#i love all the geeky pop culture references in this eps

[ellelans]

My job here is for the younlings.They feel comfortable laying their burdens down on someone who is closer to them in rank and age. Yeah? Well I am here as a Senior Peer Group Instructor,so you can all lay your burdens on me. Senior,huh? I guess that makes you an oldling? Makes me a Jedi Master.

[dotthings]

Dean, horror movies, and final girls

All my Dean and horror movies headcanon is coming true. 

Small side-jaunt into a Dean & Cas/Destiel parallel, and Cas as a fellow geek, but mostly all about the meaning horror movies have for Dean.

So we’ve known for a while how geeky Dean is. At first he played it as he was just too cool for any of it. He mocked it while also revealing he knows the pop culture references, so he wasn’t really fooling us with that, but over time on SPN we’ve seen Dean be more and more openly geeky and enjoying it openly instead of pretending to be too cool for it. This ep was geeky Dean in full unapologetic sail, which we have seen a little before, but this was even more. Interesting he bonds with a nerdy little dude who will watch movies with him and stabs monsters before they can kill him, gosh that’s a good kind of friend to have isn’t it, and how interesting that Dean’s long-term bff (and possibly something else) is a “nerdy little dude” who fits some of those characteristics. [Edit: and I just thought of another Dirk and Cas similarity. Dirk is a friend who’ll hold vigil for you. He’ll just wait here then. Dirk’s hanging around watching over his injured friend.] Also Cas is a geek too. He’s strategist, he is a warrior and a fighter, but he uses his brain an awful lot more and he watches movies with Dean and knows esoteric information and can speak multiple languages. Geeky as all heck. Anyway, this is important as part of Dean’s character, the parallel is there to discuss, as well as that kind of paralleling makes my Destiel heart happy (and this isn’t necessarily about the romantic aspect, it’s more underscoring the friendship that forms the foundations). Also it made me so happy seeing Dean make a new friend (who didn’t die thank you) because Dean needed to do that, it lifted his spirits, meeting someone new he can geek out with, who gets his enthusiasm for slasher films, and the geeky dude seems like a decent guy, loyal friend, smart, honest. Sometimes no matter how close you are to the people you are closest too, and they are there, and you need them, you also need other people. 

With the isolated, frightening, itinerant way the Winchesters grew up, it always made perfect sense Dean would find an escape in TV shows, movies, comics and SPN has shown us this. His film references have never really confined themselves to any one genre. There are horror films sprinkled in. In “After School Special” teen Dean enthusiastically invites his girlfriend to a revival of Spit on Your Grave. We have known for a while horror movies are part of Dean’s films. It was easy enough for me to then piece together that Dean would be drawn to horror movies and to see why that makes sense. 

Because his actual life is a horror movie, something underscored in the dialogue, their lives are always Halloween, and so much of Dean’s life is out of control. There’s no way to know if they’ll come back alive from a hunt. Dean grew up in constant fear of losing those he loves and still lives with that fear and as an adult has endured a range of personal horrors internal and external and more loss and grief. Things he can’t stop no matter how he tries.

But Dean says in this ep watching those old slasher films gave him something where he already knew the outcome. The heroes would win. Even if he’s rooting for the titular monster, as a genre, it’s still we know at least one or all of the heroes will survive to see sunrise, will make it through the night, will make it out alive. Guaranteed part of the horror genre. Dean mentions watching Halloween as part of his horror movie marathon and that’s not just cute promotional Michael nods, with the new version of Halloween out there’s been a lot of talk about Laurie Strode as a survivor and you can bet Dean is a fan of Laurie Strode as well as thinking Michael is a really cool monster. But Laurie is a fighter, like Dean. 

I always also pictured Dean as making fun of the heroes in horror movies because he knows too much. “No, dumbass, don’t go down into the basement with the light-bulbs all burned out!” or “Please, that’s not the way you ward off demons!” That he’d get annoyed and yell instructions at the tv screen at the poor hapless screaming people. 

I kind of wonder what Dean thinks of the Scream films and how much he cackles his way through those. Horror films have rules, and Dean knows all of them. 

It’s a pretty well-established analysis of the appeal of horror films that they offer a safe environment to be scared in. To test feeling afraid in a safe environment--and then the movie ends, the lights go back on, and everything is ok. For Dean, who wades through an immense amount of real world monsters and horror, yeah you might think he wouldn’t want to go through that for entertainment, but it can also work the other way. For Dean it can be a catharsis and a way to process and diminish the horrors he faces. 

With horror films, Dean can control it. He’s a heavy re-watcher for a reason. He knows how it ends. There’s no uncertainty. It shrinks the monsters he deals with as his job, if only for a few hours. He can turn it off or on. He knows the ending and nobody is actually being hurt and maybe he does get something out of making fun of the silly decisions people in horror films make. But he’d also get something (besides just ogling although I’m sure he does that too) out of the struggles of the Final Girls who are resourceful, smart, tough fighters who refuse to give up, who use their own fear as a weapon, and survive to sunrise.

[mudkipthemusical-blog]

Music of the Month: May 2017

Oh, May. May was a complicated month since I spent the first half at school getting ready for finals and packing up my room, while I spent the other half at home trying to do as little work as possible. As a result, a lot of my listening came from a mix of trying to study, manage my stress, and get myself energized for summer vacation and work. I was also looking forward to several albums coming out in June, so I didn’t go into this month with a ton of hype for anything. Nevertheless, good new (to me) stuff always finds a way, like this stuff...

