#jack russell life stages

[leclerc-s]

the blue - part ten

series masterlist // previous

LAS VEGAS 2023

ameliaholland posted new stories

ivy is adjusting well to the travel life well. pov: you've just had a rundown by lando norris on how charles is slowly losing his mental stability. don't worry! he's fine! still mentally stable but on his last limb polite cat oscaroo strikes again! photo from this morning's travels

tom holland okay, you guys can't be mad at me..

max verstappen thomas i swear to god- logan sargeant if this spider-bitch says harrison tagged along, we are not responsible for yuki. tom holland okay, well, i guess i'll die.

yuki tsunoda YOUR SISTER CRIED ON STAGED BECAUSE OF HIM! AND YOU JUST BROUGHT HIM ALONG??

sam holland i told him not too but he said, and i quote, "he's my best friend. i can't just not bring him." lando norris YOU COULD NOT BRING HIM?

george russell he's going to get killed.

charles leclerc we won't be responsible for yuki or max.

max verstappen i can take him

zendaya there is too much testosterone here

amelia holland OH I HAVE A SOLUTION!

amelia holland added 4 people

lily muni he why?

amelia holland you try saying anything against the zendaya alexandra saint mleux valid. very valid.

george russell how did you get my girlfriend's number?

carmen mundt someone was very drunk after her show in london that he forgot i was with him

pierre gasly you fucking idiot

kika gomes said the idiot to the other idiot

pierre gasly how am i an idiot?

esteban ocon you tried to "out spider-man" tom last week when you were drunk. charles leclerc and you almost ran into oncoming traffic. daniel ricciardo if it weren't for me you'd be dead.

lily muni he why were we added?

alex albon TOM INVITED HARRISON TO VEGAS!

kika gomes well that's stupid.

alexandra saint mleux your sister cried because of him?

tom holland you don't get it! he was sad and i can't say no to him! he's my best friend! i will get him to apologize to amelia.

amelia holland i'm not talking to him. i have nothing to talk to him about.

oscar piastri he's a dickhead. he's never going to apologize.

lando norris oscar jack piastri, cursing? that's a new one. someone call sky sports!

logan sargeant you're talking about the guy who grew up with mark webber. he's said worse. trust me.

oscar piastri shut up?

harry holland YOU INVITED THE SECOND STRING LOSER?

kika gomes fitting name. lily muni he it's what she called him in a song. i guess it stuck. zendaya he deserves it

harry holland thomas, we are having words.

sam holland and i'm calling paddy.

tuwaine oh shit just got real.

ameliaholland vegas, baby!

tagged: oscarpiastri, landonorris, mclaren

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landonorris when will i get a post for myself? i'm the best friend?

↳ ameliaholland when you finally get a race win...

↳ landonorris i hate you

username amelia holland, certified oscar piastri simp

tomholland2013 can't believe you ditched us to hang out with oscar

↳ ameliaholland can't believe you invited apple.

↳ lilymhe she's right thomas. how could you.

↳ maxverstappen1 can't believe spider-man would betray us this way

↳ charles_leclerc traitor

↳ yukitsunoda0511 liar.

↳ tomholland2013 I GET IT!

↳ ameliaholland but do you?

↳ francesca.cgomes clearly he doesn't.

username what on earth is happening in the comments?

username i don't know but they're all upset with tom

username amelia instagram is all just pictures of oscar

↳ username she's in love! let's leave her alone!

↳ username oh don't get me wrong. i love it. it's adorable

amelia holland max invited us out before free practice tomorrow and after the opening ceremony

tom holland I'M GAME!

zendaya sounds like fun.

sam holland count me in!

tuwaine a chance to party with the max verstappen and daniel ricciardo, count me in!

harry holland i'm in

harrison osterfield i don't think your friends like me very much

amelia holland they don't but max said to invite you anyways. something about water under the troll?

amelia holland i think he meant water under the bridge?

amelia holland pierre also said something about second string loser buying the first round of drinks.

harrison osterfield alright. i'll go

amelia holland you can leave if you feel uncomfortable at any point

harrison osterfield okay

ABU DHABI 2023

ameliaholland in honor of the end of the 2023 season, i give you one final photo dump.

tagged: oscarpiastri, landonorris, mclaren, tomholland2013

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oscarpiastri 🧡🧡

↳ ameliaholland 🧡🧡

username mama y papa!!

charles_leclerc this is charles leclerc erasure!

↳ alex_albon i agree this is erasure of the most important people in her life!

↳ ameliawinters as opposed to my boyfriend and brother?

↳ georgerussell63 of course!

username i need to find someone who looks at me the way oscar looks at amelia.

lilymhe not enough amelia content. 3/10.

↳ ameliaholland i'm sorry love, i'll do better next time.

yukitsunoda0511 0/10 no yuki content. every photo dump must include a picture of me.

↳ ameliaholland apologizes yuki. i'll include one next time.

harrisonosterfield where is the cat's seatbelt??

↳ oscarpiastri she said she didn't need one.

↳ harrisonosterfield you're being a very irresponsible father mr.piastri

↳ oscarpiastri i am simply listening to what my daughter wants mr.osterfield

↳ username talk about a friendship i never saw coming

username and to think we started the season with single oscar and we're ending it with oscar dating THE amelia holland!!

username ivy lives a better life than me.

username they're giving high school sweethearts.

username your honor, i love them

taglist: @six-call @1nt3rnetgf @fernandoswarcrimes @skynel09 @arieltwvdtohamflash @Mimolovescookies @brekkers-whore @natcha888 @camdensreg @mycenterfold @woozartss @dear-fifi @tygecjjd @cataf1 @nothaqks @caipng @nataliambc @formulaal @lichterfee @prongsvault @kaa212 @anxxiousaries @julesbabey1 @julesbabey @georgeparisole @hobiismyhopeu @melissayalene @nikfigueiredo @bella-1 @nichmeddar @namgification @anniemae299 @octopussesarecool @jensonsonlybutton @ragioniera @anytimeanywherebitch-blog @trouble-sistar @hwalllllllelujah

strikethrough means i couldn't tag you

¡leclerc-s speaks! in case you couldn't tell, i don't how to end stories, so this is my attempt at one. i definitely didn't procrastinate this because i didn't want to be finished with this story. not at all. but stick around and wait for the bonus chapters because this story isn't quite over yet.

¡disclaimer! this is in no way making assumptions about the people involved in this story, this is all fake. it is a fanfiction please don't take any of what is said seriously. this is all for entertainment purposes and as a creative outlet for me. enjoy!

[esotheria-sims]

Long Overdue Life Update

Whew, the title sounds kinda ominous, doesn't it?

Lemme say right off the bat that this isn't some Big PSA post or anything to that effect. I'm only checking in because I've been quiet for a while and figured an update is the least I can do. 🙂

Nothing major or life-changing is happening on my end; I've just been shitty at finding the time for sim-blogging these past months due to work and other day-to-day rl stuff, though I have been simming a bit in the background. Mostly going on download sprees and sorting cc, but I'm also about two-thirds through my next BaCC rotation and have a few new hair and handswap wips that are share-ready save for previews.

Oh and also: I got a new puppy! She's a 3-and-a-half-months-old Jack Russel mix and the main culprit for the abovementioned lack-of-time for simming. The cute lil' attention hog wants ALL the cuddles! "PC time? What PC time? Pet me instead, hooman!"

Everyone, this is Lucy!

Other things of note in my life, in no particular order:

We've had relatives from Croatia visiting last week with their kids. The kids are super smart and super cute but with the energy levels of a medium-sized nuclear reactor. It's been fun.

I finally went to see a Rammstein concert!!! 🤯 The experience of a lifetime, holy shit. I literally have no words to describe how mesmerizing that stage was. Like, I shit you not, I have 3 GBs worth of concert footage.

Speaking of metal: Gojira KILLED IT at the Olympics Opening! Also: Turkish Shooter Guy and Norwegian Muffin Man are living rent-free in my head. I'm the worst, I only follow professional sports for the memes.😆

I've been moved to a new division at work and am currently sitting in a small office with the two biggest goobers in the entire institution. Between that and me finally having accumulated enough knowledge + experience to have a clue what I'm doing, work's been pretty stress-free for once.

