#for composing music for a movie that doesn't even exist

[unscharf-an-den-raendern]

[enricobratta]

Why is the song called "Bohemian Rhapsody"?

Why does it last exactly 5 minutes and 55 seconds?

What is this song really about?

Why was the Queen movie released on October 31st?

The movie was released on October 31st because the single was first heard on October 31, 1975. The song is titled "Bohemian Rhapsody" because a "Rhapsody" is a free-form musical composition, composed of several seemingly unrelated parts and themes. The word "rhapsody" comes from Greek and means "assembled parts of a song." The word "bohemian" refers to a region in the Czech Republic called Bohemia, the birthplace of Faust, the protagonist of Goethe's work. In Goethe's work, Faust is an elderly, highly intelligent man who knows everything except the mystery of life. Not understanding it, he decides to poison himself.

Just at that moment, church bells ring, and he goes out. Upon his return, he encounters a dog that transforms into a sort of man: it is the devil Mephistopheles, who promises him a full life in exchange for his soul. Faust agrees, becomes young again, and becomes arrogant. He meets Gretchen, and they have a child, but his wife and child die. Faust travels through time and space, feeling powerful, but as he ages again, he feels unhappy once more. Not having broken the pact with the devil, angels contend for his soul. This work is fundamental to understanding "Bohemian Rhapsody."

The song talks about Freddie Mercury himself. Being a rhapsody, there are 7 different parts:

First and second act: A Cappella

Third act: Ballad

Fourth act: Guitar Solo

Fifth act: Opera

Sixth act: Rock

Seventh act: "Coda" or final act

The song tells the story of a poor boy wondering if this life is real or just his distorted imagination. He says that even if he stopped living, the wind would continue to blow without his existence. So he makes a pact with the devil and sells his soul. After making this decision, he rushes to tell his mother, saying: "Mama, I just killed a man, put a gun against his head, pulled the trigger, now he's dead. I threw my life away. If I don't come back tomorrow, continue as if nothing matters..." The man he kills is himself, Freddie Mercury.

If he doesn't honor the pact with the devil, he will die immediately. He bids farewell to his loved ones, and his mother bursts into tears, tears reflected in Brian May's guitar notes. Freddie, frightened, shouts, "Mama, I don't want to die," and the operatic part begins. Freddie finds himself on an astral plane where he sees himself: "I see a little silhouette of a man" and asks, "Scaramouche, will you do the fandango?" Scaramouche is a small skirmish between armies on horseback (the 4 horsemen of the Apocalypse of evil fight against the forces of good for Freddie's soul) and continues by saying, "Thunderbolts and lightning, very, very frightening me." This phrase appears in the Bible, specifically in Job 37: "The thunder and lightning frighten me: my heart pounds within my chest." His mother, seeing him so scared by his decision, pleads for his salvation from the pact with Mephistopheles. "He's just a poor boy... Spare him his life from this monstrosity. Easy come, easy go, will you let him go?" Her pleas are heard, and angels descend to fight against the forces of evil. "Bismillah" (an Arabic word meaning "In the name of God") is the first word that appears in the Quran, the holy book of Muslims. So God himself appears and shouts, "We will not let you go, let him go."

Faced with such a confrontation between the forces of good and evil, Freddie fears for his mother's life and says, "Mama mia, mama mia, let me go." From the sky, they shout again that they will not abandon him, and Freddie shouts, "no, no, no, no, no," saying, "Beelzebub (the Lord of the Darkness) has a devil put aside for me, for me, for me." Freddie pays homage to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Johann Sebastian Bach when he sings "Figaro, Magnifico" referring to Mozart's "The Marriage of Figaro" and Bach's "Magnificat." The operatic part ends, and the rock part begins. The devil, furious and betrayed by Freddie for not honoring the pact, says, "So you think you can stone me and spit in my eye? So you think you can love me and leave me to die?" It is striking how the lord of evil feels powerless before a human being, faced with repentance and love. Having lost the battle, the devil leaves, and we come to the last act or "coda," where Freddie is free, and that feeling comforts him. The gong sounds, closing the song. The gong is an instrument used in China and the Far East to cure people under the influence of evil spirits.

The song lasts 5 minutes and 55 seconds. Freddie liked astrology, and 555 in numerology is associated with death, not physical, but spiritual, the end of something where angels will protect you. The 555 is related to God and the divine, an end that will give rise to a new phase. The song was first heard on the eve of All Saints' Day. A holiday called "Samhain" by the Celts to celebrate the transition and opening to the other world. The Celts believed that the world of the living and the dead were almost united, and on the Day of the Dead, both worlds united, allowing spirits to transit to the other side. Nothing in "Bohemian Rhapsody" is random. Everything is very measured, worked, and has a meaning beyond being just a simple song. It was voted worldwide as the best song of all time. This theme represented a radical change for Queen, as if they had indeed made a pact with the devil; it changed their lives forever and made them immortal.

[grace--le--domas]

PJO- Some Show Recommendations for the showrunners if s2 is greenlit

Season 1 was kinda...boring? Honestly, that is the last thing I expected a PJO adaptation to be. The books aren't perfect, but they are fun! There is friendship, adventure, humour, all while still the characters grapple with some pretty serious stuff. The show (except for the first two episodes and the finale) feels stiff.

Show is too exposition-y, the pacing is off and it of course breaks the cardinal rule of show- don't -tell.

Thankfully, the concerns are easily remedied. Coming of age stories are a dime and dozen, and I think that the showrunners could actually learn from the TV shows and movies of past. So, I compiled some recommendations for them :) Read on if extensive analysis is your thing :)

Buffy The Vampire Slayer- Honestly, this is theee coming of age story. It follows Buffy (the chosen one), as she navigates high school, college and eventually adulthood, along with slaying vampires. And instead of a sullen main character, we as an audience are treated to a sassy, take-no-prisoners variant of the chosen one trope. There are so many similarities between Percy and Buffy- both are loyal to a fault, sarcastic and stubborn. They understand that they cannot escape their respective destinies, but they'll be damned if they don't see things through their own way. Both are brave to a fault, and adore their found families. The writers could take some inspiration from BTVS and Buffy's character arc (to an extent). Bonus- BTVS has great examples of melding humour in serious situations.

2. Mission Impossible Series- This one might be a bit controversial, but hear me out. I know most people consider the MI films popcorn flicks-and they are- but most the movies in the series are paced excellently. There is a sense of urgency in MI films- which was severely lacking in the PJO show. Have a deadline, let me feel anxious for these kids.

MI also has some excellent action scenes. And before you say, well PJO is not an action series, I would like to say that I agree- but the beauty of adaptating something is that you get to change things. Well paced action sequences, even if they are about a minute or so, are necessary break up the exposition dumps. It breaks the monotony. It makes you feel afraid for these kids, who are running from one dangerous situation/monster to another.

3. Dune (2023)- Thematically, Dune is vastly different from PJO. I am including it in this list for several reasons- editing, cinematography world building and sound editing.

To put it bluntly, I don't feel connected to the world of the PJO series at all- which is a shame because it is an incredible world! Greek mythological creatures co-existing with the modern world! Modern myths! Greek gods!. But it is all introduced in the most boring, exposition-y way possible.

The cinematography doesn't shine until the last episode. I want interesting shots, fluid camera movements- just anything that breaks the monotony of scenes. For example- I loved Poseidon's introduction, why wasn't this type of cinematography present in the rest of the series. Shoot the gods differently, make use of different camera compositions. Experiment a little for god's sake.

Coming to sound, yeah this one was the most disappointing of all. There are no memorable sound motifs, which is a shame because sound can convey so much more than words in certain scenes. I say Harry Potter music and you instantly think about the charcteristic symphony. This is missing sorely in the tv show.

Sidenote- I would have chosen Nathan Barr as the music composer (missed opportunity Disney). Look up his work, and you'll understand why I said this.

Coming to editing, yeah the editing is clunky at best. That is all I have to say about that for the moment.

Let me know if anyone wants a part 2 :)

[dalekofchaos]

The downfall of Emilie Autumn, was just sad

I honestly gotta say that Emilie Autumn was my life. From 2010-2020. She was my world. She was my goddess. I was at my lowest point when I found her music and she uplifted me throughout my terrible depression. I even got into her Asylum Facebook group, I got my Plague Rat #W25Z got a lot of interactions with Emilie in the group and got this lovely email from Emilie.

Then in 2020 I found out she was a racist, was using BLM to make money off of it and was silencing black and POC voices on her instagram and then the Asylum facebook group just stopped altogether. No one got to comment and no one could use their voices.

Never meet your heroes 😔 but the good that came out of all the drama is I got some really good friends out of the plague rats I did meet.

I stopped caring for Emilie Autumn after the incidents, if you don't know what I mean, read this masterpost and this post of her old controversies.

But this comment on reddit sums up why her career never went anywhere.

"Whatsup with Emilie these days?

So i was a fan in high school but she literally stopped producing and performing after fight like a girl i assume? I know she played in a horror movie but what does she do now for a living and im suprised she didn't became a bigger artist during the years"

"Uuh. Where to start...The movies flopped ("The Devil's Carnival"), partly because of development hell that delayed production of the second movie for years and the hype died down, partly because the concept was great but the movies were... not that good. She was best buds with the director for a few years around the time they were released; like many of her friends over the years, he seems to have disappeared from her life since then (more on that later). But she did start a relationship with her co-star Marc Senter; they're still together and seemingly happy.

