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fluffalpenguin · 11 months

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@arcvmonth day 24: the manga

oh man oh MAN it's vj day!!!!!

it's pretty funny how all my gifs are mostly yuri-centered huh

Under the cut:

revisiting my review of the manga from last year

Headcanons and fic/comic ideas

rambling about an old WIP

small playlist! (with write-ups!)

First of all, here's the 3,000 words analysis/blog thing I wrote last year when I first finished it.

One and a half years later, I still largely agree with it! There's some headcanons I wrote in there that I completely forgot about, lol, so I'm glad past me posted it somewhere for current me to relieve it again! (The rants were also kind of funny to re-read too)

***

Next, headcanons!

Lately, I found myself wondering about Yuto and Yuri's outfits; specifically-

...Why are they walking around Maiami with dramatic red/black capes?

After some time in the kitchen, I decided that when Yuya was younger, he was really into good versus evil roles when rehearsing his dueltainment lines. And who else better to serve as his practice opponents than his two brothers who aren't off busy making rounds at the stadium on a D-Wheel?

Tying his own fluffy, white towel around his shoulders, Yuya throws a nearby black blanket to Yuto. The oldest is initially a little embarrassed about the notion, but no one can ever say no to the baby of the Sakaki family, can they? (He'll just have to live the shame down from the twins later on... They barely even respect him as they are right now, anyway) In the middle of the duel, Yuri walks in onto the two of them after having finished his homework (or tweaking his deck). He raises an eyebrow at Yuto's appearance, but gets the gist of the situation when he sees their duel disks activated and Yuya standing on top of the sofa in a similar attire. As Yuto steals Yuya's schtick and becomes a tomato, Yuri pouts about being left out and quickly leaves to hunt for something that will allow him to join the fun. When the duel ends, Yuto passes the baton to Yuri. As he watches the two rattle off silly, goofy lines like, I will destroy the planet, the universe, all the worlds! and, Never! I'll stop you, fiend!, Yuto sighs in relief. At least Yuya now has Yuri to LARP with. Maybe Yugo would volunteer too, once he returned from driving practice and hears about it. Though, he'd likely ask to play the part of the hero himself. Anyway, Yuto's already almost in middle school; he's getting a little too old to play with costumes now. Then afterwards, at dinner, with an angelic smile Yuya says, "Yuuto, can we play like that again sometime? You look so cool with a cape!"

Yuri on the other hand, always had a tendency for the melodramatic, his own personal spin of the theatrics he's seen from his dad! Deep down he really loves playing the villain.

(This was meant to be a short description but I couldn't help putting some fic-like sentences in there tehe also yes that's a reference to the conversation between Yuya and G.O.D./Eve)

***

(warning: angst ahead)

Another headcanon I have that I want to write/draw something for is that in the postcanon where Reiji, Yuya, Isaac and Ren travel through space and time together, Yuya has moments where he falters to his grief.

He's used to his brothers commenting and nagging him on almost anything and everything (A midnight snack? Think about your complexion, Yuya!) and his world is suddenly a lot more quiet. In his hurt, he starts to avoid Ren, not wanting to be reminded of what he's lost (He doesn't feel good about it).

Eventually Reiji intervenes and Yuya opens up a little. He's been unable to properly let himself grief for his brothers. All he wants to say is that he misses them.

But he doesn't feel like he has the right to do so, having being the one to seal their fates by personally destroying the one method of bringing them back to life. He doesn't regret his decision of course, but he's unable to stop himself from feeling this way too.

It has a happy ending; Reiji convinces Yuya to talk to Ren. Yuya shares stories about Yugo at Ren's request, making the both of them laugh. Yuya realises that there are other methods of bringing back people to life, too, even if only momentarily.

But it is enough.

***

Misc hcs:

Yuya's charisma and attitude is a combination of his three brothers fawning over his cuteness from birth and Yuya being so star-struck with Yusho's performances he attempted to replicate the movements ever since he could walk.

Being the oldest, Yuto feels a sense of responsibility for his brothers and pledged to take care of them in place of his always-missing parents. However, he oft times finds himself not having to do much because Yugo and Yuri are so determined to win over Yuya's heart (and be proclaimed 'favourite brother') that they also make sure to set a good example for the youngest when possible. This causes Yuto a little bit of an identity crisis (/j it's just for fun) until he settles into his role as the househusband cook.

"All of us... are connected by... the arc of destiny!"

Reiji and Yuya are supposed to be silhouetted by their fathers, so Yuzu is meant to seem like she's looking at Yuya, but is in fact looking at Yusho. I also think VJ Yuto should be allowed to smile more!

This drawing is meant to be my love letter to the manga as a whole, and ESPECIALLY the last duel between Reiji and Yuya. I talked about it a whole ton in the review linked above already, so go check that out if you haven't!!

I was really happy with the composition when I first made this, especially with Sora/Ren/Isaac Versus the Yus mirroring their duels! (Well, okay, I know Isaac didn't duel Yuto but.... just give this to me)

Anyway I really wanted a fun and positive energy for it! Every month I think about returning to this but I get slightly demotivated when I realise I have *zero* colour references for both Ren and Isaac... Please send in your headcanons...

***

Last but not least, last month I got brain worms for another animatic/hand-drawn MV for Eve's Fight Song! I'll never ever have to time to go back to it, but I wanted to take the chance to talk about other songs that make me ill when I think about them with the manga.

1. Myth & Roid - TRAGEDY:ETERNITY

Don’t give me an eternity Even if that’s all I can believe Press pause on the flow of time In the shadow of the blink of an eye I don’t wanna fall into a sleep ‘Cause now you are my remedy Now knocking on, knocking on, knocking on my brain Even for the temptation of a nightmare Fate demands a costly reparation for its fare

Translated lyrics mostly from lyrical-nonsense, but I made some changes for better rhyming and flow yahoo!! This song is what I imagine the OP would be in my dreams when it received an anime adaptation, I've always dreamed of making my own animatic to it!!

Not just the chorus, but the ENTIRE SONG (pleeeease go take a look at the lyrics) feels like it's made for the manga please please go take a look

2. MYTH & ROID - -to the future days

I cast my wishes to the future days If we can meet on the other side of eternity… I cast my wishes to the future days What should we talk about first? Sadness and even joy will, eventually Will sleep together That's the way life is If such a world could be granted Would nobody feel hurt anymore?

Yeah I like M&R quite a bit, how'd you know

If T:E was the hypothetical OP, this is my pick for the ED theme, like AAAAAAAA for me it encompasses the yu's story so so so so so so so well, though

And:

Both despair and also life come to end eventually Take this future into your hands and let it run its course Spin it ’round…… The hands on the clock spin around Like flowers, petals falling and fluttering Once we blossom, we dissipate in the moment THE BRIDGE THE BRIDGE THE LYRICS ARGHHHHHHHH This is definitely for me, the moment when the three yus start to fade during Yuya's battle with Eve, their last conversation they have with yuya..... *lies onto the ground in a pile of misery*

Rest of the lyrics HERE shoves it into your face

3. MAISONdes - Tokyo Shandy Rendezvous

It's no joke, no it's not! Tokyo Shandy Rendezvous Even when the time comes nothing will come of it Vague truths only become melancholy Come on and snatch me away now, take on me!

This is a fun one, when I watched the PV and in the chorus Lum was spinning I instantly went wow what if that was Phantom.. and then the lyrics bared their claws and sunk them into my brain and hasn't really let go since

Unlike the above two songs, not all of the lyrics are a perfect match, of course, but I adore how in general the whimsical yet lonely nature of the song feels like it fits Phantom so well!

4. Eve - Fight Song

As the night still refuses to end, let’s dream

Last but not least the song I posted the above storyboard for! CSM fans (as well as Eve fans, lol) are probably already familiar with the song, and full lyrics here, though like the song above, only parts of the song (particularly the chorus) really resonated with the vj brainworms in my head lol Even for me, y’know Let’s make a break for the future Towards the verge of death like we pray for A boy that gave his word Today, just like back then As if there’s no more future ahead

Sigh.... Yuto, Yugo, Yuri................ Just let out your voice Let’s take it easy We don’t even know common sense, so we know the world through wise eyes These overflowing feelings, behold Greet me with an applause

I love the first half a lot, I can easily imagine Yuya saying it to the other three... and of course, the latter, from him to the world! (or perhaps even G.O.D...)

As always thanks for reading GOODBYE I GOTTA GO DRAW SOME ARC-V OCS

#arc-v #arcvmonth2023 #arcvmonth #arc-v manga #pasu does not shut up

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nincompoopydoo · 3 years

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BABY EMERGENCY

PAIRING: Jack Thompson x reader

WORD COUNT: 1853

SUMMARY: You, the Sousa’s neighbor, mistakenly arrive at their doorstep, thinking it was pie night rather than date night. Yet, the sight of a disheveled, troubled and somewhat handsome Jack Thompson convinced you to help out with baby Nancy.

A/N: Uh, I think I got carried away because this is almost 2k words oops. Also, changed the name because I like this one better. Anyway, enjoy read and Jack Thompson being cute in a house that’s not even theirs.

MASTERLIST

← PREVIOUS CHAPTER

Jack Thompson never expected to be met with a pair of wide eyes when he opened the front door, or to be met with the smell of apple pie, tucked nicely between your arms and under a piece of blue Gingham cloth. He blinked as you began to frown, face blossoming with confusion. “Darn it, was date night tonight? I should have called before-”

“Who are you?” Jack interrupted, confused by your sudden presence. You chuckled sheepishly, eyes lit up. “I’m sorry, how rude of me. I’m Y/N and I live next door. I just got off work from the bakery downtown and I thought we could have some pie,” you paused, eyes darting towards the front lawn. You note the missing car you completely missed when you were walking up to the front door. “But it seems I got the dates wrong.” You let your shoulders slump a little. The thought of spending the Friday night alone was certainly unpleasant. Yet, you flashed him a strained smile.

“Are you here, for the baby emergency?” he asked hesitantly, hands shoved into the pockets of his slacks. You frowned once more. “Baby emergency?” you blinked, shifting the pie in your arms that were beginning to feel sore by every passing moment. “It’s more like a pie emergency.” You laughed. It was a terrible joke if it was even meant to be one yet Jack found himself struggling to resist a smile. You had a contagious laugh. Shifted in your stance, you were ready to turn around, leave with embarrassment and later wallow yourself in self-pity when you heard the sound of a newborn’s cry—Nancy. Nancy Sousa was a fussy one; she mostly cried than laughed according to Peggy’s claim during one pie night with prominent dark circles under her tired eyes. Then, it clicked in your head; this must be Jack Thompson, the babysitter and colleague, that Peggy had told you about last night.

You caught the sight of him wincing, hand rubbing against his temple. Daniel often did that when Nancy had one of her temper tantrums. There’s a sinking feeling in your stomach—Guilt. Guilt, if you didn’t at least ask if everything was alright. Well, you were already here after all. You could either sit alone at your dining table with your apple pie or you could lend a hand to this very sorry and somewhat charming blonde man. You took a step forward, peeking into the house behind him. “Do you need help?” As soon as those words left your mouth, Jack heaved an immediate sigh of relief, looking at you like you’re his savior. “Yes, please.”

You reminded Jack a lot of his mother, the way you moved around the kitchen as you rummaged through the cupboards in search of a knife. Your skirt brushing against his forearm every time you squeezed through the small space with the soft murmur of an apology and the flash of a small smile; he’d only just met you and yet, your presence gave him a sort of comfort. You reminded him of home.

“Aha!” You exclaimed and waved a pie knife in the air. Jack chuckled at your wide grin as he held a spoonful of the beef & ham to Nancy’s gaping mouth while you pried up the crust of your apple pie. Scooping a slice onto two plates, you glanced at Jack, hunched down in his chair as he carefully scraped out the remnants of the baby food while Nancy watched him eagerly. He was in his dress shirt, clearly he had come right after work. His sleeves rolled up to his elbows, tie loosened and his blonde hair slightly disheveled. He was very handsome, to say the least, but you’ve heard of his talent for making bad situations worse; though the past half an hour might be making up for that claim.

As you eyed him, he happened to turn his head and caught your stare with his direct blue gaze. You divert your eyes away in an instant, cheeks burning in embarrassment. You hear him clear his throat Nancy lets out a soft burb, followed by a trail of giggles. “Pie’s ready.“ you said hastily, nearing the dining table with a couple of dessert plates and forks on the table. Jack accepted the plate you handed him with brows raised in amusement at the sight of an inviting slice of sweet and savory. Your eyes perked up at a sudden thought that came into mind. “I know just the drink.” Yanking the refrigerator door opened, you pulled out the bottom drawer and met with the sight of an emerald towel laid by the corner of the drawer. Beneath it, you pulled out a couple of root beer bottles from the six-pack.

Shuffling to the chair opposite Jack, you popped the bottles excitedly. He gave you bewildered look. “Trust me, it goes well with the pie.” You pushed an already opened bottle to him, taking a swig out of yours. Jack chuckled lightly, shaking his head. “I meant to ask if we are even allowed to drink these because I ain’t risking anything with Peggy.” He gestured to the bottles, giving you a look before reaching over to Nancy to wipe off the smudges of baby food around her mouth. Your heart clenches slightly at the endearing sight. “I’m sure it’s fine. Peggy and I are old pals. Plus, she owes me for stealing my hairpins.” You waved one hand dismissively, already digging into the pie. Jack’s gaze flickered to you. “Old pals?” he questioned and you beamed. “Yeah, I was a nurse for the 107th during the war. That’s how I met Peggy. It was only three years after the war when I happened to move next door and now we’re best friends and their glorified piemaker,“ you explained as Jack laughed at your claim and you decided that you liked it when he laughed. It’s incredible how you were already enticed by a man you’ve only met in the past hour. “You are a glorified piemaker alright because this is really good stuff,” Jack said with amusement, shoving another bite in his mouth. He took a sip of the root beer. “And you’re right. Root beer surprisingly goes really well with apple pie. Who would’ve thought?” You hummed in response, glancing at Nancy who had become quiet for the past couple of minutes. It seems she had fallen asleep while sat in the baby high chair. The two of you shared a knowing look.

With the soft clank of your spoons against the dessert plates, Jack gently reached over to the girl and carefully held her against his chest as the three of you made your way to the nursery.

There’s that feeling of endearment and the occasional ache in your heart whenever you catch sight of Jack and Nancy together and it’s the words of your mother and your aunties that kept ringing in your head throughout the evening. When are you going to settle down? That particular question was bound to be brought up and nearly impossible to escape during the annual Christmas dinner and every year you turn up without a date. If you were to be honest, you always had a deep yearning for at least love—if not marriage. Yet, being the independent woman you were, living alone and working at the bakery downtown six days a week, you have never put much thought into it. Well, until now at least. Except, it’s the daydream of being all domestic with the man right in front of you who’s busy tucking your neighbor’s daughter to bed.

You knew you were damned from then on.

