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papacopiasmoustacherides · 5 years

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Square Hammer Music Video Thoughts

I was watching the Square Hammer Video, since Tobias said there are things in that that still haven't been noticed. I hadn't really ever given the video much study, so I went and watched it a bunch to see what I could find.

I did a little research to make sure I was caught up on what seemed to be out there already, which seems to be:

- The cardinal thing

- Freemason imagery

- Reference to lawsuit

- One person who noticed a weird purposely-done transparency error thing that I also noticed. They suspected it could be a binary message. No clue.

So, I just wanted to toss some observations out there that I noticed. I'm not claiming to have "discovered" anything, especially not to have been the first to make these observations. I just didn't find them when I did a not-super-in-depth sweep on google, and they're basically me mulling over and processing what I think is going on in the video. Please also note that I didn't search on tumblr, so if you see I'm verbatim repeating what someone else said, I'm sorry to be repeating something that maybe everyone has already figured out.

I also want to note that I tried to read what I could of text in the video (the newspaper, signs, etc.) But since I'm using my phone, it's pretty hard to see anything. I put that aside for now.

With my observations, I'm keeping in mind the comments of multiple people that the song, lyrically and visually, has references that could be seen as hints to Papa III's downfall. This downfall being due to becoming too engaged with being the Popestar (focus on ego, stardom), instead of on the mission of Ghost (toppling oppressive governments and churches, the good of the people).

- The very first shot of the Protagonist in the film looked very familiar. The silhouette and jacket reminds me very much of a certain cardinal's in the Rats video/that early Copia era. The torch even looks a little like his cane. While the protagonist has long hair, at this angle, it resembles the short, swept-back hairstyle of Copia at that point. In the following shots as he approaches the castle further, he's even shown with black eye make-up. I think the protagonist is supposed to be a symbol/stand-in for Copia.

The only picture I'm including in this post, because it's kind of neat to me, and it happens quickly:

- the protagonist is derided by the actual Papa III in the audience, which makes me think that this really does represent Copia. It also gives us an idea of what Papa III thought of the Cardinal and the idea that he would have to step down and give Copia the anti-papacy.

- So, there are already in the Prequelle Chapters pretty heavy pointers to Copia being Imperator and Nihil's child. In Square Hammer, the silent film text has film-Papa III calling the Copia stand-in protagonist Brother, and referring to their father. I'm thinking these are some more so obvious it feels misleading hints that Papa III was supposed to be a dear and step down to this additional shark in the water, lil brudder Copia, who is legit the next of Nihil's sons.

- The power of the square hammer could be representative of the moral goals and imperatives of the clergy/Ghost's organization and the role/power of the Papa in fostering them. The clergy-approved replacement film shows Papa III instilling the values of the organization in the protagonist/stand-in Copia before giving the power of being Papa, wielding the square hammer, to him.

- We have Audience Papa III attending this show, which is supposed to be his own show that he has put on as the star (we have all the fanfare and flattery of the newspapers and the premier of what was supposed to be his big moment of glory) but he's quickly disappointed when the power of the square hammer (the lighting, as shown in the video elsewhere) zaps the film and his production is replaced with a warning from the clergy. One that says that his time as Papa is nearing an end, as told by the Ghost organization, "We have already deemed you unfit for the role of Papa and selected your replacement. You will show him the way and hand over your position, or else." Papa III seems especially flustered and aghast at the increasingly pointed attention grabbers that the film-Papa III puts out into the audience (scaring away his audience, ruining his show, scrutinizing his leadership). Including dissolving into a bunch of bats (a reminder of his power from and obligation to the people-- those countless bats are what make him powerful and give the reason for what he should be doing. As opposed to the singular focus on stardom and self)

- Considering Papa III had to be physically removed from the stage before Nihil basically said "party over, you little shit," it's safe to assume he didn't heed the clergy's warning given in the replacement film. Could he have been allowed to peacefully live out his golden years if he hadn't demonstrated insubordinate tendencies to the mission? Were the other former papas killed to create further safeguards of the purpose of the clergy, to purge those that would hold it back? (Similar to TF's personal and professional reasons for offing them). Also, depending on Imperator's involvement and motives, they could have been killed off to further guarantee her son's position as the next Papa (As countless others have also said before me here).

- the audience is pretty spooped and horrified at the replacement film's disruption of the Popestar glamorlife party (fan reactions to the end Era III and the end of the Papas?). Papa is pretty dang displeased seeing the suggestion of how he should behave as Papa protecting out of the screen and hovering in the sky.

- The cardinal on the grave thing: A more direct warning to Papa. Hey, u gonna die if u don't shape up.

- The film-Papa and actual Papa exchange some pretty tense glares at the end as film-papa is in the sky looking down. Actual Papa's looked like resentment. Throughout the video, the flash of the white left eye happens. It's similar to the lightning and power of the square hammer. I think it's safe to guess that the flashes of the white eye are the same kind of deal. Film-Papa flashes that eye at meaningful moments, one especially important one being during the tense glares between film and real Papa. Film-Papa flashes the eye to remind Papa of the responsibilities of the position. Real-Papa's eye flashes like a rebellious child asserting that he IS Papa and he doesn't need that lecture.

#post of mine #square hammer #ghost #ghost bc #the band ghost #cardinal copia #papa iii #honestly I'm just putting this out there because maybe someone else could get something from it?#hopefully I don't look like a jackass.

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techouspeaks · 4 years

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So Today Marks The Anniversary of Yugioh Duel Monsters!

Now when I was a kid, it was before the age of internet and I didn’t travel too much. Like legit, the only way I got anime goods from Japan was because I lived in San Diego at the time and down town San Diego has this awesome swap meet. It’s one of the best ones you can go to. You can find anything there and a lot of tents sold anime goods ranging from Digimon to Sailor Moon.

However, I never had seen anything Yugioh related because being a 9 year old kid, my one track mind was either Digimon or Sailor Moon. So I didn’t get introduced to the Japanese series early. I was first introduced to Yugioh like so many American kids were by Kids WB premiere.

