#free best music

[aueua]

love these guys. the musical chairs

[yetanotherexhaustedalchemist]

Related to last post. this is simply what canon is to me.

[mysticalcats]

love this guy.......the skimple

[milolovesbmc]

Thinking about Bowtie Productions Falsettos, and I see no one talking about it, so here's a fun little thing I noticed!!

During March of the Falsettos, the men are wearing baseball uniforms, i think it's interesting how in this specific production, the mens childishness is shown by (their love for) sports. As in, in the bit in MOTF where they're muttering and talking at the very start they're muttering "baseball" and sport related stuff, which I think is a really interesting way of portraying this immaturity.

Anyways, where I'm getting with this is, their baseball (MOTF) uniforms say Falsettos at the front, which I think is really funny, because that means this literally is the march of the Falsettos, they're LITERALLY the Falsettos. In the back, they each have a different number, like you would have in any baseball uniform, and THAT'S what I want to focus on. I think this is really well done because MOTF is all about how Trina views the men, as childish and immature, but also about how she views each of them:

Starting off with the most obvious one, Whizzer's says 69, which wildly known to be the number of/the number that represents sex, this is because Trina views him as lustful, this could tie back to the view/belief that existed at the time around gay men being overly sexual and perverted, but that's a whole other can of worms I could get into some other time.

Marvin's says 01, which very obviously is tied with being the first, the one on the top, the best, basically. This is tied to his need to control everything and everyone, of "wanting it all", he needs to be at the top so that everyone will do as he says.

Moving on, Jason's number is 13. In Judaism, 13 signifies the age at which one becomes a man, due to this being the age at which a Jewish child has his Bar Mitzvah. Obviously, in MOTF, Jason isn't 13 yet, he's somewhere around the age of 10 or 11 years old, and we actually get to see him get Bar Mitzvah'd during the end act 2. This could signify how, even though he's not literally a man yet according to Judaism, Trina views him as one. Jason's portrayed as the most mature of the four men, seeing as he is the only one who isn't singing in Falsetto (in a high voice), this is how Trina thinks of him.

Finally, the one I'm most interested by, Mendel's says 42. Funnily enough, I first thought this was a reference to 420 (since they couldn't put a 3 digit number) and they were somehow implying Mendel smoked weed or something, I don't know why but that was what I first thought of. However, 42 is apparently the number gives as the answer by a supercomputer to “the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything.” in a novel by Douglas Adams, making this number signify the answer to the ultimate question (the meaning of the universe, everything, to put it simply). Was this intentional? Most probably not, but I think it's really fascinating that Mendel has this specific number, it could signify how during Trina's song (previous to MOTF) Trina treats marrying Mendel as the thing that'll change her life, the thing that will (supposedly) finally make her happy, she sees (her upcoming marriage with) Mendel as the answer to everything.

[diorgirl444]

the outsiders as cutesy collectables for no reason other than the vibes i think they give off <3

johnny cade = sony angel baby

ponyboy curtis = sylvanian/ calico critters baby

dallas winston = smiski

darrel curtis = miffy

sodapop curtis = hello kitty

steve randle= jellycat

two bit mathews = tsum tsum

[omg-hellgirl]

Keith Richards at the Altamont Free Concert on December 6, 1969.

[justanotherwriter140]

Kung Fu Panda 4 - The Movie

The last really, really long discussion post (for now).

Major spoilers ahead!

This review is full of spoilers, so please refrain from reading through it until you've watched KFP4. I would highly suggest doing so, as I want everyone to form their own opinions without my influence. The movie has its flaws (some of which admittedly being a bit distracting), but it's a fun film that has things to offer.

Kung Fu Panda 4 is a fun movie (take that as you will) that takes its audience on an action-packed, surprisingly funny, yet relatively contained adventure on which Po doesn't really do much. It's an inconsequential, safe sequel that doesn't really hurt the franchise but adds close to nothing.