Conversely, my colleagues from the old division are struggling due to lack of staff, too much work, mismanagement, internal strife, and pressure from both within and outside the institution. I feel so bad for them, but at the same time, a selfish part of me is grateful that I'm not there to suffer the shitshow on my own hide.

I have unanswered asks from (probably) months ago and am Very Ashamed of the fact. I'll get back to you guys, I promise! 😰

[storycraftcafe]

Hello there!

Do you have any neurospicy friendly tips for staying motivated? I'd love to write more, especially long-form, multi-chapter works but after a chapter or two I either get bitten by other plot bunnies or real life eats me whole.

Thanks!

Hello friend!

Oh this is right up my alley, grab a cuppa, I get wordy.

As a chronic “too many ideas, too little dopamine” ADHD brain that’s always seeking that lil extra dopamine, I suffer from the exact same problem. My motivation is a fickle thing, as is my ability to focus and my goblin brain is always after the new shiny idea.

But, I’m also at the end of drafting the biggest project I’ve ever completed(it's over 100k words right now), while also planning a novel, developing a few more ideas and writing short stories and doing this blog (intermittently at least for now).

How the hell did I manage that?

I learned to work with my brain, lean into novelty, made things really easy for myself and when needed, got some help and made things fun. 

The truth is, motivation comes and goes, as does inspiration. So we have to figure out how to keep writing without it, and how to wrangle those plot bunnies. That’s the work we do. 

My short answer is this: The solution to focusing on a big project is to make working on this project easier than working on anything else, make it the most enjoyable, and make it the most rewarding.

Here’s some advice on how:

Advice Tidbit the First: Work with your brain

Since us neurospicy types come in so many flavours, it’s impossible to give advice that works for everyone. So find what works for you. You know what helps you focus, you know what your weaknesses are and you know how your brain works. If you don’t, now is the time to find out how to work with your brain chemistry rather than against it. 

If this means having music, using a pomodoro timer, something like a special focus based word processor or a notebook, use it. If this means working with a trusted friend, a community, or alone, do that. 

For me it really means that the big project is always front and centre. It is always open, it is always flagged in my notebook, it is always present and easy to come back to and I always know where I’m going with it.

I’m gonna share some things that work for me and I encourage you to try them, keep what works, and cast off the rest.

Advice Tidbit the Second: Lean into Novelty

My brain relishes novelty, and will happily chase a new idea down a rabbit hole like a Jack Russell on speed and after years of fighting it, I’ve learned sometimes, it’s best to chase the white rabbit and see where it ends up. Just make sure you have a way of putting that idea on a back burner and coming home to the project you want to focus on.

And I do this through a few different means. 

First I write that new idea down, which in turn helps me get it out of my head instead of it repeating ad nauseum like the chewiest earworm. The brain repeats things to remember them, but if you write it down, and then immediately get what you wanna focus on in front of your eyeballs, you might be able to switch gears and get back on track.

Second, I create my own novelty by balancing a few projects at once, that are all at different stages of development, and focus on different ideas. I have the big one that's almost done, I have a novel that’s in planning, a few short story ideas that’s percolating  and this blog which is focused less on creation and more explaining things I’ve learned. And I bounce from these, as needed, to keep things fresh. 

Third, if all else fails, I stop fighting and go wild. I’ve stumbled onto some amazing gems of projects by embracing the mad rush of inspiration until I hit a wall. And the trick for me is, once I hit that wall, I go back to my big project and it always feels a little fresher after that time away.

Writers are creative creatures, and inspiration is a wonderful, amazing, maddening thing that we cannot rely on, but shouldn’t ignore when it strikes. 

Advice Tidbit the Third: Make that shit easy.

A fun, and by fun I mean hellish aspect of my brain chemistry is that the more barriers between me and doing a thing there are, the less likely I am to do the thing. Executive dysfunction is an asshole and should pay but until I can figure out a way to do that, I instead focus on making this as easy for me as possible. 

When it comes to focusing on a specific project, I make sure I have it ready to go when I wanna work on it. I open up the word doc before I go to bed, I leave some notes for myself before leaving it, I never close it unless I absolutely have to, and I always, always have a notebook or my phone on hand to write with, and I have a playlist on hand to get me in the mindset while writing or walking, or working out.

Now if you’re looking at that and going “But Cas, that’s a lot of prep-work”, yeah, it is, and that’s what I do to make things easier to start and stay focused with. Call it the neurospicy-tax. Sometimes shit comes with extra prepwork, but it will help you in the long run.

Thankfully the execution is less painful than it sounds. I just don’t close the word doc for my main project unless I absolutely have to. Opening it first thing is a habit I’ve developed over time as is carrying my notebook around everywhere. Right now I’m trying to build the habit of writing first thing in the morning after breakfast, which means I have the project, or project notes up to read while I eat.

The less I have to think about it, the less steps it takes to start, the easier it is to just do. And do it enough, consistently enough, it becomes habitual. Ish.

Advice Tidbit the Fourth and Most Important: Make the writing easier too.

Yeap. I’m gonna say it. Learn to plan in a way that works for you.

It is so much easier to write freely, consistently and confidently when I have a damn good idea of where I’m going and what targets I’m trying to hit. If you’ve read my waffling about approaching chapters, I go on at length about how that pre-planning makes the work easier. This doesn’t mean you need to have the whole thing planned down to the finest detail, you don’t need every chapter and scene on cards ready to go, unless that’s what works best for you.

However, I have found that I can stick with big projects the best if I have a rough plan consisting of story beats, knowing my character arcs, and solid idea of the ending. With that roadmap, it doesn't matter how lost or distracted I get or how long I spend in the warren of Ploticus Bunnicus, because I have that guide at hand to bring me back to my story. But when I don’t have it… I get lost. And I stay lost. I lose motivation, it’s harder to pick it up again, I lose hope and I abandon that story and feel awful about it.

So if there’s any advice I want you to try it’s this: Figure out where your story is going, where you want it to end up, a few ideas on how you’ll get there, and make a map to keep you heading in the right direction.

It can be as easy as dot points giving you a few ideas about what’s ahead, a few notes from the last writing session to remind you of where you were going, or a paragraph blocking out events in a really condensed summary. Whatever works for you, but have a plan for where you’re going for those moments when something shiny crosses your path. Make working on this main project easier than working on anything else, make it the most enjoyable, make it the most rewarding. Let me know if you want me to talk about my roadmapping/planning process.

Advice Tidbit the Fifth: Get some help.

I would not be as far along in my big project as I am if I didn’t have two really amazing people that helped me along my way as alpha readers. Ie: the two people who got frantic messages at 3am asking if they could look at the raw draft I had just churned out to see if it was okay, and who also, graciously, acted as rubber duckies and brainstorming partners and problem solvers as I figured my own process out.

I owe these two so much.

Writing can be a terribly solitary craft but it doesn’t have to be. So get a buddy, someone that can hold you to task, who can give their opinion, act as a sounding board, who is as excited about the project as you are. I am so glad to be that person for my bestest buddies and they are that person for me.

So find that person, someone you can trust, a friend, another writer, or just someone that has your back. And if you don’t have that person, there are communities aplenty floating around. And I am always, always, ready to cheerlead a fellow writer. Hell, I created a whole damn server just to help other writers that I haven’t been brave enough to advertise yet.  You can find it here. [If the link isn't active, feel free to ask me for one!]

Advice Tidbit the Sixth: Make that shit fun.

Writing is work, there’s no way to get around that and writing a big multi-chapter project is a LOT of work even if you don’t plan, edit, revise, or rewrite (though you should). All my advice so far has been focused on making that work easier, on working with your brain, embracing novelty for your own ends, making the work easier, and working with a friend.

Now we get to have fun.

What makes writing enjoyable for you? Is it having a tasty treat while working or after as a reward? Is it good music? An excuse to go to a cafe? To use a pretty pen? Whatever it is, DO IT. 

