#elly reviews music unhinged

[sillyengineerperson]

My very official notes on Found Heaven by Conan Gray (but with added context because it was initially written for my friend who understands most of the references i make)

My thoughts while listenting to found heaven at 12am bc what even is sleep?

(also i have to get up a 4 to go to France🙃)

Right here we go song uno

Found heaven:

whoa snazz

Choir

Ahhhh

Michael Jackson much?

😍😍😍😍🥰

I LOVE THIS

OHMIGOD AHHHHHHH

THIS IS SO SNAZZY

ITS STRANGELY BIBLICAL

What???

I don't think its going to be my favourite but still slayyhth- edit: its so much better than I initially thought

Song dos

Never ending song:

we already know I love this (Context: yes i was dancing around in my kitchen to this when i was suposed to be revising for GCSEs)

Yaaaasdd vibes

I feel like it's GCSES AGAIN🥲(Context: this song came out in the first week of GCSEs so i listened to it a lot when i was revising and also the bus back home after an exam)

NOSTALGIA BUT WEIRD AND WITH TUNA MELTS (thats what I had for lunch most days during exams) (Context: I have very oddly specific feelings and vibes acociated with that period of my life)

Ooooooooonnnnnnn

Slay cone

Song tres

Fainted love:

Je suis scared

Its either going to be a yas queen slay or break me

ohhhbh

Me encanta

LOVE IT

SLaaaayyyyyyyy

Play it on toouurrr I beg

This is sooooooo good

Yes king I love you

After listening to this about a billion times more this song is absolutely EVERYTHING AHHHHHHHHHH

Song cuatro

Lonely dancers:

we know this is not my cup of tea (Context: im so sorry to everyone but I just don't like it that much. its still vibes though :) )

But the vibes are still there

So mini silent dance party in my room

🕺🕺🕺🕺🕺🕺🕺🕺🪩🪩🪩🕺🕺🕺🪩🪩🪩

Song cinco

Alley rose:

THIS SONG IS EVERYTHING

TIME TO CRY

AHHHHH❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️🌹🌹🌹💔💔💔

DONT LEAV ME HANGING ALONE AGAAINNNN

du du du du du on the piano

DOTN EEEEVEN CAREEEEE

😭😭😭

so

yes

beautiful

i love

Song seis

The final fight:

intrigued

I don't know

Hmmmmmm I'm worried

Oh silence

Is it supposed to be completely silent???

No its not something went wrong with my spotify 😂

I really sat there for a whole minute and a half waiting for something to happen

Right anyway

Oooooo drums

GUITAR

BASS

YES CONE

PREACH

NO DONT CRY

ME TOO

it's giving early 2000's movie montage scene where the main character has a huge revalation

He had his moment🙌

AHHH IT REMINDS ME OF THAT SONG FROM ZOMBIES 2 OR HSM 2 WHEN GABRIELLA LEAVES (Context: so in zombies the main characters have a song where its sort of a breakup song but also a thing where they're expressing how they don't feel like they fit in -which is a whole thing that I could rant about bc she literally thinks shes special for having white hair and obviously she's so oppressed because of that and then obviously the zombies have it so much easier even though there are literally laws that are in place to controll them even though they're completely safe and very human like now. I should not get this worked up over a disney channel movie- the song is called Gotta find where I belong. and then in HSM 2 I'm just refering to when Gabriella quits the country club and breaks up with troy)

Song siete

Miss you:

this better be absolutly heart wrenching

ooooooooo

Wut

Slay

He's a king

YES YES YES

his vocals are amazing

That was a straight vibe (edit from later: not straight like heterosexual. I mean it's jsut very vibey)

I'm still waiting for the saddest song of all time but he's killing it so far

Song ocho

Bourgeoisieses:

there's a whole process to typing that

um HELLO

OH MY GOODNESS

Music video when?

Kinda basic song structure (I have no idea what I meant by this) but it's soooooo good

play this on tour it's yes

Song nueve

Forever with me:

please be sad

please be sad

please be sad

don't ask why i want it to be sad

i don't know

YES

PIANO

I HAVE HIGH HOPES

YES YES YES

OHHHHHHHH

CONAN

NOT THE MAGIC SOUND

DONT BE SORRY

THIS IS BEAUTIFUL

OOOH HIGH NOTES

KEY CHANGE

AHHHHHHH

Kinda evil cone?

And whats with the wind sound?

Song diez

Eye of the night:

if it's not witchy eye of the tigeri'm sueing

that's all ive been expecting since i saw the name

whoa!!!

