato our favorite french canadian (besides hornfreak love u hornfreak) who becomes begrudging besties. sort of . with ww

he recommends him a coffee shop and ww goes there before going shopping for shit he needs and thus we get one of our big hubs of the au: threes a crowd! a number of characters work there including brad, luida, zazie (navajo) and of course. vash (mixed white + kanien'keha:ka) he meets him and doesnt really like . register him much beyond it bc hes got bigger fish to fry :sob:

and obv ive planned a lot more (36 chapters for part one. augh) including but not limited to: ww struggling through his coursework (majoring in social work) and being aided by one of his teachers (roberto. love u king u may be tristamp only but u have bewitched me) (hes also ojibwe. love him), ww joining up with a mentor club and accidentally befriending two journalism majors (meryl and milly!!!! inuk and seneca respectively) (also specifically meryl is a photojournalism major!), ww continually running into this one pipsqueak around town who gives him attitude (zazie <3), and also dealing with whatever situationship legato is in (i could not resist making him and nai messy as fuck)

theres also obv other characters that r in there that im still trying to sew in in a way that makes sense: elendira (journalism professor, russian + sami), rollo (mexican + southern paiute, havent entirely decided on his major though so sorry king), hornfreak (a part of the school band. fascinating man. at one point he holds a halloween party) and a bunch of others i havent gotten to yet :sob:

theres a lotttt going on in this au ill be honest but also objectively it is very slice of life . but heres a list of stuff i have planned

vash and nai as lacrosse players. vash invites ww out to games and is really silly abt it

for a not insignificant amount of time ww learns about legatos situationship and bc legato never mentions names he thinks vash has a secret insane ass thing going on with legato . it isnt until chapter 11 (allegedly) that he finds out vash has a twin brother and goes back to legato like . hey. is it vash and legatos like ew what?

milly and meryl are enraptured by roberto working at the school bc he did a lot of journalism work that inspired them to join the field. silly shenanigans ensue

on the topic of milly and meryl they are so fascinating to me. they originally met in the mentor club and hit it off immediately based on their similar (but different) familial issues and the horrors

vash and ww plan out a bunch of movie nights including: scream, 10 things i hate abt you and smoke signals

chapel drama followed immediately by ill-timed vash and ww argument

while ignoring vash ww gets a nokia <3 love loses

at the halloween party milly accidentally walks in on them in a compromising position (nothing was happening) and awkward bs ensues where vash comes around and it like its ok theyre chill and Not Gay but it wouldnt change anything if they Were Gay but They Arent so its Fine

livio and ww apartmentsitting for vash and nai while theyre off visiting family during the holidays :D

nye party where vash and ww almost kiss and thus ends part 1 . LOVE LOSES

also i should list what everyones majoring in that i didnt mention but this is already long enough good lord

all this to say. i am insane god bless

some small cuts from the draft so far beneath the cut bc i couldnt resist

none of those are in order but its ok <3

[voidthewanderer]

8)  sender remembered something receiver mentioned they liked and brings it or something related to it as a gift. Vice versa'd for Ripper and Sweetjane? (She likes anything related to space, and baudy kitsch)

@bleumanouche || Simple Acts Of Romanticism

Not gonna lie, this one was hard to come up with a gift idea that felt right as a gift he’d give. Trying to look up ideas really didn’t give me too many ideas either; mainly forced kitsch or the idea of a kitsch aesthetic that I felt fell just outside of the idea of it. But space was also only yielding super generic ideas from my brain (thank you creative block!). But then I had an idea! I hope it lands! Stay tuned for the art of it, I wanna make sure it looks good before making a definitive post. I did add some references of the general style, however; at least until I can get something done.

Sorry this took so long, btw. Been trying to learn the whole work/life balance thing and it’s not going too well lol. I left it open ended in case if you wanted to make any changes to the outfit so it would be something she’d wear often if it isn’t yet.

•~*♡*~•~*♡*~•~*♡*~•~*♡*~•~*♡*~•~*♡*~•~*♡*~•

Another decent day of exploring… Just him and him alone. Ripper loved the attention and being surrounded by his friends, but sometimes he just needed that little bit of time to himself. Time to think, time to breathe… time to mourn. Give him some time to let down that wall and just grieve what he’d lost so long ago. It didn’t matter that it had been well over two hundred years at that point. The memory still stung.

Part of him was worried that if he finally let go, the memories would fade and he’d forget why he was how he was today. Perhaps it wasn’t such a terrible thing, but a forever 36-year-old man acting how he did seemed desperate without the context to him. It felt midlife crisis; something he refused to accept would ever happen in his life.

However, despite wanting to keep his focus on the past, a light glimmered through; drawing his attention away. A new beginning; a new chapter. Soon, his thoughts just grew more and more about his new potential flame. A voice calling out, telling him that he deserved to be happy.

He shook the thought away, needing to be alert. He was a far way away from home. The last thing he needed was for him to get hurt… or worse… and nobody know what happened. He’d wanted to travel on his own for a bit, seeing if he could find something left of Crow’s family home. They’d been pretty bored lately when not working; he’d hoped maybe finding some of their old stuff would help.

He’d already been gone for three days, which had just been the walk down. He wanted to be back before the next week. Though, he hadn’t found what he was looking for either… he couldn’t let this trip be all for naught.

As he rummaged through a house, a pop of color caught his attention. His face lit up when he’d seen what it was. It was perfect! At least… for the one who crossed his mind when he’d seen it. He hoped it would be, anyways.

•~*♡*~•~*♡*~•~*♡*~•~*♡*~•~*♡*~•~*♡*~•~*♡*~•

“Is Ripper in?” Sweetjane asked the pale ghoul who had been sketching at the kitchen counter. They glanced over and smiled, “Not right now, he went back to New Jersey to find some stuff. It’s been about a week, though; he’s not normally away for that long. You’re free to hang out though. My fiancé just finished lunch about half an hour ago if you’re hungry. And Joey’s room is open if you’re looking for a nap.”

“Thank you,” food had sounded nice. It was just a matter of what it was. Thankfully, the other ghoul that had been mentioned was within earshot; going behind the counter to plate chicken with a side of carrots and a tarberry compote. It hadn’t been a large plate, just enough that would normally tied the settlement over for dinner.

“He talks about you a lot,” Crow hummed, going back to their sketch. This garnered a quizzical look from Sweetjane. They smiled, “Rips. He absolutely adores you. I haven’t seen him this elated in a long time. I’m glad he’s finally found someone who can make him feel like this again.”

A knock on the wall caught the room’s attention. Speak of the devil; the punk clad ghoul had been leaning against the wall, his smile bright. Crow returned it, “I’ll leave you two alone. Welcome home.”

Crow practically had to drag Arsenic out with them; wanting the duo to have at least a few hours alone. Ripper perched himself onto the stool that had since been vacated, pulling his overstuffed pack onto his lap, “‘M glad you’re here, Tesoro. Found something while I was in Jersey. I know it might not be your norm, but… I hope you’ll like it. Hopefully it’s not too wrinkled too. And that it’ll fit. Crow might need to take it in a little.”

Before Sweetjane could say anything, Ripper pulled out a petticoat that looked similar to a dress. It crop at the waist with a belt, most likely to either show the midriff or to wear a high waisted bottom. The bottoms of the train were fairly tattered from time, but still did seem to hold some shape. The back ruffling was a solid space fabric, possibly homemade, as it appeared more tie dyed. The sleeves also had cuffed roughly mid bicep, a form fitting mesh sleeve flowing down and flaring out at the wrist. On the back was very intricate bead embroidery work, looking like a galaxies in space.

“What do you say? Is this OK? I remembered you mentioning you liked space and the jacket itself kinda reminded me of the wedding dress you like to wear. If you want, we can try it on now, maybe get it pinned up in case if it does need to be taken in. I think you’d look even more beautiful in it.”

“I’d love to,” a small smile did flash on Sweetjane’s lips; making his heart absolutely leap. “Where’d you even find something like this?”

Ripper held out his hand, taking to as they went to look for the pale ghoul who’d just left, “There was this little bimonthly festival in New Jersey before the war. All the misfits who’d call themselves witches and whatnot would get together and sell homemade stuff. If I’d have to guess? The person who made this probably sold there. Maybe Crow would know, they used to sell when it was close.”

There was a spark of excitement between the both of them it felt. Ripper was excited to see her in the jacket. He hoped that she’d like it.

[pugzman3]

John 13:35 Context

32 If God be glorified in him, God shall also glorify him in himself, and shall straightway glorify him.

33 Little children, yet a little while I am with you. Ye shall seek me: and as I said unto the Jews, Whither I go, ye cannot come; so now I say to you.

34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.

35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

36 Simon Peter said unto him, Lord, whither goest thou? Jesus answered him, Whither I go, thou canst not follow me now; but thou shalt follow me afterwards.

37 Peter said unto him, Lord, why cannot I follow thee now? I will lay down my life for thy sake.

38 Jesus answered him, Wilt thou lay down thy life for my sake? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, The cock shall not crow, till thou hast denied me thrice.

[mcardel0]

Multimedia Blog 1 (Black Panther)

Black Panther is a film written and directed By Ryan Coogler, explores themes of identity, heritage, and the consequences of isolationism versus global engagement. In the context of our course topics, readings, and screenings, Black Panther serves as an example of the intersection of race, ethnicity, and cultural diversity.