The projected Asylum Musical (that she was originally planning to premiere in 2014, lol - she's been talking about it for over a decade...) has yet to come to fruition. She moved to NYC in large part for this purpose (to be closer to Broadway). She hired a voice coach and started taking ballet lessons to prep for playing her own role. She went through a period of making wild casting announcement of the Famous Friends she'd met through "Devil's Carnival" - like Adam Pascal as Dr Stockhill (unclear whether this was just for fun / a favor for his co-star at the movie premiere, or if he was actually interested in the role), or Ted "Jesus Christ Superstar" Neeley as Sir Edwards (hilarious). But now it's 2023, she appears/claims to still be composing and writing the score and even altering some character names (we'll get to that), all the supportive Famous Friends seem to have vanished, and we seem nowhere closer to an actual Asylum Musical on this plane of existence.

But hey, it's the entertainment industry - many people try to get a shot at making their dream musical a reality, and fail. C'est la vie - maybe she just got unlucky, right? Well... maybe so, but other elements suggest that it's something other than just shit luck. First of all, EA does not appear to understand how Broadway works, or that it applies to her too. None of her projected timelines ever made sense. She "doesn't want" (couldn't get) outside investors, so she's planning on financing it all herself (BUT HOW??? oh, nevermind, we'll get to that too). SHe also seems insistent on debuting on Broadway, and nowhere else - no off-Broadway or local theaters for this gal! Nevermind the fact that she's got zero professional experience writing, directing or producing a musical, and that no Broadway professional in their right mind would ever give a slot to a niche musical by a basically-unknown indie artist.

In general, she seems reluctant to work with other people or meet their expectations... which is a problem for such a project. For instance, the closest we got to an "actual" production announcement was that a theater school was going to workshop Emilie Autumn's "Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls" next semester. IIRC, she promoted this and said she was excited. And then... nothing. No news for weeks. When people went back to the school's website, the announcement had been completely removed. And that was that. What on Earth happened, that the school didn't even want to publicly acknowledge this change of plans? Methinks they realized that they had been misled (ie the musical was not finished), or there was a MASSIVE conflict with Emilie that led to the workshop falling through.

Then, there's the gradual vanishing of everyone who had originally let her (in earnest or as a joke, we'll never know) attach their sometimes Very Famous names to her Very Obscure and Unfinished Project. And that includes... Veronica Varlow! Yeah, you read that right. Even though they now live in the same city, they haven't talked in years and don't follow each other on IG. It must have been something big, because some time ago, EA made a very unsubtle announcement about changing the name "Veronica" (the Asylum character who became Emily's tragic lesbian lover in the 87459th reworking of the story) to "Charlotte" because "I have been told that Veronica sounds anachronistic in Victorian England" (sure hun, if you say so). I still wonder whether it was EA writing her ex-BFF out of her life in a ridiculously dramatic way, or whether it was VeVa who asked EA to keep her name out of her mouth... and her script.

So yeah. She's not friends anymore with any of the people you remember from being a fan in high school. She's living in NYC, and pretending there's a musical in the works. She's also been making visual art for a couple years. Personally, I really like her mixed-media art with medical supplies - I think it's some of her most interesting work in years, better than the last two albums. But then, recently, she, uh... tried something else. I'll just let you search this sub for "AI" because I still can't wrap my head around What the Fuck She Was Thinking and it's exhausting to even recount.

tl;dr - She never became a bigger artist because she's been stuck on the same stale, unrealistic project for 10+ years, because she stopped touring and releasing new music, and because she's seemingly alienated all of her friends and industry connexions... as well as most of her ever-shrinking fanbase. A real shame all around."

[agentnico]

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (2024) review

Apes without Caesar are not strong!

Plot: Many years after the reign of Caesar, a young ape goes on a journey that will lead him to question everything he's been taught about the past and make choices that will define a future for apes and humans alike.

The Planet of the Apes reboot trilogy is genuinely a solid collection of well made films. Rise, Dawn and War of the Planet of the Apes are a perfect example of how tell an enticing science fiction story, with truly incredible life-like visuals and really thought provoking. And of course Andy Serkis’ lead mo-cap performance of the ape Caesar is truly phenomenal and his messiah-reflective character arc is really investing to behold. Mind you these films put Matt Reeves and Michael Giacchino on the map - one a successful director and another an accomplished film composer. That being said, War for the Planet of the Apes felt like a proper finale to the Caesar story, and though it did leave room for possible continuation, I felt satisfied with the way it ended. But naturally these films are money-makers so it was only a matter of time before the Hollywood sequel machine did its thing and another movie came to me. Enter Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.

Brought to us by Wes Ball, who’s most known for directing those Maze Runner films, arguably the last of the 2010’s YA movie trend. And like the Maze Runner movies are fine. They were okay for what they were but nothing special, and nothing that gave indication that Wes Ball was gonna be the next big thing. And with Kingdom, though there are some wonderful shifts and the apes design by Weta once again is a stand-out, this movie’s look didn’t impress me as much as the previous films. Again, solid visuals, but not groundbreaking. With the Andy Serkis apes movies, every new entry of that trilogy felt like a step-up visually from the previous, with War honestly looking scarily realistic, making me wonder if Serkis simply underwent heavy surgery to make himself look like an ape. You know, similar to that young Frenchman on Instagram who went viral for undergoing extreme body modification procedures to make himself look like an alien. Honestly, I’m not even kidding, this guy exists - look it up! Regardless, in Kingdom we don’t see that visual progression. Again it looks good, but it didn’t flabbergast me in its realism.

Biggest issue though is the script. The first half of this movie truly was boring! The pacing was off, and aside from the main new hero ape all the characters weren’t at all that interesting and there’s no one I cared about. As for the story itself, it feels like a lesser retread of the same ideas and themes of the previous trilogy. There's nothing really new here. You've already seen a better version of this movie before. The second half does ramp it up a little and there’s a little more energy and a sense of direction, but again it feels like walking on familiar territory. The main antagonist could have been really cool, played by the way by that buff Elon Musk lookalike who was in Abigail earlier this year. The idea of a cult-like warlord obsessed with human history, there's so much they could have done with that idea. But he simply doesn't have enough scenes to really make him anything more than Koba Part II. And Koba had better motivations and more complexity.

Oh, and the music score is pretty generic and forgettable. Really disappointing, because I loved the music from the other movies. Caesar's theme is so good. Nothing here comes close. I’m not going to lie Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes does not inspire confidence in these movies continuing without Caesar’s presence. I mean his shadow is all over this movie, but it only makes you miss the times he was there. This isn’t necessarily a bad movie, it’s just a massive downgrade from what this franchise used to achieve. Oh, and by the way the deus ex machina eagles from Lord of the Rings have come over to the apes to save the day this time, and look I’m the last person to bash on Lord of the Rings, but those eagles just swooping in to save the characters whenever Tolkien got stuck out of ideas was the one ultimate convenient get-out-of-jail-free card and it’s not something I wished for other franchises to copy. So shame on you Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, shame on you!

Overall score: 4/10

[blapis-blazuli]

Now listen up

I am obsessed with this man. He's got so many weird details about him and I love (almost) all of them.

First, Slim's original concept fucks. Being an undead cattle rustler out for bull's blood due to being trampled to death is fascinating. I don't know how long it took before someone at Disney cried "too dark" at that backstory, but I'm surprised it was even in consideration given the mostly lighter tone of the final product. More than that, Disney could've had a literal ghost rider among their villains! Had that movie been any good, he might've joined Disney's popular villain lineup, or maybe we could've even gotten a boss battle with him in a Kingdom Hearts game. That's not what we ended up with due to Reasons, though, which is a bit disappointing, but not much you can do about that.

Anyway, onto what we did get.

Before Slim makes his formal appearance, he's only seen in silhouette, on a wanted poster, then in disguise, and is finally fully revealed when he rides in on a bison. He is huge, and I don't mean because he's fat, I mean he's a good deal taller than most of the other characters. He's set up to be someone threatening, to be taken seriously.

And then comes his yodeling villain song.

The moment it's revealed that Slim's yodeling can hypnotize cows, the music picks up and there's a literal rainbow of colors for the rest of his number. As I said, he's a big man, but he's also light enough on his feet to dance and jump on and off any of these cows while not missing a beat in his performance. When the men who got knocked out beforehand come running after him, he doesn't threaten them, he just throws his spurs at a precarious bit of rocky landscape with such force that it falls and blocks the pathway to him. That's more badass than if he did draw his gun on them.

Actually, I wanna talk about the music he performs. The movie's set in Wyoming during 1889, so obviously Slim's not gonna be yodeling A Cruel Angel's Thesis or whatever. They could’ve come up with something original for him to yodel to (which, I mean, they kinda do), but they chose music by composers such as Tchaikovsky and Beethoven, which aren't exactly things you'd associate with the wild west. The obvious out-of-universe answer for why those pieces were chosen is "they existed before the year this is set in, and they're recognized even today," but we've no in-universe answer for why he chose them or how he knows them. Regardless, it's kinda amazing that he knows them well enough to yodel them.

His lair in Echo Mine has an area with some nice furniture in it. How'd this shit get there? Who knows. Anyway, this is where he reveals that he disguises himself to buy up the properties owned by the people he's stolen cattle from, which includes his former employers. Why doesn't he work for any of them anymore? He never directly says. According to him, they didn't "appreciate [his] talents," which means they probably hated his yodeling. I don't blame him for being mad about that because why the hell would you tell someone that? If he's doing the job right and well without hurting anyone, then who cares? The idea that he's moved on to use a skill against the former bosses who didn't like it is kinda great though.

(Side note: a nice, small detail about this part of the lair is the faded branding on the map, which shows that Slim has been doing this for quite a while. Shame that it's not more consistent from shot to shot though. I can't take credit for noticing this myself: my partner pointed it out after I posted a screenshot as a joke on Discord. She's so cool.)

