#now this is an absolutely beautiful sequence the tone created here is something else and made me reavalue

[valkaryah]

Ocean's Twelve (2004) dir. Steven Soderbergh

[steveroger]

Colouring rainbow gifs

The lovely @buckiecap​ and @djarsdin​​ requested a tutorial of some gifs from this TFATWS rainbow set.

My colouring process is kinda chaotic and it always depends on the gif itself. These three gifs will highlight the similarities and differences in how I colour my rainbow gifs.

You’ll need some understanding of basic gif making and adjustments. I use Photoshop 2021 but I imagine these processes will still work in other versions.

Some basic tips:

When doing rainbow sets, once I've got my base gif ready, I always make a hue/saturation layer on saturation +100 so I can see what colours I'm working with. I just keep it hidden so i can check how my colours are doing throughout the editing process.

Also something to stick at the back of your mind: you want your final gif to be as “monochromatic” as possible - make sure your final palette will be only black + shades of whatever colour you're targeting. This is not only to make the gif as colour-focussed as possible, but it also helps with saving your gif under 10mb. That saturation +100 layer I always keep hidden at the bottom of my gif so I can keep an eye on what colours are present.

It’s also helpful to understand how RGB and CMYK colours work and what to add/subtract when you want to bring out a certain colour. A good example of this is with Colour Balance:

You’ll notice the colours on the left are Cyan, Magenta and Yellow (CMYK), while the other side is Red, Green and Blue (RBG). So if you want more cyan in your image, you’d push the bar towards cyan, but then you’re compromising the reds. In Selective Colour adjustments, the panel is reversed.

This knowledge is absolutely necessary when you’re doing any adjustment, so keep this in the back of your mind as I work through the tutorial.

Green gif - Eli's door

So I start with my hue/saturation on saturation +100 to check what I’m working with here. This gif of Isaiah's grandson opening the door has green, yellow and red as the dominant colours, and I can see a bit of cyan on the right. I’ll keep that hue/saturation layer hidden as a reference.

Normally when I make gifs I start with a curve or levels layer to get any unwanted hues or create a more visible scene. But in this gif, I'm pretty happy with the colours, so I'm just using a simple curves adjustment, because I want to have whatever is behind the door as the ‘background’ and the door frame is the ‘foreground’, so only a slight adjustment is needed here.

Since the colours are already prominent, I'm going to make the green more visible and vibrant. I do this by using selective colour in the green colour to make the green stand out. When thinking of CMYK adjustments, you might think that Magenta -100 would work, as that normally pushes the greens, but I find that this makes things grainy and patchy looking, as you can see here:

Instead, I’m enhancing cyans and yellows, and only pushing the magenta back just a little bit towards green. I’m not sure why green specifically does this, but it’s useful to know this when you’re colouring.

With the yellows, I want to push those more as well, since the amount of yellow usually influences the green-ness of the gif.. I'm also going to max yellow too since that will also make the green pop, but I also have to be careful not to distort the skin colour too much. I also want to balance the skin tone with a little redness so he doesn’t look like he has jaundice (skin tone will be explored later in the gif process)

I've added another selective colour layer on top of that, only adjusting the greens just to make it pop a little more. Don’t be afraid to use more than one selective layer, this can really bring out vibrant colours if you use it right.

Just to get some more depth, I add a colour balance layer, again just subtly pushing the cyan and yellow up and not playing with the green too much. Then my usual last layers are with a vibrance and brightness/contrast - I’m usually quite generous with contrast so I can bring out the different shades and it makes things a little more vibrant too.

This next step is really important when colouring people with dark skin - you want to lower the redness from their skin so they don't look unnaturally orange, as you can see here:

There is a fantastic tutorial here about colouring dark skin tones and avoiding the orange-washed look, and I recommend all gif makers to take note! It's difficult especially when doing rainbow gifs, and it takes some practice. I do this with a hue/saturation layer, and specifically targeting red and yellow and reducing saturation. I might need to play with selective colour or colour balance to get it right. Luckily Eli doesn’t move around too much, so I can use a mask to adjust only his face. 

And that’s the end product! now just ignore me as I re-upload the green gif in my set so you don’t see such a horrible jaudiced skin tone sldkfjsldkf

Yellow gif - Karli vs Sam

I'm gonna be completely honest here - this gif was very tricky to do. I actually have about three different versions of it. At first I thought "this is the yellow gif so I'm only going to have yellow tones", and did selective colour to get rid of any traces of green AND red, because I didn't want any orange at all. It ended up looking quite dull:

I mean.. yeah it’s yellow........... but it’s kinda boring. So I deleted all adjustments and watched the raw gif, and noted the orange light contrasting with the pale light. The raw gif itself already had some beautiful lighting - why get rid of it? It depends on what you want, but I like my rainbow gifs to have a different colour there to contrast with the main colour. 

Starting off with a hue/saturation layer with saturation 100+, I can see there are clearly yellows and reds and a bit of green on the ceiling. 

I thought the contrast of the orange and pale lighting was too good to mess up so I started with that. My first layers are vibrance and brightness/contrast to exaggerate the silhouettes and bring out the colours that are already there. 

I added a channel mixer layer to narrow down the colours. I wanted to fill the white bits with yellow, and with channel mixer I’m able to manipulate colours into something else while still looking natural and blended. I won’t be doing too much colour manipulating here so the settings are very minimal. I don’t know how to explain it but it just takes a little fiddling to figure out what works for your gif. You’ll notice the white reflections on the ceiling are now a solid yellow colour:

Next is a colour balance layer. I'm basically trying to bring out the yellow out. This is really just trial and error. I added a bit of magenta to bring the depth of the orange colours in the darker shades:

Now for selective colour. I'm often adjusting all of these while hiding/showing the hue/saturation layer I have kept at the bottom. This time, I’m aiming to subtract the reds and bring it down to a warm orange, and I do that by bringing it towards cyan/away from red, and away from magenta/towards green. 

Then I max out the yellows so it becomes the most dominant colour. I've also manipulated the green to make sure it is excluded from the gif - again, checking with the hue/saturation layer at the bottom, while keeping my eye on the ceiling and other places where I’ve noticed green lurking about. I don’t want any unwanted shades ending up in the final colour table.

Finally, I finish with yet another vibrance and brightness/contrast layer, just because I like things bright and vibrant!

And there it is! The orange is still there and adds a contrast, but you can tell that the main colour is the yellow. This gif seems very straightforward but I assure you, it took me quite a while to get this one right. This gif was a joy to work on because Sam was so very extra in this fight sequence lolll

Pink gif - suspicious mechanical grenade? idk

While this gif may look simple, it actually took a couple of tries before I got the colouring right. You'll notice when the ball activates, there is a bright green light that highlights the gas released and it reflects on the chair legs and carpet.

At first I tried this with the above mentioned selective colour method - which I thought turned out okay but it didn't sit with me right. Notice the reflection of the blue light on the carpet - it definitely isn't blue and more like a green-orangey kinda colour, and it doesn't look natural at all.

