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guess-my-next-obsession · 2 years ago

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Fade Into You, Chapter One: New York, New York

pairing: bookstore owner!ezra x f!reader

rating: M (talks of strange familial relationships, lots of introspection with a touch of angst, brief talks of gender identity/homelessness)

wc: 2.9k

series masterlist

You’d always dreamed of autumn in New York. There always seemed to be a special kind of magic in the air, the browning leaves melting into the brownstones lining the streets. Even in the midst of the city’s chaos and incessant bustle, the season seemed to offer its own comfort to any soul looking for it.

You couldn’t think of anyone who needed that sort of comfort more than yourself.

Grad school was never in your plans, but neither was becoming a writer. You always imagined yourself as something more practical, not because you wanted it, but because practicality had been drilled into you since you were a child. In truth, the dreams you’d buried with your girlhood were the furthest from practical.

You wanted to be a singer, a designer, an actor, a painter, even a fucking astronaut for a couple years after watching an Apollo 11 documentary at the impressionable age of thirteen. Anything that would give you an exit from the life you’d been born into, a life born with the weight of generations of struggle and hardship on its shoulders, seemed like the dream.

You’d been all set to head into an accounting program after graduating high school, satisfying your blue collar father’s dream of stability and your all-too dependent mother’s dream of raising a daughter who didn’t need to rely on a man for survival. You had burned every thought of a life filled with passion and fulfillment to make their dream come true, the guilt of being the eldest daughter outweighing your own desires. But the minute you stepped onto campus, you could feel yourself breathing in the air that they never did, the air that tasted like freedom and choice, and knew you’d let them down.

It took one semester of accounting to know that while you could spend the rest of your life doing this, you weren’t sure if you could live with yourself if you did.

The year that followed this revelation was spent trying on every hat you could.

You tried to satiate your need for adventure by consuming as much of the party life as possible, hoping that perhaps all you needed to feel okay with this sacrifice of desire was to live a little, but that only made you feel more lost. It wasn’t until you stumbled upon a creative writing class that you first felt that spark inside of you, the little kid you’d long buried clawing its way up from the ground to breathe.

You dived head first into these new waters and were surprised to find you were quite decent at it. With a professor's help, you managed to self-publish a poetry book, juvenile work at worst and promising at best, in hindsight, but it was that book that got you into the creative writing program at Columbia.

Into the autumnal magic of New York city.

It had been such a long time since you’d felt this brand new. You had no ties to anyone or anything beyond the tiny studio in Harlem that you called home, and though you weren’t absolved from feelings of loneliness, you felt a surge of confidence blossom in your chest at the thought that you could be anybody here. And so, you would.

Mid September

Needing something to do besides sitting on your bed that doubled as a couch, desk, and table, you found yourself wandering through the slowly cooling city streets. None of the trees showed any signs of preparing for the upcoming season, Central Park’s astounding green acting as a beacon as you got off the subway at 125th street.

Walking down Madison Avenue, you pretended to be cooler than you felt you were, not that any passersby would look at you long enough to notice your effort. In fact, everyone’s lack of perception or care put you at ease. To them, you were just another face in the crowd, and just another face in the crowd caused no hurt or offense, just another face in the crowd was simply that—a person, good or bad, cool or uncool. Your insignificance meant your existence wasn’t staining, and as someone who’d allowed herself to get splashed and tarnished by the colors of the outside world for so long, you never felt freer.

The sound of Mazzy Star’s Blue Light guided you down Madison Avenue much further than you anticipated you’d go, your plans of an afternoon spent in Central Park being derailed by the sudden desire to check out the Guggenheim Museum.

It was this small misdirection, this impulsive journey that led you to his bookstore, the place you’d come to frequent for an entire month before you ever learned his name.

It was a small shop on the first floor of a brownstone, it’s antique golden sign hanging over the shop door reading: Prospect Books. The building’s red brick blended in with its surroundings, leaving you to question this spark of intuition burning in your belly as your eyes fixed onto the sign, your feet slowing on their own accord until you were standing still in front of the window display, blindly staring inside. A couple—new if you had to guess solely based on one man’s chivalry and the other’s smitten smile—opening making their way out, the doorbell jingling with the swing of the wood, caused you to break free from your trance of sorts. Looking down at your phone, you figured you had plenty of time left in your afternoon to make a quick stop into this tiny relic from the past, if only just for the sake of exploration.