Slim doesn't like it when someone calls his yodeling "singing": he thinks singing is beneath him given the disdain in his voice when he says that's what birds, saloon gals, and children do. No, he considers what he does to be an art. He's not entirely wrong, though: it is an impressive skill, especially since he can yodel to certain classical pieces like The William Tell Overture, Ode to Joy, Ride of the Valkyries, and The 1812 Overture. (Also Yankee Doodle, because, well, American. Also maybe Largo al factotum from The Barber of Seville, but I'm unsure of that one: unlike Slim, I am no classical music expert.) There's no need for him to be quite as defensive about it as he is, but his nephews calling it "singing," saying that might be why his bosses didn't like him, and calling yodeling "silly" is enough to make him get violently angry at them. Man's got issues.

Oh yeah, Slim has nephews. They're triplets named Gil, Phil, and Bill, and they're collectively known as The Willies. Unlike their uncle, they're all blond and thin, so god knows what Slim's unnamed and unmentioned sibling must look like.

Slim also has a bison named Junior. I'm not fond of the whole "he's too fat to ride anything else" angle of that, but I do like that they chose an animal that people are constantly told to not mess with because of how dangerous they are. Slim's not afraid of him: he's got this creature trained to listen when he calls for him. I can only guess that Slim is the one who named Junior, so maybe he also raised him. It would explain why Junior appears annoyed with him but still puts up with having Slim jump on his back and the like.

You know what Slim doesn't have though? Kids. Putting together the disdain in his voice when he mentions children, his seemingly low opinion of saloon girls, his big villain number turning the landscape into a rainbow of colors, the queer history of cowboys, and the prevalence of queer-coding in Disney villains... well, I think you get where I'm going with that.

Moving onto his disguise. Don't ask me why nobody figured out this was Slim sooner, given that his wanted poster shows they have the same facial hair, bushy eyebrows, and bags under the eyes. My best guess is because it's in black-and-white and he's in a different outfit, and unless someone's encountered him before they probably don't know what he sounds like. Anyway, His alias is Yancy O'del (yeah, I know), but the one sign we see him with has both "Mister" and "Esquire" in there.

Having looked this up, I learned a few things. First, having "Mister" and "Esquire" together isn't something you're supposed to do, yet nobody in-universe caught this. Second, in the United States, "Esquire" is a title only used for lawyers, so maybe that's why nobody questioned him - fear of a sudden lawsuit for something or other. Third, "Yancy" was not really a name used back then, or at least not a common one. Why'd he choose that name (besides for the pun)? I dunno.

(Also, where the hell does Junior stay whenever he goes to one of these auctions? The world may never know.)

Slim's final defeat at the hooves/wings/what-have-you of several farm animals is pretty pathetic, even by silly Disney villain standards, but I got to give him credit for not wanting to give up even after his disguise is (literally) blown and while he's stuck in a train's smokestack. I have no idea how he planned on getting out of that one, and whatever it was most likely wouldn't have worked anyway, but I admire his refusal to back down in the face of obvious defeat.

Even in his very last scene we see him struggling with the ropes they tied around him while he's carted off to jail. He does not give up.

Anyway, here he is picking up Small Black Market Dealer Steve Buscemi one-handed like it's nothing. (His name is Wesley, but Slim keeps calling him Mister Weasley. That's right, this movie used that joke before Frozen did.)

And here he is lifting three full-grown cows off the ground before tying them up faster than they can react to it. (The cows have names too, but this post ain't about them.)

He uses his left hand to write and aim his gun and seems just as adept with using it as much as his right, which is cool. (There's no frame with both his face and the gun, so you'll have to trust me on that.)

Speaking of his hands

Look at this huge-ass man and his pinkies, I can't with this dude

Look at that smile, sir, who gave you the right

If there were a whole movie about just these two, I'd watch it, I won't even lie.

I've gone on about this guy for probably too long by this point, so to sum it all up:

Babygirl

[roskirambles]

Animated movie of the day: Over the moon (2020)

Death isn't a stranger in the world of animation, as all the jokes of Disney moms can attest to. Grief, however? While not uncharted territory, most western animated movie protagonists seldom discuss their feelings on the matter as anything but a footnote of their emotional journeys. So to have this film try and do that in a traditional animated musical is one brave but lofty goal.

Directed by Glenn Keane, most renowned for animating characters like Ariel from The Little Mermaid(1989), the film takes cues from those old animated classics to approach Chinese mythology in the modern world. Namely, how a girl called Fei Fei idolizes the story of the goddess of the moon Chang'e and her beloved Houyi. As her father is about to get married for a second time and bringing along a half brother with them, she decides to meet her idol in the moon in hopes she can help her bring her mother back, for Chang'e always kept faithful to Houyi even after his demise millennia ago.

If this sounds like a strangely depressing set up, you'd be surprised how much the film does to create an adventurous narrative with it. It's full of humor, imaginative visuals and explosive musical numbers with vibrant colors, cute companions and chases of childlike imagination. Doesn't hurt Chinese culture is depicted with breathtaking detail and accuracy (which makes the more jarring half the cast is composed by Korean-American actors but let's ignore that for now).

However, the foundation is still composed of two stories of people who never moved on from the death of a loved one. And while it's clear one stands to contrast with the other to reinforce the emotional impact, there's parts when they do trip on each other's feet, with goofy shenanigans in the second act that clearly exist just to pad out the run time.

That said, this doesn't detract from either that climax, nor the beauty of the message: to let go so you can love again.

[starlene]

[Musical theatre questions for old and cynical musical theatre fans]

Numbers:

25,

30,

34, 40,

and

45

Thank you, anon!

25. What catches your attention in a musical and makes it interesting to you? Is there a subgenre of musicals you especially like?

Hell if I know, I feel like my favourites are all over the place... I guess in general, I like tragic, cathartic, larger-than-life stories. You gotta be dealing with emotions that go up to eleven, you gotta be talking about death and love that borders on obsession. All my absolute all-time favourites have a bodycount (ranging from 1 to circa 1,500)

All that said, as far as subgenres go, I have to admit that I do enjoy a cheesy jukebox musical every now and then. I've had a lot of fun with both Mamma Mias, En del av mitt hjärta, Rock of Ages, Moulin Rouge!... something about giving pre-existing songs the musical treatment makes my brain happy, and as long as jukeboxes don't take themselves too seriously, they're just so much fun to watch.

30. What's a musical that's grown on you since you first saw it or listened to it? What made you appreciate it more?

Titanic. When I first saw it, I thought it was badly written with way too many characters, trying too hard, and just not too good overall. These days, it's one of my top three favourites.

What happened? I was a teenager when I first saw it, so I think I just matured a little and changed my perspective. I can't remember why or when I decided to give it another try, but I'm so, so glad that I did. I do still think that it's a confusing show for first-time watchers because of the massive amount of characters – but other than that, I find it touching, thought-provoking, respectful, and devastatingly beautiful.

34. Who's your musical theatre blorbo? Talk about them.

Daniel Daréus from the musical Så som i himmelen (and specifically from the musical, tbh I don't really give two hoots about the movie character.)

I don't think I'll be able to put it any better than I already did last month, so I'll just copypaste my own post:

"In short, I have never related to any fictional character like I related to Daniel that afternoon (not in the sense that Daniel is exactly like me in every way, but in the sense that emotionally, he makes absolute sense to me. If that makes any sense at all.)"

The thing about theatre blorbos, of course, is that not every actor and director will get them, or interpret them the way you'd like to see. Luckily, so far, I've been blessed with four Daniels that understood the character exactly like I do: Philip Jalmelid, Christopher Wollter, Tuukka Leppänen and Fredrik Lycke. I'm so glad to have gotten the chance to see them all. <3

40. Talk about something musical-related that annoys you.

I'm deeply annoyed at the current state of Finnish musical theatre in general, but I'm not going to ruin my night by really going into that. In a nutshell: the musicals that Finnish theatres like doing and the musicals that I like watching are like a Venn diagram where the circles overlap less and less every year. I mean, hardly anyone even dies in musicals here anymore!

45. What's a musical that doesn't exist yet that you would like to see?

Titanic the Movie the Musical, composed by Frank Wildhorn. I will go to my grave thinking what could have been.

Ask me some musical theatre questions for old and cynical musical theatre fans

[max-nexus]

KGTAC PGS 2083-2093 ANALYSIS

Previous Analysis Next Analysis I'm doing the two most recent updates in one because there was nothing to talk about at the time, like what? Maybe the floppy under the SUPER MARIO MOVIE floppy case is a Pesterchum clone sorta like in the original? That's basically nothing, like that would be a side thing in my other analyses, and it was also that slipped my mind last time. (In part because the previous post had to be rewritten due to the fact Tumblr deleted my entire post because i ctrlz'd once, leaving only the text i wrote before i started adding images.) (Also happened to this post, luckily i left the page before Tumblr could save the draft) (Left: Home-Skillet page 11. Right: KGTAC Page 2086)

So i delayed until i had more to talk about, and we got some interesting things. More evidence for my hopes and dreams, some interesting differences in the characterization of Fred, and more FLOPPY-DECK.

Page 2083 is the only page which i have nothing to talk about, its just neat (Though i wonder how the fan is powered, it doesn't seem to have a power cord. Maybe it's battery powered?) KGTAC Page 2085

Page 2084-2085 has me feel heard, Freaky Fred is quite disgusting. How dare he put that hotplate on the floor. Luckily he is putting his life of crime behind him by putting the hotplate on the mini fridge

KGTAC Page 2086

For page 2086, i Looked up on what DEVO was and apparently it might have a small connection with Pee-wee's Playhouse, with some of the music being composed by one of the guys from DEVO, Maybe this will be used in a [S] John: Mental Breakdown sort of way later. Forming itself as some neat foreshadowing like the reveal that Gushers are apart of the Betty Crocker brand.