Now funny story, when I first saw the trailers to Yugioh, I legit wasn’t interested. I thought “Great, another DBZ type thing but with card games instead of dumb, ridiculously over macho men, punching each other’s lights out.” (I look forward to your comments on that.) So naturally, I wanted to avoid the anime.

At the time I had started 6th grade I was already going through hell with my peers. You know the stupid middle school kids that think now that they’re in middle school they’re awesome and too good for that “childish crap”! When in reality middle school kids are fish bait compared to high schoolers and I think at that age we just want to lie to ourselves and hide that fact. So, naturally being a “female Peter Pan” and I didn’t want to give up my joy of loving anime and cartoons but sadly, I was targeted even at an early time of middle school of bullying.

During the beginning of 6th Grade though, I was lucking to miss about a week of school during September, since my dad got vacation days and even got bonus deals on hotels including Las Vegas, so we went for a week to vacation there.

That was when I had a dream that involved me meeting Yugi Muto. (Just regular Yugi, not Yami.) I know that’s weird and you probably think I’m making it up but I honestly did. I don’t remember it much. It wasn’t a big thing. All Yugi and I did in my dream was just have a casual conversation. About what, I don’t remember but he seemed like a pretty nice character so, yeah...We just talked and that was it.That’s when I made the decision to watch Yugioh.

We got back and I watched it and this was my reaction to Yugi...

I had a huge crush on him as a kid but it wasn’t just because he was cute. I liked how kind he was. This little guy goes through hell, gets beaten up, often looked down upon the same way I was and yet, he still picks himself up, has the strength to lend a hand to even those who mocked him and was so very encouraging. All his friends were and me, having very little real friends in the world would pretend Yugi and his friends encouraging me and being with me through the worst of my attitudes and the worst I felt. It was the only way to keep me sane at the time. (That and listening and even singing to cheesy, corny pop songs of the early 00s.)

I never got into the card series and probably never will, but that’s not what got me into Yugioh. It was a tale of a young man going through struggles, growing up and still have the decency to be a respectful human being. His story is very inspiring to me and to many others that have gone through bullying. When you look pass the card games, the true message that Yugioh is about is growing up, making new friends of all sorts of likes, dislikes, talent and back stories and being the best you can be as a person.

So I thank Yugioh for the 20 years of inspiring that message!

#yugioh #yugi moto #yugi mutou #yami yugi #2000 #2000s #2000s cartoons #anime #Tech tells a story #true confessions

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janebennetts · 5 years

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the one where richie is in cats

The day that Cats is released is one of the best days of Eddie’s life. Not because it’s a good movie. It’s not.

It’s because he can make fun of Richie for this for the rest of their lives.

“Let me get this straight,” Eddie said about a year before. “You’re going to be in Cats.”

“What? Why are you making that face? It’s, like, a million bucks for three days of work.”

“You can’t sing. Or dance.”

“Wait. It’s a musical?”

Apparently James Corden had been in talks to play Bustopher Jones, but the director had decided to cast Richie in an attempt to appeal to younger audiences. Especially LGBTQ+ viewers. Yes, Richie is playing a gay cat.

Richie texts Eddie a picture on the first day of shooting, his face covered in blue dots for the CGI. Eddie, of course, immediately sends it to the rest of the Losers.

mike: hahaha!

ben: where’s taylor swift

bev: furry richie: confirmed

bill: say hi to taylor swift for us

stan: like they’ll let richie anywhere near taylor swift

richie: :(

richie: there are people doing legit vocal warmups

richie: there are people stretching!!

richie: how am I here

eddie: i swear if you blow out your back again

As it turns out, the production team anticipated Richie’s inability to sing or dance. As soon as Richie gets home, he buries his head into Eddie’s chest and reveals that he has a body double and a voice double. Who is James Corden.

“So you’re just...there.” Eddie says.

As soon as the trailer drops, he instantly goes viral on Twitter.

streamhotknife: richie tozier is playing a gay cat in cats. you can’t convince me that the world didn’t end in 2012.

The actual footage of Cat Richie, unfortunately, deserves all the buzz. When his forehead is covered in fur, it just makes his entire head look huge, especially when compared to how jarringly small his eyes look with contacts.

Richie tries to refuse doing any press for the movie, but they manage to force him to go on Seth Meyers’ show.

Before filming starts, Seth has to give Richie a pep talk to get him to come on stage.

“Nobody asks Andy Samberg about Daddy’s Boy,” Seth says. “You survived a performance where you forgot your own name. You’re going to be alright.”

“When Eddie and I are in bed, sometimes he’ll shudder and I’ll know he’s thinking of me as a cat” Richie says dejectedly. “I’ve already spent my paycheck on therapy sessions.”

Seth goes easy on him and mostly asks about his famous friends and Eddie, but finally he has to say something about the movie. “So your next movie is getting a lot of buzz…” he starts.

There’s a long silence where Richie picks a hangnail. And then he literally says, “I’m not in any movies.”

When the movie gets released and the reviews start coming out, Richie’s mostly at the point where he finds it funny, but then he’ll think of Eddie going and seeing a cat with Richie’s face plastered on it dance and sing.

“Please don’t divorce me,” he says as they get into bed one night.

Eddie wraps his arms around him and squeezes. “I’ll love you for all of your nine lives.”

Stan and Patty and their three year old daughter Hannah fly out for the premiere, mostly for moral support but also so they can see Richie’s reaction in real time.

“Daddy, I’m scared,” Hannah says after the first musical number.

“Me too,” Stan answers.

Richie’s big number comes quickly. It’s horrifying. Firstly, apparently nobody realized that James Corden has a British accent and Richie doesn’t, so when he sings, it’s 100% clear they’ve dubbed it. There’s also a shot of Richie/Bustopher Jones shoving an entire fish into his mouth, and one of him diving into a dumpster, and actually, it’s all so good that Eddie knows he’s going to single-handedly make the YouTube clip of this song reach a million views.

