#mike gohl

[srijellyfishtempura]

drop the essay of the head on a pin ep

Ok so this was the comparative essay for SACE stage 2 English Literary Studies - I chose to use the question "How do the director of Supernatural, Mike Gohl, and the authors of Roxy, Jarrod and Neal Shusterman, use their respective mediums to explore similar aspects of addictive drugs?"

Here it is:

The opioid epidemic in the United States has destroyed many lives. Neal and Jarrod Shusterman's 2021 novel Roxy and the TV episode of Supernatural titled On the Head of a Pin (2009), directed by Mike Gohl, both explore different aspects of this crisis, using their opposing text types of novel and film respectively to illustrate characters addicted to drugs by personifying them. Roxy uses its sincere tone to encapsulate the corrupting impact an addiction to malicious painkillers has on a teenager named Isaac, while Supernatural introduces a female demon for one of the main characters, Sam, to become addicted to drinking the blood of, while maintaining the integrity of the character and irreverent tone.

The target audience and purpose of each text dictates how addiction and drugs are portrayed. Roxy is a solemn novel, depicting the reality of addictive drugs in teenagers and using its mundane setting to reinforce the idea that anyone could fall victim to them. Supernatural, contrastingly, is not concerned with an accurate portrayal of addiction, and uses this conflict as a point of contention between its two main characters, Sam and Dean. This contrast is noticeable in the beginning of each text, with Shusterman and Shusterman writing in Roxy's prologue that they hope “that everyone who reads Roxy leaves with a clearer understanding of how insidious, seductive, and dangerous these drugs can be" (p.4), implicitly personifying drugs to foreshadow how they will be portrayed as characters throughout the novel. Contrarily, in the opening of On the Head of a Pin, Dean says that he "[doesn't] really give a rat's ass" whether or not Sam works with Ruby, the demon whose blood Sam eventually gets addicted to drinking. Both of these excerpts foreshadow their respective texts, with the former being much more reverent and serious than the latter. Shusterman and Shusterman communicate to their readers that they should consider how the drug characters are used, and as a result a reader will understand that they are trying to create an accurate depiction of addiction. Furthermore, they will view the drug characters as inherently malicious, due to the accumulation of multiple negative adjectives in this foreword, conveying a serious tone. Meanwhile, Gohl uses Dean's irreverent tone and coarse language to indicate to the audience that this plot point should not be taken as a serious exploration of dark topics, while also setting up the conflict between him and Sam that occurs in later episodes. Immediately, the audience sees that the director is not writing a story about addiction, but rather one with no real message or moral. An audience for both texts will understand that Roxy should be taken seriously and Supernatural should not. The inherent contrast in the purpose of the texts dictates how each illustrates their portrayal of drug addiction.

Both Roxy and Supernatural represent drugs as characters to explore the inherent malevolence of addictive drugs. Roxy's authors utilise a dual narrative to tell the story from the perspective of Isaac, a teenager addicted to the painkiller oxycodone, as well as Roxy, a representation of oxycodone itself, exploring the conflicting goals of the two characters. Meanwhile, in Supernatural, Ruby is a demon, who tricks Sam into drinking her blood, knowing he will become addicted to it and by extension, her. Roxy's portrayal as oxycodone is solidified in the reader's mind when Isaac's mother says "'Just as long as it isn't OxyContin' 'Well, actually-' the nurse begins, but Isaac cuts her off with a well-timed cough."(p.149). The allusion to a recognisable brand name for oxycodone, which has not been mentioned until this point, helps readers to understand the dire situation Isaac has found himself in. Furthermore, Shusterman and Shusterman have used a caesura to illustrate how ashamed Isaac already is of his addiction. Isaac interrupting the nurse demonstrates how he wants his mother to remain unaware of what he's consuming. A reader will notice this shame that Isaac is feeling and understand that Isaac is in a situation that he believes will lead to negative outcomes, providing context for his later actions. A similar effect is found in Supernatural, when Sam pleads "Ruby, it's been weeks. I need it" as he is shown in a dimly lit close up shot. In the context of this specific episode, this is foreshadowing Sam's desire to drink Ruby's blood, as well as helping the audience to understand the addictive properties of demon blood. Sam’s grim expression and the low lighting of the shot conveys the similar idea of shame and negative connotations common to both texts. This similarity in theme is further expanded upon when each text starts to refer to the addictive drug as a character themselves. In Roxy, when Roxy says, "Right now there's nothing in the world but him and his secret passenger" (p.188), the juxtaposition between Isaac, a real person, and Roxy, his "secret passenger", helps the reader to internalise the difference in perspective between the two characters. Isaac does not know that Roxy is a sentient being, and thus he believes that she cannot have goals or purpose. In effect, Roxy is hiding her identity and her motives from Isaac because she is ultimately trying to kill him, representative of how some drugs are manufactured intentionally to cause addiction and illness. The same idea of a drug hiding its true goals is also portrayed in Supernatural, when Sam starts drinking Ruby's blood. The dimly lit close up shot of him sucking on Ruby's arm, followed by a zoom in on Ruby's face as she smirks, looking away from him, draws the viewer's attention to this smirk. Furthermore, the music playing in this scene is very sinister and dissonant. This, combined with the fact that Ruby does not let Sam see this smirk, implies to the audience that she is happy about something in opposition to Sam's goals, similar to how readers of Roxy understand that Isaac cannot understand Roxy’s ambitions. Both texts are representing how drugs cause addiction and harm while pretending to prevent it. The two texts illustrate that their main characters are ashamed of their addictions, while also exploring how drugs can hide their true malicious intentions.