Bro am i wrong with my prediction though??!!😂

This is a vibe

It really is witchy eye of the tiger

🪩🪩🪩

🕺🕺🕺🕺🕺🕺🕺🕺🕺🕺🕺🕺🕺🕺🕺🕺🕺🕺🕺🕺🕺🕺🕺

GIUTARRRRRRR

AHHHH THE KEY CHANGE

HES ON ANOTHER LEVEL

literally 😏

Song once

Boys & girls:

bi anthem!??

maybe

Oh

yes

hello

Vibes

Yeah cone you're wrong they dont

Very vibes

Yeah no same

Okayyyyy

The vibes are there

substance maybe less (I really don't know what I thought I was hearing but my opionion has changed)

Loved it though

Song doce

Killing me:

I LOVERRR THIS SONGGGGG

I

ITS 2 AM

NO WE HAVENT

YES YOU DO

OOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

YOURE KULLIBG ME

FREEREEE MEEEEEEE

YOURR UCH A GOI ACTOR

GO AWAY

OHHHHHHHHBHB

KILLING

LUCKY YOU ARRRRRAAREEEE

BU BU BU BU BU BU BU BU

BU BU BU BU BU BU

YOUR KILLING ME

OH I WANNA DIE

BUT YOU KEEP ME ALIVE

HUH

song trece

Winner:

final slay

This song is everything (I'm only just realising how many times i've said that)

AT MAKING ME FEEL WORSE

WINNNNEEEERRRRR

PEW PEW

WINEEEEEEEEERRRERERERRRR

SLAY PIANO

YOUR THE ONE WHOLE KET IT GET THIS BAAAAAD

YOUR CHAOS

WHHHHKKKKKOOOAAAJJAJHA

NIW YOU REALLY ARE THE WIIUUINNERRRRR

Laaaaaa laaa la la lalala laaaaa la

ahhhhhhh je suis deceased

Conan slay has slayed once again to slayingly produce another very very slay album

👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏

I think right now my favourite of the new songs is fainted love

but yes

i need sleep bc i'm getting up in 3 hours

it's 1:17

ahhhhhhhh

okay

i need sleep

bye bye

🕺🕺

so that was it

my opinions have probably changed slightly but ahhhhhh this album is so good and i definitly have some more things to say about the songs that I've noticed but thats enough for now because I have a maths test to revise for

[anjumbai]

American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis – Thoughts

“… and though I can hide my cold gaze and you can shake my hand and feel flesh gripping yours and maybe you can even sense our lifestyles are probably comparable: I simply am not there.”

First of all, this is one huge book. I was skeptical of whether I should really even pick this up, will this put me in another reading slump and yada yada. Surprisingly, I managed to finish it in a very short time. The narration style and dialogues are something I found to be absolutely hilarious. Bret Easton is very crafty with the dialogues he constructs and I don’t understand how he comes up with such elaborate and funny conversations. Honestly, I’d research a little bit more about the book and the writer but there is no network in my country as I’m writing this. So yeah, giving it to you raw.

Can I talk about the movie first? I’ll talk about the movie first. I love Christian Bale. He’s one of my favorite actors, a master at his craft and worthy of respect for his diverse set of roles. His dedication to play a role is unmatched. He starred as Patrick Bateman in American Psycho and I’m glad I watched the movie first. The book is written in first person narrated by our P&P executive, working in murders and executions, Patrick Bateman. And every time I imagine a scenery with this guy, pop, it’s Christian Bale’s goofy ass acting popping up in my head and I absolutely love it. Somebody said while working with Bale that during the shoot of the film, he thought that Bale was deliberately acting horrible. He couldn’t understand why and when the movie came out, his doubts were gone. He seemed like the perfect sociopath, trying his best to fit in while being absolutely horrible at it. His deliberate bad acting just made the character Bateman come to life. It was bad acting to the point it was amazing acting. I don’t know, 10/10 for Christian Bale.

Let’s start off with the contents of the book. The book is a series of narration of the events happening in Bateman’s life and his mind by Bateman himself. There are often whole chapters dedicated to Bateman naming designer and luxury brands, describing popular music bands and their history and what their songs mean, there was even a whole chapter dedicated to his panic attacks; considering he is always high on Xanax, Velium or some other drug. Pages and pages worth of creative and witty dialogue, callbacks or just the total unhinged way of how Patrick treats everyone else when he is on bloodthirst mode. So much to highlight. So much to highlight, cause all of it is just so funny. Something like- “What is this continuing inability you have to evaluate this situation rationally?” when Patrick is being harassed by his fellow gay co-worker(who thinks Patrick loves him cause that one time he was trying to strangle him but dude thought wow Patricks in love with me) is just comedic. Or something like – “Patrick, why aren’t you looking at me?” “I’m ignoring you, Luis.” Just makes me laugh out loud. And of course, the movie. Lines from the movie written out in the book and you’re just sitting there Leonardo DiCaprio-ing all over. “He said the thing.”

All jokes aside, it was also a very clever critique of the free market. All the characters are extremely self-centered to the point of obsessive narcissism, where Pat just takes it up a notch. I don’t need to describe some of the scenes from the movie or the book because I can’t. It’s just not possible, the things Bret writes in the book, to put in a review. If you do wanna see an uncensored review, do pull up your Platinum AmEx card and sign up for my patron, where you’ll find exclusive content. Seriously, if you don’t have a Platinum AmEx card you might as well just be gutter garbage. Did I tell you that Patrick just gave me a face care routine that’ll set me back thousands of dollars but it’ll make me feel, quote, “I feel like shit but look great”?