The press made such a big deal about the “gay scene” that there were mutliple articles in the Daily Mail about it, but it actually turns out to be Bustopher Jones putting his human hands (!) on another cat at the end of the movie and calling him a snack. Because Bustopher Jones likes to eat, get it?

“I actually liked it,” Patty says as they leave. “It was no Mamma Mia, but…”

Instantly, Stan’s face lights up. “Patty loves musicals,” he says. “So you can trust her opinion. Although, I still don’t understand what a jellicle cat is.”

About a year later, a tumblr post appears and gains over three thousand notes, sparking a heated debate in the “richie tozier” fandom: finally watching cats and why did nobody tell me that richie is so hot as a cat?

#i am so sorry #it #reddie

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photolover82 · 5 years

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The Masked Singer Season 3 Group A Predictions (Episode 1)

Hey my lovely people of Tumblr. I know I have been MIA for a while, but I am back just in time for the season 3 premiere of The Masked Singer, yesterday right after a small little game probably nobody knows about called The Super Bowl haha... Anyways, this season, the format is a bit different just like my posts... The 18 masks are separated into 3 groups of 6, labeled A,B, and C, that will be facing off tournament style. We will be seeing group A for 3 weeks until the 6 masks become 3 and the same for the other 2 groups until the group is cut in half, leaving us with 9 masks. So, last night we were introduced to group A, consisting of Robot, Kangaroo, Miss Monster, Turtle, Llama, and White Tiger. As always, here are my predictions (with photos, making it more fun ofc):

Wait a second... Before I do so, let me ***SPOILER ALERT*** talk first about the eliminated constant, who is ***DRUMROLL PLEASE- warning it’s a spoiler***

THE ROBOT

Ok so I am not gonna lie, I am kind of sad about this elimination. I really loved the costume and him as a whole (who I will reveal later, lemme warn you it’s a spoiler). Even though I dd enjoy his performance, you can tell the costume was super heavy for him to handle and he was focusing too much on staying in character and the choreography that his voice suffered a bit. However, I am still sad that he is leaving, I wish he could have stayed... but all the performances were amazing so I guess it makes sense. Anyway, that means that he was unmasked... and revealed as ***DRUMROLL PLEASE****

LIL WAYNE

So, I kind of knew this based on his voice, but nevertheless I was still shocked that he would do this show. He is probably one of the biggest names the Masked Singer has ever had so far. This reveal didn’t disappoint... oh and guest judge Jaime Foxx’s reaction to it was hilarious af!

NOW TO THE PREDICTIONS OF THE REMAINING FIVE*

*Note these are not set in stone and some are subject to change, the ones with a question mark after the name I guessed are the ones I am not completely sure about

1. The Kangaroo

My Guess: Jordyn Woods?

Ok so this mask was a very interesting one to me. At first, when I heard her clues and her voice, I was like hmm voice sounds familiar but who is this, I cannot put my finger on how I know this voice. I commented this on the Kangaroo’s YouTube video and someone replied to me saying this is Jordyn Woods and I decided to rewatch the clues and the performance and I cannot get it out of my head that it is her even though both Jenny McCarthy and the people over at Entertainment Tonight think it is Jordan Sparks (whose voice doesn’t match up to the Kangaroo):

In the clue package, she said that she did some things on her own accord that put her in bad light with the press, which is an allude to the whole thing with Tristan Thompson.

She also said she lost somebody who held her family together and she did lose her father in 2017.

I have no idea that she sang, but the tone of her singing voice sounds like her speaking voice.

2. The Turtle

My Guess: Jesse McCartney

Alright, this mask is one of the ones I am 100% sure about. I grew up with Jesse McCartney and he was Justin Bieber before Justin Bieber was famous. So, I did some research and it all adds up I swear:

In the clues, he said that he likes to go slow and steady and not as quick as his peers, who fizzled out. That could be talking about other boy bands who fizzled out in the late 90s which was when he began his career with a boy band as well, even though it wasn’t as popular as NSync or Backstreet Boys.

Also, the surfboard in the clues can be referring to the Teen Choice Awards which he won back in 2007.

His voice, man, I know his voice from a mile away. It took me back to Another Cinderella Story

3. White Tiger

My Guess: Rob Gronkowski aka Gronk

Ok so this is another one that I am way too sure about. I actually know who Gronk is and I have heard of him before, but it wasn’t until I saw people’s reasoning behind why it is him that it makes so much sense:

The White Tiger is a very tall mask which makes the person in it very tall and Gronk is around 6 foot 5 inches so it makes sense

In the clue package, there’s a mention of an award of clam chuckling which means he is from New England (he did play for the Patriots so there’s that)

There is also a “5/3″ sign on the clues and he did win the 53rd Super Bowl

Also, in terms of his performance, he has sung the song Ice Ice Baby before this performance as well so it makes total sense.

4. Llama

My Guess: Drew Carrey?

Ok, so I am not so sure about this one, but when I was watching ET’s Masked Singer after show, they kind of convinced me about this one even though I have a bit of doubts. Here are the things that I feel match up:

In the clue package, the overlying theme was a radio show with the numbers 23.3 and the Drew Carrey Show ran for 233 episodes

A CD was shown in the clues with the name “Sounds of Seattle,” and he is the minority co-owner of the Seattle Sounders soccer team.

As for the voice, I don’t know his voice, but he is a comedian so it would make sense that he is doing this for fun and laughs.

5. Miss Monster

My Guess: Chaka Khan?

Last but not least, we have Miss Monster, which is a female version of the season 1 winner, Monster, who ended up being T-Pain. My initial thought was that whoever was under that mask is related to T-Pain in some way, like worked with him or something. Chaka Khan did present an award to T-Pain so there’s a relation there, but I feel like these clues make me believe it’s Chaka Khan even though people are saying Tina Turner:

In the clue package, there was a key labeled fun, which is a reference that Chaka Khan is the queen of funk.