A great example of how the film represents racial, and ethnic identities is through one of its main characters, Eric Killmonger. Race, nationality, and socioeconomic class are factors of intersectionality that ultimately formed his world views. His dual nationality to Wakanda, and The United States and the socioeconomic status of both places, are what formed his resentment for Wakanda as he experienced discrimination, violence, and poverty of African Americans in the U.S. Juxtaposed to the immense wealth, prosperity, and safety in Wakanda, Killmonger wanted Wakanda to use their resources to help their struggles. Regardless of Killmonger’s royal background, he was not able to help his community with what he was given. “The Myth of Meritocracy” that was discussed in Richard Dyers On the Matter of Whiteness, is the belief that regardless of race and background, success and advancement in society are determined by merit, and hardwork. In the case of Killmonger, his intelligence, skill, or determination to help other black Americans, fell through due to factors outside of his control. 

Boppre, M. (2020a, December 18). 5 problems with the myth of Meritocracy. Medium.

In relation to the intersectionality's of race, and socioeconomic class, events such as the Great Migration play a role in the factors Killmonger was not able to control. Black Americans were forced to move to the north for factory jobs, and the south still had Jim Crow laws, and more racial discrimination. As more black Americans moved north, relying on factory wages, they were faced with more challenges such as housing discrimination. Years later, the effects of these are still felt in the same communities. Hence the reason why Killmonger needed outside help to combat these problems. This is an overall theme the film Black Panther explored. Through Eric Killmonger’s character, they were able to explore critiquing this myth. By highlighting how systemic barriers can shape the trajectory of individuals.

Citations:

Dyer, Richard. "The Myth of Meritocracy." Screen, vol. 16, no. 3, 1975, pp. 36-45

Black Panther. Directed by Ryan Coogler, performances by Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong'o, Danai Gurira, and Letitia Wright. Marvel Studios, 2018.

[hollyevolving]

Sure, let's re-do the 40 Things meme. Some things have changed, some haven't.

-

1. Do you like blue cheese? Nope

2. Have you ever smoked? Not tobacco, and not in many years

3. Do you own a gun? Nope

4. What flavour kool aid? None

5. What do you think of hot dogs? Generally tasty

6. There wasn't a 6. Now there is.

7. What is your favorite movie? The Crow

8. What do you prefer to drink in the morning? Coffee

9. Can you do a push up? Yes

10. What's your favourite jewelry? The onyx necklace that Dan "Chip" Henley made for me.

11. What is your favorite hobby? Hard to choose, but in the end it's singing

12. Do you have ADHD? Yup

13. Do you wear glasses? Yup

14. What was your favourite cartoon? Belle & Sebastian

15. Name three things you did today? Worked, tried on a new tunic, watched some more Vikings

16. Name three drinks you drink regularly? Water, coffee, chocolate protein shake

17. Current worries? money, health, time...the usual

18. There wasn't an 18. "It's Gorgug. Keep going."

19. Favourite place to be? anywhere with good company

20. How did you bring in the New Year? alone

21. Where would you like to go? Everywhere, but Scotland is definitely on the list

22. Name five people who will do this? No idea

23. Do you wear slippers? I prefer cozy socks

24. What is your color? Black, delft blue, crimson, pastel pink

25. Do you like sleeping in satin sheets? Nah, they don't breathe. Cotton for me!

26. Can you whistle? Only breathing in, cannot whistle out

27. Where are you now? at my desk in my living room

28. Would you be a pirate? As in, living entirely outside the law and needing to steal everything to survive, having no access to medical care and little choice regarding food? No. But it's fun to pretend to be a fantasy pirate.

29. Favourite Food? Sushi. Specifically raw salmon

30. There wasn't a 30. ""All the world will be your enemy, Prince with a Thousand Enemies. And whenever they catch you, they will kill you. But first they must catch you, digger, listener, runner, Prince with the Swift Warning. Be cunning and full of tricks, and your people will never be destroyed."

31. There wasn't a 31, either. "In the same way your heart feels and your mind thinks, you, mortal beings, are the instrument by which the universe cares. If you choose to care, then the universe cares. If you don't, then it doesn't." -- Brennan Lee Mulligan

32. What's in your pockets? Nothing

33. Last thing that made you laugh? a tumblr shitpost

34. What's your favorite animal? Need context. Cats are my favorite housepets.

35. What's your most recent injury? I'm always injured thanks to my crappy skeleton.

36. How many TVs in your house? I don't own a TV (queue Harvey Danger)

37. Worst Pain? I regularly dislocate joints thanks to the EDS, my right hip continually grows and then grinds off osteophytes from its interior lunate surface thanks to a skeletal defect, I have been tattooed over my spine and over my sciatic nerve, and I can say definitively that a periodontal scaling & root planing hurts worse than anything else I've ever experienced by an order of magnitude.

38. Do you like to dance? sure do (my janky bones are more comfortable dancing than jogging)

39. Are your parents still together? Divorced, and my dad died about 20 years later

40. Do you enjoy camping? I really can't camp out anymore; I can't sleep anywhere except my own bed, at home, alone. But I do miss SCA camping.

[typhu88la]

Dreaming of Chickens: Decoding Meanings and Lucky Numbers with Typhu88

Dreaming of chickens is a common experience for many lottery players and dream interpreters. This dream not only carries its unique significance but also correlates with various numbers. To gain a deeper understanding of the appearance of this animal in dreams, let's delve into the detailed interpretation provided by Typhu88 in the following article.

What Does Dreaming of Chickens Mean?

The image of a chicken appearing in dreams is not uncommon. According to dream interpretation experts, the meaning of dreaming about chickens may vary. Therefore, understanding the precise meaning requires consideration of the specific context of each dream. Whether it's a positive or negative omen, the dream about this bird can convey various messages.

Interpreting Dreams of Chickens

Specific cases of dreaming about chickens and their accurate meanings are as follows:

Dreaming of Hens Laying Eggs in the Nest: According to dream dictionaries, hens laying eggs is considered a good omen, signaling positive news related to finances. Those facing economic difficulties may soon secure stable employment and income. Outstanding debts from the past may also be settled with the appearance of a significant sum of money.

Dreaming of Fighting Roosters: Witnessing fighting roosters in a dream may indicate unfavorable situations within the family. Conflicts and misunderstandings among family members create a tense atmosphere. Therefore, spending more time together, communicating openly, and resolving issues are crucial to ease the tension.

Dreaming of Mother Hen Leading Chicks to Find Food: If a dream involves a mother hen leading its chicks to find food, it could be a negative sign related to work. Work-related stress may disrupt life, leaving little time for family and friends. Additionally, new competitors in the workplace may affect relationships with superiors, eroding trust.

Dreaming of Eating Chicken Meat: Dreaming of consuming chicken meat is considered auspicious, suggesting upcoming gatherings and invitations for meals. These social events contribute to a more relaxed state of mind and offer opportunities to connect with new acquaintances.

Dreaming of Cutting a Chicken's Neck: Among various chicken dreams, cutting a chicken's neck may be a warning of potential traffic accidents due to carelessness. To avoid unfortunate incidents, cautious driving, avoiding high speeds, and maintaining alertness are essential.

Dreaming of Plucking Chicken Feathers: Plucking chicken feathers in a dream is regarded as a positive sign. Recent challenges and difficulties will be successfully resolved, allowing long-delayed plans and aspirations to progress as intended.

Lucky Numbers Associated with Dreaming of Chickens

For lottery enthusiasts, here are some recommended number combinations associated with specific chicken dreams:

Dream of Hens Laying Eggs: Bet on 43 – 90 the following day.

Dream of Roosters Crowing: Place bets on 11 – 57 the next day.

Dream of Mother Hen Leading Chicks to Find Food: Consider betting on 28 – 36 on the following day.

Dream of Eating Chicken Meat: Bet on 18 – 04 the next day.

Dream of Cutting a Chicken's Neck: Consider betting on 55 – 84 on the following day.

Dream of Plucking Chicken Feathers: Consider betting on 60 – 79 on the following day.

These numbers are suggested based on the interpretations of specific chicken dreams. Lottery players may find them intriguing and choose their preferred numbers accordingly.

Conclusion

This article has revealed insights for lottery players regarding dreaming of chickens. It is hoped that dream interpreters and players have understood the meanings of each dream and selected the most favorable betting numbers. Stay tuned for more useful dream interpretations in the upcoming articles under the "Dream What, Bet What" section!

Readmore: Mơ Thấy Gà

[idstudy]

Test Bank For Canadian Community as Partner Theory & Multidisciplinary Practice, Fourth Edition Ardene Robinson Vollman