Switching off the lights, as Jack brushed past you as you quietly pulled the door close, leaving it ajar. You turned around to see that he was already seated at the table, spoon in hand as he gazed at his unfinished slice of pie. There’s a part of him that believed that the pie tasted so good partly because of the person who made it.

“What about you?” you blurted out, pausing as you made your way to the table, seated across him once more. “The war. Were you . . .” you trailed off, instantly regretting your initial question. You blamed it on the exhaustion from your shift and frankly, you had a knack for saying things without thinking things through. You noticed how his face changed as soon as you mentioned the war yet before you could apologize, Jack answered. “I was in the navy . . . The 25th.” you nod thoughtfully, sensing the growing tension in the air. You desperately needed to divert the topic somewhere else. “That’s funny, I met someone who used to be in the 25th and for the life of me I can never remember his name. I don’t think he even told me,” you said, recalling the face of a young blonde man you briefly met on VJ Day.

That was an understatement, the man kissed you for heaven’s sake.

It was when you gazed at Jack, it hit you like a ton of bricks as you noticed the familiarity of the blue in his eyes. With wide eyes, you gawked at the man in shock and Jack must have realized it too.

You were the nurse with the pretty smile he had kissed on VJ Day.

“Oh, Jesus,” he muttered and blinked at you, trying to process the whole situation while you gaped at him. “You-you kissed me on VJ Day,” you exclaimed, almost too excitedly and before you knew it, the two began to crack up, as quietly as you could.

It is a small world after all.

Just then, the front door swung open, the two of you immediately stood up and were met with the sight of a very red and sweating Edwin Jarvis who came rushing into the kitchen. “Mr. Thompson, I apologize for my lateness but I-” the man halted in his step as soon as he spotted the two of you, watching him with bewildered faces. “Oh, Miss Y/N. You’re here,” he stated between huffs, trying to catch his breath. “Jarvis, what are you doing here?” you asked as the two of you watched him collapse onto an empty chair by the dining table. “Well, it started out as a baby emergency and I tried to ring you up but you weren’t answering. So, I came here as fast as I could but traffic was absolutely atrocious!” He explained as you went to fill a glass of water. “However, I suspect you already settled the issue, Mr. Thompson.” Jack smiled at Jarvis, giving him a pat on the shoulder. “Thank you, Jarvis. I appreciate it.”

You returned with a glass of water, a spoon and plate. “Pie?” you gestured to the apple pie, sitting idly at the center of the table. His eyes lit up. “Oh, that would be delightful. Thank you.”

You caught Jack’s gaze as you began to sit, the two of you shared a smile. This was certainly not what you expected your Friday night to turn out.

#jack thompson being domestic omg #jack thompson #jack thompson x reader #jack thompson imagine #agent carter #peggy carter #peggy carter x daniel sousa #daniel sousa #daniel sousa x reader #marvel #agent carter imagine

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rovewritesit · 4 years

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Angel Of My Dreams (Chapter 1) John Deacon x Reader Series

I’ve read so many fan fics in the past four months and I thought it was high time to try my hand at it. I’ve created this side blog so that I can 1) Express my love for Queen and 2) Not annoy the randos from high school and college who still follow my main. This’ll be a slow burn folks, so hold on to your hats.

Series summary: After reluctantly joining a band with your childhood best friends, you are thrust into oncoming stardom with no sea legs and an overwhelming sense of anxiety. But you just might find your way, thanks to some seasoned pros by your side. And the interest of one particular bassist.

This series is a work of fiction, and is loosely inspired by real people and events. Absolutely no offense is meant to actual Queen or their families.

PART 2 - PART 3 - PART 4

Pairing: John Deacon x Reader (eventually)

Chapter Warnings: Lots o’ curses

Chapter Summary: This is basically just some set up for the series. No Deacy yet, but a meet-cute to happen very soon! I got the band name with the help of some random band name generator so be kind. I’m hoping to introduce in some songs readers may not have heard - I was thinking of “Heart of the Night” by Juice Newton while writing this, hence the single name and album.

Song/Title Inspiration: Angel - Fleetwood Mac

- - - - - - -

Days of Our Lives Documentary Shoot - 2010

(Brian May and Roger Taylor Joint Interview)

“The early 80s were huge for us, for sure. I believe we were at our biggest then, internationally speaking.” Brian states, glancing over to Roger.

“Yes, Another One Bites the Dust really set things a-flame I think. The traveling and playing were constant. The crowds getting bigger by the venue. Parties, hotels, girls, more parties. We were meeting just so many people.” Roger adds.

“And one of those being a certain American female rock singer.” The interviewer adds quietly from off-camera.

Roger glances over to him with a questioning look, but Brian catches on quick, like always.

“Ah yes, that particular rock goddess. We did meet her around then, I believe, yes. Maybe a few years after.” Brian says knowingly, still playing along.

Roger stares into space with a confused look on his face until the realization hits him. “Are we talking about Y/N?” Roger mutters to Brian. “Yes” Brian chuckles, patting his friend on the shoulder.

“Oh, what a spit-fire she is! Not back then though. Fred really worked some magic with that one. Almost inseparable those two were.” Roger laughs out, a wave of nostalgia washing over his face.

Brian raises his large eyebrows, “Deacy would beg to differ I think.”

Roger smirks, “Oh, well that’s a whole different story.”

- - - - - - -

1982 - MTV Studios, New York City

You run your hands up and down your thighs, trying to will your left knee to stop repeatedly bouncing up and down. The satin of your pants does nothing for the layer of sweat on your clammy hands. You fold them together in your lap and gaze around the studio instead, taking in the bustling of crew members as they ready for the pre-taped interview. The god-like VJ, Alan Hunter, sits in a chair off to the side as someone artfully pieces his blonde locks into place. He grins over at you with a small wave. You limply lift your hand in a greeting, pasting on a small smile that doesn’t reach your eyes.

You catch your pained expression as you glimpse a monitor off-camera. A friendly woman backstage had painted your face to the point of being almost unrecognizable. Gone was the evidence under your eyes of the restless sleep you’d fought the previous night. They were wide and doed, rather than their normal crescent shape. Your lips full and vibrant, your hair bounced and fanned out around your face. And your skin seemed to be glowing, masking the spots that had popped up overnight from stress. You looked every bit the rock goddess the label hoped to paint you as, and the exact opposite of the nerves currently threatening to overtake your body.

“Y/N, I can feel you vibrating from here. Take a deep breath. It’s gonna be fine.” Rich commented from beside you. His legs were splayed out, his arms bent behind his head. Looking as relaxed as can be, as if he were on his couch at home catching a movie marathon, about to doze off.

“How can you be so calm right now?” You rush out. “Who knows how many people are going to see this interview. Do you know how many times a day I accidentally let the F word fly out of my mouth?”

Rich lets out a snort. “I happen to know exactly how much you curse, thank you. Yesterday you said fuck 3 times in one sentence. It was charming, my mom loved it.” He moves his right arm to squeeze around your shoulders. Usually, it would be a comforting display of friendship, but you shake it off.

“And look at those three. Already so at home, I see.” You nod to the three other members of the band. Steve is exuding energy like yourself, but it’s excitement that bubbles from him. His eyes flit around the room quickly as he taps out some unknown rhythm on his bent legs. A wide grin permanently fixed on his boyish features.

At the far end of the couch, Eddie and Lawrence are wrapped up in a not-so-silent game of knuckles.

“Son of a-- Will you take off those damn rings? It’s my turn and I’m still getting bruised.” Lawrence huffs. Eddie wiggles his long, skilled, silver-clad fingers in front of his face and raises his eyebrows. “It’s all about the look, baby. Gotta play the part of the guitar god.”

“Will you both knock it off.” You call over to them. “We need both those sets of hands in playing shape for tomorrow night.”

Eddie turns, probably to counter with some playful comment about how you mother them too much, but Alan approaches.

“Alright, guys. And girl.” He flashes his perfectly white teeth your way again. “We’re about 5 minutes out from going up. Anybody need anything? Water, vodka, beer…” He turns his gaze to Steve, who is still tapping lightly on his legs. “A Xanax, perhaps?”

“Waters all around would be great, thanks.” You offer. Alan nods to a twitchy PA waiting to his side and they hurry off.

“Oh wait up, a Bud Light too, if you have any!” Eddie calls after them. The other three boys echo the same as well.

“You can take the boys out of Long Island…” you mutter to yourself. Rich teasingly pokes your side. “And something stiff for the lady!” He shouts out.

“In all manner of ways” Steve giggles. You feign a shocked expression and reach over to place a gentle slap to the side of his head. He looks over with big apologetic eyes and you stifle a laugh.

In record time, the lanky PA rushes back over with a myriad of drinks, all threatening to topple over on the tray they were precariously balanced on. Another PA trails behind, handing you all water, which you’re in desperate need of. They hand the drinks out one by one and stop before you. “Your water, Miss. And I didn’t know what you liked so I have a jack and coke, a whiskey sour, and a gin and tonic.”

“The gin and tonic is great, thanks.” They hurriedly hand you the drink and go to turn away. “Love your hair by the way.” You tell them. “I’m absolute shit at styling mine. Guess I’ll have to learn now.” They smile back at you and run a hand through their short locks before disappearing amongst the rest of the crew.

“Okay, we’re ready to rock n’ roll!” Alan exclaims, getting the band’s attention as he sits down in a chair next to your side of the couch. “We’re going to start off with a few basics on the band. Your lower thirds will have your instruments labeled but feel free to explain how you guys started out, your influences, your process. I’ll prompt you in between and then we'll talk about the album and promote your upcoming tour towards the end. Should take 15 minutes tops, so keep your answers brief. But I won’t say no to any rowdy stories you want to throw in.” He finishes with a wink.

The band nods along as you gulp down a breath, your palms becoming even slicker. The stage manager’s high voice rings out around the studio. “Playback ready! Live to tape in 5.. 4...” Rich places a hand over your knee and gives a squeeze. “Light em’ up, Bun” he mutters in your ear.

“3.. 2..” She holds up a finger and then points it at Alan, a wide smile already set on his face. The camera light flicks red as the MTV open plays from speakers around the room. Alan beings as the song fades out.

“We’re here in the studio and boy, am I excited to get to know this next band. Over at MTV we’ve been watching the steady rise of their single “Heart of the Night” on the charts. And as an added surprise, they’re here to introduce their very first music video. I’m very pleased to welcome to the studio, Lo & The Limbs!”

You try to relax your face as a camera pans across the band and settles on a two-shot of you and Alan. You know your eyes are gleaming with anxiety so you glance down the couch, silently praying for one of the boys to take the lead.

“Thanks for having us Alan, it’s such a trip to be here.” Eddie says with ease, resting his forearms on his knees.

“So, I have to ask. Who is Lo? Is it you Lawerence?” Alan questions the piano player.

“Oh god, no.” Lawrence chuckles. “Our high school was affectionately called Lo High, for Long Island HighSchool of the Arts. So we sort of tacked that on while playing during those years to let people know where we were from. That and well, as you can see we’re all above 6 foot except for Y/N, so a lot of limbs going on here.”

Alan gives a short laugh. “You released your debut album, Quiet Lies, earlier this year to growing success. Why don’t you tell me how you all started out.”

“Well, the boys and I have been together for a few years. We’ve been friends since grade school and we always just used to jam about. As we got older we started playing local bars back on Long Island to mostly middle-aged crowds, trying to break in, but it wasn’t working. Then Rich had the idea to invite Y/N to join up and it’s all kind of all taken off from there.” Eddie explains.

“We needed a pretty face to balance out all these ugly mugs” Steve pipes up.

“It took a while for her to finally concede though. She was off being too studious for the likes of us.” Rich adds on with a smile and nudge to your side. Your eyes grow wide as you feel a question directed at you coming on.

“Is that true, Y/N?”

“I- I guess, I was at NYU studying documentary filmmaking.” You choke out, but continue on. “Love this lighting set up, by the way, it really hides all sins.” That gets a light chuckle out of the crew surrounding you.

“And these sins you’re hiding are…” Alan grins but quickly bounces to the next topic. “Certainly a good call, Rich. Heart of the Night is the only song off the album that Y/N is singing lead on and look how well it’s doing. How did that happen?”

“Most of our songs were already written from before when we finally got the money to record. We wanted Y/N to feel a part of it, so she went on and wrote Heart of the Night and we were all very pleasantly surprised that it’s become such a hit.” Steve explains. “She also directed the music video we’ll be debuting today. I can’t believe she let us do all the things we did in that… well, you’ll just have to see for yourselves. We can be a bit of a handful.” The boys all chuckle.

“That and she plays the weirdest collection of instruments. Rhythm guitar, any type of strings, the saxophone… She's a boss on the harmonica.” Eddie turns to you as he speaks. “You just need to get over those pesky little nerves about your singing, Bun!” He points in your direction.

You feel the heat rise behind your perfectly painted cheeks at the slip of your nickname. You cast your gaze down at your lap. Not liking how the conversation has turned directly onto you.

Alan quirks an eyebrow at you. “Bun?” He teases.

You have yet to lift your eyes when Rich answers for you. “Bunny, an affectionate nickname. It’s stuck around since grade school when she wandered into Lawrence's backyard in search of a rabbit she was chasing.”

“A rockstar called Bunny. There’s a first for everything.” Alan quips, but quickly notices your displeasure in the current topic. Sensing your growing panic, he addresses the rest of the group. “This has been quite the debut album, with more hits sure to come from it. Any bands you’ve taken inspiration from while writing and producing?”

Rich jumps at the question. “Fleetwood Mac would be a big one. The way they layer their sounds is just unmatchable. You catch something new with every listen of an album of theirs.”

“I can’t be a pianist from Long Island and not mention the granddaddy, Billy Joel.” Lawrence adds. “His songs take you on such a ride. They’re full stories, each one of them.”

“And you, Y/N?” Alan directs the next question. “Who will you be drawing inspiration from when you write your next hit single?”

You smile to yourself. “It’s gotta be Queen for me. I’ve loved every one of their albums. I mean, the way they’ve changed their sound just in the past few years alone. They’re always transcending. Never afraid to try out something new or weave a different genre into one of their songs. But you always know it’s a Queen song. I saw them 2 years ago when they played the Garden, and fu--” You catch yourself as you get more animated. “And they were all just so on. Perfectly in sync. There’s something so distinct about their sound, so practiced. I’d love to get to their level, to be able to experiment like that. To give joy in the way they’ve given it to me.” You finish. Realizing you’ve rambled for a bit, you turn your eyes downwards yet again.

“I think that’s the most I’ve heard you talk since you came into the studio!” Alan laughs. “Well, you heard it here first folks, Y/N L/N is a Queen fan, just like the rest of us. I’m sure you’re just as excited about their new album as well.” You nod quickly as Rich hides a smile. Knowing full well you’ll be first in line to purchase their new album, Hot Space when it drops.

“But before you get off to writing more hits, I believe you have a tour coming up!” Alan states, signaling that the interview is wrapping up.

“Yeah, we have a small American tour starting in February. But until then we’ll be opening up for Hall and Oates during their tour of the NorthEast next month.” Steve says excitedly, bouncing slightly in his seat.