In the clues there was a #10 in the locker and Chaka Khan did win 10 Grammys

Like omg and her voice is legit Chaka Khan... I am pretty convinced

So there you have it, on Wednesday, I will be back with my recap on episode 2 and let’s see if I get these right... let me know what you all think.

#TheMaskedSinger #the masked singer season 3 #lil wayne

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niuxita21 · 4 years

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And since I’ve started blogging regularly about TV shows again after about a couple of years of finding my happy place in women’s football, I just need to be intense about the season 2 premiere of El Embarcadero for two seconds and then I’ll be fine.

I was legit terrified of watching this episode lmao because the s1 finale left me SHOOKETH and there were just so many ways to go from there but I was only going to be OK with a couple of them so for me there was a lot riding on how they chose to develop things after Alex’s shocking confession in the last few seconds of the finale and the new development of her possibly having realized her feelings for Verónica. My worst case scenario was a time jump of like a year or so to account for the passage of time in real life (maybe?) So IMAGINE my surprise and delight when the episode starts and it picks up right where they left off (even a few seconds earlier), like, I knew it was going to be a good episode when just a few seconds in and I already approved of the decisions being made.

The fact that we got a redo of the bed makeout scene but this time better shot and with NO ÓSCAR anywhere to be seen like ???? Did someone read my innermost thoughts and find out that I was a bit disappointed in the eclectic camera work that didn’t let me see shit and in Óscar being interspersed with Alex and Verónica kissing for the very first time in the finale? WHO SAID god is not real????

The confrontation post-confession went about exactly as I’d hoped/imagined it would with Verónica getting mad and kicking Alex out almost immediately without letting her explain. I did enjoy the glimpses we got of their fight before Alex left, with both of them getting super intense and in each other’s faces, made all the more delicious by the height difference. That said, I had to LOL at Alex’s “You came into my house and stole the love of my life, you can’t kick me out of your house!” bc LMAO gurl, I love you to pieces but whaaaa?? Lots to unpack here but bottom line, it’s OK, you did just makeout with a hot lady for the first time in your life, it’s understandable that you wouldn’t be thinking straight (ha!)

Verónica deciding that the best way to deal with her anger at being betrayed by “Martina” is to BURN ALL HER SHIT LMAO. That is a totally sane and healthy reaction to a friend breakup, shall we say, and not at all an indication of some deeper feelings there. Nope, not at all.

I loved that Alex said in therapy that she thought what happened to her with Verónica with respect to her inability to pull away from her was the same thing that happened to Óscar, because that’s what I’ve always thought. Like I can totally see why Óscar and Alex would be drawn to each other, they’re both hot, adorable, type-A nerds, so it also makes sense that they would be drawn to the same type of person who comes into their lives and puts everything completely upside down just by virtue of being like no one they’ve ever met before. Also, Alex saying she’s having trouble dealing with Verónica’s absence, nawwwww. This show is just committed to giving me everything I want and it’s only episode 1!!!

The scene between Verónica and Conrado was interesting on a couple of levels. 1) He finally showed his true colours as the typical man who appears to be a cool and understanding dude until something comes between him and a woman he has decided he wants and then the aggressive, possessive alpha-male jumps out. Bit disappointing ngl because I thought he was one of the good ones. And 2) Verónica’s “What do you want with [Alex]?” (roughly), just a few shades from being jealous, and “I’ll step away if I want to” made me think that she was legit gonna pursue something with Alex just to piss off Conrado, but thankfully that was not the case. I did like that it was a subtle continuation of the way she’d been tuning into the thing between Alex and Conrado in the last two episodes of season 1. I always thought it was the beginnings of jealousy because she was starting to develop feelings for Alex so we’ll see if I was right and she ever brings it up when they get together for real.

THE BATHTUB SCENE. Possibly my favourite moment between these two in the entire series so far, dethroning the hug at the beach in the season 1 finale. I mean, UGH, where do I even start. The way Alex looks down at Verónica naked in the bathtub with such tenderness and asks her if she’s OK. Her “I’m not leaving, I can’t be away from you” in response to Verónica kicking her out. The way you can see the wheels turning inside her head and weighing the options of doing what Verónica is ordering her to do or staying and continuing to fight to get her back, until the latter finally wins out and she straight up TAKES HER SHOES OFF and gets into the bathtub with her. Like, she doesn’t say a single word, but that’s her grand gesture right there and it does all the work for her because a few seconds later, Verónica breaks down and pulls her into the tightest softest hug and at this point I DON’T KNOW HOW I AM STILL ALIVE. Also, this shot:

Like what kind of epic love story shit is this??? And then:

How TIGHTLY Verónica is wrapped around Alex I can’t deal with any of it.

And then Verónica pulls Alex down with her and all of a sudden they’re CUDDLING IN THE BATHTUB WITH ALEX FULLY CLOTHED AND LAYING COMPLETELY ON TOP OF A VERY NAKED VERÓNICA BECAUSE OF HOW TINY SHE IS LIKE HOW IS THIS A REAL THING THAT I’M WITNESSING WITH MY OWN TWO EYES I CAN’T EVEN. And then Verónica apologizes to Alex for ruining her marriage and Alex quips that she never even found out and they both laugh and like, it’s amazing that they’re already at a place where they can joke about that like it’s nbd I’m just :))))

That said... it did feel like Verónica came around way too quickly. IDK it seems to me that Alex would have had a bit more explaining to do before Verónica felt like she was OK with forgiving her like, no offense to that tiny, possibly lesbian disaster, I mean, I love her, but what she did to Verónica was messed UP even if she WAS her husband’s mistress, and at the very least I feel like Alex needed to apologize for deceiving her like that. Maybe the key to all this is that mysterious message Alex said she left for Verónica but that we didn’t listen. Maybe she apologized and explained herself at length knowing Verónica probably wouldn’t let her do it in person? That makes sense to me. Hopefully we get to hear it in later episodes, given how timey-wimey the storytelling is on this show.

ALSO, Verónica calling her “Alejandra” for the first time. Ugh, I love this song. As a sidenote, I always headcanoned that, once Verónica found out who Alex really was, she would always call her by her full name and not by her nickname. It just seems to jive with what we know of her character so far. Let’s see if I’m right.

