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someguyscaliforniavoterguide · 4 years

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Select L.A. County/California Races, March 3, 2020

Hi friends, it’s me again. I am here to offer my opinions on how you should vote. As before I am up front about my biases: I am a Warren supporter, I live in L.A. and I am actively pro-density (Yay SB50, you deserved better) and pro-transit. I live in the east Valley, so I tend to focus more closely on the issues that directly impact my side of town, though I try to keep an ear out on things countywide.

Last time I did this a couple of folks reached out to give me gifts to say thanks for doing this guide. This year, I would encourage anybody who wants to say thanks to donate $5 to Fair Fight, a group founded by Stacey Abrams to fight voter suppression in the 2020 election. We’re gonna need all the help we can get in November to defeat the GOP, and Abrams is doing it in a smart way.

Other voting guides

This is my voting guide and reflects my general opinion on things. However, I am indebeted to many other guides, including the Knock L.A. Voter Guide and the L.A. Podcast Voter Guide for their takes. I don’t always agree with them, but both of these are invaluable resources for the progressive voter in Los Angeles.

L.A. City Council

This year the even numbered seats are up for re-election. Half of them are effectively uncontested, a couple are very much contested, and two are free for all because of term limits.

CD2: Ayinde Jones

Look none of these candidates set my heart afire. I work with Councilmember Krekorian’s office a lot (remember, I live in the east Valley) and he’s a competent politician with a ton of endorsements and community ties, I have no illusion he’s going to win his full term comfortably on March 3. However, I believe it’s good to encourage competition, and Ayinde Jones did a good (not great) job at the candidate forum I attended hitting on themes of how the parts of CD2 north of Victory are being left behind as the area evolves. I wish he were better on S50, but then again all three candidates were opposed, so that’s kind of a wash. I look forward to hearing more from Jones in the future.

CD4: Sarah Kate Levy

From a paucity of options to a surplus of options next door. CD4 is currently represented by David Ryu, a politician who came out of the Neighborhood Council system and went on to become...a city hall politician. Both his opponents are great. Nithya Raman is the founder of SELAH, a group that does amazing work helping the unhoused in Los Angeles, and recently led Times Up! Hollywood for a year. I’d vote for her in a heartbeat, but I am encouraging people to vote for Sarah Kate Levy for two reasons: first, Levy is unabashedly supportive of SB50 and we need this kind of leadership, and second I am hoping these two excellent women will get so many votes that they overwhelm Ryu and leave him in third place. Fingers crossed.

CD6: Bill Haller

This is another shoo-in. Nury Martinez is the City Council president and has the backing of the County party and all the local clubs. I am endorsing Bill Haller because he supports an agenda that includes more public funding for affordable housing, more and better transit, and climate justice.

CD8: Marqueece Harris-Dawson

There are no other candidates in this race, so congratulations on your re-election Councilmember Harris-Dawson.

CD10: Aura Vasquez

This is an open seat, and the smart money has Mark Ridley-Thomas as the frontrunner. Ridley-Thomas is a current member of the L.A. County Board of Supervisors (more on them later) who is termed out of that position. I’m endorsing Aura Vasquez, a progressive activist with ties to Mid-City who has served as a commissioner for LADWP and led fights for renewable energy, banning single use plastics, and housing affordability in her community.

CD12: Loraine Lundquist

Dr. Lundquist rules. She takes public transit to debates, she is an honest to goodness scientist, and she nearly beat a Republican in what is the most conservative district in L.A. during a special election. I have donated money to this lady because we need to win this one. Her opponent, John Lee, wasted no time in trying to block housing for the homeless in his district and in attacking a successful safer streets project on Reseda Blvd. The city has a chance - a really great chance thanks to the realigned municipal elections - to toss out the worst possible councilmember in favor of the most progressive voice, don’t mess it up.

CD14: Cyndi Otteson

This race is Kevin de Léon’s to lose, but he won’t commit to serving a full term since he really wants to be mayor. I say let him have his spare time to run for mayor and select Ms. Otteson, a grassroots activist who has the support of the UTLA and who is the only voice in favor of the Colorado Blvd alignment of the NoHo to Pasadena BRT project. Transit equity matters, and Ms. Otteson deserves your vote this March.

LAUSD School Board

Deferring to the teachers’ endorsements on this one.

Board Seat 1: George McKenna

Board Seat 3: Scott Schmerlson

Board Seat 5: Jackie Goldberg

Board Seat 7: Patricia Castellanos

Glendale City Council: Dan Brotman

An environmental activist with progresive views, Brotman will be a useful voice in Glendale’s city hall.

District Attorney: Rachel Rossi

George Gascón and Rachel Rossi will both be light years better than the current county D.A., Jackie Lacey. Both have promised to make substantial reforms in the office. I am really torn on this one, since I think Gascón’s experience as a Deputy DA in San Francisco is a big deal, and since he has the backing of the County Party. I am endorsing Rossi in a tilt-at-windmills hope that somehow she and Gascón make it to the final ballot in November and give us a thoughtful debate between a career prosecutor bent on reform and a public defender whose goal is reform about methods and ideas. Anyway, don’t vote for Jackie Lacey is all I am saying here.

Superior Court

Voting for judges is stupid. We shouldn’t be doing this, but since we have to, I’ll make some suggestions. My math is based on other progressive endorsements, Party endorsements, and reverse-engineering some well known conservative voting guides to, if nothing else, make sure I am not voting for their endorsement.

Office 17: Shannon Kathleen Cooley (the race is uncontested)

Office 42: Linda Sun

Office 72: Myanna Dellinger

Office 76: Emily Cole (Cole is a prosecutor, but her opponent is a man who literally changed his name to “Judge” after serving as a judge in Stanislaus County)

Office 80: Klint James McKay

Currently an administrative law judge, he impressed Public Defender Union representatives with his thoughtful and articulate answers to their questioning.

Office 97: Sherry L. Powell (Powell’s opponent ran as a conservative Republican for state assembly in 2018, this is a defensive vote)

Office 129: Kenneth Fuller

Office 131: Michelle Kelley (the race is uncontested)

Office 141: Lana Kim (the race is uncontested)

Office 145: Troy Slaten (Slaten’s opponent has a troubling history of misconduct and should not be elected to a judgeship)

Office 150: Tom Parsekian

Office 162: David D. Diamond

L.A. County Board of Supervisors

The Supervisors oversee policy for the County, including all unincorporated areas, the LASD, County Health services, etc. For a county of TEN MILLION PEOPLE, there are only five supervisors, so they have a hugely outsized influence.

Seat 2: Jorge Nuno

A lot of progressives are endorsing Holly Mitchell in this seat. Me, I just can’t go there when she’s speaking at events for Livable California and when she gave a floor speech opposing SB50. Though he’s the front runner, Herb Wesson doesn’t deserve your vote - he was City Council president when the homelessness crisis exploded and he’s done little to address it. Nuno is a progressive and has an ambitious platform.

Seat 4: Janice Hahn

She’s solid, and nobody’s pushing her from the left.

Seat 5: John Harabedian

Kathryn Barger, the incumbent, is a Republican who supports Trump’s immigration policies. John Harabedian is a solidly Center Left Democrat who has the backing of the county party and who could, in this presidential election year, win an upset in what is traditionally a Republican stronghold of L.A. County. Vote for him.

County Ballot Measures

Measure R: YES YES YES

This will provide crucial tools to the already existing civilian oversight committee for the LASD, including subpoena powers. It also requires the commission to study ways to divert offenders from jail. You need to vote yes on this.

State Ballot Measures

Prop 13: Yes

$15B in bonds to invest in public schools and “local control” to allow local school districts to issue larger bonds. The only real opposition is from the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, a revanchist organization that is singlehandedly responsible for much of our state and local problems in the past few decades. Don’t listen to them.

Congressional Elections

Despite some misgivings, I am generally supporting the progressive challengers here to hopefully lead to a Progressive/Center Left election in the fall.

CD 25: Christy Smith

She has a good track record in the state assembly and a strong local support network. She’s not a carpetbagger with a YouTube show, and she’s not a Republican.

CD 28: Adam Schiff

He’s not the most progressive guy in Congress but he’s been critical to holding Trump accountable. He’s earned this vote.

CD 29: Angelica Duenas

Tony Cardenas is a bit of a non-entity on the national stage but he does good local work and he was an early vote in favor of impeachment. The rape allegations against him which troubled me last time were dismissed with prejudice in 2019. Cardenas has a progressive challenger, Angelica Marie Duenas, who has run in the past as a Green Party candidate. I don’t trust her decision to abandon that label and come into the Democrats after getting drubbed in 2018, but overall I like her ideas and I’d be happy to see her and Cardenas in a runoff this year.