- SECTION 1: Theoretical Foundations - Chapter 01: Population Health Promotion: Essentials and Essence of Practice - Chapter 02: Public Health in Canada - Chapter 03: Ethical Practice in Community Health - Chapter 04: Patterns of Health and Disease: The Role of Epidemiology in Population Health - Chapter 05: Strengthening Community Action: Public Engagement for Social Innovation and Collective Impact - Chapter 06: Developing Individual Skills: Building Capacity for Individual, Collective, and Sociopolitical Empowerment - Chapter 07: Creating Supportive Environments for Health: Enabling Community Action - Chapter 08: Reorienting Health Services: New Directions for Health Promotion - Chapter 09: Economic Thinking in Healthy Public Policy - Chapter 10: Social Justice and Equity for Health Promotion - Chapter 11: Negotiating the Cultural Context of Community Care - Chapter 12: Population Health Action: Prevention and Harm Reduction - Chapter 13: Community Mental Health Promotion - Chapter 14: Social Media and Health Promotion - SECTION 2: The Process of Community as Partner - Chapter 15: A Model to Guide Practice - Chapter 16: Community Assessment - Chapter 17: Community Analysis and Diagnosis - Chapter 18: Planning a Community Health Program - Chapter 19: Implementing a Community Health Program - Chapter 20: Evaluating a Community Health Program: Collaborative Action Evaluation - SECTION 3: Community as Partner in Practice - Chapter 21: Working With the Community Toward Food Security in Limoilou, Québec City Sophie Dupéré, André-Anne Parent, Manon Roy, and Gracia Adam - Chapter 22: Youth Engagement in Community Planning Laura Ryan, Sharon Mackinnon, and Alexandria Crowe - Chapter 26: Nunavut’s Inunnguiniq Parenting Program Gwen K. Healey - Chapter 28: e-Health: Developing Personal Skills for Weight Management K. Ashlee McGuire and Sasha Wiens - Chapter 30: Participatory Action Research: Mosque-Based Exercise for South Asian Muslim Women in Canada Ananya Tina Banerjee and Jennifer A.D. Price - Chapter 32: Influences on Quality of Life of Older Adults in a Remote Dene Community in the Northwest Territories of Canada Pertice Moffitt and Brianne Timpson - Chapter 34: A Community College Dental Hygiene Program Supports Victoria’s Underserved Population Cynthia Smith, Melissa Schaefer, and Shirley Bassett - Chapter 36: Creating Healthy, Active Rural Communities Through Active Transportation Kate Hall and Sue Shikaze - Chapter 37: Empowering Mothers of Murdered Children: A Community-Based Approach Annette Bailey and Sky Starr - Chapter 38: Cultural Continuity: Re-storying Identity of Indigenous Youth Brigette Krieg - Chapter 21: Working With the Community Toward Food Security in Limoilou, Québec City - Chapter 22: Youth Engagement in Community Planning - Chapter 23: “Together Yet Living Apart”: Women Left Behind due to Labour Migration - Chapter 24: Flood Disaster Response: Calgary, Canada - Chapter 25: Promoting the Health of Newcomer Mothers to Manitoba - Chapter 26: Nunavut’s Inunnguiniq Parenting Program - Chapter 27: Enhancing the Personal Skills of Service Providers to Promote the Sexual Health of Street-Involved Youth - Chapter 28: e-Health: Developing Personal Skills for Weight Management - Chapter 29: Hearing the Voices of Immigrant and Refugee Women for Planning Postpartum Depression Care - Chapter 30: Participatory Action Research: Mosque-Based Exercise for South Asian Muslim Women in Canada - Chapter 31: Best Practices in Early Childhood Development Programs in Newcomer Populations - Chapter 32: Influences on Quality of Life of Older Adults in a Remote Dene Community in the Northwest Territories of Canada - Chapter 33: Promoting the Health of Ethnic Women: Cervical Cancer Screening in a Sikh Community - Chapter 34: A Community College Dental Hygiene Program Supports Victoria’s Underserved Population - Chapter 35: Influencing Food Security Through Mediating Public Policies: How It Works in Brazil - Chapter 36: Creating Healthy, Active Rural Communities Through Active Transportation - Chapter 37: Empowering Mothers of Murdered Children: A Community-Based Approach - Chapter 38: Cultural Continuity: Re-storying Identity of Indigenous Youth Read the full article

[grishaversecommunityyy]

The Grishaverse Ship Survey Results

So! After all of that, we finally have the results! What is the general opinion on the ships in the Grishaverse? Well, that’s for you to read below! It’s actually pretty interesting and, while some parts make sense, there were definitely some parts which... surprised me... Anyway, onto the results!

Everything in this post can be split into:

The Grisha Trilogy

Six Of Crows Duology

The Nikolai Series

Shadow and Bone: TV Series

Most Enjoyed Ships

Least Enjoyed Ships

Crack Ships and Shipping Discourse

Notes from the Survey 

(note from mod emily: i tried to bold all of fritz’ comments, but i might have missed a few! be aware there are two of us analysing here :))

The Grisha Trilogy

The first book series we asked about was, of course, the first chronologically: the Grisha Trilogy. The most popular ship, with 83% voters for this series selecting this, was Genya/David (Fritz was glad to hear that; Yes I am). This is likely due to the lack of alternate romantic interests in the series, which seems to be a major issue for Alina’s ships. It also seems to be one genuinely enjoyed by most fans, in contrast to Darkling/Alina and Mal/Alina (each around 30%) and Nikolai/Alina (just under 20%), for which I have definitely seen plenty of debate. The second and third most popular ships for this series were Tamar/Nadia (55%) and Nikolai/Zoya (47%). Interestingly, Genya/Alina (43%) and Zoya/Alina (30%) ranked surprisingly high, especially considering how few of my friends and associates I hear talking about them. Good for them!

Honourable mentions:

Alina/Sun (no doubt inspired by that crack fic I wrote a while back) (Still havent read that out of fear)

Alina alone (a common concept among those surveyed, though most mentioned it later)

Zoya/Genya or Alina/Zoya/Genya

Six Of Crows Duology

This series was a little less divided, I would say. Predictably, Kaz/Inej came out on top with a whopping 96% of voters (:relieved:), with Wylan/Jesper next (90%) and Nina/Matthias just after (83%). None of the others really came close, despite Nina/Inej gathering 35% of the votes and Colm/Aditi at 25% (yeah, I’m not sure why that was so popular on AO3 either, but nobody really has objections so I assume that’s why it amassed so many votes). As Six of Crows is decidedly less divisive about ships and doesn’t have such controversial ships (more on that later), it seems the fandom agrees with canon pairings and the votes are... pretty unanimous.

Honourable Mentions:

Jesper/Wylan/Kuwei

Polycrows (platonic or romantic)

Kaz/Inej/Nina

Whoever didn’t read the instruction about this being for only the book series and put Jesper/Milo. I will never escape. 

The Nikolai Series

This one is a little harder for me because I actually haven’t read this... so over to Fritz for analysis! But first, the stats. At 85%, the most popular ship is Genya/David, followed by Zoya/Nikolai at 77%. Tamar/Nadia and Nina/Hanne draw at 61.5% and Nina/Matthias has 56% voters onboard. There’s no real honourable mentions for this one, sadly. Hello Fritz here! Read the books and very glad to see Genya/David as the top ship as it damn well should. Although still a bit surprising since its more of a side-arc of the two and only ties in with the importance of the story at a specific chapter that I feel like I don’t need to elaborate about, if you read Rule of Wolves. (I believe the popularity of the ship also sky-rocketed due to ROW) Following of course Zoya/Nikolai, the high ranking makes sense, it is the main ship and lets be honest they deserve it <3

I think the only really surprising thing about this is the high votes for Nina/Matthias since [SPOILERS CROOKED KINGDOM] he’s dead so I feel like people should move on from that. Nina/“Hanne” having not as high a ranking as I would’ve thought, but with Matthias still being in the frame I guess we shouldn’t be surprised either.

Shadow and Bone: TV Series

This one is really interesting, with the exclusive show watchers now taking part! We have 89% voting for Kaz/Inej, 76% for David/Genya, 71% for Matthias/Nina, 67% for Ivan/Fedyor (that’s a thing???-->Yeah they had a few somewhat sweet interactions in the background-->nvm i watched it you’re right fritz) and 62% for Mal/Alina. What’s really surprising is how high Malina is compared to Darklina, with Darkling/Alina at 36%. Who knows, maybe Fritz’ analysis can shed some light on this?

Yes yes Fritz to the rescue: First of all we have to see their interactions a little different from what we already knew of them by the end of episode 8. I still think it is a surprising number, since the Darkling in the show isn’t as nasty as he was in the books BUT over all his actions are now seen on TV. We all thought the deer antlers were a necklace amirite? Well no apparently not, the darkling used the worst kind of small science to fit Alinas collarbone to the bone and out comes a gruesome sight: a reason why many people might have started thinking: Wow what a disgusting person he is. And on the Malina “ship”: Mal finally has personality!! jkjk :eyes: Mals and Alinas friendship has been portrayed way better in the show and I believe that the people noticed more chemistry between them especially by the end of season 1. So I’m still a little surprised Darklina has such a low ranking (what with him being all sweet and cuddly in the middle of the show) but it makes sense and the Malina ship as well. Their vibes are just *chefs kiss* and thats coming from someone who didnt even like any of these “ships” <3

Loving the quotation marks for the word ‘ships’, Fritz. Over to the honourable mentions!

Honourable Mentions:

Jesper and Milo (isn’t milo a goat? guys, why?)

Nadia/Marie (huh that didn’t appear anywhere else)

One person had several - Kaz/Inej/Jesper, Dubrov/Mikhael, Dubrov/Mikhael/Mal - and yeah, you can really see the show differences in these mentions right? (whose dubrov...and whose mikhael...)

16% actually voted for Inej/Alina which is wild to me because of book context (they did have chemistry in the show tho :cowboi_smirk:)

Another person with several! We have Nina/Inej, Genya/Alina, Zoya/Alina, Zoya/Genya/Alina. Very sapphic. Good for you.

Kaz/Jesper and Nina/Inej all in one

That’s a lot of honour and mentions but it’s so interesting to me and I think you should see too

Most Enjoyed Ships

The most enjoyed ship was Kaz/Inej. This had unparalleled support, being at 35%. Jesper/Wylan, which was next on the list (23.5%) and Nina/Matthias (18%) were also pretty popular. Most of the others were quite low, though interestingly Mal/Alina only had 1 vote (plus one for the show version). Overall, the SoC ships were a lot more popular in this section, which makes sense - this part is really about your favourite ship, and those were more unanimous in the last sections.

Least Enjoyed Ships

Most people said Darkling/Alina, which got 47% of the NOTP votes. A lot more people disliked Darkling/Alina than liked Kaz/Inej. Make of that what you will, but I take it as a somewhat general agreement among many of you guys. Mal/Alina was also strongly disliked at 22%, but around a half or more of these were clarified to be about the book version of the ship specifically. They really must’ve upgraded in the show! Jesper/Kuwei and any other Darkling ships were also voted by a few, but all of these pale in comparison to the anti-Darklina votes. Shoutout to the person who said Apparat/Anyone. I agree, though it’s not something I thought of before seeing this response. Also one person said they didn’t like the poly ships, which I hope meant just the ones mentioned earlier and not all poly relationships in general... Another shoutout to whoever said Kaz/Heleen, because why did I have to read that. A fun question, all in all!