The whole sequence of Alex, Verónica, and Sol having a happy family afternoon riding the horse, playing tag on the beach, and having a tortilla de patata contest all set to that happy-go-lucky “Suspicious Mind” song is what serotonin is made of. My goodness. It’s impossible not to smile while watching it. And my biggest takeaway is Alex’s big ass SMILE:

She’s SO HAPPY. This little family that she conned her way into makes her so genuinely HAPPY and it melts my heart.

Alex telling Verónica she thinks Óscar was murdered and then “If you think someone killed him, I’m gonna help you find whoever did it.” Like DO YOU KNOW how much I wanted these two to team up and try to figure out what really happened to Óscar together??? I just figured, if it ever happened, it would be like halfway through the season at the very least, because that’s how long I imagined it would take Verónica to forgive Alex for deceiving her, so to have it happen already? IS IT MY BIRTHDAY OR SOMETHING??? And just, like, the amount of TRUST she already has in Alex, like not 24 hours have passed since she found out who she really is but she’s already willing to follow whatever theories she has and assuming she’s right. It makes me so happy.

Alex not being able to sleep next to a topless Verónica because she’s so attracted to her? Brilliant, fantastic, amazing, showstopping, spectacular, *chef’s kiss*, etc.

That whole morning scene when Alex wakes up and starts freaking out because Sol is gonna be late for school, like, she’s already acting like such a MOM to her, I can’t handle it. But my favourite part was how she asks Verónica “Did you burn ALL my clothes?” with not an ounce of reproach in her voice, she just wants to know if there’s anything in that house that she can wear to her meeting to save time, and Verónica’s like “I can lend you something” and Alex, “Something appropriate for a meeting with architects?” and Verónica fake ponders, “Hmm... let me think... nope,” clearly pulling her leg. I just ADORE how, now that the jig is up and Alex is being herself with Verónica, this new dynamic is starting to take shape wherein Alex can be all type-A with Verónica and Verónica just teases her about it without Alex even getting mad, the same way she did with Óscar.

Verónica dropping in on Alex at her work to tell her about the tickets to Óscar’s car. OK 1) The way Alex SMILES when she sees Verónica was probably my second favourite moment of the episode. There this show goes again subverting my expectations. When I saw Verónica walking in, I thought we were in for their first disagreement because Alex would be embarrassed about having Verónica there, since she’s always been very zealous about keeping her life at the albufera and her life as Alex separate. But NOPE, not this show!

skdfhkjdhk tattoo that smile on my forehead like???? I mean I thought I had a pretty clear read on Alex’s character so far, but she’s just throwing me for a loop here, lol. I guess being in love really does that to people IDK. (Sidenote: how GORGEOUS is she??? She’s got that classically Spanish dark hair and intense dark eyes that just drive me crazy.)

The both of them just sitting around in Alex’s office doing some amateur detective work re: Óscar’s speeding tickets and the mysterious town where he seemed to be coming and going, casually being like, “I’ve never seen him do that” “Neither have I” like they’re talking about a mutual friend and not about, idk, the man they were both in love with (and who is now dead) is freaking WILD, man, but also EXACTLY what I’d been wanting to see at some point and I still can’t believe the show is giving it to me so soon. Lastly, Verónica saying, “We should go to [that town]. Together.” makes me laugh because the “together” was COMPLETELY UNNECESSARY lmao but hey, Vero, if it makes you feel good to constantly restate the fact that you and Alex are in this TOGETHER then who am I to criticize. These two, I swear.

The way Katia comes in and, instead of scrambling to find a logical explanation, Alex is just casually like, “Verónica, I’d like you to meet my best friend, Katia,” which, ngl, just raises a whole slew of questions lmao. Like, does this mean Katia already knows Alex came clean to Verónica? Or are we supposed to assume that that random introduction was all Katia needed to realize things had shifted between them? Hopefully we’ll find out later in a proper conversation. My favourite part, though, was Verónica’s “Katia, huh?”, like the last piece of the puzzle that was Alex’s lie finally clicked into place. I loved that Katia apologized for yelling at her when impersonating Alex and Verónica, in her classic Vero way, just brushed it off like it was nbd. I mean, we know how much Katia’s words affected her when she thought they came from Óscar’s wife, but now that she knows who his real wife is and that she would never actually feel that way about Verónica, it’s like the power those words had over her evaporated the same way that “Martina”’s persona did. IDK, I just loved that exchange.

LASTLY, when Alex and Verónica are at the mysterious town Óscar was going to and they find the house where he supposedly lived, and Alex says they need to call Conrado and Verónica tells her about him finding out about them and that he’s mad at her and Alex tells her he found out because she talked about it in therapy. First of all, I like how this sets up a future scene between Alex and Conrado where you KNOW he’s gonna try to slut-shame Verónica like, “I don’t know what she told you but she always does that to get people into bed with her” or something and it will backfire spectacularly on him with Alex no doubt defending her and perhaps even getting mad at him for treating Verónica like that. CANNOT WAIT. And secondly, the way Verónica LOOKS at Alex while saying “You went to therapy... to talk about how we kissed a couple of times?” I’m--

She’s just SO AMUSED bless her little heart. Again, I thought she’d get mad at Alex for divulging her intimacy like that, but I should probably know Verónica better by now. The fact that she doesn’t give a rat’s ass about what people think of her is what makes her such a compelling character.

Alex being like, “I went to therapy to talk about how I kissed my husband’s mistress, yeah”, basically like “What of it?”, and then ADMITTING SHE LIKED IT!!!!!!! What I loved, though, was the matter-of-fact way she says it. It wasn’t a grand, sweeping love declaration, nor was she expecting Verónica to reciprocate or respond to it in any way. She was just explaining why she went to therapy to talk about it. IDK I just found it so refreshing that she’s basically admitting to feeling more than friendship towards Verónica and it’s not weird or anything anymore because they’re way past that. Also, I liked getting confirmation that nothing happened beyond kissing. I strongly suspected it just from the way it was shot, but I’m glad I don’t have to wonder anymore. This also means I still have their first time having sex to look forward to. We just keep winning!!!