CD 30: CJ Berina

Brad Sherman is an okay Congressmember. CJ Berina is a young, progressive challenger who’s attracted the attention of the Sunrise Movement. I’d vote for him to try to push the GOP out of the runoff and make this a race between the Center Left and the Progressive Left.

CD 34: Frances Yasmeen Motiwalla

Jimmy Gomez is solid; let’s push the GOP out of the runoff though by supporting this progressive.

State House

District 39: Luz Rivas

District 41: Chris Holden

District 43: Laura Friedman

District 44: Jacqui Irwin

District 45: Jesse Gabriel

District 46: Adrin Nazarian

District 48: Blanca Rubio

District 49: Edwin Chau

District 50: Richard Bloom

District 51: Wendy Carillo

District 53: Godfrey Plata

District 54: Tracey Jones

District 55: Andrew Rodriguez

District 58: Margaret Villa

District 59: Reggie Jones-Sawyer

District 62: Autumn Burke

District 63: Anthony Rendon

District 64: Fatima Iqbal-Zubair

District 66: Al Muratsuchi

District 70: Patrick O’Donnell

State Senate

SD 21: Kipp Mueller

SD 23: Abigail Medina

SD 25: No Endorsement - I rarely do this but honestly Anthony Portantino does not deserve your vote. Write in Mickey Mouse.

SD 27: Henry Stern

SD 29: Josh Newman

SD 31: Richard Roth

SD 33: Lena Gonzalez

SD 35: Steven Bradford

County Committees

Look this is getting waaaaaaaaaaaaaay into the weeds. What I am going to say is this: I know that a lot of “progressive” slates are out there and I encourage you to try your best to vet them. In my district, one of the candidates is somebody I know personally - she actively campaigned for Jill Stein, she circulated the decades-old “Clinton Death List” to voters, and she pushed Pizzagate theories. I am not voting for this person, but she is endorsed by “Progressive California” so...just be careful.

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noiseartists · 5 years

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Loomer: Bliss from Brazil

Loomer, from Brazil, are another great Shoegaze band (or Nu-gaze band if you are timely conscious) that have emerged on the worldwide scene in the last decade.

The band is currently composed of 4 members:

Stefano (Male vocals/guitar),

Michelle (Female vocals/bass),

Richard (guitar)

Guilherme (Drums).

They are currently on the Midsummer Madness label. Looker have released two EP’s and two albums as of the time of writing this, May 2019.

Loomer certainly wear their influences on their shoes (See what I did there!) but Stefano (Lead male vocals/guitarist) insist that they do not force the music that they make and that they are different people and each member brings their own influences and ideas to the studio.

They really live up to the title of indie as they are independent in their creating and recording of their own songs. Since their 2nd EP ‘Coward Soul’ the band have mixed all of their work and mastered all of it, bar the debut album ‘You Would Not Anyway’ which was also recorded in various places ranging from the comfort of home to an unorthodox location such as a beach!

Loomer prefer to start playing tinny, trebly sounding arpeggios that are more concentrated on authentic guitar tone blended with a bit of bliss that is reminiscent of Swervedriver, in particularly, the outro of their 1993 hit from Sophomore album Mezcal Head; Duel. In fact, their inclination of rock style lead guitar playing and the tone that they select would fit well into any Swervedriver song. However, Loomer are far from being a rip off band. Their ability to stay clear from obvious guitar effects like Reverse Reverb (which has been subject to over kill in the Shoegaze genre for the last 30 years) and floaty guitar tone sucking ambience is refreshing.

MUSIC WORK

Their first EP’s were ‘Mind Drops’ (2009), followed by ‘Coward Soul’ (2010) and the two albums are ‘You Would Not Anyway’ (2013) and ‘Deserter’ (2017). The first EP’s are both raw in sound quality, like they were made in 1988 and immediately, I can hear comparisons to The Jesus and Mary Chain (Check out the tracks ‘Search On Your Own’ and ‘Damned’ with Jim Reid style deep vocals and more ear-piercing feedback than your English teacher gave you at school), damn, these guys are loud!

The other EP ‘Coward Soul’ (2010) reminds me initially of Sonic Youth because of the raw octave, harmonic, rapidly strummed spring reverbed guitar playing, and the sudden outbursts of punky shouting during the refrains. This is also the first EP that features female vocals blended with Stefano’s vocals in the form of Michelle, like Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon. The debut album ‘You Wouldn’t Anyway’ aesthetically catches my eye with very 60’s psychedelic cover art that is lit up in a striking purple colour and the music is better produced than their EP’s.

The track ‘Enough (From the debut Mind Drops EP) starts with an interesting tinny slightly delayed single note riff before launching into a raucous, unstoppable and solid wall of sound that features a joyous, bouncy vocal melody encapsulated. Ethereal, fragile but endearing female vocals enter the fray in the first refrain section gliding along with the deeper, reassuring male vocal creating a balance or maybe an imbalance to the music that the band themselves admit to liking the sense of mystery in their songwriting and sound. Classic My Bloody Valentine right there, hence the name of this band. The ending mellows out but instead of the abrasive guitars transforming into ethereal, angelically ambient tools of sorcery,

On their Album ‘Deserter’, a track that grabbed me is the penultimate song, ‘Another Round’ which begins with one very fuzzed up guitar and a few abrupt un-musical jack input noises to create suspense. The guitar tones on this track are pure gorgeous and they also vary. Each section of this song has something different going on with the guitars, whether in terms of tone or chord changes or playing technicalities, it’s all evolving all of the time, sometimes subtle, sometimes blatant. The fuzz that growls and a purrs like a V8 engine in an American muscle or British lightweight sports car appears in the pre-chorus section acting as a soothing haze coinciding with the floaty vocal lines. This track is by far one of the catchiest and interesting tunes from the album without being too simple or boring.

The album finale, appropriately named ‘Opinions’ features a mind bending dentist drill guitar effect that emerges at the Thirty One, Fifty mark of the album and emerges again near the end ad sees out the remainder of the song. Again, this is a track full of surprises that gives the listener one final treat before the album ends and all of a sudden, the world seems like such a quiet and dull place.

Therefore, this album, this artist do their job as a huge aspect of the essence of Shoegaze music is to transport the listener and when the music stops, the holy experience is over and the world is bland again, and that’s when you really appreciate the benefit of this incredible genre that we call Shoegaze. Loomer certainly capture this essence.

Link to ‘Enough’ from debut EP, Mind Drops (2009) below:

Stunning track from debut EP, Mind Drops (2009)

INTERVIEW

THE BAND

Where are you from in the Brazil? Where are you living now?

I, jaquelina and guilherme were born in Rio Grande Do Sul, south of Brazil. Fernanda was born in Santa Catarina, also in southern Brazil. Richard was born in Germany. And Michelle was born in the United States. At the moment, Fernanda who played bass with us is living in Florida United States, and Michelle is living in Porto Alegre, she is our current bass player now.

What did you study?

I studied Electronic Engineering. Richard and Guilherme studied design. Fernanda studied psychology. Jaquelina is a self-taught artist. Michelle is studying civil engineering.

What is your day job at present if any?

I like my job, but I dont really want to talk about it. Sorry...

Do you dream to live from your music or is it a passion you do not want to spend your full time on?

I don’t really know. I’m following what life offers me. I really love music and cannot stop doing that.

Do you have families?

I live with my wife Jaquelina. We don’t have any children yet. Michelle lives with Andressa, her girlfriend. Fernanda lives with Kim, her wife. Richard lives with Maria, his wife. Guilherme is divorced and is the only one of us who has a son, Gabriel.

Could you tell me how the band meet and decided to do music together?

I was playing another band called Transmission. In the year 2005 Richard came to live in Porto Alegre, and formed another band called Lautmusik, as he liked my band we decided to do a tour together in 2007. But things ended up not working, Transmission stopped playing in 2007 because the singer has moved to another country. Because of that, we probably ended up making a band.

Guilherme, was already my acquaintance, we played in another band called Materia Plastica, and he came to join us as our drummer. Liege was the last one to join the band, but that gave the finishing touch in the formation, took the bass and made the backing vocals in some songs and sang others. Later in 2013 the Liege left and entered the Fernanda that already played with me in the band Parkplatz. This is the formation that resists to this day.

Can you tell me the inspiration behind your band? You can detect the influences of shoegaze and indie rock. There is also a very interesting duality with some violence in the music that is always balanced by some tranquility with the feminine voice or other means. It is a great example of ying and yang or masculine / feminine influences. Is it on purpose?

