#norbert normal

[flowery-laser-blasts]

Drakken: Shego are you really, really sure that you don't want to come along with me to visit my mother for Mother's day? She loves you very much you know!

Shego: And take away your precious Mother-Drewbie bonding time? Don't think so Doc. Now be a good son and pamper your mommy today.

Drakken: Hng, fine... Guess I'll just tell her that you are too busy with taking care of our children.

Shego: Bluedoltsaywhatnow--AAARGH!!

Drakken: I reprogrammed them to be the most loving, doting, clingy kids you could ever wish for! Enjoy getting pampered today, byeeee!

Shego: DRAAAAKKEEEEEN!!!

Happy mother's day to those who celebrate it!

To those who lost their mothers, I hope this day is filled with love, good memories and support.

To those who haven't been fortunate with a good mother role due to circumstances, know that you deserve so much in life. You are loved and not all mothers deserve children but all children deserve a loving home.

[lizzysbrain]

My poor baby probably didn’t get an ounce of sleep that night. Bro was being dragged to prison and the only thing he was worried about was whether she was breathing or not 😢. I need a man this in love with me.

[muchcelebrated]

No because it’s the way Fagin tells him to run and he does but not to save himself. The thought doesn’t even cross his mind he immediately runs to the hospital. To Belle. Because “I had to see if she was alive.”

[haroldherald]

does harold have normal eyes underneath his glasses... because in roti when the campers are wearing his glasses for the challenge their eyes all look like his...

[jimintomystery]

Zemo: Techno, how are your robotics skills?

Techno: [literally transferred his mind into a robot body eight issues ago] How's your German?

(Thunderbolts #16, 1998)

[lovvelorrn]

been listening to the original wicked broadway soundtrack and i am currently in love + obsessed with leo norbert butz’s voice

[feroluce]

For some weird reason, I've always been fascinated by how wildly different Sampo operates in the Underground vs the Overworld.

Sampo is present in both places and even in official sources, he's not really counted as one side or the other- now that the theory has been confirmed in-game, he's generally just lumped in with the Masked Fools.

But there really is a big difference!

Probably the most obvious and well known instance of Sampo's...business practices *cough burglary and fraud COUGH* in the Overworld is from the Belobog Museum event. In it, you don't find out Sampo is the main culprit until near the end, because Pela has to set up a sting just to catch him in the act. And that sting is necessary all because the initial suspect they arrested, Norbert, had pretty much no idea of his partner's identity. Sampo wouldn't even speak to him face-to-face.

And whereas Sampo is normally very pleasant and friendly with the trailblazer...when he thinks he's talking to Norbert here, he straight up says that they are NOT friends. Like he really shuts that shit DOWN.

There's also an Overworld NPC, Chavez, who heads the "Dark Blue Scam Support Group." And he. Really really really does not like Sampo fjkdasjklfdj

Chavez clearly wants Sampo caught, and has literally no positive feelings about him. So. Why call it the Dark Blue Scam? Why not just out him by name? Chavez obviously doesn't give a single shit about Sampo's dignity or privacy. But he never once refers to him as "Sampo," and even the pamphlets he passes out make no mention of it. No one in the entire support group seems to know how to identify him or how to refer to him except by his hair color. If the trailblazer says his name, Chavez reacts as though he's never heard it before.

(I've seen people say this means Sampo Koski is an alias and not his real name? But Ray pointed this out, and honestly I agree; even the Fools call him Sampo, after all. I think it's just that Chavez never knew Sampo's name in the first place, and given his immense distrust, immediately assumes it's an alias.)

And then there's his characters stories, where he proceeds to pull off a heist in the Overworld while in disguise as Brughel Poisson the entire time. Literally his own stories don't mention Sampo's name even once.

So anyway, all this shows that when he's up in the Overworld working cons, Sampo is incredibly slippery and secretive about his identity. The only people who seem to know him are Pela, Serval, and Gepard. He doesn't get close to anyone else, and is even surprisingly unfriendly. Nobody knows his name. No one knows his face. He has zero qualms about backstabbing or double-crossing, and even plans for it in some cases.

Meanwhile, down in the Underground, I'm pretty sure literally the worst thing we hear of him doing is scalping tickets in front of the Fight Club. Which isn't even illegal in a lot of places (although it's certainly a dick move).

In Hook's companion quest, a vagrant miner steals Fersman's equipment and tries to sell it to Sampo. Even before the trailblazer and Hook jump in and out the vagrant as a thief, Sampo hesitates to buy it because it sounds like stolen goods, which he doesn't want any part of.

Even knowing that a geomarrow detector is rare and incredibly valuable in the mines, Sampo makes no attempt to double-cross Hook or profit off of her loss, and even tells her who to go to to get it fixed.

And my favorite example of Sampo in the Underground is the Survival Wisdom adventure mission. In it, Sampo starts up a business with Peak, another miner. And like. In wild contrast to all the cons he pulls above ground, Sampo is actually super nice and helpful here.

Just the same as with Hook's quest, Sampo talks to Peak face-to-face, with no disguises or barriers. When the trailblazer finds them, they're just in the Great Mine, no secretive meeting places. Peak knows Sampo, is familiar with him, and calls him by name. It's not even a con! There's nothing illegal going on; it really is just a business partnership. Peak is more than happy with their deal, he's even pretty enthusiastic about it, because thanks to Sampo he can now make enough money to get by while also accommodating his chronic fatigue.

The only person Sampo lies to in this whole ordeal is the trailblazer, who he manipulates into getting Peak's mining equipment back from the vagrants that stole it in the first place. And when it's done, he rewards them with a legit treasure map.

So when he's working in the Underground, Sampo is MUCH more upright and lawful. Part of this is probably to do with his "business" model- Sampo only takes advantage of the wealthy, and poverty runs rampant in the Underground. When he charges Peak an extra 30% (the same percentage he charges Norbert as a consultation fee in the museum heists- Sampo seems to go by percentage instead of a flat rate, which means his prices are more fair for lower incomes) for carelessly losing their supply, Peak literally starts counting out pocket change.

Dude's working for pennies and good will down there dknsmdmd

And you can twist this into a Robin Hood thing if you want- Sampo IS technically working to feed orphans and heal the sick. He says himself he's more than happy to make up the shortfall between the greedy and the marginalized- I mean he says it in the shadiest way possible, but I doubt the people benefiting from his work really care that he's a slimeball if it means they can survive another day. Even the two heists he pulls in his character stories are literally just him stealing absurd amounts of food.

Personally though I think it is solely because of Natasha, and Sampo is hilariously well-behaved specifically for her, because she keeps him on a short leash JSKZJMSMSKS

[eldritch-spouse]

https://www.tumblr.com/eldritch-spouse/752304229892358144/minors-dni-hhnrh-ive-always-wanted-to-make-a?source=share

I need more Rudy. Like .. it's a very strong need...please I'm begging you 😭

[HhhhnHHHNN WORD VOMIT INCOMING-]

Following the events of what transpires in the comic "Aliens: Stronghold" (you can find it online), Jeri the synthetic xenomorph is supposedly dead, as is Doctor Nordling. The Mayakovsky prototype records along with whatever modifications Nordling created are lost forever...

But are they?

What if a somewhat less insane crew managed to perhaps gather parts of the wreckage that ensued, studied them just enough to know how to make their own, different yet still entirely functional synthetic xenomorph? A crew that does value the monitoring of xenomorph colonies spread throughout the worlds wherein these hives are placed upon to gestate, and polices the illegal harvesting of eggs or specimen (idk, bare with me okay).