Crack Ships and Shipping Discourse

I love talking about crack ships, so let’s start with that! This time, I really don’t want to have to count and list because... well, let me show you:

I think that sums up the sheer variety, to be honest. Then again, it would be rude not to mention that the most popular were Jesper/Milo, Darkling/Nikolai and Alina/Sun. (If you’re still confused about that last one, I take full responsibility.)

YES KAZ/KRUGE I SUPPORT!!!

Honourable mention to this:

which was a lot to take in, and:

Now for the discourse. Yep, the part you probably came for. 

Actually... maybe you didn’t? Looking at all of these responses, I see a lot of people genuinely don’t care about ship wars and so on, and often enjoyed the books regardless of the romances involved. Quite a few disapproved of the ongoing (though small) wars between Darklina and Malina, and others had a similar line of thinking, saying we should maybe stop focusing so much on it. You guys are right. I know this is a ship survey, and the conclusions should not include that shipping isn’t as important as we make it (Yes it should), but... that’s where it’s at.

And then again, a lot of you guys expressed disapproval for Darkling/Alina, discussing how it is often one-sided and manipulative and overall unhealthy, so I could be completely off with that last one. Some people mentioned that they ship this but as a slightly different version that the one given to us, recognising the flaws of the canon ship.

Someone said they headcanon Tolya as aroace (OMG YES!!). We need more aroace characters, so thank you for that headcanon :) We also have a few gay ships mentioned here, and one person telling us they love Malina. Yes, you’re right - it’s pretty unpopular, it turns out. Someone else said Alina should’ve been single, and I agree, actually!

One person rickrolled me here. Thankfully, Youtube’s ads saved me. *wipes forehead*

I leave you all with this, in the end:

Notes from the Survey

Statistics Stuff:

The top ships were taken from AO3, so some ships may be more focused on in other books and may not provide accurate statistics for an earlier series.

The main circles this was sent around may have had bias as most people are from the same discord server, which has debated these topics in the past. Hence certain ships may have lower-than-average results. In future, this could be improved upon by sending this to other servers and areas of the fandom.

Personal bias may be present in the analysis, though I have tried to minimise this in the more formal sections.

Observations and Notes from Me:

You guys really don’t like Darklina. Or you love it. Usually one or the other. Wow.

Be glad I didn’t talk about any of the cursed ships in this. The things I have seen... (:cowboi_eyes:)

I thought more people would rickroll me, ngl.

What Surprised You Guys:

Kaz/Inej/Jesper

A few of you guys saw some of those cursed ships, and that surprised you. Well, me too!

Nikolai ships being in the TV Show section at all, what with his character not being in the show (yeah what was up with that huh tztz)

Inej/Alina

The existence of The Severed Moon

Darkling/Nikolai(/Alina)

How fun the quiz was :D

Things You Sent Me:

Bee Movie copypasta

“Nobody expects The Spanish Inquisition!”, except via an AO3 link

A fun fact about enzymes! I liked this one

Fic recs for Feriku and Sarai (esp for Wylan/Jesper shippers)

Another rickroll

Nice compliments :) aww you guys

I asked everyone for some kind of placeholder name and never used it. Sorry! But hey, anonymity, right?

Closing Statements

If you got this far (I feel like ive been sitting here for hours), thanks for reading! This was fun to do and I hope you enjoyed all of this too! The survey is still open for anyone who hasn’t done it but wants to. If I get a huge amount of new responses, I might update this post! But for now, adios!

-mod emily (and mod fritz)

[crowtrinkets]

I posted 2,908 times in 2021

770 posts created (26%)

2138 posts reblogged (74%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 2.8 posts.

I added 2,019 tags in 2021

#fictif last legacy - 421 posts

#fictif - 396 posts

#the arcana - 365 posts

#last legacy - 156 posts

#crow asks - 151 posts

#fictif felix - 137 posts

#fictif sage - 120 posts

#fictif anisa - 111 posts

#the arcana game - 99 posts

#crow rambles - 63 posts

Longest Tag: 133 characters

#fun fact my art history professor said when she went to the pantheon when she was in college there was a mcdonald’s across the street

My Top Posts in 2021

#5

My Partner Reacts to Arcana Characters with a Little Context

A few of you asked and you shall receive 😌

I’ve talked about Arcana quite a bit with my partner so they know lil bits here and there

We’ll start with the main 6

See the full post

255 notes • Posted 2021-04-11 03:36:40 GMT

#4

When your whole family is emo but you

281 notes • Posted 2021-04-23 17:51:06 GMT

#3

See the full post

295 notes • Posted 2021-02-15 02:54:29 GMT

#2

Analysis of Vesuvia :) Pt 1

No one asked for this yet here I am 

Part 2, Part 3A, Part 3B,

This all started cause of @helpiminhell ‘s post

I started thinking about this last year while playing Julian’s route. At the very beginning it has a scene where the Apprentice finds Julian and says he’s “standing at the aqueduct” which confused me because Aqueducts traditionally look like this

This is a Roman aqueduct, more specifically the Pont du Gard, in France. Now I’m not saying that the only the Romans had aqueducts, there are ones that exist in other parts of the world, I am just more familiar with this one. And it resembles the Vesuvian aqueducts.

Aqueducts are built at a slight angle so that mountain water can be transported to cities to provide fresh water. So they’re VERY tall and VERY high up.

Ok first of all lets start by looking at Vesuvia itself

See the full post

398 notes • Posted 2021-03-19 20:41:51 GMT

#1

See the full post

412 notes • Posted 2021-03-01 02:36:47 GMT

Get your Tumblr 2021 Year in Review →

[bisexualoftheblade-old]

how many wips do you have? like what are they all, and not the number of wips in a fandom? what are all the names?

okay. fuck you. fuck you so much. fuck you.

i’m putting this under a read more cut no one else deserves to see this shit. a lot of these are requests, and for those i will just write out the request itself

Shadowhunters:

domestic polycule fluff with tem, jessa, and will because im not a coward

Supernatural

- hehe hoho i request destiel hehehe

- request 61/? cai cai cai cai i need you to rewrite the destiel scene but yk. GOOD. not like i'm in the know about the spn fandom or anything, it's been years for me. but DO IT

Bright Sessions

- caleb/adam grisha AU

- mark bryant vs. united states aka sue the AM

- caleb/adam college fluff

Umbrella Acaademy

- request 31/? i want a ben and klaus drabble please spare me some brotherly bickering

- AND SO BEGINS NIGHT 4 with request 13/? oooh oooh can i get a raymond and allison playlist??? i think their vibes together would SLAP

- hi there night 2 is technically morning 3 but who's counting not me anyway request 5/? can i get a ben moodboard? gotta rep my tua bb

Percy Jackson

- request 9/? can i get a percabeth moodboard or quote edit?? like god they're the og couple goals take me back to high school cai

- For the 100 follower things :D Jercy getting caught in the rain

- request 29/? a drabble about literally anything to do with pjo. i’ll be happy with anyone and anything i’m love these children

- *somersaults in like I’m a real fancy acrobat* hello ello ello may I request some camp half blood chaos possible involving *does a flip* ✨side characters✨ <3

Penumbra Podcast 

- request 52/? drabble about the penumbra podcast. this is for ren bc ren likes it and i don't actually know anything about it. juno? i think? that's the one ren likes. write it for ren

- Tpp ghost hunting / buzzfeed unsolved au

- sad juno smut

- final resting place fic go brrrr

Marvel

- request 6/? i'm going to my roots y'all can i get a spider-man playlist? if not a playlist then i'd honestly be happy with literally anything involving spider-man

- request 15/? i'm going crazy this is recorded evidence of me actually losing it ANYWAY can i get a quote edit for something from iron man? literally anything that man says is gold so cai's choice :D he deserved better in endgame i'm still bitter

- request 42/? do another spidey thing that differs from the other spidey thing

- request 73/? you have Opinions. rant about infinity way and/or endgame. go.

- request 74/? quote edit for deadpool!!

- spideytorch relationship character study

- peter parker as a tired grad student monitoring the young avengers (send help)

Six of Crows

- okay listen i wasn't going to request anything bc i worry about you but also? if you want to/have the time hit me with a playlist for our girl nina zenik

- request 43/? fuckin give me the ending anya should have had. she is alive and with her new son and having a great time

- request 45/? inej moodboard?

- request 47/? will you make literally any meme of your choosing for six of crows?

- request 48/? write a drabble for kaz, my favorite bastard

- okay so i don't actually like nina or mattias that much but i still wanna hear about your thoughts (and also see if you'll change my mind)

- kaz brekker turning 18 fic. birthday party, everyone singing, whole shebang. i need it stat

- religious trauma fic aka i started shipping kaz/alina/inej and i can’t stop

- kaz trauma soup (he has D.I.D. and you can’t prove me wrong)

- my two redacted fics for @grishaversebigbang​

- wesper fake dating

- six of crows bright sessions crossover: everyone gets therapy

TMA

- uhh... s1 gang having a nice time? melanie getting to have some Pride™️? some "fun" horror thing?

- request 7/? spare steph and jason bonding? please sir? spare some for a humble child such as myself?

- okay so this was meant for night 3 but i had midterm shit SO this is honorary night 3 let's DO THIS request 8/? i want a moodboard of extremely out of context magnus archives shit like i mean confuse the FUCK out of me i don't go here i know Nothing about it

- request 11/? OKAY so i need tim stoker meeting tim drake now i need my timmy to meet your tim plus i want to see character differences no i'm not trying to create a tim stoker in my head so i can read a's fic while NOT thinking of tim drake whaaaaaat you're crazy

- request 18(i think)/? i need a quote edit of every time within the first like. 15 eps of tam where jon is like “sounds fake but go off” thank u bb

- request 40/? i challenge you to write a tma drabble based only on the episodes i've heard. i'm currently halfway through episode 23

- Jon being lovingly bullied into taking a break. I'm aware this has been written a million times but it is one of my favorite things.