KGTAC Page 2087

For Page 2087, I was right about it being a GOT MILK poster, not much to say here, I'm just happy i was right. I do find it interesting that it replaces the earthbound poster though. KGTAC PAGE 2088

For Page 2088 I actually have something interesting here, Fred pulls out cans of NORMAL COCA-COLA, which is interesting since before he was a fan of COCA-COLA DE-CAF Home-Skillet Page 42

Noting that his grandma let him have this as it wouldn't make him hyper. I sorta wonder, why the change? Maybe it used to mean something, or maybe it was changed for no reason in particular. I guess we'll have to wait and see.

KGTAC Page 2089

Page 2089 This brings me hope that Fred won't have a sylladex for a while, I've always wanted a fanventure where one of the characters doesn't have a sylladex, Though something of note here is that he's never heard of a sylladex, not even faintly, which could mean that sylladexes might not exist, although in Home-Skillet, Fred got his sylladex from under a party hat in the kitchen (H-S Pg 70, In a flash), which means he still could get one, especially since he had no idea what a sylladex was in Home-Skillet also (Home-Skillet Page 21 has the line "CAPTCHALOGUE? You have no idea what the hell that word even means.") KGTAC Page 2090: I just wanted to bring this up since for some reason the idea of Fred being a MIND player came up, just because of the fact Fred just found the idea terrifying, not even a hint of temptation like in Homestuck, Though this is unlikely as this idea just came up after thinking for a few minutes and its quite a stretch, the only idea that's a bigger stretch would be calling him of the Breath aspect for page 2083 (If page 2083 did give you that idea, I apologize, but you have been diagnosed with early onset Homestuck Brain rot)

KGTAC PAGE 2091-2093 FLOPPY-DECK!!! (my beloved)

All jokes aside, These pages just introduce the FLOPPY-DECK, Though with the reveal of the Floppy-Deck has me wondering... Is someone going to die? i know it's crazy talk but in Home-Skillet there were 4 players, and it looked like this

Meanwhile the Floppy-Deck in KGTAC looks to be the same except for the pattern on top which is like this

Only 3 points, And why change the design if it means nothing? I can't think of a reason to change it, It's so small i literally didn't notice it, I was originally just going to leave it at that. A Meme to show my excitement for the reveal and that's it. Maybe I'm just being a bit crazy here, its like 10:40 PM as of writing this, and this wasn't in my notes. it was just something i noticed when i went to fact check a joke i was making where I'd go like "The FLOPPY-DECK'S art is unchanged, this represents the fact that the FLOPPY-DECK is perfect, and needs no changing" but then i noticed the pattern on top was changed, And this is the best reason i could think of for why its different. If this means what i think it means. If Fred has 2 friends, Cole just dropped a character from the story. If Fred has 3 friends. Cole is going to kill off one of the Main Characters. There isn't much in the way of evidence for this, for obvious reasons any big theories like that can't be proven 13 pages into the story. But the sheer idea that i could be right has me shaking as I'm writing, The idea that if there are 4 Main Characters in Home-Skillet that one of them could be killed off before entering Sburb, and that's how the Timeline has to go is goddamn Bold.

Well ending off in that note has me utterly excited for this story, It's a theory with little evidence though a shocking opportunity in the storytelling. Before i end this post, I'd like say. Thank you Cole

I am utterly honored that you like my analysis posts. I make these posts since i absolutely loved Act 1 of KGTAC, and what started this was trying to figure out Where KGTAC would go next (as you may have seen by my theory posts in the comments of KGTAC before the end of ACT 1. Trying to figure out who the hell Fred was (as someone posted "You can now play as Fred Wilmore" editing onto Mario Galaxy's "You can now play as Luigi" , what the hell "h-s" was (I had thought at first Fred was made by Radical Dude since i misread a discord message hilariously enough.) Then searching up Fred's name, searching for what this was, finding some Tumblr post mentioning how Home-Skillet was meant to be a secret now, and digging until i figured out how to read Home-Skillet. I'd originally meant for that first post to be the end of my analysis, but i decided to continue due to how interested i was with how things were going (and for the fact one person liked my post, Which meant at least one person read it, which made me happy). It seriously makes me happy you've read my analysis and like it. Though with the fact that the discord has spoilers means i won't be joining it anytime soon, I'd like to keep trying to figure out what happens next without having it all revealed.

Thank You Cole, It means alot to hear that.

[benoitblanc]

for the sleepover asks !!

give me an unpopular opinion you have about knives out, what you would like to see in knives out 3 and lastly can i please have some film recs (it can be whatever genre you want just films you think i should watchhh) 🩷🩷🩷

unpopular opinion about knives out: i literally do not think i have any. i guess i completely understand why the scenes with donna and jacob explaining the walt/loan shark subplot were cut, if that even counts as unpopular? it definitely fills out that branch of the family more but i think if they HAD to cut anything it really had to be that; it didn't really contribute to the actual mystery, and i would rather spend spare minutes getting to know the cabreras than the least interesting thrombey sect

what i would like in knives out 3: this is not going to happen but i would give my right arm for elliot and wagner to come back in some capacity. i LOVE them. from a more serious standpoint, i'd like at least a little more philip, and it would make me very happy if we did a big city mystery now and went to london. maybe blanc and philip are visiting philip's family or something when shit goes down i don't know. what i DON'T want is anything that pulls blanc's personal life into the mystery. if philip or his family gets involved, fine! but i DO NOT want a benoit blanc backstory. he's compelling enough as is he doesn't need one <3

film recs (you have asked the right person; i love reccing things):

little miss sunshine (2006) is a black comedy about a dysfunctional family attempting to drive their volkswagen van from new mexico to california to enroll their 6yo in a beauty pageant. if knives out didn't exist this would be my favorite film of all time. it's SO good

tick tick boom (2021) is a musical drama about a young composer trying to make his way in the nyc theatre world in the 1990s. bring tissues for this one

galaxy quest (1999) is a loving parody of the star trek franchise that revolves around the ex-cast of a popular sci-fi show being abducted by aliens who think the show is real. possibly the funniest film of all time methinks

clue (1985)... i do not know how to describe this film. it's a murder comedy and tim curry is the lead. please watch this movie

it's a wonderful life (1947) is a theoretically-christmas film that you've likely heard of. if not, the first two-thirds of this film are a heartwarming dramedy about a young man's relationship with his small town and the last third is an existential horror film. it's a classic for a reason!

much ado about nothing (2011) is technically a proshot of a play but i don't fucking care. david tennant in That Scene is the greatest performance an actor has ever given

sleepover asks!!!

[scrunkore]

Scrunkore Media "Thread" 2023: Part 5

I got burnout and never got back into it so I'm hella simplifying it lol shit happens

the scrunko core has burned out, rebooting

50) Wendell & Wild (Movie, 2022)

A lovingly crafted stop-motion animated movie with some good old kid-friendly horror vibes and a punky attitude, even starring a pretty nice transmasc character that I'm super happy to see. It's a nice story with a good visual style and a lot of heart, and I think Key and Peele being involved is pretty funny honestly. [4★]

51) Murder by Numbers (Switch, 2020)

Decent enough Picross game with a basic detective narrative stringing it together that I'm not really a huge fan of, but it does its job and I appreciate the adorable robot as well as some of its representation. And no idea how they got the composer from Ace Attorney and Ghost Trick, lmao [3★]

52) Pokémon Picross (GBC, Unreleased)

Yeah, this was better than the 3DS one, it's just basic Picross that doesn't do much (only real mechanic it adds is being able to change the music) but that's still better than the shitty mobile game model. They really should have just released this, it was straight-up finished and I even got a cart that works on original hardware because I think that's neat. [3.5★]

53) Paper Mario: The Origami King (Switch, 2020)

Going to be killed for playing this as my first Paper Mario but who cares, this game is cool in spite of its awkward battle system (which DOES kinda suck). Just a fun adventure with typical quirky writing and some surprisingly powerful moments, plus an excellent soundtrack, I'm sure some of the earlier games are better but I did play this one and did enjoy it. [4★]

54/55) Knives Out/Glass Onion (Movies, 2019/2022)

Incredible pair of detective movies, both full of really engaging writing and directing work that keeps you invested and never stops being entertaining to watch, surely still really good on a rewatch too. They also really fuckin' hate rich people, especially the second one which is woke as hell and has one of my favourite endings in anything, so that's what some might call "based". I can't wait to see what Rian Johnson does for the third Benoit Blanc movie, which is apparently meant to be a 2024 release. [5★]

56) Sonic the Hedgehog (IDW Comics, 2018-Present)

These are some damn enjoyable comics, telling some fun and generally quite well-written stories set after the events of Sonic Forces with a cast of really cool characters. Honestly kind of ride or die for Tangle and Whisper, but original villains like Dr Starline are great to read too. Early highlight is definitely the Metal Virus arc, but the more recent stuff with Surge was excellent too. Safe to say the team behind these stories know their shit. [4.5★]

57) Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Movie, 2023)

They really did it, they went out of their way to make a bigger and better sequel to one of the greatest animated movies I've seen, and it's very possible that they succeeded... but we won't know until the second part comes out, which looks unfortunately unlikely to be any time soon because production sucked. Still, what we did get is yet another gorgeously animated spectacle with a cool storyline, everyone knows that. [4.5★]

58) Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (Movie, 2023)

One of the only parts of the MCU that I cared about more or less concluded with this movie, and fuck it might be the best one in the trilogy. Rocket's harrowing backstory really hits out with that theme of some jerkass playing god, and the core adventure of the film is pretty engaging too, just as cool as ever. Plus it's now confirmed Vocaloid exists in the MCU lol [4.5★]

59) The Suicide Squad (Movie, 2021)

Another instance of James Gunn making an actual good superhero movie, this time making a good adaptation of something that previously had a bit of a shit one. I appreciate the kinda edgy nature of the titular squad that was handled solidly here, and their antics are honestly pretty funny. Fun action sequences too, and it's honestly really cool how much the movie thinks rats are awesome (they kind of are tbh). Peter Capaldi, the best version of Doctor Who, playing a mad scientist role is also just... really good. [4★]

60) Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio (Movie, 2022)

Man fuck Disney, this is obviously the best version of the Pinocchio story and their attempt to overshadow it was lame as hell. I quite like the darker take on the story with themes of death and war around Italy's rise of fascism (Tom Kenny Mussolini is crazy btw), and of course the stop-motion animation is really quite excellent. Always love to see movies made in such a way. [4★]

61/62) Sonic and the Secret Rings/Black Knight (Games, 2007/2009)

Yeah, I get why the storybook duo of games have a bad reputation, because the motion control gimmicks kinda suck, but Secret Rings suffers from it far more than Black Knight, and that still has the cool ideas and solid writing combined with a great soundtrack (both games have this). Maybe the mission-based level structure isn't great, but there's some fun stuff to be found in these. Wish they were better though. [2.5★/3.5★]

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[silvermoon424]

What are your thoughts on the songs and music in both the Magia Record game and anime? Both have lots of bangers IMO, I love to listen to them as individual tracks on YouTube while riding in the car. Honestly, in my absolute opinion, the new music originally made in the anime is one of the only things worth existing from that mostly otherwise bad adaptation, and I’m totally going to make a whole post on why that is.