The other key difference in how addiction is portrayed in Roxy and Supernatural is the reasoning each character has behind seeking out drugs. In Roxy, Isaac actively worsens his addiction, taking direct, drastic action to get more oxycodone, even though he knows he is suffering because of it. However, in Supernatural, Sam's addiction is only worsened as a result of Ruby's malicious actions. Sam is a more passive actor; he always has a justified reason to seek Ruby out. The lengths that Isaac will go to for any chance of getting more medication, even early in his addiction, are illustrated when he considers, "deep down, a part of [himself] knows that [breaking his shoulder] wasn't an accident at all…” “Like letting go of the steering wheel and letting your car go ballistic" (p.151). The simile comparing this injury to deliberately crashing a car demonstrates how dramatic this injury is, as well as the way that Isaac's judgement has been warped by his addiction. He is now making decisions not to further his own goals, but rather to satisfy his addiction, although this drug does not benefit him beyond its painkilling properties. A reader understands how Isaac cannot be trusted to be a reasonable character anymore, with Roxy having some control over his decisions. This is contrasted in Supernatural, where Sam is initially very reluctant to drink any more of Ruby's blood, but reconsiders when he remembers how it will help him stop the Apocalypse. This is exemplified in the use of a caesura as Sam exclaims, "This is the last thing I-... But I need to be strong enough". In Supernatural, drinking demon blood enhances psychic abilities, and Sam needs to be as strong as possible to stop the main villain from raising Lucifer and bringing on the Apocalypse. The caesura present demonstrates to the audience that Sam is feeling conflicted about this decision. In opposition to Isaac's desperation for pleasure, Sam understands that what he is doing is wrong, but he believes that the ends justify the means. Roxy and Ruby themselves are equivalent to each other, encouraging Isaac and Sam respectively to further their addictions, but Isaac is much more willing than Sam to entertain the drug’s intentions.

Both Roxy and Supernatural explore how addiction can influence somebody’s life, as well as how drugs can pretend to be helpful, but ultimately achieve different results due to the difference in purpose for the two texts. Roxy’s serious tone leads to an accurate portrayal of worsening addiction and the malice of drugs, while Supernatural’s irreverent ideology results in an inaccurate portrayal of addiction to cause interpersonal conflict. The former text explores real-world issues with grace to educate readers, while the latter is more concerned with providing entertainment for viewers to enjoy.

[recommendedlisten]

Album Review: Deeper - ‘Auto-Pain’

What’s sonically mesmerizing about Deeper’s breakout sophomore effort Auto-Pain is how the Chicago band of vocalist and guitarist Nic Gohl, bassist Drew McBride, and drummer Shiraz Bhatti strangely refract focused rays of light into the bleakness of our mortal situation. Like many of the post-punk heritage, Auto-Pain’s invisible bandmate is that of the tension brought to the surface by grief and anxiety.