I like to have a nice cup of tea in a nice mug while I write. I always have music or something ignorable for background noise on the tv. And I use my very pretty pens in my very nice notebooks.

If you’re anything like me, you possess strong opinions regarding notebooks and pens, and likely have a neglected collection of some pretty stuff. So I’m gonna say something shocking: You should use those nice pens and notebooks.

 No seriously. 

Use them. Use the pretty inks and lovely pens and use them to make writing fun. Switch colours at the drop of a hat or to show scene and pov transitions, practise your handwriting. Use different notebooks for different projects or one big bullet journal style thing for all your writing. 

Create yourself an everyday writers kit and take it everywhere with you. Use it. If you’re doom scrolling, switch your phone for your writing kit and start jotting down some ideas or write a single sentence for your story. Use these pretty shiny things. I dare you.

Keep in mind, you DO NOT need expensive pens or papers ever at all. You can do this with a cheap notebook and a ballpoint. I’m just a stationery nerd and I like using the nice things I’ve bought instead of them sitting there doing nothing.

Here’s my kit, a black traveller’s notebook with three inserts and a kraft folder, two pen loops stuck onto the folder and two TWSBI eco fountain pens. Each insert is for a different kind of project (drafting the long project, brainstorming and planning or short stories, and planning and drafting articles for this blog.) and I have sticky tabs in the folder to make pages and specific projects. Sometimes I add a pouch of yet more fountain pens because I don’t have a problem, I have a collection.

Flex aside, my point is use tools that you enjoy using. If that means a nice clacky keyboard, use it, if that means fancy ass pens, use them, if that means something you’re not scared of breaking, use it. 

Now for gamification: A common bit of advice I hear for ADHD brains specifically is to gamify the tricky things and thank the gods, there’s a bunch of people who have figured out ways to do this.

For writers specifically we have a few tasty choices.

A quick search for ‘gamifying writing’ will turn up a bunch of results but here’s a few favourites of mine.

4thewords is web browser based RPG game where you write to battle monsters and make your way through the story. It is a subscription however but it’s fairly affordable ($4 USD a month) if you end up using it everyday. It comes with progress trackers, avatars you can get cool things for, a big community and it has a 15 day trial that does not need a credit card for. Wahoo. I’ve used it, it's a lot of  fun, but it doesn’t gel with my other needs quite as well but I do turn to it none and then when I really wanna buckle down and focus. Give it a go~

Write Or Die is a classic sprint writing tool that I’ve been a fan of for years. Basically you write or you are ‘punished’ via flashing screen, loud noises or if you’re brave, there’s the mode that eats your words if you stop typing for too long. It is a one man developer that said and a bit old and neglected but Write or Die 2 is worth it if this helps you stay focused.

Too high stress? Think about trying…

Written Kitten is a web browser based writing motivator that gives you a cute kitten picture every time you write a certain number of words. It’s adorable.

Or you can grab that writing buddy of yours, or just yourself, a timer and do a writing sprint. Pick a number of words, set your timer and write until the timer goes off. See how well you did, see how any words you can get and how far above the set number you can go.

In the end all this leads to the same key point, which is to make working on your long multi-chaptered project as easy, fun and rewarding as you possibly can. If you have a mind that chases fun, make the work fun, if it chases novelty, make the work novel, if it lacks focus, figure out how it likes to focus and apply that to your project. 

You can wrangle your brain, but you have to work to its strengths. But before I wrap this up

Advice Tidbit the Seventh: Go easy on yourself.

Neurospicy brains are particular and challenging and common advice doesn’t always work for us and that’s okay. It can be tricky figuring out what works and what doesn’t, and spoons aren’t always plentiful, our moods aren’t always cooperative and sometimes the work really is hard no matter what we do. And that’s okay. What matters, I think, is that we keep trying. A few words a day are still a few words a day.  It adds up.

You got this and I am always happy to have a chat or listen.

Good writing!

[zahri-melitor]

Recent Reads:

I haven’t done a round up of stuff I’ve picked up randomly for a while so let’s have one:-

Exit Stage Left: The Snagglepuss Chronicles: I tried this, on the back of the fact I do enjoy Mark Russell’s satire. After one issue I rapidly realised I simply don’t know enough about the Hanna-Barbera characters in this to care about the adaption going on. The premise is interesting, it’s just Not For Me.

Madame Xanadu 2008 #1-10: this is Matt Wagner with Amy Reeder on art. Reeder's art is ADORABLE and she has such fun drawing elaborate clothing all the way through this. I really enjoy Matt Wagner's ability to take old stories or concepts and breathe a modern comics approach into them, making them a lot more accessible. This is Wagner telling the backstory of Nimue Inwudu, stopping in with her at 5 points in her history (Camelot, the court of Kublai Khan, the French Revolution, Jack the Ripper London, and America WWII) and her interactions with a bunch of characters from the Magic side of DC (Merlin, Etrigan, Death of the Endless, the Phantom Stranger, Giovanni Zatara, and Jim Corrigan as the Spectre). Nimue has a MASSIVE beef with the Phantom Stranger. She does not like him at all, because he keeps turning up at some of the worst points in her life and won't help her try to evade terribly fated things. Come for the Amy Reeder art, stay for the story.

The Demon: Hell is Earth 2018: I enjoyed this. Because I don’t clean read Etrigan stuff in order I cannot remember if Etrigan is officially a Rhymer again as of Rebirth (he appears to be rhyming for fun and because he enjoys it, but isn’t bound to do so, but he’s also getting mocked by his demon uncle for using rhymes). In any case, Jason Blood and Etrigan get separated for hell-related reasons, and they’re running around with Madame Xanadu and Merlin to prevent Belial taking over Earth by invading from Hell. Good times. Lots of people die. Etrigan potentially ends up King of Hell at the end of this story.

Swamp Thing: I was going to make this its own post but heck let’s put everything in together.

Len Wein (Swamp Thing #1-13 1972): Wein's work is absolutely solid magical horror. He sets up an intriguing premise to build from and he can spin a good story. It's exactly the sort of amusing writing that keeps me coming back to, say, Warlord. Worthwhile to see the starting premise.

David Michelinie (Swamp Thing #14-18, 21-22 1972): Not as good at Wein, but definitely can tell a story. You can tell he spent time on House of Mystery given the episodic horror nature of his storytelling.

Gerry Conway (Swamp #19-20, 23-24 1972 plus Challengers of the Unknown #81-87 1977): Conway I think is the first writer who actually gets some of the specific horror you can imbue in this concept, especially around identity. I can see how his ideas could contribute to the later concepts Moore will introduce. I don't think his execution is fantastic but the hand regeneration? Yeah. Yeah that is playing with the ideas available.

Martin Pasko (Brave and the Bold #176 1955, Saga of the Swamp Thing #1-19 1982): Pasko is definitely processing things. Like, the man has an entire story that's just him responding to the Atlanta Child Murders of 1979-1981. He is very much a cynic about the innocence of childhood (or innocence in general, actually) and wants to explore the dark side of humanity.

The Phantom Stranger: these have been backups to the Martin Pasko Swamp Thing issues. Mostly I’ve found them pretty trite and a bit overly religious in places. Yes I know his entire concept is rooted in religious myth (as the Wandering Jew) but I mean more in a 'this tale has an Overt Christian Moral' way. The concept of the character is fascinating. The execution seems to be very across the shop.

Outsiders #1-33 2003: oh boy. Uh. Tomasi's fill using the original Batman & The Outsiders characters was a WELCOME reprieve to this. Okay, in terms of the main run: I tend to find Judd Winick a writer that either I'm fully enjoying or decidedly not to my taste. Outsiders falls into the 'not to my taste' category. I can see what Winick is going for in terms of 'let's make this Gritty! And Mature!' except for it's really not that gritty and his idea of making it mature is just having everyone hooking up a lot on panel, whether or not said hookup makes characterisation sense. And then he'll turn around every 10 issues or so and have some quite interestingly interrogative storytelling about Dick and Roy. (literally: you want issues #1, 11 and 21). I see what a bunch of the DickRoy shippers enjoy in this, but there's a lot of cantilevered cloud structures required to extract the Shippy Goodness out of the rest of this run.