“And with that, I think we’ll roll into the long-anticipated music video and directorial debut for the lovely Y/N L/N. Thank you all so much for coming in today and I can’t wait to see what’s next on the horizon for you. Here’s Lo & The Limbs with Heart of the Night!” Alan keeps his painted smile till the red light vanishes from above the lens on the large pedestal camera in front of him.

You breathe out the breath you’d been choking on as Rich puts an arm around your shoulders. He leans in and whispers lightly, “And only one hint of a fuck, ladies and gentlemen. She might just make it in this business after all.”

- - - - - - -

One Month Later - Veterans Memorial Coliseum - New Haven, Connecticut

The Limbs bound off the stage in full force, glistening with sweat and excitement. It was the largest crowd they’d played for by far. 10,000 people cheered from the audience as roadies and crew moved around them to set up for the main act, Hall and Oates. Rich spreads his long arms and huddles the rest of the group into a family hug, your skin sticking to one another, the smell of sweat filling your noses.

“I just want us to all remember this moment.” He speaks to the group, foreheads touching. “Even if nothing happens past this album. That was insane.”

“Absolutely bonkers, dude!” Steve says and he bounces up and down beside you. You all take a deep collective breath and squeeze.

“Alright, get off of me you fucks.” You laugh, untangling yourself from their vast expanse of limbs. “We all stink and I have to get out of all... this” You gesture to the skin-tight bodysuit your best friend, Dawn, had insisted you wear. Eddie presses a light kiss to your temple as he lets you into the dressing room first to change out of their view.

You close the door and sigh, glancing at yourself in the mirrors that line one wall of the room. Your eyes are bright, your hair is two times the size of when you went out on stage an hour before, and your makeup looks like you’d been in a fight. Grinning to yourself, you start to unlatch the halter top of the bodysuit, excited for the air to cool your skin.

Just as you are about to shimmy out of the rest of the ensemble, the door bursts open.

“Shit! Lawrence, what the hell?!” Scrambling to cover your top half.

Lawrence trains his eyes to the ceiling as he speaks. “Bunny, you gotta… just cover up and get your ass out here. You just... You gotta see, c’mon.”

Flustered, you hurry to redress your sticky body. After making sure everything is properly covered, you step out into the hallway backstage, already glaring at the boys. They’re all tight-lipped, staring at one another. “Okay, someone want to tell me what the hell is going on?” You say loudly. “Shhhhh” Rich hisses as he gestures behind him with a shake of his head. You glance over his shoulder to see the backs of two men. John Hall and Daryl Oates.

“Yeah, okay... I don’t get it. We’ve hung out with them like 5 times. Why are we fangirling?”

Rich widens his eyes at you and you glance back at them again. This time they part and you can catch a glimpse of who they’ve been talking to.

The flash of a tight leather jacket, a mustache, and two front teeth shining while laughter erupts from behind them.

You gasp.

“Fucking, fuck. That’s Freddie fucking Mercury.” You say, a bit too loud.

The bold man in question locks eyes with you. Something mischievous dances behind them as he narrows his gaze. Daryl and John move to their roadies to get fixed up before heading out on stage and Freddie lets out a sharp burst of laughter as he makes his way over. Your stomach churns with embarrassment but you can’t tear your eyes from his.

“Quite the redundancy of expletives, my dear. All you had to do was say hello.” he grins at you, all teeth. You’re not one to get too clammy in front of other musicians, but your voice gets trapped in your throat. You pray to whatever gods are out there that your eyes don’t get any wider.

Eddie’s easy charm luckily saves you. “This beautiful songstress right here is Y/N L/N.” You barely lift your arms as Freddie pulls you in for a light hug and kiss on the cheek. “But you can call her Bunny.” Eddie grins. So much for easy charm you think as you stare daggers into the profile of his face.

“Ha! Bunny? Oh my, that is wonderful.” Freddie chuckles. “It sounds as if you’re a socialite... Or a stripper. I can’t tell.” He beams at you. You can’t help but beam right back.

“Come along. Let us watch the show and you can tell me which one it is.” He says with a wink. “And introduce me to these giants you call your band.” He grabs your arm and leads you off, the boys in tow. Bouncing with excitement for what’s to come.

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aion-rsa · 3 years

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Framing Britney Spears Review: FX Doc Is a Pop Horror Story

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The FX docuseries The New York Times Presents takes a celebrity turn on the installment “Framing Britney.” But this is no tabloid exposé, even as the gossip rags and paparazzi become inadvertently complicit. The series provides consistently dedicated longform journalism as a matter of course. Their beat is varied. It’s covered front line workers, booted a hacking network, and chased a killer.

“Framing Britney” doesn’t present a homicide case, though legal minds might argue a life has been taken away. It is a true crime documentary, but the truth hasn’t been determined, and the crime is hard to define. There is a fiduciary element, and questionable mental health is a contributory factor. It is also a missing person’s case where the exact location of the victim-at-large is known. Well known and splashed across newsfeeds at a moment’s notice if there’s even a hint of a move. That’s part of the problem.

“Framing Britney” does a very good job of breaking down the incredibly confusing legal details. Since what has been called a very public breakdown in 2008, Spears has been under her father Jamie Spears’ conservatorship. This is also known as a guardianship and it is normally limited to people with diminished capacity who might not be capable of making decisions. Spears entered the conservatorship at age 26. She acknowledged it was necessary when it began, but at 39, wants the conditions changed.

The court documents call Britney a “high-functioning conservatee” who is still raking in the bucks. James Spears’ conservatorship may have been legally dubious, but it has been profitable, bringing the star from the depths of a bottomless spending spree to a net worth of well over $60 million. The conservatorship has done so well, even James’ initial co-guardian, the aptly named Andrew Wallet, wants a raise, and The New York Times Presents wants to know why. Britney’s attorney Samuel D. Ingham III tries to explain as much as he can, but he’s only privy to so much information. The documentary makes it seem Spears’ case is too profitable to get resolved. It’s not about health, but money. Even the Los Angeles Superior Court Judge is named Brenda Penny.

The subtext of the documentary has even saturated Spears’ song titles. “Work Bitch,” “I’m a Slave 4U,” “Overprotected,” all describe the neverland Britney inhabits, and “Framing Britney” lets you know it without stating it explicitly. Baby, she’s been hit more than one too many times. And it drives her crazy. It drives her fans mad as well. They’re only angry but they’ve been labeled insane by the opposition. Britney’s father dismisses them as “conspiracy theorists.” Some members of the #FreeBritney movement say they feel so gaslighted they sometimes doubt what they know. But they know, and are very good at getting the inside scoop.

One sequence recounts an anonymous voicemail message to the fan-produced podcast “Britney’s Gram.” It is obviously big news, and the fans who produce it do the right thing. They make all the right disclaimers. They do their due diligence, vetting as much as possible, cross-checking as much information as they can get. The self-appointed Britney-fan-journalists are organized, intelligent, and so well-informed Britney herself thanks them on record highlighting the word. They go to the hearings, take minutes and share them via google doc, insiders confess to them. They are a serious media concern, and this writer hopes when they achieve this goal, they don’t give up on their network and what it can do.

The fan/journalists dig through every conservatorship document available to the public. This may be part of a New York Times series, but they are star stringers, and director Samantha Stark is absolutely justified in treating them this way, albeit with tight editorial restrictions.

This may be the most innovative aspect of the episode. New York Times journalists Jason Stallman, Sam Dolnick, and Stephanie Preiss teamed with Left/Right’s Ken Druckerman, Banks Tarver, and Mary Robertson on this project. They enthusiastically analyze and incorporate the information they get from the grassroots fan-based press which sparked The Free Britney movement. Over the past few years, cellphone-recorded incidents and social media feeds have been changing the way news is gathered, providing first-hand accounts of harassment, protests and aggravated law enforcement tactics. The New York Times Presents produces one of the best mixes of the evolving media landscape. It is a transitional program, adhering to traditional journalistic values while vetting the upstart alternative media.

“Framing Britney” watches Spears’ followers as they scrutinize the star’s Instagram posts. Since disappearing from public view, these are the only glimpses into the megastar’s life, and she appears to be packing as much into the short clips as she can. Almost every post artfully weaves a mysterious clue, but even the fans admit, anyone can read anything into all of them. Spears’ lyrics have come under similar microscopes leading to vast and dark conspiracies. Britney could be singing about watching The Sixth Sense in “Girl in the Mirror.” The lyrics to “911” could be interpreted as a plea from a monarch-programmed sex-kitten. She never even officially released her response to a famous ex-boyfriend’s teary-eyed breakup song.

The documentary includes insightful interviews, especially with Felicia Culotta, who was with Spears from the very beginning of her career. She is to Britney what Mal Evans was to the Beatles, the one who did the day to day work. She was hand-picked by Britney’s mother and James Spears’ ex-wife Lynne Spears. Culotta stood with Britney for Times Square selfies on the first trip to New York. An early talent manager talks about how dedicated Britney was to her musical and performance studies, and the documentary shows stills of the singer on different instruments. We see the rise of a female pop phenomenon in the age of the boy band.

This is where “Framing Britney” earns its title. The directors indirectly infer not only has Spears been set up for some kind of blame, the entire picture is off-center. Sure, the #FreeBritney movement has become a cause célèbre, and the documentary shows Cher, Miley Cyrus, and others hoisting flags during concerts. But when Britney shaved her head and told people to stop touching her, she was a late-night talk show joke regurgitated on daytime game shows.

The documentary highlights how, from the moment Britney took off Mouseketeer ears and got ground through the American pop-star machine, she was a target and an easy score. “Her rise was a global phenomenon,” the FX advance press promised. “Her downfall was a cruel national sport.” One segment of the documentary shows a chorus line of well-known names making sport of Spears. The series shows Justin Timberlake treating radio interviews like locker rooms, and Us Weekly heading the cheerleading squad.

The piece sheds a completely different light on Spears’ public breakdown in 2007 and 2008. While an interview with former MTV VJ Dave Holmes reveals how professional, friendly and focused she was on set, one the paparazzi squad talks about ducking the famous umbrella attack. Even in retrospect, he doesn’t get it. He still doesn’t think his actions, chasing the pop singer around in a car while she tended intricate family business, had anything to do with her beating on his car door with an umbrella in the middle of the night. He acknowledges Britney had told him to lay off, but the cameraman assumed the requests applied to specific moments, not forever. It makes it seem Britney had to advise the paparazzi on a case-by-case photo op basis. Who does that?

One of the highlights of the documentary comes at a big announcement of her second Las Vegas residency in early 2019. Britney, who did her share of comedy acting on Saturday Night Live, does a perfectly broad impression of a Mel Brooks late-night Tonight Show appearance. She walks onto the stage and keeps walking. It is art. It is a major statement from the fabricated pop star.

One of the sad truths the documentary inadvertently points out is a series of artistic “what might have been” scenarios. Known only as a singer and dancer, we’ve never gotten to know the singer as a musician, because everyone cared about the gossip. People dismiss Britney as a dance pop artist without thinking that dance pop is an art. In spite of its intentionally static rhythms, it is often more intricate musically than rock. Britney, the artist, never stopped looking to expand the sounds. She was one of the pioneers of dubstep, taking it from the London club scene to the tops of all international charts. The documentary shows a series of unrelentingly harrowing questions about dating, boys, and the dangers of her young feminine sexuality. At one point Britney has to respond on camera to the news that some mother in the Bible Belt wants to shoot her dead. “I’m nobody’s babysitter,” the singer mouths, ad-libbing like the young professional she is, before cameras linger a little too long.

Ultimately, The New York Times Presents gives us a horror documentary, as scary and unfathomable as The Blair Witch Project, only more chilling because it is not fiction. Even Stephen King veers from this kind of harrowing suspense. It’s a pop-up, and you have to wait for it. They don’t reveal it until the end credits, though we’ve known it from the beginning. As the producers are thanking their contributors, they mention they reached out to Britney Spears herself. She never responded. They don’t even know if she got the message. This is dramatic brilliance. It is subtle, effective, and as the final visual burning in the mind’s eye, provocatively expansive.

“Framing Britney” is worth watching for the details, the history it tells, and the history it captures inadvertently by virtue of its hybrid journalistic filmmaking. This is Millennial Media and it is fitting the subject is Britney Spears, the most iconic figure of that generation. The full-length documentary, without ever expressly proclaiming it, shows how the star is being saved by her peers. An entire community, linked with nothing but love for their favorite singer, comes together to do right by her. It’s their prerogative. K-Pop fans showed the power of their stans as political weapons. “Framing Britney” presents entirely new possibilities.

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The New York Times Presents “Framing Britney Spears” debuts Feb. 5 on FX and FX on Hulu.

The post Framing Britney Spears Review: FX Doc Is a Pop Horror Story appeared first on Den of Geek.

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melodymgill49801 · 4 years

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New York City Is in the Middle of a Filipino Pop-Up Renaissance

In a scene playing out across sidewalks all over New York City these days, the makeshift patio in front of Kabisera, a small coffee shop in Manhattan's Lower East Side, is now so bustling on the weekends that one might wonder what alternate universe the critics claiming "New York is dead" inhabit.

Over the course of the pandemic, Kabisera has become a Filipino food hub, not just for their own menu but also for a rotating cast of pop-ups that share their space. The line of people outside might be waiting for drinks from Kabisera and food from the stand on the sidewalk, as a vendor grills skewered meat over coals. To Augelyn Francisco, who owns the shop with her boyfriend Joey Payumo, Kabisera's adoption of the pop-up scene is a way to pay back the community.

Francisco started Kabisera's coffee run in April, bringing baked goods and drinks to frontline workers at dozens of hospitals using donations of food and money from the community and other businesses. Through this effort, she connected with new people and organizations, and when Kabisera began to re-open, she reached out to those new friends to offer a platform to sell their products. "It started [as] a small payback for all of our friends who have been helping us through the pandemic," she said. Through the pop-ups the shop hosts on the weekends, Francisco finds it "very beautiful" to see "how everyone here thrives from what's happening."

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The specter of being "the next big thing" has hung over Filipino food in the United States since at least 2012, when chef Andrew Zimmern shared this forecast, and it shaped how American publications have covered the cuisine ever since. It is always "up-and-coming" and just on the verge of breaking through to a white American audience, though it's never clear what's needed to tip the balance before it's no longer "the next" big thing, but simply a popular part of American dining. In New York City, it's time to stop framing Filipino food as something “on the rise,' and to firmly declare it as not only here to stay, but an integral part of the community.

With options from traditional to re-invented, affordable to high-end, meaty to plant-based, pop-up to brick-and-mortar, the Filipino food scene is growing, diversifying, and even thriving—even amid a pandemic that has hammered the restaurant industry. When it comes to pop-ups in particular, the city is in the midst of a Filipino food renaissance, with so many event options some weekends that it can be hard to figure out which one to visit.

The old school Filipino joints in Queens' Little Manila and mainstays like Jeepney and Purple Yam set a baseline for Filipino food in New York, but with that basic familiarity established, new food entrepreneurs are taking more liberties with their approach, especially through pop-ups. As newcomers have entered the Filipino pop-up scene over the past seven months, joining existing projects like Flip Eats and Woldy Kusina, they've also helped diversify the city's Filipino food.