“Welcome in,” a voice called from somewhere in the shop, but you couldn’t spot anyone behind the checkout counter.

Rather than speaking back to air, you kept quiet and moved slowly about the room as if a movement too haste would ruin all the history these four walls carried. Finding your way to the fiction section, you finally spotted the owner of the voice that had greeted you, a young person with a jet black shag and round glasses, their smile easy and welcoming as they approached you.

“Need help finding anything?” they asked. You glanced at their name tag reading “Jay” before meeting their eyes, a friendly smile growing on your face as you shrugged your shoulders.

“No, not really looking for anything in particular,” you said. “I’m new here, so, kind of just exploring.”

“Oh, yeah? When did you get into the city?” they asked.

“Last month,” you said, earning a look of understanding from Jay.

“Well,” they said, gesturing at the room around you. “This was a great pit stop in your explorations. We have a ton of events, and I’ve actually met basically all my friends here.”

“Oh yeah?” you probed with a smile, feeling a sense of ease in their presence.

“Yeah, we actually have a couple things going on this weekend if you wanted to check them out,” they said, walking you over to the register so that they could point out the monthly calendar taped to the glass counter. “The last Friday of every month, we have a little mixer, always themed,” they said with a grin. “This month’s theme is Gothic Literature, so we’ll have all of our gothic literature for half off and free wine. Can’t go wrong.”

“That actually sounds like so much fun,” you chuckled, surprised by the way the afternoon was unfolding.

“And then on Saturday afternoons, we have our book club meeting. It’s a group of probably fifteen people, all ages, all types, very inclusive. All you have to do to join is fill out this little “Meet Me” card and purchase the book of the month, but since the month’s almost over I’d just buy it now and get a head start.”

“Well, what's next month’s book?” you asked, following them with your eyes as they jogged around the counter to the display on a table in the middle of the room, picking up a used book and handing it over to you.

“Jane Eyre,” they said. “Have you read it?”

“Oddly enough, I haven't,” you smiled, flipping through the annotated and well loved pages. “Someone sure seemed to like it.”

“Yeah, all of our books are used and scribbled on like that,” they chuckled. “The owner is this old money rich guy who works on the board of the New York Public Library, so most of the books here are either throw-outs from them or donated by the community.”

“Well, that’s a very interesting life to lead,” you chuckled. “Honestly, all of this sounds like so much fun, so…count me in.”

Jay beamed and nodded, ringing up your copy of Jane Eyre that came out to an astonishing total of $2.99.

“I think this just became my favorite place in New York,” you said as you watched them slide your new book into a paper bag before reaching behind the counter to grab your “Meet Me” card. Quickly filling out the basics: your name, age, pronouns, favorite book, favorite movie, and favorite color, you handed over a five dollar bill and moved to leave with the event calendar tucked into your paper bag, but a man walking behind you caught your eye and forced you into lingering.

He was an older guy, his hair graying in patches on his beard and in his brown curls, but he didn’t look any older than forty-something. He was wearing a vintage tee and a pair of well loved jeans, his sneakers just as scuffed. You couldn’t help but admire and fall for his casual coolness, the kind you always tried to emulate and never felt close to nailing.

“Hot date?” Jay teased the older man and earned a smile from him.

“Something like that,” he smiled, not giving you more than a blink of attention. “I’ll be back before closing.”

“Sounds good, Ezra,” Jay nodded, joining you in watching Ezra leave the shop before catching you staring a little too long. “That’s the shop owner.”

“Oh,” you managed, your eyes still locked on him as he stood in front of the building, his eyes glued to his phone as he typed a text. “Figured he’d be older.”

“Yeah, he’s a cool guy. If I hadn’t met him, I’m not sure where I’d be. He gave me this job, let me stay at one of the apartments he owns here when I was homeless…just, really cool guy,” they gushed, a sort of admiration in their eyes that had nothing to do with romance and more to do with respect. “Hopefully you’ll get to meet him properly at the mixer, he’s always there for that unless his godkid’s in town.”

“Well, I’ll be there,” you smiled, albeit bashfully. “It was really nice meeting you, Jay.”

“You too,” they lifted your “Meet Me” card and read your name off with a smile. “Don’t be a stranger!”