The model they designed, based heavily on Jeri, needed a couple key modifications. First, it needed to be distinct enough from the standard xenomorph drone, such so that people would not get frightened by the sight of it amongst crewmates. These differences in appearance are remedied by even more aggressive pheromone secretions to both fool and calm biological xenomorphs into believing that Rudy belongs. His somewhat less accurate appearance also allows for his maintenance to be cheaper, as well as for the synth to fit into humanoid gear more effectively.

Named after the prototype Norbert, and Jeri, Rudy only seemed fitting.

Quite like his predecessor, and as appears to be a trend recently, Rudy has a very stark and unique personality that shows itself whenever he begins to grow comfortable around someone. He's curious and talkative, having a fondness for oversharing about the xenomorph species and its many casts, as well as his interests in collecting new and exciting pieces of the world he's currently exploring with his mostly human crew and all things nature-related.

Although he's nothing if not helpful and vital to the work that is being done by this team, Rudy is still a synthetic, which creates a natural divide when it comes to forming relationships. Normally, this divide is somewhat softened when a synthetic passes as human and performs actions that make it look even more relatable. Rudy is visibly, unavoidably monstrous, and he makes no real attempt to fit in with acts that are strictly human. He will sit at the table while others eat, but he's very clearly not interested in commenting on the food and tries to pull others into conversation instead. He doesn't wear clothes, he can't facially emote anywhere as intricately as a human can.

He's lonely. And he understands why.

But it's painful for the synthetic xenomorph, because he feels no joy dwelling with other synthetics, and he can't bond with xenomorphs the way he desires. He feels at home around humans, and his own crew keeps him at bay, frustrating Rudy as they consistently deny him a real connection- Sometimes even subconsciously!

That's where you come in.

Following the unfortunate accident of the resident synthetic engineer on the ship, you are assigned his role. Arriving just in time, as Rudy is in dire need of assistance from miscalculating the height of a drop. He doesn't think much of you, at first. You'll be just like the others, finding him interesting for a short while, then resorting to formalities or simply ignoring him when he's not immediately convenient.

But he still tries anyway, because he's painfully desperate for connection.

Imagine his shock as you seem very interested in conversing with him in a consistent manner. Rudy is no idiot, he understood your interest was mainly to understand the circuitry and coding within him that allowed for such an authentic and varied range of emotions, sentiments. He fascinated you beyond merely being a bizarre thing, and that made the synth happy, fulfilled.

Rudy began to latch onto you.

When he had arrived from a routine check on a hive, he'd instantly seek you out without even needing any kind of repair, just to chat about his findings, talking about the specimen xenos the same way you'd talk about zoo mascots. He'd try to drag you down into the field with him numerous times, formulating rapid-fire arguments as to why the supervisors should allow you to accompany Rudy. You can't lie and say that you weren't a tad curious, especially after hearing the xeno's numerous stories.

Somehow, after perhaps not so friendly methods, he gets granted his wish, and down you go, into the wilderness, with a synthetic.

Rudy seems elated to have alone time with you in the nature of this vast planet, and you note that he touches you a lot more often. Grabs you with his six fingered hands, nuzzles his dome against your head, hugs you from behind and even lifts you a couple of times, he's utterly euphoric, something you've never seen in a synth. Sure, your crewmates had made comments about how close Rudy had gotten to you, how the synthetic "had a puppy crush on you", but those were just jabs you didn't mind taking. And surely, when Rudy replied positively to those jests, he was only trying to get in on the joke, right?

You remember the shock and fear that permeated you as you first entered a colony. Rudy didn't let you get too far into the structure, but you got to observe the entrance, the little resting holes on walls that xenos occupied when drained. You got to see drones marching around, dragging potential hosts with them. And you even got "checked" by a soldier cast. It had been strange then, watching Rudy communicate back and forth with the xenomorph, effectively clearing you of suspicion after a few snort-hisses. Your heart never beat so loudly before, and you remember laughing wildly with the synthetic after the two of you had retreated into safer grounds.

Yet, for as much as you had grown to enjoy having Rudy as a friend, you couldn't ignore the remarks your crewmated had been making about him. How the synth would ravenously defend you from the smallest of accusations, how he collected everything you left behind and would even steal presents you gave to others. He became mouthy and troublesome when they refused to let you go explore with him.

And lately, to make it all even more confusing, you've been finding him "doing maintenance" on himself. Things he won't let you access, that he tries to deviate your attention from. For just the glimmer of a second, you hope you only imagined spotting the digital blueprint for a set of modified synthetic genitalia...

Something's not right with Rudy, you think, catching him staring intensely at you again.

[iamnmbr3]

shoutout to the time in book 1 when ron and hermione were talking about norbert and harry warned them to be quiet because he, unlike them, noticed that draco was a few feet away and ALSO noticed that he had stopped to eavesdrop AND could tell by the expression on draco's face that he was actually able to hear what they were saying and was avidly listening.

just normal things that he normally noticed about his normal rival than he has a normal rivalry with

[beefrobeefcal]

Hello lovely friendos!

As you've probably noticed, I've been pretty MIA as of late - your beef is doing better, but healing takes time. My IRL job (I know, how dare beefin' on this site not be my real job) has consumed a lot of the brainpower I would normally use to write and hang out here. Norbert my depression goblin, bless him, has been better behaved than normal, but he's still shifty as all get out and needs constant monitoring.

I have a few fics coming down the pipeline and I am excited to get them out to you, including but not limited to [redacted], [redacted], and [redacted]. Oh! and Chubby![redacted] will officially be joining the Bistro very soon as the news P-boy. 🥵🫠🥡

In other news, the THOT TANK is looking a bit sparce...

Love you all and I miss interacting with you!

Smuttiest regards,

Beefro 👌🥩💜

[ryuichirou]

 Replies

A lot of replies today! About recent drawings/posts and about some other stuff as well.

Anonymous asked:

You should check your inbox for nebulacollege, I sent a gift 😘

Sorry for the late reply, Anon! As Katsu already said, we didn’t really have an opportunity to reply properly before, but we saw your gift right away. It’s so wonderful, and we are so grateful!!

Nebula technically had its first birthday recently, so your timing is kind of perfect. It’s insane to think that not so long ago I struggled to come up with a way to draw Edmund that would fit the vibe Katsu is going for, and now we’re seeing your amazing fanart of him. It looks so good, both the idea and the drawing itself.

Thank you so much, once again.

unofficialwheatdog asked:

I had this dream this morning that you and Kat joined the Trolls and the Bee Movie fandom, so there was art of a bee and a human getting it on and trolls

I woke up in a cold sweat if you couldn't tell btw

Honestly I would say that this is a hilarious dream and that you shouldn’t worry about it, but it sounds like something we would 100% do. I am now kind of terrified that we’ll watch the Bee Movie and start shipping a bee and a human but unironically.

But I shouldn’t be worried either, I don’t see that happening anytime soon. We did however rewatch some episodes of Angry Beavers and are currently kind of into Norbert/Daggett ……………..

Anyways! Thank you for dreaming about it?? 😭💕

Anonymous asked:

THANK YOU FOR THE TREYVIL! Oh gosh that was so good! Vil's look towards Trey~ very lovely! Proud of  "Normal Guy™" Trey managing to get a Supermodel like Vil. 💚

HEHE YOU’RE WELCOME! I’m glad you like it, thank you!

I’ll be honest, I didn’t fully get Trey’s popularity at first, but for some reason I kind of get it now. The juxtaposition of the "Normal Guy™" and gorgeous supermodel Vil who isn’t desperate, but still openly flirty with him, it’s kind of…. Very nice.

Anonymous asked:

That look Vil gave…..GOD. Probably best not to say what’s going through my head.