- spiral!sasha AU

- extinction martin go brrrrr

- high school era timsasha. they've both been friends for years, and everyone always asks when they will be a couple. they decide to fake date, to prove everyone wrong and show what a bad couple they would be. turns out that's a bit trickier than they thought

- after sasha comes back, tim is broken. he can't let go, scared that if he looks away for even a minute he'll lose her again. sasha suggests shibari as a way for him to give up control

- sasha pov mag 19 au, sacrificing herself to save the others, knows that if she gives herself up to the not!them it will let the others live

- this is the "tim finds a polaroid of sasha" trope

- early archives days,, long nights in research,,, clothes sharing,, somft. late nights and falling asleep at their desks warm and safe in the other's presence

- two parts: timsasha as kids, each picking a constellation that is "theirs". just soft kid antics. tim at sasha's grave glancing up to see their constellations

- continuing your job’s a joke (you’re broke)

DC Comics

- TIMSTEPH HADESTOWN AU,,,

- my redacted fic for @batfam-big-bang​

- request for you to get a decent amount of sleep? serious answer, dickkori, SAL's Venus

- request 4/? timsteph morning after 👀 mayhaps?

- a concept: nonbinary stephanie brown

- teehee hi mom, you don’t have to do this if you don’t want to, but can i request damian angst for your accomplishments 100 followers?

- hi you can ignore my first request if you want, or you can ignore this one. but bls possibly write some bikini ra’s? -the bikini bitch

- request 27/? jay is asking through me for a jondami playlist but tbh i also want it so win win yk?

- "I don't know how to help you but I can help you find someone who does" with bruce and jason? im just craving bruce being a good day to jason for once

- “I am putting you in time out because you need to understand the consequences of your actions.” with steph and jason as dumbass disaster bi best friends pretty please?

- request 32/? timsteph patrol date!!!

- request 33/? timsteph *gala* date? mayhaps??

- request 37/? tim drake drabble but make it Edgy cai

- request 39/? drabble of a prank war between tim and damian

- joyfire cuddly fluff please? or like just any outlaw fluff if joyfire isnt your thing (feel free to add every member of the outlaws, dont feel like u gotta stick with jason, kori, roy i love them all)

- barbara and robin! jason fluff? bonding over books or something?

- request 62/? i need a drabble about the chaotic trio jason, tim, and steph i'm love them ty

- request 63/? batfam x mcu crossover. batfam meets ironfam. give me ALL the cliches. ALL OF THEM

- request 64/? young justice x young avengers - jay cuz idk SHIT about the young avengers

- request 66/? jondami moodboard pls and ty

- request 67/? timsteph moodboard!!!!!!

- request 69/? HEHEHE kinky 😏 i would v much like a timsteph drabble of the almost first time. does that make sense? like i don't want you to go all the way NSFW cuz i know that's against the rules and i'm a rule follower. but like they *almost* go all the way. this could be fade to black or some shit i don't care just make it a lil steamy and have Fun

- i request damian angst! all of it

- hmm... maybe i request? jondami?

- mayhaps,,,,some batfam,,,,,committing crimes? ily be gay do crime <3 - lu

- How about a ficlet with Steph and Cass?

Found Family Bingo Prompts

- no powers au

- tunnel

- first day

- join the club

- hurt/comfort

- experiment

- playing favorites

- hold on

- possession

- 10 o’clock

- singing

- road

- snitch

- curfew

- timer

- fantasy au

- zombie au

- dreams

- campfire

- are you okay

- movie night

- games

- scared

Miscellaneous

- a request: Write A Drabble, Coward

- is it too late to request a moodboard for me?

- request 20/? i’m going off book because i’m in a Chaotic Mood™️ can you just absolutely vibe check me like go off cai demolish me

- request 21/? i formally request that you pick a favorite cai. i don’t care what that favorite pertains to, just pick a favorite something

- request 23/? roast me

- request 24/? can i have a buzzfeed unsolved spoopy playlist but spoiler alert it’s not spoopy bc shane doesn’t believe does this make sense it has been a Day™️

- request 25/50 i want a jake and amy fic make it Soft cai i’m love them b99 is so good

- request 28/? i know nothing about the lord of the rings so make something that will confuse the shit out of me

- request 34/? malvie and jaylos moodboards 😈

- request 35/? a moodboard for the bbb mods!! perceive all of us!!!

- request 36/? moodboard for the tua mods too???? mayhaps??

- request 41/? doctor WHO? idk but i want a drabble of him and the one character i know from doctor who which is rose

- request 46/? make an alignment meme with our group, have fun!!!

- request 49/? i want you to kin assign me a character from every fandom you can/want to. go feral

- request 50!!!!/? this is a special request. the most special request. can you make a bastards tbh playlist? i want our vibes encapsulated. i want us in music form. i want to hear those songs and be like "that's me and cai" and smile.

- requests 51/? i know jack shit about good omens. explain it to me in the most confusing way possible. make me know less by the end than i know now

- request 53/? can you write a mel aesthetic? i'm Curious

- request 54/? give me a list of book recs cai i want some good book recs pls

- request 56/? edit a picture of US together too

- request 58/? oooh can i have a disney edit? like. hm. i just really love disney and i want anything to do with disney. like a quote or an aesthetic or an aesthetic edit i just want disney.

- request 59/? i would v much like a recipe for carbonara. i've never had it but it sounds fucking delicious

- request 60/? ooh hey can i get a makeup tutorial? i know you like makeup, i'm shit at doing makeup. teach me

- request 65/? i need the most emo playlist you can make that vibes with dear evan hansen thank you

- request 68/? i want a superwholock moodboard. this can be serious, with the actual fandoms in mind, or literally what the era felt like. the insanity. the horror.

- request 70/? ooh ooh ooh do you have a good bread recipe?? i wanna get that bread

- request 71/? i want a playlist with the vibes of summoning a demon. please don't ask questions. i don't have answers. and if i do, no i don't.

- For the requests, how about writing something based on a friend?

- request 75/? MMMM i want literally anything to do with natasha, pierre, and the great comet of 1812

- request 76/? i want some healthy recipes. help a girl out

- a feral bbb quote or two?

- you perceive my plant but now I dare thee to perceive mine own visage

- okay this is a two for one request. 1. you did the bee movie script so now we need a shrek two script edit 2. sleep please

- Pansexual mb for my lil queer soul?

- my (probably) final request is just for you to ramble about something, i don't really care what

- HI ILY CONGRATS AS WELL CAUSE IM LATE BUT CONGRATS. could i request a pirates of the caribbean (or just pirates) or whatever you what to do, free range.

- mood board for the beluga whales who got brought to the animal sanctuary in Iceland please?

- 100 follower request: Moodboard for my stuffed cow Oaky?

[enthusiasticmusicalquotes]

QUESTION OF THE DAY #6: Send me your most unpopular theatre opinion. Something that might make someone want to fight you. Please don’t be offensive (racist, misogynistic, etc.), but other than that…go as hard as you want. Spill all the tea.

MY ANSWERS: 1) The Pretty Woman score fucking slaps idek, 2) Come From Away (or even Bandstand...) should’ve won the 2017 Best Musical Tony, 3) I prefer the West End Heathers cast album to Off Broadway, 4) Shows shouldn’t sweep the Tonys just because they’re Best Musical worthy...shows that aren’t too critically acclaimed but have really impressive elements should get recognition too.

SUMMARY: Out of 37 responses: 5 were about Dear Evan Hansen, 3 were about Hamilton specifically, 2 were about: Rent, ALW, Wicked, In The Heights, Be More Chill, etc. etc....if your favorite musical is one of these and you get easily offended i wouldn’t read these.

NOTE: I agree with some of these, I highly disagree with others. I do not endorse any of the things that were said, I am simply sharing them with you all. These were what was sent to me. I’m going to number them so if you want to complain about or agree with one you can send me an ask with the number you’re referring to. 

1. howmuchchildrens said: unpopular opinion: i really liked the 2012 version of les mis. i liked russel crowe as javert.

2. Anonymous said: Unpopular opinion: Bootlegs harm to local theatre communities, though I do not believe anyone intends for that to be the case. While it's possible to bootleg responsibly (and I might even say it's beneficial to do so), those who may not know the intricacies of theatrical copyright law or who haven't heard the horror stories from a theatre that's been hit with legal action DUE to a bootleg may record or watch a show irresponsibly, which can greatly harm other routes of theatre accessibility.

3. Anonymous said: Andrew Lloyd Webber musicals are mostly terrible. He only got and stayed popular because a lot of other musical creators and taste makers died in the AIDS epidemic

4. Anonymous said: Almost all musicals using the songs of one artist are cash grabs with no plot or point.

5. Anonymous said: If your musical only has 1 woman OR the women only get sad/romantic songs you need to do something else with your life.

6. nerdshrimp said: Unpopular opinion: Next To Normal does a better job of portraying the effects of mental illness than Dear Evan Hansen does. N2N also doesn't romanticise mental illness & excuse shitty behavior like DEH tries to

7. Anonymous said: Hadestown is a lesser show on Broadway. I fell in love with the live album, and I was so excited for it to come to Broadway. I was so disappointed to see the changes they made. Orpheus and Eurydice's relationship is less interesting and more generic. The changed lyrics are often sloppy and not as good as the original. They fucking wrecked Epic III. Also, no hate to R/ee/ve, but he's just not a good enough singer to convince me that he could soften the heart of Hades. His high notes are awful.