When Friday evening rolled around, you found yourself in a full face of makeup and dressed to the nines as some sort of vampiress, your lips stained blood red and body squeezed into a black lace corset and black jeans that left little to the imagination. You weren’t sure why you’d gotten so dolled up to go to a bookstore mixer, but figured if the handsome owner, Ezra, was going to be around, you needed to stand out.

It wasn’t until you opened the door to the shop and walked in that you realized how severely underdressed you were.

“Hey!” Jay beamed, making a beeline for you in their Frankenstein costume, their face painted green. “You actually came!”

“Everyone looks so cool,” you whispered in awe, earning a laugh. “I thought I overdid it.”

“No, there’s no overdoing it here,” they laughed before gesturing at your corset. “The corset is stunning, you’re gorgeous, let’s get you some wine. Red or white?”

“Red seems on brand for the costume,” you said, earning another laugh. “Is, uh, is the owner here?”

“I think so,” Jay said, looking around the room. “He’s dressed as The Phantom.”

“Love that,” you smiled, accepting the glass from their hands. “So, what’s, uh…what’s his deal?”

“Oh, no,” Jay laughed, shaking their head. “He’s single-ish. I’ve seen lots and lots of dates but never a long-term thing.”

“Well, rich and attractive,” you weighed your head to the side. “Why would you want to settle down?”

“I think he’s the type of person that makes a much better friend in the long run than anything else,” they said. “He used to go out with one of my friends a few years back and he said that the best moments were the ones where they were just friends. The romantic aspect of it all left a bad taste in his mouth, I guess.”

“Really?” you asked, too absorbed by Jay’s candor to notice Ezra dressed as The Phantom from The Phantom of the Opera walking past you and out of the shop with a woman dressed up as Marian Halcombe from The Woman In White until they were already outside.

“Yeah, he just…he’s not good at serious stuff. He comes from a long line of divorcee’s and doesn’t really believe that people can have successful long term romantic relationships, at least that’s what Ez told me after they split up.”

“How did you meet him again?” you probed, unsure why this man had taken such root in your mind and piqued your curiosity.

“We met when I was an art student at NYU,” they said. “I had a few pieces in an exhibition and nobody stopped for more than a second to look at my shit except for him. He offered to buy all of my art, and at that time I was female presenting so I just assumed he was a rich creep or something, but over time I realized that he’s just a lonely guy who loves to support young, queer artists in whatever way he can. After graduation, I was broke and in debt and homeless, and the minute he learned I was struggling, he offered to let me live in a studio in the building he owns next door, gave me a job here, helps me network with art dealers and galleries. Really just…has been a great friend and mentor to me. I’ll get choked up if I talk about it too much.”

You watched Jay in awe, the twinkle in their eyes as they spoke of their unique journey and this rich man that could have done what most would’ve done in his position and turned a blind eye at them, but he didn’t. You could see the respect and admiration there, and though the news that this Ezra wasn’t necessarily a great romantic partner dampened the image of him you’d drawn in your mind, the reality of his heart and intentions when it came to his friends only made you want to know him more.

“Anyways,” Jay laughed, wiping the corner of their eye. “He’s a good guy. Just, if you’re looking for romance with him—at least a lasting one—I’d forget about it and just try to get to know him as a friend. There’s really nobody like him.”

“I’m coming to realize that,” you chuckled, putting the image of him in your mind on the shelf so that you could focus on the room around you instead. “Thank you for being so friendly to me, I really like your entire vibe, Jay.”

“I like your vibe too. I think you and I are gonna be good friends,” they said with a smile. “Do you want me to introduce you to some of my friends here?”

“Yeah, I’d love that.”

After that night, you had a new set of friends, and a best friend in Jay. This group of eclectic creatives and interesting minds took up most of your time, almost to the point where you didn’t even wonder about their handsome older friend. After a couple weeks of waiting for your chance to meet the mysterious Ezra, you’d become worried that he’d disappeared into thin air, but quickly found out from Jay that he’d only left the city to go upstate and would be back by the start of October.

In the meantime, you continued to explore and try on as many hats as you could. You and the group that adopted you went out to speakeasies and art galleries, you went to museums and comedy shows; Jay even invited you to go volunteer at the women’s shelter they stayed at for a while after graduation.