“Maybe you’re a lesbian.” “I hope so! At least I’d have ONE thing clear!” I’M SCREAMINGGGGGG. But also, I like how this implies that kissing Alex wasn’t something new to Verónica or something she lost any sleep over. Like she only talks about redefining oneself post-makeout in the second person, like Alex is the only one who needs to change the way she sees herself after realizing she enjoyed kissing another woman. Ever since she told “Martina” early in season 1 that she’d slept with a lot of “people,” I figured she was bisexual, so I’m taking this as confirmation just because I can.

ANYWAY, like I said, I needed to be intense about this episode. There was just SO MUCH to unpack and I don’t feel like I even put all my thoughts on here, but this is still quite enough, lol. TL;DR I was afraid the show would build on the reveals of the season 1 finale in a direction I wouldn’t like and that would ruin my enjoyment of this season (having Alex and Verónica take until at least episode 4 to become friends again and perhaps even later to start working together to solve Óscar’s murder, let alone start inching towards a romantic relationship or, worst case scenario, a time jump in which I’d miss the immediate confrontation between them and Alex trying to win Verónica back) but, instead, they gave me everything I wanted already in episode 1, including something I didn’t know I wanted, which is putting them in a place where they’re really close but still very much in the friend zone such that I didn’t miss the moment their relationship shifted into romantic territory and, best of all, I’ll still probably get to see a few moments of sexual tension (like that amazing scene with Alex being unable to sleep) until that finally happens.

UGH, THIS SHOW. Very, very few times have I been so satisfied with a single episode of television and the decisions made to resolve a cliffhanger. Usually, even when the writers give me what I want or my ship gets together, there’s still something I would have done differently or that the show missed and I didn’t get to see, but not here. I can’t think of a single thing that I would add or change because I was hoping I’d see it but it wasn’t shown. Like on the one hand, this is good because it means that I’m less stressed about the upcoming episodes and I’m content to just watch everything play out because I already got to see everything I wanted between these two in terms of a resolution to last season’s cliffhanger and there’s nothing I’m worried we won’t be shown. But, on the other hand, that just probably means it will all be downhill from here, LMAO.

#thoughts no one cares about #lord I haven't written a thesis on an episode of a show I watch in YEARS this is probably a good thing #I'm slowly getting back my will to live

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ulyssessklein · 6 years

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How to make a legit music video: advice from Wons Phreely

Creating music videos with big effects, low budgets, and no green screens.

Wons Phreely is an Australian-born, LA-based synth-pop artist who’s been getting rave reviews from all over, including KCRW.

He also happens to make his own striking music videos. One in particular caught my eye where he sings the whole song as a disembodied head who’s carried from place to place.

As a relatively DIY project (shot for less than $1000 and with no green screens), the results are really impressive:

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I thought Wons Phreely would have some good advice for indie artists who want to produce their own videos, so I asked him a bunch of questions.

Not only did he give detailed answers, he also provided behind-the-scenes videos to illustrate some of the points!

Here goes…

An interview with Wons Phreely on the making of “The Night Has An Alibi”

CR: Can you break down the costs and hours of making your video? What are we talking in terms of pre-production, the video shoot, editing, and effects?

WP: The cost breakdown is pretty simple; I collaborated with a cinematographer named Laffrey Witbrod. Laffrey and I worked on a film together that I was acting in. We became friends and decided to make the music video together. I took on the role of director, and he was Director of Photography. I also ended up creating all the digital effects and handling the editing. So the costs were not that high.

Laffrey and I spent five days shooting, and then one extra day for one of the difficult shots that didn’t work the first time round. I then ended up spending two and a half months locked in my room in front of the computer for ten hours a day creating the post production look. So the costs were all about our time, making time, and giving up any other things in life for that time.

There was also time that was spent emailing friends and asking them to be at the locations, plus we spent time driving around Hollywood working out where we could shoot, and trying to figure out if we’d get moved along by police. A little money was spent on food and refreshments for all our extras and actors too.

We did hire a little bit of equipment from a gear sharing website called ShareGrid where you can pick up extra lights, lenses and camera stuff for good prices from people in your neighborhood. All in all the film cost under $1k, but probably about a thousand hours of time I think, but I kinda lost track.

As for pre-production, the first thing that happened here was thinking up the idea, then there was some testing to see if it could be done. I shot the first tests on my iPhone; I just asked a friend to shoot me in various set ups that would be needed to tell the story of the video. Of course there was no point getting the real camera or cinematographer at the first testing stage, because I just needed to work out if I could pull off the shots first, so my iPhone was fine.

Then I took these into Final Cut Pro X (FCPx), and managed to work out roughly how I would achieve the effects. I’ve been using FCPx for a few years and I really like it, plus I’ve been a Photoshop master for quite a while, so even though I didn’t use any Photoshop in the tests, the time I’ve spent in Photoshop in the past gave me an understanding of how I could achieve the effects I wanted using layers and masks in FCPx.

The tests came out pretty well, and the reactions I got from friends was really positive. But the pre-production tests also revealed to me that I’d need a real VFX program like After Effects if I was to make this idea look really great for over four minutes of running time. I also considered getting a practical effects person in to create real physical effects that could be built and shot on set, but after I met with a few makeup artists, I decided that it would be better to do as much of the VFX digitally and just build any practical physical effect myself.

Once I had decided that I could make the film and tell the story in my head, I story-boarded each shot. I’m okay at drawing and it’s nice to use a pencil every now and again. After I had story-boarded each shot I scanned the drawings and took them into FCPx and created what’s known as an Animatic.

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This is where you kind of semi-animate the drawings and cut between them and make them play out along with the song, so that you can get an idea of the timing of the shots with the song. It gives you an idea of whether some shots will be too long and boring and whether you need to add some new shots in order to keep the viewers attention. Music videos are typically pretty fast paced; so you can’t just sit on shots for too long.