Overall, my thoughts are all over the place and there’s nothing in particular I want to say about this book. It’s just the day to day life of a psychopath who commits heinous and gorey acts of crime, murder and what not. The book is basically him trying to fit in society while also maintaining his bloodlust. The lines “My nightly bloodlust overflowed into my days and I had to leave the city. My mask of sanity was a victim of impending slippage” sums up the book pretty well. He doesn’t necessarily leave the city all the time but rather he leaves his “I work in finance” façade behind and goes full on Ted Bundy all over the city. Graphic and gorey descriptions of his murder, torture, assault is just horrifying to even imagine. The very fact that someone thought all of this and put it in a book is gut-wrenching alone but let’s just say that the book tries to put some heartfelt moments too. Sentences like “I just want to be loved” are spoken out loud by Patrick after he, pretty graphically, cooks a part of a human body for his dinner. Words are written but not said out loud when Patrick feels love from someone. Genuine, heartfelt love that doesn’t want fame or money or anything else from Patrick, unlike every other girl he has slept with. “yet she weakens me, it’s almost as if she’s making the decision about who I am, and in my own stubborn, willful way I can admit to feeling a pang, something tightening inside, and before I can stop it I find myself almost dazzled and moved that I might have the capacity to accept, though not return, her love.” A slight attempt at humanizing a monster, I’d say. Not very successful. And I found it funny that even until the end of the book, I couldn’t tell most characters apart from one another. Just like in the movie, and I think the movie captured that essence pretty well.

Most of what you can know about the story is summed up pretty well in the movie, except that the book delves into much more comedy and, of course, gore. The movie ends at a better note in my opinion, simply because the part where the movie ends is just one of the few final chapters of the book. The movie couldn’t have done well with what the book offered as its ending and well done to the script writers for that. The book is hilarious, graphic and just a really funny mockery of materialism. It’s definitely worth a read but it does drag on without a proper goal or anything. But did I still enjoy it a lot? Yes, I did. 8/10. Hilarious and witty.

Now you know what to do when life is getting you down. Just tell yourself “You’ve got a negative attitude. That’s what’s stopping you. You need to get your act together.” Wise words, honestly.

Big ideas, guy stuff, boy meets the world, boy gets it.

[shegoesbyjoy]

i've been thinking a lot about why Disco Elysium in particular has touched the core of my being in a way no other piece of media has and i think there are several factors at play here. this is half a review and half me dumping my various thoughts on this game ever since i finished it a couple months ago.

AS A VIDEO GAME ITSELF—i've been trying to identify what exactly it is about certain games that causes them to rise above all the rest that i've played, and i have come to the realization that in all of them, combat is usually one of the least consequential things on that list. i love Hades, have dumped 160+ hrs into it, but despite it being a very combat-heavy game with extremely tight controls that i do find truly satisfying, that is not what kept me playing. it's the characters, the art, the story, the world-building, the music...

similarly, while the combat in Horizon Zero Dawn is really quite fun, what really charmed me about it was its spunky, badass protagonist and fascinating mechanical creature designs, in addition to the story set in a world that captivated me from beginning to end. Night in the Woods took my breath away with its emotional & poignant writing told through a unique & delightful art style. i didn't even finish The Last of Us, but Ellie's moment with the giraffes is ingrained in my brain—and of course i went ahead and watched someone else play through to the end so i could enjoy the rest of the story without having to slog through zombie fights myself. so while i always appreciate well-executed combat in games (and have given up on games that do it too poorly), it's never what keeps my interest.

SO. what happens when you take combat out of a game entirely, and absolutely excel at everything else? you see where this is going.

THE CHOICE OF MEDIUM—the fact that DE's story was told through a video game (as opposed to a book, a show, a movie, etc.) is absolutely crucial, because of your active role in the consumption of said story. i think that's what gives some of its scenes such devastating emotional impact. watching this train wreck of a character that you happen to be playing blurt out the most unhinged responses despite your best attempt to salvage the situation, coming to terms with the awful reality of what's in front of you at the same time Harry does, seeing the immediate results of your choices as well as slowly realizing how your choices affect the story long-term as the pieces start coming together... all of this creates an immersive experience that is unparalleled. the game doesn't take self-insert so seriously that the protagonist ~can be anyone~ (Harry's characterization is, in fact, very strong and well-established) but there's absolutely no way a Disco Elysium book or show would have the same impact as me having to progress the story by fucking around and finding out.

GAME SPOILERS AHEAD—combining these two aspects of DE helps to explain what made the tribunal the MOST TENSE i've ever felt playing a video game. this is essentially as close to combat as you'll get in this game. you've just spent the last 20-30 hours becoming very familiar with the mechanics of the game with regards to the dice rolls. you become accustomed to the fact that most skill checks are white so you can come back to them, and that red checks are comparatively rare. enter the tribunal: suddenly you have several very high stakes red checks in a row. you can't leave. you can't try an individual check again if you fail. the story itself has been alluding to this very moment throughout the game. people are DYING, and the lives of those that remain, including your own, are on the line. your earlier decisions have come to a head.

it was 3 am when i got to this point in the game, and the reality of the situation i found myself in shook off every bit of sleepiness i'd been feeling up to this point—my eyes were wide open and my heart was pounding.