[glass-needles-and-futurisms]

I keep thinking back to Muse playing Survival at the closing ceremonies of the 2012 London Olympics, and I keep saying that one of these days I'm just gonna spew all my feelings about how it's not just one of my all-time favorite Muse moments, but also a hilarious, if perhaps unintentional, moment of social commentary.

I still remember our postgrad professor showing those same closing ceremonies in class, explaining the not-so-subtle propagandistic purpose the entire spectacle served on the global stage. (For those who don't know, the 2012 Olympics closing ceremonies were essentially a three-hour star-studded tribute to UK music and pop culture.)

Picture this: you just sat through about two hours of the UK's various national exports - One Direction, the Spice Girls, the Pet Shop Boys, George Michael, Ed Sheeran, Annie Lennox, erm, Russell Brand. You've just seen live performances of Bohemian Rhapsody, Imagine, Wonderwall, and Always Look on the Bright Side of Life, alongside tributes to David Bowie and Freddie Mercury. And you still have Queen, Take That and The Who to go after this.

Interestingly, that class glossed over what an afterthought the Muse performance felt like by comparison. You could argue a lot of extenuating circumstances: the controversial reception of Survival as the official London Olympics theme song, the infamous NBC debacle where it inadvertently got cut from the US broadcast of the ceremonies, or the simple fact that this far into the festivities, a fairly straightforward stage performance* by a band with slightly less name recognition than Coldplay was pretty underwhelming.

* Not sure if this is common knowledge, but apparently this performance was mostly playback with the exception of Matt's vocals. Which also makes this an underappreciated entry in the annals of Muse miming shenanigans.

But something becomes very apparent once you actually reach this part of the show: Survival is fucking bananas. I'll never forget that one internet commenter calling it the world's most epic villain song that doesn't know it's a villain song. I mean, just look at the lyrics:

Life's a race / and I am gonna win

And I'll light the fuse / and I'll never lose

And I choose to survive / whatever it takes

You won't pull ahead / I'll keep up the pace

And I'll reveal my strength / to the whole human race

This is how the song starts! You can sort of see the logic behind making it the Olympics theme song. And then it gets weirder from there:

Yes, I am prepared / to stay alive

I won't forgive / the vengeance is mine

And I won't give in / because I choose to thrive

Yeah, I'm gonna wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiin

Good grief. No wonder it's called "Survival". The song makes slightly more sense in the thematic context of The 2nd Law, the album it was released on. But on its own it's just.... yeah.

And this performance ramps up the insanity even more by just taking the piss. Between Matt Bellamy peacocking in a sparkly suit and Union Jack t-shirt, the batshit guitar solo, the pyro, the backing choir, and the fact that everything onstage (including the grand piano) is pretty much just for show (and wobbling like mad), Survival feels cheesy and irreverent in a way that makes you suddenly hyper-conscious of how tightly orchestrated everything else you just saw (including the Monty Python and Mr. Bean stuff) was. Remember that this was all broadcast to an international audience of millions.

Pairing the sheer pageantry of the ceremonies thus far with the actual lyrics of Survival kinda puts everything in an uncomfortable new light. Then it dawns on you that you pretty much just watched an accidental three-hour love letter to British imperialism. (Okay maybe that's overselling it a bit but it's still pretty funny.)

[891movies]

415 to go (two thirds of the way there!!)

Three Kings (1999, dir. David O. Russell): I appreciate that what could have been a very conventional heist film took such chances with the subject material and cinematography.

Mad Max (1979, dir. George Miller): This was a very different movie than I expected, having only seen Fury Road before, but I love that it presents such a different post-apocalypse from we're used to seeing. Society has really only started to crumble. People still go on vacations!

The Ox-Bow Incident (1943, dir. William A. Wellman): I put it on knowing nothing about it and not expecting much but oh boy, was I pleasantly surprised. This may be an all-time great western.

The Sorrow and the Pity (1969, dir. Marcel Ophüls): At a staggering 251 minutes, this was the longest entry I had left on the list. It is an incredible work of documentary filmmaking, just absolutely astounding. But am I relieved I won't have to watch another multiple hours long doc about WWII for this project? Yeah, maybe.

Glengarry Glen Ross (1992, dir. James Foley): I'm not a big fan of films that are so obviously adapted from stage plays. That said, Jack Lemmon and Al Pacino are genuinely great in this and their performances made this a much more enjoyable viewing experience than it otherwise would have been.

Pickup on South Street (1953, dir. Samuel Fuller): Could have been great. There's a lot here to love but it's dragged down by the overt misogyny and an absolute piece of shit protagonist.

Le Havre (2011, dir. Aki Kaurismäki): This film is suffused with warmth, in the cinematography but especially in the characters. I feel better about humanity and about life in general after watching this movie.

Shanghai Express (1932, dir. Josef von Sternberg): I don't know that I've ever seen a leading lady as captivating as Marlene Dietrich is in this film. I was absolutely spellbound every time she was on screen.

[georgefairbrother]

This is the third in our occasional series featuring luminaries of stage and screen with a strong personal or professional connection with Northeast England, inspired by @robbielewis. Previous profiles were of John Nightingale and Edward Wilson. This time, Jean Heywood.

She was born Jean Murray, in Blyth, Northumberland, to a coalmining family, in 1921. She worked initially as a librarian, married mechanical engineer Roland Heywood in 1945 (they remained married until his death in 1996), and became involved in amateur theatre, finally turning professional only after her children had grown up.

Following work in repertory theatre, she made her television debut in 1968, but her breakout role was as family matriarch Bella Seaton in 39 episodes of the Tyneside Depression-era drama, When the Boat Comes In (1976-77).

In 1978, she had a leading role in the acclaimed BBC Play for Today, Our Day Out, written by Willy Russell and directed by Pedr James, in which she played a dedicated teacher at a tough, inner city Liverpool Comprehensive school, determined that her struggling students, resigned to the fate of becoming 'factory fodder' according to The Guardian, should at least have a nice time on a coach excursion to Wales. Our Day Out became one of the BBC’s most successful European exports, leading to a memorable headline in The Liverpool Echo.

In a 2015 interview with television historian and author, Oliver Crocker, Jean Heywood talked about the similarities between Bella Seaton and Mrs Alton, her character in the final season of the original All Creatures Great and Small (1990);

"...It’s sort of the character of the women in my early life… I never had any money when I was young and had to make do and mend and manage…So I didn’t have to search how to play that kind of character. People loved my character in (When the Boat Comes In), a working class, good woman, quiet but very strong and I think Mrs Alton was a similar character…"

"…Rehearsing is like playing a ball game, you throw a ball off the idea of your character that you’ve formed in your head, you keep throwing it in the air and nobody has received it back, until you go into the rehearsal studio where you throw the idea from inside your head to the other person, it comes back differently from how you’d imagined, so the character develops and works much more excitingly than what you had in your head..."

With James Bolam as Jack Ford, in When the Boat Comes In

Her television career spanned over 40 years and included appearances in War and Peace, Emmerdale Farm, Coronation Street, Family Affairs, Kavanagh QC, Boys from the Blackstuff, The Bill, Our Friends in the North, Heartbeat, Casualty and on the big screen in Billy Elliot.

Her final screen credit was in 2010, and she passed away in 2019, aged 98.

Sources include The Guardian, IMDb, and All Memories Great and Small by Oliver Crocker (Published by Devonfire Books)

[artsy-hobbitses]

Wait, Thundercracker smokes… huh… y’know, I never thought he would but at the same time I can see him having a cigarette while revising his script.

The mental image I have of him, now that he is more refined in my head as opposed to his first more generic appearance, is Raul Esparza playing Che in Evita (skip to 4:16) with whom he also shares a voice (this man is a triple threat of singing, stage acting and scriptwriting).