I think both are really great! I don't think they quite reach the heights of the OG anime, but tbf Yuki Kajiura is a fucking composing goddess and imo most anime music (or even music used in shows/movies in general) doesn't live up to what she makes.

But still, yeah, the Magia Record game and anime have tons of bangers. Some of my favorites from the game are Be Terrified, Place to Hunt, and Depth in the Mirror (I haven't had a chance to binge Arc 2 music yet but I'm sure I'll love it). The OPs for both the game and anime by Trysail (who voice Iroha, Yachiyo, and Tsuruno) are all fantastic but Kakawari is my fave.

As for the anime music, I have to shout out Santa Salvacion, the song that plays during Holy Mami's first appearance. I fucking love this song, easily my favorite track from the Magia Record anime. I love how it's basically a Dark Souls boss theme in a magical girl anime lol

[fayewonglibrary]

Faye Wong & Lin Xi Radio Interview on Fable (2000)

(* MINOR REVISIONS TO SPELLING / GRAMMAR / WORDING)

INTERVIEW BY: VANI

"The Cambrian Period" and "New Tenant"

1. Faye maintains that for definitions, listeners can refer to the glossary in the album. She said that she herself is puzzled by Lin Xi's lyrics at times, even after the explanation.

2. "The Cambrian Period" refers to a prehistoric time and depicts love as being ancient and existing way before and without mankind. Lin Xi gives a crash-course on fossils. In short: Once upon a time but on a much grander scale! Much was made of the word "Han2" which has "chilly" or "despondent" connotations in Mandarin. It's actually pronounced as "Han1" in the song but the character has dual intonations and consequently different meanings, as is often in language. Faye and Lin Xi felt that one could infer that love basically possesses a "Han2" foundation. The DJ got quite lost here. Anyhow, both felt Zhang Ya Dong was attempting something majestic yet tragic with this track. Faye then naturally applied a suitably operatic vocal tone to the track and Lin Xi proceeded from there.

3. Does Faye actually compose by "yodeling" out the melody in the demo? Faye said that while her intonations might seem meaningless, there is a definite mood that is being conveyed in the way she projects her voice. Lin Xi agrees. For example: in her "language", he would interpret her "eee" sound as being more subdued, while her "ooo" would be more upbeat. That's how he caught hold of the mood and flow and penned the lyrics.

4. Lin Xi chose to interpret the third track as "New Tenant" purely because the beginning of the song included a "doorbell chime". The DJ said that Roman Polanski's 1976 horror movie "The Tenant" came to mind. Lin Xi agreed then informed Faye (who hasn't watched it) that it's very creepy. Lin Xi explains that from the "Han2" influence before, now things begin to heat up. The song basically refers to the new person in one's universe or if you prefer to be provincial (Lin Xi's choice of words): the arrival of first love.

Faye admitted she didn't feel the "first-love" influence at all. Rather, she felt that the "lifting" of the beat at the beginning reminded her of the revving up of a car. She revealed that Zhang Ya Dong had earlier conceptualized the MV which itself contained images of airports and train stations. Thus while Faye was composing, she had a definite scene in her mind: It is early morning, everyone is bustling around getting ready for work. She, on the other hand, is exhausted from a night out, and is on her way home. The general mood is laidback yet discomfort prevails. Lin Xi adds on to the imagery by remarking that one here would be reluctant to meet the dawning light (being tired from either work or play) which accounts for the uneasiness. Faye hoped that a very lackadaisical attitude is expressed here, with the coupling of the "pottering along" melody and her lazy "effort-less" style of singing. The DJ is puzzled by how all that would relate to first love. Faye said that perhaps first love is "a blur".

5. Faye explains why they had each interpreted "New Tenant" so differently. Zhang Ya Dong did the music arrangement first, then Faye composed the melody, and Lin Xi added the lyrics. They might not all be thinking of the same thing. The three of them do not consult each other on their inspirations and leave the interpretation of each process entirely to the others. She then concluded that they all felt that it is the "feel" of the song which is crucial. Hence one doesn't really need to understand the lyrics in depth.

Lin Xi feels that pre-discussion kills creativity and that the chemistry between them can get quite amusing if each were left to their own devices. For example, Lin Xi had marked in his notes upon hearing the doorbell-chime (ding dong!) that it sounded like someone arriving at the door thus "New Tenant". Faye stresses that everything is very much left to the listener's interpretation and imagination. The scope is wide and there isn't a need for this track to be categorized as being bitter or whatever as one might find "New Tenant" sad and another person might find it calming.

"Chanel" and "Asura"

1. "Chanel" forms the third episode in the five-track saga. A somewhat profound dissection of this track developed between Lin Xi and Faye. You could sense that both of them had somewhat differing views. Lin Xi's interpretation seems harsher and more skeptical whereas Faye's was more detached and nonchalant. And the DJ likened love to the pursuit of trends.

Lin Xi feels that by this stage, one would begin to have a much less distorted concept of love. Suddenly, love becomes a matter of mutual choice to the exclusion of there being only one destined love. Much like shopping for an article of clothing or selecting a new hairstyle, one now selects partners based on external factors. The realization also dawns that we can always change partners like these outer trappings. Lin Xi sees this track as another interpretation of "Only Love Strangers".

Faye chose to interpret the essence of this song in two ways: either one of carefreeness or abandonment (which to her is a fine line). She feels that though Lin Xi's view is pretty cynical, she concedes that the song does somewhat reflect modern society's lack of steadfastness in romance. She added that she feels there is an underlying element of resignation (comfort zone of sorts) as no one can truly see past all these superficial qualities (that is unless they attain nirvana - her Buddhist background manifests). Their argument in short: it's easy to view all these things objectively but it's hard to apply this to reality.

Faye also mentioned that she feels particularly comfortable and carefree singing this track as she could relate to it. Something to which Lin Xi remarked that he reckoned so while penning it!

2. Lin Xi explains that "Asura" is a half-god half-demon deity. The female of the species is beautiful whereas the males are hideous. In "Tian Long Ba Bu", they are one of eight personifications of human virtues and failings. The gist of this track: when one loves too intensely, one frequently becomes combative and jealous and further disillusionment inevitably sets in. Another spirited discussion on the impetus of the "Asura" follows:

Lin Xi said he gets philosophical and relates this to Faye's earlier interpretation of "Chanel". The mean-spirited emotions here arise in part from the frustration one feels at being unable to obtain something (or someone) and thus one becomes an "Asura" (withdrawal symptom). To him, "Asura" approaches all things on a "materialistic" level with the sole selfish desire to satisfy their cravings. Lin Xi's angle is that people in love crave and thus get combative.

Faye, however, begs to differ and jokingly accuses him of nonsense. Her point is that "Asura" is a fictional superior being not subject to mortal yearnings. There is nothing to validate Lin Xi's claim that their jealousy and combative nature arises from so-called human needs. Their two negative traits are simply part of their inherent nature, like humans. Faye reiterates deities are not spared such failings, much less mortals. Faye ends by saying that this song is comparatively simple and easily understandable.

"Flower On The Other Shore" and "If You're Unreal"

1. "Flower On The Other Shore" forms the last chapter in the 5-track story. The origin of the title: Lin Xi explains that "Bi An" literally means the other shore, which is a Buddhist metaphor for the concluding stage. According to the scriptures (Zhen1 Ming4 Shu1), you must lose all experiences, memories and emotions prior to crossing over to Nirvana. "Hua" is the flower that refers to the enlightenment that is to be achieved after much tribulation.

Faye, however, disagrees that it is a tragic process per se. She brings the focus here back to love (which is the theme). While having its bittersweet moments, she states that there are varying degrees of love: one being "perfect unlacing love". She feels that hope for this particular form of love, which is represented by the flower, is the driving force. The "flower" also becomes the impetus, as well as the conclusion. She quips that if love were all that tragic, no one would knowingly seek it, but then again it is not easily obtained by most.

Lin Xi and Faye concur that one can only achieve this through initiation into priesthood (abandoning samsara). Lin Xi hopes that this group of songs has emotionally strengthening and healing properties: aural therapy if you will. Faye feels that "Flower On The Other SHore", though employing an abstract approach, is really not all that incomprehensible. She used a Cantonese analogy to summarize it: There's a new lease on life on the other side, I yearn for it all the same. In short: you may not be able to predict or anticipate what awaits, but everyone still longs for it.