I had a good time watching the movie. It was obviously produced with its theater experience in mind and the action scenes especially reflected that priority. The humor was actually funny sometimes and I enjoyed Po and Zhen's dynamic. During the film, I was able to put most (most!) of my grievances aside and take the movie for what it is. I've discovered that the best way to watch KFP4 is with low expectations and an open mind.

I have a lot of things to say about KFP4, both complaints and compliments (though the former might be taking the forefront in this review), and I hope this review can help those of you who have seen the movie organize your thoughts. I've been having a lot of trouble with that specific aspect of things myself. Those who get it get it.

With that said, let's get into my full review of KFP4! I've been waiting for nearly 2 years to write this and I'm so excited to share every single thought.

I'm going to follow the format of my first discussion post and curate a bulleted list of my thoughts, followed by an analysis of each of these points. Keep in mind that everything I say is IMO and this is more of a rant post than anything else.

Here are my main points:

The Furious Five's role is comically minuscule in the context of the film. Their actions are inconsequential and add nothing to the plot (a confirmed last-minute add), and they have 30~ seconds of screen time. Shifu is also largely irrelevant.

Mr. Ping and Li's presence has little to no effect on the movie (though I won't complain too much because they were pretty fun to watch and this movie has bigger problems). In almost any scenario, I am adamantly against having characters present that don't add anything to the narrative; however, Mr. Ping is an exception. I love Mr. Ping. James Hong is a gem.

Zhen's screen time is not utilized well and her character is underdeveloped. She definitely wasn't annoying, but I didn't find her either compelling or funny enough to warrant the screen time she was given, especially considering it wasn't used to establish a backstory/strong motives. This makes me feel bad for the character because the movie kind of screwed her out of any substantial development.

The Chameleon, while complimented greatly by Viola Davis, is an underwhelming villain. Viola Davis is amazing in this film and I would suggest watching it for her performance if for nothing else, but the Chameleon is underwhelming considering the super cool concept behind the character.

The film feels very rushed. Apologies to those who disagree, but I think the pacing is atrocious and the final fight is anticlimactic. The movie felt like a word-vomit with no discernible intermissions that stops abruptly when the film ends.

I felt as though Po didn't change/grow as a person and the audience never had a chance to either bond with or relate to his character. His internal struggle is kept to a minimum and we don't spend a moment alone with him as an audience, which is disorienting and distracting. Watching the film felt like running into an old friend at the store who's too in a rush to have a real conversation.

The action scenes were strong with few exceptions. Creative art direction was utilized and I thought the martial arts choreography was entertaining and dynamic. I love the color palette of the film and many scenes were very impressive visually.

With my main points established, I do believe it's ranting time. Strap in, folks.

Let's start strong with the Furious Five: I'm gutted. Chagrined, despondent, crestfallen, etc.

The lack of the Furious Five negatively affects KFP4 so much, because not only does their absence hurt the atmospheric integrity of KFP as a franchise, it also forces KFP4 to bring in a slew of different characters—all while still noncommittally including the FF at the very end because I believe the marketing team required it—that clog up the cast a bit. It all goes to show how important strong, established side characters are.

The Furious Five are side characters, but the role of "side character" does not equate to being irrelevant, expendable, or exchangeable. I recognize that the Furious Five aren't super developed as characters beyond a handful of lines that allude to traits sprinkled sparingly among the members; however, I believe that the tiny bits of development we have been given have proved impactful in the past. Tigress's development in KFP2 is a prime example of how much narratively conscious changes (however small they may be) can positively affect these movies.

Because of limited runtimes, the Furious Five often operate as more of a singular unit than five individuals. Even so, I don't think discarding them is valid. They're so important to the KFP universe (to Po's universe!) and not having them with him feels so wrong. The Furious Five are fully integral to the heart of Kung Fu Panda, which is why I believe a lot of those who have seen the new movie have expressed something feeling "off" or something being missing.