Absolute has the beret going on because I like to imagine for kicks that this was legit the last role he got before the Clampdown and he’s held on to the ember of hope that he will one day grace the stage again once this is all over, it’s really all he’s ever wanted to do with his life.

I did draw Buster earlier though like he was, thy version was more generic and faithful to the original rendition, but I like to imagine Buster now as a stray, scrappy little Jack Russell that became close to him at Marissa Fairborne’s base of operations, which Marissa helped him adopt as a part of the crew after a while.

[freakingoutthesquares]

‘Freak Out...’ is laugh out loud funny, because, of course, pre-fame Pulp devised a stage set of toilet paper and tin foil only for it to crumble around them, of course they set fire to a prized palm tree in Toulouse with a misfired firework, and the highlight of their first ever Top Of The Pops performance was, of course, eating Mariah Carey’s biscuits.

Louder Than War Magazine, Issue 2, Winter 2015.

With the release of biography ‘Freak Out The Squares’, PULP man Russell Senior remains fiercely proud of the accomplishments of Sheffield’s finest. Louise Brown talks to a uniquely British man about a uniquely British band.

THE rock biography; that tome of scintillating scandal and sordid excess, where musicians can retire disgracefully airing all of their worst behaviours alongside shocking barbs against colleagues, rivals and the waifs and strays they met along their path of rock and roll hedonism. We, mere mortals, lap them up, each page depicting the charmed lives of music’s most notorious characters.

‘Freak Out The Squares: Life In A Band Called Pulp’, by Pulp guitarist, violinist and self-confessed “grownup of the group’, Russell Senior, is the latest in rock memoir overload, and we settle in for a wild ride of mis-shapes, mistakes and misfits. In fact, what we get is a lot of tea, games of chess and mild-mannered facts about minerals. Did you know that if you add iodine to an axolotl it turns into a newt?

But Pulp were a different class, weren’t they? They did not have the cockney cheek of Blur, not the brash Mancunian swagger of Oasis, they were the psychedelic avant garde art experiment, who had tried for a decade to claw themselves out of Sheffield’s agitprop pop scene, who found themselves in the right place, at the right time and stumbled upon the holy grail of indie gold with era defining anthems ‘Common People’ and ‘Disco 2000’.

Sardonic and as well-presented as Jarvis Cocker in one his jumble sale suits, ‘Freak Out...’ is ‘The Royle Family’ of rock biogs, in that nothing actually happens but it is in the ennui and the unglamorous truthfulness that the writer’s Midas touch is revealed.

‘Freak Out...’ is laugh out loud funny, because, of course, pre-fame Pulp devised a stage set of toilet paper and tin foil only for it to crumble around them, of course they set fire to a prized palm tree in Toulouse with a misfired firework, and the highlight of their first ever Top Of The Pops performance was, of course, eating Mariah Carey’s biscuits.

This is not sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll, more atypical British fumbling of the bra-straps, white-outs after one toke of Black Grape’s joint and playing so out of tune it actually made the band the unique freaks we came to love.

But if it’s not going to a be a tell-all page-turner of bolshy Britpop bragging, then why write it at all? “I kind of felt I ought to write it,” says Russell, his Yorkshire twang ever-giving him a tone of sarcasm and weariness. Speaking shortly before his appearance at Manchester’s Louder Than Words festival (Louderthanwordsfest.com).

“Astronauts, they seem very inarticulate. They’ve been to the moon, but they can’t say anything about it, so I thought, well, I can be loquacious hopefully, and as an eye-witness, I thought I should do it, especially since there were some programmes on Britpop a few years back and they seemed really lame. They didn’t get to the heart of it. I want to try and put people in that dislocated world, the duty of the witness really.”

Britpop, what actually was it? From the turn of the 1990s until the chimes of the new Millennium were rung in, it seemed like the British pop music, and art, worlds, for that matter, were The Zeitgeist. Tracey Emin was making headlines with unmade beds, Damien Hirst was pickling bovine and bands like Blur, Oasis and Pulp, who couldn’t sound more unlike one other if they tried, were as iconic as Ginger Spice in a Union Jack frock.

“It’s not a genre, is it?” Russell ponders. “It’s not like reggae, it’s not a sound. Saint Etienne were deconstructing dance and yet they were Britpop. It was a group of outsiders from different angles, having a go at making pop music that was vaguely credible. It was a rejection of the world that was around us at the time, but the rejection took different forms. It’s not a musical form, really. You can’t teach it. It’s a funny one, isn’t it? You look back and think, well, what was it? Because it didn’t seem like anything coherent at the time, certainly not artistically.”

“Great guitarists like Bernard Butler and Richard Hawley don’t intimidate me because we all do a different thing. They may be able to play ‘All Along The Watchtower’ better than Hendrix but they can’t do spare and spiky and proddy as well as me.”

One of the motifs throughout the book is just how bad Pulp were as musicians. It starts with Russell reviewing Jarvis’ band for his fanzine and referring to the songs as “dirges” but “the appearance of the frontman is entertaining”, however the two became friends and Russell joined Pulp not to bring any musical splendour to the act, in fact, it led the group down an even more outré and unconventional rabbit hole. This self-deprecation almost does as a disservice to the group that ten years later would give the British musical canon pop gold like ‘Something Changed’.

“We learned,” Russell laughs when challenged. “But one of the good things about not having the musical theory, is that you do things that are, technically speaking, out of tune. I think it frees things up. I avoided learning, I was of that mindset. I wanted to find something around another corner, so there’s an almost wilful determination to retain a naivety in a way. We were anti-muso.

We had proper, in inverted commas, musicians audition for us and we just didn’t want them because we wanted somebody that was enfant savage. It sounds a bit ridiculous now, and yeah, we did get to learn about chords as time went on, so it’s strange in a way because, in the end, Pulp craft the perfect pop song, they don’t make a random extreme noise terror, but that was the roots of it. It ended up as pop music, almost by accident really.”

The band did set out to be a pop band though, Russell makes no claim to the other throughout the first half of the book, which shows a warts-and-all side to Pulp before the Britpop boom. They didn’t shy away from the spotlight, “Or want to be an underground, sell-no-records, indie purity thing,” Russell confirms.

“With the C86 movement, they seemed to take succour from how few records they’d sold, like that was a mark of integrity. We thought that was guff and saw not selling records as failure, so I think, in a way, we stood out from the crowd, in that ‘we are going to entertain and we are going to sell records’. It was not very cool at the time.”

“Outside the Cambridge Corn Exchange a young man approached me. There was something funny about him, then he attempted to pass me a wrap of drugs. I refused and then noticed a cameraman with a long lens taking photographs. This was a set-up, imagine the consequences if I’d taken the wrap. That bastard was prepared to ruin my life for a made-up story.”

The price of fame is high, though, and Russell is candid in his dissection of it. “It’s safe to say [that I hate fame]. It was a downer, there was a certain purity and innocence to the Britpop thing, despite all the excess. It seemed a bit of a charmed life really, and then you hit reality of things and you’re cynical. I had a happy view of it and I liked our fans, and it didn’t seem like this cynical rock world to me, it seemed like something light and fluffy.

I don’t know if I’ve stressed it enough in the book but we were very much ‘of’ our fans. We were jumble sale kids. People would look at you funny in the street, and then you were in the sanctity of the concert where there were other strange people, so there was this secret little club of outsiders, and it was a nice thing.”

Of all the Britpop bands, Pulp seemed the most approachable, the most down-to-earth, the most likely to invite you in for a cuppa if you were camped outside their house in December waiting for an autograph. “It’s true,” laughs Russell, as I tell him a story of a friend for whom that happened to.

“And on the whole, I have had my differences with the members of the band, but basically they’re all fairly decent. I wouldn’t say we were prudes but I suppose we were a bit, in that Yorkshire way. We were well-brought up and had decent manners, and no we didn’t hold with bad behaviour at all.”

Laughing about some of the unpretentious, no-nonsense Yorkshire-ness of ‘Freak Out The Squares’, we promise Russell that we won’t paint him completely as rock ‘n’ roll’s least likely, or as a thoroughly decent bloke too much, a real model of the common people. “If it’s true to say it,” he laughs.