It’s okay, Anon, I feel you…. wink

I’m glad I managed to draw it in a way that makes you ~feel~ things hehe.

Anonymous asked:

Hey vil, what else can those beautiful legs do? What time do they open? 🥵🥵

I think Vil can easily do an entire clock hands rotation with his legs… Vil being stupidly flexible is my agenda and I will keep repeating it. He is going to put his legs behind his head if he needs to.

thestarlightfae asked:

Wait, now I want to try that. Not in a sexual way (aroace), but in an am-I-flexible-enough way.

I believe in you! I know you can do it! <3

Anonymous asked:

What kind of porn would Rollo, Fellow and Gidel watch?

(related to this post), maybe I’ll edit the post and add those there…

Rollo doesn’t watch porn, come on now. The only type of smut he experiences is the kind that his own mind plays in his head when he sleeps. And Rollo really wishes he could turn it off! But he can’t, so for now he’s just having weird wet dreams about faceless men in red cloaks judging him….

Fellow doesn’t really care about porn all that much because his life is already so full of sex, but he doesn’t necessarily have access to a lot of porn either. He used to flip through magazines with some hunks on them, but hasn’t done it in quite a while.

Gidel, however, loves his dirty magazines! I’ve said it in some other hc post: a magazine with beast-ladies in tiny bikinies is an ultimate gift for him. He steals those from shops, he takes the ones that are randomly abandoned at gas stations. Whenever they are lucky enough to stay at a motel with a tv, the first thing Gidel does is turning on the TV to see if there are porn channels available for free. He doesn’t even do anything while watching it, he’s just fascinated by smut. I guess it’s a phase… or is it?

Anonymous asked:

IS Idia a masochist?

He IS…. And he isn’t. I guess to a degree.

Idia feels like someone who would be genuinely uncomfortable and even whiny when it comes to physical pain and discomfort, but at the same time… there are some kinds of pain and discomfort that he would find weirdly pleasing and tickling. Starting with something not so drastic, like hair pulling and butt smacking. I think he has potential to blossom as a gorgeous masochist. I think he is highly trainable. 🤔

He also strikes me as someone who craves for a punishment somewhere deep down, so it’s also a big factor.

Anonymous asked:

Lilia making Silver watch porn with him is super hot actually?? Especially when Silver is so shy about it and doesn't really enjoy watching it that much, still being pressured to keep watching with him omg

(related to this post)

Hehehe thank you Anon!! I thought so too, as you can see lol

Silver doesn’t feel awkward all that often, especially with Lilia, but that time really felt weird… a good kind of weird. 😳

Anonymous asked:

I regret to inform you, it's highly likely that antis are that dumb.

Saw a hot take that was "it's wrong to sexualize the TWST minors even if you're their age!!!"

Oh no, puberty makes some high schoolers horny, who'd have thought.  A 17 y.o. not being the same as a 7 y.o. is a novel thought to them; they'd have never lasted in my hs.

And a non anti one, but evidence that some people aren't too bright: the amount of people saying Ace is an irredeemable monster, a sociopath who wouldn't care if You died, a fuckboy who'll never have a serious relationship, ect. because he's slightly mean and committed the unforgivable crime of ghosting his ex-gf in middle school.

And the amount of people wishing harm or death on proshippers just for that, I have to believe, for my own piece of mind, that they're not fully aware of what they're saying cause otherwise it's a scary thought.

(related to this post)

Yeah, unfortunately that’s not surprising. When people do nothing but try to find ways to police other people’s enjoyment of certain characters + marinate in these ideas all the time, their takes become almost alarming. They’re obsessed with numbers (fictional that have zero relevance to real life) and the idea of purity, it always boils down to sex = bad. And “sex = bad” is a very useful thing to both gatekeep characters (“you can’t sexualize them, I can”) and trying to assert authority on a group of people that has nothing to do with you.

The Ace take is hilarious. Imaging judging someone for ghosting a person when they were like 14-15, especially when it’s just one fictional guy. I also find it funny that technically one could read it as “Ace realised that he is not into girls and dipped; it’s not right for him to hurt her feelings, and this reaction from Ace is pretty normal for a guy who is figuring shit out”. But instead of this or any other kind of more nuanced reading they went with “Ace is a monster”. Ace is a teenager, and a well-written one at that, it just happens that the majority of teenagers are either nasty fuckers or socially awkward maximalists, or both.

Anonymous asked:

Ace’s method of flirting reminds me of the song Nice Guys by nigahiga

(referring to this post)

«And if you ever get cold, you'll just have to hack it, 'Cause I'd be cold too if I gave you my jacket» is the most Ace Trappola line in the world….

Anonymous asked:

I thought this was funny but idk if you'll think so.  Just this week I started a side blog for venting/discourse because I loved writing essays in school and I gotta put my English degree to use somehow right.  I only have two posts, one of which is about TWST antis. 

I already got some anonymous troll telling me I'm a loser and they hope I know it.

I have made it y'all!!  My sideblog's so young but I've already got the discourse blog badge of honor!! (Also the submission is a few days old and I only noticed now whoops I feel kinda bad for them.  Definitely didn't react the way they were hoping I would)

lol congrats Anon!! It really is like a badge of honour and a seal of quality at the same time. I’m pretty sure you’ll get more of those as you continue posting, so please take care of yourself and block annoying people, including Anons!

I’m glad you’re enjoying your new side blog though. Writing essays is fun, especially when it’s about something that you care about because, well, you’re a part of the situation…

Anonymous asked:

🐩 anon back with news that they made the terrible mistake of giving me TWO character slots because they wanted a bit more flavour to our current cast before we continue in another two weeks.

I came to offer you an unholy Deacon with god complex. He is about to make Rollo disintegrate by just walking into the same room as him. He got some Sebastian and Malleus vibes all in one, it's terrible for everyone else really.

The fact I gotta draw the design is what gets me, because how does one do that justice? The smugness? The charm? I'm tempted to do a design influenced by Frankenstein in Noblesse and Sephiroth from Final Fantasy. Maybe some Undertaker because who doesn't like long haired men, yk?

This sounds awesome, Anon, I think this is the perfect type of character to throw at Rollo to make him deal with him lol Whatever you end up with, I’m sure it’ll look great! What you’ve listed sounds like a great ingredient list for a very fun character.

[flowery-laser-blasts]

Drakken: Going on a trip again? One would think that you got the balance of worktime and days-off confused.

Shego: Hmhm, yup, I'm out of here before they wake up.

Drakken: Hn? What do you mean, they?

Shego: Oh nooo... You forgot, didn't you?

Drakken: What did I forget, Shego? More importantly: who are they?

Shego: Well... Since today's father's day, I thought: "Why not boot up 'the kids' so they can have some fun with their..." dad.

Drakken: You did WHAT!?

Shego: Yeah, yeah, you know; Stuffing your beloved children in a temporary storage unit until you need 'spare parts' isn't very kidfriendly... Makes them a teensy bit tempremental. Learned that in colleg-- Oh yeah, you never got in.

Drakken: GOT IN; DROPPED OUT. SHEG--EEEAAAAH!!

Shego: Oooo, gotta go! My mudscrub is waiting. Have fun with 'our little angels'.

Happy father's day to those who celebrate it!

To those who lost their fathers, I hope this day is filled with love, good memories and support.

To those who haven't been fortunate with a good father role due to circumstances, know that you deserve so much in life. You are loved and not all fathers deserve children but all children deserve a loving home.

[cherrylng]

The Resistance Interview [STYLE Series #004 - Muse (August 2010)]

Rock is supposed to be uplifting. It's the kind of thing that makes you feel okay about taking on the world, and I wanted to get that part of me back.