So I re-started from the beginning and had a look at what I’m working with, starting with hue/saturation at saturation +100. I can see that the original gif has red and green as the dominant colours, with yellow bits blending the two on the carpet. That’s what I was having issues with the selective colour - so I’ll be doing it differently. 

Enter: channel mixer. I’m gonna be honest............. I have ZERO idea how the channel mixer really works! It’s all a matter of trial and error, but I’ll try and explain my process step by step. 

I normally start in the blue channel (again - no idea why, it just works for me). I start with the reds, and I know if I go over 0, it will push the reds towards cyan, which will get it more purple-y:

Ooooh looking good!!! then I want to push the greens towards magenta, so that needs to go over 0 as well:

Woohoo! It’s already starting to look good. The green light and the way it blends into the red/pinks have all been completely changed into the cyan hues, so there’s a perfect reflection you can see on the carpet! Yay! I had a fiddle with the green and red channels but nothing too drastic. Here are the settings:

Even with just the single adjustment, I was already pretty happy with it and only did a few touch ups: I added a selective colour layer to bring out a more pinky-purpley colour, then a levels layer to brighten things up. It might seem very backwards to add a brightening tool at the end, but I didn’t want to mess up the original colour shades because I liked having the dark shadows lit up by the ball’s light.

And that’s it! Only three adjustment layers, but it took some time to play with the different adjustments and what worked best. Channel mixer can be really intimidating but it works like a charm when you manage to figure it out.

the end!

Finally I have to give credit to some amazing content creators and their brilliant colouring tutorials that have made such a huge impact in the way I edit. Some brilliant guides include:

this colouring tutorial by @favreaus​​ 

this colouring tutorial by @inejz-ghafa​​ 

this colouring tutorial by @meliorn​​

​I hope this tutorial has been helpful! I’ve tried to explain myself as best I can, but let me know if you’d like any clarification or have any questions. I’m still learning how to do things, and honestly most times it’s just randomly clicking things until something works out! 

[oosteven-universe]

Doctor Who Comic: Missy #02

Doctor Who Comic: Missy #02 Titan Comics 2021 Written by Jody Houser Illustrated by Roberta Ingranata Coloured by Enrica Eren Angiolini Lettered by Comicraft’s Richard Starkings    Missy makes her daring escape from Stormcage with the help of a familiar face!    While I may not be currently watching Doctor Who I will say that this being my introduction to Missy, I am mad about her.  She’s utterly delightful and has this crazy uniqueness to her that just excites me.  There is something about this that just captures the readers creativity and imagination as it engages the readers mind the more we see Missy.  This is totally enthralling and the fact that Missy seems to be able to hold her own with The Master just goes to show how dangerous this woman has the potential to be.  The opening here is great as she’s with the 12th Doctor in his tardis and if I’m sure of anything she’s learning how it works.  Her ingenuity and determination impresses the heck out of me and I have to say the way that Jody is writing her makes her one of those sensational character finds that you want to see more of.     I like the way that this is being told.  The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is presented exceptionally well.  The character development is completely and utterly amazing!  How we see the dialogue, character interaction as well as how the they act and react to the situations and circumstances they encounter is sensational stuff.  I have never seen the kind of characterisation that are seeing with Missy anywhere else like we’re seeing it here. The pacing is superb and as it takes us through the pages revealing more and more of the story we’re pulled deeper and deeper into it.    I like how we see this being structured and how the layers within the story continue to grow and strengthen while new ones emerge.  It is nice to see a familiar face who buys into what Missy is selling, even more so considering who it is we see.  The way that we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story always forward is so well achieved.    The interiors here are delightful.  The linework that we see is well laid down and how the varying weights are being utilised to bring out the detail work is nice to see.  I do love seeing how backgrounds are being utilised and how they enhance the moments not to mention how they work within the composition of the panels to create the depth perception, sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the story.  The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels who a remarkably talented eye for storytelling.  The colour work is amazing here.  How we see the various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work shows such a beautiful eye for colour and it’s understanding of how to master it. ​    The Doctor Who universe is a very large and vast place to be and the myriad of era’s and characters make it such a fun playground to build your sandbox in.  That these ladies, and gentleman, have brought a character to comics for the first time and are absolutely delighting readers in every sense of word is phenomenal.  So smartly written and gorgeously illustrated I’m now going to look forward to seeing this creative team to doing a River story arc as well.  Heck just create and introduce a villainess for an earlier doctor that most folks have forgotten about.  The possibilities of what I want see these folks do is limitless and that’s thanks to the quality of work within these pages.

[joseshin]

CATS: 1998 vs 2019

Alright, going to do this already.  Note: these are my personal opinions.  Intelligent rebuttals will be considered and replied to, anything else may likely be ignored.  Also spoilers, and LONG.  So onward to a comparison of the 2019 movie against the 1998 filmed stage version.

Edit before posting: Apparently I never queued this.  I feel a little silly now

Plot/Framing:  The use of an abandoned Victoria to frame the introduction of the plot of the Jellicle Ball and Munkustrap acting as narrator/guide to Victoria is a decent idea, and one that worked fairly well.  Granted, when you take a book of poems and turn them into songs, it’s a little hard to create plot for a musical, but inspiration comes from everywhere.  Victoria is a pretty blank slate for directors to work with, so having her be the framing vehicle is a really good idea.  She’s the white cat, the dancer, doesn’t have any specific lines of dialogue or song attached originally.

I think that Munkustrap didn’t have enough presence in the movie.  He’s the primary narrator, he needs to be someone we want to pay attention to, not just because he’s the one who happens to be singing or speaking at the moment.  Maybe it’s a difference in how the two versions were filmed, and the focus was a little more on Victoria as our window into the world of Jellicle Cats, but I didn’t catch myself looking for him, or even noticing him in some shots, and you want your main source of information to be someone/thing you’re aware of, if only to see the mood of the scene.

“Jellicle Songs for Jellicle Cats” and “The Naming of Cats”: I thought the pacing was a touch fast, but I can understand trying to get all the material of the musical to fit into a film.  Same with the cut lines here, and it did flow very well for the most part.

Having each cat introduce themselves via their song, and thus their entry into the competition for the Jellicle Choice, is interesting, and it does give a reason for not doing either the songs “The Awefull Battle of the Pekes and the Pollicles,” or “Growltiger's Last Stand,” as they are the Jellicles entertaining each other in “play within a play” scenes.  It also gives Growltiger a reason to be a villian/henchman of Macavity’s, by using a snippet of his song during one of the capture sequences.

“The Old Gumbie Cat”: I was not happy.  Rebel Wilson is an amazing singer and actress, and I was very much looking forward to her interpretation of Jennyanydots.  What I saw was a petulant, whiny brat, instead of the example of Edwardian do-gooder.  Also, the mouse costumes were ridiculously bad, and the replication of the cockroaches was just showing off CGI work for no real effect.

“The Rum Tum Tugger”: No.  Why would you use this version, it’s a trainwreck?  And the music choice made no sense!  Jazz by itself would have been fine, but as far as the hip-hop/rap elements go?  Are we trying to make the timeframe screwy?  I miss the rockstar Tugger.