It was easy to forget the life you lived before this, the faces of your family and friends blurring into the background of the tapestry of your life. You tried not to think about their opinion of you, off running wild in New York City, and while you were able to hush that voice of inherited self-doubt most of the time, you couldn’t manage to silence it when you were all alone. When it was just you in your tiny studio apartment on the third floor of an old, overpriced building, you didn’t feel as invincible as you did around your friends. The thought of becoming an imposter, of abandoning yourself, loomed over you like a constant dark cloud. It took daily reminding from Jay that you weren’t impersonating anybody but the person you felt most comfortable being.

“You’re still you, just a more you you,” they’d say.

You hoped they were right.

#pedro pascal #pedro pascal fic #pedro pascal fanfiction #pedro pascal fluff #ezra prospect #ezra prospect x reader #ezra x reader #ezra prospect x you #ezra x you #fade into you

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gusgrissom · 2 years ago

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Watching the Apollo 11 (2019) documentary film for the first time since I saw its IMAX premiere at the Smithsonian (4 years ago???) and jeez. I’ve spent a significant part of my life studying this era, this particular achievement, and it’s still surreal and awe-inspiring. I still get butterflies in my stomach and hold my breath listening to the launch countdown. It’s still incredible we sent those three men to the moon and brought them back—then did it again, and again, and again.

#I remember when I talked to NASA’s chief historian and asked him about his favorite part of NASA history to learn more about #and even he was like ‘obviously it’s still the moon landing!!!’ hell yeah Bill!#nasa #moon landing #apollo 11

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kaiyves-backup · 8 months ago

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4, 8, 12, and 13 for the space ask game?

(I had an almost-complete answer but I closed the tab by accident and it got wiped. #^£*!)

(From this list)

4 - underrated mission(s)

I feel like the Phoenix Mars Lander gets overlooked in the lurch these days despite the fact that this was the mission that first found water ice in Martian soil. It wasn’t a rover and it was a polar mission never intended to last more than one season, so Phoenix didn’t have the time to build up the kind of long-term following that Spirit, Opportunity, Curiosity, et al. had, but as someone who was there visiting the website every day, it made for one incredible summer and fall.

Phoenix was the first mission I followed avidly from launch to end of mission. It was the first Mars mission to be photographed by an orbiter during parachute descent and as the first to have a first-person Twitter account from Day 1, it was one of the catalysts of the Space Tweeps movement and the 2010s renaissance in space fandom.

And the mission patch was amazing:

8 - fave space book

Of all? I don’t think I could pick just one, but among my favorites I’ll say that Brian Floca’s Moonshot: The Flight of Apollo 11 is the best Apollo book to come out of the 40th anniversary celebrations. It’s beautifully-illustrated Sweet Dreams Fuel that both children and adults can enjoy and I’ll always recommend it.

12 - what got you into space?

In my 5th grade science class, we watched a documentary about the Voyager probes that featured the multilingual greetings from the Golden Record. They played Nick Sagan’s English-language “Greetings from the children of Planet Earth!” recording and it absolutely blew my mind to imagine this little boy’s voice going out into infinity, that human hands had made this thing and sent it out beyond the planets, with the anticipation no human hands would ever touch it again.

13 - who would win in a fistfight: el*n m*sk or j*ff b*zos? you must explain your reasoning.

I don’t care to devote any brainpower to this, but fortunately I don’t have to, because there are already two r/WhoWouldWin threads about this very subject.

#randomness #why not?

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ladamedusoif · 1 year ago

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Hi Rose!

In your list of 5 topics you could speak for an hour on with no preparation, one stands out to me as quite different from the rest…

Apollo 11

How did that fascination start? What about the Apollo 11 mission interests you most? Any fun facts I may not know? (I will warn you that I have spent family vacations the past three years at various air and space museums lol)

*stretches, flexes fingers*

KAT. What a great ask. And yes, my love of the Apollo 11 mission - and the entire space race in general - is probably a little at odds with most of my special interests. I'm also very aware of the inherent problems in the space program, as Gil Scott Heron so beautifully articulated at the time in 'Whitey On The Moon'. But it absolutely fascinates me. Warning: nerding out incoming.

I was always aware of little things about the race for space - I share a birthday with poor Laika's ill-fated launch, so all the 'on this day' stuff I devoured as a kid on my birthday involved a poor little Russian dog going off into space and not returning. Definitely not traumatising or weird. (I have a Laika brooch and fridge magnet, though, as a little nod to this.) And I saw Apollo 13 in cinemas, and was always fascinated by the aesthetic of the program.