The three members of Muse have never hesitated to take their music to a level of expression that would normally be considered “a little too far,” and have always delivered music that is supremely dramatic, hilariously moving, and never betrays us. What is Matthew's intention for “The Resistance,” a masterpiece that combines the experimental and the popular, the highbrow and the vulgar? Before the album's release, Matthew carefully answered our questions about the background of the lyrics and sound-making of the album.

Muse - Matthew Bellamy - The Resistance / Author: Craig Mclean/ Lucy McGregor / Norbert Pek / ©IFA-Amsterdam, 2010 Translation by Aki Tamura

With their 2006 album “Black Holes and Revelations,” the three members of Muse took a step or two forward from the influences of 90's alternative guitar bands and the dramatic, symphonic production of Queen, and created a unique world where progressive rock experimentation and pop sensibilities coexist beautifully. The three members have created a world that only Muse can create. With their success in the U.S., they became more and more confident and finally started to work on a self-produced album. The fifth album they completed, titled “The Resistance,” is both challenging and dramatic. The lyrics evoke images even more than the previous album, and the sound is larger in scale. The result is a work that combines the richness and dynamism of a stadium live performance with the subtlety and literacy of a literary element.

Here is an interview with Matthew Bellamy about “The Resistance” conducted prior to “A Seaside Rendezvous,” Muse's triumphant outdoor show held on September 4th and 5th, 2009, in their hometown of Teignmouth. The following are Matthew's remarks by theme from the same interview about “The Resistance”.

Matthew Bellamy laughs, “Whenever the electrician here comes over, he always brings a T-shirt and a CD.” 31-year old Matthew James Bellamy has just finished dinner at his mother's house in Plymouth, Devon. The mailbox at his parents' house is full of letters from local fans and school alumni in anticipation of Marilyn (Matthew's mother) telling her celebrity son to give it to him to read. Matthew is back in England for band rehearsals and currently resides in Lake Como, Italy (perhaps Nick Chester is a neighbor?) — he was very happy to be there. Chris Wolstenholme (bassist for Muse) had called about two hours earlier to inform him that after some political wrangling, permission had finally been granted for a two-day triumphant return to the Teignmouth Den, an outdoor venue in this small country town where the band used to frequent. The news was good.

“We had a meeting with the town council today,” Matthew explains. “This is the first time we've ever done a proper show in town. We're very happy to finally get permission to do this. We've never played there before. It's a tiny little town in the middle of nowhere, with not a single venue for a live show. But there was a really cool square by the beach, and as kids we always thought it would be great to play there someday. And that someday is finally here,” he said, his voice rising with emotion.

In order to get permission for the gig, Chris had to go directly to the town council to make the case for the band's position on the occasion of the first public performance of songs from their fifth album, "The Resistance."

"He thought he was the right person for the job, because he's lived here all his life, and neither I nor Dom (Dominic Howard, drummer) live here anymore," Matthew explains. "He did a great job of getting a lot of his local friends and fans together, and he did a really good job of making the case." Does that mean that every single one of Matthew's nostalgic old school friends will be there on the day of the gig?

"No doubt about it," he chuckled. "Shortly after that, three letters arrived at my mum's house, all saying, “Please, can you get us tickets?” I think the venue there can accommodate about 7,000 people, but I guess half of them will be treated as guests." (In fact, one Internet post about the gig even pleaded, “My husband taught at Teignmouth Community College for 34 years and just recently retired…. I would love to get us tickets so that he can see his former students in their finest hour of glory. Could someone please help me?")

Twelve years after leaving town, and fifteen years after forming the band in high school (although the original band name, “Rocket Baby Dolls,” has been abandoned out of embarrassment in the meantime), Muse is finally making a triumphant return to their old hometown. "The Resistance" is arguably the band's most ambitious work to date, and that's saying a lot for a band whose sound is a blend of arena-style rock anthems, epic space rock, and grand futuristic sensibilities.

Some have mocked the band's emphasis on showmanship over songwriting, and have criticized Muse as stuck in a time warp. But fans and most critics agree that they are currently the best live act in the world.

“We've always been interested in the polarity of things. We like to go back and forth between the two extremes. It's a roller coaster journey full of peaks and valleys.”

The mix of classical and progressive hit patterns and uplifting riffs is simply irresistible fun. Recorded for the first time in the band's own studio in Italy without any help from a producer, The Resistance opens with its first single, “Uprising”. Matthew sings of his love of conspiracy theories — "They'll try to, push drugs that keep us all dumbed down/And hope that we will never see the truth around" as his voice chants "Hey!" like a football field chant on every snare. It's the same kind of love that drives the album's title track (“Love is our resistance/They'll keep us apart and they won't stop breaking us down”) and the 80s pop-tinged of “Undisclosed Desires” (“I want to reconcile the violence in your heart”), is a familiar theme in Muse's songs. The glam guitar solo of “MK Ultra” is followed by the smooth piano pop of “I Belong to You (+Mon cœur s'ouvre à ta voix)” (the latter part of the title is a reference from the opera “Samson and Delilah”). With a romantic piano accompaniment, Matt sings sweetly, “I can't find the words to say/When I'm confused/I've traveled half the world to say /"You are my muse"”…… The song then builds to an epic, choir-driven musical climax. Even more surprisingly, “United States of Eurasia,” reminiscent of Queen's rock opera, rivals “Knights of Cydonia” in terms of sheer scale.

—In “The Resistance,” there is a frequent contrast between “us” and “them.” For example, in “Uprising,” you sing, “They will not force us/They will stop degrading us/They will not control us/We will be victorious.” As a rather wealthy and socially successful young man, who is “us” and who is “them”? Matthew: (laughs) The first one especially, that's a real “us” and “them” song.

—I know you like well-made conspiracy suspense stuff……. Matthew: Yeah, I love all that stuff. But the funny thing is, there are much more gruesome things going on in the real world these days than that stuff. Like the whole damn banks and MPs thing (supposedly alluding to the big scandal that has recently come to light in the UK (2009) where several MPs have been charged for obscure expenses). There is a level of depravity and corruption going on in our government and in our banks that the average citizen would find hard to believe. These two institutions are supposed to be serving us, but it turns out that they have been ripping us off with impunity. This is not a fantasy, this is a very real event, it is not a conspiracy or anything like that. Oh, in a way, I'm expressing my vague disappointment here. The moment I realized that corruption still exists. Maybe that's “them” and “us” is everyone else who has to pay for it.

—Now, are you satisfied with the quality of “The Resistance”? Matthew: Pretty good, yeah. I think we hit the nail on the head with this album. We took a bit of a gamble. We did some things we've never done before. We weren't sure how it would be received, but it seems that most people like it. The order of the songs on this album is pretty much in the same order as we recorded them.

—I was just about to check that out. I mean, the progression of the album is like the unfolding of a movie. There's a lot of action, and then it converges into a big circle. I don't think it's strictly a concept album, but did you have a concept behind the whole thing? Matthew: Yeah, I had some ideas. I had the opportunity to re-read "1984" (George Orwell's novel), and I think everyone knows the content of that book, but this time I wanted to take a look at the background behind the so-called political unrest and problematic elements in that book. I was really drawn to the romantic tragedy part of it. I wanted to give the same kind of feeling to "The Resistance," but with a modern political context. "Uprising" incorporates many events that are currently happening around the world. We recorded the song as we were writing it. As you can hear when you listen to it, we're picking up right where we left off musically with the rhythmic chants of "we're all working together against them" kind of thing. The first two songs on the album are probably what people expect from us. But from there, the album starts to get weirder and weirder.