“Grizabella: The Glamour Cat”: Alright, Jennifer Hudson is amazing.  That said, I don’t think she made sense as a casting choice.  Grizabella is older, she’s past her prime and her singing should have more of that age and grit to it that shows her experience.  If you’re going to use someone younger, at least put some convincing age makeup on her, and choose a singer who has a huskier tone.

“Bustopher Jones”: James Cordon did a very good job to make this about more than a cat who eats his way through life, though I’m not sure about his scavenging through the trash.  He’s supposed to get huge amounts from the gentlemen’s clubs he attends, I would have thought the proper attitude of “the St. James’ Street cat” would not allow for his digging in the garbage.  And the sensitivity about his weight was stupid.

“Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer”: Perfect.  The mischief makers in their element, and Victoria having to deal with the fact that they can be not nice cats, it works.

“Old Deuteronomy”: Judi Dench was an interesting choice for the role, but it works.  There are some slight differences that come with having a matriarch for the Jellicle tribe instead of a patriarch, and they were handled with grace.  It also is a way to give Dame Dench a role in Cats that fits her experience, since her injury during the rehearsals for the original London opening meant her planned dual roles didn’t happen.

“The Jellicle Ball”: The dancing was nice, and I liked the way several other cats became more than faces in the crowd during it.

“Memory(Prelude)”: Again, I just don’t think Jennifer Hudson has the age for this to work.  Beautiful rendition though.

“Beautiful Ghosts”: A Victoria solo.  Huh.  It makes sense, given that Victoria is the primary viewpoint character in this version, for her to have something of her own.  And it’s a pretty little song.

“The Moments of Happiness”: It doesn’t have quite the impact it should, since the only real witness to Deuteronomy is Victoria here.  It works better when the entire clan is being given this lesson, even if most of them don’t understand it yet.

“Gus: The Theatre Cat”:  Ian McKellan, ladies and gents, in a role that suits his age and expertise?  I almost don’t miss Jellylorum.  Also the lead up to it, with him giving some words of wisdom to a fellow performer?  Yes, and yes!

“Skimbleshanks: The Railway Cat”: The vocals and dancing went very well, but I kept getting distracted by the costume.  What’s up with that facial hair and the suspenders?  Also, the way the scenery shifted during this song where it never had with any other Jellicle performance.  More questions than answers here.

“Macavity: The Mystery Cat”:  Hoo boy.  Where to begin?  Making Bombalurina one of Macavity’s cronies sits a little funny with me, but I understand the logistics behind the choice.  The one place though, the one place that lyrics should absolutely have been changed in the entire show and you MISSED IT!?!?!?!?  Idris Elba is not a ginger cat, there is no way to make him a ginger cat, and you didn’t try to make him a ginger cat, so why does the song define him as one?  You couldn’t try, I don’t know: “Macavity’s a midnight cat/ He’s very tall and trim”?? Instead, you call him ginger, and thin.  Ugh.  Also, as much as I love to watch Elba, a lot of the threat of Macavity in the musical comes from the fact that this is the first time he’s been openly on stage, and not just a shadowed figure hiding along the fringe.  Using Macavity often earlier in the movie, having him spirit away the other competitors for the Jellicle choice so obviously, damps down on that.  Shadows crank up anticipation better than overt threats most of the time.  The stage version creates a scarier Macavity, though I’m sorry to say it.

The use of catnip is kind of hilarious as a drug, though I’m a little sad there was no fight between Munkustrap and Macavity, and that the Jellicles all came under Macavity’s power so easily.  Little annoyed that Griddlebone and Bombalurina seem to just melt away after the song, but understanding not wanting to use T Swift for “lesser” plot type issues.

“Magical Mr. Mistoffelees”: Mistoffelees is adorable here. This show is as much him coming into his powers and abilities as it is introducing Victoria to what it means to be a Jellicle.  His attempts, as he tries again and again to bring back Deuteronomy, are laced with just enough desperation that he’s trying his hardest without making it overacting.  The final success, when he’s sure he’s failed utterly, is so very sweet.

“Memory”: Same critique as before.  The thing about Grizabella’s songs is that they are reminiscing.  Looking back on a more golden youth.  Crying for understanding that those without experience in the shades of gray life throws at you won’t have.  It’s significant that Victoria (or Jemima, depending on the rendition) reach out to her, but Deuteronomy is the only one who has no problem with her, even from the get-go.  You need someone with either a hell of a shitstorm life experience, or just plain experience to get that.

“The Journey to the Heavyside Layer”: I liked the transition of the broken chandelier into a balloon carrying away Grizabella.  Little confused at Macavity’s loss of power, but okay.

“The Ad-dressing of Cats”: Deuteronomy addressing the crowd certainly brings the magical nature of cats to the fore, leaving the audience wondering how long she and the rest of the Jellicles have been aware of our view into their world.  I liked how when she was describing the food gifts a person can give to their cat, all of those surrounding her got excited.

Costuming: Just bodysuits and CGI ears, tails, and whiskers do not turn people into convincing cats.  The giant wigs of the stage show, while an 80′s throwback to the extreme, also change the profile of the face to better mimic a feline skull.  I get it, having that poof would have been annoying with having to deal with the CGI ears, having to compensate for every fur twitch, but still!  Also, nobody’s fur had any significant fluff amount to it whatsoever, it was all extra elements, like the coats and other accessories, but you could have used the legwarmers and armwarmers of the stage show give a better illusion of volume to fur.  Having everyone be sleek shorthairs is boring.  To my mind, the makeup was not convincing enough either.

Final thoughts: The movie version was okay, casting choices were decent for the most part, but I have to say that all together, I prefer the 1998 version.  It could also be that the actors for the filmed stage version had been doing these roles for some time and it shows, especially in movements.  Don’t get me wrong, the movie actors are good at their jobs, but there’s a difference in living a role for months or perhaps years during a stage run, tweaking things each performance, research and changing your approach, and making a movie, trying things only to have to move on to the next shot.

[venus-is-in-bloom]

[steven universe] the false kind of love: Spinel and the Diamonds

Spinel is involved in four of the Steven Universe movie’s musical numbers. She sings in three of them, and stars in two: Other Friends and Drift Away. But although the last two of those both centre around Spinel as a character, they could hardly be more different in tone.

In the Other Friends sequence, Spinel is fierce, angry, and dangerous; but in the Drift Away sequence, her voice is sad, longing, and helpless. As far as stories go, it’s pretty common for a villain’s tragic backstory to contrast in tone with their present actions—to seem almost at odds with who they seem to be, even as it explains how they got here. But I find this contrast especially remarkable in Spinel, because one of the most important things about her in the movie is the intensity of her anger. Everything she does, and everything people do to her, is because she is angry. And yet in Drift Away, when she talks about the person responsible for hurting her—Pink Diamond—there’s hardly any sign of that anger. It’s only when her story ends that the fire in her voice ignites again.

I think this contradiction holds the key to Spinel’s motivations. Although her fury is depicted as petty and childish—a feeling she only has to learn to suppress, a problem that’s solved as soon as she stops being mad—the story of her life points to something different, something that better explains her anger, and why it seems to define her so completely.