2. Lin Xi quips that there's always pressure writing for Faye Wong. He said that lyrics for "Only Love Strangers" took as long as a few days per track. Though the creative process for both albums was quite frantic, "Fable" especially so. The first 4 songs were sent to him followed by the last one, with an indication to string them together. He wasn't given much notice prior to the recording in Beijing and thus rushed through them in 5 to 6 days without much rest. But he feels that the songs are in their entirety and is satisfied. Faye said that she directed Lin Xi to string the 5 tracks, but the need for a specific theme (eg. Fable) was not expressed. She wistfully remarked that there wasn't enough time however for the theme to extend to the entire album.

3. A discussion on whether the tracks were commercial. Both Faye and Lin Xi remarked that there was no surefire way to differentiate whether music was commercial or alternative. However, in Faye's opinion, 3 to 4 out of the 5 tracks were commercial. It's just that Lin Xi's lyrics make the melodies more profound. Faye revealed that Zhang Ya Dong had wanted something easy to understand and relate to (like "You're Happy So I'm Happy") but the end-product came out sounding more "verse-like". However, she reiterates there's a need for the lyrics to have a poetic quality to convey the "feel" of the tracks. Lin Xi explained that he did try applying simpler lyrics but it sounded plain weird. Anyhow, he felt that the tracks had a certain emotional depth that is lacking in the music industry and thus only applied unusual lyrics that were befitting.

Faye also said that Zhang Ya Dong had suggested that certain parts of the tracks be catchy. For example: the repetition of "Xiang Nai Er" several times in the chorus. He actually minded that some of the tracks were not commercial enough. Faye ended by saying that, while hoping to satisfy their creative impulses, they also didn't want to deliberately compose songs that would isolate the listeners. Or something so abstract that no one could understand or possibly dislike.

4. They were actually debating why the intros to the tracks were so long. The DJ said that the intros actually broke a new record for length. Lin Xi teased the DJ saying that it gave them extra airtime to fill in. Anyhow, Lin Xi defended that the style for such tracks necessitated that. Faye added that the intros were essential in cultivating and conveying the mood of the tracks.

5. The DJ said that "If You're Unreal" reminded her of Teresa Teng's "If I Were For Real". Both Faye and Lin Xi admitted that this track comes to mind. Lin Xi's explanation for this track is very startling! This song comes at the end of the 5-track story and is related to it. He explains that the "inter-play" between the myriad of characters in the first 5 tracks portrays Faye as being "interchangeable". Thus he goes on to ask "What if I am real?" and in reply "What if you are fake?". That forms the basis for the song which is "possession" (in the sense of actually inhabiting the body of another person). The whole fantasy of actually "possessing" a celebrity, experiencing his/her life and knowing his/her intimate details.

The middle portion of the song asks whether one is attracted to the "soul" or "body" in relationships. Lin Xi was going to relate it to "Journey To The West" before the DJ interrupted. Another lengthy discussion ensued about which they went for [soul or body]. Lin Xi feels there's no definite answer. Faye feels that both go together and that she personally wouldn't spend that much time fixating on this "dilemma".

Her new collaborator on this track was Eric Kwok. Lin Xi felt that it was rather "reggae" which is rather unexpected coming from Eric Kwok. Faye revealed that the released version of this track has been re-arranged: the opening actually featured a voice-over going "Ladies and gentlemen…" and had a much stronger and typical "reggae" influence. She requested for the change and only heard the revamped arrangement on the day of recording. She was pleasantly amused by the result though. They all agreed that this is the most light-hearted song in the album.

6. Is Lin Xi writing from Faye's perspective? Faye said that she has heard Lin Xi's views on this on another radio program interview. He has said that since the both of them do not spend a lot of time together, his contact with her is somewhat restricted to media reports. Thus he would be composing from his limited perception of her perspective. The DJ then asked Faye if he was frequently on the mark (he is!).

"I Won't Love Anyone Who Doesn't Love Me" and "Your Likes Are Not as Important as Mine"

1. The DJ remarked that "I Won't Love Anyone Who Doesn't Love Me" echoes the Leo personality: I won't love anyone who doesn't love me back. Faye (a Leo) and Lin Xi (a Sagittarius) don't agree. Lin Xi explains the basis for the song: a transition from aggressive pursuit of something (or someone) to exhausted indifference. A very lackadaisical attitude is present, which he reveals is cultivated from personal experience over the past two years. Both maintain that it's another pretty understandable track. Lin Xi goes on to remark that this is the most "ill-fated" track. The process for this track was terribly frantic and tedious with a couple of meetings (on what he didn't specify) along the way. Luckily, he already had the opening bars in mind and just basically sped home and churned it out. He added that he doesn't quite like this track. The DJ observed that length of time spent on the process might not necessarily equate to satisfaction.

This was the last track to be recorded. Was it last-minute or filler material? Faye laments that, though she has had a year to prepare (which is more than most artistes) and while there's more time to source for inspiration, the rush at the end is still inevitable as only 2 out of 100 tracks found may be satisfactory. The time factor only incites further improvement. Faye had directed Lin Xi that she didn't want something predictable here (like you would know what the next verse is going to be so-and-so). She then later called Lin Xi on the progress who uttered "OK, OK" and then something or someone's name (he's stumped… can't recall exactly what) to which she was like "Huh? OK, whatever". To me, it seems like Faye really gives Lin Xi a free hand in his compositions.

Is there a difference, as the recording of the last track would signify the completion of the album? Faye said she focused more on the completion of tracks rather than of the album per se. Lin Xi mused that there might be a difference, seeing that "Postman" (which was the last track completed on the "Only Love Strangers" album) was recorded on her birthday. She didn't think so. Faye ended by saying that this track took the longest to record because there was something wrong with the "key".

2. "Your Likes Are Not As Important As Mine" was composed by Taiwan's Pan Hsieh Ching (his English name is Tom). Lin Xi remarked that the mood here is suddenly schizophrenic in relation to the earlier part of the album. Faye goes on to relate this to the awakening from a dream state (the first 5 tracks) back to reality (track 6 onwards). It relates to "You're Happy So I'm Happy" which Lin Xi feels is not a very healthy relationship (I'm happy because you are) nor is it usually possible. Thus why not another approach: "I like you and that's my choice. It's no business of yours". Lin Xi was quite funny here. Faye maintains that since human beings are often self-contradictory, both attitudes frequently co-exist. The DJ observed that when composers from both Taiwan and Hong Kong now write for Faye, there is usually a special quality to the tracks. Faye said that she hadn't really noticed and reiterated that her sole criteria is a good and simple melody.

"Farewell Firefly" & "Book of Laughter and Forgetting"

1. Faye remarked that CY Kong was absent for some time before returning in the previous album for "Last Blossom" and in "Fable" for "Farewell Firefly". She can't exactly recall his earlier compositions for her and Lin Xi informed her that CY Kong also composed "Lau Fei Fei". Faye maintains that he's another one of her collaborators she doesn't spend a lot of time with. Faye said that "Farewell Firefly" strongly reminded her of Garbage's "The World Is Not Enough" and noted that the opening portion, the mood and genre are very similar for both. She sang out the lyrics of the James Bond theme.

From the "mysterious" mood in this track, Lin Xi remarked that his inspiration then came from watching a documentary on the firefly (he was watching a lot of them at one time). He explained that the firefly is quite an "ill-fated" creature. A lesson: He berates that no one notices fireflies at all. Their "cold" light comes from a continuous effort in "vibrating" their tails (very poor things he said!). Faye is puzzled why the need to vibrate then. To which Lin Xi replied there is no specific reason, which is worse because it is "motiveless". The firefly gets brighter during its search for a mate, is hardly visible in daytime and only emerges at night. They are also very "short-lived" summer insects. A metaphor for one in love: in relationships, one might give out light but not necessarily warmth.

Because of the intensity of the mood in this track, Lin Xi had originally wanted to base this song on "Rashomon" (a Japanese movie by Akira Kurosawa). The plot relates an event occurring, resulting in four varying motives and contradictory points of view, suggesting the nature of truth is something less than absolute. However, he felt that the mood for the earlier part was already rather serious and heavy, and that the "firefly" would relate to the fairytale theme better.

Faye remarked that she had actually given the wrong explanation of this track in another interview then. She recollected that her opinion was asked of these two lines in the Cantonese track - "Unable to share and enjoy warmth, yet persist in giving off light. Till my entire existence remains in the starlit sky." Without the benefit of the full lyrics, she had inferred that simply meant one's lifespan is short. She had went on to remark that perhaps one should not care about the duration of one's existence just as long as "light" is given off in each's own way. It becomes a rational approach rather than a romantic one.

Lin Xi defended that Faye isn't exactly off the mark. Thus whatever the case (in love or life in general): one should persist to the end without regard to existence or consequence, like the firefly. The DJ said that this track then seemed to imply "hidden and unappreciated talent" which is tragic. Faye gets philosophical and says encouragingly that the way anyone lives (and "shines") would have a positive impact on those around you, minimal or not. She was then teased like mad (Lin Xi quips that he is very moved!). Lin Xi feels that the Cantonese version is easier to listen to.

2. The record company chose "Love Letter To Myself" as the main track. Faye murmured that she reckoned so while recording it (she didn't specify why though). As to whether it supposedly made references to her love life, Faye maintains that while this song is open to interpretation and beyond her "jurisdiction", she hopes the listener is not influenced by the media reports. Lin Xi reiterated that this track wasn't based on Faye, but rather written from his own perspective.

Faye explains that "The Book of Laughter and Forgetting", is the work of author Milan Kundera ("The Unbearable Lightness of Being"). Lin Xi maintains, as is the meaning in the novel, that "all things can basically be forgotten with a smile". Faye wonders if Kundera has an interest in Buddhism. Faye thinks that basically with all things past, this attitude is easily applied by everyone. To her, memories are always more beautiful in hindsight. It is in that moment itself that one finds it hard to deal with the situation.