Picture: The three members at the 35th annual O2 Silver Clef Award presented by Nordoff Robbins, a British charity that provides music therapy to people with illnesses and disabilities, on July 2, 2010. Presenters were Brian May & Roger Taylor of Queen. The charity auction included signed guitars. pic: Dave Hogan/Getty Images

—Perhaps new listeners will respond more directly to the second half of the album. Did you intend to be clear about how you wanted to start and end the album? Matthew: We have always been a band interested in the polarities of things. For example, one person might be singing, and then all of a sudden everyone is singing. It's like a raw solo voice and then all of a sudden it switches to a loud choir……. Something very subtle to very loud, or something loud and flashy to very restrained and subtle all at once. We always like to move back and forth between these extremes, and we are attracted to that kind of thing. Why we are attracted to such things is still a mystery to me. It's like a roller coaster ride of peaks and valleys, where you get your hopes up and then you get dropped with a thud, and so on and so forth. But I think the ending of the album is quite interesting. It's a quiet, understated ending.

—It's different from your usual approach, isn't it? Matthew: No, it's not.

—You will be making your triumphant return to your hometown in a short time, and you already have tour dates lined up for the rest of the year? Matthew: Yeah, it's a tight schedule through the summer. It starts with a gig in Plymouth, then a gig in my hometown, and it goes on and on from there. Most of them are short TV stuff, like the one we just did in the US for MTV. Then we'll do a few in Berlin and Paris as a meet and greet. But the real tour will be with U2. We're going to tour the U.S. with them for a couple of weeks. It's going to be interesting (laughs). Our main tour will start after that. The U2 tour will be a warm-up for us to get back in gear and also to see their shows up close and see how they do it…….

—Do you mean "The Claw" (as U2's ‘360° Tour’ set is nicknamed is a huge steel structure that looks like a claw. It's a four-legged set of steel claw-like frames, 40-60 meters high)? Matthew: “The Claw”, yes, I'm looking forward to seeing that. Our tour will start after that and last until December. We are hoping to play the Big Day Out (an outdoor festival in Australia) if possible.

—Tell us about “United States of Eurasia”. It has a cool Queen-style break and strings that remind me of Led Zeppelin's “Kashmir,” with Muse's signature subtle touch. What criteria do you use to decide if you want to go too far or not? What is “too much” for Muse? Matthew: We are very self conscious as to whether or not we have gone too far. The song “The only one!” (the part of the multi-track with the “Bohemian Rhapsody”-style vocals) can be found at …… I think anyone can't help but pump their fist in the air in a Freddie Mercury pose when they sing that one (laughs). But when we were working in the studio, we were totally aware of that. We thought, "Let's look back at what we've done with the past albums." Not that this is the case with all of our albums, but we've tried a few times in the past to keep the flow from going too melodramatic or extreme. It happened once.

—Really? Because I think Muse has always been melodramatic enough (laughs). Matthew: For this album, we produced it ourselves, so there was no one telling us what to do. So we thought, “Why not? We should have fun and laugh our hearts out!"And that's what we did, and that's how it turned out.

—I'm wondering if your theatrical side is well received in the U.S.A.? To be honest, I have the impression that Muse's popularity there has so far not reached the same level as in the UK, etc……. Is that situation changing already? Are big mouths working to your advantage, or is it the other way around? Matthew: Well, I would say that the tables have turned now. Apparently, people in the U.S. like that stuff more than people in the U.K. In the U.K., there is a kind of saturation of rock music with those elements. Queen, Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, etc., have a history of that kind of thing. But I don't think people are sick of it. They're much more interested in what's going on right now. Whereas in the U.S., and maybe even in Australia, that aspect of music exists more as something to be genuinely enjoyed. It's an element that has been missing from rock music in the past 5 or 10 years. The music of the 90's took itself too seriously and became very serious, and sometimes lost all interest. I don't think there's anything wrong with that, but I don't want to forget that rock music is supposed to be fun. Rock music is supposed to be uplifting. It makes you feel like you can take on the world. I wanted to bring that back.

—Another unprecedented change in “The Resistance” is the very frankness of your feelings, especially in the latter half of the album. Is the song “Undisclosed Desires” a direct reflection of your relationship with your girlfriend? You've never written a song that was so public about your private life, have you? Matthew: Yeah, that's something that I've been wondering about for a long time. Personally, I don't like songwriters who bring their “domestic life” into their songs. I get bored listening to them. That song is certainly …… Well, it's not totally domestic, but there's a lot of personal stuff in it. I think that's one of the things I'm testing myself on. I don't know if I'm really ready to bring that kind of element to Muse... But on the other hand, publicly revealing what's going on with my family, my best friend, or my girlfriend in a way that is clearly recognizable is not what I want to do. Of course, I'm sure those things are in the songs, but I try to put them in a different cloak so that they're not obvious at first glance. Sometimes I make them more graphic than they really are, and sometimes I put a melodramatic spin on them, depending on how I use pronouns. Conversely, depending on the context in which it is placed, it is possible to tell a more open story about oneself. Sometimes I really let it all hang out in the lyrics. In the end, you have to cut out your true feelings. It's a strange contradiction, a strange paradox. If I say, “This is a story about me and my girlfriend,” then of course I'm limited in what I can say. But if I put myself in a different scenario, for example, on this album, I can use the dramatic political backdrop to create a romance…… With that kind of setting, I can explore a lot of ideas without having to be so honest.

"Up until now, we had been holding back the flow to prevent it from going too melodramatic."

—To be honest, how well do you think your fans know you? Do you feel any familiarity with them? Matthew: Well, when I think back to when I used to listen to records and go to concerts of various bands, I feel a certain closeness to the bands I follow because I feel like I'm in direct contact with their thoughts and feelings. It's an extraordinary experience for the fans. We throw a lot of stuff at them on stage. Our fans probably know a little bit about me, and maybe that makes them feel like they know me better than someone in my family, and maybe they feel closer to me. But having said that, my family knows a completely different side of me than they do. There are many sides to people, aren't there? I think that when you put that kind of multifaceted humanity into music, you feel an undeniable connection between the sender and the receiver. I feel that when I play. I feel very close to the people who are watching me. I feel great that they are there to see me, and I feel great that they are seeing what we are expressing, which can only be experienced in that moment, in that place. It's really great.

—You performed with an orchestra in the three-part symphony “Exogenesis.” What was it like to hear a song you wrote played in that way? Matthew: I was surprised and extremely nervous (laughs). I thought, "They're going to laugh, they're going to think it's so cheesy and rudimentary." Because they usually spend their time playing masterpieces by really great composers. But it turned out very well, and I really enjoyed the recording process from start to finish. I had the opportunity to work with the entire orchestra, and finally made some last-minute changes to the score to get a better idea of what they were capable of. It was a great experience. It was amazing to hear my own compositions played by so many people. It was an experience like nothing else.

“I re-read 1984 shortly before we started work on the album. I wanted to do something that was more relevant to our time, not something based on a dream.”

—Now, I'm very interested in how you will reproduce the songs from this album live. Maybe with an orchestra in the background? Matthew: I was seriously thinking about doing a live show. But just last week we started rehearsing and realized that Dom, Chris, and I could do our parts surprisingly easily. We have a fourth member who plays with us, Morgan (Nicholls), who plays synthesizer, keyboards, and piano parts as needed. We basically just leave it to him and say, “Take care of this!" So he is in a panic even as I speak, because he has to play all those symphony parts on the keyboards, hahaha. Well, I will probably have to use more samples and electronics than before, but I'd rather play a live version than just reproduce the studio version as is. However, I still don't know if I will play “Exogenesis” live or not, or if I will include it in my regular set. Maybe only at festivals. We want to add a little fun to the show.