i know many people who play video games derive a lot of satisfaction from perfecting mechanics, learning patterns, or deducing the weaknesses of a difficult boss. for me, this satisfaction gets dwarfed by the frustration of having to spend far too long dealing with it in the first place. triggering a boss battle oddly takes me out of the story, because it feels like a very marked switch from "being the protagonist in the game's world" to "sitting on my couch playing a Video Game", where the same repetitive action of "killing the enemy" becomes my goal, no matter what the game is.

by contrast, the tribunal was very much a continuation of the story with each skill check having immediate results on how that story plays out. no other moment in the game was quite like it, and i had no idea how this sequence of events was going to go, so every action felt extremely fraught. i was on the edge of my seat in a way no other game has gotten me to feel, because the weight of this encounter felt monumental in DE. and of course, this is where you come across an iconic skill check where you find out exactly how much your previous choices matter...

i was so damn nervous during this check i probably would've cried if i failed it lmao

FUCK YOUR EXPECTATIONS—this leads me to the other thing that's got me smitten with this game: the subversion of expectations. dialogue options are never written so transparently as to have a "correct" answer, and trying to stay neutral with my answers got me a well-deserved smack in the head in the form of a brutal burn about the dangers of centrism. we have 3-dimensional characters that make you growl in frustration one moment and your heart swell in the next, descriptions that make you marvel at both the beauty and ugliness of humanity, situations where you feel crushed by sadness and dread then want to cry tears of happiness because despite all of it, there is still magic left in the world. it's also so goddamn funny. this game is fucking hilarious—and what is comedy, what is a punch line but the subversion of an audience's expectations established during the setup?

Disco Elysium is a game that far exceeds the sum of its parts. it excels in its storytelling, its voice acting brings incredible life to said phenomenal writing, its gorgeous painterly art style is visually compelling, its music is flawlessly incorporated to full effect, it's intellectually stimulating and fascinating philosophically, and as a murder mystery (oh yeah that's what this game's premise is, right?) it's just plain fun to reveal clue after clue while pondering theories as to what the heck is going on. these individual components come together to create a multi-dimensional piece of media that's deeply human, yet fantastical and absurd. it's uncomfortably relatable while inspiring empathy for even the most unfamiliar of experiences.

for instance, i have no personal experience with alcoholism or addiction, but boy do i sure know what it's like to have a compulsion to apologize at every opportunity for simply existing—to want to cease existing, period. i don't know what it's like to grow up and live in a post-soviet country yet the experience in-game felt as vivid as ever, inextricable from the story's identity. i felt a pang of pained recognition in Kim's complicated relationship with his race as diaspora, and found myself wishing i had the ability to respond even half as effectively as he did with the Racist Lorry Driver during my own past run-ins with racist assholes. this game has caused me to think more deeply about my own politics, my relationships, the world around me, the power of art, the role of capitalism, beauty, hope... even what it means to be alive.

A CHANGED PERSON—a realization i came to a while ago while talking to a friend was that almost all of the media i had enjoyed up to that point shared a theme of escapism in one way or another. there have been many moments in my life where i wished to be somewhere else. to be someone else. i immersed myself in stories where the fantasy of it seemed so much better than the reality of my own life. this game forced me to reckon with where i am, who i am. and not only that, it encouraged me to be accepting and loving of the here and now, despite every single flaw i seemed to be obsessed with pointing out. it made it abundantly clear that constantly running away was not a viable way of living, and that flaws were not a reason to give up. "something beautiful is going to happen"—i should very damn well let it.

it's not an exaggeration to say this game has changed me irrevocably, and the fact that this impossible piece of art even exists in this world feels like a miracle. i'm so grateful that i got to experience it.

[worldismyne]

Youtubers to hyper fixate to

Youtubers that make good long vids that help me when I have to do chores or want to drive. Min video length to make this list was 20 min. Many have 1 hr+ vids. Enjoy.

Media Analysis

Overly Sarcastic Productions (Link is to the Trope Talk playlist of trope analysis vids, also includes historical vids and myth vids as well as media discussion podcasts)

Mic The Snare (music analysis, history, band deep dives, and recommender of good music)

Folding Ideas (Video essays on how media impacts the human experience)

Schaffrillas (Video essays on disney/dreamworks properties. Also did a fantastic deep dive series on Bojack Horseman)

Cinema Therapy (A director and a therapist break down popular movie characters and relationships)

Thomas Flight (the one exception to the length rule, they're that good)

Khadiya Mbowe (More pop-culture centric, but media comes into it)

Nostalgic Properties

Toonrific Tariq (Cartoon retrospectives with an ear for music and an eye for stylistic direction)

Billiam (Y2K tv and toy retrospectives, the Lost series is unhinged in the best ways)

Izzzyzzzys (Video Essays on 2000s internet phenoms and tumblr legends)

Negative Legend (Toy reviews and TV retrospectives)

Defunctland (Theme park and tv historical deep dives)

Jenny Nicholson (Video Essays on super niche topics, but I'm here for it)

Nick DiRamio (Film analysis/breakdowns of straight to tv movies from 2000s to now, also pokes at pureflix and youtubers)

Brutal Moose (Playlist links to blank vhs tape deep dives, also fond of his game reviews covering things like Pajama Sam)

For the Meme

Internet Historian (Meme history and a bunch of quality docs on media phenomenon)

Quinton Reviews (plz watch his Fallen Titans series about big youtubers from the 2000s and anything Garfield related. The nickverse stuff is good, but all of it's good).

