#master and commander ost

[lemongrad]

I've been in a Master and Commander mood lately

[spockvarietyhour]

Master and Commander "Smoke N'Oakum"

[nekovale]

So, I don't know how many Bsd fans are also Fate/Stay Night fans...... BUT I AM and this is the only reason this exists Fate is one of my favorite series and I was listening to the Fate/Zero ost one day because it's one of my fav ost ever... and I started thinking about a possible crossover and it kinda snowballed from there lol Explanations and ramblings under the cut!

For who doesn't know what Fate/Stay Night is about: the gist of it is there's a recurring event where seven mages (masters) summon seven heroic spirits (servants) who fight between each other to win the Holy Grail. Basic things to know are: servants are divided in classes and each has a Noble Phantasm, aka a servant's ultimate weapon/ability; each master has three command spells which compel the servant to obey to three absolute orders; servants need mana to keep existing. said mana is usually provided by the master, but can also be transferred with bodily fluids (that includes sex) The pairs I had thought of for this au are: - berserker!Chuuya + Dazai (in this case the berserker's typical madness happens only with Corruption, which is Chuuya's Noble Phantasm and can be stopped only using a command spell) - saber!Akutagawa + Atsushi - caster!Nikolai + Fyodor - lancer!Bram + Aya - assassin!Nathaniel + Margareth - archer!Mark Twain + Lucy I have absolutely NO idea who to cast as rider lol Kunikida is the Church's overseer though (an impartial judge for the Holy War) I've thought about these combinations for fun since I don't have an overarching plot or anything, just some little disconnected scenes, but I liked the possible interactions with these pairs. I wanted to have characters from the main factions in the series (so like, the Port Mafia, the Agency, the Guild...) but since servants are heroic spirits of the past (and in this au they're not their irl literary counterparts, but characters on their own. Chuuya's real identity would be Arahabaki, etc) I wanted to pick characters who also could have a particular design while fitting the role........... I wanted to put Lovecraft in there too but he's definitely a berserker and I'm not giving up Chuuya for it lol This wip has been eating my brain for literal months, so here it is!! It got me back into doodling just for fun so it was a good time. I actually have more sketches but I feel like these are already a lot lol...... so I'll post those at a later time (also because I'm rewatching ubw now so I might end up doing more....)

[cartoon-buffoon]

SPOILERS FOR FINDING FRANKIE

Real quick one little thing I love about Finding Frankie that I see people also going fucking crazy over is the OST/Final boss fight and the song playing during it. I've genuinely been listening to it on repeat and I don't really like dubstep but this song scratches apart of my brain that hasn't been scratched since I saw playtime with Percy and it's boss fight. Like seriously listen to → it, it's golden.

But also the "STOP MESSING WITH MY FUCKING GAMESHOW!" before the beat drop is something I find both terrifying and awesome at the same time. Before this we are led to believe monster Frankie is just that, a monster. It appears as nothing more than some beast that real Frankie sicks on us in attempt to end us and only actually stops when he realizes the MC being alive could boost ratings. It is just a monster that listens to the commands of the puppet master to kill and nothing more.

And then this boss fight happens where we get evidence that: NO! ITS SENTIENT AND INTELLIGENT! The Cartoon Frankie that hacks the TVs and cusses us out doesn't appear to be the real Frankie because it makes no sense for him to cuss us out only to then give us a business proposition. After all we are doing what we are SUPPOSED to be doing, we are in the final area providing content and boosting ratings, logically real Frankie would want us to CONTINUE because we are in no way ruining it. That just leaves the only other one who would want us dead— Monster Frankie. After all people are apparently betting who will kill us and with the Xs under Henry Hotline and Deputy Duck it's clear people anticipate us to die to Frankie and it seems like Frankie himself has had enough of our shit. This is HIS gameshow and he's enraged you are still alive.

I also believe this because for some reason real Frankie comes and hushes us as monster Frankie walks above in the sewer area. My theory is that after the vent sequence where real Frankie holds back monster Frankie from killing us, monster Frankie gets fed up with us living thus he's going on a direct path to murder us disobeying orders leaving real Frankie to come and help us get to the finale. It's his show where HE is the star, not us, and in the final conflict he lets out his rage by somehow hacking the TVs and telling us to just fucking die already showing that he's fully in control of all the slaughter he did. This is just a theory after all but it makes the most sense to me and adds a cool bit of detail to monster Frankie's character.

[tomorrowusa]

While perhaps it's too early to call it a "masterstroke", Joe Biden stepping aside for Kamala Harris will probably turn out much better than any Democrat would have predicted a month ago.

Kamala Harris will likely be the next president of the United States – and that’s overall good news if you care about democracy, justice and equality. Joe Biden’s decision on Sunday to bow out of the presidential race clears the path for the country to elect its first woman and first woman of color as president.

For people who need a historical reminder...

[M]ost people in this country typically choose the Democratic nominee for president over the Republican nominee time and time again. With the sole exception of 2004, in every presidential election since 1992, the Democratic nominee has won the popular vote (Biden bested Donald Trump by 7m votes in 2020).

Now for more recent events.

If, in fact, support for Democrats among people of color is the principal problem, then putting Harris at the top of the ticket is a master stroke. The enthusiasm for electing the first woman of color as president will likely be a thunderclap across the country that consolidates the support of voters of color, and, equally important, motivates them to turn out in large numbers at the polls, much as they did for Barack Obama in 2008. The challenge the party will face in November is holding the support of Democratic-leaning and other “gettable” whites, especially given the electorate’s tortured history in embracing supremely qualified female candidates such as Hillary Clinton and Stacey Abrams. (The primary difference between Abrams, who lost in Georgia, and Senator Raphael Warnock, who won, is gender.) Sexism, misogyny and sexist attitudes about who should be the leader of the free world are real and Democrats will have to work hard to address that challenge. One critical step to solidifying the Democratic base is for all political leaders to quickly and forcefully endorse and embrace Harris’s candidacy. Mathematically, it is likely – and certainly possible, if massive investments are made in getting out the vote of people of color and young people as soon as possible – that the gains for Democrats will offset any losses among whites worried about a woman (and one of color, no less) occupying the Oval Office and becoming our nation’s commander in chief.

We shouldn't forget that the VP's mom was born in India. A number of people in the growing South Asian community in the US who may not be especially interested in politics will be tempted to pause their disinterest and vote for Kamala. India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh have all had female prime ministers – so there's not exactly a taboo about women in power.