I agree with this sentiment. To me, KFP4 didn't feel like a KFP movie. I don't need a Furious Five spin-off movie and I can be fully content with a KFP5 centered around Po's journey as an individual as was intended from the beginning, but he can't carry an entire movie on his back. As strong as he is in every sense of the word, he is only one character. He's the centerpiece of the franchise, but a centerpiece can only go so far without the rest of the design, so to speak.

For me, the Furious Five's absence is one of this film's biggest faults. It's huge and glaring. I know I'm not the only one who feels this way, either, because the friends with whom I saw the film refused to talk about any other aspect of the movie after seeing it. Seeing them at the end was better than nothing, of course, but it was a disappointing culmination after eight years of waiting.

That all is to say I feel robbed. Despite all of this, though, I understand that there were reasons why the Furious Five weren't included in the movie. I don't believe the production team would exclude the Furious Five unless they weren't given a choice.

Shifu and Po's dynamic continues to be thoroughly delightful but their interactions are short and simplified. I would have loved to see more of them in this film, especially considering the extreme relevance of teacher-student relationships in KFP4. I (somewhat) digress, though, because the idea of Shifu having to live at the Jade Palace with only Po for an extended period of time is hilarious enough on its own. Maybe that's what the short film is about!

The comedy is odd but has some jokes that stand out. Po maintains a healthy relationship with his inner sass, which I think makes him more fun to watch and kind of eradicates the man-child verdict. Some jokes don't land, of course, but I genuinely thought KFP4 had some funny moments. Mr. Ping was consistently awesome and Po had some good lines sprinkled throughout the film.

As for Mr. Ping, he and Li Shan are the subjects of the film's B-plot as they follow Po to Juniper City out of shared concern for their son's safety. In my mind, they don't add anything to the story that couldn't have been brought about by other characters, but they had their moments of being entertaining. I enjoyed their silliness and thought they had a cute dynamic if nothing else.

Speaking of other characters, I want to discuss KFP4's deuteragonist and why I genuinely feel bad about the way her character was treated.

I want to let it be known that I'm still not on board with Po passing the Dragon Warrior torch to another character. While I agree that his arc is now calling for him to have a student, I disagree with the notion of him retiring from his DW role.

As I stated in my first discussion post:

Didn’t the initial significance and nuance of the title come from the fact that there is only one person who can be the Dragon Warrior, because the concept of the “Dragon Warrior” isn’t so much a title as it is Po himself? The universe (Oogway) must choose the Dragon Warrior because they are a singular being of legend. It is one person, and that person is Po. Wasn’t the point of the first film that the title ultimately doesn’t really matter because there is no “secret ingredient,” so to speak? The title doesn’t actually give Po anything. “It’s just you,” Po says, and that was the resolution.

When it comes to Zhen as a character, contrary to what I predicted I would think of her, I thought she was okay. While I was still a bit distracted by how out-of-place her design looks, I wasn't truly annoyed by her at any point and she and Po had some cute moments. Even so, I think their relationship could have been a bit more refined and developed.

While it's evident that Po and Zhen are meant to have a teacher-student/mentor-apprentice dynamic, I think their relationship feels half-baked. There were parallels that contradicted one another and ended up being confusing come the film's conclusion, and the nature of their relationship seems to vacillate depending on the scene. Additionally, the strength of their bond goes from zero to one hundred within thirty-ish minutes and left me with a bit of whiplash.

We're shown that Po and Zhen care about one another, but we're never shown why. They have a brief conversation during which they bond over being orphans, and Zhen says at one point, "You're actually a good guy," but that's it. This obvious lack of development is a bit disorienting because we're later led to believe that Zhen and Po care very deeply for one another when there's almost nothing to back it up.

A scene that sticks out to me when discussing this is when Zhen attack-hugs Po in a way that explicitly mirrors Tigress's hug from KFP2. This happens around the beginning of the third act, and while it had the potential to be an endearing moment, I think it fell flat.

The impact of Tigress's hug was brought on by her character's hardcore nature and reputation of being heartless, further strengthened with the knowledge that she was hugging Po (which was obviously way outside her comfort zone) as a show of companionship and fundamental understanding. Tigress hugged Po because he needed someone to recognize his strive for closure.