We did not try to force the music we made. I mean, at least we think so. We are different people, and each one brings their influences to the music. Sometimes the core of the song is composed at home grossly and finalized in the studio over many essays, other times it is completely developed in the studio. We like male / female duality, we think it brings a balance, or maybe an imbalance. I'm not sure, I just know we like it that way.

Was there a vision of sorts or did you know what you wanted to do when you started up? I.e. when you started the band was it always a project to create a shoegaze band? Or was it different from now?

At first, Richard, our guitarist, had the idea of making a band in the style of My Bloody Valentine. We watched TV shows, we listened to music, watched horror movies. So he had this preconception. But when we got people together and started playing, we had more influences than just MBV, and we wanted to use all of them. It was a lot more fun, and we kept it that way. After all, we do not like to sound too alike to anyone, we prefer to sound like ourselves.

Do you have any other musical side projects apart from this band?

Actually, at the moment we are not playing in any side project, but we already had many.

Could you tell me more on the band composition? Do you have plans to add new members, or is there possible departure scheduled from existing band members?

The band is me (Stefano) on male voice and guitar, Michelle on female voice and bass, Richard guitar and Guilherme drums. Fernanda moved to USA in 2015/2016. Jaquelina played with us from 2016 to 2017. Now we are playing with Michelle Franzen.

We've already had 4 bass players playing with us since initial training. Liege in 2008, Fernanda in 2013, Jackelina in 2017 and Michelle in 2018. We have no plans to add or remove band members. We are just doing music and shows, things that we love, but sometimes the circumstances of life change people's destiny.

Can you tell us more how you came to have the band’s name?

Well, in the beginning we were playing for 6 months and have a scheduled show, but we hadn`t a name yet. So we made a list of 50 names to choose one. Loomer was a suggestion made by Richard, and it was the winner. Of course Loomer is because of MBV song, but what we use to say is that we wasn't looking for anything related to MBV on purpose, it was just a coincidence that this was the best name to think of when we had to choose one.

The Creative process

Who writes the song and the music and how do you get to the final song? Is it a community process, do you have leaders in composing or arranging music?

We have a lot of ways to compose songs. Some of the songs I write at home and bring to the band. Some songs are born entirely in the studio. Some songs starts with a guitar riff, some with the drums or bass giving the idea to the band to complete the rest.

Do you listen to the advice of your band mates? What would you do if they said a song was shit but you liked it?

Well, this has not happened yet. But what usually happens is that sometimes the members do not have ideas to play certain music, and it is put on the shelf to be finished later. Sometimes when a song takes too long to complete, it may happen that we lose the spirit it initially had.

There’s a degree of unconventional songwriting with you guys. Was it kind of intimidating going to record knowing people might not be engaging with the songs in terms of hooks and such and trying to deliver an engaging sound on record?

We just try to make songs that we think are good. We do not know how many people will like it but if we like it it was already worth the effort. Everyone in the band is free to contribute to the composition, and this already provides a greater degree of creativity.

Personally I like songs that confuse the head but that are simple after you understand it. But I will not impose anything if it is not working. I can not say for sure. I think what we do has to be worth it to us, somehow.

You have a great way about your guitars, with tones and melodies answering each other, almost like discussing. Could you tell us more on how you work together on this?

Well, we've played so loud that many times we can not hear what others are doing. It is often a pleasant surprise when we will listen to the recording. Maybe our guitar dialogue is just two guitars talking to the walls. Another important detail is that we try not to interfere with what each one creates. Anyway we think it works.

Talking about the lyrics: who write them? Is there a common thread in them, a theme?

Usually I write the lyrics. But usually I write only what I sing, and when Liege sang, she wrote the part of it. Fernanda has not yet felt comfortable writing her songs, although we encourage her to do so. But she helped me in the lyrics on the last album. I do not think of a main theme when I write, at least on purpose. I think this ends up appearing naturally according to what I am experiencing at the moment.

Do you labor over your lyrics? Is that something that comes easy?

I do not consider myself good at writing. I think I'm better maybe in the melodies. I admit that several songs I leave to decide on the lyrics only during the recording, although I already have an idea of what I would like to talk about. Anyway we like the voice as being just another instrument of music, not being something in the foreground.

Do you have a message that you want to get across in your music? If so, what are some of the messages you want to spread?

I do not have a message. When I start to write I do not know what I'm talking about. And if I have enough time to this initial process the whole letter appears and I am quite happy with the result. But if by chance I leave the lyrics to finish later, then I will need to understand the subject to be able to conclude. These are the hardest to finish.

Did your listening habits changed over the years and does it affect what you write?

Yes, my habits change a little over time. And I think it's natural that what I write also changes. But I do not try to do anything on purpose. What I want to say is that I do not try to listen to something new in order to incorporate this into my music because it's a new trend. What I do is dig old and new bands for something I really enjoy. And when I write, it's always the old thing I've always done.

How is your recognition going in Indonesia and Abroad? Is it growing? Are you happy with it?

Did you mean in Brazil? Yes, in Brazil we have some recognition that has been growing slowly. We are happy with this, because it is a musical style that has no space in the mainstream media. Time helps reward that.

The path to music

Is it easy to find producers and studios in Brazil for indie-rock?

It is not very easy to find, so we produce ourselves. We like to do this because we can keep the result close to what we would like it to be. But we lost in the aspect of an external opinion that could enrich the music.

Your recorded sound is very good, which is not easy. Did you engineer the sound yourself, or did you have a sound engineer with you? If yes could you tell us more about him/her?

The first EP "Mind Drops" was recorded by Lucas Pocamacha, guitarist of Superguidis, a very cool indie-rock band here in Brazil that is not playing anymore. He did this in exchange for a sound card we bought for him. The second EP "Coward Soul" was recorded in the DUB studio that we usually do our rehearsals and we did the mixing and the mastering.

The first LP "You Would not Anyway" we recorded ourselves at home, on the beach, in the studio, in different places. We mixed and the mastering was done by Paulo Casaes (Fujimo).

The last album "Deserter" we recorded in the studio Dissenso and in the studio DUB. I mixed it myself and mastered it. We've been looking for a sound engineer but we still can not find it. We thought it would be very good for us. In the meantime, we're doing things ourselves.

Was it a community work to try to have the best sounding music possible or mainly driven by the sound engineer or by the band?

It is a work mainly directed by the band. We spent a lot of time mixing the result. Recording usually does not take long. But it is not so because we want it this way. It's because the recording (mainly the drums) is usually in the studio and paid per hour. I still believe it's best to spend more time recording and less time mixing. The result would be even better.

Can you tell us how the recording process was?

We are still learning. But what we usually do is record the drums first. Our drummer likes to record with us playing together, without a metronome or guide track. In this sense I think it can be said that each band has an ideal way to do the recording.

Anyway the drums is the one that takes more time to be recorded in our case. And it's worth it because if it gets well done it makes it easier for the rest of the process. It needs to do in the studio. After that we recorded the bass, and it can be recorded at home if we want to save money. It's something quick to record, so it would also be okay to record in the studio.

After the bass comes the guitars. What takes in the recording of the guitars is not so much the execution, but the choice of the tones, the pedals, the regulation of the effects. Many hours of tuning and testing for 4 minutes of noise. But it's worth.

Since it takes a lot of time to adjust the tone of the guitar, it is best to record several songs at a time when you find the right tone. It is possible to record the guitar at home, but it gets better in the studio since we play loud. At last we record the voices, and these we can do at home as well. It's good to have a condenser microphone for this.

The rest we solve in the mix, where we do all the magic. But that is not a rule. We like badly recorded things too. Whistles, voices and guitars out of tune. What does not work can fit in very well. You need to hear what's coming out. I think it's the ear that's in charge after all

How did the recording work differ over time?

We recorded all of our albums. With this we learn over time new things, new tricks. I think you should not give too much importance to mistakes, or avoid doing something because you do not know enough.

More important than that is to let work flow, to enjoy the flow of inspiration because it matters more than the quality of work. But the recording is also part of the work, the two things complete themselves, the recording and the composition.

Is the recording material yours when you are out of a studio or do you borrow/rent it?

We have our own recording material. That is to say, we acquire over time equipment that we understand that would add to the sound of the band. But we also try to stay free to enjoy what we find at the recording location. It may be the noise of the wind, the trees, the water, in a studio we take advantage of some old equipment, a tape recorder, a tube or tape microphone, things that may sound a bit strange, or that inspire us.

Any interesting anecdotes on some recording session you would like to share?

I'm not very good at trying to be funny. But in our first EP Mind Drops we did the recording on a farm improvised. We took the sound table, the microphones, the amplifiers, the drums and everything else. We made the loudest noise, played really loudly and recorded separately, on separate tracks. Could not understand the result at the time.