Throughout the listen, Gohl flails in this strange cosmic dance with their presence held at arm’s length, fully aware that there is always the threat of its inevitable pull of gravity on our directions moving through oblivion. The electric linear designs that run from “Esoteric” through “Warm” often feel interconnected by these synaptic livewires. Even in moments such as “The Knife” where negative thinking patterns break away from being at the mercy of our chaos vacuum, Deeper steer angles of synth-blurring guitars and sharp starts and stops into the rhythmic monitor of its pressurized veins.

It’s especially made surreal that throughout Auto-Pain’s strife are the spectral contributions of guitarist Mike Clawson, who passed away shortly after recording the effort. Though what Deeper cut into was already there before this heartbreak, Auto-Pain makes visible all of what we accept as our burden and suffering. It’s how we turn it into light where beauty is derived from the madness.

Auto-Pain by Deeper

Deeper’s Auto-Pain is available now on Fire Talk Records. Physical | Apple Music | Bandcamp | Spotify

[dustedmagazine]

Deeper — Auto-Pain (Fire Talk)

This second album from this Chicago-based post-punk band stretches gleaming, trebly post-punk over minimal rhythmic frames. Every pulse is sharp with bleeding hurt. Every yelp protests discomfort and confusion. The murky churn of bass and drums roils up seething clouds of sediment; its rattle-trap machinery persists, half rusted out, half functional, across bleak and blasted soundscapes.

Deeper draws on a deep well of alienation, with clear links to downhearted outfits like Joy Division and the Cure. But this time, it’s not just influences. Life itself left a mark on Auto-Pain, an album named for lingering, shapeless pain (band members describe the title as the inverse of the drug soma from Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World). Between the band’s 2018 self-titled and now, guitarist Mike Clawson left Deeper, sunk into depression and killed himself. A slightly reconfigured group—singer and guitarist Nic Gohl, Drew McBride on guitar instead of bass, drummer Shiraz Bhatti and new bassist Kevin Fairbairn—took up the songs in progress and wrote some new ones. The sound is fierce and dense and riveting, but you can sense an empty space in its volatile middle.

Some of the songs wrestle specifically with Clawson’s death. “Lake Song,” a shivering, new wave dirge wears goth-y, atmospheric black. “I just want you to feel safe,” goes its hook, a morose but catchy tune lodged between piercing stabs of high guitar, blasts of Cure-like synths and a pick-rattling spectres of bass line. “Willing” clatters and clangs, its rain of guitars, its muttering assaults of bass like nails hammered into coffins, as Gohl chants “It’s the gun to your stomach/it’s the suture in your system.”  There’s a heaviness, but also an agitation, as thick layers of sound co-exist with antic squalls and blips. But the songs often lift, unexpectedly, into melody. They shake off the gloom and become, momentarily, tuneful. I like the swirls and eddies of synth in “Spray Paint,” which spin out in multi-colored washes or the italicized guitar lick in “Esoteric,” which carves out ecstatic, celebratory space in the cavernous dark.

Auto-Pain arrives, obviously, in a very uncertain, anxious time, when listeners themselves may be struggling with floating dread, disconnection and the loss of friends and loved ones. And so, perhaps it resonates more now that it would otherwise, as the death of the band’s friend finds echoes in our own lives and mental discomforts. But in any case, it’s an odd, unsettling, gripping listen, with little spools of melody leading upwards out of the morass.

Jennifer Kelly

[srijellyfishtempura]

hold on i might be slaying like really hard right now

[srijellyfishtempura]

For the zero people who asked, this is my spn 4x16 essay

The opioid epidemic in the United States has destroyed many lives. Neal and Jarrod Shusterman's 2021 novel Roxy and the TV episode of Supernatural titled On the Head of a Pin (2009), directed by Mike Gohl, both explore different aspects of this crisis, using their opposing text types of novel and film respectively to illustrate characters addicted to drugs by personifying them. Roxy uses its sincere tone to encapsulate the corrupting impact an addiction to malicious painkillers has on a teenager named Isaac, while Supernatural introduces a female demon for one of the main characters, Sam, to become addicted to drinking the blood of, while maintaining the integrity of the character and irreverent tone.