Zhen's hug had little to no impact because she had no reason to do it and it didn't indicate growth. She hugs Po because she's sorry for betraying him and doesn't want him to be killed by the Chameleon, but neither of these things are newly-established via this hug; we have already gathered by now that Zhen regrets betraying Po and doesn't want him to get hurt.

The hug is far from the movie's weakest point, but I think it's unnecessary given the context. I'm big on hugs in movies (an underutilized form of platonic affection, in my opinion), but it didn't fit here. I don't hate it, and I see it as an honest effort to bring emotionality to Po and Zhen's relationship, but it seems arbitrary.

Zhen and Po's relationship has a lot of potential and I'd be open to seeing more of them in the future, but I think some more thoughtful development needs to occur before I can humor it further. Even so, I can see myself featuring Zhen in some future post-KFP4 one-shots—sparingly, of course, because we have a lot of Furious Five content to compensate for.

Overall, they had a cute dynamic and some sweet moments but I'm not attached. I'm on board with Po having a student but I think their relationship needs a lot more development, something that this film unfortunately didn't give them time to either accomplish or earn.

Now, onto the Chameleon!

The concept of the Chameleon's character is admittedly super interesting. She's the deuteragonist's fastidious mother figure who feels that Zhen owes her a debt and as a result holds her to an impossible standard. That dynamic had the potential to be so interesting but I didn't think it was explored at all. There is no indication of Zhen having any internal conflict about fighting the Chameleon, no emotional complexity between them at all; it's disappointing because I think it would've added a bit of earnestness to the film.

Additionally, the idea of a shape-shifting villain is versatile. A shape-shifting villain gives those telling the story a lot of room to experiment with the protagonist and different ways in which the main character can be challenged and tested. It's yet another good idea utilized poorly. Just one idea: the Chameleon could have disguised herself as one (or several) of Po's family, friends, etc. and brought to fruition a new arc with his character (seeing as he arguably doesn't have one in this film), but she only disguises herself as Zhen very briefly in the movie.

Furthermore, the Chameleon completely relies on the powers of previous villains to pose any sort of threat to the main characters. She summons Po's former nemeses from the Spirit Realm (despite there being little logic in doing so considering Kai's literal evisceration) and takes their kung fu abilities for herself.

An excerpt from my first KFP4 discussion post that I think is relevant to the point I'm trying to make:

I don’t think it would be in the best interest of anyone if the past villains were to come back in any way that’s not a flashback (even then, I’m not sure I’d see the point). In all honesty, I thought that the whole point of the villains was that they died and stayed dead. They were defeated by Po once and for all as a testament to the idea of establishing Po's character growth and journey as a person through the bad things he’s able to overcome. It’d be highly contradictory to the messages of the other films if these villains were to suddenly come back.

While there was an honest effort made to portray the Chameleon as intimidating, I never felt as though any of the characters were endangered by either her or her army of lizard henchman. She's a visually appealing character (aside from her eyes, which I thought more resembled those of a gecko than a chameleon) and I greatly enjoyed Davis's performance, but overall I don't see the Chameleon as a notable villain.

The return of Tai Lung (had he been on his own) had the makings to be an excellent story, especially considering the importance of teacher-student dynamics in KFP4. To see him interacting with Shifu would have been incredible and could have led to further closure on Tai Lung's end (because I think that's kind of what the team was going for anyway), but it didn't happen.

It was nice to see Ian McShane reprise his role, but I wish Tai Lung's characterization had been more reminiscent of the way he was in the first film and more complimentary of his overall character arc. Tai Lung isn't a one-dimensional villain with a singular goal and motivation, and I couldn't help but feel as though the complexity of his character was simplified for the sake of KFP4's narrative.

Tai Lung's presence in KFP4 may be odd, but Shen and Kai's appearances are even more so. Kai, if I remember correctly, was fully obliterated by Po, reduced to literal particles on screen (which is kind of wild now that I think about it). Shen being in the Spirit Realm makes sense all things considered; however, Po and Li had no visible reaction to his presence, which seemed a bit unlikely considering Shen's deeds. This plot hole can likely be attributed to the fact that Shen and Kai's cameos (to my knowledge) were last-minute additions to the movie.