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As one of 2,000 people laid off from Union Square Hospitality Group in March, Kimberly Camara started Kora, a doughnut pop-up that had a waiting list of 800 people as of last month. Lamon Lagok wants to expand the idea of Filipino food beyond lumpia and pancit through modern dishes paired with tiki drinks, drawing on the long history of Filipinos in the tiki scene. With dishes like chopped cheese silog, Big Papas Tapas makes "Filo-New Yerrr"-style breakfast bowls that riff on the formula of garlic rice, fried egg, and meat. The Dusky Kitchen describes its desserts as Milk Bar meets Red Ribbon, with nostalgic options like ube cheesecake with SkyFlakes saltine crumbles; The Boiis Co. makes cookies and balls of mochi. Mama Guava cooks Hawaiian Filipino food, while Sweet Angel Baby's brings Filipino cuisine to Ridgewood. You're not lacking for options if you're looking for Filipino food in New York.

It might seem like a bad time to start a food business, with the continued restrictions on indoor dining and predictions that as many as half of the city's restaurants could close permanently within the next year. But the rise of pandemic pop-ups makes sense, as Taste and Resy have explained: Without ties to establishments, cooks—especially those out of work—can be more flexible and creative, and the pop-up format makes their food easily accessible, at the same moment as diners look for new experiences.

So Sarap NYC Filipino street food pop-up outside Kabisera | Photo courtesy So Sarap

Though the pandemic initially seemed to dampen launch plans for So Sarap, a new street food pop-up, it actually forced the hand of co-founders VJ Navarro and Sebastien Shan after both were furloughed from their jobs. "We were thinking like, what better time than now?" Shan said. "We're at home doing nothing. Let's just do something." Serving barbecue skewers and fried fish balls from a curbside cart just as Navarro's father did as a street food vendor in the Philippines, So Sarap is now booked for the entire month of October, with events in Manhattan and Queens.

That's, in part, a result of So Sarap having established popularity at Kabisera. To Shan's recollection, all of So Sarap's September appearances took place at the coffee shop, as a way of giving back after Francisco and Payumo welcomed them with open arms. "I think doing pop-ups is great because it's a good way for us to help small businesses, or big businesses, that have been suffering and have been hit hard," Shan said. Though pop-ups have historically been seen as a path toward traditional establishments, pandemic pop-ups can be a survival strategy.

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The Lamon Lagok pop-up, for example, operates out of restaurants during their downtime. Though co-owners Gelo Honrade, CJ Lapid, and AJ Palomo were ready to go all in on a restaurant of their own, they chose to pursue pop-ups thanks to encouragement from the East Village Filipino restaurant Ugly Kitchen. (In a testament to the small world of New York's Filipino food community, I learned during reporting that my father knows Lamon Lagok's co-owners.) This model has worked well, and Lamon Lagok is now aiming to hold events every two weeks. "It's just the spirit of COVID and hospitality where people try to help each other out," said Lapid, a co-owner and a bartender who was briefly put out of work by the pandemic. "It's always a win-win thing for both parties: for us, for the establishment."

The logic of the "next big thing" tends to position food cultures, especially those outside immediate white American familiarity, as fleeting trends that have the spotlight only until something bigger and newer comes along. It implies that there isn't room for everything to succeed all at once, and that idea of scarcity can breed competition as people vie for the same rare, few spots. But New York's new Filipino pop-up scene is proof of a model that sees success as a shared effort, rooted in collaboration instead of competition.

The patio outside Kabisera during a pop-up event | Image courtesy Craig Nisperos

At Kabisera, Francisco helps new pop-ups by tasting the food to make sure it's good; notifying sellers of interest online so they can prepare accordingly, without food waste or hungry guests; and if there's more than one vendor at once, making sure their menus don't overlap so the pop-ups aren't at odds with each other. The idea isn't for one to be the most popular pop-up, but for all of them to drive business to each other through complementary menus. Instead of a model that puts a few projects on a pedestal at the top of the scene, this network of Filipino pop-ups is making space for more people to succeed.

"That's actually what we're [trying] to create: that it's becoming stronger and louder if we go all together as one pop-up," said Francisco. "It's hard to promote if you're a single business and you're doing a pop-up, but if you are collaborating [with] four or five pop-ups, you help each other, promote each other. It will become louder."

Follow Bettina Makalintal on Twitter.

via VICE US - Munchies VICE US - Munchies via Mom's Kitchen Recipe Network Mom's Kitchen Recipe Network

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megamikethomson · 5 years

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beatsfortheillperth · 7 years

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Words with Weirddough Part 2

Francis Zapanta aka Weirddough out of Las Vegas, USA is an all-around blessed beat-smith and individual whom inspires us to continue expressing the love here at beatsfortheill. His positive essence and compassionate ideas make listening to tracks like “flowerz” and “reup” that little bit sweeter. Not to mention how Francis makes one appreciate the ever adapting and growing beat scene of our generation with a little more integrity.

Currently studying to become a Social Worker and working on his next album Elevatormuzik pt. 2, Weirddough is a creative that is showing no signs of slowing down and we love it. Creating music that inspires a warm heart and a mellow vibe, Francis is a genuine example of musical greatness.

So relax and enjoy words part 2 with one of our favourite beat-makers here at beatsfortheill Australia.

Inspire, Love, Relate

Hey, Francis, it’s great to chat with you again, so many releases since we last had words with you. How about we start off by asking what hip-hop means to you and what inspires you most within the hip-hop scene?

Glad to be back, thank you for having me.

Aw man, it's a culture. A way of life, an art.

I've always admired it from a young age and am forever a student of it. There are so many forms of hip-hop and it branches out into so many concepts and can fuse with almost any style.

I have always loved sampling, as to where, like in hip-hop; in other elements like b-boying, or graffiti, there are rudimentary basics and fundamentals that you follow. Once you’ve got the tools down, you can freak it in your own way.

You find that formula, your own bounce and groove. I like how people express themselves in their own way, hearing their soul in their music, as an extension of themselves.

Away from music what do you spend your time doing, and what are you drawn to on a general basis?

I've had 9 to 5's, I recently worked at a poke restaurant not too long ago. I'm currently studying to take my board exam to become a licensed Social Worker and I eventually want to go back to school in the future.

For those who are new to your sound how would you describe your music and for fun which one of your tracks would you recommend one to tune into?

I would just say it's Instrumental Hip-Hop. A reflection of what I'm feeling at the time. I would recommend “how did you know” off of Love Spells.

Who are you vibing of art and life wise as off lately that you feel our readers would love?

When it comes to drawing and painting, definitely Katsuya Terada. He freestyles huge ink drawings and they're ridiculous. I just love his line quality and his style.

Check out his Instagram @katsuyaterada.

Also, Boy Kong. He is super ill. Super talented individual. He does graffiti, murals, installations, and even tattoos. I love his vibrant colour choices and the way they pop.

Check him out, his Instagram is @boykong.

There's always a book I love reading called The Law of One by Ra. It's a book written about the universe which contains exact transcripts recorded by people while they were channelling Ra, who was an extraterrestrial being from another planet that was trying to help mankind.

You’ve been linked up with beatsfortheill as a collective for a while now, but away from beatsfortheill what other collectives and labels do you represent? Can you share them with our readers and the mission each represents?

The first label which I was really surprised hit me up was Paxico Records. I had the honour of dropping a project with them. They are a movement representing so many talented artists that I listened and looked up to.

This is quoted from the website, www.paxicorecords.com:

"Rare & recent worldwide. We create works of art with their own mythology and folklore. The slow-growing, idiosyncratic collection of handmade records and art is an ongoing study of futurism and folklore realized in a series of releases. Each release is organized to show the special rapport between its audio and visual components."

I am also part of a collective out in Las Vegas called The Rabbit Hole. It's a group of producers and DJs. We tried expanding the scene out here through throwing monthly events every last Thursday of every month. Come through if you're in town!

This was taken from therabbitholelv.com:

"The Rabbit Hole holds monthly events as a music experience that takes our audience on a wild trip with performances by producers/DJs showcasing styles from left field bass, hip-hop instrumentals, and experimental beats. Our sounds are combined with live visuals by the best VJs in the city to elevate your senses and push the experience that much further. We aim to raise the community by establishing a profound music culture."

Paxico Records on Instagram @paxicorecords

The Rabbit Hole on Instagram @therabbitholelv

You’ve been creating beats for years that have inspired others to keep creating and sharing their own sounds, much love. What do you feel keeps you going within music?

At first, creating something really helped with my condition and it was a form of therapy for me. I used to reach out to other artists and told them that their music really helped me get through things when times were rough.

When other people started reaching out to me, doing the same, it felt like a synchronicity that I had to keep in momentum. It became more of a selfless ritual.

There is nothing more rewarding to me than helping others, in any way. It's more than music to me.

What gigs have you performed at that you find have ultimately helped you connect with your fan base on a deeper level? In saying that what do you love most about performing your music to a live crowd and how do you feel listeners react to your music?

The first time we performed out of state was in Arizona. The people out there are so chill and humble. It was all love that night. A real cool cat approached me and told me how my music inspired him to be a better person among other things. I almost shed a thug tear haha. That meant the world to me.

We shared so many laughs that night and now he is a real close friend. Shouts to Jamar for everything and the hospitality.

If I play an all original set that night, the best thing about it is seeing and hearing how people resonate with it. Also, playing like a 90s joint or some James Brown and seeing everyone dance and have a good time, I love that.

You released a track called Baby Steps through Paxico Records, though it’s only a minute and a half it somewhat takes the listeners on a journey through time dabbling in so many genres, basically it’s beautiful! How did Paxico Records get a hold of you and what was it like putting this track together?

Thank you. The homie Chris hit me up through Instagram and complimented me on one of my drawings. I was honored he was feeling my beats too. We eventually started chatting about doing a release and that Baby Steps joint was a track off Love Spells that dropped around Christmas 2013.

I just chopped it and tried to keep the arrangement simple and similar to the original. It was one of the last joints I made while I was working on the project.

Last time we shared words you mentioned enhale as being your favourite track that you’ve put together. A few years have passed since then and I was wondering, is enhale still your go-to or do you have a new favourite track that you’ve put together?

I think I have a different favorite haha. That itsu track off of Conversations.

I made it during the beginning stages of using the SP. I love that sample, and it was crazy because I found it online from like a radio station from the 80s that used to play funk and rare grooves.

What is your favourite part about experimenting within music and how do you feel your music has grown since we last linked up?

I feel like it's grown a lot. Just the way I approach it now, and how it sounds. I've definitely started experimenting more within my work. Also with other genres.

My favourite part about it is discovering a new technique that you didn't know before or making something out of the ordinary actually sound decent.

Messing with other genres almost made me feel like I started over again. It's refreshing to feel that hunger when you first start making music.

Staying on the topic of genre experimentation, you've been working on some new material as of lately. Stuff I was privileged to hear, you're dabbling with house music too. Can’t wait for you to release these tracks as I feel they will without a doubt take their listeners on a soul-soothing journey. In a way that I feel your new projects somewhat show an alter to your usual approach, much love. Can you share what inspired you to put your new tracks together and what message are you trying to humbly portray through your newer releases?

I just always had an idea of making something more uptempo. I originally wanted to make juke, but I had no idea how to make it. I started messing with house drums and added loops to it and it didn't sound too bad.

The other beats I shared with you are from a new project which will be a continuation of a past project. It's still in the works. I'm trying to go back to that sound I started with, in just a more evolved manner.

Have to mention your tracks “greeninblue” (that piano is so damn healing) also have to pop in your track “floating”. Those vocals literally have one upon a cloud in awe, intertwined in that subtle sax, I'm definitely refreshed with each play, much love!

Both tracks are actually available for download via your ep good juju that was released in September.

What inspired good juju as a whole and what was it like putting the tracks together for this deeply beautiful release? Also, what’s the reason for the name “good juju”?

When I was working on stuff at that time, it was a bit after I started sampling some newer music, like after the 2010s, and I eventually made a few songs that sounded kind of cohesive. I struggled with coming up with a title for the longest time and that delayed the release haha.

Then I remembered a time when I was in the hospital, another patients and I were on a smoke break. Someone did something that was off in etiquette, and the dude said, "Nah, that's bad juju. Do it this way for good juju."

After he said that I always liked the phrase and what it encompassed. I felt like saying it, portrayed it nicely, and I wanted the project to reflect good karma, fortune, and luck.

good juju - released September 1, 2016

Over the years what have you learned most about collaborating with other like-minded artists? With more years of experience behind you, what do you feel you enjoy most about the process as of now?

I have learned that collaborating is not for everyone haha. I'm honestly not consistent with collabs, but when it works out it's amazing. I love how each person's flavour is in the collab, and if you flow together it ends up sounding like the best version of each artist. Sometimes, you get surprised like, "Damn, I wouldn't have thought of that." And you always learn new methods from one another.

Any gigs or new release coming up that we should keep an eye out for?

A record with the Virginia rapper DooF will be coming out on vinyl. The gawd KVMI and I will be dropping a collab tape in the near future. Also, that solo project I mentioned earlier will be coming out this year.

Be sure to cop the Fuzzoscope Earwax Shelf Life Compilation that recently came out. Available in digital, cassette, and vinyl: https://fuzzoscope.bandcamp.com/

The next event I will be playing will be a Rabbit Hole Show on June 24th with artists Cecil Purihin, Illathnmst, Linafornia, and Samiyam at the Bunkhouse Saloon, Downtown Las Vegas. You don't wanna miss this!!

Musical Inspirations?

My all-time favorite producer is KanKick. His album "Acid Massive Musical" inspired me to make beats.

Everyone from Oxnard, Madlib, Oh No, etc. Everyone in Green Llama, Dibia$e, selfish., Van45, Fluent, etc. Luke Vibert, Boards of Canada, Inland Knights. Kool G Rap, Black Moon, Cru. There's so many.

Newer producers like Ohbliv, Mndsgn, Devonwho, and LowKey that's also in Green Llama. This kid is the truth!! So young, and such a beast.

Everyone at Paxico and Dirty Tapes, I really love what they're doing. My local homies, Bhonstro, Oneonthebeat, Lwkylky, Mayneframe, Jeb, Supreme-O, Mute, PhillyZane, Monro, somanyfeels, david.cuf, shouts to the family.

Thelonious Monk is my favorite pianist because his style was so unorthodox. I can go on, I'll stop now aha.

Music Recommendations?

If you haven't heard of him, check out Roddy Rod. He's crazy on the chops.

Benny B. Blonco! His kicks shifted my lungs.

Van45, he's super slept on. He used to go by Varan back in the Myspace days, he was one of my favorite producers when I started.

Shouts to the homie lastnamedavid, he put me on to Steve Lacy who is the guitarist for The Internet. He recently came out with a project called Steve Lacy's Demo It won't disappoint.

Any Last words?