One way to measure enthusiasm for Kamala is to look at how much money is being raised by ActBlue. Not all the money ActBlue raises goes to the national ticket. I donated to a US Senate campaign in June via ActBlue. BUT the timing of recent donations leaves little doubt what the cause of the recent spike is.

For context, first some recent weekly totals (source)...

Week of June 30 through July 6 — $65,220,920

Week of July 7 through July 13 — $48,669,913

Week of July 14 through July 20 — $61,349,601

As of Noon today (CDT): Week of July 21 through July 27th — $150,042,360 and the third day of the week is just a little over half over. In the previous hour alone, roughly $2.44 million was raised.

These are small donations, not like the $45 million per month promised by multi-billionaire Elon Putz to Trump. So grassroots Dems are stoked and are out for a win.

ActBlue is fairly no-nonsense, it's not exactly Amazon in layout. So people are not drawn there by flashy graphics.

Kamala Harris — Donate via ActBlue

[professor-nobody]

now that i'm rambling (it's 2:34 am and i got Jet set radio ost on , so frag it) i really liked the detail of Megatron being VERY Gladiator inspired on uhhh war for cybetron. His portrait on his office? Menacing and perfect. His flair for walking slowly? Great and masculine (Wich , i cannot stress ENOUGH how important masculinity is in the transformers universe). His speeches? Full of grandeour and empty promises , like the Ring leader that he oh so hated.

Just like with the cybetronian elite that opressed the people with the system , megatron has also become another thing he once wished to destroy (His Master , the ring leader- "megatron yields before no one!!")

His thumbs down when commanding the execution of soneone? CHEFS KISS

[crosshairs-dumb-pimp-gf]

Shiney Little Master List

Disgrace! My Illustrated Crosshair x F!OC fic [COMPLETE]

[CHAPTER INDEX] (links to Ao3 and Image only posts as well)

Other Cross X Tahny content:

Clone X OC week 2025 Master list

-Related OCs-

Tah'nyem Ra - Kahtzi Zho - Jar'ath Saijen

Fast and Hot on Coruscant - Diamond Dolls Oneshot

F&H Images

One Shots:

-Crosshair-

X f!reader

We're not Having this Conversation - 18+ WC: 1466

Are you hungry or not? -18+ WC: 4405

-Hunter-

X f!reader

What's in this Cocktail - 18+ WC: 2626

-Tech-

X f!reader

What's your pleasure, Master? - 18+ WC: 3612

All that and you still want me faster? -18+ WC:3234

-Echo-

X f!reader

"Commander... I've hit a snag," - 18+ WC: 3652

-Wrecker-

X f!reader

"That's nice, but I think I need more muscle." - 18+ WC: 3831

"Thanks for keeping quiet, this one was ready to pop!" 18+ WC:2943

-Fox-

X f!reader

"To Rain and Caf Snobbery," - 18+ WC:5390

-Omega-

"I want you there..." - (G) WC:661

Musings (HCs)

The Boys on Glitterstim 18+

The Boys Opinions on 69 18+ (interview format)

Art:

-Clone Pinup Series- (casually in progress)

Rex - Tup - Wolffe - Howzer - Crosshair - Hunter - Fox - Wrecker - Tech -

Should I start a tag list?? I dunno. Comment on this pinned post if you want to be tagged for future fics

I will reblog your Starwars OCs! Free to tag me. ( #ocshowcase )

Also a note, I will reblog clone shipping art and fics from time to time. I don't personally stan any clone ships but wcis, boys kissing is a guilty pleasure no matter the context. 💋💋💋

[castlebyersafterdark]

when the moment arrives, how would you like the byler kiss, sex scenes to unfold? would you prefer ost being played in the background when they make out and take each other to bed? or just the sound of them breathing heavily when they go in for the most explicit torrid kiss, lip smacking, salivary glands going haywire while mike pulling in will's body tightly towards him, friction rising from their clothed penises rubbing against each other, opening semen floodgates. years of repressed feral desires exploding all at once.

A preface to this, something on the lines of- leader mike, taking command over burgeoning sexually charged atmosphere. A confidently concupiscent Mike, looks at Will with those sly bedroom eyes. Will on the other hand is playing coy, hard to get, all this is making Mike wildly impatient.

But you are the master of describing ferocious intimacy in action. so please do the honours vinny. incase you've talked about it already, i apologise in advance.

something that worries me, scenes, on the higher end of sensuality from duffers could be a far fetched expectation because all we have gotten so far is, some suggestive sex scenes, not even a kiss with any tongue action. will the duffers make any exception for byler? i have my reservations but its the last season i say why not go crazy.

Your descriptives in the first paragraph are killllllling me, maybe intentionally or unintentionally, hysterical. Salivary glands going haywire is quite a creative sequence of words 🤣 Obsessed with you anon, this is gold.

I know you probably want me to wax poetic about my vision for the get together, the kiss, the potential sex scene - I will admit I have specifically avoided writing this moment in the potential canon of the show! I have several wip ideas that detail a get together - all canon divergent or AU. I personally have not been able to settle on how I want it to happen, what leads to it. So many people have written great things, less so with explicit content for a canon get together, but there's a lot out there already. I know I'd have a different take.

I will drive myself crazy trying to decide on a situation. I do have draftings of a in-canon moment, a slice of insight into this situation, just the first time scene - where Mike and Will hook-up in that barn we know is a set in the show. Post initial confession, they're hiding out from danger and lying low and they can't hold out - they get down and busy in the hay of the barn loft 🤭 Entirely to differentiate an idea from all the perfect Lover's Lake ideas that I see. So, it's just an idea. May or may not write it. Gives me trouble, though.

I do not know what I want to happen in the actual canon of the show!! Long story short.

Calling me the master of ferocious intimacy is the most flattering thing ever, so I love you for that. I'll try for you in the future!! I am just very very stumped about what I want to happen...