I have to talk about the pacing. I have to. I'm sorry, bear with me.

To me, the film's pacing is erratic and disconcerting. While I can appreciate a quick-moving narrative that doesn't dawdle on storylines that aren't interesting/important, KFP4 kind of flings itself too far in the opposite direction and ends up being frighteningly fast-paced. Once the credits began, I felt like I had been holding my breath for the entire movie.

KFP4 is confusing because while the runtime is standard for a KFP movie, it feels incredibly short. At the same time, the film's story moves at a breakneck speed and leaves little time for heart and development. These things culminate into a barreling boulder of a movie that simply doesn't have time to let its characters, story, or audience take a breath.

A fast pace is not inherently negative, but I don't think it worked in the favor of KFP4. The KFP franchise has always been very emotionally grounded (and just very grounded in general), so to see a film in which emotion/heart takes an aggressive backseat in comparison to action and comedy is jarring. While I think it's unreasonable for fans to expect the same emotional integrity as the original films to be present in the current and upcoming ones, I still think there's room for Po to grow and I felt as though the notion of him developing further was brushed aside in this film.

As for Po's growth, I felt it was nearly nonexistent. The previous trilogy wrapped up his character's journey beautifully and I know that KFP4 was bound to struggle with this particular aspect of making another KFP film; however, just because the strongest pillars of Po's character are established doesn't serve as a valid excuse to reverse his development and repeat what he learned in KFP3.

In KFP3, Po learned firsthand that he is capable of spreading wisdom and teaching kung fu. He also learns that he is constantly growing and that change is inevitable; there is always something more to learn.

"If you only do what you can do, you will never be more than you are now."

"I don't want to be anything more, I like who I am!"

In KFP4, Po pushes against this narrative despite fully accepting it in KFP3, actively reversing crucial parts of his character development achieved in the latter. KFP3 was non-ambiguously about learning to cope with change and responsibility, and I can't help but feel like KFP4 is simply copying this message while not adding anything to it.

Additionally, I felt that KFP4's Po generally felt less personal than he has in the past. In every KFP movie up to the franchise's most recent addition, I felt very connected to Po as an audience member. I felt like I was truly seeing the world of KFP through his eyes. I consider this to be one of the franchise's most impressive feats; it's incredibly difficult to build a universe around a character without making the audience feel limited to one perspective and one part of the world.

With KFP4, I felt both limited and disconnected. The world didn't feel as vast and all-encompassing as it has in the past and Po didn't seem fully like himself. This could be me nitpicking (as I'm prone to do), but I can't recall a single moment in the movie in which Po was alone on screen. Scenes like these are crucial for me because I see them as a meet-cute between the character and the audience, a moment for us to cross the bridge into their world in a way that's silent and intuitive. These little bonding moments are absolutely integral to feeling connected to a character.

Po's dream sequence in the first KFP movie is one of the best examples of this. It presents his aspirations, alludes to his way of life up to the point of the movie, and showcases his personality. During Po's dream sequence, the audience is quite literally inside Po's mind; we're there with him, seeing what he sees, subsequently feeling what he feels. Po is a dreamer at heart and makes the audience feel like dreamers, too.

In KFP4, I felt like I little to no point of reference when it comes to how Po was feeling. I didn't feel immersed in him and his world.

I know I've been very "doom and gloom" throughout this post, which is an exhausting mindset for everyone involved. I want to end my critique with something positive because I think some praise is deserved. Let's just say the movie could have been a lot worse, the details of which I'm sure you're all well aware.

The color palette of the movie is beautiful and somewhat reminiscent of the first film. While the animation style of KFP4 is far more simplistic than its predecessors, I was very impressed with its use of shadow and light. Po's many faces were also hysterical, props to those who helped make him as expressive as he is.