Eddy Burback (A lil of everything, also watched morbius 5x in a row without paying for it)

HBomberguy (Long essays on how people fall victim to false information as well as media analysis)

The Same Stuff but LGBTQ+

Verilybichie (Media analysis, bi and sapphic focused and includes LGBT history vids)

La' Ron Readus (Media analysis with an eye for queer subtext and history: UNDERATED AS HELL)

Kaz Rowe (History buff: covers several eras and LGBT specific topics)

Rowan Ellis (Media analysis and fanfic/trope analysis, has a great vid on cottagecore )

Strange Aeons (Local tumblr historian and lover of long Furbys)

[monstermaster13]

- Main character crew

Nathan: My character...Doctor Nathan Forester is a shapeshifting monsterologist (scientist who studies monsters), he is socially awkward and shy but has a bit of a sense of humor about himself, his shapeshifting powers are complicated, sometimes he'll change into another character or person via the result of an encounter, sometimes he'll do it at night, on some ocassions it is the result of psychic visions and dreams he has. He also has some half-vampiric traits.

Melanie 'Mel' Sanders: A koala-girl with brown hair and brown eyes who is adorkable yet adventurous, she has a couple of transformations of her own including a werekoala form and a she-hulk-esque form.

Eucalyptus: Eucalyptus or Eukie is Mel's best friend, a bluish-green koala-girl who is adorkable and quirky and slightly unhinged, she is very much into aquatic species, 80s horror, musical theater, HP Lovecraft, and Dan Aykroyd. She owns a copy of the 'cursed script' that both of the teams of Aykroyd characters have their eye on, she has dark green hair. In addition to this she has pet Audrey II plants.

Matthias: Matthias T.Radke aka That Werebelushi In The Shades is a ranter/reviewer who tackles bad media but mainly bad sequels, bad remakes, bad fanfiction and whatever else irks him, in-universe it is explained he used to be a Channel Awesome hopeful. He is a monster version of John Belushi and dressess like the Jake Blues character.

'Dan': Nathan's were-aykroyd alter-ego who is a leader of a group of Dan Aykroyd characters who view him as his brother, he is a supernatural version of Dan Aykroyd and is a 'Were-Aykroyd' as in someone who turns into Dan or his characters, he is extremely strong and intelligent and also has psychic abilities and can possess people. He can also make people he chooses into were-aykroyds too. He has a number of different appearances but the one that he sometimes commonly has resembles the character Bob from Twin Peaks.

Dan's siblings:

- Vic Zeck (Neighbors), The Aykroyd character who gave 'Dan' his powers, each Aykroyd character has unique abilities of their own, Vic has hypnotic blue eyes that enable him to condition people he chooses, except instead of using mind control to do so (he doesn't use mind control if at all), his is more acceptable. He is a bit unhinged and unpredictable but he's still a very good mentor to Nathan and his Were-Aykroyd alter-ego. He has the habit of mistaking Matthias for Earl Keese.

- Ray Stantz (Ghostbusters): The heart of the Ghostbusters and the heart of the team.

- Elwood Blues (The Blues Brothers). The best brother ever to the late Jake Blues.

- Roman Craig (The Great Outdoors).

- Louis Winthorpe III (Trading Places). At first Louis comes across as a bit cocky, a bit too cocky for his own good but he's actually a nice guy at heart and is willing to share his wealth with others.

- Joe Friday (Dragnet).

- Sgt Tree (1941).

- Clifford Skridlow (Doctor Detroit)

- Ellis Fielding (Loose Cannons).

- Grocer (Grosse Pointe Blank). This version of the villain from Grosse Pointe Blank is slightly different than his counterpart in the movie, instead of dying...he came back to life and he decided to become a good guy instead, originally he was part of Vic Frohmyer's gang of Aykroyd characters who are antagonistic in someway but he reformed and joined Nathan, even though he was the one that caused Nathan to turn in the first place, he later made up for it. He has a tendency to always come back from the dead.

- Austin Milbarge (Spies Like Us). The stealth expert.

- Jimmy Flaherty (Celtic Pride).

- Ray Zalinski (Tommy Boy)

- Boolie (Driving Miss Daisy).

- Tom Everett (Caddyshack II). The least popular member of the group, mainly because the movie he is from tanked, hence why nobody loves him, which makes him sad because he tries his best to be the best he can be. He however did get adopted into the group because Nathan took pity on him despite not liking Caddyshack II. Used to have the title of 'Worst Aykroyd Character' until Vic Frohmyer came along.

- Steven Mils (My Stepmother Is An Alien).

- Yortuk Festrunk (SNL).

- Beldar Conehead (Coneheads). Dubbed 'the best alien dad ever', he is the team's resident alien, he has all the powers he has in the Coneheads movie.

- Darren 'Mother' Roscow (Sneakers). The tech-expert and conspiracy theorist, he is also the admin and owner of the official Aykroyd-verse website and wiki.