With the fiftieth anniversary of the Moon landing in 2019 the BBC launched an utterly brilliant podcast series called Thirteen Minutes to the Moon, which had me hooked. (They did a sequel about Apollo 13, too - highly recommended). I found the narrative fascinating and compelling - not a straightforward tale of heroism and American triumph, nor of absolute loathing of their Soviet cosmonaut rivals and colleagues. (A favourite Apollo 11 detail is that Armstrong and Aldrin left a commemorative medal on the surface of the moon for Yuri Gagarin, first man in space, and Vladimir Komarov, another Soviet space pioneer who died tragically young. Hardly the actions of hardcore Cold Warriors...)

After that I read everything I could lay my hands on about the mission and the space program in general. Michael Collins's extraordinary memoir Carrying the Fire confirmed him as my absolute favourite astronaut: erudite, a Francophile, utterly hilarious (he had a tendency to use slang terms like "that cat" and "baby" casually in his communications during the mission) and with a really insightful understanding of his colleagues. He also designed the initial concept for their mission badge - notably refusing the inclusion of their names, as this would have erased the contribution of so many others, and insisting on the olive branch in the eagle's claws as a sign of peace and goodwill for all mankind.

I also adore Andrew Chaikin's A Man on the Moon, which covers the entirety of the Apollo missions. The Smithsonian/Air and Space Museum (of which Collins was the first director!) also made available countless digitised and scanned items linked to the missions, including these natty purses in the shape of the command module from Apollo 11 that were gifted to the wives of the crew. (Yes, I want one.)

The final thing that hooked me? Todd Douglas Miller's beautiful, powerful Apollo 11 documentary, with a score by Matt Morton that is still on my go-to writing soundtracks list. I can't recommend it enough if you haven't seen it. It's an extraordinary piece of work, one that blends the humanity of the people involved with the epic scale of what was being undertaken.

And I think that's what appeals or interests me about it: the risks, the fears, the hopes, the criticisms, the sense of a world waiting and watching to see how this would play out. And that's why I've got a full Saturn V rocket Lego model on top of one of my bookshelves and a Lunar Lander set waiting to be built...

Thank you so much for asking - and apologies for all this nerding out! (I'm guessing you've seen For All Mankind on Apple + - if not, it's a great counterfactual telling of the story.)

#asked and answered #rose is a fucking nerd #not sure if anyone else has noticed #apollo 11 #this is why there's an LOS reference in visiting fyi

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the-technicolor-whiscash · 8 months ago

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Honestly if we're talking accuracy of events in space movies even though I hate it i do think First Man is the most accurate. I think Apollo 13 is the best out of the three by far because it is fundamentally a good movie and I think the passion of the production team really comes through but in order to make it a good movie they needed to sacrifice some levels of historical accuracy including adding arguments and drama and making Swigert seem almost incompetent when really he was probably the best man for the job. And it kind of wraps the astronauts who did simulator work all into the character of Mattingly (who was genuinely a pretty great guy and did not want to take the sole credit for the work) when in reality there were other astronauts who helped with the process there. It also overdramatizes certain aspects of the event while simplifying others (like the bursting helium disc, which would have likely required a correction burn). But these things all combine to make it a good movie, if not the most accurate. First Man is pretty accurate, albeit leaving out major parts of Neil's life like the house fire that nearly killed him and his children. But overall, the actual spaceflight events are handled fairly well and to my knowledge fairly accurately. I just hate the movie i do not think Gosling was the right choice for Neil (no offense to Gosling i actually really enjoy the guy but he's just. He's not my first choice for Neil and the fact he clearly tries and fails to maintain some kind of accent is truly horrendous. I cant believe they told him that was a good idea. The guy in From The Earth To The Moon didnt do that! And he played a fine Neil if lacking a little depth) and I think the movie outside of the actual flight segments is fairly slow and that is due pretty much to the fact Neil was not a man who lived a blockbuster life. He loved flying, he was an engineer by trade, and he knew how to dodge drama. He was the first man on the moon, yes, but outside of that he was not really all that stand-out and that is what makes him interesting to me specifically and why i keep his biography on my bedside table. But that a good film does not make. Neil is not a blockbuster main character. In Apollo 13, Jim Lovell works as a main character because A) Tom Hanks is Tom Hanks i mean really, B) Lovell has always been excellent at telling a story, and C) it is an extremely specific incident theyre facing. Lovell is just a good speaker. He's always had a camera presence. Neil could certainly be a good talker and i think could explain the task of a mission well but Lovell has a dramatic flair for TV where Neil had much more subtlety and always focused less on himself. He was never really looking for attention that's why his authorized biography wasn't published until 2005. And why it should not have been made into a blockbuster movie. Frankly if you wanna watch something really good about Apollo 11 just watch the documentary Apollo 11 from a few years back it's got a lot of phenomenal content and it's edited extremely well.