Additionally, the movie's action sequences were clearly thought out and discussed in great detail. The experimentation with camera angles was really fun to watch and I enjoyed the majority of the film's fight scenes. They were fun, bouncy, and entertaining, and quite likely reinstated audiences's love of watching a cuddly panda kick butt.

Congratulations, you've reached the end! Thank you so much to all of you who took the time to read this unnecessarily long and detailed review. As long as I help someone translate their conflicted feelings into coherent thoughts, I'll call it a win.

I want to reiterate that I don't hate Kung Fu Panda 4 and I had fun while watching the film. It has its flaws and there are a lot of aspects that I dislike, but the effort of the crew is obvious and I greatly admire and respect the hard work put into the film by those who worked on it. This does not at all excuse my issues with the movie, but it's worth saying.

As for the future of the series, I only hope that the next installment is more considerate of the franchise's origins and why Po's story is being told in the first place. I fully believe that another sequel could be good given a strong, passionate crew with a great understanding of the characters and world (and I wouldn't be averse to some previous directors returning, just to put it out there).

Thanks again to those who took the time to read this crazy excuse for a movie review. Feel free to either disagree with me or add things in the replies/reblogs, I'm always looking for more thoughts to think.

Until next time!

[drowningparty]

the world of difference b/w arthur stans who want to swaddle him in blankets and make him hot cocoa and arthur stans who want to put him in a saw trap

[youremyonlyhope]

Bride and Prejudice is free with ads on YouTube!

Link if embed doesn't work.

As someone who has watched literally every single adaptation of Pride and Prejudice that I can get my hands on, this is my favorite version. Go watch it if you have not. It's a Bollywood version of Pride and Prejudice, what is there not to love?

(Directed by Gurinder Chadha who did Bend It Like Beckham, in case you needed an extra push)

[x-heesy]

𝙻 𝚘 𝚟 𝚎 🐱 🐶

He considered kittens to be the most capable models.

Harry Whittier Frees had been photographing animals since 1902, but began dressing them up in tiny costumes a few years later when a paper hat accidentally ended up on a cat's head at a family birthday dinner. Fries captured the animal and sold the photo to a postcard manufacturer, who ordered even more similar pictures.

The photographer borrowed young models from neighbors, friends and local pet stores. He dressed them up in costumes made by his mother and housekeeper, arranged them in planned poses and took photographs.

This activity was quite unnerving and monotonous, so Fries was engaged in filming for three months a year, and the rest of the time he rested and came up with new ideas.

His photographs have been widely reproduced in postcards, advertisements, magazines and children's books. Often the photographs were accompanied by short stories written by Fries himself.

#mybestfriendisananimal #thelittlethingsarethebigthings #cats #catsofinstagram #catstagram #katzenliebe #mietzekatze #catsagram #catscatscats #catsoftheworld #catsoftheday #catslover #catsgram #catsofinsta #catsoninstagram #catsfollowers #catslovers #catsofday #catsareawesome #catsdaily #catsloversworld #catsmeow #catscircus #cats_of_world #dailycats #beautifulcats #catsofworld #cats_of_day #catloversclub #catstagram #meow #lovecats #petlovers #adorablecats #catsareawesome #cats_of_instagram #cat_of_instagram #kittycatn #dogs #dogsofinstagram #dogstagram #dogsofinsta #dogslife #dogsofinstgram #dogsandpals #dogslover #dogsoftheday #dogsworld #dogsarefamily #instadogs #cutedogs #dogsarethebest #dogslovers #instagramdogs #dogsoftheworld #dogsplaying #lovedogs #dogsgram #hundeliebe #hundeaufinstagram #hundeleben #hundeglück #hundefreunde #hundewelt #puppyloves #puppylove #puppy #puppyloversofinstagram #dogsofinstagram #doglover #dog #puppylife #puppies #puppygram #puppylover #doggiesofinstagram #doglife #cutedoggies #puppylovers #cutedogsdaily #mydogsthecutest #dogloverclub #ilovemydog #puppyfun #dogsofinsta #dogloversofig #instapuppylove #dogloversofinstagram #dogselfies #dogs #cutepuppies #instapuppys #puppypaws #moody