Back in town, when we went to mix the result, we could hear horse whinnies, the noise of chickens and other strange things on certain channels. When I put everything together I could not see it. It was like this. I think this is funny in a way...

Did getting the live experience across on record create any pressure for yourselves in the recording process?

I think it creates a pressure yes. But we are not very organized to create the songs, or sometimes we take a lot of time to finish them. So some pressure helps us. They push us forward.

Instruments: you seem to be mainly a Fender band. Could you tell me what inspire you to use fenders rather than other brands?

We really like the Fender sound. I think what motivated us to use so many Fender outfits are our influences like Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr, My Bloody Valentine among others. We thank them, because we like the result.

A question for a future paper I have in mind: if you use often a Fender Jaguar, could you tell me more about what makes it good to play (sound, neck, …). I find there are lot of noise artists that are using this guitar and I am interested to know why.

In my case, what I like most about this guitar is the sound of it. I think the combination of her sound with distortion and fuzz pedals gives a very engaging effect. Besides I consider a very beautiful guitar. I personally like old, vintage things, working fine.

Do you have one favorite instrument or do you change often?

We do not usually switch instruments. We have a fixed formation, with bass, two guitars and drums. In the recording sometimes we risk playing other things, like acoustic guitar, synthesizer, tambourine. But anyone can say or suggest ideas.

The funny thing to note is that we are a band in which we are all guitar players. Guilherme our drummer is actually a guitarist, and our bass player Fernanda is also a guitarist. I always use the same guitar, the Fender Jaguar. Although you have already modified some things in it like the keys, the pickups and the bridge, it's always the same.

But what I change with some frequency are the pedals. As I have more pedals than fit on the pedalboard, I do some kind of rotation to test everyone. In the end of course there are some favorite pedals.

Tell us what you are looking when trying to achieve your sounds? Do you experiment a lot or have a clear idea of what you want?

We experiment a lot, and we've tried to take advantage of everyone's idea. Maybe this will end up making the song a bit unconventional. But I like strange and uncomfortable songs. I can not say what we are looking for, because each one actually puts it in its own way. We eventually discovered what we ended up creating. I do not know if it's the best way to compose, probably not, but that's how we do it.

Who is the more knowledgeable with pedals? You use them a lot, to great effect.

Thank you. We ended up getting a lot of pedals. We do some research and we end up getting some. In the end we want to use everyone, which is not possible of course. But I think they help increase the possibilities of the songs. Me and Richard are the most interested in pedals, we've been researching what some bands we like have used on albums we like and we're going after them. It's a form of judgment because there is a very wide variety of pedals.

How many concert a year would you do on average and what would be the size of the venue?

We do not do many shows. We do 5 to 10 shows per year. But that depends a little on the season, since we've been focused on finishing the album in recent times. The size of the venues depends a bit on the event, we have already played in venues for 10,000 people, and we have already played in venues for 50 people. The smaller ones are more suitable for us, because our public is not so big, besides, small places are cooler.

Would you mind sharing some good anecdotes from your concerts/touring?

In respect to the reader, it may not be a good idea. =)

What are some places around the world that you hope to take your band? Do you have any plans at present to tour in other countries than the Brazil.

We think of going to countries here near Brazil, like Uruguay and Argentina. We also have plans to go to the United States, after all our bass player Fernanda lives there. We also thought about going to the UK, we even staged a show last year but we couldn’t go. Japan too. It's good to have plans, don’t you think?

Is there any reason in particular that you want to go to these places? Is there something about dream pop/shoegaze in those places that makes you want to go there?

We really like to write songs. Besides composing, recording them, it's very cool. In addition to recording, being able to play them around, and checking people's connection to our songs, this is very motivating. Sometimes we go places far away from where we came here in our huge country and have some people who know our names, follow our trajectory.

They thank us for doing that. I think there is a natural process of an artist wanting to expose their creation. These countries we mentioned before, we are very curious. We have a strong connection with them as well, as these are places that really enjoy shoegaze music, or that have created the style. You know, we're just living.

The Scene

Brazil have a thriving indie scene that is not very well known internationally. Could you tell us more about it?

Brazil is a huge and beautiful country. It's hard to know everything. There are many bands that come and go, and some are really good, but that for some reason are not very well known. In fact the indie scene is something that is self help based on the friendship, and in the musical taste of course, since there is no support of the larger media. We have some blogs and independent radio programs on the internet that have helped. It's really a fun aside.

Is it easy for a Brazilian indie bands to be known internationally? Do you have any example?

I think it's not easy, not because the bands do not deserve it, but because the outside public would probably think 'look, a Brazilian band singing indie rock. it must be bad.'. I do not know. Maybe not. It's all a matter of taste. I do not think much about being known or succeeding outside (or inside) Brazil. I think only of making songs that I consider important, maybe cool, or worthwhile for us to record or play at shows.

With respect to bands, there was an indie band that was relatively well known abroad 'Cansei de Ser Sexy'. With respect to Brazilian shoegaze, I know of two bands that lived in London for a while, Wry that is in Brazil now again, and The Tambourines who still lives there. Our seal, the Midsummer Madness, is now in London as well.

Has the scene changed since you began, and if so how?

The scene changed a lot, many times. In the 80's and 90's, many people went to the shows without even knowing who was playing, local bands had space on some local radios, record companies invested in new bands. In the 2000s there was a lot of variation, difficulty in publicizing the concerts, closing bars and independent rock show venues.

But you can go play in other cities, or on the other side of this immense country. With the internet and social networks, you can promote the shows in distant places. Even though there are few, there are always one or two pubs to play.

Nowadays still appear spaces for bands, because the bands help themselves based on the friendship. It's a way of life.

Is there any Brazilian band(s) you want to recommend in the indie/shoegaze/post-rock genres?

There's a lot of cool bands here. I can cite a few such as Herod, Twinpine (s), Wry, Labyrinth, Sileste, Justine Never Knew The Rules, Firefriend, Lava Divers, Juna, Carne de Monstro, Churrus, Space Rave, The Sorry Shop, Lupe Lupe, Low Dream, Fellini, Second Come, Pin Ups, Patife Band, This Lonely Crowd, Bruxas, Duelectrum, The Soundscapes, Blear, The Cigarettes, ruido\ mm, Proud Beggars, Walverdes

Economics

Do you have a label? Could you tell us a bit more if so.

We have two labels currently, Midsummer Madness and Sinewave. Both help us in spreading the record. Midsummer Madness also helps us in the pressing of physical disks. They both also help us to schedule shows here in Brazil.

How did the funding worked for the LP? Did you invest a lot yourself? Was your label supportive in that respect?

Yes, the label helps with a portion of the money to make the LP, and it returns in LPs to be sold. The other part is paid by us and we have the equivalent in LPs to be sold as well.

Where does the majority of the money go when you’re paying your own way?

Most of the money goes in the beers.

Do you make a decent revenue from your music or is it still very much a hobby?

We do not have enough revenue for considering it a professional work. In the best of situations we can pay the expenses. But that does not mean that we will change or give up, because we do what we love.

How do you sell your recordings (shops, online, …)?

Our label, Midsummer Madness, sells a part of the discs online. We sell online also through bandcamp and at shows.

The Future

What is the next album due?

We're thinking of making a single or an EP now. But we do not have a definitive date yet. It would be good to be this year, but...

Any other project (ie movies soundtrack, …) or plans

Richard plans to make a horror B movie. He really likes 80s-b-horror-movies. Maybe I'll do the soundtrack. Something with synthesizer or noisy bending guitars. It can be funny.

Do you plan to continue music for a long time or are you tired of it?

We do not intend to stop playing music ever. While it is possible to step on the pedals, they will be busy. I do not think it's possible to get tired of something that you love. Circumstances change, sometimes they get difficult, but that's what makes things worth it. I could get tired of not loving anything.

MORE ON LOOMER

Some good music videos

Where to find them on internet

Bandcamp

Myspace

Facebook

Is there any people that you want to thank here?

I thank Sam and David (the Editor), you’re great!