How’d you come up with the idea? Are you just really into disembodied heads?

The song is about that sensation of feeling a little out of place in your hometown, like you were meant to be something or somewhere else out there in the world, and if you don’t make your move soon you’ll end up dead inside.

The lyric “Sister I know we should settle but I can’t live a lie… I just get this feeling like I might explode inside”… It’s about how we’re all a bit unique in some way and how that can sometimes make us feel like we don’t belong. Like how sometimes I’ll be sitting down with the people closest to me, and not really connecting with the conversations and wishing we were talking about creating art or music.

That’s the lyric “these conversations where it’s like there’s nothing to add, there must be something else… I’m dying just to taste a little piece of action, to find that one place we can be really something.”

So I started thinking about how the video could show a guy who doesn’t feel like he fits in, and that people just kind of carry on with their lives all around him day in and day out, without really even noticing he’s there.

It was going to be a normal sort of dramatic piece, but then I started thinking how when I see short films, it’s the funny ones that I care about, more than the dramatic ones. I feel that in a short amount of time, like a four-minute film, it’s easier to make me care about a character if they make me laugh, whereas if they try to hit me with some hard emotional truth, I’m not really going to care that much, because their isn’t enough time for me buy into their plight or hardship. I feel like good drama maybe needs more character development time.

So then when we released the single as just audio first, it was premiered on NYLON, and they wrote the headline – “The New Wons Phreely Single Belongs On The ‘Stranger Things’ Soundtrack” – and this got me thinking, why don’t I try to make the main character not just have this feeling inside of being different to everybody around him; why don’t I make him have something physically different about him, something strange looking, and keep the people around him still paying no attention to him?

I thought this might set us up to be able to include more humor. Then I started thinking about how I read that the most interesting thing for a human being to look at is the face of another human being. Like most songwriters and singers, I’ve spent quite a lot of time thinking about what makes something engaging for other people to look at in videos and in live performances; how do we connect with other people so we can share our message with them. I think that the best way to present someone who likes to write songs and sing them to other people is to show them doing just that; show them singing. It’s what they do; it’s what they’re all about. Music has become a visual medium, which is quite ridiculous really, before TV and digital media, music used to about listening. In a perfect world, there wouldn’t be music videos, we’d just listen. I think there would be a lot better songs around. But we live in a visual world. I like visuals; I just prefer them a bit separated from music.

The thing I’ve learned about producing songs versus making films is that when you are making songs the only real limitation is your own ability and creativity. If you can think of an amazing lyric or melody, you can put it into a song, and you can record it. With film-making, there are limitations, because to create unlimited film ideas you will need a budget of millions and a team of hundreds of experts. So when I’m writing a song, I don’t place any limitation on myself; I try my hardest to create the song that is exactly what I dreamed of, but with music videos, you don’t have that luxury.

In a perfect world with a 1989 Michael Jackson music video budget, you could say ‘this is what the song is about, how do we want to take the idea or feeling evoked in the song and express it on film in a mind blowing and captivating way’. But music videos don’t come with that kind of budget anymore, so it’s more a case of compromise where you might think, “this is what the songs about, and I’d love to express that visually, but to get that exact expression on film and be captivating enough to get noticed online and be shared, it will take much more resources than we have available to us.”

So now I’m more about trying to create a music video that is share-able, and if that means it doesn’t exactly capture the feeling of the song, then that is kinda just a reality you have to live with.

Will you tell us some details about the preparations: locations, extras, equipment, and so forth?

Preparation is of course extremely important. I created detailed shot lists with each shot timed out with the song and the linked lyric, because each shot also had me singing a part of the song, which meant I had to commit to which part of the song we were shooting before we shot it, which kind of means I’ve already decided on the final edit before shooting, as opposed to what a lot of film-making is, where you kind of work out which shots goes where later on when you are editing.

I think there are about sixty shots in the video, and nearly all of them required some thought first as to how the VFX would work. Thankfully Laffrey was able to sit with me quite a bit and give his input into how he could shoot the ideas in the shots.

Finding locations was tricky. I had to ask people I didn’t necessary know that well if I could shoot in their house and in their rehearsal room, but thankfully they’re all into the music, so they were generous. I really wanted to use a great looking bar I’d seen on Santa Monica Boulevard for an exterior shot, but this bar is open till 2am every night of the week, and they know how great it looks, so when I called them they told me we couldn’t shoot there. I was staking the place out trying to work out if we could shoot there without getting shut down, but it was too hard. I was asking extras to be there for free, so I couldn’t risk getting shut down and then asking everyone to come and try again another night. If the shot didn’t need three crew, and seven extras we would have been able to shoot it at 4am in the morning, but again, I was asking people to come for free, so I couldn’t run the risk of people hitting snooze on their alarm and not turning up to the location.

In the end I found an abandoned building for the outside of the bar scene, and I had to digitally enhance the building to make it look like a cool bar, I added a colorful awning, some flashing lights, plus some neon signs to give it a happening bar feel.

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As for other bar interior scenes with lots of extras, it really is a kind of ‘build it and they will come’ thing. You email everyone you know the day before, and the next day you stress the hell out that no one will turn up, but I was really lucky that so many people did turn up.

There are actually a couple of shots where I worked out how to digitally duplicate the crowd to make it look like there was more people watching the concert than there actually was. That crowd duplication wasn’t planned, but now that I know how to do it, I’ll be able to do it much more effectively if I plan for it before we shoot another video.

Getting great locations really is the hardest thing to get right without any budget. Great films have a lot of production design, and I can spend a thousand hours on pre-production and post, but if the locations don’t look that great to begin with, it can almost be a waste of time. I would have liked to have even better locations. I did try to digitally enhance a lot of the locations, like trying to make the bar look like a real bar because it wasn’t a real bar, and it wasn’t a very big room. That is maybe my biggest piece of advice; if you want to tell a narrative story, maybe you should first work out three or four amazing locations that you can access, and then write the story around them. It would make things look a lot better, which is half the work. We didn’t do that, but that’s maybe what I learned. This is only my third time as a music video director, and my first time trying to do a narrative video with no budget.