[baeshijima]

so... i finished the new natlan aqs...

spoilers utc w/ very long rambles haha... mainly abt capitano—

first off, wow. i actually did not know what to expect going into this version's aqs, but good lord they were so well-written?? i genuinely cried and sobbed at some parts, namely ororon's realisation where he wants to live for himself and fights to retain his soul and chuychu's death with chasca grieving over her... there were so many amazing aspects in acts 3 & 4, with the fights and cutscenes being so, so well done, the lore bombs (seelies being confirmed to be /past/ angels) and the music??? ohh the osts were so good... and the theme that came up in the capitano scenes.... ourhgghg...

speaking of capitano, may i just say: wow. what a man. i genuinely love his character so much and the writers did him so much justice?? like, he has his own goals and ideals but doesn't let that get in the way of being kind and caring and upholding his honour, and isn't beneath apologising and admitting his mistakes when proven wrong...

another thing i love is his relationship with his subordinates !! like, the concern he showed for them on several occasions and the concern & admiration they have for him is just... so nice to see? idk it just feels so refreshing to see a mutually appreciative dynamic with the fatui especially ;w;; and then his progressive relationship with our main natlan cast... him saving xilonen, not once, but twice (that should've been me—), how he went from being dismissive of ororon to caring for his well-being, his growing respect for mavuika and hers for him, and how he decided to ditch his plan in the end to help be part of mavuika's one.... i am so unwell...

and not to mention that last scene with him???? like sir wdym ronova sent u and u know that mavuika has to pay a debt with her death and that u have a bone to pick with that final for which means u are more than likely to also join us both into the night kingdom for the final fight with the abyss which may or may not lead to u sacrificing urself in mavuika's stead so she doesn't have to die and—

oh lord i am not ready for the future story with him...

ALSO HE IS FROM KHAENRI'AH DURING THE CATACLYSM AND WAS A COMMANDER????

sobbing the pain in his voice when he was relaying how he lost his comrades, family and nation, fleeing to natlan with his remaining platoon once realising khaenri'ah couldn't be saved despite his attempts in hopes of escaping the carnage and giving what was left of himself and his comrades some reprieve only to face the abyss invasion again in natlan...

but oh my god when he was saying how the chief of the masters of the night-wind, ayizu, and how he didn't treat capitano any differently despite being from khaenri'ah and most ppl believing khaenri'ah and its inhabitants to be the cause of the tragedy, thus making himself duty-bound to help natlan ;w;

AND TSARITSA MENTION??? HER ALLOWING THE HARBINGERS THE FREEDOM TO DISCOVER THEIR OWN MEANING AND FOR IT TO TAKE PRECEDENCE OVER HER ORDERS IF THE TIME CALLS FOR IT??? we stan a homie !!

ALSO DAIN MENTION RAAHHHHH

"he carries a degree of pain and hatred that far surpasses my own" oh. so we're going down that route, huh. i see how it is. but also the way he also calls him "dain" ;w;; ueueue also rotting corpse/flesh... i wonder if this is in the literal sense or an abyssal rot/erosion like dain's arm? hm...

okay but now i really want to see how dain reacts to us mentioning capitano, and if he would instantly know who we are referring to since dain knows a lot despite his deteriorating memory, and maybe we might get a capitano name reveal...? also is this us being one step closer to seeing dain in an actual main story aq?? ALSO THE ABYSS SIBLING BEING KHAENRI'AHN ROYALTY CONFIRMATION RAAHHH

anyway before moving on to the heavier parts of the quest have some capitano mavuika interactions bc i love them and their old married couple-esque bickering :((

(also ororon just standing in the middle of them during their squabble like a son and going "can i say something?" 😭)

++ kinich and ajaw being... well... kinich and ajaw.

okay. haha. the war. :)

genuinely was not expecting it to be depicted so... dark? like, i know it's war and that natlan is the nation of war, but with genshin's streak of not going in depth to explicitly show death and the like (though they have been bolder in recent updates, namely fontaine), i wasn't expecting to see literal corpses of the npcs and saurians strewn on the ground after the abyss got stronger, and that whichever area we picked over another would have consequences... the devastation i felt when realising the other area i could have helped was completely wiped out... gosh...

our choices actually having consequences and changing what happens during the war + depending on how long u take to defeat the enemies also heavily impacts the death count??? LIKE WHAT

and then paimon becoming progressively distressed the longer it went on and the more found dead genuinely broke my heart like 😭

and oh god... chuychu's death... chasca momentarily losing control of the abyssal contamination due to grief only to rein it in a moment later.... and then chasca becoming recognised by the ancient name due to it and becoming the final awakened hero... ourgh....

and when walking around the stadium to talk with those who made it back and there's this one baby saurian waiting for its person and saurian friends/family to come back...

LIKE STOP THIS HYV DO U WANT ME TO END IT ALL???? WHY WOULD U INCLUDE THIS BITBKSAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

BUT OMG THE CUTSCENE WHERE ALL THE AWAKENED HEROES + MAVUIKA FORMED THE CIRCLE WITH THEIR POWERS GOING TO MAVUIKA AS SHE MAINTAINS THE SUN-LIKE POWER IN THE SKY??? ONLY TO THEN LATER DEAL THE FINAL BLOW TO THE ABYSS STRUCTURE AND PIERCE THROUGH IT AND REVEAL THE FAKE FUCKING SKY????

WHAT THE FUCK????? CONFIRMATION THE SKY IS FAKE AND THAT SCARA ALL THE WAY BACK IN 1.0/1 DURING THE STARS EVENT WAS RIGHT AND THAT POST ACT 4 U CAN STILL SEE MOON FRAGMENTS IN THE SKY????

man. got chills from the war depictions. got chills from the cutscenes. got chills from the fake sky confirmation.

also this was such a cute scene with everyone + mavuika in the distant background that i had to take a screenshot ;w;

but ourgh... the amount of sacrifices we witnessed and were too late to help prevent just really set it in stone just how devastating and powerless it can make u feel... it's only 5.1 and it's gotten this dark just how much darker are u going to take it with the abyss final showdown hyv 😭😭

also capitano feeling admiration for everyone who stood up and fought the abyss...

i am unwell i love him...

now. mavuika.

sobbing i love, love, love her so much !! she was mothering so hard as always like??? taking care of us, being the one to being the light that pulled ororon out of the darkness so he could find his way out (pls don't touch me i sobbed so hard during that entire scene where he realised he didn't want to self-sacrifice anymore but instead live for himself and for those who care for him, thus awakening as one of the heroes... holds him gently...), showing how much she cared for her people...

but it also really puts into perspective just how much she chose to sacrifice and put behind her (her loved ones and her then life) for a chance to be able to finally put an end to the war with the abyss and free natlan...

she was so radiant like the sun that she became one :')

but also...