“All that Northern stuff, there’s two strands to Sheffield. One is the by-heck whimsy and they get terribly excited about cooling towers getting knocked down. I can’t be doing with that professional Northern-ness, but there’s always a form of Sheffieldness that’s this Dadaist intense thing and I guess I cleave to the latter persuasion really. I don’t really do Northern whimsy.

This is an unusual interview in a way because most people are trying to get me to dish more dirt and I’m like, ‘I haven’t got any more’.

It’s honest in that it does own up to the fact that there wasn’t much in the way of groupies.”

“When we got on the bus, the back room had a general air of a Western saloon – cigarettes, whiskey and wild, wild women. The tour manager interrupted the reverie with the unfortunate phrase: ‘Excuse me ladies, we’ve got to shoot off now’. Everyone was a winner. The girls could hold their heads up high, and no one had to shag in the toilet looking at the ‘No Solids’ sign and wake up feeling like yesterday’s fish and chips.”

“The chronicle of Pulp, the true and honest chronicle of Pulp would take up a shelf of books,” Russell sighs when we do ask him if he was perhaps too polite and left out some of the more outlandish tales from the road. “If you can’t say anything nice don’t say anything at all.

There could’ve been lots of moaning about this, that and the other but it would all be rather trivial. There would be no major revelations, so even if I had the inclination to write a kiss-and-tell, put-the-boot-in book I’d have been really thin on material for it. I’m actually being quite frank, and in a way, brave, in admitting that it’s not always that exciting and if you win the ‘hang out with Pulp for the day’ prize you’d probably choose not to do it again."

“People want Pulp to live in the Monkees house and all be great mates and I don’t have to put the dagger, because people’s view of Pulp is quite a benign one. I can’t remember the last time anyone said anything unkind to me about it, it’s awfully fluffy all of this and I feel a little bit guilty that there’s not more bite but the truth is that people have a lot of affection for Pulp and I’ve no desire to change that.”

The book starts with Russell carefully considering Jarvis’ invitation to reunite the old gang for a one-off Glastonbury performance, flits back to when he first saw Jarvis “murder” (his words) ‘Wild Thing’ by The Troggs while his bass player fell off the stage, follows his acceptance into the Pulp fold and acts as a witty diary of the band’s 2011 comeback and mid-’90s highs.

It allows us a bird’s eye view of Britpop in ascendance – from its biggest stories (Pulp unwittingly to blame for pitting Blur and Oasis against each other with scurrilous gossip about who said what about Justine Frischmann) and wildest excesses (Russell lays claim to being responsible for Britpop folly Menswear, who signed to Island for a ludicrous fee and actually weren’t very good at all) but while he seemed, on the face of it all, to have had a jolly good time, the reunion was a one-off for him, despite protestation from both band and fans.

“Well, phone calls have come, quite a number of times, and things didn’t entirely wind down when it was supposed to, and so I can say that [I’m done] with reasonable degrees of certainty, because there were things that I’ve not done, like playing The Royal Albert Hall and so I’ve resisted those, but I’m very romantic about Pulp,” he admits, when pushed to see if he would tread the boards just one more time and had this book maybe triggered a little bit of wanderlust in him.

“Not everything in my life is as pure as that, but that’s one thing I like to keep it pure. I don’t wish to reduce it by cashing in on it, although you could say I’m doing that with this book. I could’ve tried to pump up the controversy, and I would have sold more copies but I’m quite romantic about it, and protective about the legacy.”

Now a full-time writer he admits that “I got my violin down so I could play it but I’ve not, it’s got dust on it. We weren’t musicians, I really don’t feel like I was. I don’t know how to play any other songs all the way through apart from Pulp songs, and I don’t sit around playing the guitar. What’s next? Writing! A geology-themed mystery romance, a book on the life of Edwin of Northumbria, and another one on foraging. Eclectic and uneconomic! Choose the things that are least likely to sell and do that, that’s what I’m doing.”

Of course he is, of course the foppish, besuited outsider from Britpop’s most bizarre and stubbornly contrary and peculiar band has swapped the riches and adulation of pop music for writing books about mushrooms and ancient kings. What else would he do? Like we said, Pulp and Russell Senior were of a different class, and we wouldn’t change them for the world.

‘Freak Out The Squares: Life In A Band Called Pulp’ is available now from Aurum Press Ltd

Transcription by me.

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

"TWO COMMITTED ON CHARGE OF ROBBERY," Hamilton Spectator. December 4, 1933. Page 7. ---- Pelly, Wells Must Stand Trial, is Decision ---- Walter Reece is Guilty of Two Hold-ups ----- Appearing in police court this morning to answer to charges of robbery while armed, arising out of the hold-up of the Westdale branch of the Canadian Bank of Commerce on August 2 last, Willis Pei- 25 years, and Edward Wells, aged 30 years, both of whom were recently sentenced to penitentiary terms for a bank robbery at Preston, were committed for trial by Magistrate H. A. Burbidge. Following their trial at Kitchener, Pelly was sentenced to five years and Wells to ten years in Kingston penitentiary.

When arraigned this morning, the pair, who were not represented by counsel, elected trial in the higher court. Evidence regarding the hold-up itself was given by Cameron Thorburn, manager of the bank's branch. He stated that he was talking to a customer in his private office when the door burst open and a man, armed with a revolver, ordered both himself and the customer into the vault. Two other members of the bank's staff and another customer were also herded into the vault. The door to the teller's cage being lock ed, the bandits demanded the key from the teller and were given a key which would not open the door, which they broke in the lock. Then the front of the cage was smashed in and one of the three robbers crawled through the opening. Two of the men were armed with revolvers and the other with a shotgun. A total of $2,050 was taken. Mr. Thorburn identified both the accused as two of the men who had taken part in the hold-up.

Two other members of the bank's staff were called and corroborated the manager's evidence as to the hold-up itself. They were unable to Identify the two accused.

Saw Car Leave Jack Fleming, Jack Sharpe and Russell Sharpe, who were walking on King street near the bank, told of seeing a car drive up to the bank and then, later passing them in the other direction. All three identified Wella as one of the men sitting in the front seat of the Detective s Gaylard told of the line-up at the police station during which the two men were identified.

Pleaded Guilty On one charge of assault and robbery and another of robbery while armed, Walter Reece, aged 21 years, 34 Edward street, pleaded guilty and was remanded for sentence for a week. Detective Hagan told the court that, on November 12. the a accused and two other men held up Mike Elyasenik on Gage avenue north and took $73 from him, The accused received $5 as his share of the proceeds. No gun was used in this hold-up, "strong-arm" methods prevailing.

On November 30, the accused, in company with another man, staged a hold-up at the residence of Fred Wheatley, 80 6 Wellington street south. Reece was armed with a gun which he trained on the occupants of the apartment while his companion ransacked a a trunk in the bedroom and took a ladies' watch and compact.

During a search of the accused's on Saturday, a 22 calibre revolver, fully loaded and d with 1 one cartridge fired, was found in the pocket of a suit of overalls which were hanging on the wall. The accused's wife also handed over a black Imitation revolver, which looked very much like the real thing, which was in a bureau drawer. The last weapon proved to be a toy repeating cap cap pistol. The accused told the police that he had purchased the 22 calibre revolver about two weeks ago from a man whose name he could not tell, paying $5 for it.

Stuart Smith, defending, suggested that a mental examination of the accused be made.

Serious Charge "A much more serious charge may follow and I would suggest that, if application for bail is made, it is either refused or made a very substantial amount," said Crown Attorney George W. Ballard when May Kay, aged 24 years, 182 Hughson street north, appeared on a charge of vagrancy. "I would prefer not to outline the circumstances at but a maximum sentence of life imprisonment is the penalty on the other charge." She was remanded.