We know that, in Homeworld’s old social system, each Gem was given a particular task, one that was decided for them almost from the moment they were born. If they failed to do as they were supposed to—or did anything against the norms of their role, such as fusing with a different gem, or joining a rebellion—they would be severely punished. This is how it was for Ruby and Sapphire, for Bismuth and Pearl, for Peridot and Jasper. So we can assume that Spinel’s situation was similar—that she was assigned to be Pink Diamond’s best friend and playmate from the moment she came into existence, and wasn’t given the option to change her mind or do anything else.

One might think of this as a privilege. She was born in servitude to a Diamond, and therefore had the fortune of enjoying luxuries such as the Garden. But the task she had been set was tremendously difficult and complicated: despite being created as an entertainer and nothing more, she had the duty of keeping Pink Diamond happy, and being at her beck and call no matter what.

At the time, Pink Diamond was immature, mercurial, and prone to tantrums. Not only that, she was also at odds with her own family, and repeatedly upset by the way they treated her—something no amount of games and frivolity could fix. All this would have made Spinel’s task positively herculean. Her place in Pink Diamond’s life was small, yet she was completely responsible for how Pink Diamond felt. Every shout of anger, every sneer of disgust and contempt, every dismissive wave and sigh of resentment, would have been a mark of Spinel’s failure: not just a blow against her self-esteem, but against her actual value in Homeworld society—a step closer to being worthless, to being cast away.

What’s more, if Pink Diamond’s final cruel act against Spinel is anything to go by, she wasn’t in any way above tormenting and punishing Spinel just for being an annoyance—despite knowing that Spinel’s life depended on her approval.

In short, Spinel’s entire existence, from the moment she was born up until the moment the movie begins, has been about serving Pink Diamond, catering to her whims, and making her happy no matter what.

From what we see of Spinel, she throws herself entirely into her labour. She never frowns, complains, or shows any negative emotion around Pink at all. And when Pink Diamond asks her to stand, very still, in the same spot, until such time as she returns, she does so—perfectly and obediently—for six thousand years.

This is no surprise, of course. In the context of Spinel’s servitude, Pink Diamond’s words to her are not a request but a direct order. Spinel is Pink Diamond’s playmate, and what kind of playmate would she be if she ever said “no” to a game, or broke the rules? To disobey is to violate the contract that governs her life. So she stands there through her weariness, so absolutely still that roots grow around her legs, accumulating dirt, scratches, and chips. She’s not happy! She’s not having fun! Quite the opposite—she’s clearly miserable in her condition, and yet she doesn’t even shake her leg, or wipe the dirt off her shoulder, or sit down. She doesn’t think of herself at all—only whether she’s “doing it right”.

There’s something I strongly believe is relevant: People do not exist to be other people’s servants. And this goes for Gems too—time and time again throughout the series we see the stories of escaped Gems, how they were trapped, unhappy, often fearful in their roles—how as soon as they were given the opportunity, they decided to do something with their lives drastically different from their assigned purpose. It isn’t normal to wait like this, to suffer like this, all for the sake of someone else’s entertainment. Spinel waits for Pink Diamond, suffers for Pink Diamond, thinks only of Pink Diamond, not because she chose it, but because she has no other choice, because she was raised in a society where this is her only purpose and the only way for her to live.

In other words, the relationship between Pink Diamond and Spinel isn’t just a bad friendship between equals. It isn’t even a bad relationship between, say, a worker and her boss. It is, in plain terms, a slaveowner’s cruel treatment of a slave who’s been forced to serve her since she was born.

The movie never quite acknowledges this out loud. Instead it calls Spinel and Pink Diamond “friends”. And yet, this is the obvious interpretation of the narrative that is shown. Throughout Drift Away, the sequence leading up to it, and all that follows, we see that even now, Spinel is still utterly devoted to Pink Diamond. She still doesn’t realise there’s any other way to be. At the climax of the movie, she says to Steven:

“I used to just be not good enough—just not good enough for Pink!”

and

“Why do I wanna hurt you so bad? I’m supposed to be a friend! I just wanna be a friend...”

The first quote shows how Spinel understands her situation—that all the cruelty she has suffered, and all the anger and resentment she feels, is her own fault for not being “good enough” at her task. She believes that the reason Pink Diamond made her suffer isn’t that Pink Diamond was a cruel person who had absolute power over her life, but that she failed in her task, and so she was a failure of a person, and she deserved whatever she got.

The second quote shows that even at this point, the deepest, truest wish Spinel can think of is to get another chance to prove her worth—to serve someone again, to give up all thoughts of her own happiness and devote herself to another person, to maybe, just for a moment, earn a smile or a laugh. It hasn’t occurred to Spinel that freedom is an option, or that she doesn’t have to be anyone’s slave to have worth as a person, or that Pink Diamond did anything wrong to her. She never realises any of this—no one ever tells her.

So together, these two quotes set up the miserable, ironic resolution of Spinel’s character arc.

(Pink Diamond, of course, shows no matching concern for how Spinel feels, nor any indication that she remembers her at all. The movie implies that she may have had access to the Garden warp pad, or at least its communicator, all along from Earth—yet she never returned, and never sent a message.)

It follows from all this, naturally, that Spinel doesn’t want to direct her anger at Pink Diamond, where it truly belongs. Spinel still believes everything that happened is her fault, and that if anything, it’s Pink Diamond who should blame her for being a bad playmate. And yet, Spinel is angry. At the beginning of the movie, when Steven transmits his message, when Spinel finally sees that she never mattered to Pink Diamond—or to anyone else—she reacts with such rage that she breaks out of the fetters that have governed her life (even though, in her worldview, this dooms herself in the process) and heads for Earth, where Pink Diamond went.

It’s important to note that when Spinel shows up for the Other Friends scene, it’s only been a few days, maybe just a few hours, since she left the Garden—since she escaped the abuse, exploitation, isolation, and neglect that has constituted her whole life. At this point, she hasn’t even had a chance to calm down. She’s suffering an emotional crisis of terrible proportions. The fragile remains of her life have been utterly destroyed. She has nothing left in the world. She isn’t in a reasoning state—there is nothing to reason about, since she has nothing and is nothing. All she has is anger, an emotion she’s never allowed herself to feel before. And she doesn’t know what to do with this overwhelming anger—she has no idea how to acknowledge it, validate it, or work through it in a healthy way. Even if she did, this is the moment of her life when she’s most volatile and vulnerable, when it’s hardest to put things in perspective, when she needs help the most. She needs safety, reassurance, and something that can at least point her on the path to healing—and she doesn’t get any of those, in the end.

Because she cannot be angry at Pink Diamond, she instead tries to find something else to blame. The things that replaced her in Pink Diamond’s eyes are first on that list: Steven, the Crystal Gems, the Earth itself. She decides that she wants to hurt them, to damage them as she has been damaged. She cannot say this, but she wants some way to make them care about her.