they brought back the seeing past loved ones mindscape scene... sobs i don't wanna see what happens in the next update bc of mavuika's debt death and capitano's potential sacrifice intervention but at the same time i do 😭😭 (also she was so stunning here i had to take a screenshot aha)

BUT GENUINELY I GREW TO LOVE THE NATLAN CAST SO MUCH??? xilonen, citlali and ororon especially with them being new and i wasn't sure how much i would like them, but oh god i love how they were written and how real they felt with strengths and flaws ;w;;

but also with the drop that paimon will be staying behind while us and mavuika go to the night kingdom for the final battle, her separation anxiety is going to go through the fucking roof good lord... i also predict we will die and get resurrected at some point in our time down their bc... ain't no way are they giving us an ancient name for it to not be used for resurrection in the night kingdom...

anyway it's 4am and i spent like. 2 hours typing this up and i have so much more i could talk about but then this would be neverending so um. haha.

if u read to the end (here) then

1) thank you for reading my nonsensical rambles and cries <33

2) why would u put urself through this?

3) have four cookies for the time spent on this post 🍪🍪🍪🍪

[notafraidofredyellowandblue]

OOR 2002 - Nr 10 - Rammstein interview

Rammstein

Last December they played three sold-out converts in Amsterdam's HMH, this year they are one of the closing acts at Pinkpop. In June they will play again in the Netherlands, at the Gelredome in Arnhem, which will undoubtedly also be sold out. Rammstein is no longer a band just for sensation-seeking metal fans. The key to their success? The Germans are masters of calculated provocation. Although they will never admit it themselves.

by Danny Koks

In their own country, their records consistently number one on the album charts, they have played in Australia and Japan, and slowly but surely they have reached the U.S. conquered. There people have fallen en masse for Till Lindemann's captured lyrics, distasteful rolling 'r' and the Teutonic thundering cadence that drives the group. The band from the former GDR has now sold two million CDs there, their songs are played on the radio (unique, since not a single American understands German) and they were nominated for a Grammy. An honor that no German act has received since Milli Vanilli (!). The story of guitarist Richard Bernstein, bassist Olli Riedel, drummer Christoph Schneider, guitarist Paul Landers, singer Till Lindemann and keyboardist Flake Lorenz, all from East Berlin, has to be the most bizarre success story of the last fifteen years. be pop music. Perhaps that period is too short. Perhaps Rammstein's glittering international career is just as bizarre as the story of a dimwit from Flanders who, as Eddy Wally 1), scored a killer hit with Cherie as far away as Russia and China. Perhaps even more bizarre.

"The secret of our success is that we have always stayed true to our style. We have refined it here and there over the years, but our music has always remained typical Rammstein, and I think the audience would like to keep it that way. " That is the measured answer from drummer Christoph Schneider, who sits together with Flake Lorenz at the Rammstein management office in eastern Berlin. There is a reason why their answers during the interview are so short and concise. The band members do not like to give us a glimpse into the kitchen of Rammstein and the language barrier therefore serves as an excellent line of defense (they only do interviews in German).

Of course, the success of this band does not lie in the fact that they have remained true to their style. Thousands of bands all over the world remain true to their style and do not go further than the youth club of the neighboring village. Rammstein is so popular because it is a total concept, similar to the Gesamtkunstwerk as envisioned by German composer Richard Wagner. A multimedia total experience that feeds our subconscious fear and hatred for everything German and at the same time holds up a mirror to show us how ridiculous those gut feelings actually are. Who takes all the cliché images (Blut und Boden) that we have about Germans as true and at the same time makes fun of them in a grotesque way. Rammstein plays that game with a velvet technique and at all levels: music (punishment and martial), lyrics (dark and commanding), artwork (cold and distant) and live show (grand and imposing). The Gründlichkeit with which the six Ossies approach this results in a parody of Germans that can only be described in one way: typically German. Thought out from A to Z, Herr Schneider? Of course not: "Rammstein simply makes loud music. We play what we can play and it sounds the way it sounds."

During the day they all had jobs, after all, 'unemployed' did not exist in the dictionary of the German Democratic Republic. Olli was a plasterer, Christoph installed telephones, Paul was a heating engineer, Till woven baskets and Flake made tools. Just as Father State directed all facets of daily life (a well-known expression in Die Ost was 'every second is one of them', referring to the fact that your neighbor could be an informant for the feared secret service), it also had a strong involvement in the existence of amateur musicians. Since living expenses were cheap, they had it relatively easy: one or two performances at the weekend were enough to finance your hobby. Everyone knew everyone, the music circuit was small and well-organized. Oliver Riedel played in the folk band The Inchtabokatables, while Paul Landers and Flake Lorenz scored a premiere with their punk band Feeling B by being the first East German punk band to release an album. Richard Bernstein had a crossover band. In that capacity, the regime left them relatively alone, although they had to be careful not to come across as subversive and anti-totalitarian in their lyrics. When the Wall falls in 1989, the six's first encounter with the free West takes place in the form of West Germany superstar David Hasselhoff (Knight Rider, Baywatch), who stands on the ruins of the tightly drawn concrete border between East and West sing his hit Looking For Freedom. They have no idea who he is. Four years later, Christoph, Olli, Till and Richard decide to turn their backs on their old, moribund bands and start a new one.

"German bands always try to imitate their American and English colleagues," says Christoph Schneider. "We did that in the early days, by mixing hip-hop with hard guitars. You know, what every band on this planet does. That was mainly Richard's idea, we tried to build on his style. But hip-hop, that just had nothing to do with us. We didn't feel anything about it at all." Yet it is the same Richard Bernstein who said about those early days in the Berliner Morgenpost: "I had the opportunity to go to California and experience the bands we imitated up close. Only then did I realize that culture and climate determine what kind of music people make. I returned to Germany and started writing music that is characteristically German." According to Schneider, that picture requires some nuance. "Richard is the most stubborn of the bunch, we always have the most difficulty convincing him of our ideas, especially in the early days. If he had the sole say, the band would sound much softer and poppier. Only when Paul and Flake joined, our current, martial style was born. They had a punk past. That mentality appealed to us much more, as Germans we could at least get along with punk. Richard wants to take credit for the way we make music, but the fact that we sound so German is above all Paul's merit. In the other bands he played in, he also had highly developed ideas about how a band can distinguish itself. He always thinks a lot about that and is in that sense the theorist behind Rammstein. We owe it to him that we were able to muster the courage to take the risks we did then."