Thank you again for having me. Shouts to beatsfortheill and much love to you Sophie. I appreciate the opportunity.

Thank you to all my listeners and supporters, you keep me going. I love all of you.

Shouts to the music homies online, hope to meet you all one day. You know who you are.

Love to my family and friends out here in Vegas. Always got my back no matter what.

Special shoutout to the wifey Shana. She hasn't left me yet hahaha just playing. You're all the support I need, thank you for supporting me with everything and helping me be a better person. I love you.

Shouts to you for reading this, I enjoyed this time.

Hope you have a great day.

Much love and many blessings! Peace!

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fromhollywoodtobollywood · 7 years

Photo

Alright, people my first Bollywood movie is...

Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998) dir. Karan Johar

This movie is...a lot of things. It is three hours long so lots of shit goes down. I struggle trying to fit this in to a typical 3-Act Hollywood screenplay structure because it feels like two movies in one. If it were released in the US, the second half would be released a year later as a sequel to the first. But I digress...Let’s begin.

The story opens with Rahul (Shah Rukh Khan) and his wife, Tina (Rani Mukerji). They are in love! They are married! They are having a baby! It’s a girl! But tragedy strikes. Shortly after Tina gives birth, a doctor informs Rahul that she is suffering from severe internal bleeding. Internal bleeding that she somehow knew was going to happen? I’m pretty sure that’s not how internal bleeding works. Anyway, even though this woman is “profusely bleeding” (doctor’s words) on the inside, she still has the composure and stamina to say proper goodbyes to her husband and write a series of letters to her baby daughter (to be given to her each year on her birthday). I realize if I don’t suspend my disbelief, I may not get though the first 20 minutes of this movie. But seriously, they can’t find a medical consultant in India? I’m Indian, and I can name five MDs in my family. Back to the story: Tina makes her husband promise two things: One, that he will never cry because he looks ugly when he does. That’s going to be fantastic for his toxic sense of masculinity. And two: That they name their baby daughter Anjali. It’s a perfectly normal promise and a cute name. Anyway, she dies, he ugly-cries and we are transported to...

MUMBAI, 8 Years Later (I’m assuming this is 1998 based on the year the film was released)

Anjali (Sana Saeed) is now a super-cute kid on the eve of her 8th birthday. While it’s never established what Rahul does for a living, he’s pretty loaded by any standard. 8-year-old Anjali has a camcorder in her room and her own TV with MTV India. In her spare time, she pretends to be an MTV VJ like Neelam. Anjali speaks a charming mixture of Hindi and English that she clearly learned from MTV. She says things like “I’ll be back next week: Same time, same place.” Anjali loves chocolates and wants to be a VJ when she grows up. The character of Anjali is approximately my age so by the time she’s old enough, MTV won’t have VJs, it’ll just be Teen Moms. BUT ANYWAY, she leaves the house to meet her dad on a bridge and this is where things get a little...freudian. Her father is two hours late to meet her (so this little kid has been standing alone in the middle of Mumbai for two hours). When he sees her, he tries to win back her good graces with flowers, chocolates, and a teddy bear like a fuckboy who forgot it was Valentine’s Day and ran to CVS. In this moment, his daughter says she is “tired” of having to be his daughter and his wife (because she picks out his clothes). He responds with “Well, if I have to be your mom AND dad, then you can...” He doesn’t finish the thought because it’s creepy as fuck. But they quickly apologize, do a cute handshake thing, and head home. At home they run in to Grandma (Farida Jalal) who is leading a Hindu Bahjan group of older ladies. She is very pious and has the same shruti machine as my grandmother. Anjali runs in and greets her Grandmother with a TOTALLY APPROPRIATE “Hi, sexy!” greeting. If I had done this to my grandmother (during bhajans, no less) she would have smacked me. Seriously, why is this kid allowed to have MTV in her room?

We then see a speech competition at Anjali’s school where kids are given a random word and have to speak extemporaneously on that subject for one minute. It’s weird but at this point, not the strangest thing that’s happened in this movie. Anjali is pitted against a girl named Jasminder (like ‘Bend it Like Beckham”!) and of COURSE the word Anjali gets is “Mother.” She begins to cry on stage when her dad steps on stage and basically does her speech for her because she is sad. The audience thinks this is adorable and he gets a standing ovation. We return to Rahul’s mansion where he plays basketball inside near one of those Beyoncé hair fans. This house is off the chain. His mother implores him to get re-married for the sake of his happiness and Anjali’s. Rahul insists that love and marriage are something that only happen once in a lifetime. He also says Anjali is alright because she has the letters from her mother. Sure. Because a birthday letter totally makes up for not having a mom.

The next morning, Anjali awakes on her birthday in her truly spectacular bedroom (seriously, what does Rahul do for a living?) and runs down stairs to a stack of presents that would make Dudley Dursley jealous. She pushes all the presents aside to find the letter from her mother. In a voice over, her mother says that this year’s letter will be different from the past. This year, her mother is going to tell her a story about Rahul, Tina, and someone named Anjali. Hashtag, intrigue.

FLASHBACK to Xavier College in the late 1980s

Rahul (still Shah Rukh Khan…they didn’t pull a Chandler Bing/Zac Efron thing here) is playing basketball flirtatiously with a young woman named…Anjali (Kajol.) OG Anjali is smart, funny, and a fantastic athlete (although nothing they do resembles real basketball). However, we KNOW she can’t be taken seriously as a love interest for Rahul because she has short hair and dresses like a combination of Sporty Spice and Dennis the Menace.

A few words about the fashion choices in this film: Although this is supposed to be the 1980s, everyone is dressed like it’s the late 90s. Rahul runs around campus in that GAP sweatshirt and Ralph Lauren rugby shirts that were ubiquitous in the late 1990s. OG Anjali wears a lot of cute but anachronistic, DKNY, Adidas, and Nike separates. No one wears a mullet, no one has feathered/permed hair, nobody’s jeans are acid washed. I have no problem with flashbacks in movies but the fashion and hairstyling make it seem like this is still 1998. Also, does Bollywood have a pass when it comes to showing licensed products and characters? So far I’ve seen a Tweety Bird, a Coke logo, a Pepsi machine, and a background character carrying a Mickey Mouse binder. It doesn’t feel like intentional product placement and I wonder how they got away with this.

Back to OG Anjali and Rahul. While they play “basketball” one accuses the other of cheating and they get in a fight. This brings us to our first SONG AND DANCE BREAK. Honestly, this is why I signed up for watching Bollywood movies. Unfortunately, there are no subtitles for the songs so I can only guess what they are about based on context clues. This one appears to be about Rahul and Anjali’s basketball fight which happened in private but is discussed on the campus radio station. So Anjali dances with her friends, Rahul dances with his and by the end of the song, they are friends again. The song has a fun beat and the choreography is pretty on point. This is probably the second most musically talented school after East High (What team? WILDCATS!). This song would have worked really well as a stand-alone music video and single but of course, this is Bollywood/India so a song can't just be a song.

We return to campus as usual where the principal (Anupam Kher) is waging a war on short skirts. Meanwhile, he ogles a particularly attractive member of the faculty (and so do the male students). I want to take this moment to say that while Hollywood films aren’t always *great* in regards to how they treat the female body, there is something particularly noxious about the male gaze in this film. Sexually objectifying a student or a teacher is just a fun, quirky thing the men in this movie do. It’s especially troubling to think about how Bollywood portrayals of this type of harassment influence Indian gender politics. If anyone has a suggestion for a Bollywood movie where women are visually treated with respect, please let me know. BUT ANYWAY, the actor who plays the principal is actually someone I recognized from playing the dad in “Bend it Like Beckham” and the dad in “Bride and Prejudice.” When I looked him up on IMDB, I learned he is probably the most prolific working actor in the world. Dude has THREE HUNDRED AND NINETY ONE acting credits to his name. Congrats on the career, man. He is happily talking to OG Anjali, a good student and a “good girl” who doesn’t wear short skirts like “other girls” (kill me, please). Principal Malhotra mentions that his daughter (who lives in London but somehow goes to Oxford) is going to do her final year of college at Xavier.

When we meet Principal Malhotra’s daughter she is none other than Tina, (Rani Mukerji) Little Anjali’s mom. We can tell Rahul is into her because there is music and he stops flirting with another woman when she walks in the room. We all know he eventually marries her and fathers her child so this meet-cute is a little anti-climactic. The real magic happens when OG Anjali meets Tina. Seriously, these two share some LOOKS and have some palpable sexual chemistry. If homosexuality weren’t literally a crime in India, I’d like to see these two in a rom com about how they fall in love and scam Shah Rukh Khan for his sperm so they can raise their daughter away from the ever-present male gaze. They have more chemistry with each other than either of them has with Rahul. I’m shipping this so hard and it’s not going to happen.

On campus, Tina faces a very specific form of harassment. Since she dresses modestly, is conventionally attractive, and the principal’s daughter, she is not openly catcalled the way other female students are but Rahul and his bros (in a pretty shitty flirting attempt) ask her to “prove” she’s “Indian enough” by singing in Hindi. Apparently, because she lives in the UK, that means she’s westernized and no longer “Indian.” There is so much wrong with this that I simply cannot. Sorry, that’s the westernized white girl in me talking. In all seriousness, Rahul is supposed to be the campus Cassanova and his idea of flirting is making a woman publicly “prove” her cultural identity. It is hella problematic #notwoke. Tina slays her rendition her rendition of “Om Jai Jagdish Hare.” This is a song sung during Aarti at Hindu prayers. Even I, a culturally beige-washed American, know the chorus and a few verses of this song because if I didn’t sing a long and stay for Aarti, I didn’t get ladoo and ladoo is delicious.

Now we get to the structural problems with this script. A half an hour passes with that is pertinent to the plot of the film. There is a student talent show that is completely irrelevant to the overall plot of the film and simply another excuse for a song and dance. It’s a great song. If they played this at a party, I would not be mad. Tina, Rahul, and OG Anjali essentially improv a full performance and it goes over like gangbusters. It also seems to be an excuse to dress Tina and OG Anjali like 2/5ths of The Spice Girls. Tina is Posh. OG Anjali is a strange mixture of Sporty and Baby. Again, a fun song but would work better as a single. The title song of this film is set among the ruins of a Scottish castle (seriously). For all the shit Rahul gave Tina for going to school in the UK, he seems super content wearing his GAP sweatshirt while singing and dancing in the land of his colonialist oppressor. Sadly, the title song is the least catchy of the film and doesn’t seem to make much sense. Are they all having the same dream about Scotland? Is it a paid advertisement for popular athletic brands of the 1990s? Is it a political statement about India, Scotland, and British colonialism? Who the fuck knows.

We finally come to an important plot point. In an English class taught by the sexually subversive faculty member who wears miniskirts, the students are reading Romeo and Juliet. TANGENT: The professor’s notes on Romeo and Juliet are covered in pictures of Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes. These are licensed images from the 1996 film. How did this get past Baz Luhrmann’s lawyers? Tangent aside, instead of asking the students specific questions about the text (or movie), she poses the super deep question: What is love? *insert “A Night at The Roxbury” reference here* Really? What is love? Poor Tina. She left Oxford for this? Rahul answers the question with the level of intellect and sophistication we come to expect from him. He says “love is friendship” causing both Tina and OG Anjali to believe that he is in love with his best friend, OG Anjali. We know this is not true because Tina and OG Anjali are the real love story of this movie. WHY ELSE WOULD SHE NAME HER DAUGHTER AFTER HER?

At this point, OG Anjali believes she has feelings for Rahul and becomes weepy-eyed. When she goes to him to confess her feelings in a wheat field (as one does), he greets her with a confession of love. He then retracts it without giving her a chance to respond and says he was just practicing for when he plans to tell Tina. This guy is the goddamned worst. Why are we supposed to like him, again? OG Anjali responds to this the way any intelligent, self-possessed woman would: By dropping out of college. Rahul and Tina are upset and try to get her to get off the train. She does not. Cool. Way to make a great life decision. Which brings us back to…

LITTLE ANJALI CRYING WHILE READING THIS IN A LETTER. Remember Little Anjali? It’s her birthday? She somehow managed to be a sweet kid despite being raised by MTV and a borderline negligent father. This is the halfway point in the film. Seriously, this shit is only half over.

It’s now up to Little Anjali to reunite her father and her namesake. She decides to play a word-association game she learned by watching MTV-India to get more background information on OG Anjali. This misguided little girl starts the game by jumping on her father’s back and asking him what word he thinks of when he thinks of the word “sexy”. She says this while on his back. The visual isn’t great. Rahul responds to the “sexy” prompt with the name of HIS MOTHER. This family needs some serious therapy or they are tip-toeing treacherously close to Greek Tragedy territory. Anyway, when she says “Anjali”, he responds with “Sharma” (OG Anajli’s last name). While this seems farfetched that he’d say her last name when his own daughter Anjali is being carried on his back, it’s is not even the most bizarre thing to happen in the last five minutes of this movie.

Little Anjali and the grandmother ask more questions about Anjali Sharma. Rahul says she was his best friend in college. He explains that OG Anjali “wasn’t like other girls” because she enjoyed sports and didn’t “wear make up or short skirts.” “She was one of the guys,” he explains with a smile. I’m starting to think that OG Anjali is just the Bollywood iteration of the Hollywood “cool girl.” I want to take this moment to say that not all American exports are good. Sure, we may have given the world Diet Coke and “Hamilton” but this concept of the female lead who is “not like other girls” is hashtag problematic as hell. “Not like other girls” implies that it is somehow better to be in the company of men and masculinity than it is to be among things and people deemed “feminine.” While it’s on the surface empowering, it’s underlying message is steeped in outdated and patriarchy perpetuating myths about gender. Additionally, no girl is like all “other girls” because women and girls make up 3.5 billion people worldwide. Each girl and woman has her own interests, passions, and opinions that make her unique. It makes me truly sad to see other cultures adopt this “not like other girls concept” and use it to propagate problematic gender norms in their own societies.

That last paragraph was brought to you by my Seven Sisters education. Back to Kuch Kuch Hota Hai- Rahul, his mother, and Little Anjali head back to Xavier College to see Tina’s father on the anniversary of her death. While there, they decide to look up Anjali Sharma. Principal Malhotra says that he knows someone who might be able to help. Rifat Bi, the housemother of the girls dormitory remembers every student and as it turns out is still in touch with Anjali.

A note about Rifat Bi: She is a devout Muslim woman and when she is introduced, the Muslim call to prayer is used as background music. I am ashamed to say that as an Indian-American raised in an increasingly Islamophobic society, I heard that music and got scared-like white lady walking through Compton scared. I thought some “Homeland” shit was about to go down. And I’m a liberal! I voted and volunteered for Hillary! But as ashamed as it made me feel to feel fear upon hearing “Allah u Akbar,” I used this as an opportunity to challenge my Islamophobic assumptions. Rifat is a helpful and kind woman who does what she can to help the Khanna family find OG Anjali. When she gets a phone call that OG Anjali is engaged, she tearfully tells the family the news. At this point, Little Anjali (instead of crying) puts on a hijab and sits on a prayer mat. Although this plot point is Kellyanne Conway level ridiculous, it’s actually a very earnest expression of interfaith prayer and a rare positive portrayal of Islam. While little Anjali prays, Rifat gets another phone call to say Anjali’s wedding has been postponed until December because of astrology.