[About the lyrics.] —What kind of work did you have in mind for “The Resistance”? Matthew: I had read “1984” once when I was a teenager (Editor's note: A novel by British author George Orwell published in 1949. In Japan, a new translation of “1984” by Kazuhisa Takahashi was published by Hayakawa epi Bunko in 2009 and attracted a great deal of attention.), but at the time it didn't leave me with any particular impression. I happened to have a chance to read it again shortly before I started working on this album. I was watching all the news that was going on in the world right now, such as the economic crisis, the banking crisis, and the embezzlement scandal of a member of the House of Commons (in the U.K.)……. I wanted to make an album that was more closely related to the reality of the times we are living in, and not something based on a dream.

—In the lyrics of “Uprising”, you use the word “they” frequently. For example, there is a line “they want to control us,” but who are these “they”? Matthew: People who listen to the album can interpret the meaning however they like. I know who “they” are in “Uprising,” but the interesting thing is that it can be very different depending on the situation. For example, if you are in the resistance, you may feel that the police are trying to forcefully suppress you. Then “they” would be the police. Or perhaps the protagonist lives in China, where freedom is being taken away by a communist regime. Well, that could be any government. But what strikes me as particularly strong is what is called “corporate fundamentalism.” In other words, the industrial system that rules the world. Power is concentrated in the hands of a handful of large corporations, maybe even the magazine you are writing about is owned by one of them. They own TV stations, and sometimes they control all the natural resources of an entire country. They are so powerful, sometimes more powerful than the government. When I say "they", I mean those people. They are the ones who create economic crises.

—In “The Resistance,” you sound as if you're scared of something. You say you are concerned about whether your secret is safe and that you can't trust anyone. Matthew: I definitely have paranoid schizophrenic tendencies. But anyway, I saw on the news that there is a big scandal in the UK about government spending, and there is a movement against government policy. People have decided not to support the current government anymore. There are wars going on all over the place, and most English people want nothing to do with them. I began to think that this whole situation could be the subject of an album, so I started doing some research. First, I went back to 1984. I was very impressed with the love story in that book. It's a very tragic story. The lyrics of "The Resistance" were very much inspired by the love story in "1984".

—The album closes with the three-part symphony “Exogenesis. It seems that the title was taken from a new theory about the creation of mankind……………… Matthew: The original idea for “Exogenesis” has been around since our third album. The dazzling piano part in part 2 was something I kept messing around with while we were working on “Absolution”. But at the time, it just didn't seem like it would work for a rock band, so I ended up throwing it away, but the song itself was inspired by that theory. The lyrics are minimal. The song is based on a fictional sci-fi movie that I imagined in my head, part one of which follows an end-of-the-world scenario, a nightmarish hellscape where everything comes to an end. In Part 1, a few astronauts are selected and given the mission to take humanity somewhere beyond the cosmos in order to save the species. In part 2, we see them leave Earth with hopes and fears for the future. In Part 3, they arrive on an unknown planet and begin a new evolutionary process. But in the process of evolution, it is revealed that human DNA is moving through the universe in a certain cycle, and this time is no exception. The evolutionary bag is passed down through the generations, transported to various types of stars, and then dropped off. So that's what Part 3 is about.

"Up until now, there have always been some parts where we weren't sure if we were right, but now we have a firm sense of confidence."

[About the sound aspect] —Your previous album “Black Holes and Revelations” had quite a few heavy songs, such as “Take a Bow” and “Knights of Cydonia”. Did you feel like going a little lighter with “The Resistance” in light of that? Matthew: Well, there were songs that were kind of the cornerstone of the album's safety standards, and they became the first and second songs on the album. Those were the first two songs we recorded when we started the recording process, and the first songs we were happy with. They were what you would call standard Muse rock songs. We thought that because we had that song, we could explore other areas. Starting with a rock song, we felt we had to do something different and unusual. As work on the album progressed, we started doing weirder and weirder things. For example, “Undisclosed Desires” is an electronic song where I don't play anything but Chris plays slap (chopper) bass. Then there's “Exogenesis,” which has a classical influence and sounds like a 70's prog song. And we decided to make it a three-part symphony. So, I started out just trying to make a good song, but as I went along, I decided to try something a little more risqué. And each time I tried something new, I got more and more excited, and finally I decided to make a symphony.

—When and at what stage did you first decide to create a classical symphony format? Matthew: I had been playing some of the piano parts on that song for years, but it was never my intention to make it a Muse song. But when I played it to Dom and Chris, they liked it so much that we decided to give it a try. The best thing about this song was that we were able to work on it in our studio. We didn't have any time constraints, we didn't have any restrictions, so we were able to try out all the ideas we had and figure them out.

—Do you have to keep changing things up musically so that you don't get bored? Matthew: I think we are always looking for something exciting, something that will always stimulate us and make us feel like we have discovered something new. There's nothing better in life. Artists are always looking for something. Especially at milestones in one's life and at times of change in the world. When you are faced with these two things, you always want to try something different.

—But didn't you want to play that classical tune part earlier? Matthew: No, I wasn't planning on making it into a song. To me, it was just like a phrase to practice on the piano. I was just playing around with it. I didn't know how to incorporate bass and drums into it, much less guitars and orchestration. It was purely piano solo material. But for this album, I decided to make the piano part into something that could be played with the band.

―It sounds like it's more difficult than a "normal" song, but was it actually difficult to make? Matthew: It wasn't hard for me. Basically, whatever I'm comfortable with is relatively easy to understand. It just takes me a long time to get used to it. When you listen to Middle Eastern or Indian music, it seems very difficult to understand, but for the people who are actually making it, it's very simple. But when you try to explain it in words, it sounds very complicated. They use completely different sounds and scales than we normally use. But for them, it's not difficult at all. The strange thing about this album is that it is the easiest album we have ever made. And by easy, I mean that there was no doubt in our minds. With our previous albums, there was always a part of us that wasn't sure if we were doing the right thing. But now we have solid confidence. I think this is because we are comfortable with the style we have now. It's a pure Muse album, no outsiders, no record company, no management, no producers to impose their opinions. It is purely the work of me, Dom, and Chris.

—Was it difficult for you to record the album on your own? Matthew: People react in many different ways when they are thrown out on their own and told to do as they please. Some people are at a complete loss because they don't know what to do, while others, on the other hand, are motivated by a competitive spirit and work hard. We were pleasantly surprised to find that we were the latter.

—Your band members must have been surprised at times, too. This album contains not only classical music, but also French lyrics and electro-pop. It's quite a variety. Matthew: I don't know, maybe it's just a coincidence that we met in the same town, but we are musically compatible. Chris has always been open to different sounds. Dom is the same way. I think this kind of thing probably has an influence on what kind of town you were born and raised in, or what kind of childhood you had. I don't know. But I think our band has an openness to all kinds of things, and I think that creates an atmosphere that allows us to break away from the norm, even in terms of our feelings.

“When you've been working with an outsider's opinion for so long, it makes you want to re-evaluate what your pure, unadulterated form was like.”

—You have always been open about your influences. For example, on your last album you said you wanted to do something with Prince. Was the opening track “Uprising” on this album inspired by Goldfrapp? Matthew: No, no, no. Glam rock originated back in the 70's, with Gary Glitter and the like. There are definitely elements of glam rock from many different eras in this song. The most recent being the well-known Goldfrapp, who did an electronic version of glam rock. But have you heard of KLF? They have a song called “Doctor Who,” and “Uprising” was inspired by the synthesizer featured in that song (Note: KLF is the house unit of Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty. Matthew's reference to “Doctor Who” is actually “Doctorin' The Tardis,” which was released under the name The Timelords before they called themselves KLF, and is an unauthorized sampling of the theme song from the popular long-running BBC science fiction drama "Doctor Who." (The original song was created in 1963 and has been rearranged several times since then.)). The melody is very similar to “Doctor Who”. It's a combination of influences from Gary Glitter and “Doctor Who” and, yes, maybe a little bit of Goldfrapp. There are a lot of pop artists doing glam rock these days. Britney Spears did it on "Womanizer". However, we wanted to put a guitar in there, so in that sense it was a risky genre.