(There is a scene where Garnet regains her memories, fights off Spinel, and sings the beautiful True Kinda Love. During this scene, Spinel’s reaction to the sight of the Crystal Gems, finally reunited, is one of the most telling in the movie: disbelief, fear, shame. She has spent her life isolated, interacting only with Pink Diamond—this is, perhaps, her first time seeing love between equals, love that makes people happy simply because they get to be with each other. She sees love that is grateful, unconditional, unbreakable, powerful.

This love defeats her. It destroys her. It represents everything that Pink Diamond left her for. She doesn’t think of it—she cannot think of it—as something which she, too, might experience one day, because her entire life has taught her that she isn’t good enough to ever deserve love. In fact, at this very moment, she is an obstacle that true love will sweep aside and shortly forget about. She is unloved, unloveable, and so it makes perfect sense that Pink Diamond would have thrown her away in order to join these people who are full of love. Spinel is worth nothing to them, not even as entertainment. They will never care about her. She’s a thorn in their side, and they just want her gone.

Anger and shame is the only way she can respond—and after her anger dies down, only shame is left.)

Of course, in lashing out like this, it’s very strange that Spinel achieves anything more than fruitlessly flailing at the Gems for a few minutes before running out of steam or getting poofed. Where did she get a mysterious Injector that an Era 2 engineer like Peridot is helpless to power down, and enough poison to kill a planet? How did she beat three seasoned warriors in a fair fight, having never raised a finger against anyone before the moment that fight began? If things hadn’t gone that way, we would probably have a very different movie.

But such is the narrative we’re given—which is unfortunate, because Spinel in the movie is set up as such an enormous threat that it ends up eclipsing the truth of her story, rather than highlighting it. Apart from one or two lines at the end of the Drift Away sequence, everything Steven says is focused on mollifying her, calming her down, and getting her to deescalate so that she won’t destroy the entire planet. Meanwhile, all the other Gems are busy trying to save people from the Injector’s poison—so there’s no room to actually address her problems in the story.

She is a victim of a monstrous system, in desperate need of help and understanding. But she is instead cast as a monster herself. She doesn’t get any attention for being hurt: people only care about her because she might hurt someone else.

Perhaps the greatest injustice to Spinel is that she isn’t given any kind of resolution for her situation. Instead, Steven’s words confirm the harmful beliefs she holds about herself. Her feelings are her own fault, and her suffering is her own fault. The only chance she has to redeem herself is to go back into servitude, to be a playmate and an entertainer, and to carefully soothe, cheer, and cajole people into tolerating her company—knowing that the love she will therefore win is false and conditional: knowing that if she fails, if they ever get tired of her, she will be left in the dust without a second thought, and she will deserve it.

Poetically, her new owners are Diamonds once again. In order to make them laugh, she makes a joke that belittles her own trauma, and stands on her head. Blue Diamond thinks it’s cute. Yellow Diamond thinks it’s hilarious. Neither of them consider her feelings, or what she might have gone through. Once again, she’s no longer a person—just a toy that reminds them of Pink.

This will be the rest of her life.

[hey-have-you-heard]

Hey have you heard these 50 songs from 2019

I really enjoyed this last year so going to give it another go for ‘19. I put quite a lot of thought into what actually a ‘song of the year’ for me when I was first constructing and then heavily editing the playlist that came to be my Top 50 of 2019. I think the most important thing is that above all it’s a track that I’m glad exists, sometimes this is because of the songwriting or composition, sometimes the performance, sometimes the lyrical importance and sometimes just because it sparks joy.

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6bFJOjL8b8Zc2s5r1oJbsk?si=UJdqSXOTR3SQ8D3IwcmV2g

Explanations for each tracks inclusion below the fold…

100 gecs - 800db cloud 100 gecs channel a mix of Crystal Castles and Sleigh Bells with a Death Grips level appreciation for noise. It’s an absolute rush and that outro is just absurd.

Natalie Evans - Always Be Natalie Evans soft melody and sing song vocals are sublimely sweet on this heartfelt track of lost love, longing and nostalgia.

Petrol Girls - Big Mouth “If you fight back or disagree you’re the one with the fucking problem” this hits home, hard. Big Mouth is a rallying cry to speak out against oppression and discrimination, to raise you’re voice and be heard, not to be controlled.

Charli XCX ft. Lizzo - Blame it on your Love Charli has a midas touch when it comes to pop, combine that with Lizzo who has just about been the most fun thing in music this year and you’ve got a 10/10 banger.

Poppy - BLOODMONEY Poppy’s music just keeps going further down the rabbit hole. Originally playing with blending elements of nu-metal with bubblegum pop, she now seems to have transcended genre altogether to create whatever BLOODMONEY is, it’s absolutely ridiculous and I love it.

Body Hound - Bloom Get on that GROOVE! So proggy it hurts, this track from Body Hound is a technical wonderland of metamorphosing rhythms, gargantuan riffs, and just the tastiest of chord progressions.

Can the Sub_Bass speak - Algiers Word of warning, this is not an easy listen. A freefall tumble through genre and tone accompanies a stream of consciousness monologue full of racism, prejudice and political and artistic critique.

Elohim - Buckets Buckets is an onslaught of trap influences, emotional outbursts and aggressive distortion. I’m a big fan of this sound.

VUKOVI - C.L.A.U.D.I.A I know very little about VUKOVI as a band, but that riff is absolutely massive and this track has been a constant throughout my year on that basis alone.

Show Me The Body - Camp Orchestra Apparently more hardcore bands should use Banjos, because this is a damn good sound. Slowly building from a single bass line this track builds into a powerful demolishing force.

clipping. - Club Down Having thoroughly proven themselves able to do afro-futurist scifi on the Hugo nominated Splendor and Misery, clipping. now turn their considerable talents to horror core and unsurprisingly nail it. Daveed’s flows are tight as ever as he brings to life a decaying city backed by tortured screams.

Dream Nails - Corporate Realness YOU ARE NOT YOUR JOB. WORK IS NOT YOUR LIFE. YOU ARE NOT WHAT YOU MUST DO IN ORDER TO SURVIVE. Dream Nails are great and exactly what we need right now.

ControlTop - Covert Contracts This track positively bristles with an anxious energy. A fitting sound for the subject of the information overload we find ourselves locked into everyday.

Cherry Glazerr - Daddi There’s an icy coolness to ‘Daddi’, a disconnected sarcasm that falls away to reveal the anger and torment in the chorus, it’s a masterful bit of emotional storytelling through musical tone.

The Physics House Band - Death Sequence I Listening to Physics House latest release, the Death Sequence EP feels like a physical journey. This opener is a perfect example of this, as you’re plunged straight into a heady and disorienting mix of rhythms and counter-melody’s, the Sax guiding you through the turbulence until you land in a placid midsection, before that bass riff drags you forward through rhythmic breakdowns into an absolutely absurd brain melting saxophony and then it just keeps on going from there…

Witching Waves - Disintegration I saw WW back in the early summer, they were a bassist down so it was just a guitar and drums duo. They started with this track and it was one of the most pure punk things I’ve experienced, drummer/vocalist Emma Wigham bashing the absolute shit out of her kit . A great no-nonsense lo-fi banger.