So what has become of OG Anjali? Well, she’s engaged to an NRI (that’s Non-Resident Indian) who lives/works in London. Her fiancé is a man and I was a little bummed by that (sigh, India). OG Anjali now presents herself in a more traditionally feminine way. Now when we see her, her hair is long, her eyebrows threaded, and she is wearing…makeup. Granted, it is her engagement party but she doesn’t go back to wearing track pants or jeans for the rest of the film. I guess now that she has feminized herself in a traditionally Indian way, she’s the focal point of this second-half love triangle. Her fiancé, Aman Mehra (Salman Khan) seems like a cool dude and he and his bros have some sick dance moves. If Pinterest existed in India in 1998, pictures and video of this scene would have been a bigger wedding trend than mason jars. Aman is also infinitely more watchable, charismatic, and attractive than Shah Rukh Khan. He is not quite the match for OG Anjali that Tina was but she’s dead and nobody’s perfect.

OG Anjali wants to take some time while Aman goes back to London to teach singing/dancing to kids at a summer camp. Little Anjali finds out about this by calling the engagement venue and eavesdropping on the conversation OG Anjali and Aman have about the camp. With new knowledge about the summer camp, Anjali begs her dad to go. He says absolutely not because she has never shown any interest in singing or dancing. Really? This kid watches MTV all day Does Rahul know nothing about his kid? God, he’s the worst. Rahul leaves on an “Exporter’s Trip” (so he’s an “exporter”...is that a job? whatever) to London leaving Little Anjali in the care of her grandmother. While he is at the conference he runs in to Aman and there is a bit of confusion with the phones when both Anjalis call at the same time. The men share a laugh before telling the other “best of luck with your Anjali.” Get it? Because women are property!

Little Anjali and her grandmother use this opportunity to escape to OG Anjali’s summer camp. Gotta hand it to Little Anjali for enlisting adult help. If this were a Hollywood film, she would have stolen her dad’s credit card number (I’m looking at you, “Sleepless in Seattle”). Anjali and her grandmother head to the camp and it’s actually pretty cute. Mrs. Khanna schools the Anglophile camp director on colonialism and goes as far as to dismantle his portrait of Elizabeth I. Honestly, I’d like to watch a movie about an Indian grandmother dismantling colonialist symbols and taking back her power but alas, this is as fruitless as wishing for a queer romance in a Bollywood film. Meanwhile, Little Anjali meets her name sake while dressed like a “Dora the Explorer” cosplayer. Rahul (Parent of the Fucking Century) decides to use MTV to reach out to his daughter and says “Anjali, I miss you, please come home.” OG Anjali hears this and briefly thinks Rahul is talking about her. In that moment, she realizes Little Anjali is Tina and Rahul’s daughter. OG Anjali cries dramatically upon seeing the picture of Tina that Little Anjali sleeps with. Shortly after the identities are revealed, Little Anjali leaves a message for her father with the sound of her sneezing and he runs dramatically to the camp. Remember, this is the same man who left his child to wander the streets of Mumbai for two hours.

Rahul arrives at the camp while the children are singing “Ragupati Raghava Rajaram”-a song I sang every morning as a child. Unlike my childhood prayer, this song has a dance floor beat. I think you could probably play this at The Abbey in West Hollywood and it would be a hit. If I heard this version while sipping a G&T and talking to my new best friend about the red carpet at Cannes, I’d be weirded out in the best possible way. Rahul walks in just in time for ladoo (sweet timing, dude) and calls for Anjali. Both his daughter and his love interest respond-that’s not a Freudian nightmare at all. OG Anjali and share a cinematic moment. Rahul decides to just stay at the camp with his daughter and mother while they sing dance out some feelings of unrequited love and play “basketball.” Little Anjali is finally able to show off her singing and dancing skills. Girl has some skills. All that MTV has really paid off. All these background kids are seriously talented dancers. I can only imagine how good Disney Channel India is.

This is where things get *dramatic* again. OG Anjali remembers she is still engaged to Aman and leaves the camp in tears. A little boy in a turban who hasn’t talked before, cries and tells her not to leave. When Rahul sees OG Anjali leaving he hands her the scarf she was wearing the day she left college. Has he really had it this whole time? Also there are a ton of continuity errors with OG Anjali’s engagement ring-sometimes it’s garnet and others times it’s diamond. Is there no one whose job it is to check for these things? There are so many poor, unemployed people in India. Bollywood could solve a lot of problems if they hired some people to spot and avoid blatant continuity errors. Economics lecture aside, it starts to rain and who shows up but Aman saying he loves OG Anjali and is ready to get married because fuck astrology. Little Anjali and Rahul look distressed.

Little Anjali decides to try a little reverse psychology with Aman. She tells him that he is a very handsome man and could have any woman he would want. Why would he want to marry OG Anjali? God, she’s going to be a monstrous teenager. Aman (jokingly) goes along with what Little Anjali is saying. He says he is handsome and doesn’t have to settle for someone “dark and fat.” Way to reenforce colorism and body shaming, Bollywood. It’s not enough that this movie takes place in India and no one has a “dusky” complexion but let’s throw a little fat shaming in there as well. Nonetheless, Fair and Lovely ™ Aman says that he loves OG Anjali and is ready to get married.

At the wedding, OG Anjali can’t stop crying/thinking about Rahul and Little Anjali. When she comes down the stairs, Aman sees the distress in her face and lets her go. He tells her that he wants her to be happy even if it’s not with him. Besides, he says someone told him “he could have any woman he wants” and shoots Little Anjali a smile. This guy seems genuinely jazzed to be not getting married despite declaring his love in the rain just before this. Rahul and OG Anjali tearfully embrace and it’s assumed they end up together. Little Anjali cries tears of joy while wearing casual western wear. There is no way in hell I could have worn anything other than Indian clothes to someone’s fancy wedding. Little Anjali and Aman lead a pretty solid dance at the not wedding. A farfetched idea but hey, the choreography is on point-a pretty accurate description of the film as a whole.

#kuch kuch hota hai #bollywood #movie review #hollywood #indian #diaspora #american born desi

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eyez-ff-blog · 7 years

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○○ eyez | fifty-three

March 22 – New York City

The Italian spot in Tribeca was a frequent spot for the Coles in which their memories there date all the way back back to the early recesses of their friendship; Beija could pack some plates away when she chose to, and with Jermaine being a bottomless pit that would try a multitude of things at least once, she all but dragged him to Pepolino when he notified her that he had never been. She could remember back in her years at NYU where her roommate introduced her to the place. It was expensive to most kids in college, but it was always worth every penny. Ever since she had introduced J to the place, he took her there whenever he could. After-studio dinners and quiet weekend getaways always consisted of their favorite seat by the window and a shared plate of pasta and all the peach tea their waiter or waitress could bring over to the table.

Every time they came back to the city and to this restaurant specifically, Beija was reminded of little things that made her fall in love with Jermaine without even knowing it. They’d sit and talk about every and anything, from the heated debates about the past election—she still didn’t truly understand why he wanted Bernie Sanders to win the Democratic nomination over Hilary Clinton—to the daydreaming they indulged in together, just happy about living in the now and hoping for the best in the future. His intelligence was attractive and his attentiveness to the things she said was touching. Now every time she thought about the restaurant, she realized that it was just their thing that they had. It was one of those foundation blocks that led to a strong friendship which would lead into a roller coaster of a love story.

Even now as she sat at the table across from her husband, she couldn’t keep her eyes off him as her mind jumped from subject to subject. She wasn’t even supposed to be eating pasta—she had put herself on a strict diet while she was pregnant, but Jermaine insisted she ‘splurged’ since they were in their city and embarking on a great feat in two days. The festival that Beija put together was all but complete in planning, and now all that needed to be done was to have it. “Dreamville Presents: The Block Party,” it was called, and featured a weekend of star-studded performances. The festival was actually already in motion—as they sat and ate, tons of teenagers and young adults alike were enjoying a guest list of electronic, dance, and alternative artists with Zeus and Whitney sharing the top billing with The Weeknd. Saturday would be a pure soul lineup full of Neo-Soul, Jazz and easy listening artists that catered to the older crowd. And Sunday would be the final day filled with mega-stars, from Rihanna, Beyoncé, Jay-Z, and Jermaine as the largest artists to perform. Beija was listening to the radio earlier and heard the commercial spot for the event, and the radio VJ notified the public that the festival was being hosted by ‘Grammy Award winning rapper, J. Cole.’

She still beamed in pride at the thought of it.

Grammy weekend was probably one of the most overwhelming of Beija’s life, and she had nothing to do with it personally. She was nervous for Jermaine down to the last second on the clock, so to see him finally nab the awards were nothing short of amazing. She felt like she had a hand in witnessing nearly every step of his long-running career from being a fan to being his partner in both business and pleasure—it was like watching a movie and finally seeing the triumphant end. But she knew it was far from the end of his career and the things that would come from it. She always believed in his potential even when she never knew him, and it wouldn’t change. But as often as she thought about how well he was doing in his career, she thought about her own. She had so many things going on and so much success falling before her feet that she was hoping that she could keep up with herself, let alone him. With the added roles of being a wife and a mother, her uncertainty was always a nagging part of her thoughts. And now with her second child to be due in the summer, she still had her worries both emotional and logical...

“J, I think we should get a bigger house,” Jermaine glanced up from his plate of Tagliolini Al Limone, and he licked his lips briefly before he squinted his eyes in questioning. He grabbed his glass of peach tea and downed it, allowing B’s request to truly register. Beija slightly furrowed her eyebrows at his silence before she used the fork in her hand to push a portion of Penne Con Zucca e Ricotta across her plate. “I mean, I was just thinking about it. With the new baby coming, we have no space. Niya is still fairly young and I don’t want them cramped up in one room together, especially when she’s about to be two,” She explained.

“Okay,” He said before he ran a hand over his hair. He rested the hand upon the back of his head before he leaned back against the plush seat of the booth. “So what do you suggest? Or where, for that matter?” He asked.

“Maybe we can...come back here? There’s plenty homes in the outskirts of the city, then if we ever want to come in town it’s a short ride. Or we can go to Jersey since Ib and Nicole just moved with the girls,” She explained.

“True. There’s an option. Or maybe we could go down to Texas? There’s probably plenty of homes out there, and we can be close to the family,” Jermaine suggested, and Beija nodded as she stared down at her food. “You okay?”

“Yeah,” Beija said softly before she glanced up at him. “I’ve been thinking about it, but I also don’t really want to leave our home. I like where we live—we have nice neighbors, we’ve made friends, and plus...you bought that place for me,” She said, and his questioning expression softened a bit. “We found about Niya in that house...you proposed to me in that house. A part of me feels guilty for asking for more when you’ve given me so much already. And I think I’m also being super sentimental,” She shrugged.

“And you know that’s okay, right?” She twisted her lips to the side as a means to disagree, but she knew she really couldn’t; her silence confirmed that. “I’m gonna miss that place too but you’re right about us needing more space. Plus, you really need an office space and although I said I didn’t want to have a recording studio in the house, I might need it for whenever I decide to make another album. I don’t wanna be away so much and have you alone to take care of the kids,” He said. “We’re just gonna have to bite the bullet and get it done. And it will be fine, just like when we moved the first time.” She felt his hand cover hers, and she glanced up to see his eyes on her. “And I don’t want you to feel guilty—you’re not asking out of greed, baby. It’s a logical reason why you asked. Plus, you know I kinda like spoiling you,” He smirked, causing her to chuckle a bit.

“Yeah...alright, alright. I don’t know why I’m being all emotional when I suggested it,” Beija’s chuckle evolved into a soft laugh as J reached over to playfully nudge her cheek. “But go ahead and call Gina, let her know we’ll be back at the hotel soon. I can’t eat another bite,” She pushed her plate away from her.

“I told you to just let us share a plate but your greedy ass just had to have something to yourself,” J teased before letting out a low chuckle.

“Fuck off, because look at how much you ate,” Beija gestured to his nearly empty plate. “I wouldn’t have even gotten half if we shared so hush,” She pouted as she waved over the waiter that was serving them.

Once their bill was paid for and their takeout boxes were filled with leftover food and the lemon tart that Beija bought at the last minute, they headed back towards their ‘vacation apartment;’ after staying in it back in October, Jermaine decided to go ahead and set up a long-term lease for when they had to be within the city. It would prove to be a bit cheaper and more convenient than booking a hotel and now that Ibrahim and Nicole had moved out of the city to Jersey, there was no guest room to bum in. Beija figured it all worked out, but now her mind was clouded with what she would be looking for in a permanent home. She had to make sure it was a lively enough city with a nice neighborhood and proper schools...so much to do, so little time.

When the couple returned to the apartment, Beija could hear Janiya playing with Gina in one of the bedrooms, her childish laughter echoing through the house. “Niya?” She called out, and she heard a sudden flurry of small footsteps.

“Hi!” Janiya greeted her mother warmly as she stopped at the kitchen island, slowing her stride before she walked over to Beija, gently taking the woman’s hand with both of her own.

“I brought you home some pasta, and a treat we can have later,” She watched as Jermaine picked Niya off of the ground, and she smiled warmly at Gina once she laid eyes upon her.

“Were you good for Miss Gina?” J asked, and Niya nodded as she blew a raspberry on his cheek.

“Oh, she’s always good!” Gina laughed a bit as Beija began to rummage through her purse to find her wallet. “She just woke up from a nap not too long ago, so she’ll be up for a little bit,” Beija handed the woman the proper payment before the two shared a quick hug. “I’ll see you guys on Sunday,” She said.

“Gotcha,” Beija let the woman out before closing and locking the door. She slowly walked to the fridge and placed the leftover food inside before she sat her purse on the nearby barstool. “Ugh, my feet are killing me. They never hurt this bad when I had Niy,” She complained as she sat down on the couch.

“They say pregnancy symptoms differ every time. This might just be a new thing,” J said as Niya reached to rub Beija’s belly slowly.

“Belly,” Janiya said before she looked back, and rubbed J’s stomach as well, causing Beija to let out a loud laugh.

“Oh my God—baby don’t bother daddy like that,” B shook her head as she heard the faint vibration of her phone. “J, get that for me?” She requested, and she watched as J grabbed her phone out of his purse, glancing at the caller ID before picking up the phone.

“Hello? ...What’s up, Kieran?” Jermaine relaxed in his seat on the couch as he watched Janiya climb onto him, laying against his stomach comfortably. “She’s sitting right here. Yeah...what?” His tense voice made B sit up a bit straighter, and she watched her husband closely as he listened to her brother over the phone. “Okay. We can come after the show on Sunday. Don’t worry about me, traveling after a show isn’t new. Alright. Love you too,” He hung up, and sighed as he passed Beija her phone.

“What’s wrong?” She asked as she tilted her head.