The band name was quickly chosen. A year before the fall of the Wall, on August 29, 1988 2), a terrible accident occurs during an air show at the Ramstein military air base, in which a stunt plane crashes into the audience while burning, resulting in seventy deaths. The enormous force of the explosion scorches people in front of the camera. Rammstein, that is. The name is a prime example of the sharpest tool with which the band has become so successful; Rammstein understands the art of calculated provocation like no other. Till Lindemann goes one step further by singing the song Rammstein wrapped in a burning coat. The lyrics ('Ein Mensch brennt/Fleischgeruch lieft in der Luft/ein Kind stirbt/die Sonne scheint') could still be seen as a factual summary of the images of the air disaster, but that coat suddenly puts the song in a completely different, lugubrious and sinister, daylight. Rammstein behaves like an elephant in a china shop, but does so as subtly as a butterfly!

That song in question comes from the debut Herzeleid, which was released in 1997. Artwork (see 'controversies'), lyrics, music and appearance of the band members immediately sparked a heated discussion in Germany about the band's image, which distrusters quickly labeled as 'fascist'. Drummer Christoph Schneider defended Rammstein's creative and musical choices at the time, saying that "we are indeed muscular, have short hair and sing in German, with a rolling 'r' (with which Lindemann, according to some German newspapers, imitates Hitler's way of speaking during speeches). But that does not mean that we are fascists." Later he said in OOR about this smear: "Germans of course struggle with that eternal feeling of guilt. They want to be everything, but please not German. It is very difficult to talk about that without immediately being called a Nazi. Who says: 'I am German', he is a Nazi." The Nazi ghost is persistent, because even during the release of their latest album, Mutter, a student of German literature claimed that the record title is a clear reference to the mother country Germany. Quatsch, says Schneider. "We play with the image people have of Germans. Rammstein comes across as a militaristic band that barks its orders at the audience. We embody how the rest of the world imagines Germany. That image is made up of clichés, many of which are directly related to the war. Yet I see it more like this: we embody everything that has made Germany famous, good and bad."

It may have been the naivety associated with growing up in the isolated GDR that prevented the band from properly sensing how sensitive the Nazi past still is. Yet even after that debut and the wave of criticism that album provoked, Rammstein likes to flirt with his 'right-wing' image, although they continue to claim that they do not do this consciously. Flake: "You can also turn a Britney Spears lyric into a Nazi lyric. Ooops I Did It Again, Hitler...do you see the connection?"

Nevertheless, they use images of Leni Riefenstahl for a video clip (see 'controversies'). And some of Lindemann's choruses show that the Germans can also express their calculated provocation in a more subtle way. Those of Heirate Mich ('Heirate Mich! Hei! Hei! Hei!'), Du Hast ('Du! Du hast! Du hast mich!') and Rein Raus ('Rein? Raus!') do show demagogic traits that are reminiscent of bad times. And when they feel it necessary to convince us of their political color, which they do on Mutter in the song Links 2 3 4, they do so to the sounds of a military march. It is typical of Rammstein to say that their heart beats on the left while the music conjures up images of endless rows of shiny, polished soldiers' boots marching in mechanical step across Unter Den Linden.

The great thing is that the band gets away with flirting with everything that is labeled as rightwing and wrong, and that it can leave people in the dark undisturbed as to whether the six Germans are all serious or not. Rammstein makes grateful use of Till Lindemann's texts. Not one of them (except for the aforementioned Links 2, 3, 4) has a political connotation, with which the singer defuses the situation. On the other hand, they are a perfect vehicle for the band to practice their favorite activity: calculated provocation. The surly, possibly or not genuinely tormented singer emerges in his lyrics as a lugubrious man who, especially on the first two CDs Herzeleid and the 1999 released Sehnsucht, hunts for sexual satisfaction like a predator. On two conditions: it has to be his way and he will not tolerate any objection. In Herzeleid's Weisses Fleisch he tries to find satisfaction in S.M.: 'Du auf dem Schulhof/ich zum Töten bereit/Und keiner hier weiss/von meiner Einsamkeit/Rote Striemen auf weisser Haut/ich tu dir weh/und du pity laut.' Pay particular attention to how one simple word ('Schulhof') gives the song a charge that makes you feel extremely uncomfortable. In Heirate Mich (from the same album) he does this again, by introducing the listener to the world of necrophilia. 'Mit meinen Händen grab ich tief/zu finden was ich so vermisst/ich nehm dich zärtlich in den Arm/doch deine Haut reisst wie Papier/Und Teile fallen von dir ab.' On Sehnsucht he once again explains in detail that he is purely interested in his own satisfaction ('Bück dich befehl ich dir/wende dein Antlitz ab von mir/dein Gesicht ist mir egal'). On the same album he also delves into incest, such as in the song Tier, in which a father sexually assaults his daughter: 'Was macht ein Mann/der zwischen Mensch und Tier niet unterscheiden kann/Er wird zu seiner Tochter gehen/sie ist schön und jung an Jahren/Und dann wird er wie ein Hund/mit eigen Fleisch und Blut sich paaren'. From Speil Mit Mir the following stanza: 'Wir teilen Zimmer und das Bett/Brüderlein komm und sei so nett/Brüderlein komm fass mich an/rutsch ganz ganz dense an mich heran.' Mutter deviates from his predecessors in that Lindemann seems to have moved on from his sexual perversions, except for the song Rein Raus: 'Tiefer tiefer/sag es sag es laut/tiefer tiefer/ich fühl mich wohl in deiner Haut.' The provocation is now found through other channels, such as in the song Ich Will, which, given the earlier accusations of fascist tendencies, has a strikingly popular character: 'Wir wollen dass ihr uns vertraut/wir wollen dass irh uns alles glaubt/Wir wollen eure Hand sehen/wir wollen in Beifall untergehen.' Of course, shivers run down your body when Lindemann cuts Snow White into a morbid fairy tale (Mein Herz Brennt): 'Nun liebe Kinder gebt fein eight/ich bin die Stimme aus dem Kissen/Ich hab euch etwas mitbracht/hab es aus meiner Brust geissen. '