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thesinglesjukebox · 7 years

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KATY PERRY FT. NICKI MINAJ - SWISH SWISH [3.36] *types "sports" and "feuds" into subhead, gets 100000000 pageviews*

Mo Kim: "Cartman is introduced to Katy Perry's songwriting staff, who turn out to be a group of manatees. The staff, who live in a large tank, pick up "idea balls" from a large pile of them, each of which has a different animal, quote from direct-to-DVD sleeper hit Bring It On 4: The Bringing On Of The It, or gentrified black slang term written on it, and deliver them, five at a time, to a machine that then forms a verse based on those ideas. Katy Perry refuses to sing if any idea ball is removed from their tank, making critique an unfeasible practice with her. Cartman secretly removes a ball from their tank, causing Katy Perry to stop working, and then convinces the Capitol Records president that she is spoiled and abusing the executives' generosity. Cartman convinces the president that they need to show them what is what. The president decides to pull the new Katy Perry album before its release. Cartman feels victorious, but Taylor Swift shows up, saying that she just convinced the president to tack a 2014 Nicki Minaj verse he found in his Recycle Bin onto the end and release the damn song anyway." [2]

Thomas Inskeep: If you thought "Look What You Made Me Do" was petty, you haven't heard nothin' yet. Clumsy lyrics, a bad early '90s house retread track, a guest verse so phoned-in that Minaj sounds bored doing it, and worst of all, Katy Perry herself, the saddest virus in pop music. Fortunately, it seems that pop fans have developed an immunity to her, based on the pathetic chart performance of her current album and its attendant singles. That sound you hear isn't a "swish," it's Perry's career circling the drain. [0]

Ryo Miyauchi: Genius insists with all its investigative power that this hater-pop is personal, but Katy Perry throws limp jabs that rings anonymous as the dance beat behind her. At least Duke Dumont's wheelhouse is more reliable to entertain. [5]

Crystal Leww: How is it that Duke Dumont is credited as a producer for basically taking Maya Jane Coles and Fatboy Slim production and then somehow making it bad? [1]

Katherine St Asaph: "Walking on Air" was the best track on Prism, and I'm still not sure how Maya Jane Coles isn't everywhere for how much she's influenced pop, so the synthesis was bound to be both good and ascribed to no one involved. "Things have changed from true believers of the music to a more commercialized version of what used to be," said Roland Clark about his infinitely sampled "I Get Deep," so I'm sure he's just thrilled about his words trickling up uncredited, via Fatboy Slim via Duke Dumont, to a Katy Perry song. (He's not disowning it, at least.) If you're very charitable you might see this as Duke Dumont trying, as all pop-house producers do, to prove he Knows His History, but perhaps not, given the aforementioned infinite samples and how Katy's team uses it as a reaction GIF. But at least it belongs in a house track -- unlike the hook (probably Starrah), which belongs in a track that draws out its menace, or the verses (probably Sarah Hudson; evidence), which belong in Pink's "Can't Take Me Home" and in the care of several more editors. (Editors one and two: "what the fuck?" Editor three: "And every bad lyric has nothing to do with basketball anyway. If you're going to keep glomming onto sports because they're now the monoculture that music is not, at least stick to the metaphor." Managing editor: "STOP BEING MUSIC GEEKY.") Everything suggests the kind of song that only coheres with the memes and fake context. Yet somehow it works: the unsweet tea to Meghan Trainor's Arnold Palmer of "Me Too," a machine that looks inexplicably polished. [7]

Madeleine Lee: Finally, a pop single with a house beat that I don't like! I mean, the beat is fine, but I can't enjoy it over the lyrics, which are supposed to be fierce but just sound silly in their mix of bizarre analogies (my personal favourite: "a tiger...don't need opinions from a shellfish") and parroted clapback phrases. Even the robo-voice sample is bad -- that long pause inserted before "what the fuck" is the sound of an air ball. [2]

Nortey Dowuona: A thin, slipping bassline over flat drums. Katy sings blandly. Nicki spits a sharp-toothed verse that is there and then gone. [5]

Frank Kogan: Swish kiss plish, wish the lyrics were different from this. Aside from them, the sound is weird and emphatic and grabby as if she were a Rick James protégé, and jolts me to happy attention. Of course Teena Marie, the Rick James protégé, would've run a thousand rings and wings and epicycles around this. But this track is great for using just a touch of Teena and then continuing to bear down on that little touch, getting all it can out of its little somersault. [8]

Maxwell Cavaseno: The "dance like dubstep" line by Nicki is the perfect thing to overstate as to why both artists have been failing to hit their marks. In Perry's case, there's been an insistent attempt to change what's working for her and mimic other people's successes when, considering how the personality-bleached "Rise" was a home run for her, that's the last thing she needed to do. And Minaj's verse-by-numbers, complete with unnecessary sung outro and dustbin bars, feels like someone who's been sleepwalking since 2012. It's a bitter irony: someone desperate to change who never needed to, and someone too stubborn to recognize how antiquated they've become. Plus, this bad Duke Dumont hijack of Maya Jane Coles doesn't even sound like anything plugged into what was hot at any particular time. From the melodies to the cloying attempt at a catchphrase, it feels so disconnected from any real attempt at a hit to the point you wonder why this was released as it was. Greater songs have been kept out of sight. [2]

Will Adams: In the aftermath of Perry's promo campaign for Witness, a fever dream of live streams and awkward celeb collabs in feeble support of Katy's Great Awokening, "Swish Swish" doesn't look so bad. On first glance it seemed as noxious as it read on paper: more references cherry picked from a position of privilege smooshed together with more reverse engineered memes, from Backpack Kid to the cameo sopped video. Yes, the song itself still isn't great. There's still too much reverb, and there's still some unfortunate scansion and even more unfortunate use of the English language. But the sonic references make a difference; Maya Jane Coles' continued influence on pop is a trend I warmly welcome, and if "I Get Deep" needed to get a reboot for the mid-late '10s, keeping it tied to its house roots is a thoughtful choice. "Swish Swish" is at its best when the excess surrounding it is ignored. [5]

Alfred Soto: Apparently this is an "anti-bullying" track! It's not my job to learn intentions, not when "Swish Swish" is a mishmash of incongruous and unhappily cobbled samples, strange vocal choices, and an inapposite Nicki Minaj cameo. [2]

Alex Clifton: Look, I tried to give this a point for Nicki Minaj singing "I already despise you" in the sweetest way, but I can't do it. "Swish Swish" is the blandest Katy Perry song I've ever heard, which is really saying something. Much as I loathed "Bon Appetit," at least that had, er, memorable moments. Nothing here stands out, a sin for a diss track: the beat is half-assed, the insults are weak ("you're 'bout as cute as an old coupon expired" -- what on earth does that mean, Katy?), and the delivery is emotionless. A song about being the baddest bitch on the block who kills people needs swagger, which has never been Perry's strong point. Say what you will about Taylor Swift, but at least in "Look What You Made Me Do" she sounds icy and in charge. Perry doesn't even have that going for her. [0]

Stephen Eisermann: Nicki's verse is a blast -- quick-witted, fun, and catchy -- and deserving of a much better song. But here, it's just a silver lining on a dark ass cloud. Nothing about this song comes across as sincere -- where Taylor's vindictiveness comes from a place of actual anger, I just don't think Katy cares enough to fight with her. And that's totally fine, but there is no need to fake it! Also, the release of this song feels so weird considering she went on a reconciliation press tour earlier in this album cycle, no? [3]

Joshua Copperman: Swap the two artists around, replace the video with literally anything else, and it's much better - all the pieces are there, including the Duke Dumont-produced beat, but the "old coupon expired" lines aren't iconic; they're dumb. Same with the video, which tries to be a mess and succeeds too well. At least Nicki seems to know what is what. Katy, on the other hand, does not know what is what. She just uses dated memes in her already overblown video struts. What the heck? [5]

[Read, comment and vote on The Singles Jukebox ]

#Katy Perry #Nicki Minaj #Swish Swish

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annabelaplit · 7 years

Text

Reading a Childhood Book Series Through a Feminist Lens

I was going to write about Dickens, I swear. I woke up bright and early at 8am this morning with a plan to get up, write a blog post about the theme of Death and Rebirth in A Tale of Two Cities, do an assortment of other homework and then write scholarship essays. But before that I wanted to spend a little time reading a set of favorite childhood books called A Series of Unfortunate Events. A television show based on the series came out a few weeks ago, and I had a party with my friends where we watched the entire thing in a day. Afterwards I decided it might be fun to revisit the series again. So in my constantly-shrinking periods of free time I have slowly been working my way through the 13 book series.

Today I was reading Book 8 and my eyes looked over a passage that made me think of the entire series in a different light. So naturally I went back and skimmed the first 8 books, read books 9-13 in their entirety, watched applicable parts of the television show and read some literary criticism. Then I realized it was 10 pm and I had accomplished exactly 0 of my academic goals. I had, however, come up with a pretty viable theory for how all these works of Gothic children’s literature are actually feminist texts. So enjoy I guess?