Album of the Month: Goths (Deluxe) by the Mountain Goats

If you’ve followed the vlogbrothers on YouTube for any amount of time, you’re probably aware that John Green’s all-time favorite band is the Mountain Goats. Having been a Nerdfighter for 2 years now, I figured it was time I dove in and saw what all of John’s fuss was about, and now I understand. This kind of music fits just right in my wheelhouse; it’s mellow indie rock, the lyrics are pure poetry and it’s one of the few instances where I’ve heard woodwinds featured in a rock band. The overall vibe was interesting as it changed; some songs were more fun, some were more thought-provoking, and some were kind-of eerie. It was interesting listening to the deluxe edition, too, because all of the bonus tracks were these almost meditative instrumentals. Still the three tracks that stood out the most to me were “The Grey King and the Silver Flame Attunement,” “Unicorn Tolerance,” and “For the Portuguese Goth Metal Bands.” First off, those song titles, man. Second, just sampling clips from each of them, I could swear they were the same song, but they each had a distinct character to them that made me want to digest them and figure out everything that was going on. This is definitely the kind of music you experience instead of just keeping on in the background, and I want to keep digging deeper into the Mountain Goats’ catalog. Also, quick shout-out to another Mountain Goats album, All Hail West Texas, for being a nice gateway to the band and a unique gem; Goths just edged it out by a tiny bit.

5 Great Songs from this Month:

“Geeky Girl” by Satellite Lane

A cute song that tickles my fancies for both a capella choir and nerd culture, “Geeky Girl” was a nice jam to get me through my finals. The nice thing about hitting those two sweet spots is that Satellite Lane does both of them so well; their harmonies are top-notch, and somehow, they manage to squeeze in so many pop culture references, from lyrics like “My special guy knows the cake is a lie” (referencing Portal) to quoting the X-Files theme song. It gets a little overboard in the bridge once it starts referencing things like “Spiderpig” from the Simpsons Movie for no apparent reason, but it remains charming all the same. I’d also recommend another song of theirs from the same EP, “Pop 101″ if you’re a band geek like me; it’s just as charming and throws in not as many references, but they do fit well! 

“Paparazzi” by Falling in Reverse

I feel a little weird including this one on the list because it’s strikingly... more rebellious than I’m used to (? It’s hard to put my finger on it), but I listened to it so much that I had to. It just screams teen angst all over, literally and figuratively. It has a strong alt rock vibe, and the general theme is criticism of mainstream culture, particularly selling-out in the music industry. It’s apparent from the intro spelling out S-E-L-L-M-Y-S-O-U-L that they aren’t pulling any punches, which is entertaining in a derisive sort of way, but mostly, I just like it for the solid groove. I’m not usually one who’s into trends for trendiness’ sake or the absolute mainstream, so it’s a nice ode to that sentiment, but... there’s just something else about it that speaks to me too. 

“Born to Lose” by Ten Tonnes

This one’s just a nice, summer-y tune to rock out to. Not too serious, not too eccentric, just the perfect amount of fun, and a retro vibe to boot. There’s not much else I can say, other than how much I like the lead singer’s voice. He delivers the lyrics with ease like he’s just jamming, not putting on a persona to give the ultimate performance. The timbre and pronunciation are great too, but I think I’m starting to dig a little too deep. It’s a banger, okay? 

“Malibu” by Miley Cyrus

I was not expecting this to (a) come from Miley nor (b) get me this interested in Miley. It’s clear that she’s moved on from her “Wrecking Ball” and Dead Petz phase, which I didn’t mind that much, but “Malibu” marks a really nice change of pace from her, like her true coming-of-age single. It’s an easy acoustic pop tune that gets you in the mood to go outside and take in the new summer weather (even though it hasn’t exactly showed up yet here in Maine). Miley’s voice works incredibly well on it, too; she shows off her lower range, which she didn’t take that much advantage of during her Hannah Montana days nor more recently, but I really like it. With a song like this, I’m excited to see where she goes next, and I have a feeling it’s going to be somewhere big.

“Break a Little” by kirstin

Kirstie and Avi are probably my two favorite members of Pentatonix, and luckily for me, I got to see both of them put out solo material this past month! While I knew about Avi’s project (and I loved “Quarter Past Four” and I’m so stoked for the rest of Sage and Stone to drop), Kirstie’s came as a total surprise, and I’m just as hooked. This song fits right in her mellow dance pop wheelhouse, and the production is killer. It reminds me a lot of Jess Glynne, and I would dance to both this song and any of Jess’s songs equally in a heartbeat. While it’s not super intense or energizing, it’s still fun, and I appreciate Kirstie for branching out into her own material.

Now that this month is out of the way, here comes the big stuff I’ve been waiting for! Just this past Friday was the release of the Steven Universe soundtrack, which felt good to have in my main library finally instead of going through aivi & surasshu’s Soundcloud. This week means Avi Kaplan’s solo EP, and next week means Lorde’s new album which I’ve been looking forward to for so many months now, it seems. Plus, being home and having a looser schedule and adjusting to my summer job should help me check out even more new stuff I haven’t been as certainly eager for, so this month is looking insane! Until next time, when I’ll probably be in Lorde nirvana.