8. Anonymous said: opinion: we are the tigers deserves a broadway run or at least a proshot

9. bimystique said: e/c is NOT A GOOD FUCKING SHIP. the ENTIRE PLOT OF PHANTOM OF THE OPERA is christine trying to escape erik's abuse. WHAT FUCKING PART OF THAT IS ROMANTIC TO YOU PEOPLE.

10. Anonymous said: unpopular theatre opinion(s): Dear Evan Hansen is Very Bad for its handling of mental illness, Hamilton is overrated and praised too much, and high school/college musical theatre programs can be just as good as Broadway. (also, musical movies would be better if they hired broadway actors, but that's not an unpopular opinion)

11. Anonymous said: I don’t like Lin Manuel Miranda and Hamilton is overrated

12. Anonymous said: I don’t like dear Evan Hansen..... at all. I think it’s kind of boring and really overhyped.

13. Anonymous said: unpopular opinion: in the heights is far better than Hamilton. both are good but ith hits different yknow

14. Anonymous said: The bring it on and legally blonde musicals are BAD! The movies are 100 times better

15. Anonymous said: unpopular opinion? wicked is the epitome of white feminism. it's preached as super great for representation but we literally got the first black glinda in 2019?!?!?!? and before that woc could only play elphaba who's villainized and deemed evil by the whole city

16. Anonymous said: Not so much an opinion as a reaction, but of all Lin's works (ITH, Bring it On, 21 Chump Street, Hamilton), 21 Chump Street gets the biggest emotional reaction of all the cast recordings. The second Justin is like "I don't want your money" (And then later on with the "...what the heck did you.... dooooo", I am a complete goner. Worse than Abuela Claudia and Philip Hamilton's deaths combined

17. Anonymous said: Whenever Je.ssie Mu.eller hits certain notes, she sounds like Tommy Pickles from Rugrats.

18. Anonymous said: aotd6: not everyone knows what im talking about, but the cats 2016 broadway revival choreography was WAYYYY better than the original. the original had a lot of creepy uncomfortable moments and the new one looks way cleaner and up to date

19. Anonymous said: raoul is better than the phantom in every conceivable way

20. Anonymous said: I hate Anastasia so much. it's such a boring show and the music is uninteresting. I wanted to like it so bad but GOD is it boring.

21. Anonymous said: In the Heights.... Overrated.

22. Anonymous said: I do not know if this is an unpopular opinion or not, but here is my opinion: Musicals that are entirely or nearly entirely songs (Hamilton, Hadestown, In The Heights, etc) are the most valid bc I can understand the plot without using wikipedia (I'm looking at you, Jagged Little Pill, I love you but what is your plot????)

23. Anonymous said: I'd rather have a bad film adaptation than no film adaptation

24. Anonymous said: Rent sucks and while it was a stepping stone for more ""controversial"" topics to appear on Broadway it's actually biphobic and features several generally terrible people doing generally terrible things and doesn't actually address the real crisis at all; it's all performative wokeness. The only real good it did was cast a bunch of "nobodies" for the time and make theater somewhat more accessible.

25. stardust-and-seas said: Dear Evan Hansen doesn't properly address mental health despite being about mental health and resolves nobodies character arcs satisfactorily. It's another show that reaches its hands around the throats of marginalized teenagers saying "look I'm relatable!!" The songs taken out of context are significantly more powerful than when placed in the context of the show, which gives us exactly zero evidence of Evan's work to improve and also never resolves Evan's u healthy goals in the first place.

26. stardust-and-seas said: Be More Chill is a raging dumpster fire and the only decent song from it, Michael in the Bathroom, reads as a whiny rich white boy whose potential social anxiety and depression is left ambiguous, which is exactly what it is. When taken out of context it better exemplifies the othering that happens to marginalized groups but lets be real here: bullying/cliques don't happen to "just anyone"; it's the marginalized groups that are othered and abandoned for not being "normal"

27. stardust-and-seas said: There's a difference between shows that don't take themselves seriously because they're meant to be fun and light and shows that pretend not to take themselves too seriously but want to be taken seriously by the audience and the latter always ends up mediocre at best

28. redueka said: i think that dear evan hansen handles every issue it presents badly. i also think that beetlejuice was badly directed

29. Anonymous said: Well I don’t EVER condone cheating, I’m team Jamie in the last five years. He tried so hard to make their relationship and life good, and Cathy gave him nothing in return

30. youcanlolyoucansayohwell said: The answer of the day- I don't get the BMC hype. I'm out of the age bracket it's meant for that might it be. I enjoy it but I don't think it's the greatest thing in the world like some theatre fans do.

31. Anonymous said: i like the rent 2005 recording better than the obcr

32. Anonymous said: unpopular opinion ? : the music of wicked just like isn’t that good. like it’s good but it’s not like, Good, yknow. it’s pretty standard it doesn’t stand out to me. kinda boring

33. Anonymous said: mari.ah r.ose fa.ith is not a good regina george. everything she says sounds monotonous and while i understand she's trying to play off the ""whatever"" teenager (she does this a lot with her teenage characters), 90% of the time she sounds and looks like she doesn't want to be there; her voice is great but most songs feel unnatural and forced and she changes them too much. she's just not selling regina to me as a believable character (this is all from a technical point of view)

34. Anonymous said: Unpopular Opinion: as much as i like musicals based on movies (like waitress), i think not every movie needs to be a musical.

35. Anonymous said: Unpopular opinion (?) the emojiland musical Kinda Slaps

36. Anonymous said: as one of my high school tech theatre teachers once said: "Andrew Lloyd Webber is overrated"

37. Anonymous said: sorry to whoever likes it but Seussical is an absolutely nonsense crackpot plot disguised with okay-to-good music, like I don't even know where to start. I was in the show and didn't even know there was an entire secondary plot line featuring sending children to war until we were halfway through rehearsals

[thesethingsofours]

Nina Simone, Duende & Pastel Blues

Nina Simone’s Pastel Blues is a true embodiment of duende — the rare depth and darkness that impels her work.

1969 © Jack Robinson / Hulton Archive

Her distinctive warble permeates thousands of movie soundtracks, hip hop samples and advertisements, let alone the countless personal moments by which people demarcate their lives. This omnipresence allows us to forget who Nina Simone was, and the outright value of her music. For the streaming generation, knowledge of such an artist is limited to “top hits”; on some Spotify, Sunday Mood playlist. Or worse, the songs will only wriggle into the brain from various attempts to sell Coca-Cola, Seat Atecas, Renault Clios, Volvo XC90s, Fords, Apple Watches, Chanel №5, Warehouse discount clothes, Virgin Flights, HTC Phones, Jockey underwear and Behr Paint.

Most egregious among these is the Muller Light yoghurt advert, inescapable for anyone sentient in early 2000s UK. It uses her 1968 song I Ain’t Got No, I Got Life, but only the second, I Got Life half; carving it off entirely from its I Ain’t Got No essence. In its truncated form, the song sounds like a free-wheeling celebration of life and limb: Got my hair, got my head / Got my brains, got my ears / Got my eyes, got my nose / Got my mouth, I got my smile. Yet the missing section is a lengthy condemnation of segregated American society, where disenfranchised black people had been given nothing to cling to: Ain’t got no mother, ain’t got no culture / Ain’t got no friends, ain’t got no schoolin’ / Ain’t got no love, ain’t got no name /…Ain’t got no god / Hey, what have I got? / Why am I alive, anyway?

Yes, the song contains positivity in tune and verse, but stripping the darkness from Simone’s work also strips away its incandescent light. It would be like taking Rodin’s Gates of Hell and shrouding everything except the seemingly peaceful thinker at the centre; or cutting the lightbulb from the top of Picasso’s Guernica and presenting it as a bright, merry, representative segment. Or a millionaire DJ taking Martin Luther King’s I Have a Dream Speech and turning it into a dance track during race protests and a global pandemic. But surely not even David Guetta would do that.

The reduction of such a deliberate and profound artist to commercialised snippets is saddening. In Simone’s case this is particularly true because of the highly unusual, powerful darkness that clutches her music. She has something rare. In Spanish, it is known as duende.

Duende

Rooted in Iberian cultures, duende derives from “duen de casa”, meaning “possessor of a house”. Originally the superstition of a dark, goblin-like spirit, it is now the concept of impassioned, death-endorsing, creative invention; typically associated with the performative aspects of Flamenco. In that context, poet and playwright Federico García Lorca describes its contemporary meaning (in his 1933 Buenos Aries lecture, Theory and Play of the Duende), as the “buried spirit of saddened Spain”. 

As a guitar maestro explained to him, “the duende is not in the throat: the duende surges up, inside, from the soles of the feet”. Lorca quotes others, one, after listening to Paganini’s violin, identified it as, “a mysterious force that everyone feels and no philosopher has explained”; or another, upon hearing Manuel de Falla perform Nocturno, proposed that, “all that has dark sounds has duende”. In Lorca’s own words:

For every man, every artist called Nietzsche or Cézanne, every step that he climbs in the tower of his perfection is at the expense of the struggle that he undergoes with his duende. Not with an angel, as is often said, nor with his Muse…

…With idea, sound, gesture, the duende delights in struggling freely with the creator on the edge of the pit. Angel and Muse flee, with violin and compasses, and the duende wounds, and in trying to heal that wound that never heals, lies the strangeness, the inventiveness of a man’s work.

Nina Simone embodies duende.

1968 © Hulton Archive

It exists not only within her more explicit protest songs, born of the Civil Rights movement, but is present in everything she did — a ferocity, fragility, sadness and authenticity that claws its way up her throat and flings itself from her open mouth. It’s an otherworldly channelling of something very few can access, but which audiences pray to feel. With music so steeped in darkness, using it to gleefully sell products is a comedy — a joke on the shamelessness naivety of consumers and marketeers — as well as a tragedy.