- Passenger (Twilight Zone: The Movie). Nobody knows what kind of monster this Aykroyd character is, because some suggest he's a deadite, some say he's a ghost and some say he's a demon, basically what is known about him is that he likes to scare people who go driving at night, also in his Aykroyd-verse wiki bio it is mentioned he knows of the Haunted Mansion since he has met the movie version of Ezra and also met Ramsley and Master Gracey (and also because he used to hang out on The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror he says he knew the late Gilbert Gottfried, a reference to the Disneyworld Inside Out halloween special), he also says that he met Large Marge once. He has the ability to shift between his normal cute Aykroydian appearance and a blue skinned ghoul with white hair and sharp claw-like fingernails and sharpened teeth.

- Mike Webber (Soul Man). The mentor figure or spirit guide of the group, a widowed father who is a priest and also a bit of a music lover, he may come across as stern sometimes but has a good heart. It's also revealed that he does know the character of Otho Fenlock from Beetlejuice since he knows a priest that looks and sounds like him (a reference to Glenn Shadix's role in Heathers).

[ophelia-coeur]

Media in August

Tv/Film

The Gray Man The Sea Beast Black Spirited Away Wedding Season Not Okay Love Is Blind: Japan Look Both Ways Royalteen Just The Way You Are Sneakerella How I Met Your Father (season one) Sex Appeal

Articles

Pinterest, Tumblr and the Trouble With ‘Curation’ by Carina Chocano The History of the Suit by Decade by Jake Woolf Why do so many women go blonde? by Emily Sohn The problem with TikTok's 'clean girl' aesthetic by Tiana Randall The fallacy of random acts of kindness videos by Roisin Lanigan The number of lonely, single men is on the rise by Serena Smith

Video (Essays)

The Tumblr Sexyman Iceberg by STRANGE ÆONS The Weird World Of Mary Sues by Izzzyzzz Purity, Shame, and Surgery | How Hollywood Warps Our Perception of Puberty by Cheyenne Lin An appropriately unhinged recap of Glee (part 2) by Mike's Mic Simone de Beauvoir on Existentialism & God (1959) by Philosophy Overdose Designing Awesome Gen Z Brands that Improve Everyday Lives | Katrina Romulo by Jesse Nyberg not okay is... okay? 📱🐹💄 (not okay 2022 movie review) by ModernGurlz The Problem with Dark Academia by Rowan Ellis Spring Breakers and the End of Indie Sleaze by Broey Deschanel

Music

Devon Cole Knox ella jane

[gyuto]

in the book, Patrick bateman doesn't talk about music at random moments. Ellis instead dedicated three chapters to reviews of different artists, which are 5x as long as pitchfork reviews and twice as unhinged

[borisbubbles]

Eurovision  2010s: 25 - 20

25. Francesca Michelin - “No degree of separation” Italy 2016

Man, we’re deep into the endgame and at this point every elimination starts to mentally hurt. 

“Nessun grado di separazione” is a fantastic song. it is a moody, melodic, genuinely touching showcase of palpable social anxiety, brightened up by frivolous jiggles and Animal Crossing-inspired staging. 😍 Its lyrics tackle the subject of “falling in love” with disarming accuracy and poetic justice. When you fall in love with somebody, it really is a question of resistance, of trying to stay level-headed and rational, of trying to not speak from the mind, not the heart, and then flare of emotion lights up from the inside, carving a path in your chest, until

THERE IS NO DEGREE OF SEPARATION

THERE IS NO DEGREE OF HESITATION

THERE IS NO DEGREE OF SPACE BETWEEN US

WE ARE STARS ALIGNED TOGETHER

DANCING THROUGH THE SKY, WE ARE SHININ’

Hands down my favourite language shift ever. Each time Francesca delivers it, time stands still, as you take in the expanse of the universe, the beauty of love and the profoundness of life. 

Naturalmente, Francesca is also a fantastic performer for me. It really pains me that she was less good in the Grand Final, because her SF performance was genuinely worthy of a top five spot on this ranking. Yet, at the same time, Francesca is clearly upset at herself that she was worse and god my overthinking, underachieving perfectionist-with-a-crippingly-fear-of-not-being-good-enough self can RELATE SO HARD to that. 😭

*YOU* ARE PRECIOUS, Francesca. Grazie.

Easily the best entry Italy have ever brought at Eurovision...

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24. Mahmood - “Soldi” Italy 2019

...until “Soldi”. Alessandro is mah MOOD

What a delight “Soldi” was. Shame on me though. Between, all the madness of Hatari’s assholery, Serhat’s qualification, ZalaGasper’s interview gold, Bilal’s revamp, Michela & Miki’s staging miracles, Sergey’s struggles to keep his homosexuality under wraps, Duncan’s staging disaster, Jurij’s bedroom eyes and 2019: A Kate Oddyssey, I had completely forgotten about Mahmood.

Which made the rediscovery of “Soldi” all the greater. 😍 THIS 👏 SONG 👏 FUCKING 👏 SLAPS. 👏 even the B-material things such as the snappy camerawork, the arabic middle-eight and rhyming “Ramadan” with “Jackie Chan” are mindblowingly awesome. 