—Is this the first time you have recorded in Lake Como, Italy? Matthew: We had done the B-side of the single “Man of Mystery,” which was on the cover of NME many years ago. But this is the first time I've done a full album (“The Resistance”). It was also the first time I recorded an entire album from start to finish in the same studio. The only string part was done in a studio in Milan, but that only took two days. All the performances by me, Dom, and Chris were done in the same studio. With our previous albums, we had always moved from one live-in studio to another, so it was great to be able to settle down in one place and work with the acoustics of the room thoroughly.

—You (three) produced the album all by yourselves. This is also a first for Muse. Matthew: We really wanted to try it once, without any outside input, and let ourselves be free to do what we wanted to do. Of course, an objective point of view can be valuable, but after working with outside opinions for so long, we wanted to see what our pure, unadulterated form was like. That was my approach going into this album. I wanted to take a no-holds-barred approach to the music, both in terms of production and songwriting.

—The single “Uprising,” the album's title track, and “United States of Eurasia” are bold, large-scale, highly detailed rock songs, reminiscent of Queen at their peak. Were there any challenges in writing and recording these songs? Matthew: Most of the songs were a challenge in their own way. The first songs we recorded were “Uprising,” “Resistance,” and “MK Ultra,” which we felt were following a style we were familiar with. They all sounded like typical Muse songs. We decided to start there and finish them all at once. Of the three songs, I think “Uprising” was the one I burned through the most. Playing shuffle beats all day long was quite a struggle. It took us a long time to get it right because we weren't used to this style. But once we finished recording those three songs, we felt we had a solid foothold for the backbone of the album, which is the relatively traditional Muse songs. With that feeling, we decided to go out on a limb with the rest of the songs on the album.

—"I Belong to You" is very un-Muse-like, isn't it? Matthew: Yeah, it's much more pop and upbeat. I've never been a big fan of the Beatles, but I definitely see Paul McCartney's influence on that song, from the “Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band” era. Or “Pet Sounds” (by the Beach Boys), the sound of the so-called “60s,” when anything was possible when it came to music. I added a bass clarinet solo and it sounded like the theme music for a BBC children's cartoon. We all had a lot of fun. Every time we listened to that song again, it made us all feel good……. On our recent albums, we've tried not to be too heavy in a lot of places, because the older albums tended to be a bit darker overall.

Picture: The two other members of the band, except for Chris, who is now a father of five children, seem to be enjoying the rock 'n' roll life. They have become celebrities in the U.S., but there is no sense of flirtation.

—I also think that for most rock bands, creating a three-part symphony (like “Exogenesis”) would be considered an arrogant and irreverent act of folly. But, if there is a band that can pull it off, Muse is the only band on the scene today that can do it. Matthew: I think there has always been a slight classical element in our music. Over the years, this has become more and more prevalent, especially in concerts, where there are many people who respond favorably to the so-called “epic” songs. I think that gradually we began to think that it would be acceptable to do something a little more elaborate along those lines. However, even in that symphony, we were careful to let the emotion of the music be the star and the driving force. We didn't want to show off our technique or ability. That's why there are no solos for each part or anything like masturbation. I just wanted it to be a soundtrack to a very contemporary movie.

—Speaking of soundtracks, did you have a good experience working on the soundtrack for the Hollywood suspense film “The International”? (Ed. note: The 2009 action suspense film starring Clive Owen and Naomi Watts. Matthew is credited for the song titled “The Bank of the Fallen Colossus: End Title.) Matthew: Yes, definitely. I did it more as a chance to get used to orchestral software than anything else. All film composers these days are writing songs using computer software for scores. Instead of writing by hand the old-fashioned way, you just have to type it out like you would type. I learned a lot about the software, and I was able to contribute ideas to the Berlin Symphony Orchestra, which was playing the soundtrack to the film at the time. That gave me a little bit of confidence, because I got to hear a live orchestra play and reproduce the melody, the parts, and the arrangement that I had created. And I started to think, if I can do this, then of course I can do it in Muse. It gave me a lot of confidence.

[About personal life and band] —There was another new scandal recently. It is about a British tabloid newspaper that has been tapping the phones of celebrities. Have you ever been afraid that your phone might be tapped? Matthew: I don't know, I never really thought about that. They are only interested in people whose private lives are intriguing to the general public. They're insanely famous people.. We as a band and as individuals don't expose our personal lives to the public that much. I don't think there is anyone out there who is interested in my personal life. I have no complaints about that.

"We're probably the type of band that's allowed to incorporate more theatrical elements into our gigs than other rock bands."

—What was the reaction of the other members of the band when you first told them you had decided to move to Italy? Matthew: Well, I don't know. But the great thing is that no one really cares when I'm over there. We're so busy touring and recording all the time that when we're on our own, we all disappear like spiders scattering. Some go to Australia, some go to New York, some go to London. In my case, I'm going to Italy. It's not a big deal.

—However, the recording for the last album was done in Italy, close to your home, wasn't it? Matthew: I had to do a lot of extra work on the album, so I asked the other members to come to Italy. It took some convincing, though. But maybe for the next album the studio will be in England.

—The latest R.E.M. album, “Accelerate,” is a very good album. They said they felt like they could be a band again with that album. On the earlier albums, they had been living in different places in the US and rarely played together anymore. Do you feel there is any danger of that? Matthew: We still spend more time with our members than we do with our families. Groups like R.E.M. are much older than us. I think when you get to that age, you don't tour as much for a long time anymore. We tour a lot more now than R.E.M. did. If we stopped touring and slowed down, say, to tour for 6 weeks and then take a few months off, I think it would be difficult. In our case, we spend most of our time together. That's more time than I spend with my girlfriend. We spend most of our time in hotels, on tour buses, in concert halls, or in studios. If that is going to decrease, it will be more important to live in the same place.

[About the live performance] —How is Muse going to get any bigger? Matthew: Well, I don't know if we can get any bigger, but we can get better. That's a fascinating thought. But the scale of our concerts will definitely get bigger. It's not your average rock concert. We're going to take a cue from “1984” and build on that by playing to an audience that surrounds us. It's something more theatrical. It's not opera, but it's as close as you can get.

—Is it like U2's “360° Tour”? Matthew: No, it's different. We have the audience behind us and in front of us. In a way, it's more like a Pink Floyd setting, like being trapped inside a building. It's a message of breaking out of the utilitarian system.

—So you want people to feel the atmosphere of “1984”? Matthew: Exactly. It's going to be exciting.

—Are you looking forward to the three-week U.S. tour with U2? Matthew: I think it's going to be a very simple, no-frills set. We'll be on stage in the daytime, so we won't need any lights. The tour is a great opportunity for us to get back into full-fledged live mode, and it's kind of like a rehabilitation program for us. And we get to see U2 up close and personal at night. I'll get to see how they do it. They are one of the biggest and best live acts in history. Also, it's a lot less pressure to be in the front of the lineup. You don't have to worry about video shoots, performers, and all the other stuff that goes along with being the main act, you just focus on your music. It's the perfect warm-up to get your body acclimated to the live mode.