Charged with vagrancy when he was arrested early yesterday morning following a complaint by Ernest Pare that a man was hanging about his residence, James Hayes, aged 30 years, 64 Vansitmark avenue, father of five children, was acquitted, It was about 2.30 o'clock yesterday morning when the complainant and companion notified Constable

"The father of five children would be in bed before midnight, I should think," commented Magistrate Burbidge.

"I'll think twice before I go for another walk around the block at that time of day," said the accused, as he left the prisoners' pen.

A charge of forgery and uttering against Walter James was laid over Stuart for another day.

At the request of the provincial police, charges of illegal possession of liquor against Douglas Riley, 220 Catharine street north, and Ben Moore, Lowville, were adjourned for eight days.

A charge of failure to pay wages against Harry Williams, 376 King street east, was laid over for one day when personal service of the summons to court could not be proved.

William Martin, 15 West avenue south, was allowed to go on suspended sentence until December 12 on a charge of obtaining board and lodging to the amount of $26.50 by fraud. Restitution must be made in the meantime. It was stated that without telling his landlady that he removed most of his belongings was leaving.

As second offenders, Harry Асton, 29 Lamoreaux street, and Peter Kowal, 147 Hess street north, charged with being intoxicated in a public place, were fined $50 or one month each.

[newmusicradionetwork]

Nate Barnes’ New Summertime Anthem “Love In The Country”

Quartz Hill Records artist Nate Barnes returns with his latest, the summertime anthem, “Love in the Country,” available across all streaming and digital retail partners now. Stream / Buy “Love in the Country” HERE The breezy, come-on to a lover to spend the night together outdoors beneath the stars was written by country powerhouses Ryan Hurd, Jordan Schmidt, Ernest Smith and Geoffrey Warburton. “Love in the Country,” boasts toe-tappin’ lyrics and stunning visuals paired with an undeniable hook of summer love. It’s an irresistible jam with a back-porch groove. Hey baby do you hear that song All the crickets and the bullfrogs singing along Tween the wind in the trees and the birds and the bees Sounds so sweet making love in the country “‘Love in the Country’ reminds me of young love. Growing up in small town Michigan, there wasn’t much to do but take your date to the movies, hang out at late night bonfires or sit on the back of your truck bed and talk all night. And sometimes you just want to get out in the country to spend a little time together one-on-one,” says Barnes. Produced by Derek George (Randy Houser) and Ilya Toshinkskiy (Jelly Roll), “Love in the Country” possesses a chorus that makes the listener want to clap their hands and get up and dance while the bridge mirrors a summer romance between young lovers without a care in the world. “Love in the Country” is the first song from Barnes’ upcoming debut album, slated for release in early 2025. About Nate Barnes: Hailing from South Haven, Michigan, Nate Barnes is a blue-collar storyteller who writes and sings about God, family, hard work, heartache, love, and the simple joys of life. The former nuclear power plant worker spent years playing bars, coffee shops, small venues and festivals in and around his hometown while juggling a grueling day job that included shoveling and digging trenches, laying pipelines, pouring concrete and performing mechanical maintenance duties for the plant, oftentimes enduring extreme weather conditions and 14-hour shifts. A virtual unknown before signing with Quartz Hill Records, Barnes’ debut single, “You Ain’t Pretty,” became the #1 Most Added Song by a Debut Artist at Country Radio (Mediabase), cresting the Top 40 and earning over 34 million impressions on TikTok. Featured in American Songwriter, Billboard, Country Insider, Holler, Music Row, People, Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, Sounds Like Nashville, Taste of Countryand more, Barnes has shared the stage with Lady A, Russell Dickerson, Cody Johnson, Florida-Georgia Line and Chris Janson. Barnes recently completed his debut album with producers Mickey Jack Cones (Jason Aldean, Thomas Rhett), Derek George (Randy Houser) and Ilya Toshinskiy (Jelly Roll). His Quartz Hill Records debut album will be released in early 2025 while the first single from the album, “Love in the Country,” is available now across all streaming and digital retail partners. Read the full article

[rndyounghowze]

Review 537: Dragon Lady

Written By: Sara Porkalob

Directed By: Andrew Russell

Simulcast By: League Of Livestream Theater

@thepublicpgh tinyurl.com/LOLST-Dragon-Lady

Ricky grew up in a housing project on the opposite side of the country from San Francisco where Porkalob grew up yet when the solo performer starts her “karaoke-position” (exposition via karaoke) it started feeling eerily familiar. Porkalob quotes in a preshow interview “This is what happens when you know who you’re making art for” (RnD paraphrase), Porkalob then went on to recount their very personal and very touching story about her grandmother and the rest of her family. Some things are as universal as the moon and stars in the sky. We see stories like these but it takes a unique person like Poraklob to take her personal story and make them shine.

L: Sara Porkalob R: Andrew K Russell

Solo performers have a very special place in our hearts because their performances can be run with clockwork precision. Porkalob can change characters with a single movement of a hand, the turn of a head, and a shift in their stance. Not only that but she is portraying a whole group of siblings at two different ages and we can still tell exactly which character is speaking and what time period we are in. To shift characters, times, and locations without missing a beat takes a high level of skill. To do all of that without a single change in costume and prop takes a very high level of mastery.

Russell was able to seamlessly dovetail his passion and skill in storytelling with Porkalob’s rich narrative. In solo work and storytelling, there are a lot of ways that directors can provide support. You might say that it takes a village to bring certain solo shows to life. Yet, ideally, the director’s work fades so invisibly into the background so that the audience doesn't know where the solo artist’s work stops and the director’s work begins. That’s how we have a sense that the staging, the reveal of the Grandmother’s picture at the end, and many of the design choices have Russell’s fingerprints on them yet we’ll never know unless Russell and Porkalob let us know. The work of a solo performance or storytelling director is not one of ego and recognition but nurturing and infrastructure.

L: Pete Irving C: Mickey Stylin R: Jimmy Austin

One of the more visible signs of support in the show was the shadowy Jazzmen behind the curtain. Three of the group “Hot Damn Scandal” these three musicians held it down and became a soft sonic bed for the story to lie in. We cannot imagine what this show would look like or sound like without this key element. You can tell Porkalob and Irving worked hand in hand to find a rich vibrant sound that was both modern and classic and knit the whole story together. This is a solo show that has the pure DNA of a musical.

Photo Credit: Michael Henninger

Anyone who has listened to the great singers of the time knows what we mean when we say that sometimes the singer surpasses the song. We’ve heard “Ballin’ the Jack”, “Misty” or “Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White” a million times but there are those special voices out there that make them all feel so fresh and new. Family tales of trauma, poverty, and abuse are so universal that (sadly) they could be considered American standards. Yet a performer like Porkalob can come in and make these universal experiences flow through us like new water from a fresh stream. We will always be in awe of artists with that ability.

[wyrmfedgrave]

Pics:

1. Fred J. Jackson was an American author, playwright, screenwriter, novelist, director & producer for the pulps & stage & screen.

2 thru 6. Fred was a highly prolific author of short stories, serialized novels & movie scripts.

He used the great pen name of Victor Thorne.

Though he usually wrote for the pulp mags, many of his tales were adapted into film - but, by others...

Among his works are:

A. The musical "La La Lucille."

B. The novels "Hidden Princess" & "Anne Against the World."

C. The plays "Iron Woman", "Naughty Wife", "Stop Flirting" & "The Bishop Misbehaves!"

D. The screenplays "Man Hunt", "Wells Fargo", "Miracle on Main Street", "Dark Swan", "Stormy Weather" & "The Fatal Ring."

E. The short stories "High Speed", "Jack of Diamonds" & "The Morocco Box."

7 & 8. "La La Lucille" was one of Fred's best works. Here we have 1 page of the piano score for it & a look at it's stage production as well.

1913: Missives of War!

Bio - This year started out like the last few. With Lovecraft sleeping the days away. Waiting for night's release.

But, his life was about to change...

As a devoted reader, Howard had strong opinions about what he liked. And he wasn't shy about sharing his thoughts.

HPL was a regular commentator, of the early pulps, for 2 years now.

He probably didn't know that his most recent, long & venomous missive was about to stir up a letter 'war.'

One whose 'battles' would last for almost a year!