What’s the technical trick behind the head effect?

The effect is really about forced perspective. If I wanted it to look like my head was sitting on a bar, I would crouch down in front of the bar, or behind it, then do the performance. Then we’d keep the camera in the exact same place, and shoot my hand or foot on the bar to make the nub of the neck, and then splice the two shots together to remove my body, leaving only the head and the heal of my foot for the neck.

For the shots where my head is balancing on the roof of a car, we actually used my friend’s car who has a sunroof, and then we drove around LA one night for a few hours with my head sticking out of the sunroof and me singing the song into the night. There is no green screens involved. I’ve used green screens before and they always ended up looking fake, so this is a technique I just worked out myself. It’s a bit tricky to explain, but I’ll be releasing some behind the scenes and ‘how to’ videos on my YouTube channel soon.

The technique is actually kind of simple in a way. Like I said, it looked pretty good even when I did the initial test in a simple editing program like FCPx, but to really make it work with an extra bit of razzle dazzle I realized I was going to need to teach myself After Effects.

How much video and editing experience did you have prior to shooting this video? Are you trained, self-taught, or did you have to learn some stuff on the fly for this project?

I’ve worked as an art director before, a little in advertising and at a magazine, so as I said, I was experienced with Photoshop and lots of stuff for still images, but I’d never used After Effects or created composite images for moving footage until this project. The other two or three music videos I directed were more about interesting editing, which was what I’d taught myself up until this point.

It’s kinda funny. I did a degree in art direction, but hadn’t really thought of putting my love of song composition together with my knowledge of visuals until another friend in a band pointed it out to me. I was doing his band’s album and single covers and at the same time I was signed to a label for my own music, and that label would kinda get directors in for my own music videos, and I would always be complaining how much I didn’t like the videos they made for me. They would do silly things like get stylists in to tell me what to wear and all the while I was saying “this isn’t me, man.”

Then I’d tell the label to take the video off YouTube ’cause I hated it. Then one day my friend who I’d been making album covers for said to me, “we love all the stills art you make for us; how about you make us a music video?” And they had a decent budget, so it was like a light went off in my head. Yes, I can do this! And since then I’ve been really interested in music video direction.

Directing videos can be really fun. It doesn’t have to be painful, and for me, the thing I feel that attracts me most to creating any kind of art is the storytelling. I was obsessed with trying to figure out how great songs are written, so I thought a lot about how storytelling connects us all and helps us feel okay about being here on this planet as humans. After a while I ended up winning some songwriting awards and signed a major publishing deal, which in a way lead me to start thinking about other storytelling mediums like film and doing a lot of acting in films for people I know. Which along with my experience in design has all kind of combined now with my interest in music videos. I think understanding songwriting is actually an underrated skill for a music video director; it can help when thinking about sections of the song meeting with segments of the film, like defining the chorus as a visually separate part, and trying to emphasize the song dynamics and emotions with visual cues and cuts in an exact moment. I think some of this stuff has contributed to this music video being nominated for cool awards, and according to a couple of online fashion sites, this music video actually inspired part of the look for the latest Gucci show in Milan where the models were walking the catwalk holding disembodied heads under their arm. (I’m glad I could help you with some ideas Gucci, but where is my paycheck?).

Once it was complete, what did you do to get some blog attention for the video? How many outlets did you contact? What did your “pitch” email say, in a nutshell?

This is how I approached it: I’ve done direct to blog/press pitching myself before, and actually had some success, but this time around I changed my approach because the blogosphere has changed. In the past I would write to them and just say straight up, ‘hey I’m an indie artist, I like your site, it’d be great if you could review my new song’ and they’d often do just that. But now they do seem less able to find time and resourses to be able to cover independent artists who are not helping them with paid advertising. And that’s understandable; everyone’s gotta eat and pay the bills.

So this time around I decided to approach it the same way any label would by getting professional PR help. I figured I’d saved a lot of money on making the music video myself, so why not hire a pro to help get the single some exposure. I did have a good relationship with some outlets like Lost At E Minor who have always been really supportive, so I was keen to send them the video myself. But things like Pop Matters was a relationship that the PR team at Baby Robot had, as was the audio premiere with NYLON.

So NYLON played up the 80’s “Stranger Things” vibes, probably because of the synths and the “Dancing in the Dark” sort of arrangement and groove. Who are some of your other influences besides Bruce?

I do love a lot of stuff from that period of music. I love The Smiths and Morrissey, and I’m a huge fan of David Bowie. Some of the more current stuff that inspires me is Future Islands, The War On Drugs, and Blake Mills.

What’s in the works for promoting your upcoming LP?

More of the same I think. Trying to treat my own record label like any other decent indie label. So that means more music videos, some live in-studio performances at radio stations, and constantly trying to keep up with the ever-changing landscape of the digital music era.

I’m sure most artists say this, but the LP actually has a lot of singles on it, so one of the things I’m thinking about a lot, as I’m sure we all are, is do I release a whole bunch of singles first and then the album, or kinda make a statement and drop the album as a whole? I understand the logic behind the buildup of releasing singles first, but every now and again I feel like artists come out with complete statement for their debut and that helps create the story in itself, like for example: Bon Iver’s debut coming out of nowhere seemed to help make the story.

So that’s something I’m hoping to figure out, but there’s always so much to keep abreast of. Thankfully what you guys do at the DIY Musician Podcast and the sense of community you encourage does really help.

Thanks to Wons Phreely for answering these interview questions so thoroughly, and for the behind-the-scenes videos too!

Check out more music from Wons Phreely HERE.

For more tips on making music videos, read:

Six tips to making a no-budget music video

Not all videos need to be “music videos”

The anatomy of a DIY music video

The post How to make a legit music video: advice from Wons Phreely appeared first on DIY Musician Blog.

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