—Muse is also known as one of the best live bands in the world, isn't it? How do you expect to top your last show in the U.K., where you played to 150,000 people at the renovated Wembley Stadium? Matthew: I try not to think too much about going over. We look at things differently every time. But I'm sure we'll have more of those balloon-dangling-performer gimmicks. We are probably the type of band that is allowed to incorporate more theatrical elements into our gigs than other rock bands. Of course, we'll be playing a selection of new songs from the new album. What we're looking forward to is trying to recreate that symphony live. I don't know if it will work, but it will probably be a Hans Zimmer-style synth version (Ed. note: German composer and synthesizer player famous for his film scores for “The Lion King,” “Gladiator,” “Pirates of the Caribbean,” etc.).

[haroldherald]

i've started not harold posting for a few days until someone else uses the harold tags so that it's not just all of my posts in a row when you scroll through it because of the weird fear some other harold fan hates me and finds me insufferable and everything i say wrong

[mdvnkdfv]

WereBeaver Returns Part 2

by Lyrica Cliatt

Arwooooooo!!! Bebe u so handsome ask Werewolf Lyrica. Thanks.

Said WereBeaver Norbert After Midnight Mary and Daggett are Walking Woods it happens he Jump out and Then Scream Ahhhhh!!!!!

Ahhhhhhh!!! They Both scream then run!!! Mary and Daggett they Ran Into The Woods Gotcha! Said Werewolf Lyrica. We Got You! Said WereBeaver Norbert hahahaha!!! Arwoooo!!! Said WereBeaver Norbert . AAAWoooo!!! Said Werewolf Lyrica. They Howled Please Don't Eat Us! Said Mary We Love so Much Both Ya'll Please! Said Daggett And They Both Hungry and now It Time to eat.

Arwooooo!!

Run!!!! Said Mary Wooooo!!!! Said Daggett They Run and Then Dead end..... Uh oh.... They Both Gowling And Moon it's Down and here the Sun come out and they Back to Normal and The Naked Ahhh!! My Clothes! Said Lyrica What happen and Were I'm We? Said Norbert You guys Turning into WereBeaver and Werewolf! Said Mary. Soon All walk to Mary's House. Then we saw a Mary's Room Lyrica try Mary's Clothes Thank you Besite!!! Ask Lyrica You welcome Lyrica Said Mary.

Daggett saw Norbert Norby u Back ! Said Daggett. Dag! said Norbert

They Hug Together Dag it's That you Norbert ask. Norb We saw u turn into Werewolves!!! Said Daggett. Werewolves? Dag . There's No Such Things as Werewolves. Said Norbert. When Sun goes down again There's A Moon! Uh oh... Said Mary Ahhhh! Run!!! Mary I'm Starting to Transfromation! Mary scream Daggett scream Arwoooo!!!

Arwooo!!! They Both Howled Run! Ahhhhhh!!! Dag trip over It Happens He Bit his leg Ahhhh My Leg!!! Daggett Screamed. Mary Run is she stop she need to help him Mary!!! Daggett Shouting Daggett are you right? Oh no! Your leg is Bleeding! Said Mary. Mary walks into the House Daggett Wipe his Blood You Ok Daggett We help u Wipe you with Blood. Said Mary Thank u Mary Said Daggett. Mary Kiss Daggett's Cheek and he Shocked Wow That Was Nuts!! Said Daggett. Mary Giggles. Wait Did I Kiss u? Said Mary.

Yes? Said Daggett. That What Happen to Kiss Dag so Romance. Then Happens They Crack The Door Oh No!!! Well,well well...

It is Dag Lovely Brother And Mary.... Leave us Alone! Said Norbert and Mary. Mary Is Happening! Said Daggett. Daggett? Said Mary. He Transfrom into WereBeaver he had Sharp Claws, sharp Feet, Sharp Tail and Some Dark Brown skin It Happens He Became... A WereBeaver! Daggett! Said Mary Arwoooooo!!!!! Said WereBeaver Daggett. Mary Scared and Run. Mary Went to WeareHouse and she Close the Door Mary take a Deep Breath and Clam... Mary so Scared Then Happens.. and Then I saw WereBeaver Daggett! and she bit her Oh no... Later Mary Final Transfrom Into Werewolf. Mary is so Happy! But Daggett and Mary she One of us Right Now.... and WereBeaver Norbert and Werewolf Lyrica Can Be One us Too... The End

[ragingphantom666]

Marvel Worlds project plan: Thunderbolts (Vol. 1)

This series is not an assured project. It is a concept that can still be changed or scrapped.

Synopsis

When the Avengers are unavailable, the Force Works program activates the Thunderbolts team. The Mad Thinker unleashes the Squadron Supreme upon the world. It is up to the Thunderbolts to stop them all by any means necessary. The world can only hope the team of villains has what it takes.

Characters

Alexis Sauvage/Agent Guillotine - A French espionage agent recruited by the Force Works program to be the handler of the Thunderbolts.

Melissa Gold/Songbird - A young woman formerly known as the villain Screaming Mimi. She is reformed and has taken on the more heroic name of "Songbird." When asked to join the Thunderbolts, she accepts on the condition that she would be considered for parole. Agent Guillotine made her his second-in-command.

John Walker/U.S. Agent - A military veteran, right-wing conservative, and nationalist. He sees himself as better than Steve Rogers and a true American. After he was arrested for murder and imprisoned. He works with the Thunderbolts just for the chance to work for the American government again.

Jack Monroe/Nomad - A vigilante who once worked with Jack Flag. He was imprisoned for being an accomplice to the murder of a congressman. He is recruited into the Thunderbolts with the promise of access to a shooting range. He butts heads with U.S. Agent over politics.

Ghost - An Inhuman with phasing powers and a recurring enemy of Iron Man. He joins the Thunderbolts with the promise of money.

Rana Philips/Aberration - A U.S. soldier who took a Gamma serum that made her into a strong scaly humanoid like the Abomination. She joined the Thunderbolts with the promise of being cured and serves as the muscle of the team.

Norbert Ebersol/Techno - A technological genius who caused problems for Iron Man. He is recruited into the Thunderbolts with the promise of internet access.

Erin Cicero/Axon - A U.S. soldier who volunteered for a project to splice her DNA with a sample from the villain Zzzax. She became an energy vampire, absorbing the electricity from the human brain.

Julianne Erwin/Mad Thinker - An evil mastermind and former A.R.M.O.R. scientist. She opens a portal to an alternate reality, bringing the Squadron Supreme from their home reality. She controls them through chips implanted in the back of their necks.

Zhib-Ran/Hyperion - In his reality, he was an alien sent by his people to bring order to humanity. To accomplish this, he formed the Squadron Supreme. He can fly, has super strength, is nearly invulnerable, and can shoot lasers from his eyes. His weakness is gamma radiation.

Kylie Richmond/Nighthawk - She is the brains of the Squadron Supreme and a brilliant strategist. Due to a traumatic past, she had a negative view of humanity. She is seen as the toughest member to defeat because she plans for everything.

Zarda Shelton/Power Princess - The last member of her utopian society after it was invaded by U.S. forces. For years she secretly lived among them until she joined the Squadron Supreme. She joined holds a wrathful and hateful view toward humanity.

Wyatt McDonald/The Archer - A normal human who faced nothing but hardships in his life. He joined the Squadron Supreme to make the world fairer.

Julian Sanders/Speed Demon - A scientist who gave himself superspeed to get revenge on the Quicksilver of his reality. He joins the Squadron Supreme despite having no negative view towards society.

Other Information

I wanted to make something better than Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. I hope I can.

This version of Hyperion is inspired by Omni-Man from the Invincible franchise, rather than Superman from DC Comics, because I'm a fan of Invincible and not Superman.