It hard to pick a favourite aspect though. The backdrop, the beat, the dancing, Mahmood’s vocals and miming all come together in a song that is supereffective in getting the pain across while also simultaneously remaining fun, addictive and highly energetic. Mahmood completely DISMANTLES bad parenting while also clowning the xenophobic pieces of shit that tried to bully him off Eurovision. It’s that combination of genuine emotional pulling, righteous ownage and let’s face it, a fucking amazing song that makes coming back to Mahmood for another listen the easiest decision ever. *CLAP*CLAP*, motherfuckers. 👏

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23. Lea Sirk - “Hvala, ne!” Slovenia 2018

[2018 Review here] (shared with ZiBBZ)

HVALA SLAY SLAY

Best moment of 2018: Lea Sirk becomes the best shock qualifier of ALL TIMES. Honestly, a trash fairy with a trap song that she wrote in under two hours has NO BUSINESS being this good, but it is. 😍

 Remember the Israeli’s that cheered for Hatari? “Hvale, ne!” is the jury equivalent to that. It’s a song that righteously calls out the FAKENESS of the music industry <3 THAT WAS ALSO LIKED BY THE JURIES <333332456 😍😍😍

Besides this “Hvala, ne!” is a wild ride taking us to lands of cotton candy braids and trashbag couture with an impeccable, show-stopping choreography, an earworm of a beat and just general kick ass energy. Lea operates on a near-inhuman level of pure CONTENT. Every second she delivers something of value, be it choreography or a snarky note or a hilarious facial expression “Hvala ne!” is riddled with little nuggets like that, which are hard to list in text, so here are a  couple of gifs:

and yes, of course, the “break”. 😍

Being able to pull that off not ONCE, but TWICE and STILL making it look fresh and novel <3 “Hvala, ne!” is effortlessly sleek, unapolegetically non-conformist, shamelessly gimmicky and 100% pure awesomeness. Slovenia may be a tiny country geographically but they burst with raw TALENT. Obrigado sim! 

ps: Slovenia reportedly hating Lea now because she was trashtalking ZalaGasper’s victory over RAIVEN <3  lmfao Lea <3 ANGELS <3

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22. Who See - “Igranka” Montenegro 2013

💃 Vodim te na IGRANKU 💃 💃 Na na na na  IGRANKU 💃 💃 Ku ku ku ku IGRANKU 💃 💃 Vodim te na IGRANKU 💃

I should not get ahead of myself, but jesus fuck, what a TRIP. 

So anyway, are Who See dressed like austronauts to signal that “Igranka” isn’t of this fucking planet, or? “Igranka” a fun party song, in which Who See tramp about dressed like Armstrong and Lightyear, flanked by 2013′s ubiquitous dubstep. Good? Sure.🤔 Funny? Certainly. 😁 However, nothing superexciting so far.

Until... 

Who See go from a weird heteronormative rap effort that is lowkey fun to an utterly unhinged acid trip the SECOND Nina Zizic is lifted onto the stage by a dumbwaiter and then proceeds to collect every scalp in the gaylaxy. Remember how I said 2013 had EPIC female entrances? This is a top five entrance probably in the history of live performances. SLAIN, DECEASED, EVAPORATED every single time. 

Europe’s cyborg seraph.

and I mean, you’d think this one-time gimmick would get stale over time, but “Ingranka” actually gets better with every listen. I’m at the point where I can NO LONGER resist the ululating siren call to don a visor and a pair of pvc wings, and make overdramatic shouty entrances everywhere just like Nina the few times I choose to leave my mother’s basement. VODIM TE NA IGRANKU. 

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21. Cleo - “My Slowianie”  Poland 2014

CLEO... Donatan?

Is this Donatan shade for not being there? GOOD! We at BorisBubbles (so basically, I) believe in gender equality and since the wymyn do all of the work here, I’ve decided to not credit him. 🤭

Anyway, let’s just JUMP right in because dammit “My Slowianie” is such a RIDE. It’s entire objective appears to be... to convince everyone that ~Slavic Women~ are better, at everything than non-slavic women and, well, being slavic myself this message speaks to me. Not to mention that Cleo teaches us this paramount interculteral lesson in the most hilariously blunt fashion ever. 

SPECIAL THINGS WE HAVE IN OUR GENES

MAKES US PROUD OF OUR NATURAL SHAPES

CREAM AND BUTTER TASTE SO GOOD

WE PREPARED FOR YOU DELICIOUS FOOD

OUR BEAUTY’S FAMOUS ALL OVER THE WORLD

YOU GOTTA SEE FOR YOURSELF AND THEN YOU WILL KNOW 😉

and dammit Cleo doesn’t underdeliver, doesn’t she? Three minutes of loud in your face SUPERIORITY. 😍 One could argue that “My slowianie” is SOCIALLY REPRESSING WOMEN, like many terfs did but like... get over you -- Sophie Ellis-Bextor, BorisBubbles. I don’t think any of us have the right to tell (other) women what they can or can’t do because of their breasts and oestrogen. These ladies agreed to do this song/act and are completely facetious while doing it. It’s a spoof. Laugh. or don’t laugh, I don’t care, really. Be a humourless non-slavic frump if you must. As far as I am concerned, “My slowianie” is a thing of CHARMING BEAUTY :shakes what his momma gave him:/ :claps his hands to this music:

and in this update we say goodbye to Italy, Montenegro and Poland. Read my thoughts on them below:

ITALY

Italy before their return is one of the biggest snoozefests in Eurovision and now look at that chart. They were near impeccable in this decade and hopefully can win a third time soon (honestly the fact that they came so close to winning four times in this decade and still didn’t is one of the biggest mysteries of 2010s Eurovision imo.)