Lovecraft had become incensed of the amount of space that Argosy¹ had given over to Fred Jackson's "trivial, effeminate &... coarse" romances.

Howard followed this up with his criticism that Fred's characters had the "delicate passions & emotions proper (only) to negroes & anthropoid apes²!"

This led to, as (the writer) "Arthur³" best describes as, "a snail mail flame war" between 'allies' of both men!

For HPL, this meant an attack on himself - as the "Poet of Providence" & the old style language that he used.

Focusing on how Howard must be "in love with his dictionary!!"

Lovecraft responded by complaining about Fred's "erotic fiction⁴" (innocent by today's standards)!

And, how Howard preferred tales "where acts of valor are more dwelled upon, than (the) affairs of Venus⁵."

Numerous of Fred's defenders kept the venom flowing. One going so far as to threaten "to loosen up my .44-6 on that man Lovecraft!!"

HPL then escalated the 'fight', venting his contempt - in verse⁶!

One John Russell became Howard's personal 'enemy' - by responding in kind!!

The whole thing was a sort of an early "rap battle" with "wicked burns" being spit out by both sides!

In the end, both men came to regard each other as intellectual equals, veterans of a rarified battleground...

This poetic "smackdown" would see both men suddenly become 'noticed.'

Notes:

1. Argosy was the 1st American pulp fiction magazine. It specialized in short story, male oriented tales.

2. As usual, HPL likes to use race & bad pseudo-science to empower the impact of his curses.

3. I don't know who writes under this name, so don't ask. She/He/It does have some great turns of phrase.

4. A common trope of this 'romance' material is rape 'enjoyable' enough for the 'heroine' to fall in 'love' with the 'hero' - without her ever consenting to have 'sex'!!!

This is something that still crops up in rape fantasies, porn movies, etc...

5. Venus was the Roman Goddess of Love & Sexual Passion. She's the Latin version of the earlier Greek Aphrodite.

6. Mostly heroic couplets in the style of Pope & Dryden.

Lovecraft's poetic missives include the "Ad Criticos" cycle & " The End of the Jackson War."

Quotes:

1. In 1913 (during the 'war'), Howard stated - in some surprise, "(My little letter) created an immense sensation (of hatred) among... Argosy's readers."

2. In 1916, HPL crowed that, "The editor... had anti-Lovecraft letters - on the following month!"

"Then, I (wrote) another satire, flaying my tormentors in stinging iambic pentameter⁷."

"This too was printed - til the storm of fury waxed high."

(The dispute was, for the most part, quite good natured.)

Note:

7. Iambic pentameter describes a poetic satire written in 10 syllable sentences & composed of 5 parts.

[petnews2day]

In pictures: A handsome hamster and other adorable animals

New Post has been published on https://petnews2day.com/pet-news/small-pet-news/in-pictures-a-handsome-hamster-and-other-adorable-animals/

In pictures: A handsome hamster and other adorable animals

A RESCUE hamster called Minnie who has a talent for storing vast quantities of nuts in her pouches is among your featured pets.

Four delightful dogs with big hearts and a very cute and communicative cat are also pictured. 

We love to hear from readers about their adored animals and the adventures they get up to in Hampshire. 

ALSO READ: Six cute Hampshire pets

If you’d like your creature great or small to be put centre stage in the Daily Echo and online, just click on the link below or visit dailyecho.co.uk/yourpets

NOT only has Syrian hamster Minnie become super cuddly since being adopted from the Blue Cross in Southampton a year ago, but she’s also capable of fitting five or more monkey nuts in her pouches! She’s one talented 18-month-old!

MEET Frankie the 19-month-old Patterjack who loves to play, sunbathe and make new friends during her Hampshire walkies. 

THREE-year-old Southampton shih tzu Hugo is making the most of the good weather and spending most of his time enjoying the garden, chilling out and playing ball. 

THIS is Katara, an eight-month-old British Blue who is the beloved pet of an autistic nine-year-old, is lively and keeps the whole house entertained. 

RESCUE Labrador Bella is now loving life in Hampshire aged three. She loves to chase birds, eat furniture and cuddle. 

POPPY is a delightful dog with a big heart. The eight-year-old chihuahua Jack Russell mix can high five, has a special talent for hearing food wrappers crinkle and makes a great home office buddy. 

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[sintaphy-custom-pet]

9 Advices You Need to Know before Training Your Dog

Many people find that a dog can develop into a true best friend. But with that, there comes the responsibility of training them and teaching them proper etiquette. In this blog post, we share 9 advices you need to know before training your dog, like how to pick out the right breed for you and what kinds of food to feed your pooch. These tips will help ensure a successful relationship between you and your furry friend! Let's get started!

1. Pick Your Breed Carefully

Dogs have different needs depending on their specific breed. Dogs such as Australian shepherds or rottweilers are heavier than huskies or golden retrievers because they need more exercise according to their body type. Their working needs may mean different food, cleaner dog crates, more space, and different grooming requirements.

If you pick a lap pooch, you will need less room for a bed and doggie bag for a walk, but if you want an active running friend, you will want one that is larger in build to be able to handle the exercise and excitement.

2. Feed Your Dog Quality Food

As with people, the food differs in taste and texture between individuals, and dog food differs between breeds. The stomach of your dog may be sensitive, or has trouble digesting certain ingredients, realize that not all dog food brands will agree with your dear pet. Depending on the exact food, you may need to switch brands or purchase a special kind or treat that can be used to help ease your dog's stomach.

3. Select an Appropriate Breed for You

Depending on your lifestyle and preferences, consider shopping around for a particular dog type that will complement your lifestyle. For example, if you like playing fetch with dogs but don't want one who likes getting in fights, a jack Russell terrier might be suitable for you. If you want a dog with a long coat, then a golden retriever or husky could be best. The choice is up to you!

4. Socialize Your Dog Early

Just as newborns and humans learn best during their early stages of life, so do dogs. If you don't socialize with your dog soon after birth, it can become difficult to train them later. Walk your dog or take him on trips to pet stores and restaurants. This will help them develop into a well-rounded adult who can adapt better from one situation to another and make friends easier in new situations.

5. Consider the Dog's Personality

Just like with people, there are many different personality types for dogs. If your pup is shy and quiet, it may be hard for them to get comfortable in new situations. In contrast, if you have a more outgoing and easygoing dog, it would be ideal to leash them when walking in an unfamiliar area. Regardless of your breed of dog, always teach your dog to respond with a command or signal when they sense danger or another strong feeling, such as fear or aggression coming from another animal they do not know.

6. Use Custom Pet Portraits and Custom Pet Canvas

You can make a custom pet portrait like Custom Pet T Shirt or Custom Pet Blanket of your furry friend before training them to be the best dog they can be. That way, they can look at their fantastic new portrait whenever they need to feel loved and appreciated. If that weren’t enough, you could always capture them in a personalized canvas too! What could be better than that for someone with canine companionship issues or those who are away from their pets for long periods?

7. Consider the Dog's Needs

Just as adults have their own needs, dogs do too. You should consider what your pooch needs regarding grooming, food, and special needs if any. If they have any special medications or diets, you should stick to that and ensure your pet always has their medication on them if they are at home. That is the best way to ensure your pet stays healthy and strong for many years.

8. Be a Good Student for Your Dog

Just as you wouldn't want someone else to tell you how to live your life, dogs don't want that either. If you want to train a dog properly, you must learn to listen when they tell you something instead of just giving them something against its will. That can damage the relationship and trust between both of you.

9. Look After Your Dog's Health

Just like people, dogs can get sick and injured at any time. If your dog has any health problems or is sick right now, you should take them to the vet immediately. If a veterinarian counts on you to stop by every week to make sure they are doing well, send them a note if it isn't possible for you to take your dog in for regular medical check-ups.

Getting started with training your new furry friend is not going to be an easy task, and you'll need a lot of patience. Dog behavior is complicated - they're not just furry, cute animals anymore. Dogs are creatures who possess intelligence and want to do their own thing while staying loyal to their human family members.