A bit of background because you probably have no idea about the plot of any of these books. A Series of Unfortunate Events is written by a man named Daniel Handler, but it’s narrator is a persona called Lemony Snicket who seems to be this secretive man with a tragic past and a dead lover named Beatrice whom he mourns for consistently. He is chronicling the lives of three orphans as they struggle to protect their late parents fortune and their own lives from a man named Count Olaf. Basically they go to stay with a series of eccentric guardians or end up working and living in a series of eccentric places, and Count Olaf follows them, often in disguise with a bunch of henchmen, and concocts various schemes to get their fortune. Some main themes deal with critiquing adult authority and basic societal institutions, reckoning with the cynicism that comes with growing up, and exploring the ideas of morality and moral relativism. It’s peppered with all sorts of literary references, and it’s much darker than a typical children’s series. Overall it makes for a good read, even for an adult.

Anyway the three orphans are named Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire and they are 14, 13, and an infant respectively. They all have their own special talents which they repeatedly use to get out of all kinds of tricky scenarios. The youngest, Sunny, has unusually sharp teeth with she uses to chop things, bite people, climb walls, and sword-fight. As the series progresses she also reveals a latent talent for cooking, Klaus, the middle child, is a voracious reader and researcher with an encyclopedia of knowledge in his head. And Violet, the eldest child, is a skilled inventor with a Mac Gyver like knack for using household objects to escape dangerous situations.

I think that Handler’s choice to make Violet an inventor is really interesting in a feminist context. Female inventors or females in any kind of engineering, scientific, or mechanical job are less common, both in literature and real life. The lack of women in STEM fields is a real and documented problem. But it is Violet, a girl that has this talent, rather than the bookish skills that are slightly more associated with women. Tison Pugh the author of a literary article about the role of gender in A Series of Unfortunate Events writes,

“Gender roles in the series are additionally undermined through the reversals of gendered norms that have already been reversed. Violet may be coded as somewhat masculine due to her inventing skills, and Klaus may be coded as somewhat feminine due to his inveterate reading, but their respective tendencies in regard to gendered activities do not limit their potential to act in new ways....Gendered categories are rendered meaningless for the Baudelaire children, who express the freedom and agency to strip themselves of the prescriptive cast of gender's historical enactments”

So Violent Baudelaire’s identity is primarily based on the fact that she is an inventor not that she is a girl. However most of the people around her, especially the adults view her more in the context of her gender than in the context of her skills and talents. Characters that can be considered “friendly” towards the orphans exhibit a lot of subtle and sometimes blatantly sexist behavior towards her.

For instance, in Book #3, The Wide Window Josephine Anwhistle, the new guardian of the Baudelaires, gives gifts to the children.

"For Violet," she said, "there is a lovely new doll with plenty of outfits for it to wear." Aunt Josephine reached inside and pulled out a plastic doll with a tiny mouth and wide, staring eyes. "Isn't she adorable? Her name is Pretty Penny."

"Oh, thank you," said Violet, who at fourteen was too old for dolls and had never particularly liked dolls anyway. Forcing a smile on her face, she took Pretty Penny from Aunt Josephine and patted it on its little plastic head

Now to a certain level this incident can just be seen as disinterested parenting instead of a specific attack on gender. However, Josephine’s entire rationale for giving Violet this gift is that Violet is a girl and girls like dolls. She sees the 14 year old in the context of her gender instead of seeing her for her talents and interests outside the scope of her gender.

In Book #7, The Vile Village Count Olaf is trying to frame the orphans for murder and he uses a hair ribbon for evidence

“He reached into the pocket of his blazer and brought out a long pink ribbon decorated with plastic daisies. "I found this right outside Count Olaf's jail cell," he said. "It's a ribbon — the exact kind of ribbon that Violet Baudelaire uses to tie up her hair.”

The townspeople gasped, and Violet turned to see that the citizens of V.F.D. were looking at her with suspicion and fear, which are not pleasant ways to be looked at.

"That's not my ribbon!" Violet cried, taking her own hair ribbon of her pocket. "My hair ribbon is right here!"

"How can we tell?" an Elder asked with a frown. "All hair ribbons look alike."

"They don't look alike!" Klaus said. "The one found at the murder scene is fancy and pink. My sister prefers plain ribbons, and she hates the color pink!"

Here the townspeople of the Village of Fowl Devotees, the ostensible guardians of the children, decide that Violet is guilty based on the assumption that she would wear a fancy pink hairband because she is a girl.

In Book #11, The Grim Grotto, Klaus helps a sea captain find the location of an important object. The excited captain explains,

“Aye! You're sensational! Aye! If you find me the sugar bowl, I'll allow you to marry Fiona!”

“Stepfather!” Fiona cried, blushing behind her triangular glasses.

“Don't worry,” the captain replied, “we'll find a husband for Violet, too! Aye! Perhaps we'll find your long-lost brother, Fiona! He's much older, of course, and he's been missing for years, but if Klaus can locate the sugar bowl he could probably find him! Aye! He's a charming man, so you'd probably fall in love with him, Violet, and then we could have a double wedding! Aye! Right here in the Main Hall of the Queequeg ! Aye! I would be happy to officiate! Aye! I have a bow tie I've been saving for a special occasion!”

“Captain Widdershins,” Violet said, “let's try to stick to the subject of the sugar bowl.” She did not add that she was not interested in getting married for quite some time”

Captain Widdershins decides that marriage is a suitable reward for the Baudelaire’s help. First he thinks of marrying his stepdaughter to Klaus and then of marrying his long lost stepson to Violet. At this point the Captain has considerable knowledge of Violet’s personality and her passion for inventing, but he still thinks that she is more interested in love and marriage than anything else.

In Book #12, The Penultimate Peril, a mentor of the Baudelaires named Kim Snicket attempts to show the children how much they can accomplish,

"When your parents died," Kit said, "you were just a young girl, Violet. But you've matured. Those aren't the eyes of a young girl. They're the eyes of someone who has faced endless hardship. And look at you, Klaus. You have the look of an experienced researcher-not just the young reader who lost his parents in a fire. And Sunny, you're standing on your own two feet, and so many of your teeth are growing in that they don't appear to be of such unusual size, as they were when you were a baby. You're not children anymore, Baudelaires. You're volunteers, ready to face the challenges of a desperate and perplexing world”

I think here the sexism comes across pretty subtly. Kit is trying to talk about how all three of the children have changed as a result of what they have faced after the deaths of their parents. Sunny goes from a baby with unusually large teeth to a older child with more normal teeth. Klaus goes from a “young reader” to a “experienced researcher”. But Violet goes from a “young girl” to someone who has faced endless hardship. Both Sunny and Klaus experience change based on their talents: reading and biting. But Violet’s change is related to her femininity rather than her skills or talents. Arguably Kit is the best ally the orphans have in any of the novels, but she still falls prey to subtle gender stereotyping

Probably the greater instance of sexism in the novels is in Book #2, The Reptile Room. The banker Mr. Poe who is in charge of placing the orphans in the care of various guardians discovers that Violet has picked a lock in order to discover vital information about how Count Olaf murdered the herpetologist Dr. Montgomery Montgomery.

"It was an emergency," Violet said calmly, "so I picked the lock."

"How did you do that?" Mr. Poe asked. "Nice girls shouldn't know how to do such things."

"My sister is a nice girl," Klaus said, "and she knows how to do all sorts of things.

"Roofik!" Sunny agreed.

I think this one is pretty self-explanatory

This behavior isn’t entirely unique to adults. There are only two male characters in all 13 books that are approximately Violet’s age and the connections she has with both of them are to some degree romantic. The only people that seem to view her completely outside of the context of her gender are her siblings. However Violet’s romantic interests, most of the other child characters, and some of the adults recognize Violet’s innate inventing skills. They see her as being more than just a girl and it is important that this way of looking at her is connected with the “good” people. Readers, especially impressionable children (including me at that age), see how it is right to value Violet as an inventor instead of as a girl.

If those with friendly towards Violet can be said to sometimes value her gender over her talent and skills in other areas, those who are the enemies of the Baudelaire can be said to treat her far worse. They see her only in the context of her physical attractiveness rather than in the context of any of her other attributes.

Violet is pretty and this is an attribute that Count Olaf and his various henchmen unerringly pay attention to throughout the series. Some examples,

In Book #1, The Bad Beginning the children are put in the care of Count Olaf and his various evil henchmen

“Nobody paid a bit of attention to the children, except for the bald man, who stopped and stared Violet in the eye.

"You're a pretty one," he said, taking her face in his rough hands. "If I were you I would try not to anger Count Olaf, or he might wreck that pretty little face of yours." Violet shuddered, and the bald man gave a high-pitched giggle and left the room.”

Here an evil henchmen pays attention to Violet over the other children only because she is attractive and then he uses her attractiveness as the basis of a threat.

At one point in Book #1 Count Olaf asks the children to participate in a play he is producing,

"And what will I do?" Violet asked. "I am very handy with tools, so perhaps I could help you build the set."