The target audience and purpose of each text dictates how addiction and drugs are portrayed. Roxy is a solemn novel, depicting the reality of addictive drugs in teenagers and using its mundane setting to reinforce the idea that anyone could fall victim to them. Supernatural, contrastingly, is not concerned with an accurate portrayal of addiction, and uses this conflict as a point of contention between its two main characters, Sam and Dean. This contrast is noticeable in the beginning of each text, with Shusterman and Shusterman writing in Roxy's prologue that they hope “that everyone who reads Roxy leaves with a clearer understanding of how insidious, seductive, and dangerous these drugs can be" (p.4), implicitly personifying drugs to foreshadow how they will be portrayed as characters throughout the novel. Contrarily, in the opening of On the Head of a Pin, Dean says that he "[doesn't] really give a rat's ass" whether or not Sam works with Ruby, the demon whose blood Sam eventually gets addicted to drinking. Both of these excerpts foreshadow their respective texts, with the former being much more reverent and serious than the latter. Shusterman and Shusterman communicate to their readers that they should consider how the drug characters are used, and as a result a reader will understand that they are trying to create an accurate depiction of addiction. Furthermore, they will view the drug characters as inherently malicious, due to the accumulation of multiple negative adjectives in this foreword, conveying a serious tone. Meanwhile, Gohl uses Dean's irreverent tone and coarse language to indicate to the audience that this plot point should not be taken as a serious exploration of dark topics, while also setting up the conflict between him and Sam that occurs in later episodes. Immediately, the audience sees that the director is not writing a story about addiction, but rather one with no real message or moral. An audience for both texts will understand that Roxy should be taken seriously and Supernatural should not. The inherent contrast in the purpose of the texts dictates how each illustrates their portrayal of drug addiction.

Both Roxy and Supernatural represent drugs as characters to explore the inherent malevolence of addictive drugs. Roxy's authors utilise a dual narrative to tell the story from the perspective of Isaac, a teenager addicted to the painkiller oxycodone, as well as Roxy, a representation of oxycodone itself, exploring the conflicting goals of the two characters. Meanwhile, in Supernatural, Ruby is a demon, who tricks Sam into drinking her blood, knowing he will become addicted to it and by extension, her. Roxy's portrayal as oxycodone is solidified in the reader's mind when Isaac's mother says "'Just as long as it isn't OxyContin' 'Well, actually-' the nurse begins, but Isaac cuts her off with a well-timed cough."(p.149). The allusion to a recognisable brand name for oxycodone, which has not been mentioned until this point, helps readers to understand the dire situation Isaac has found himself in. Furthermore, Shusterman and Shusterman have used a caesura to illustrate how ashamed Isaac already is of his addiction. Isaac interrupting the nurse demonstrates how he wants his mother to remain unaware of what he's consuming. A reader will notice this shame that Isaac is feeling and understand that Isaac is in a situation that he believes will lead to negative outcomes, providing context for his later actions. A similar effect is found in Supernatural, when Sam pleads "Ruby, it's been weeks. I need it" as he is shown in a dimly lit close up shot. In the context of this specific episode, this is foreshadowing Sam's desire to drink Ruby's blood, as well as helping the audience to understand the addictive properties of demon blood. Sam’s grim expression and the low lighting of the shot conveys the similar idea of shame and negative connotations common to both texts. This similarity in theme is further expanded upon when each text starts to refer to the addictive drug as a character themselves. In Roxy, when Roxy says, "Right now there's nothing in the world but him and his secret passenger" (p.188), the juxtaposition between Isaac, a real person, and Roxy, his "secret passenger", helps the reader to internalise the difference in perspective between the two characters. Isaac does not know that Roxy is a sentient being, and thus he believes that she cannot have goals or purpose. In effect, Roxy is hiding her identity and her motives from Isaac because she is ultimately trying to kill him, representative of how some drugs are manufactured intentionally to cause addiction and illness. The same idea of a drug hiding its true goals is also portrayed in Supernatural, when Sam starts drinking Ruby's blood. The dimly lit close up shot of him sucking on Ruby's arm, followed by a zoom in on Ruby's face as she smirks, looking away from him, draws the viewer's attention to this smirk. Furthermore, the music playing in this scene is very sinister and dissonant. This, combined with the fact that Ruby does not let Sam see this smirk, implies to the audience that she is happy about something in opposition to Sam's goals, similar to how readers of Roxy understand that Isaac cannot understand Roxy’s ambitions. Both texts are representing how drugs cause addiction and harm while pretending to prevent it. The two texts illustrate that their main characters are ashamed of their addictions, while also exploring how drugs can hide their true malicious intentions.