A Brief History

Born Eunice Kathleen Waymon in 1933 and raised in Jim Crow-era North Carolina, Simone was ambitiously desirous of becoming a concert pianist — an uncommon career path for a young black girl at the time. Despite obtaining the ability to do so, she was instead funnelled into performing a mixture of jazz, gospel, soul and folk. And blues, in every shade. Her voice — ostensibly untrained — was burnished in the fire of necessity: if she wanted to earn money in the clubs, she had to sing as well as play piano. She electrified audiences, but remained persistently dissatisfied with how she was received and perceived:

It’s only normal to want acceptance from one’s own country for one’s gifts God has given you. I’m tired of begging for it. It took me 20 years of playing in clubs, in nightclubs, on the concert stage doing all these records to get a decent, real accurate review of my gifts by the New York Times… It was the first time I had been compared to Maria Callas as a diva. All before that I had been labelled a jazz singer, a blues singer, High Priestess of Soul, which… I am not sure what that is. I have studied piano 18 years! So yes I’m tired. I’m too old to keep asking for love from the industry. (Nina Simone, 1984)

Elevated by activists and aficionados alike, yet shunned by the industry at the height of her popularity after vigorously speaking out for black rights (see: Mississippi Goddam), she evolved as an artist in parallel with the revolution of television; first appearing in grainy monochrome and then in saturated technicolour. In the 12-year period between 1959 and 1971, she released 16 studio albums. In the years that followed, before her death in 2003, she released just four more.

Pastel Blues

These days, the idea of albums is virtually defunct, Drakefied to an incoherent heap of songs occasionally “dropped” like laundry, to be worn or discarded at the listeners behest. But as with other great artists, if the extent of Simone’s depth and duende is to be appreciated, it is essential to listen to her albums — the home of her authorship.

Pastel Blues is a nine track, 36-minute LP, mainly of covers and blues standards. It was released in October 1965, eight months after Malcolm X was assassinated, seven months after Bloody Sunday in Selma, and two months after the Voting Rights Act became law. Arguably, it arrived at the height of the movement. Nina Simone was 32. Just imagine.

Although the title suggests something soft and light, underneath the label, the substance is preternatural. As you listen, watch the image on the cover transform from a gentle gaze into a pointed glare; a stare in stereo. Altogether, it is a marvellous enunciation of Nina Simone’s darkness, with which she writhed in body, mind, and soul to give us some of the most memorable artworks of the 20th century. Pastel Blues gives her duende its due.

Listen to Pastel Blues on Apple Music 

Listen to Pastel Blues on Spotify (1965 Live Version)

Listen to Pastel Blues on YouTube

Track-By-Track

Be My Husband

It opens with Be My Husband, featuring lyrics incidentally written by Simone’s own husband (and manager), Andrew Stroud. Slightly off-kilter, echoey, four-beat stamping and clapping, heightened by the tight splash of a high-hat, introduces a languid, yet driving pace. With purity of purpose, Simone’s voice drawls intensely into her opening repeated demand: Be my husband and I’ll be your wife / Love and honour you the rest of your life.

It suggests a woman pleading for the hand of her lover, committing to do all he would expect of a wife: If you want me to cook and sew / Outside of you there is no place to go. In return, she asks him only to curb his wandering eye: Stick the promise man you made me / That you stay away from Rosalie, yeah. This is presumably the intended (somewhat biased) perspective of the lyricist. But the way Simone sings it, with improvised shrieks dropping into deep, bassy groans, something quite different is suggested.

Nina Simone & Andrew Stroud, photographer unknown.

At this point, Simone was four years into an emotionally and physically abusive marriage with Stroud. Knowing this, it has far more resonance to picture her in a kitchen, staring down a boorish, unsatisfactory, and unsatisfying man; stomping on a linoleum floor, and throwing him a powerful, sacred ultimatum — give me what you promised. To imagine it otherwise is to imagine how Ed Sheeran might perform it — with the frivolousness of a millennial wedding on a sunny day in Surrey, and all the stamping, clapping vigour of a gaggle of giggling, inebriated aunts.

Furthermore, Be My Husband is effectively a re-worked chain gang song from the segregated south — a version of Rosie by the Inmates of Parchman Farm Penitentiary recorded in 1947 Mississippi by ethnomusicologist, Alan Lomax (and notoriously sampled by… well, well, well… hello again, David Guetta). The original lyrics ring out: Be my woman, gal, I’ll be your man… Stick to the promise girl that you made me / Won’t got married til’ I go free. Even aside from Simone’s interpretation, its genesis as a song of imprisonment immediately gives it a grimmer tone.

Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out

As it bows to track two, Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out, the heavy opening of the album is extended. A blues standard written in 1923, it was popularised by Bessie Smith’s 1929 recording and re-introduced to a new audience by Eric Clapton, who performed it throughout his career. Sam Cooke, Otis Reading, Janis Joplin, Bobby Womack, John Lennon, Derek and the Dominos and Duane & Gregg Allman all put their spin on it, with wildly varying degrees of quality, duende and notoriety.

It begins deceptively upbeat: Well once I lived the life of a millionaire / spending my money I didn’t care / Taking my friends out for a mighty good time. Simone’s version is no different as she lightly pads major key piano chords, but what immediately sets her rendition apart is the tremble in her voice. It sounds like she is singing through tears, not least when the song reaches its sobering bridge: Nobody wants you / Nobody needs you.

In Simone’s case, the song became painfully prescient. Following her fall from grace within the music industry, she left for Barbados in 1970, where she had an affair with then Prime Minister, Errol Barrow. Her subsequent divorce from Stroud limited access to her income, which he, as her manager, controlled. Also, due to an arrest warrant for taxes she withheld in protest at the Vietnam War, Simone was unable to return to the US, so ended up first in Liberia, then living across Europe. With little money to live from and few relationships to speak of, for a time, she came to epitomise the song.

End of the Line

The first fully original song on the album, End of the Line is initially carried by another deception of positiveness, this time through its melody; romantic and light despite the lyrics: This is the end of the line / I’ve clearly read every sign / The way you glance at me / Indifferently / And take your hand from mine. Such is the flowing nostalgia of the tune, it is plausible to imagine the same song with all words made positive (e.g. The way you glance at me / So happily / And place your hand in mine).

Divisible into two parts, the first has the feel of Simone sipping a martini in a Rogers & Hammerstein bar (perhaps offering some musical theatrical hope of salvation). The second, however, gives way to resigned sorrow, over a steady, rumba beat. Aside from showcasing Simone’s prodigious classical piano-playing ability — albeit only through twinkling, floral runs — the richness of her vocal tone spills forth, smoothly and lusciously, particularly in the second half. While lyrically it lacks the forcefulness of other tracks, its simplicity opens the door to Simone’s abundant musicality.

Trouble in Mind

Written in 1924, Trouble in Mind is another blues standard, but given its title, after three tracks of despair, it surprisingly brings a degree of levity.

The original lyrics (as sung by Dinah Washington, Janis Joplin, Jerry Lee Lewis, Ella Fitzgerald, Marianne Faithful, Johnny Cash and original recording artist Thelma La Vizzo) are far darker than this version. Typically, the singer, wrestling with the irrepressible demons of their psyche, contemplates suicide by train: I’m gonna lay my head / On some lonesome railroad line / Let the 2:19 train / Ease my troubled mind. Yet on Pastel Blues, it never gets that far.

While refrain of the song always concludes: I won’t be blue always / ‘Cause the sun’s gonna shine in my back door someday, Simone’s version leans more heavily on those lyrics than others’ versions; giving it a more hopeful perspective. She also dresses the music with a quicker, cheerier pace. Furthermore, instead of seeking the certainty and finality of a gruesome suicide, she resolves only that: I’m going down to the river / Gonna get me a rocking chair / If the Lord don’t help me / I’m gonna rock away from here. 

Given she was be known to perform the full lyrics on other occasions, it is an interesting choice to uplift them on Pastel Blues. In terms of the album’s full narrative, however, it makes sense to offer a moment of optimism, keeping us on an undulating journey of emotion, rather than wallowing solely in melancholy.

© Ron Kroon

Tell Me More and More and Then Some

The dynamic changes once again in Tell Me More and More and Then Some, as Simone hints towards her unapologetic, simmering, sexuality. Sex is known to have often enthralled her — as she wrote in her diary, “My attitude toward sex was that we should be having it all the time.”

Originally recorded in 1940 by Billie Holiday, Simone tweaks the lyrics to make the titular line more demanding, more desirous: I want more, more and then some. Accompanied by quivering, raunchy harmonica and clanging, insistent piano chords, Simone’s phrasing and emphasis draws lustfulness from the lyrics: You know how I love that stuff / Whisper from now on / To doomsday / But I never no no no no, ooh / I never, no I never, will get enough. It’s an erotic elaboration on Holiday’s already sultry interpretation, loading the request for whispered sweet nothings with a throbbing, sexual overtone.

Chilly Winds Don’t Blow

Chilly Winds Don’t Blow acts as a natural, also largely optimistic companion to Trouble in Mind, making Tell Me More and More and Then Some the bawdy, thick-cut meat between two, forward-looking slices of bread. That said, the song was previously released by Simone as single in 1959, as an even more upbeat spiritual, with denser orchestration and less of her signature vocal style.

On Pastel Blues, however, it is likely sung from a position of matured disappointment towards the unending hostility experienced by black Americans. With a sparser arrangement and greater vocal freedom, the new context is pointedly conveyed: There will be red roses round my door / I’m going where they’ll welcome me for sure, oh baby / Where the chilly winds, they don’t blow. Notably, as her piano rumbles, mimicking the sound of a rolling, cold wind, Simone also refers to her own maturity, as a woman. In this new version, she no longer wants to go where her father waits for her. Instead, it’s her daddy who will be waiting.