"Build the set? Heavens, no," Count Olaf said. "A pretty girl like you shouldn't be working backstage."

"But I'd like to," Violet said.

Here Count Olaf literally devalues Violet’s mechanical and technical skills in favor of her physical looks.

At one point in the Bad Beginning Count Olaf imprisons Sunny in a cage and Violet gets captured by a hook handed henchman while trying to rescue her

" How pleasant that you could join us," the hook-handed man said in a sickly sweet voice. Violet immediately tried to scurry back down the rope, but Count Olaf's assistant was too quick for her. In one movement he hoisted her into the tower room and, with a flick of his hook, sent her rescue device clanging to the ground. Now Violet was as trapped as her sister. "I'm so glad you're here," the hook-handed man said. "I was just thinking how much I wanted to see your pretty face. Have a seat."

Seeing Violet just climb a 30ft building using a homemade invention this henchmen’s first thought is to mention how to wanted to see Violet because she is attractive.

Things cool down with all the references to Violet’s looks until midway through the series. In Book #9, the Carnivorous Carnival. Count Olaf and his associates talk about which children they would most like to have survived the fire they set at a hospital.

"I hope it's Sunny," the hook-handed man said. "It was fun putting her in a cage, and I look forward to doing it again."

"I myself hope it's Violet," Olaf said. "She's the prettiest."

Rather than any of her various other merits the sole reason Count Olaf mentions wanting Violet to be alive is because she is “pretty”

In Book #11, The Grim Grotto the Baudelaires need to convince Count Olaf to help Sunny who has been poisoned by a rare fungus,

Sunny coughed inside her helmet, and Violet thought quickly. “If you let us help our sister,” she said, “we'll tell you where the sugar bowl is.”

Count Olaf's eyes narrowed, and he gave the children a wide, toothy grin the two Baudelaires remembered from so many of their troubled times. His eyes shone brightly, as if he were telling a joke as nasty as his unbrushed teeth.

“You can't try that trick again,” he sneered. “I'm not going to bargain with an orphan, no matter how pretty she may be. Once you get to the brig, you'll reveal where the sugar bowl is – once my henchman gets his hands on you. Or should I say hooks? Hee hee torture!”

Here Count Olaf feels the need to slip in the fact that Violet’s looks play a role in this bargaining process.

But for me the passage which illustrates this phenomena best comes in Book #8, The Horrible Hospital. This was the passage that got me started on this whole 18 hour researching and blog post project. The Horrible Hospital was the first of the Series of Unfortunate Events that I read, way back in the 3rd grade. Something about it stuck out to me then and today I realized what that was. Its background is that Count Olaf has captured Violet and is going to basically saw off her head but make it look like a surgical procedure. Klaus and Sunny have disguised themselves as evil henchmen nurses and are attempting to find a way to break their sister out of the hospital.

The bald man took a key out of the pocket in his medical coat, and unlocked the door with a triumphant grin. "Here she is," he said. "Our little sleeping beauty."

The door opened with a long, whiny creak, and the children stepped inside the room, which was square and small and had heavy shades over the windows, making it quite dark inside. But even in the dim light the children could see their sister, and they almost gasped at how dreadful she looked.

When the bald associate had mentioned a sleeping beauty, he was referring to a fairy tale that you have probably heard one thousand times. Like all fairy tales, the story of Sleeping Beauty begins with "Once upon a time," and continues with a foolish young princess who makes a witch very angry, and then takes a nap until her boyfriend wakes her up with a kiss and insists on getting married, at which point the story ends with the phrase "happily ever after." The story is usually illustrated with fancy drawings of the napping princess, who always looks very glamorous and elegant, with her hair neatly combed and a long silk gown keeping her comfortable as she snores away for years and years. But when Klaus and Sunny saw Violet in Room 922, it looked nothing like a fairy tale.

The eldest Baudelaire was lying on a gurney, which is a metal bed with wheels, used in hospitals to move patients around. This particular gurney was as rusty as the knife Klaus was holding, and its sheets were ripped and soiled. Olaf's associates had put her into a white gown as filthy as the sheets, and had twisted her legs together like vines. Her hair had been messily thrown over her eyes so that no one would recognize her face from The Daily Punctilio, and her arms hung loosely from her body, one of them almost touching the floor of the room with one limp finger. Her face was pale, as pale and empty as the surface of the moon, and her mouth was open slightly in a vacant frown, as if she were dreaming of being pricked with a pin. Violet looked like she had dropped onto the gurney from a great height, and if it were not for the slow and steady rise of her chest as she breathed, it would have looked like she had not survived the fall. Klaus and Sunny looked at her in horrified silence, trying not to cry as they gazed at their helpless sister.

"She's a pretty one," the hook-handed man said, "even when she's unconscious."

"She's clever, too," the bald man said, "although her clever little brain won't do her any good when her head has been sawed off." ....

Although her siblings preferred to think about her inventing abilities and conversational skills rather than her physical appearance, it was true, as the hook-handed man had said, that Violet was a pretty one, and if her hair had been neatly combed, instead of all tangled up, and she had been dressed in something elegant and glamorous, instead of a stained gown, she might indeed have looked like an illustration from "Sleeping Beauty."

There is a lot to take in here. Handler does a really great job subtly deconstructing the fairly tale of Sleeping Beauty and making it look stupid. He first does through diminishing the action to things like taking a nap and suggesting that getting married doesn’t necessarily equate a happy ending. The idea of a sleeping beauty is then contrasted by Violet’s decrepit treatment and quite sad appearance as she lays unconscious on the gurney. The two henchmen talk about her attributes, focusing primarily on her natural beauty as opposed to her “cleverness”. But the most important part of the scene might be that last paragraph where Snicket talks about Violet’s beauty but not before mentioning, “her siblings preferred to think about her inventing abilities and conversational skills rather than her appearance”. It is an unobstructed fact that Violet is beautiful but only the “bad” characters focus on her beauty while the “good” characters think of her outside of this context. It is a really subtle morality lesson, saying that it is correct to think of girls is outside the scope of traditional fairy tales, and it is a lesson that personally reverberated with me after the reading the book for the first time.

There is an elephant in the room regarding the way in which Violet is viewed by her enemies. An analysis can’t be complete without referring to the fact that Count Olaf tried to marry Violet, who I should remind you was 14 throughout A Bad Beginning and throughout most of the series. This almost-marriage was solely a convoluted way for Count Olaf to get his hands on the Baudelaire fortune, and it seems a lot less strange when you read the actual books, and this whole plot is foiled which some hand signing shenanigans. But the whole thing is still quite weird and it has some weird implications as well as spawning some more commentary on Violet’s character in relation to her gender and appearance.

The reason that Count Olaf imprisoned Sunny in a cage above his house was to force Violet to participate in a legitimate marriage ceremony embedded in a play he was putting on.

"Come now," Count Olaf said, his voice faking—a word which here means “feigning"— kindness. He reached out a hand and stroked Violet's hair. "Would it be so terrible to be my bride, to live in my house for the rest of your life? You're such a lovely girl, after the marriage I wouldn't dispose of you like your brother and sister.

Violet imagined... wandering around the house, trying to avoid [Count Olaf] all day, and cooking for his terrible friends at night, perhaps every night, for the rest of her life. But then she looked up at her helpless sister and knew what her answer must be. "If you let Sunny go," she said finally, "I will marry you

Okay this is really really creepy especially for a children’s novel. But is also interesting to note how Violet’s physical appearance is the sole reason Count Olaf seems inclined to treat her with a modicum of kindness afer their theoretical marriage. Violet’s view of how marriage with the villain will be also seems to her involve being a sort of housewife who cooks dinner for the Count’s henchpeople every night. Her life with him would have nothing to do with her actual talents and everything to do with her attractiveness and traditional gender roles.

There is also a really important interaction with Violet, Count Olaf and the Hook Handed Man right after she gets caught trying to break Sunny out of her cage.

“ The hook-handed man reached into a pocket of his greasy overcoat and pulled out a walkie-talkie. With some difficulty, he pressed a button and waited a moment. "Boss, it's me," he said. "Your blushing bride just climbed up here to try and rescue the biting brat."

He paused as Count Olaf said something. "I don't know. With some sort of rope."

"It was a grappling hook," Violet said, and tore off a sleeve of her nightgown to make a bandage for her shoulder. "I made it myself." "

She says it was a grappling hook," the hook-handed man said into the walkie-talkie. "I don't know, boss. Yes, boss. Yes, boss, of course I understand she's yours. Yes, boss." He pressed a button to disconnect the line, and then turned to face Violet. "Count Olaf is very displeased with his bride. "

"I'm not his bride," Violet said bitterly.