Lingua Ignota - DO YOU DOUBT ME TRAITOR Another, not particularly easy listen here. DO YOU DOUBT ME TRAITOR is a dark and angry brooding track, building in intensity to release the primal rage, fear and horror of the abused. Its deeply chilling and instantly arresting. This track and the entire CALIGULA album stands as an absolute must listen.

Carly Rae Jepsen ft. Electric Guest - Feels Right I love the instrumentation on this one, those chunky piano chords and screaming guitar lift the track out and make it the highlight of an already great album to me.

Orla Gartland - Figure it out Dialing back the intensity slightly, Orla chronicles the frustrations of having to deal with someone in your life who you’re done with. The choruses burst forth in beautifully fuzzy explosions of noise. That vocal flair at the start of the final chorus is chef kiss.

Battles - Fort Greene Park Battles are at their best when they keep things simple. This is evident on 2019′s Juicy B Crypts which features some incredibly cluttered moments, but this just makes Fort Greene Park stand out all the more. A delightfully spacious piece of math rock, from some of the best in the business.

Dogleg - Fox Boy howdy, do I love me some midwest emo. Catharsis in musical form, it just makes me want to mosh my troubles away like I’m 16 again.

Tørsö - Grab A Shovel Tørsö go hard, I can appreciate that. An absolutely brutal track about the destructive power of depression and self-loathing.

“Pijn & Conjurer playing Curse These Metal Hands” - High Spirits “We were like, are we Pijn and Conjurer, or are we Curse These Metal Hands? I think we’ve settled with ‘we are Pijn and Conjurer playing Curse These Metal Hands’ …whatever that means!“ what it means is one of the most joyously triumphant pieces of metal music I’ve ever heard. Some of the guitar lines in this absolutely soar.

Lizzo - Juice Lizzo has won 2019, her message of self love, acceptance and body positivity has won her both critical and cultural acclaim and permeates her music in a way that makes it impossible to not love.

COLOSSAL SQUID, AK Patterson - Kick Punch Colossal Squid is the name given to Three Trapped Tigers drummer, Adam Betts’ experimental project. After a solo album of percussive wizardry Betts has now teamed with vocalist AK Patterson to give us something else entirely.

Evan Greer - Liberty Is A Statue Evan Greer uses the a folk punk sound to deliver an essay on the damaging influences of cis-normativity and social inequality. Of course I like this one.

Taylor Swift - Lover I wasn’t on board with this song for a fair while, but then I kept listening to it and kept coming back to it because of a roughly 50 second section which ties the track and the whole album together. Yeah, this is on here purely for the bridge, which is just beautiful.

Dodie - Monster Monster is an incredibly well written and delivered study on how perception changes with resentment and it makes me cry.

The Y Axes - Moon Moon is a delightfully dreamy piece of pop that glitters with infectious melodies, it’s lyrics a blissful embracing of cosmic nihilism, need I say more?

Ezra Furman - My Teeth Hurt My teeth hurt is a song about tooth ache, about that pain you carry with you everywhere and can’t get rid of, that ruins your days and and is one hell of a mood. Yeah it’s about gender dysphoria.

Nervus - No Nations Speaking of things being a mood, this track hits the nail squarely on the head.

Cultdreams - Not My Generation "Everyone ignores me Unless I’m on a stage talking Because they put me on a pedestal And pretend I’m just performing“ Lucinda Livingstone calls out the misogyny in our culture with a singular ferocity.

Lil Nas X - Old Town Road If there’s one song that’s dominated 2019 this is it right here. Who ever had the idea of putting that NIN Ghosts sample to a trap beat and cowboying over the top of it is an absolute genius.

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - Planet B It’s impossible to predict where King Gizzard’s sonic influences are going to take them next I doubt even they know half the time. Whatever they turn their hand to though they do it as if they mastered the sound decades ago Planet B is an all out thrash track with a strong environmental message.

Kesha - Rich, White, Straight Men Okay, I’m about to compare Kesha to John Lennon here but HEAR ME OUT… As ‘Imagine’ asked us to consider a world without conflict or capitalism, Kesha now posits that we should tear up our conceptions of our society based on its formation by a privileged group and imagine what kind of utopia could be built if we gave the underprivileged and minority groups a say.

Allie X - Rings A Bell The chorus here sounds like it could have been off Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories, and I’m all about that sound. Combined with Allie X’s dreamlike vocals make this a certified bop.

Poly-Math - Sensors in Everything Sensors in Everything is a beast of a track spanning over 14 minutes of absurdly dense prog. Having recently enlisted keyboardist Josh Gesner. Polymath make use of the new sounds and textures available to them, at times imitating a sort of Hammond sound not unlike John Lord to the chaotic maelstrom of noise.

Calva Louise - Sleeper Big hooks on this one. Sleeper has a confident swagger to it’s sound which stands apart for the bands previous work. It’s an absolutely huge track.

Slipknot - Solway Firth Slipknot didn’t disappoint after the tease of 2018′s “All Out Life”, following up with an album which blended old and new aspects of their sound to create one of their best to date. Solway Firth is a perfect example of this matching the punishing heaviness of Iowa with the melody driven sound of All Hope Is Gone.

Clt Drp - Speak To My Seeing Clt Drp perform live was one of my highlights of the year. The filthy guitar tones, powerhouse vocals tight as heck drumming and the _grooves. _Absolutely like nothing else I’ve seen. Just an incredible band that deserve so much more recognition.

Black Country, New Road - Sunglasses Black Country, New Road released two tracks this year and now I just want more. Dense wordy lyricism plays off against ever evolving instrumentation to present a raw cut of emotional storytelling.

Her Name Is Calla - Swan Her Name Is Calla are a band that have always been on the edge of my radar, my Dad is very fond of them and saw them live a couple of years ago, but never went back to relisten to any of their stuff, then they started an album with this. I was sold instantly.

black midi - Talking Heads Talking Heads (the band) are an obvious inspiration on this track. Both David Byrne’s vocal style and the Talking Heads penchant for sharp angular melodies are on show here. But given an extra ounce of chaos through Black Midi’s delivery.

Amanda Palmer - The Ride The ride is ten minutes of bundling up all your fears and anxieties of where we are and where we’re going and just, accepting them as part of the ride. Written off the back of a prompt from Amanda asking her fans what they were afraid of right now.

Kim Petras - There Will Be Blood Okay, let’s have some out of season spookiness. Love the squelchy synths on this, there’s a huge amount of energy on this track and with it’s commitment to the horror conceit it makes for a super fun bop.

Kate Nash - Trash Kate Nash’s sound is like bathing pure nostalgia,here she spins the toxic-relationship narrative central to her work to deliver a bigger story about humanity’s, quite literally toxic relationship to our planet.

American Football & Hayley Williams - Uncomfortably Numb The other side of the “midwest emo” coin. A melancholic song built on a soft bed of arpeggiated chords and clean harmonics, Uncomfortably Numb is a heartbreaking track of losing everything and of cycles persisting thorugh generations. Employing the clever metatextual trick of referencing Pink Floyd’s comfortably Numb to mirror the generational similarities.