𝙿𝚊𝚛𝚝1

𝙳𝚘𝚗’𝚝 𝚆𝚘𝚛𝚛𝚢 𝙱𝚎 𝙷𝚊𝚙𝚙𝚢 𝚋𝚢 𝙱𝚘𝚋𝚋𝚢 𝙼𝚌𝙵𝚎𝚛𝚛𝚒𝚗 🎧

[finneander]

if dawntrail has a million fans, i'm one of them

if dawntrail has 5 fans, I'm one of them.

if dawntrail has 1 fan, that one is me

if dawntrail has no fans, i'm no longer alive

if the world is against dawntrail, then i am against the entire world

till my last breath, I'll support dawntrail

[awkward-teabag]

Was looking at my iPod Nano and thought how utterly BS it is that companies say it takes too much room to have a headphone jack.

I already thought it was BS before but the claim invariably comes down to form factor and keeping the jacks would make the device too big.

My Nano is ~5mm thick with the jack (also it's thinner than that but the glass stands out to make it thicker). That's nearly 3mm thinner than the latest iPhone and even the thinnest iPhone is over 2mm thicker.

You're telling me as components and ports shrink and boards also get smaller, it's unfeasible to do something that was done a decade ago?

It's almost as if it's not that form factor/technology doesn't allow it and it's all about selling proprietary adapters and/or Apple-brand headphones/earbuds/airpods that can be paired without a jack, and removing customer freedom.

[cedar-sunshine]

I need to stream my writing on twitch or some shit. Nobody would watch but it'd make sure that I don't get too distracted

[solariene]

Mercutio & Tybalt (John Eyzen & Tom Ross)

"Les poupées" Roméo et Juliette 2010 Fancam 04-04-2010 Src: https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1SW411g7eA/?p=9

[ambivartence]

My top songs (of the first half) of 2023 ✦ Boys Planet edition ✦

tagged by @lunetual @jikyu @leewonseo @lee-minhoe ty 💕

I've listened to over 300 new releases from over 100 different kpop artists this year so picking my top songs felt like an mnet-level survival show 😭 the irony that i never watched Boys Planet AND one of the songs is literally a Peak Time song is not lost on me ! 🙃 but i wanted to pick a trendy format so here we are 😈 anyways i included albums instead of songs that didn't make the cut since there's too many honorable mention songs that i have had on repeat this year 😭 but most of them are in these 22 albums (oo-li is on here twice and istj isn't out yet !)

if u like my gif template, here's the link ! pls credit me ty <3

tagging (no obligation ofc and if you've already posted will u tag/send me so i can see 🥺): @bahngentertainment @chrisbangs @coupsnim @dakbees @dive-in-the-blue @hannahbahng @hyunfelix @ingblr-s @jinniebit @kyubins @losergirlz @quokki @shorelinnes @starcatching @userjiung @userwoodz @wabisaba @woodziecup @yohanblr + anyone else who wants to share just say that i tagged u <3

[rosetinted-escape]

Unnatural Selection-Muse; Harmonic Analysis

This is essentially just going to be a music theory word vomit BUT hopefully it makes sense. I'm gonna put it under the cut bc it's probably gonna be quite long.

I'm so sorry guys, this is pretty terminology heavy. I hope it all makes sense, but if anything doesn't, please let me know and I'll do my best to explain!

A few notes: -I use roman numerals to indicate chord positions in relation to the key. Capitals are used for major chords, lower case for minor chords and (not relevant here) lower case italics for diminished chords. -A perfect cadence is literally just V-I or V-i in any key. It's a pretty key component in classical music and Matt Bellamy uses them frequently in his writing. There are other types of cadence as well, but they're not relevant here (feel free to ask if you're curious though! I'm more than happy to explain). -A crotchet is a quarter note and a quaver is an eighth note. I'm British and that's what we call them here idk what to say. -I've made comparisons to what is generally done in Western Classical Tradition because I know that Matt Bellamy takes a fair amount of inspiration from classical music, and the harmony he uses is often what would be considered 'functional' in the WCT.