Faye doesn't really bother with the language (the "feel" is more important) and she likes both the Mandarin and Cantonese versions equally. She has heard however that most people preferred the lyrics of the latter. Lin Xi said that both versions would slightly differ in meaning. The Mandarin lyrics start: "If there's no candle, there's no need to celebrate" which expresses a "no need to be so troublesome then" attitude. The Cantonese version stresses on "loving oneself" and advises one to cherish oneself. He jokes that one should not be shallow or ignorant and relate this literally to a "love letter" (a stab at the media reports). Lin Xi said that the Cantonese track has a larger meaning for him.

Faye reiterated that whether Lin Xi writes from her perspective or his own doesn't matter in the strictest sense. As the both of them are also just human beings and experiences being generally universal, it is possible for anyone to relate to this song in their own individual way. Faye gave credit to Lin Xi for his lyrics, which echo sentiments that are innate in everyone's heart. She had read on the Internet that some of her fans had actually cried upon listening to this track and that Lin Xi had wrote something close to their hearts (Lin Xi congratulates himself jokingly).

Lin Xi's impetus for writing this track: He reveals that lyrics for the album "Only Love Strangers" were penned during a painful period in his life. Here in this track, the obstacles being over, he was taking "inventory" and penning his new insights into cherishing himself gleaned over the past year.

3. Any new insights from "Fable" through the creative process of the album? Especially since they have already been working together closely for 5 to 6 years. Lin Xi explained that the lyrics for "Only Love Strangers" were a culmination of dire personal experiences and thoughts. He will always remember that one long month and actually cried listening to the album for the first time, looking back at the tedious process. In "Fable", the pressure was on as he was worried that there wouldn't be any significant improvement. Thus he chose the theme "Fable" and the fairy-tale approach to differentiate from the previous Buddhist influence. He's quite satisfied with this album and also cried listening to it. Though here it was for personal fulfillment and marks the end of a struggle to finally find gratification in life. He maintained that the process for both might seem tragic but were also "enjoyably" redeeming.

Faye finds Lin Xi remarkably profound and wonders if Lin Xi never had such experiences while penning lyrics prior to these albums then. She ponders that every person is only basically crying for himself/herself, stemming from the shared association of a situation to one's personal experience. Thus she feels that his experiences perhaps effectively reflect those of the listener who would infer and relate it to themselves.

Anyhow, Faye said that she has never cried listening to any of her own albums (and indeed won't!). The DJ asked if that was a pity. Faye said that unless, the song was created during a particular situation (like in Lin Xi's case), or when the impulse strikes her when singing onstage, she probably wouldn't. And never when she listens to it at home. There definitely needs to be atmosphere for her but she doesn't lament that it's a pity. Lin Xi defends that crying is not the only way to express one's emotions after all. While being the most direct method, he remarks that it is also the most "value-less" (funny). The DJ concludes by advising all to experience "Fable". To which Lin Xi quips it's a very meaningful album.

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SOURCE: CRHK // TRANSLATED BY: DAEMON

[nekupen]

#02 - Street Fighter III - 3rd Strike

Throughout the 90s Capcom was pumpin' out Street Fighter games up the wazoo. This includes two that sort of/kind of co-existed by the time they reached their peaks. Street Fighter Alpha and Street Fighter III, polar opposites in concepts and gameplay. Street Fighter Alpha focuses on the titular Street Fighters before SF2. Street Fighter III focuses on the Street Fighters way after SF2 (and SF4+5). I'll be talking III in specific as that game's my JAM.

3rd Strike - A few years after the first two Alphas came out, Capcom began work on a new franchise called New Generation. However, out of low faith and with the introduction of artist Akiman to the team, it became a Street Fighter title, although one with only two returning characters. 2nd Impact was a little better, it added Akuma and introduced Hugo from the Final Fight series. Then Third Strike came and added Chun-Li. Despite the arguably lackluster SF2 representation I feel like the new characters give the SFIII series more of its identity, not that SFIII lacks identity to begin with. With the series and its updates coming out from 1997-1999 and it focusing on the future and a new generation of fighters it has more of a hip and cool and awesome direction, compounding this is the music featured in 3rd Strike, which is a co-effort between Capcom composer Hideki Okugawa and underground rapper Infinite, the music best being described as a sweet mix of jazz, hip hop and some breakcore adjacent genres like house

Another beloved part of SFIII is its spritework and graphics. It runs on the CPS System III board, allowing for fluid graphics and in the case of the first release, elaborate backgrounds. In an era where 3D games were thriving and 2D games were dying, Capcom stuck to their guns, which was to their detriment...at the time. One of the best examples of this fluid spritework is Elena's idle. It's so fuckin' smooth it hurts WHY DID THEY POP OFF ON THAT IDL

The game started catching on some years later thanks to its technically deep and interesting gameplay. Capcom removed some features present in the Alpha series and replaced/tweaked others. No more air blocking, ya got PARRYING BAYBEEE. Press toward or down really fast and you do a fast ass parry that you can react out of immediately. Supers were tweaked into the Super Art system. Instead of having multiple super moves with strength depending on what button you use, you pick one Super Art when you're picking out your character. Sometimes it's a Denjin Hadoken kind of day. Other additions include quick dashes from Darkstalkers that allow you to just do a large steppy in the left or right direction and EX moves, a feature taken from Street Fighter: The Movie: The Game on the original PlayStation. (Important thing of note is that Akuma doesn't have EX moves but can use multiple super moves even though he only picks one at the character select screen.)

These tweaks paired with the game's slower speed compared to Alpha makes the game feel a lot more strategy based. The fluidity of the animations add a certain heaviness to all the attacks even if the attacks aren't that high in startup or ending lag. But it doesn't feel wrong, it feels JUST right and I think it perfectly compliments things like punishes or counters. It makes hitting that Shin Shoryuken all the more powerful, you feel me?

One of the most powerful SFIII clips that has circulated around the FGC (Fighting Game Community) for over a decade is EVO Moment 37, better known as the Daigo Parry. Obviously, it happened at EVO 2004, EVO standing for Evolution. The date was August 1st, 2004, Daigo Umehara and Justin Wong were in the semifinals. Justin Wong was playing as Chun-Li and Daigo was playing as Ken, and Justin had Daigo on death's door. Justin figured "this fuck's gonna go down from my supah move even if he blocks!!!" and so he did his supah move. But Daigo just upped and decided to parry the entire thing and counter with a super move. He had to parry FIFTEEN TIMES!!!! If that didn't sell you on how ballsy that was, parrying pretty much requires frame perfect inputs, so there was little-to-no room for error, and no error there was!!!

So what do I have to say about the game that hasn't already been said here? Play it. You can emulate it obviously but the quickest way to hop in and fight against someone online is with Fightcade; It's also been released on home consoles like the Dreamcast, PS2, Xbox, Xbox 360, and in the Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection . It is in my honest opinion the pinnacle of 90s fighting games and sprite-based fighting games in general.

[crystalbrain7]

biography of crystalbrain

summary:

crystalbrain is a foolish idiot brain. they are composed only of the finest sugar, salt, and perhaps more illegal things, perhaps not…crystalbrain tries to maek a thought, but a thought owns them they think. they think to theirself "why do i exist" but then smells their armpits. crystalbrain sometimes says he, sometimes they, but 100% of the time is an idiot god brain. crystalbrain refuses to belieeve that the romans didnt pay their soldier dudes in salt, becuz crystalbrain doesn't want to admit they're wrong. crystalbrain rules over the entire universe and this is why the universe is so fucked. crystalbrain never got very far in parasite eve but thinks he's a "respect mah authority" on this game. crystalbrain has more video games than books in their brain. crystalbrain won't shut the fuck up and thinks stupidity is still stupid because he's stupid or maybe smart in that respect.

crystalbrain heard that if u took a piece of shit and threw them into space they would eventually turn into a crystal due to entropy, or maybe this is wrong. crystalbrain spent their youth doing speed enemas in their brainus. crystalbrain has never had a husband, a wife, or any kids that grew up to be little crystalbrains. crystalbrain has no electricity in their neurons but just really cool lightning shit that is the domain of enlightenened stupidity.

in the beginning…

…there was a tv. this tv got fucked in the ass and decided to give birth to a brain. this brain was in the fetal state inside the tv tube. after growing on disney, the maligignant semen created by priests who jack off in confessionals created quanantum shifts in reality that caused tv to explode, and one of these broken tv shards was crystalbrain. he was lodged in teh brain of an infant but no one ever knew, and having caused brain damage to this infant created a negative feedback loop of complete stupididity. the child didn't know it, but his subconscious did, that he would have to rise up and get revenenge on the priest who jacked off in the confessional and created the abominatation that is himself. this was a life-long task and there were all kinds of hurdles to complete, includuding not getting molested by anyone, learning how to avoid doing basic arithmetic, making sure that he grew up with proper non-heterosexual orientation, programming dick pics in QBASIC, and smoking copious quanitities of marijuana, crack cocaine, and meth.

part 2:

crystalbrain read the book naked lunch by william s. burroughs but he was 2 stoopid 2 understand it, even though it was written on drugs. he had hallucinations from the movie blade runner and modern society seemed to open up to him and make him a king in his own mind. the only problem was that he was aktually in rehab for going psychotic from doing lots of drugs. this was an unfortunate side effekt of being the kind of guy who smokes crack all the time, and he found taht the best course of action would be 2 make noise music. so he did this and set up a set of speakers 2 blast merzbow in front of the archdiocecese of some city or another. this caused priests 2 roll on the floor in agony clutching a knife and cutting off their pedophile genitals, but only a few boys were saved from being completely groomed and molested by catholic priest guys.