Glenn Branca - Velvet and Pearls Disclaimer, Glenn Branca was a musical hero of mine, his approach to music and composition being solely responsible for influence a vast number of my favourite bands. Released posthumously, Velvet and Pearls is taken from a live performance by Branca’s ensemble and perfectly captures the sense of sonic disorientation, conjuring aural illusions through an assault of intricately crafted noise. It’s an exhilarating piece that should be played as loud as humanly possible.

Brutus - War The raw emotional strength of Stefanie Manneart’s vocals instantly made me pay attention when I first heard this track. Then the song exploded into a barrage of riffs and breakneck drumming.

Valiant Vermin - Warm Coke Another slice of throwback pop, Valiant Vermin proved with “Online Lover” how much of an ear she has for pop and has proven it once again with Warm Coke. Is a real good bop.

———

Welp there it is, 50(+1) songs, I had to limit myself to one track per artist in the main 50 because according to Spotify I listened to [checks notes] 1082 new artists this year. There are a small handful of tracks I wanted to highlight from the same artists though as they offer something quite different to the tracks in the playlists, so here they are quickly with 3 word descriptions.

Petrol Girls - Skye (dead dog, sad) Amanda Palmer - Voicemail for Jill (Talk about abortion) Ezra Furman - I Wanna be Your Girlfriend (Trans Torch Song) Battles ft Jon Anderson & Prairie WWWW - Sugar Foot (Batshit Prog Insanity) Poppy - Choke (Dark Minimalist Pop) Show Me The Body - Forks and Knives (Anxious nightmare punk) Lingua Ignota - CALIGULA (the whole album.)

———

Closing Statement

Cultdreams - Statement

There has been a shadow over the entertainment industry the latter half of this decade. Whether film, music, TV or video games, the late 2010′s are filled with stories of people coming forward to bravely tell their stories about being abused and manipulated by men in positions of power. The #metoo movement as it’s come to be known has been a powerful force in giving marginalised people a voice and the ability to call out oppressors and in starting the groundwork to root out the misogyny in the seats of power, but this is a battle far from won.

While there are thousands of stories out there I want to focus on one in particular.

In 2016 a number of women spoke out about various forms of abuse by a well-known musician in the punk scene. It’s now over three years later and this group of women are in the midst of a long fought claim of defamation from this musician. If this case goes through it sets a precedent for silencing marginalised voices in the industry. They have been fighting for so long and with no legal aid available for the case they have had to finance their defense from their own pockets.

This is where Solidarity Not Silence comes in. Solidarity not silence is a crowdfunding effort to help take the case to trial without the women bankrupting themselves entirely so that they don’t have to give in to this mans demands.  You can read more about Solidarity not Silence and make a donation (if you feel so inclined) here: https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/solidaritynotsilence/

You can also follow them on twitter here https://twitter.com/solnotsilence

[rachusdwarfus]

fan review of the “thank u, next” album

these are all just my own opinions! i’m not a professional or a critic, just putting my thoughts out there about this new project.

imagine: a beautiful start to the album. i still find it a little difficult to decipher lyrically, but it is a touching track. the last part where the piano is introduced is really where it gets interesting for me—the “can you imagine it” lines in repetition building to the whistle tones, and the layered voices after it just kill me. you get a real sense of her sadness in this final part of the track and it truly completes it for me. 8/10

needy: a stunning stunning stunning track. so simple yet elegant, so lyrically vulnerable. the melody is such a wonderful journey, it’s sad and beautiful on the edge of haunting. i only wish it were longer. 9/10

NASA: i actually really liked this song. people seem to have mixed opinions but i personally really enjoyed this take on a relationship, and it was a breath of fresh air to hear ariana demanding space from a man rather than the traditional generic love song style. the bridge is stunning and beautiful, the vocals flow up and down effortlessly and it’s just a joy to listen to. 8/10

bloodline: i was confused when first listening to this song, but it has since grown on me a little. it isn’t among my favourites on the track list, but it is an interesting artistic choice that fascinates me—the standard dating stereotypes being flipped in reverse as the woman in the relationship calls for less of a commitment as she is just looking to have baser needs satisfied. it is at some level, empowering (at least more empowering than the “boy you love how sexy i am and how much pleasure i bring you this is feminist i swear” god is a woman). 7/10

fake smile: not a stand out track for me—it fades a little into the background compared with the other songs. but it’s a sweet song with a powerful message—i enjoy the chosen sample, and i always adore when ariana is honest in her music. she has made several songs about fame, and to be honest i appreciate them all. i listen to this song and root for her, and i encourage her to not slap on a fake smile and be as outwardly honest as possible. 6/10

bad idea: this track confuses me a little. it’s hard for me to decipher what it’s about, and i struggle with the melody a little so it isn’t my favourite. i do however love the orchestral sequence towards the end—i just can’t stop listening to it. 6/10

makeup: a bop more than anything else—the lyrics are the least self aware on the album, but melodically it goes off. it has such an interesting warbled electronic instrumental, and i love that this is something i’ve never heard before. 6/10

ghostin: the best track on the album. not only that, but for me, this song has dethroned get well soon, which previously held the title of the best song in ariana’s entire discography. the raw emotional honestly is intensely powerful, it almost breaks your heart. to hear her so open and destroyed and laid bare is the most intoxicating feeling—the lyrics explore such difficult feelings and i applaud her for creating such a beautiful piece of art. sonically, it is also a masterpiece. the rising strings just keep lifting and lifting the listener as the track builds, and it just overwhelms you with emotion. the absolute BEST song ariana has ever made. 10/10

in my head: i really adore this song. it was a grower for me, but i thought that doug’s voicemail at the beginning really added to the vulnerability of it all, and the eery unsure melody is captivating. the chorus is addictive, and the lyrics explore a darker side of her relationships that i have been aching for for so many years. 9/10

7 rings: i have complicated feelings toward this song. i have previously stated my issues with the song’s core message so i won’t touch that here, but sonically it’s truly a fun song to listen to. i don’t feel that it emotionally pairs well with the other tracks, but a good song to dance to nonetheless. 4/10

thank u, next: i have always loved and still love this track, and am still not tired of listening to it. it’s more lyrically simple than the other songs on the album but it was such a statement song to lead the album. the naming of her exes is shocking and powerful, and her message of acceptance and gratitude is so empowering and gracious. the bouncy and fun melody is addictive, and i’ve truly never heard anything like it. 9/10

break up with your girlfriend, i’m bored: a slightly lackluster song to end a very strong album on. it’s not bad to listen to, and it’s pretty clear that the theme of the song is more comical than serious, but like with 7 rings, it doesn’t exactly feel in keeping with the themes of the rest of the album. 4/10

OVERALL:

this album is categorically the best project that ariana has ever released. i’m truly in awe at the increase in writing quality from her previous albums. it is the most in touch with her emotions that her music has ever been, and this is truly what makes it great. who knew that it took ariana being single to make her best music? if you compare the writing of even the worst lyrics on this album, it is still leagues better than the writing standard from previous albums.

my main issue with sweetener was that it was a project in response to tragedy, but it was insisting on positivity with its fingers in its ears. sweetener was almost scared of touching on anything darker, whereas thank u next has no fear. this album doesn’t waste it’s time with generic love songs about nothing in particular, and is a coherent combination of songs that explore complex and deeply personal themes. my other issue with sweetener was the fact that it was promised to be introspective and give us an insight into her ‘bleeding heart’, but it didn’t feel personal at all. the total opposite is true for this album, as her soul is really laid bare. ariana truly comes into her own on this album, and now that i know what she’s capable of i’m looking forward to much more like this in the future.