MONTENEGRO

Montenegro are the Georgia of the Balkans: they often go for experimental shit, just cuz they can. Unfortunately, their shit often is just that: shit. 

POLAND

Poland at Eurovision is a big ball of meh, mostly because they can’t, at all, select songs or entrants that sound good. Cleo and Michal are forever though, so it’s not completely without merit. 

[readincolour]

New Books Coming Your Way, October 10, 2017

The Invisible Life of Euridice Gusmao by Martha Batalha 272 p.; Fiction Euridice is young, beautiful and ambitious, but when her rebellious sister Guida elopes, she sets her own aspirations aside and vows to settle down as a model wife and daughter. And yet as her husband's professional success grows, so does Euridice's feeling of restlessness. She embarks on a series of secret projects from creating recipe books to becoming the most sought-after seamstress in town — but each is doomed to failure. Her tradition-loving husband is not interested in an independent wife. And then one day Guida appears at the door with her young son and a terrible story of hardship and abandonment. As Lie Is to Grin by Simeon Marsalis 160 p.; Fiction David, the narrator of Simeon Marsalis’s singular first novel, is a freshman at the University of Vermont who is struggling to define himself against the white backdrop of his school. He is also mourning the loss of his New York girlfriend, whose grandfather’s alma mater he has chosen to attend. When David met Melody, he lied to her about who he was and where he lived, creating a more intriguing story than his own. This lie haunts and almost unhinges him as he attempts to find his true voice and identity. On campus in Vermont, David imagines encounters with a student from the past who might represent either Melody’s grandfather or Jean Toomer, the author of the acclaimed Harlem Renaissance novel Cane (1923). He becomes obsessed with the varieties of American architecture “upon land that was stolen,” and with the university’s past and attitudes as recorded in its newspaper, The Cynic. And he is frustrated with the way the Internet and libraries are curated, making it difficult to find the information he needs to make connections between the university’s history, African American history, and his own life. In New York, the previous year, Melody confides a shocking secret about her grandfather’s student days at the University of Vermont. When she and her father collude with the intent to meet David’s mother in Harlem—craving what they consider an authentic experience of the black world—their plan ends explosively. The title of this impressive and emotionally powerful novel is inspired by Paul Laurence Dunbar’s poem “We Wear the Mask” (1896): “We wear the mask that grins and lies . . .” We Wear the Mask: 15 True Stories of Passing in America edited by Brando Skyhorse & Lisa Page 216 p.; Social Science For some, “passing” means opportunity, access, or safety. Others don’t willingly pass but are “passed” in specific situations by someone else. We Wear the Mask, edited by Brando Skyhorse and Lisa Page, is an illuminating and timely anthology that examines the complex reality of passing in America. Skyhorse, a Mexican American, writes about how his mother passed him as an American Indian before he learned who he really is. Page shares how her white mother didn’t tell friends about her black ex-husband or that her children were, in fact, biracial. The anthology includes writing from Gabrielle Bellot, who shares the disquieting truths of passing as a woman after coming out as trans, and MG Lord, who, after the murder of her female lover, embraced heterosexuality. Patrick Rosal writes of how he “accidentally” passes as a waiter at the National Book Awards ceremony, and Rafia Zakaria agonizes over her Muslim American identity while traveling through domestic and international airports. Other writers include Trey Ellis, Marc Fitten, Susan Golomb, Margo Jefferson, Achy Obejas, Clarence Page, Sergio Troncoso, Dolen Perkins-Valdez, and Teresa Wiltz. Run For It: Stories Of Slaves Who Fought For Their Freedom by Marcelo D'Salete 180 p.; Graphic novel Run For It — a stunning graphic novel by internationally acclaimed illustrator Marcelo d’Salete — is one of the first literary and artistic efforts to face up to Brazil’s hidden history of slavery. Originally published in Brazil — where it was nominated for three of the country’s most prestigious comics awards — Run For It has received rave reviews worldwide, including, in the U.S., The Huffington Post. These intense tales offer a tragic and gripping portrait of one of history’s darkest corners. It’s hard to look away. Chuck D Presents This Day in Rap and Hip-Hop History by Chuck D 352 p.; Music Based on Chuck's long-running show on Rapstation.com, this massive compendium details the most iconic moments and influential songs in the genre's recorded history, from Kurtis Blow's "Christmas Rappin'" to The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill to Kendrick Lamar's ground-breaking verse on "Control." Also included are key events in hip hop history, from Grandmaster Flash's first scratch through Tupac's holographic appearance at Coachella. Throughout, Chuck offers his insider's perspective on the chart toppers and show stoppers as he lived it. Illustrating the pages are more than 100 portraits from the talented artists specializing in hip hop. October 06, 2017 at 11:00AM from ReadInColour.com http://ift.tt/2ggy1uX