“Your father’s in the hospital,” He announced, and Beija’s face paled as she felt her stomach turn. She couldn’t immediately respond verbally, but her body was already in motion as she peeled herself off the couch. “B?”

“I have to go,” Beija said softly as she walked towards the bedroom. “You can come after the show, but I need to be there tonight. I’ll get me and Niya a ticket,” As she spoke, she was already shuffling through the closet and dressers to try to pack some clothes.

“Are you sure—...?” Beija was sure Jermaine had more to say but her head wasn’t clear enough to decipher what he had told her. He must have gotten the message, because soon she could feel his presence and saw him helping her pack her things. She was pretty frightened about traveling alone with a small child and being pregnant all at once, but she needed to be with her family.

Beija was able to get two tickets to Houston on a one-way flight, and the whole way there she felt jittery and out of place in comparison to how she had been for the past couple of months. Of course she had her down days, but for the most part she was able to stay emotionally stable. But now she seemed to be so stuck in her thoughts as she flew across the country. She had to wonder what happened to Mekhi or what could be ailing him. He was the picture of decent health for as long as she could remember, and he went to the doctor faithfully to make sure that he stayed that way. So how did he end up in the hospital? She was just hoping he was okay.

Once they got off of the plane, Beija went to pick up she and Janiya’s bags before she led the little girl through the airport. “Mama...hungry,” Niya said softly, and Beija nodded as she glanced down at the girl.

“I know, baby. We can get some food when we get with Uncle ‘Quis,” She said, and she glanced up as they headed outside to where the ‘car pickup’ area was located. She saw Marquis waiting on them, and she approached him before they shared a hug.

“Here, I’ll get your bags,” Marquis grabbed the girls’ luggage and put it in the back of his car before he came around to pick Niya off the ground. “How’s my baby?” He asked as he kissed her forehead.

“Hungry,” Niya answered, and he chuckled as he nodded, opening up the back door.

“We can get some chicken nuggets, alright? Then we’re gonna go see pawpaw,” He said as he helped Niya into the booster seat he had set up in the backseat. Once he got her in the car, he helped Beija in the front before he got in and drove away from the curb. “How was the flight?” He asked as he began his departure from the airport area, making his way towards the freeway.

“Long and tiring. What happened to dad? Is he okay?” Beija asked, and Marquis shrugged as he sighed.

“They’re not entirely sure what happened yet—I know mama found him passed out on the floor, and they took him to the emergency room,” He explained, and Beija sighed as she sank into her seat. “They’ve still got him in the ICU, so you came at a good time,” He mumbled as he kept his eyes on the road.

“I don’t understand. Dad’s always been so careful about his health. He stopped smoking, he barely drinks anymore, always goes to the doctor—what could it be?” B sat back in the seat as she tried to think things over.

“You know, it could just be old age. You know he and mama are getting up there, so for all we know it could just be exhaustion,” Marquis sighed a bit before he tapped his fingers against the wheel. “At least, I hope that’s all it is.”

After getting Janiya some food to eat, the three headed up to the hospital downtown, heading towards the waiting room where everyone was waiting. As soon as Janiya saw Alisha, the girl broke from Beija’s grip and ran towards her. “Nana,” She called out.

“Oh hi, baby,” Alisha scooped Niya into her arms and kissed her cheek softly before she glanced up at Beija, smiling softly. B could see the redness in her mother’s eyes and it was no doubt that she had been crying. “Thank you for coming. I know you had work this weekend,” She said.

“Work comes second to this,” Beija said as she sat down next to her. “J would be here too if not for the fact that he’s performing on Sunday. He’ll be here after though,” She explained.

“I understand,” Alisha softly bounced Niya on her lap as she spoke. “So, they are still trying to figure out what happened to him. The doctor said it would be another 30 minutes,” She explained, and Beija nodded as she stared down at her feet.

“I don’t understand,” Beija mumbled.

“I don’t either,” Alisha agreed.

Within that half hour, Beija had pretty much did all she could to keep her mind off what may had been wrong with her father. Between attending to Janiya’s needs and answering Jermaine’s frequent texts she didn’t have to make much of an effort to keep her mind clear. But every so often she kept circling back to the same thought—she just couldn’t understand this. Mekhi was the healthiest man she knew, and despite the health history of his family he made sure to keep up with himself. For a man his age he was pretty in shape much like Alisha was, so this was a shock for everyone. She was sure that everyone was straying away from the worst case scenario, but Beija couldn’t help but be afraid. She was certain that if worst came to worst that she’d suffer far more than when Rashaad was murdered. Her brother’s removal from the earth was quick and forceful, but if Mekhi was going through something serious, his potential removal would be slow and torturous. Beija would have to watch him die if that was in the cards, and she wasn’t sure if she could take that.

Every time a nurse came into the waiting area Beija seemed to tense a bit, not knowing when it’d be a nurse beckoning for Alisha to tell her whatever news there was to be bestowed upon the family. It was probably unhealthy to be so would up, but she couldn’t help but to worry about her father. “Alisha Demarco?” One of the nurses came into the room.

“Come here Niy,” Beija requested, and once Janiya moved off of her grandmother’s lap, Alisha stood up and headed out of the waiting room to speak with the nurse. The little girl sat in the chair next to her mother, and she yawned as she laid her head on Beija’s arm.

“Sleepy,” Niya complained.

“I know baby. We’ll be going to nana and pawpaw’s house soon, okay?” Beija promised. Once she at least knew what was wrong with Mekhi, she would have Marquis take them back to the house. “Right now, just lean on mama and go to sleep.”

“Kay,” Janiya slowly snuggled against Beija’s side once the woman lifted her arm, and it wasn’t long before she heard the girl’s deep breathing.

Alisha came back into the waiting room, and her children all looked at her expectantly, waiting for whatever news to finally be revealed. “Dehydration,” She announced, and Beija let out a small sigh. “They did say that his heart rate was irregular and higher than usual, so they want to at least keep him for the night to see what the real cause is,” She explained.

“Well that can’t be too bad. Maybe it’s just high blood pressure,” Alonzo reasoned, running a hand down his face. “It’s not life threatening, it seems. So that’s good,” He mumbled.

“Yeah, that’s a bright side,” Kieran stood up slowly before stretching his arms over his head. “Do you want to come home with me, mom? Or do you want to stay here?”

“I think I should stay, but I want to at least go home and shower. Then, you can bring me back,” She said, and he nodded as he pulled his keys out of his pocket.

“I’ll stay here with mama, so I’ll wait here for you guys to come back,” Alonzo announced.

“Come on sis, I’ll take you and Janiya home,” Marquis offered, and Beija nodded as she gently shook Niya to wake her. Once Marquis helped Beija out of the chair, they headed back down to his car and they headed back to their familiar side of town.

Once they got back to the old house, Beija bathed and put Niya to bed before taking a shower herself and getting dressed for bed. As she entered the bedroom, Beija saw her daughter lying in the middle of her old bed, cuddled close to a stuffed animal. She chuckled lowly before she slowly made her way towards the bed, climbing in next to Janiya before she kissed the girl’s forehead. Although she shut off the light, she didn’t fall asleep for some time. Her mind was still at ill ease—until the cause of Mekhi’s dehydration was truly solved, there was no true peace in her mind. She didn’t usually become incredibly antsy when she and Jermaine were apart, but she certainly wished it was already time for him to com down and be by her side. She needed his strength.

That following Monday

“You are a little spider monkey,” Alonzo mumbled as Janiya crawled all over his back, chuckling softly as she hugged the back of his neck. “Your kid’s nothing like you. You were never this clingy as a child.” He teased Beija, who was in the kitchen cooking breakfast.

“She’s only clingy because she doesn’t see much of you and her other uncles. Most of the time she’s pretty independent unless she doesn’t see me or J some days at a time,” Beija explained as she yawned, making sure to watch the bacon she was frying.

“Speaking of, when is he supposed to be arriving?” Zo asked.

“Today—apparently all the flights last night were booked so he had to wait,” B said as she placed the finished strips onto a paper-towel-covered plate. “I think his flight just got in, so he shouldn’t be long now.”

The knock at the door brought the two out of their conversation, and soon they heard the door open. “I’m home,” Kieran announced as he walked into the living room. “And guess who arrived with the wind?” He chuckled softly, and Beija smiled when she heard Janiya’s squeals.

“Daddy!”

Beija could hear Jermaine interacting with both his step-brothers and his daughter, and before long she felt the warmth of his arms around her. She relaxed against his body and let out a comforted sigh—it was the most relaxed she felt since they had gotten home. “Hey,” He leaned down and kissed the top of her head. “You okay?”

“Yeah...now I am,” She said before she glanced back at him. “I think they said they’d have an official diagnosis for dad today. Once we eat we were going to head up there,” She said, and he nodded as he ran his hand up and down her stomach.

“You need any help in here?” He asked, and Beija poked her lips out with skepticism. “Don’t be like that. I’m the king of eggs now,” He laughed softly.

“Alright, alright. You go ahead and get a skillet in that cabinet,” She pointed at the proper cabinet where the other pots and pans were. “I still have to make pancakes. While I do that, you can scramble the eggs.”

Once the breakfast was cooked and eaten, most of the children were off to see their father—Beija stayed behind for a bit to bathe Janiya and let Jermaine shower off the plane grime, but they arrived at the hospital some time later. Beija had already grown tired of seeing hospital waiting room. She had been here every single day since she had gotten back to Houston, and the anxiety had never left her. The smells, the sounds, and the fears that consumed her seemed to always rush over here when she walked past the sliding doors. She was slightly more at ease with her husband there, but she still hated the place. She had finally decided that hospitals just weren’t her scene.

“Oh, you’re all here,” Beija glanced up as she saw Mekhi being pushed in a wheelchair, with Alisha and his nurse by his side.

“Hey daddy,” Beija smiled as she stood up and walked over to him. The two shared a hug as she kissed the side of his head. “You scared me,” She mumbled.

“Ah, I’m sorry. But I’m alright, promise,” He nodded as he was embraced by his sons next. “I hope I didn’t worry you all too much. Guess I wasn’t drinking enough that day,” He said.

“Gotta be more careful, pops. What did the doctor say, though? What’s going on with your heart?” Kieran asked.

“Well, that seemed to be the cause of it; apparently my heart has enlarged abnormally,” He said, and the kids grew uneasily quiet at his reveal. “It’s nothing life threatening unless I put myself under any intense stress, which I don’t as it is. They put me on medication and I should be okay,” He nodded.

“That’s still super rough. At least you’re okay,” Marquis commented.

“Of course! Why wouldn’t I be?” He glanced up and smiled a bit at the sight of Jermaine and Janiya, watching as Niya reached for him. “There’s my angel,” He pulled her into his lap. “You doing alright, J?”

“Yes sir. I’m glad you’re out too,” Jermaine said, and the older man nodded quickly.

“Thank you, son. Let’s go home, though—I want to hear about your concert. Plus I’m hungry and I’m sick of this terrible food,” Mekhi shook his head as the rest of the group laughed.

As the family began to file out of the hospital, Jermaine and Beija kept close to her parents as they headed out of the facility with Janiya still in Mekhi’s lap. The little girl continued to talk her grandfather’s ear off, and he sat and took it all in stride. Beija felt J’s arm drape over her shoulders, and she laid her head against his shoulder before he kisse her forehead. “You feel better now?” He asked.

“Yes. And I really think we should look for houses when we get back. Down here’s where I want to be,” She announced.

“I understand,” He concluded, gently squeezing her shoulder as the two headed out into the spring air.

#j cole fanfic #j cole fanfiction #j. cole ff #j. cole fanfic #j. cole fanfiction

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eichy815 · 6 years

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Roseanne Conner Has Been Permanently Foreclosed!

It’s been barely one week since actress/comedienne Roseanne Barr ended decades’ worth of comedic goodwill from her “Domestic Goddess” alter ego...all with one fatal tweet.

And, almost four years after Bill Cosby saw his comedy empire fall – once the floodgates had burst open regarding his past history as a sexual predator – a sad parallel can be drawn. I would refer people back to my November 2014 op-ed piece entitled “Dr. Huxtable Has Left the Building...”

To be clear: there are pointed differences between the respective downfalls of both Barr and Cosby. The latter had managed to keep his sex crimes hush/hush for several decades before his depravity caught up with him...a harbinger of karmic justice for sexual abuse survivors, more than three years before the #MeToo movement arose.

Barr, by contrast, had a history of crude and unflattering public behavior...but nothing, in and of itself, that would ever turn her into a universal pariah. Her pattern of racist statements didn’t begin until the Obama presidency (coinciding with her own forays into political campaigns...including her 2012 long-shot presidential bid on the Peace & Freedom Party ticket).

What finally did her in: following the successful revival of her classic sitcom (for a de facto tenth season) this past spring, Barr pressed her luck one too many times. In a May 29 racist slur made by Barr on Twitter, she compared former Obama White House public engagement liaison Valerie Jarrett to an ape:

Muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=vj.

Within a day, ABC Entertainment President Channing Dungey officially pulled the plug on the revival’s much-anticipated fall return (which would have been its eleventh season, technically). Fittingly, Dungey is the first black woman to head a major broadcast network.

Amid a bizarre flurry of alternately apologizing for – and then doubling down on – her hate speech over the next few days, Barr lashed out at a variety of addition public figures, including Chelsea Clinton, George Soros, and a handful of her former costars. Barr was promptly dropped by her talent agency, ICM Partners.

Predictably, Fox News and legions of Barr’s conservative followers (due to the actress’s – and her character’s – full-throated support of Donald Trump) took to the airwaves, excoriating ABC (and the so-called “liberal media”) for censoring Barr and trampling on her First Amendment rights. What they fail to acknowledge is that the First Amendment doesn’t allow for anybody to say anything they want, whenever they want, with absolutely no repercussions.

First, let’s dispose of the faux-outrage from the Far Right by establishing why Barr’s tweet was unequivocally racist. As The Washington Post’s Arica L. Coleman chronicles, European colonists who enslaved Africans openly viewed and maligned people of color as “lustful” creatures by likening them to the primates that inhabited continental Africa. This has been used as a basis for dehumanizing the worth and personhood of black people in the United States for centuries.

So for Barr to compare Jarrett to a simian – that digs straight to the heart of the systemic, cultural, and social forms of racism that have plagued black Americans for generations. It’s much different than, say, liberal citizens who’ve joked that George W. Bush looked like a monkey – due to how there has never been any albino species of primate ever linked to a historical institution of oppression. The only “white ape” from America’s history is the mythical legend of one found within the Tarzan franchise.

That being said, ABC should have realized it was taking a risk when it first signed Roseanne Barr for her sitcom’s revival last year. The May 29 tweet against Jarrett was nothing new for the fallen star; Barr had a recorded history of making such racist statements in recent years.

Furthermore, it should have been a warning sign when taking into account how Barr had endorsed Bernie Sanders (a self-described “Democratic socialist”) during the 2016 primaries – but then turned right around and endorsed Donald Trump (a demented fairweather conservative and avowed corporatist). In terms of ideology and decorum, Sanders and Trump are oceans apart. The fact that Barr jumped from Sanders to Trump should have been a red flag that she was still unstable (notwithstanding her own volatile public image throughout the 1990s).