#the whiscash administration

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alpacahat67 · 2 years ago

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The Evolution of Major Tom - An Essay

In the 1960's, the world was fascinated with space travel. The Space Race was in full swing and in 1968 2001: A Space Odyssey was released. English singer-songwriter David Bowie happened to go see this film a few times, albeit while very stoned according to him, as the film fascinated him. During this time, Bowie had been trying to kick off his music career for a while. Previously he had jumped between band to band and even began using the now famous moniker of David Bowie in 1966 when he found out that the lead singer of the Monkees already went by Davy Jones. But he was failing in both his solo and group music careers. Thus, he began to feel alienated.

And both of these factors resulted in Bowie turning to songwriting.

Six months after seeing 2001: A Space Odyssey, Bowie wrote "Space Oddity". Inspired by the movie and Bowie's own sense of alienation, "Space Oddity" tells the story of Major Tom, an astronaut who is sent to outer space and tragically loses contact with Ground Control, becoming lost in the cosmos. "Space Oddity" was released quickly on July 11th, 1969 in order to capitalize off of the Apollo 11 space landing (although it was banned in the US due to the "bleak" nature of the lyrics), and it worked! For a brief time, Bowie had a hit single. "Space Oddity" had a significant role in kickstarting his career as a musician, although the fame didn't last. Well, not until another space-exploring character came into the picture at least.

After Space Oddity, Bowie released his second album of the name "David Bowie", although quickly renamed to "Space Oddity (David Bowie)" in order to reduce confusion among British audiences as his debut album by the name of, again, "David Bowie" was only released in Britain. After this, Major Tom became history as the first character of David Bowie and "Space Oddity" as Bowie's first push into fame.

As he did, Bowie played around with different music genres and released two more albums, "The Man Who Sold the World" and "Hunky Dory", before finally striking gold with "The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars" in 1972. Inspired by the words of his then-wife Angie Bowie to embrace his weirdness, Bowie cut his long blonde hair into a red mullet and donned the appearance of an asexual gender-bending rockstar alien messiah named Ziggy Stardust. He quickly grew famous for his quirky music style and unique fashion sense. Bowiemania, or Ziggymania, is often used to describe the dedication of his fans at the time, some of which reportedly ripped seats from their fixtures when Bowie and his backing band The Spiders From Mars announced that Ziggy Stardust would be killed and that they would potentially never tour again.

Throughout the 70's and Bowie's increasing fame throughout touring, whether touring as Ziggy or the Soul Man, Bowie began experimenting with drugs, primarily cocaine, which soon turned into an addiction. This became public knowledge in 1975 when the documentary Cracked Actor released, showing his mental state and struggle with cocaine addiction during this period. His substance abuse only worsened into the late 70's with the releases of his albums "Young Americans" and "Station to Station." Although the use of cocaine was once considered normal during this time amongst musicians, his use of cocaine seriously impacted his health and costed him a lot of public criticism. His "Thin White Duke" era that co-occurred with "Station to Station" is considered the height of his substance abuse, during this time he experienced serious delusions as a result of his drug use and said many problematic things that he denounced later in life.

In 1977, Bowie and fellow musician Iggy Pop moved to Berlin in order to kick their respective drug addictions. Bowie successfully kicked coke, although cocaine was replaced with alcohol and he'd been a smoker seemingly most of his career if not life. During this time he made three albums known as "the Berlin Trilogy", "Low, "Heroes", and "Lodger."