"Pain, suffering and heartbreak have always been a source of inspiration for us," says Christoph Schneider about the lyrics. "When we started the band, we all had relationship problems, some of us even had to leave our children. At that time, music was an outlet for our frustrations for all of us. Ten years have passed and for me personally, suffering plays no role in my life anymore, but for Till it absolutely does. And there are a few band members who have to be in a constant state of pain and sadness in order to feel good. Although I do think that we will slowly have to break new ground if Rammstein is to continue to exist." So to think that the band has become more cautious is a wrong assumption? "Yes, we have always played with ambiguity. In the very beginning we just tried everything. Until we heard the public reactions: 'Can a band make something like that, isn't it all too German?' Should we explain everything or leave our image open without providing any text or explanation? We opted for the latter. This action-reaction dynamic is something we have been dealing with for years now, with public criticism serving as an indicator: If people think we are going too far, then we know we are doing the right thing. Furthermore, it is a matter of remaining brave and saying: Was die Leute finden ist mir scheiss egal. Still, I think we have closed a phase with Mutter. We can't continue to flirt with taboo themes, we have already pushed the boundaries of that."

The fact that Rammstein can cut so undisturbed with his sharpest knife (provocation) is due to their most blunt instrument: the live show, in which they perform a modern variant of Dante's inferno as post-apocalyptic half-zombies. During the Sehnsucht tour, the band members appeared as robots and machines. Their hair is dyed silver, with long coats full of nail studs and rubber and bright blue lenses. Cold and expressionless, they stared into the crowd. Till Lindemann descended onto a trapeze staircase, while jets of fire sparkled from beneath him. he carried flamethrowers shaped like Freddie Krueger fingers. His voice rolled over the audience like a Teutonic march: punishing and unrelenting. He punished himself with a whip, and a little later, using fire-breathing boots, he rolls over cartwheels across the stage. Deep red blood seeped from his silver hair. A woman in angelic robes descended into a rusted steel cage, while flames spouted meters high into the air around her.

The band manages to convey all this with so much seriousness that the few moments in which Rammstein allows you to think that you might also find it all very funny have an even more alienating effect. When the two guitarists and the bassist enter the stage during Wilder Wein with ridiculously large sombreros, for example. Or when Flake goes crowd surfing in a rubber boat. Or, indeed, when the same Flake gets liters of semen sprayed over him by Till (Bück Dich). The band continues to do so happily during their current world tour. For example, large glass jars containing children's corpses are placed on stage in strong water, while at one point Flake appears to be a surgeon under an operating lamp, complete with white coat and doctor's gloves. They themselves of course deny it, but associations with Doctor Mengele still pop into your head completely involuntarily. Don't worry, it's a completely innocent association, because Rammstein is fun. Isn't it? Well, it's not that simple. Compare it to schlager. Watch a schlager program on German TV (Schlagerparade Der Volksmusik is highly recommended) and you will see the similarities. The singers from Tyrol and Bavaria look terribly out of place in their lederhosen and dirndl dresses, with their undeniable Prodent 3) smile and blow-dried hair in front of plywood sets of snow-capped mountain peaks, alpine meadows full of flowers and log cabins. But damn, they still really like it. Flake: "There is humor in what we do, but it has crept in completely involuntarily. People see us as something comical, but that has never been our intention." Christoph: "What we are playing now sounds authentic to our ears, we can identify with this. What we make is what we feel inside, what we experience as real. We bring comedic subjects with complete seriousness, that is our craft. Till brings ridiculous topics into the spotlight with a deadly serious face and dramatically accented voice. We like that. It's good to keep people in the dark." Oh well, otherwise Rammstein can still use the excuse, entirely in German tradition: Es sei nur ein Scherz gewesen.

Five controversies surrounding Rammstein

1. Artwork Herzeleid

On their debut CD Herzeleid from 1997, the six band members are depicted bare-chested against a background of a gigantic orange-yellow sunflower. The taut and oiled chest muscles, the short, severely shaved haircuts, the separation of band members by hair color (brown on the right, blond on the left); everything indicated that, according to the Rammstein critics, the Berlin band presented itself here as a representative of a new, superior Men's race. With this, the six made a giant swing across the political spectrum: from ex-communists to neo-Nazis in the space of a month.

2. Arrest

On Saturday, June 5, 1999, singer Till Lindemanne and keyboardist Flake Lorenz were arrested immediately after a performance in Worcester, Massachusetts. The scene during Bück Dich in which Lindemann stood behind a bending Lorenz to simulate anal sex with a strap-on dildo, rubbed local law enforcement officers the wrong way. They handcuffed the two, who then had to spend the night in jail and were released after paying bail (25 dollars).

3. Wrong timing

At the moment Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda terror organization forced two hijacked passenger planes into the WTC buildings, Rammstein's members were also in the air. They set course for the United States to continue their world tour. All aircraft that were in the air at that time and flying towards America had to immediately turn around, including Rammstein's. However, all the necessary stage equipment had already been flown over, so a week after September 11, the Germans toured America with a show full of fireworks, meter-high flames and explosions.

4. Stripped

Rammstein recorded the song Stripped in 1998 for a Depeche Mode tribute CD (For The Masses) (later also on the Australian tour edition of Sehnsucht). For the accompanying video clip they used images from Leni Riefenstahl's Olympia documentary about the Berlin Olympic Games in 1936. Riefenstahl was Hitler's court filmmaker. Goldie and Asian Dub Foundation were the first musicians to publicly accuse Rammstein (MTV, NME) of having Nazi sympathies. Fellow Berliner Alec Empire (Atari Teenage Riot) had a more nuanced opinion but did say: "You can't use Riefenstahl's footage and then say it was just a joke. My grandfather died in a concentration camp, so forgive me if I here don't see the joke." Richard Bernstein subsequently stated that the band had used the images purely for aesthetic reasons. "We thought they were beautiful images. That's probably what people in the cinema thought at the time: beautiful images."

5. Columbine

Painfully topical given the terrible shooting at a gymnasium in Erfurt. Two years earlier, on April 20, 1999, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold shot and killed twelve students and a teacher and then themselves at Columbine High School in Litteleton, Colorado. The perpetrators are said to have been incited to their actions by the music and lyrics of Rammstein and Marilyn Manson; right-wing and Christian groups immediately called for a ban on both bands. Christoph: "It was put that simply, but of course it is not that simple at all. Typical of American politics to point to one guilty party in their world where everything is black and white." Flake: "It's fortunate for us that Osama bin Laden is not a Rammstein fan."