the nuns did not approve, but fortunately crystalbrain had artificial intelligence training on how to deal with nuns with machine guns. was it he that had the machine guns, or the nuns who had the machine guns in taht last sententence? it may have been both because the nuns advanced on him with machine guns and virginity on their minds but he totally wiped out like a squadron of nuns and they were black and white and red all over. this was a monumenental acheivment and he went on 2 become the king of the church for 2 minutes until the national guard arrived, but using telepathetic mind control powers he was able 2 maek the national guard become on his side, so they went rampaging through the cities leik a bunch of methed up guys with machine guns, which they aktually were since he gave them all glass pipes and huge chunks of crystal meth to smoke. anyways they were going 2 taek over whatever city but they ended up having homosexual intercourse instaed. this was expected because dudes with guns aktually want 2 fuck guys in the ass but they're too dumb 2 realize this so they shoot ppl i guess.

crystalbrain wandered the streets liek a manic preacher, telling people the gospel of drugs, but he really had kind of ruined his life because now everyone wanted him dead. so he sort of shifted down into an alternate dimension on the darkweb where there was a metaverse where dudes were selling acid and he met a dude with a bunch of cryptocurrency and they had lots of drugs. so now crystalbrain went into the school playground near the place he grew up and started telling ppl that taking LSD is fun becuz he felt bad about the idea of selling meth to kids so he just sold them acid so they would hallucinate lots of gaping maws of infininity swallowing their minds and sanity in a psychedelic void.

to be continued…

part 3:

doing hard drugs took its toll on crystalbrain but he had magical powers 2 heal his body and mind he got from a ghost in a graveyard. he had stayed up for 4 days and realized that reality was bullshit and that he had the power 2 heal his wounds liek a greek god or something. then he went 2 try 2 stop a train with his bare hands but no matter how much crack he smoked the train always knocked him out of the way. he decided 2 taek a bunch of thermite and melt the railroad tracks on a train in russia and this indeed caused a crash but it wasn't as satisisfying as making it crash by standing in front of it and punching it. he had a vision, a goal in his mind taht he would one day punch a train and it would fly into the sun and burn up. this was a dream he held on to for dear life.

one day he discovered pcp and this was indeed the cure for his ailment of not being abel to punch a train into the sun. he smoked some marijuana that was laced with pcp and suddenly he was the most powerful being in all of eternity and it felt really great. he found a train and punched it so hard that when it hit the sun it caused a solar flair that heated the earth by 10 degrees fairenheight for a couple minutes. if u ever felt hot maybe u were in his reality where this happened (in some other realities he did not succeed in stopping the train and got hit by it and died i guess but this is the good reality we're talking about where crystalbrain punched a train into the sun and maeks NFTs still).

[blsm-m]

So I was stuck in traffic listening to Jelly Roll talk to Howard Stern about his new song "I Am Not Okay," a sentiment many people feel but won't admit to. And then Mr. Roll sang the song with his band and I was blown away. At first I wondered if it was the recording or if there was a hard drive involved. But with a full band and a voice this good, it's no wonder he's a star. The mainstream media has taken up the Balkanization of music. It took too long, but now the truth is clear. "Why pop music is so lame right now - New albums from Taylor Swift, Beyonce, Ariana Grande and Dua Lipa were supposed to be smash hits, but they didn't live up to their previous work." Free Link: https://t.ly/bJo46 In other words, despite all the hype, the artists they claim to be big aren't. The Wall Street Journal blames it on quality, but no matter how good a record is, it's not going to reach everyone. "But today, the world is saturated with content, TikTok is rewriting label strategies, listeners are digging deeper into their niches, and even the most dedicated pop fans don't know what's in the Billboard Top 10. In this decentralized market, pop stars face fierce competition, and a disappointing album can lead to poor concert sales. All of this has combined to give music executives of all genres more power than ever before over the machinery that creates stars." Well, that's bad news for Lucian Grainge and the other bigwigs as they tailor their business for Wall Street. They keep telling Wall Street that everything is going up and up, but it looks like there's a hole in it. Sure, their catalog is a top-tier revenue generator, but their focus on a handful of big artists misses the mark just like movie studios do. After all, not everyone wants the same thing, and despite the constant buzz in the press, there's not even a consensus that these "hits" are good. Plus, as we've learned in the past, artists who rely on hits depend on them, and when the hits dry up, so do ticket sales. In the music world, the turtles who value the music most, often composed alone and without committee, have hardcore fans who will keep them alive against all odds, but those with ink don't have fans, at least not in huge numbers. Think about it… the tour is cancelled, now the record is cancelled, in other words most of the public just isn’t interested. As for the WSJ claim that the music isn't that good... people have denied this throughout the 21st century, but it's true. I'm not saying there isn't good music out there, but the kind of music that captures the zeitgeist and gets everyone talking about just doesn't exist, at least not in a big way.What's happening here is, we've been through the MTV era, the advent of the internet, and then the post-COVID dip, and now what? People are becoming more discerning and going out without being influenced by the hype. Contrary to what complaining artists say, distribution has been thought out better than any other area of ​​entertainment. It's the software - the music - that's the problem. The tools of creation are in the hands of the proletariat, distribution costs are negligible, and it's no longer a rigged system. Do people really want to listen to your music? The bigger question is: Is the era of superstars and hit songs over, or is the new model someone like Zach Bryan who worked his way up from the bottom, succeeded first and foremost on his songs, thrived on a core fanbase, performed without pretense, and sold himself on authenticity? And Jelly Roll sells a similar product. Zach Bryan is much more serious. And Jelly Roll is caught up in this world in a way that his anti-star counterpart, Brian, doesn't. But is Jerry's success a given? Has Mr. Roll learned something in his 39 years that the young guys on the hit parade haven't? Roll breaks the rules. And we love nothing more. An older, overweight man with a sweet voice singing heartfelt songs and... People gather around him. 2 To be clear, Jelly Roll operates in a controlled market: country radio, the market that finally matters.

The playlists are defined, the faithful are still listening, but that's not the case with other genres. And that works to the artists' advantage. But Morgan Wallen is the biggest artist in America.People hate when I say that. They have millions of disgruntled people. But if you look at the statistics, it's totally Warren. Not only is he making albums that stay in the top 10 for a year, he's selling out stadiums and having hit after hit. Put on a record and you hear it. Yes, he has a southern accent, but did he embrace Tom Petty? Yes, he used the N-word and threw a chair off a roof…on the latter, my inbox is full of people calling that 70s rock star behavior natural. My point here is, should Morgan Wallen be canceled? There was a backlash against DEI and woke, now they're calling for cancellation. Everyone makes mistakes. Since when has this one strike allowed out culture to dominate? Can't we learn lessons or improve? And those who say change can't happen provoke an equal response on the other side. That's why Bill Burr says there will be no more cancellations and Jerry Seinfeld basically says the same thing. It's like the supposedly ubiquitous hitmakers in the Wall Street Journal article…the media is out of touch with the people. But the thing I want to say about Wallen is that you can sing along, and I hope you can sing along to most of the songs in the Spotify Top 50. Never mind that a lot of these artists can't really sing. But with Jelly Roll you can. "I'm not okay.I can manage somehowI've lost track of the daysAnd I can't sleep at night I'm not okayI'm hanging on the railsSo if I say it's okayJust know that I've learned to hide it well." That's America, isn't it? It's a man's America. You keep your feelings to yourself, you don't share your weaknesses. But this man is telling his truth. It's your truth. "I know I'm not the only oneWho is holding on for dear life? Bode Miller and filmmaker Brett Rapkin are producing a new film called "The Paradise Paradox," about mountain suicide. https://t.ly/mcNVwAnd the New York Times ran a story about the suicide epidemic in Montana. "She's fighting to make America's 'last best place' suicide-free. Montana's suicide rate has been the highest in the nation for the past three years, with the majority of deaths caused by guns. Yet suicide is barely featured in the national discussion about guns." https://t.ly/FcsFg Meanwhile, Spotify Top 50 artists are telling us how great their lives are. They're focusing on petty arguments. You may like these songs but not relate to them. But you can relate to "I Am Not Okay." 3 So I was listening to Jelly Roll on Stern and I thought he was likeable, had a good sense of humor, and wasn't stupid. He's had a tough life like any country artist of old -- he's been to prison -- and he puts it all into his songs. Isn't this what we want? Didn't John Lennon tell us to tell the truth? That's what we want in this culture of lies and treason. The only antidote is art, but artists have given up this power along with the labels that serve them. Like movie studios, they are busy making and promoting music that is supposed to resonate with everyone, but ends up resonating with very few. What can you expect when a song is endlessly edited? They're busy rewriting and remixing...ensuring a hit, and if there was ever lightning in a bottle, it's now gone. We are in a new era. When the media says it before the industry does, you know you're in trouble. The old paradigm is over. Gone are the days of the run-of-the-mill hits that are chosen by the few and known by the many. This doesn't mean you can't have a career, sell out big venues and make a ton of money, because what we have now is a passionate fan base. That's what you want, people who will bleed for you, live for you and forget about everything else. Stay true to your vision. It's all gone. The multi-single albums with songs spanning years. The 3-4 year cycle of albums. The career-ruining hit song (that gets lost in the miasma of product).

New rules have been invented, the game has been watered down, but players keep playing and not winning. Can I add a few more lyrics to Jelly Roll's "I Am Not Okay"? I wish I had a little more insight. But he's not a once in a generation Bob Dylan. But Jelly Roll can not only sing, he can arrange songs and he can write songs, a formula that many have forgotten in this one-chord world. You should listen to Howard Stern's interview with Jelly Roll. The segment I listened to and referenced above can be seen here: https://t.ly/1eUyA Spotify: https://t.ly/c7AqJ Youtube: https://shorturl.at/e9cCG