"Very soon you will be," the hook-handed man said

Once again this whole thing is pretty creepy and weird especially without the context of the whole novel. But throughout this passage Violet is referred to by the bad guys in the context of her role as a future wife, even as they discuss what she has done in her role as an inventor. There is also the whole thing with Violet belonging to Count Olaf which sexist in a pretty blatant way.

So overall the fact that Violent’s appearance and actions in traditional gender roles are granted such importance by the bad characters and are neglected by the good characters signals to readers that that sort of behavior is bad in general. It teaches them that girls shouldn’t be just thought of as “pretty” and future wives, they can be inventors, or researchers, or poets, or spies.

Okay I’m not quite done yet. I want to talk about Violet’s “foil” in this story, a girl named Carmelita Spats. We are first introduced to Carmelita in Book #5, and she comes back in Book #10, Book #11, and Book #12. The first sentence of Book #5, the Austere Academy is

“If you were going to give a gold medal to the least delightful person on Earth, you would have to give that medal to a person named Carmelita Spats, and if you didn't give it to her, Carmelita Spats was the sort of person who would snatch it from your hands anyway. Carmelita Spats was rude, she was violent, and she was filthy, and it is really a shame that I must describe her to you, because there are enough ghastly and distressing things in this story without even mentioning such an unpleasant person”

So basically Carmelita Spats is THE WORST PERSON EVER. But besides being rude and greedy and doing a lot of mean stuff to people Carmelita is quite obsessed with her looks and fitting into traditional gender roles. In the Austere Academy she informs the Baudelaires

"I have a message for you from Coach Genghis. I get to be his Special Messenger because I'm the cutest, prettiest, nicest girl in the whole school”

Notice how two of the three adjectives she uses to describe herself deal with her physical attractiveness. This self obsession is only heightened later on. In Book #10 The Slippery Slope Carmelita relates to the orphans a truly dull and awful story,

"Once upon a time, I woke up and looked in the mirror, and there I saw the prettiest, smartest, most darling girl in the whole wide world. I put on a lovely pink dress to make myself look even prettier, and I skipped off to school where my teacher told me I looked more adorable than anyone she had ever seen in her entire life, and she gave me a lollipop as a special present"

Look how Carmelita thinks of herself, she mentions once that she is smart, but she mostly talks about how attractive she is, how she is the “prettiest”, the “most darling”, “adorable”. She gets rewarded by a teacher for being beautiful instead of being smart. She also talks wearing a pink dress to become more attractive, something that fits in with tradtional gender stereotypes, and can be seen as the opposite of Violet with her plain hair ribbon.

Later on in The Slippery Slope Count Olaf’s girlfriend Esme Squalor asks Carmelita to join their band of villains. Her sales pitch?

"I think you're adorable, beautiful, cute, dainty, eye-pleasing, flawless, gorgeous, harmonious, impeccable, jaw-droppingly adorable, keen, luscious, magnificent, nifty, obviously adorable, photogenic, quite adorable, ravishing, splendid, thin, undeformed, very adorable, well-proportioned, xylophone, yummy, and zestfully adorable," Esmé pledged, "every morning, every afternoon, every night, and all day long!"

Almost every single one of those compliments have to do with Carmelita’s looks. There is barely any mention of any other skills or talents Carmelita might have. With references to being “thin” and “well-proportioned” the idea that beautiful women ought to be skinny is also enforced. Carmelita is entirely defined by her femininity, while Violet’s status as a girl is tangential to her personality.

When we meet up with Carmelita in Book #11, The Grim Grotto her reliance on traditional gender roles is even more enforced.

“Carmelita had always been the sort of unpleasant person who believed that she was prettier and smarter than everybody else, and Violet and Klaus saw instantly that she had become even more spoiled under the care of Olaf and Esmé. She was dressed in an outfit perhaps even more absurd than Esmé Squalor's, in different shades of pink so blinding that Violet and Klaus had to squint in order to look at her. Around her waist was a wide, frilly tutu, which is a skirt used during ballet performances, and on her head was an enormous pink crown decorated with light pink ribbons and dark pink flowers. She had two pink wings taped to her back, two pink hearts drawn on her cheeks, and two different pink shoes on each foot that made unpleasant slapping sounds as she walked. Around her neck was a stethoscope, such as doctors use, with pink puffballs pasted all over it, and in one hand she had a long pink wand with a bright pink star at the end of it.

“Stop looking at my outfit!” she commanded the Baudelaires scornfully. “You're just jealous of me because I'm a tap-dancing ballerina fairy princess veterinarian!”

Carmelita has grown more spoiled but she has also grown even more attached to feminine stereotypes. Look at her blindingly pink outfit, covered with hearts, ribbons, and flowers. Her career choices are ballerina, fairy, princess, and veterinarian, all of which are tradtionally associated with females except maybe veterinarians. Even then her stethoscope is covered with “pink puffballs”. Carmelita has basically become the very embodiment of female stereotypes, compiling every traditional desire of little girls into one person. Her constant reminder of what a “typical girl” should look be directly contrasts how Violet acts. And since Carmelita is “the least delightful person on earth” and we know Violet is wonderful from spending 11 books with her, readers feel that Violet’s is the example that they should follow.

The only other thing interesting to note about Carmelita Spats is what happens to her in Book #12 the Penultimate Peril. Violet sees her playing in a pool on the rooftop of a hotel.

The last time Violet had seen the unpleasant captain of this boat, she was dressed all in pink, and was announcing herself as a tap-dancing ballerina fairy princess veterinarian, but the eldest Baudelaire could hardly say whether being a ballplaying cowboy superhero soldier pirate was better or worse.

"Of course you are, darling," purred Esmé, and turned to Geraldine Julienne with a smile one mother might give another at a playground. "Carmelita has been a tomboy lately," she said, using an insulting term inflicted on girls whose behavior some people find unusual.

"I'm sure your daughter will grow out of it," Geraldine replied, who as usual was speaking into a microphone”

This time the lesson on gender stereotypes doesn’t come from Carmelita’s actions but from Snicket himself. Carmelita has changed from an incredibly feminine person to one with masculine interests. Rather than legitimately accepting her ward’s more non-tradtional interests Esme insists that she is just going through a phase, and a local reporter insists that these interests will soon change. But Snicket calls out these adults and others who use the term tomboy. He calls the term “insulting” and describes it as being “inflicted” on girls. The message is clear: it’s perfectly acceptable if one wants to act outside the bounds of traditional gender stereotypes and children shouldn’t be shamed for it.

A few other minor notes. Handler likes to comment on the gendered quality of words and phrases in various places in the series. At one point a female villain says that she prefers to use the term henchperson as opposed to henchman. And the stepdaughter of Captain Widdershins insists on inserting the phrase “or she” in the Captain’s personal motto of “He who hesitates is lost”. He also deconstructs more fairy tales such as Cinderella and Little Red Riding Hood.

There are also other instances of the behaviors I have described here in the Netflix show based on the first four books of A Series of Unfortunate Events. The teleplays for that series was also written by Daniel Handler. In the Episode A Bad Beginning Part 2 one of Olaf’s henchpeople states that

“I just think, even in changing context, that marriage is an inherently patriarchal construction that is likely to further the hegemonic juggernaut that's problematizing a lot of genders”

This is intended to be comic relief but you can see some of Handler’underlying messages about gender roles in the statement. There is also a truly creepy scene in that episode where Klaus insists, “You will never touch our fortune” and Count Olaf replies, “Klaus, I’ll touch whatever I want” and then squeezes Violet’s shoulder. It is just another instance of Violet’s physical features being valued over her mental ones.

Also in the Episode: The Reptile Room Part 2 the critique that Violet shouldn’t pick locks because she is a nice girl is stated by both Mr. Poe and Count Olaf on separate occasions. Count Olaf also insists that he is willing to settle for taking just Violet to Peru, where there are lax childcare laws, instead of all four siblings.

Alright that is literally everything I can possibly think of to say about this book series from a feminist perspective. Through the views of different characters on Violet Baudelaire's attributes readers can understand how treating girls in certain ways is inappropriate. Girls are more than just their looks, they are more than traditional gender roles, and their identities based on their talents and skills are just as important as their gender identity. When you read A Series of Unfortunate Events you may think you are reading a children’s story about secret organizations and eccentric guardians but you’re actually reading subtle feminist propaganda. As a huge fan of the books when I was young, it is invigorating to look at them through this lens and I am glad I got to use my AP Lit skills for something I am so passionate about.

Also it’s 2:30 in the morning and I have literally spent 18 hours researching and writing this post. It’s time for bed yo!

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