The other key difference in how addiction is portrayed in Roxy and Supernatural is the reasoning each character has behind seeking out drugs. In Roxy, Isaac actively worsens his addiction, taking direct, drastic action to get more oxycodone, even though he knows he is suffering because of it. However, in Supernatural, Sam's addiction is only worsened as a result of Ruby's malicious actions. Sam is a more passive actor; he always has a justified reason to seek Ruby out. The lengths that Isaac will go to for any chance of getting more medication, even early in his addiction, are illustrated when he considers, "deep down, a part of [himself] knows that [breaking his shoulder] wasn't an accident at all…” “Like letting go of the steering wheel and letting your car go ballistic" (p.151). The simile comparing this injury to deliberately crashing a car demonstrates how dramatic this injury is, as well as the way that Isaac's judgement has been warped by his addiction. He is now making decisions not to further his own goals, but rather to satisfy his addiction, although this drug does not benefit him beyond its painkilling properties. A reader understands how Isaac cannot be trusted to be a reasonable character anymore, with Roxy having some control over his decisions. This is contrasted in Supernatural, where Sam is initially very reluctant to drink any more of Ruby's blood, but reconsiders when he remembers how it will help him stop the Apocalypse. This is exemplified in the use of a caesura as Sam exclaims, "This is the last thing I-... But I need to be strong enough". In Supernatural, drinking demon blood enhances psychic abilities, and Sam needs to be as strong as possible to stop the main villain from raising Lucifer and bringing on the Apocalypse. The caesura present demonstrates to the audience that Sam is feeling conflicted about this decision. In opposition to Isaac's desperation for pleasure, Sam understands that what he is doing is wrong, but he believes that the ends justify the means. Roxy and Ruby themselves are equivalent to each other, encouraging Isaac and Sam respectively to further their addictions, but Isaac is much more willing than Sam to entertain the drug’s intentions.

Both Roxy and Supernatural explore how addiction can influence somebody’s life, as well as how drugs can pretend to be helpful, but ultimately achieve different results due to the difference in purpose for the two texts. Roxy’s serious tone leads to an accurate portrayal of worsening addiction and the malice of drugs, while Supernatural’s irreverent ideology results in an inaccurate portrayal of addiction to cause interpersonal conflict. The former text explores real-world issues with grace to educate readers, while the latter is more concerned with providing entertainment for viewers to enjoy.

[recommendedlisten]

Deeper - “This Heat” / “Lake Song”

Deeper are the kind of post-punk band who have the ability to capture the anxious energy that seasonal affective disorder creates in our bodies during the dead of winter, and turn it into electricity. In 2018, the Chicago post-punk band released their eponymous debut album with a sound that compliments these final weeks of cold, partially sunny days of the season with crisp-riffed angles, clean, icy synth lines, and the nervous writhing of fronthuman in guitarist Nic Gohl. Like their kindred peers in Preoccupations and Protomartyr who arrived very much fully-formed in their arrivals, they knew their way through the darkness by focusing what little light into laser-like precision.

The arrival of the Deeper’s forthcoming sophomore follow-up Auto-Pain is not without its own tragedies -- guitarist Mike Clawson left the band during its recording process in part due to his waning mental health, and ultimately took his own life -- and though much of the music, including that heard in his own spirit, was finished before his death, Gohl alongside bassist Drew McBride, and drummer Shiraz Bhatti have memorialized Auto-Pain to their bandmate and friend in its processing of these complex stressors and the higher level struggle for anyone to contend with them.

On the album’s earliest previews “This Heat”, this is heard in the way the trio maneuver through winter’s pitch black pitfalls in being a breeding ground for mood swings as they chase the sunlight and absorb all its energy reserves akin into their fleshly vessels, akin to a post-Joy Division New Order. Those highs are as temporal as its lows, though. “Lake Song” showcases the latter, as Gohl goes into the depths of despair in the nihilistic abyss, as its minimalistic percussive claps tracing these negative thinking patterns forward. Answers, if anything, are difficult to find when seeking them in an oblivion.

With the release of Auto-Pain on the horizon, Deeper will be on the road seemingly endlessly. They’ve recently just wrapped up a tour with fellow Chi-town rockers Twin Peaks in Europe, will be hitting the road alongsie Corridor leading into SXSW this March, and then will return to Europe in April.

Deeper’s Auto-Pain will be released March 27th on Fire Talk Records.