1968 © David Redfern

Ain’t No Use

Recorded in 1959 by Joe Williams and Count Basie, Ain’t No Use manifested as a break-up song. In that bright, brassy version, Williams croons at the opening: Ain’t no use of hanging round / Ain’t no use I put you down / There’s no love left / In my heart for you. In Simone’s rendition, the subject of the warning is much more ambiguous. When considered alongside Chilly Winds Don’t Blow and the tracks that follow, Simone instead implies a sense of exasperation, perhaps a desire to withdraw from broken American society, or the increasingly hostile music industry. She opens not with fallen love but accusation and fatigue: Ain’t no use baby / I’m leaving the scene / Ain’t no use baby / You’re too doggone mean / Yes I’m tired of paying dues / Having the blues / Hitting bad news.

To this point, Pastel Blues is a solid, often special, blues album, but here it really begins to soar; marking it apart. The underlying anguish of the blues is of course ingrained in the genre, but with Simone, her duende, fraught personal life, and civil rights activism, a dramatic narrative acceleration begins to emerge in the gap between Ain’t No Use and Strange Fruit (and again between Strange Fruit and Sinnerman). Without realising, tracks one to eight have been quietly coaxing you towards the edge of a cliff. The final two  rip through you, forcing you over the edge before you can pull back. Amidst the silence between the songs, everything that preceded becomes re-contextualised with a deeper, darker tone. Embrace the fall.

Strange Fruit

The majesty of Strange Fruit is well documented — in 1999, Time named it the best song of the century. It was written by Abel Meeropol — a white, Jewish sometime Communist, and real-life MacGuffin, who intersects with numerous historically important features of 20th century America, but never appears at their forefront.

As a student and then teacher at Dewitt Clinton High School in the Bronx, he crossed paths with a young James Baldwin and numerous other luminaries of American culture. After seeing a photograph of a lynching, he felt compelled to write; originally penning the words as an anti-lynching poem. Published in a teacher’s union publication, it concisely described the horror he had seen through the sinister metaphor of a seemingly innocuous fruit tree. He later set it to music and presented it to Billie Holiday, who recorded her socially and sonically remarkable version in 1937. In 1945, he gave up teaching to become a full-time songwriter under the pen name Lewis Allen (the first names of his two, tragically stillborn sons), most famously writing Frank Sinatra’s Oscar winning, patriotic short film and accompanying song, The House I Live in. Not only that, but in 1953 he adopted the two sons of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg — a Jewish couple famously executed for spying on America for the Soviet Union.

Abel Meeropol with sons Michael and Robert Meeropol in 1954, via Robert Meeropol

As for the song itself, if Holiday’s recording is classical — a regretful, tender jazz lament — Simone’s is something more modern, more openly enraged; a cutting, resonant howl; transcending genre. The arrangement is minimal and masterful at once, with often dissonant piano chords treading like distressed steps through fallen leaves towards the horrifying tree at the agonising conclusion. It climaxes with a literal wail as the end nears: Here is a fruit for the crows to pluck / For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck / For the sun to rot, for the trees to drop / Here is a strange and bitter crop.

Its intensity lent itself perfectly to the sample on Kanye West’s scorching rebuke of destructive celebrity relationships, Blood On the Leaves.

Sinnerman

Simone’s Sinnerman is virtually unrecognisable from the first, folky version recorded by the Les Baxter Orchestra in 1956. Baxter adapted (read: plagiarised) the song from On the Judgement Day, by the Sensational Nightingales, which in turn takes elements from the 1924 No Hiding Place Down Here, by the Old South Quartette. But much like Jeff Buckley’s version of Leonard Cohen’s similarly spiritual Hallelujah, Simone’s version remains, and will forever remain, the definitive iteration; the most copied, covered, celebrated and recognised; never bettered beyond that point.

As her Sinnerman evolves, it reveals the preceding short, eight tracks to have been little more than an (excellent) overture to this — the epic, operatic finale. At ten and a half minutes, it makes up nearly a third of the entire album. Brace yourself.

After the silent gap following Strange Fruit — another inhale between urgent roars — the first few bars are timeless, perhaps some of the most familiar notes ever recorded. Piano keys clamber over one another, skipping like a broken record. A foot taps out a light beat in the background. The percussion joins: a double-time, racing, hi-hat heart rate, yielding only to the occasional heavy, melodious thump of a double bass. Simone enters, Oh, Sinnerman, where you gonna run to? / Sinnerman, where you gonna run to?

1967 © Tony Gale

After Strange Fruit, the question takes on new meaning. Picture Simone in a deep purple Cadillac Deville n hot pursuit of a fleeing lynch mob; hood down, foot down, brow furrowed, engine roaring, steering on the edge of control. This toying with tumbling gives the song its energy. Like running down a steep slope, with the slightest misstep, all would be lost. As the beats impatiently trip over the piano notes, it feels like it’s constantly accelerating; never settling into a regimented pace.

After erupting into a minute-long call and response of: Power!, Sinnerman changes gear. A jangling, twanging guitar breathes heavily in contemplation of the next charge. The music fades, leaving only intimidating clapping, until the piano returns most wonderfully with a couple of pleasingly apparent (yet well-intended) mistakes; three or four notes missed, misplaced, or hesitated over as the tune searches again for its order among the tumult. When found, it resurges with renewed purpose; Simone audibly hyperventilating in anxious anticipation: So I run to the river, it was boiling / I run to the sea, it was boiling / All on that day. Judgement Day has arrived, and the devil is everywhere. 

(Should this masterpiece really ever be used to sell hatchbacks?)

It ends with a pleading prayer, agitated piano chords and chaotic drums: Don’t you know, I need you Lord?, Simone cries. Whether the prayer is answered, we’ll never know, but as the percussion takes over and batters us into a final, frenzied submission, it feels too late.

Exhausted and exhilarated, Pastel Blues is at its end. But within it, Nina Simone’s duende forever persists.

[alicenyras]

dig a little deeper

tysm @ahtropos for tagging me !!! <3

1. do you prefer writing with a black pen or a blue pen? black

2. would you prefer to live in the country or in the city? city as of rn

3. if you could learn a new skill, what would it be? god i mean i’d love to learn drums or bass or something??

4. do you drink your tea/coffee with sugar? i drink my tea w 2 sugars :) and i hate hot coffee lol

5. what was your favorite book as a child? depends on what time period, from like age 5-10 it was clarice bean (if u remember those books ur a real one) but then it became harry potter

6. do you prefer baths or showers? showers

7. if you could be a mythical creature, which one would you be? hmmmm can i be basic and say dragon ...

8. paper or electronic books? paper now come on now

9. what is your favorite item of clothing? i love a good big sweater

10. do you like your name? would you like to change it? i like it :)

11. who is a mentor to you? my parents

12. would you like to be famous? if so, what for? well i’m in film school rn so that’d be pretty nice ig

13. are you a restless sleeper? ehh i’m okay

14. do you consider yourself to be a romantic person? yeah ... unfortunately lol

15. which element best represents you? air or water

16. who do you want to be closer to? tumblr mutuals !!!! if y’all wanna be friends im always down😌

17. do you miss someone at the moment? my bf i haven’t been able to hold his hand in months bro

18. tell us about an early childhood memory. the earliest memory i have is going out after dinner to sit in the road and watch the sunset w my dad :)

19. what is the strangest thing you have eaten? when i was like 8 my friend made me eat a mixture she’d made of ketchup & mustard 😐 it was terrible

20. what are you most thankful for? the people in my life

21. do you like spicy food? mehh

22. have you ever met someone famous? no :/

23. do you keep a diary or journal? yeah :)

24. do you prefer to use pen or pencil? pen

25. what is your star sign? gemini

26. do you like your cereal crunchy or soggy? crunchy what

27. what would you want your legacy to be? love !!!!!

28. do you like reading? what was the last book you read? i do but i don’t read enough tbh. last book i finished was a feast for crows

29. how do you show someone you love them? i love giving out compliments but i think just attention is the best way to show love

30. do you like ice in your drinks? nooo it waters that shit DOWN bro

31. what are you afraid of? the future 😐

32. what is your favorite scent? my bf 🥺 also the sea i think

33. do you address older people by their name or surname? uhhh i mean it’s either/or depending on the context

34. if money was not a factor, how would you live your life? go to university like 12 times to learn everything i wanna learn & also travel the world between that lol :) and make a shit ton of films like whatever pops into my head

35. do you prefer swimming in pools or the ocean? pools i hate seaweed

36. what would you do if you found $50 in the ground? ...... pick it up ...... does that make me a bad person

37. have you ever seen a shooting star? did you make a wish? i don’t think i have

38. what is one thing you would want to teach your children? to love themselves & to be empathetic

39. if you had to have a tattoo, what would it be and where would you get it? i wanna get wings on my ankles for hermes :)

40. what can you hear now? my mom

41. where do you feel the safest? in my bedroom

42. what is one thing you want to overcome/conquer? self doubt

43. if you could travel back to any era, what would it be? oh boy um the 80s?? or the renaissance maybe

44. what is your most used emoji? 🥺 lol

45. describe yourself using one word. passionate?

46. what do you regret the most? not being kinder to myself & not leaving behind the people who weren’t kind to me

47. last movie you saw? oldboy ... shit was crazy

48. last tv show you watched? im in the middle of law and order rn

49. invent a word and its meaning. no❤️

i tag @rapanzel @wespers @nobodys @daviincis @jamespotthrs @skywaelker and anyone else who wants to :) (no worries if u have already/don’t want to !!)