This reminds me of the whole Duck Dynasty flap from late-2013. Remember? – A&E infamously fired the reality show’s patriarch, Phil Robertson, after he’d made anti-gay statements in a GQ interview that year. When Duck Dynasty fans (and the entire Robertson family itself) threatened to pull out and retaliate, A&E backpedaled and reinstated him.

I addressed this in my January 2014 op-ed entitled “What the Duck, America...?!?!” Phil Robertson had delivered his anti-LGBT speech in a manner that was devoid of slurs, so it was easier for him (and his supporters) to throw a tantrum and get him his job back. Roseanne Barr, by contrast, explicitly chose a racial slur that was so blatant and overt that there was no coming back from it. If Robertson had openly used a term like “cocksuckers” or “faggots” during his interview, I suspect his termination would have stuck – he would have become the pariah back in 2014 that Barr has become this summer.

Nor does ABC itself have clean hands. While ABC/Disney CEO Bob Iger has condemned Barr after justifying her very public firing by saying:

There was only one thing to do here, and that was the right thing.

...yet, Iger himself has an abominable personal record of cherrypicking his perception of “acceptable” hateful sentiments toward minority groups. With cognitively-dissonant tactlessness, Iger outwardly pays lip service to people of color and women...but, on the other hand, he is totally willing to throw LGBT people and non-Christians under the bus, as I’d profiled in my op-ed from this past March entitled “Political Indirectness.”

And on top of that: ABC is *still* trying to milk revenue out of Roseanne itself by reportedly exploring the possibility of creating a Darlene spinoff starring Sara Gilbert, who played the Conners’ rebellious middle child. They are obviously thinking they can channel the success of The Hogan Family after Valerie Harper exited her self-titled sitcom back in the 1980s.

Roseanne, however, just won’t work that way. Harper had only done Valerie for a season-and-a-half before she was pink-slipped due to demanding a pay raise. Roseanne now has a full decade worth of content and history behind it. Also, Sara Gilbert is still needed as a sane and reasonable voice to balance out the toxic neofeminism (from some of her fellow cohosts) on her current CBS daytime gabfest, The Talk (even though The Talk and Roseanne do have their respective studios on the same backlot).

I understand the desire to keep the 200+ cast/crew members employed in the wake of Barr’s racist meltdown. But ABC could still make a concerted effort to find all of them new jobs on other ABC Studios (or ancillary) productions. I seriously doubt that any casting director or showrunner will hold it against any of Barr’s castmates or the below-the-line crew via some stigma of “guilt-by-association.” If anything, other series would have nothing but sympathy for any Roseanne refugees who want to get back to work.

The final piece of irony in all of this is exactly how far Barr herself has fallen. In her sitcom’s original inception, she portrayed Roseanne Conner, a blue-collar suburban Illinois worker and mother whose dysfunctional lower middle-class family was unlike any clan ever portrayed before on an American primetime comedy. Her TV husband, John Goodman’s lovable-but-equally-assertive Dan, balanced her out with fantastic chemistry.

As Roseanne and Dan grappled with living from paycheck to paycheck – hopping from one crummy and thankless job to the next – they had their hands full raising their three children: oldest daughter, Becky (Lecy Goranson), a brainy overachiever with a sharp tongue; middle daughter, Darlene (Gilbert), a bratty tomboy with even more classic retorts than Becky; and youngest son, D.J. (Michael Fishman), a rambunctious mischief-maker who was clearly Mama Conner’s favorite.

Americans dealt with the recession of the early-1990s, and, likewise, the Conners’ own fortunes ebbed-and-flowed. Dan – originally a drywell contractor – went into business for himself as a bike shop owner...but his establishment folded after two years. Roseanne, meanwhile, floated from factory worker to beauty salon sweeper to restaurant server to finally opening her own successful restaurant in 1992 (shortly after Dan’s bike shop went belly up). Since, when the show returned for Season 10 this past spring, Roseanne Conner was now a disabled Uber driver, it can only be assumed that The Lunch Box (her and Jackie’s loose meat sandwich diner) must have gone belly up at some point (probably during The Great Recession).

Always present during the show’s original run was the terrific Laurie Metcalf as Roseanne’s hapless pushover of a younger sister, Jackie. Becky and Darlene began dating (and, eventually, each married) a set of brothers: bad boy Mark (the late Glenn Quinn) and introverted David (Johnny Galecki, who has now skyrocketed to success as Leonard on The Big Bang Theory). D.J.’s character was also fleshed out, as the years went on.

The Conners were always crass, outspoken, and constantly fighting an uphill battle of remaining just above the poverty line. So many Americans related to them because a lot of our own struggles were their struggles. Offscreen, Barr battled for creative control with a turntable of showrunners – but ultimately, she secured the top decision-making power and vaulted her sitcom to #1 in the Nielsens.

When I talk about “the irony” of Barr’s present-day fall, I’m referring to its fluctuating content. Seasons 4 and 5 were the strongest of Roseanne, in my humble opinion – and the ratings reflected that popular sentiment (in fact, many of the fans even prefer the sitcom’s earliest three seasons; I actually view Seasons 1 through 3 as having many significant weak spots, in hindsight). But then, around Season 6 (coinciding with Barr’s highly-publicized divorce from actor Tom Arnold), Roseanne’s quality began to take a nosedive.

The Roseanne Conner character had always made strong statements against the patriarchy while opposing male domination in her daily life. But she had always done it in an endearing, authentic way. By 1993, her lead character suddenly shifted from being lovably-sarcastic and sympathetically-cantankerous to just being outright mean. Her misandry (i.e. contempt for males) became pronounced and gratuitous in virtually every episode. Dan’s character became wildly uneven – oscillating between charismatic assertiveness, psychotic temperamental escapades, and the meekness of a stereotypically-“whipped” husband.

There was no longer any consistency to Roseanne and Dan’s marital interactions. Every episode eventually became written to essentially boost Barr’s ego...rather than organically developing the characters or advancing their storylines.

It’s ironic, when you think about it, seeing how one of Roseanne’s most critically-acclaimed episodes aired in Season 7 and dealt with D.J. being afraid to kiss Geena, his black female classmate, in a school play. Upon returning after two decades off the air, in the Season 10 revival it’s revealed that D.J. actually went on to marry Geena herself...and they have a daughter named Mary (presumably named after Nana Mary, played by the late Shelley Winters) together. And Roseanne Conner absolutely adores her youngest new granddaughter. Just more bittersweet poetic irony...

Still, ABC remained mum – and reaped the advertising revenue from Roseanne Conner’s new persona of toxic misandry. It was a #1 show, after all. Even when it gradually began bleeding viewers over the course of Seasons 6 through 9, it still delivered solid ratings. This was likely a consequence of nostalgia, viewer loyalty, and women in the viewing audience who’d latched onto a lead female character who (usually) didn’t take crap from anybody. Hell, when Goranson left the show during its fifth season, Roseanne got away with recasting the role of Becky (introducing audiences to Sarah Chalke, later of Scrubs fame). When Barr got pregnant in real-life, the birth of the Conners’ fourth child – their son, Jerry – was written into the series.

But for all of those years, ABC never complained...because male-bashing has been fairly “fashionable” within mainstream culture for the past few decades. It took Barr making a reprehensible and indefensible racial slur for her to finally be put in her place.

Another reason why I’m skeptical of a Darlene spinoff: the Season 10 finale (apparently, the de facto series finale), which aired on May 22 (less than two weeks ago!), actually wrapped up the show quite nicely. The Conners’ basement flooded, and it looked as though they were about to lose everything. Then, a state of emergency was declared – empowering the Conners through an allocation of FEMA dollars that not only allowed them to repair their house but also provided enough money for Roseanne Conner to have her badly-needed knee surgery. The final scene is of the extended Conner family ready to pig out on Roseanne’s favorite foods the night before her surgery takes place.

This would be a fitting spot to end the series for good. It was certainly superior to the much-maligned “Lottery Season” (Season 9) that ended the show’s original run, which was revealed to be part of a fictitious short novel that Roseanne Conner had written.

When the Roseanne revival (Season 10) was first announced back in April of last year, I had my own extensive wish-list for it. By and large, I think they did an excellent job (particularly memorable was the scene where “Grammy Rose” proceeded to “waterboard” mouthy granddaughter Harris – portrayed by newcomer Emma Kenney – in the kitchen sink). I was looking forward to Season 11. It’s beyond disgusting how Barr couldn’t learn how to hold her tongue and enjoy a generation of newfound success.

Still, while I find the ABC cancellation to be justified, I do think it’s an overreaction for networks such as CMT, The Paramount Network, TV Land, and Hulu to yank Roseanne’s syndicated reruns. I thought the exact same thing when all syndicated episodes of The Cosby Show were unceremoniously pulled back in 2014 and 2015. If the syndication revenue falls due to viewer backlash, *THEN* rescinding the syndicated runs makes sense. But let us enjoy all the happy memories we have of Roseanne. And let the cast enjoy the money from any residuals if there is indeed an audience left for the old episodes. And yes, I still have the exact same sentiments about The Cosby Show.

To be clear, there have been much different circumstances and contexts surrounding the deletion of both Roseanne and The Cosby Show from the airwaves. But the former “Domestic Goddess” deserves nothing but scorn for torpedoing her own career after a downslide that has been a protracted slow burn.

And, much like Bill Cosby, Roseanne Barr has no one but herself to blame for it.

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helloworlddemo1122-yahoopar-blog · 6 years

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Roseanne Barr Fallout: A Complete Guide to How Her Racist Tweet Led to the Cancellation of 'Roseanne' & More

It's been a disastrous week for Roseanne Barr.

The 65-year-old comedian has faced major backlash over the past few days after posting a racist comment about Barack Obama's former White House adviser, Valerie Jarrett, via Twitter on Tuesday.

Since then, the former Roseanne star hasn't been able to get herself out of hot water. From her controversial remark to how her co-stars have reacted, ET breaks down everything that's happened (so far) during the ongoing fallout.

The Initial Tweet

The scandal all started when Barr posted the following tweet: "Muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=vj."

Barr was referring to Jarrett, who is black and was born in Iran. The tweet has since been deleted.

The First Apology

As people flooded her mentions, Barr apologized and proclaimed she was leaving Twitter.

"I apologize to Valerie Jarrett and to all Americans," she emphasized in another tweet. "I am truly sorry for making a bad joke about her politics and her looks. I should have known better. Forgive me - my joke was in bad taste."

However, her break from Twitter didn't last long, as she was back on social media within a few hours of that post.

"Don't feel sorry for me, guys!!" she said upon her return. "I just want to apologize to the hundreds of people, and wonderful writers (all liberal) and talented actors who lost their jobs on my show due to my stupid tweet."

ABC Cancels Roseanne

Shortly after the backlash began on Tuesday, ABC Entertainment President Channing Dungey revealed the network was canceling the sitcom in a statement released to the press.

"Roseanne's Twitter statement is abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values, and we have decided to cancel her show," the statement read.

"There was only one thing to do here, and that was the right thing," Disney-ABC Chairman and CEO Bob Iger added on Twitter.

Additionally, ABC removed all references to the revival series on its press site and Viacom pulled all reruns of the sitcom's entire run from all of its channels.

Two days later, Barr claimed she "begged" ABC executives not to cancel the popular series.

"I begged [Disney-ABC Television Group President] Ben Sherwood at ABC to let me apologize and make amend[s]," she wrote in a now-deleted tweet. "I begged them not to cancel the show. I told them I was willing to do anything and asked for help in making things right. I'd worked doing publicity for them for free for weeks, traveling, thru bronchitis. I begged for people's jobs."

ICM Drops Barr as a Client

The talent agency that previously represented Barr sent a note to their employees on Tuesday, notifying them of the actress' abrupt termination.

"We are all greatly distressed by the disgraceful and unacceptable tweet from Roseanne Barr this morning," the memo read. "What she wrote is antithetical to our core values, both as individuals and as an agency. Consequently, we have notified her that we will not represent her. Effective immediately, Roseanne Barr is no longer a client."

Stars From the Sitcom Speak Out

It wasn't long before Twitter erupted with reactions from Barr's Roseanne co-stars, condemning her for the racist remark that led ABC to pull the plug on their show.

A production source told ET at the time that those who worked on the show were "horrified," and felt that perhaps the reboot "wasn't meant to be."

"As I called my manager to quit working on Roseanne, I was told it was cancelled," Emma Kenney, who played Barr's granddaughter, Harris Conner-Healy, on the sitcom wrote in a series of tweets. "I am hurt, embarrassed, and disappointed. The racist and distasteful comments from Roseanne are inexcusable."

As I called my manager to quit working on Roseanne, I was told it was cancelled. I feel so empowered by @iamwandasykes , Channing Dungey and anyone at ABC standing up for morals and abuse of power. Bullies will NEVER win.

— Emma Kenney (@EmmaRoseKenney) May 29, 2018

I am hurt, embarrassed, and disappointed. The racist and distasteful comments from Roseanne are inexcusable.

— Emma Kenney (@EmmaRoseKenney) May 29, 2018

Kenney's onscreen mother, Sara Gilbert (Darlene), also weighed in, writing, "Roseanne's recent comments about Valerie Jarrett, and so much more, are abhorrent and do not reflect the beliefs of our cast and crew or anyone associated with our show. I am disappointed in her actions to say the least."

"This is incredibly sad and difficult for all of us, as we've created a show that we believe in, are proud of, and that audiences love -- one that is separate and apart from the opinions and words of one cast member," she added.

Roseanne’s recent comments about Valerie Jarrett, and so much more, are abhorrent and do not reflect the beliefs of our cast and crew or anyone associated with our show. I am disappointed in her actions to say the least.

— sara gilbert (@THEsaragilbert) May 29, 2018

This is incredibly sad and difficult for all of us, as we’ve created a show that we believe in, are proud of, and that audiences love— one that is separate and apart from the opinions and words of one cast member.

— sara gilbert (@THEsaragilbert) May 29, 2018

And according to Michael Fishman -- who played Barr's onscreen son, D.J., in both the original series and the revival -- Tuesday was "one of the hardest days" of his life.

"I feel devastated, not for the end of the Roseanne show, but for all those who poured their hearts and souls into our jobs, and the audience that welcomed us into their homes," he explained. "Our cast, crew, writers, and production staff strived for inclusiveness, with numerous storylines designed to reflect inclusiveness. The words of one person do not exemplify the thinking of all involved. I condemn these statements vehemently."

pic.twitter.com/rLKGEHvl4f

— Michael Fishman (@ReelMFishman) May 29, 2018

Wanda Sykes, a consulting producer on the show, was actually one of the first to speak out. Before ABC even announced the cancellation, Sykes exclaimed via Twitter that she would "not be returning to @RoseanneABC."

I will not be returning to @RoseanneOnABC.

— Wanda Sykes (@iamwandasykes) May 29, 2018