Into the 1980's, Bowie was mostly clean from drugs, it would be a few years before he fully embraced sobriety. He released "Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)" in 1980, and this is where we circle back to Major Tom. In the song "Ashes to Ashes" from the aforementioned album, Major Tom is rewritten as a "junkie" "strung out in Heaven's high." This song in general seems to be Bowie looking back at his dependency on cocaine and providing a cautionary tale against the use of drugs, considering the nursery rhyme-like sound of the song. Major Tom is sort of used for Bowie to share his own story here, and the addition to Major Tom's story can be interpreted generally in two ways: that Major Tom has since grown addicted to drugs and increasingly lonely while lost in space, or that Major Tom's space journey might have been a delusion as a result of drug usage if you read between the lines enough. The lyrics of "Ashes to Ashes" directly contrast the lyrics of "Space Oddity." "Space Oddity" frames Major Tom as a heroic figure, that his being lost in space in peaceful in a way. "Ashes to Ashes" frames Major Tom as an addict, lost and alone both mentally and physically, and the solitude is suffocating ("the shrieking of nothing is killing").

It would take another decade, 15 years in fact, for Major Tom to make a return in the sixth track of "Outside", "Hallo Spaceboy." Major Tom is never directly mentioned in the song itself. However, the remix with the Pet Shop Boys takes lyrics directly from "Space Oddity", although jumbled. The lyrics for the tracks on "Outside" were words that Bowie ran through a computer program and Bowie did what he wanted with the product, but "Hallo Spaceboy" does seem to piece together somewhat of a continuation to the story of Major Tom. The distorted nature of the lyrics provides a sense of confusion or some sort of anger, like Major Tom is growing tired of being lost in outer space. The line "this chaos is killing me" seems to drive in that point and feels like it furthers the sentiment of "Ashes to Ashes", that Major Tom is exhausted of being isolated. Lyrics from both the original and remix further this, like "your silhouette is so stationary" are reminiscent of Major Tom as well. It's truly amazing how lyrics mostly composed by a computer and rearranged as Bowie deemed fit can continue this story.

Major Tom appeared briefly in some music videos throughout the rest of Bowie's career up until his death in 2016 two days after the release of his final album Blackstar. In a way, Major Tom died with David Bowie. Again, Major Tom is never directly mentioned in this album, only ever vaguely referenced. But in the music video, an alien woman placed a jewel-encrusted skull into the helmet of an astronaut suit, confirming the death of Major Tom.

From the beginning to the end of David Bowie's career, Major Tom has followed and been repeatedly reinvented just as Bowie reinvented himself. Thus, it seems only fitting to show his ultimate death after decades of floating aimlessly in his tin can. It's an apt way for Bowie to "sign off" in a way, killing the character that influenced and kickstarted so much of David Bowie's music career.

#david bowie #major tom #essay #media analysis #if this turns into a script for a video essay don't be shocked #i love major tom

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hybridmindthoughtsreloaded · 1 year ago

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youtube

A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Moon (2001)

A documentary on the evidence which shows that the Apollo 11 astronauts never actually landed on the moon.

#Youtube

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The ENTIRE Story of Greek Mythology Explained | Best Greek Mythology Documentary

The Life Guide

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5,681,886

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Apr 2

2023

Greek Mythology and the Greek Gods have had a profound impact on the world, with the tales of Zeus, Pandora’s Box, Prometheus, Icarus, Medusa, Orpheus, King Midas, Sisyphus, Narcissus, Perseus, The 12 Labours of Hercules, Jason and the Argonauts, Theseus, The Trojan War, The Odyssey, and many more having spread to every corner of the globe.

From the very beginnings of Chaos to the adventures of Odysseus, this video takes you through, in chronological order, the entire story of Greek Mythology. No stone is left unturned, with every Greek God from Zeus to Hades and every Hero from Hercules to Achilles having their share of the limelight.

Sit back, relax, and enjoy everything you've ever wanted to know about the Greek Myths.

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📽 Timestamps:

Intro: 0:00

CHAPTER 1:

Out of Chaos 1:28

Prometheus 5:45

Pandora's Box 8:15

The Great Flood 10:22

CHAPTER 2:

The Gods 15:37

- ZEUS 15:58

Europa 19:09

- HERA 21:05

Io 21:40

Leto 23:56

Niobe 25:18

- APOLLO 26:45

The Oracle of Delphi 27:18

Daphne 27:43

Asclepius 29:57

- ARTEMIS 30:41

- POSEIDON 31:30

- ATHENA 32:47

Arachne 34:10

- APHRODITE 35:38

Narcissus 36:15

Pygmalion’s Statue 38:12

Eros and Psyche 40:28

- HEPHAESTUS 44:43

- ARES 46:12

Eos and Tithonus 47:06

- HERMES 49:36

Pan 50:11

- DIONYSUS 52:12

King Midas 53:01

- DEMETER 54:52

Persephone 55:11

- HADES 56:55

The Three Places of Souls 58:31

Sisyphus 1:01:21

Places of the Underworld 1:01:47

Orpheus 1:03:47

CHAPTER 3:

The Age of Heroes 1:05:53

- THE HOUSE OF CADMUS 1:06:26

Oedipus 1:11:35

- PERSEUS 1:16:47

Medusa 1:18:55

The Gorgon's Head 1:20:45

Andromeda 1:22:17

The Prophecy Fulfilled 1:23:22

- THE 12 LABOURS OF HERCULES 1:26:26

Youth & the Madness of Hercules 1:28:47

Labour 1: The Nemean Lion 1:32:19

Labour 2: The Lernaean Hydra 1:35:04

Labour 3: The Cerynean Hind 1:37:32

Labour 4: The Erymanthian Boar 1:38:17

Labour 5: The Augean Stables 1:41:48

Labour 6: The Stymphalian birds 1:44:06

Labour 7: The Cretan Bull 1:45:07

Labour 8: The Mares of Diomedes 1:47:06

Labour 9: The Girdle of Hippolyta 1:48:48

Labour 10: The Cattle of Geryon 1:50:50

Labour 11: The Apples of the Hesperides 1:52:15

Labour 12: The Capture of Cerberus 1:55:40

The Death of Hercules 1:57:18

Bellerophon 2:01:44

- JASON AND THE ARGONAUTES 2:03:17

The Argonautes 2:05:41

The Voyage Begins 2:07:48

The Golden Fleece 2:10:30

The Journey Home 2:12:06

The Sirens 2:13:28

The Fate of King Pelias 2:15:54

Medea 2:17:32

- THESEUS 2:20:10

Icarus 2:27:32

- THE CALYDONIAN BOAR HUNT 2:29:16

Atalanta 2:32:10

The Footrace of Atalanta 2:36:12

- THE TROJAN WAR 2:38:48

The Suitors of Helen 2:40:57

The Judgment of Paris 2:42:52

The Greeks Assemble 2:4610

Achilles 2:47:35

Trojan Allies 2:49:35

The War Begins (Start of the Iliad) 2:51:14

The Tenth Year of War 2:53:37

The Death of Hector 2:55:20

The Trojan Horse 2:57:53

The Fall of Troy 3:01:02

- ORESTES 3:02:42

- THE ODYSSEY 3:04:50

The Cyclops 3:05:50

Aeolus 3:09:07

The Laestrygonians 3:10:39

Circe 3:11:19

The Underworld 3:13:31

The Sirens 3:14:20

Scylla and Charybdis 3:15:47

The Cattle of the Sun 3:16:57

Calypso 3:18:33

The Phaeacians 3:20:04

The Suitors 3:22:52

- THE AGE OF IRON 3:27:48

📚 Sources:

Classical Mythology, by Mark Morford, Robert Lenardon and Michael Sham

Greek Mythology, by Katerina Servi

Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes, by Edith Hamilton

Apollodorus - The Library of Greek Mythology, translated by Robin Hard

The Greek Myths Vol 1&2, By Robert Graves

Heroes, by Stephen Fry

The Argonautica, by Apollonius of Rhodes, translated by Richard Hunter

The Iliad, translated by Martin Hammond

Troy, by Stephen Fry

The Odyssey, translated by Emily Wilson

The Aeneid, translated by David West

🍿 Other Videos:

Greek Gods Explained In 12 Minutes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ri-Ao...

Egyptian Gods Explained In 13 Minutes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bURNg...

Norse Mythology Explained In 15 Minutes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2oxzm...

Nikola Tesla Explained In 16 Minutes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ok8JD...

Music Sourced From:

https://artlist.io/

The Life Guide is a channel dedicated to providing interesting and educational content about a range of political, philosophical, economic and historical topics. Whether you are interested in a simplified explanation of complicated modern ideas or detailed information on ancient civilizations and philosophical schools of thought, The Life Guide is the channel for you.

#Youtube #greek mythology #history #storytelling #research #academic research #documentary #imagination

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