--

1) Eddy Wally was a Belgian singer who enjoyed some popularity among 'regular' folks, but to 'critical music journalist' made pretty much the epitomy of 'tacky' music. Being Belgian is for some Dutch a source for ridicule in itself.

2) Nitpicking but the airshow disaster in Ramstein took place on August 28 (not 29) 1988

3) Prodent is big brand of toothpaste in the Netherlands

--

List of other Rammstein OOR interviews

[autumngracy]

If you're bored and you want some music recommendations, here are some of my favorite original soundtracks:

A Scene at the Sea (1991) OST

Spirited Away (2001) OST

Interstellar (2014) OST

Moonrise Kingdom (2012) OST

Inception (2010) OST

Master & Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003) OST

Song of the Sea (2014)

Promare (2019) OST

Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse (2018) OST

Black Sails (2014-2017) OST

Outlander (2014-?) OST

Battlestar Gallactica (2004-2009) OST

Wolf Children (2012) OST

Half Life: Alyx (2020)

Cloud Atlas (2012)

Les Ailes Pourpres : Le Mystère des Flamants (The Crimson Wing: Mystery of the Flamingos) (2008) OST

Hitman (2007) OST

Over the Garden Wall (2014) OST

Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War (2006) OST

Cowboy Bebop (1998-1999) OST

Murder on the Orient Express (2017) OST

Oblivion (2006) OST

Skyrim (2011) OST

The Borrower Arrietty (2010) OST

[backgroundnoisewithaview]

I was tagged by @novemberhush (Thank you!! <333)

Rules: Shuffle your ‘On Repeat’ playlist and post the first 10 tracks, then tag 10 friends to do the same.

This will be interesting because since Christmas I've been playing what I call my Williamson Square Concert playlist, which is if there was a concert in Williamson Square, these are the songs and acts I'd like to see, my playlist of covers that I think are better than the originals, the Folk Music playlist which is a mix of Folk Music, Sea Shanties and the Master and Commander OST, and the Cheesy Pop playlist which is, like, S Club 7, Five and Westlife, to name a few.

Waterloo by Nation

We Will Rock You by Queen

Marie's Wedding by The High Kings

Heart and Soul by Twin Atlantic

When The Going Gets Tough by Boyzone

What Can I Do? by Tin Tin Out

Rosalind by The Waterboys

Breakthru by Queen

New York Groove by The Sweet

Slow Down by Brian May

I say whoever sees this should consider yourself tagged! So go on and get to it! (Only if you want to)

[stillunusual]

Who knew that the Nazis persecuted the Polish Catholic Church because of antisemitism? Rudolf Rosner was one of approximately 3000 Polish Catholic priests who were murdered by the Germans during the Second World War. Obviously this had nothing to do with antisemitism and everything to do with Nazi Germany's stated goal of destroying the Polish nation.

Long before signing the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact and agreeing to carve up Poland with their Soviet allies, the Germans had already formulated a plan (Generalplan Ost) to turn all of Eastern Europe into the Lebensraum (living space) of Greater Germany. This plan explicitly required the complete destruction of Poland.

Prior to the outbreak of World War 2, thousands of Polish citizens of the Third Reich were arrested and killed. The Nazis also prepared a special list of 61000 of Poland's leading citizens who were to be eliminated following the German invasion (the so-called Intelligenzaktion). They had even drawn up detailed architectural plans to recreate Warsaw as a provincial German town (with a small Polish slave colony in the eastern Praga district).

To the Nazis, the Polish people were Untermenschen (subhumans) who occupied a land which was coveted by the "superior" German race.

In his Obersalzberg speech to Wehrmacht commanders on 22nd August 1939, Adolf Hitler explicitly stated that:

…."I have issued the command – and I'll have anybody who utters but one word of criticism executed by a firing squad – that our war aim does not consist in reaching certain lines, but in the physical destruction of the enemy. Accordingly, I have placed my death-head formation in readiness – for the present only in the east – with orders to send to death mercilessly and without compassion, men, women and children of Polish derivation and language. Only thus shall we gain the living space we need"….

After the invasion of Poland, Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels wrote the following in his diary on 10th October 1939:

…."Poland is finished. Recreation of the former state is not even discussed….the Führer feels absolute disdain for the Poles. More animals than humans, totally numb and amorphous"….

SS leader Heinrich Himmler said that:

…."All Poles will disappear from the world….It is essential that the great German people should consider it as its major task to destroy all Poles"….

Hitler's personal secretary Martin Bormann summarised the Nazi attitude to Polish and other Slavic people as follows:

…."The Slavs are to work for us. In so far as we don't need them, they may die. The fertility of the Slavs is undesirable. As to food, they are to not get more than necessary. We are the masters. We come first"….

Hans Frank, the General Governor of German-occupied Poland, also shamelessly declared that:

…."The Polish nation is not worthy of life and should be destroyed"….

Nazi Germany's genocidal intentions towards the Polish people were crystal clear, and although Western historiography on the subject of Poland in the Second World War is focused almost entirely on the holocaust, the Germans also committed some of the worst atrocities in all of human history against the Polish slavic population (mass murder, the destruction of hundreds of Polish villages, ethnic cleansing, deportation of millions of people to concentration and labour camps, the kidnapping of Polish children for forced Germanisation, the brutal suppression of the Warsaw Uprising etc).

They systematically persecuted the Polish Catholic Church as part of the Nazi campaign of cultural genocide in Poland. Thousands of churches and monasteries were closed, seized or destroyed, and eighty percent of Polish Catholic clergy were sent to German concentration camps, where at least 1800 lost their lives (more than 800 in Dachau alone).

The Auschwitz concentration camp was established on Heinrich Himmler's orders in April 1940 and was located in Polish territory that was incorporated directly into the Third Reich. Alongside Stutthof (opened in 1939) and Majdanek (opened in 1941), it was constructed initially to intern Polish slavic prisoners.

The Germans incarcerated approximately 450 priests, seminarians and monks in Auschwitz, as well as 35 nuns. Most of them perished there or in other German camps.