Intro:

-Begins with strongly implied E minor key. -Approximately 125-130bpm -Em |Am |D7 |G |C A/C# |D B/D# |Em C D |G | This is a really nice little chord sequence. It starts with a diatonic circle of fifths until we get to the C major chord in bar 5, and then we start moving up a chromatic bassline. The chromaticism is highlighted by putting the non-diatonic notes in the bass (in this case, the A# of the A major chord and the D# of the B major chord). This builds to an E minor chord, which is immediately followed by a IV-V-I perfect cadence in G major, which solidifies the key. G major is the relative major of E minor, where we started. This is a typically classical place to modulate to.

Verse:

-Begins in Gm. No prepared modulation, just moves straight from G major to G minor. Perhaps surprisingly, this is a reasonably common occurrence in classical music; for the intro to be in the tonic major/minor of the main key. An example of this can be seen in Haydn's symphony 104, where the intro is in Dm and the main symphony/first movement is in D major. -Gm |D7 :| x4 The verse chords are the tonic (first) and dominant (fifth) chords repeated 4 times. This creates a cycle of perfect cadences, as well as a perfect cadence going into the pre-chorus. However, the movement in the bassline guides the listener to only really hear the finality of the cadence every 4 bars rather than every 2 bars. -Tempo change! We've moved from 125-130bpm in the intro to around 160bpm. This is the tempo for the rest of the song aside from the bridge.

Pre-Chorus:

-Aforementioned perfect cadence from the end of the verse into the start of the pre-chorus. -Gm |Bb |Cm |F |Bb |Gm |Dsus4 |D7 |Gm |D7 | Here, the chord sequence kind of flirts with the relative major key of Gm, which is Bb major. This can be seen from bars 3-5, where we have what could be read as a ii-V-I perfect cadence in Bb major. However, we are immediately dragged back into Gm, with a build up to the chorus, and some nice tension created with the Dsus4 chord. We finish on a D7, which can then act as a perfect cadence into the chorus.

Chorus:

-Perfect cadence from end of pre-chorus into the chorus places us in G minor. -Gm |Cm |F7 |Bb |Eb C/E |F D/F# |Gm Eb F |Bb | Lots going on here! If it looks similar that's because it is! It has the exact same harmonic function as the intro, just in a different key. At the start of the chorus we are solidly in Gm, with the same diatonic circle of fifths, followed by the same chromatic rising bass and then the same IV-V-I perfect cadence in the relative major, Bb. This means by the end of the chorus we are in Bb, which is a pretty classical standard classical place to modulate. However we do move pretty much immediately to Gm as we move into the next verse/bridge. -A thing I think is interesting to note is that the diatonic circle of fifths takes the 'dark' direction a circle of fifths can take (essentially towards flat keys/chords). I think this really fits the vibe of the song and also provides a nice contrast against the rising chromatic bass in the following bars.

Bridge:

-Metric modulation! We have changed from 4/4 to 6/8 or 12/8 (depending on how you want to divide it). We have also changed tempo, to approximately 37 DOTTED crotchet beats per minute. We use a dotted crotchet here because we're in compound time rather than simple time (4/4 is simple time, which is why we used undotted crotchet bpm there). Creates a very different vibe to both the intro and the rest of the song. This is not something that is particularly common in Muse songs (or most songs tbh). -Gm Dm |Eb Cm |Bb Bbm |D D7 :| x6 Here we are pretty solidly in Gm throughout. There are D/D7 chords at the end of the sequence which repeats back to create perfect cadences with the Gm at the start of the sequence. The Bb to Bbm creates some nice contrast to what is otherwise a very diatonically Gm (harmonic scale) chord sequence, as the Db in a Bbm chord is not diatonic to the key of Gm. I do think having the III become minor is a very interesting decision and not one I've seen before.