[iamthemaestro]

caved and bought the master and commander OST for my birthday but it makes everything in my life feel like a naval expedition with life or death stakes so it was worth it

[lightphieric]

Virtue's Last Record: Now's Your Chance To Be A

Left D-10 knows he's different from the other Myrmidons. He just can't figure out how. Title from the Deltarune OST. CWs: Cults and religious abuse, including of the physical variety. Bullying/peer abuse. AO3

He’s sixteen when he’s given the title of commander. He accepts with the grace and humility that’s been beaten into him. Once his elders have dispersed and he’s alone with his own generation, he whoops and hollers and blows raspberries at his peers – future subordinates, now. He even names a few he threatens to subject to ritual purification as soon as the title is official.

This is exactly what he’s always felt he deserved. The Myrmidons are supposed to be a race of equals, but he has always been treated like he is lower. His brothers simply don’t like him. That’s what they act like, at least, to the point of locking him out of the dormitories or sneaking foreign substances into his food. It’s not fair. He’s pretty much owed some power to make up for what he’s been denied.

The reason he’s given as to why he was chosen was some line about being the perfect physical specimen. He’s seen the same photos of Left that everyone else has, so he knows it’s bullshit. His nose isn’t quite crooked enough, his eyes sparkle too much and he’s not so bowlegged. D-15 would have been a better fit if physicality were the only criterion. Still, he knows better than to complain. Whatever Brother’s rationale, it’s elevated him to the station he deserves and he shouldn’t question that.

His subordinates continue to do nothing but question. When his voice finally dies from too much gloating, he starts to hear how his brothers scoff and laugh. He overhears C-02 wondering aloud if some mistake has been made; the older Myrmidon is the first one he sentences to a public lashing (the purification he threatened them all with is out of his authority, as it turns out – he’s military, not a priest). But even as he establishes himself as ruthless and thirsty for vengeance, he doesn’t feel nearly as feared as he ought to be. He still feels so many eye rolls at his back.

He's the commander of the Myrmidons now. And yet, he feels like he’s right back where he started, beaten down by the disrespect of his brothers. It’s just not fair, and the anger roils bitterly in his gut. They were all supposed to be the same. It would be so much easier if he was the same. But there is something different about him. Brother sees it. The Myrmidons see it. And unfortunately for him, if he can’t be greater than the rest like he is in Brother’s vision, that means that he can only be lesser.

His faith is strong. He never doubts Free the Soul or the holiness of his Master. But the question of whether he is truly fit to serve them lingers in the back of his mind. When he meets her, the question grips him by the throat and pulls him down into sin. She tells him her name – Monique – and raises a brow as she waits for him to share his own. He finds himself panicked and flustered; he’s already exchanged a word too many with this outsider, but she’s so beautiful he doesn’t want to let the conversation die.

I’m a great leader, he reasons. The rules don’t apply to me.

I’m a weak disappointment. I can’t be expected to keep up with the rules, anyway.

It’s the first time he ever identifies himself as Dio, a corruption of his Myrmidon identification number that that makes him sound like he’s not what he is. Monique smiles; she likes the sound of it. She spends the night showing him what a life outside of the Myrmidons could look like. He can’t get his brothers out of his mind, however. He knows he’s proving them right, acting pathetic and unworthy.

Then again, Monique is quite the irresistible temptation. If he ever manages to pull himself away from her, he’ll have proven himself more worthy than the rest of them combined.

[strykingback]

Drabble: To Tell Someone.

Before reading this drabble please read the previous drabble "Capture"

_______________________________ OST: Recovery Location: Actus Hospital, Brumel Time: Four Years Ago ________________________________ "My boy.... you must... carry on the legacy... I leave behind. You have an amazing aim... one that even exceeds my own......please. Bury me with my family in the village we passed... so that I may finally... be with them." Odin Simo's voice rung out in Zeks mind...as that was the last time he would hear his master.... and his only father-figure in his life die while he himself was alone.....

Yet at the same time he did carry on that legacy... by watching, waiting, and then unleashing hell upon his opponents. Those opponents being the Solitas Liberation Front..... as he would snipe each one and leave nothing behind.... but then...just as he finished off the last bits and pieces of the private military company.

He would start to laugh with joy knowing he was able to finish off his opponents this time properly as when he was celebrating he was struck by a bullet to the jaw the later on exploded. as he roared in pain finding the Sniper who did it and shooting them as he fainted.....

But.. then the blinding lights would show up in his vision as he woke up with a groan sitting up. "Bloody hell, you're finally awake." Eros said holding his helmet while he was on the bedside chair looking at the Sniper.

"Great.... am I getting arrested for what I did."

"As much as I would love to arrest you right here and now. You did us a great service taking down the Solitas Liberation Front. No less dismantling them so badly that they went quiet.." Eros answered.

"Good. those cykas deserved it...." Zek would say leaning back on his bed, while Eros chuckled.

"Well I am going to give respect where respect is due. It took us three years to find out what those bastards were hiding and for you its like you knew and you wanted to kill them all right? " Eros asked.

"Aye. Because... when I was but a child... they took everything from me. joy, love, laughter, and more from me. Now I cannot find that here in this world... I feel more empty.... " Zek responded to the other.

"Wait.. were you one of the survivors of the Forde Village Slaughter?"

"DONT YOU DARE- ACH!!!" Zek would snap before the pain in his jaw would spike as he leaned back on the bed with Eros standing up gently. "Easy mate.... your jaw is still healing after the facial reconstruction surgery we had to put it through......"

"What?! How bad was the damage?!" Zek asked.

"Bad.... literal hole in your jaw mate....." Eros answered with the young sniper sighing.

"But by your reaction Im gonna take that as a yes. Mate. not only were you rescued by us but you saved some people that were being held for ransom by the Solitas Liberation Front. While I dont know if its not enough to convict them but at the same time......."

"They'll find a way to keep going..... and thats what annoys me the most....."

"Yet, I am getting a squadron together after my request was finally answered thanks to the Fall of Beacon. Was wondering if you were wanting in?" Eros asked.

"Im in....if anything there are more PMC's worse than the Solitas Liberation fucks out there that need to have their heads blown off." Zek would say while Eros smirked....

"I'm now your commanding officer. Captain Eros Ahab, at your service mate..... but for now rest and thats an order." He said leaving the room..

_____________________________________________________ Present Day...

"Oh bloody hell.... why did I have to be chosen for this one. ..." Eros said to himself feeling Ergis nudge him towards the door. "It was never an easy thing... telling someone that their son, daughter, or child was either captured or killed. But at the same time... they needed to know."

"I know boy I know...." Eros said swallowing the lump back a bit before he finally knocked on the door.... and thus awaited a response.