[dcarevu]

The Batman the Animated Series Theme Song

Animated tv shows that went on throughout the 80’s and early 90’s were known for having a really great theme song and animated intro to go with it, but rarely did this quality remain once the song ended. Look up “crazy stupid pranks h3” on Youtube sometime to get what could be considered a hilarious parody of this, even though he was actually parodying something completely different in this video. But back then, budgets were tight, and more money was spent on the theme song to get people hooked in. A lot of the time with theme songs, it wasn’t only the animation quality taking a dip once the episode started. Sometimes the tone would change as well. One example of this (although from later in the 90’s) is Pokémon, at least when it comes to the English dub. This is a masterpiece of an intro, but when the show starts, the tone is vastly different, focusing more on comedy a lot of the time (old Pokémon has more of a comedic focus than I feel a lot of people actually remember). Batman was one of the shows that changed the game in this aspect (and in many other aspects as well), at least when it came to action shows. This was no Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The show was every bit as dark, brooding, and menacing as the intro was, and there was no deception when it came to advertising what you were about to watch. Now, the intro did obviously have a pretty damn good budget. It looks beautiful, and TMS were the ones that animated it, a top-notch studio known for some great work on this show and others. So to get around a major quality/tone shift, the intro was heavily stylized, as was the show. It was a representation of what you were about to watch as opposed to a supposed sneak preview. I think anyone could see the opening sequence and automatically assume that the episode following wouldn’t have as much ambiguity. It was almost like a super stylized movie poster, doing its job of getting you excited, but never letting you down. I am very overdue on talking about all of this, so I figured it would be better late than never to go through this sequence and analyze it a little bit, just for fun. I probably should have done this before the first episode!

Right away we start by actually integrating the Warner Brothers logo. This could have been really cheesy, but that chilling score mixed with seeing it immediately makes me feel like I’m watching a Batman film rather than a TV show aimed at children. The logo shifts to a police blimp, something made up for the show, and we immediately get a sense of the Batman TAS world which we are about to dive into.

Some really nice background work that we get to pan through. This serves as our establishing shot, showing us as much as it can in the time provided of where our Batman resides and looms. It’s like a gargoyle’s playground, and already we can tell that this isn’t your average Saturday morning cheeseball.

Two sinister figures step into the shot. Notice the lack of any real texture or line work. This leaves so much up to the imagination and further sets up the tone. The production company behind the show has stated that when the intro was initially animated, it was done in full detail, but it was sent back and redone because they wanted this vague, mysterious aesthetic. I’d absolutely love to see the initial version, but I am more than happy with what actually became the sequence.

The music creates some tension, and then it is relieved by an explosion that cuts through the darkness. It almost makes you jump right out of your seat. Imagine seeing this in a movie theater. This scene also confirms your suspicions about the two figures. Their intentions cannot be good.

Wow, the music chugs right along here, almost taking your heartbeat for a ride along with it. Then we get a shot from behind the Batmobile. It blasts to life, and we see one red section amongst all the black colors. It’s almost like Batman’s version of the bank-explosion, and equally as threatening to the men he’s about to hunt down.

There it is. I’d love to know what show people thought this was if they happened to flip to Fox right as this show appeared. Would they have known it was Batman immediately? The Tim Burton movie had been out for a bit at this point, so I would assume that many did.

And here we see the villain’s parallel situation, rushing to the same spot that Batman is, little do they know. We barely see any background details, leaving all of the focus to the darting feet and gaining police car.

Boy, they sure do make it up that building quickly. Everyone loves to point this out, and I’ll admit that it’s something I’ve always noticed. But it’s also something that you don’t dwell on because, well, who cares. We see a dead end, and know there’s only so much further they can run until they become prey to the knight. We also see a really cool red skyline, which honestly wasn’t common to see in Batman the Animated Series until much later after the resurgence (TNBA). I’ve been kinda unsure of why people treat the red sky thing as if it’s an issue. I always loved how it looked, personally.

The look on their eyes says it all. At this point our fists are clenched. “C’mon. Show us what show this is!”

The menacing silhouette drops down. I loved this stylized look they they often do in the show, where all you see is the shape of a giant bat and some white, glowing eyes.

And there he is. Everyone watching immediately knows what they’re watching now. Here is the best-looking Batman that anyone had seen on tv thus far, giving that intimidating glare. We do see three dots of cell dirt, and it’s too bad that the crew never got around to editing these out before the first episode. Imperfections on an otherwise perfect looking shot.

The baddies were spooked, but now it’s clear that they’re aggressive and have no idea what they’re getting themselves into. We also see that they’re holding firearms, something that was not as common at the time (and definitely not as common now).

Batman, as always, a perfect shot with the batarang. This really has to be seen in motion to be appreciated. It looks so clean, and here you realize that there is no escaping for the thugs.

Batman leaps up, looking like a supernatural being. This is possibly my second favorite shot in the whole sequence, just because of how demonic Batman looks. If you saw this coming at you, you’d probably assume that you’d be sleeping in your death bed that night. I like to imagine that because of fear and the darkness, this is genuinely how criminals remember Batman looking.

Out cold. You don’t necessarily see what batman actually did to him. Before watching the show and knowing Batman’s philosophies, you’re not even sure if the guy is alive. You just know that Batman seems fascinating, and that you cannot wait to learn more about him, and possibly feel the same sense of mystery that you would feel if you were actually on that rooftop.

The way Batman bends here is again how I picture thugs remembering him. He moves way faster and a lot different than people usually picture humans being able to. And with the adrenaline rush, your mind can play tricks on you, man. Try staring at your reflection in a dark room sometime. Our minds aren’t always as straight forward as we assume.

Batman took care of them before the police could even get up to the top of the building. You know how effortless this fight was. For the dark knight, it’s just another workday. For everyone else, it’s something unforgettable and unworldly. Everything is relative.

Here we see that the two men are fine, when Batman easily could have ended their lives. We know now that Batman isn’t a cold-blooded killer, but a protector of the night. A twisted guardian angel.

Here we scale up, and the shot melts into another section of the city. We get a taste of the heights of Gotham City here.

This couldn’t get anymore awes-

Whoa. Um. I was saying. A section of the music that played before repeats (my favorite section, with my favorite shot), and we get that flash of lightning. No need for a title sequence. This speaks for itself. Text would have cheapened it.

And that is the intro to Batman the Animated Series. I’ll likely be going over every intro we come across throughout the DCAU, so hopefully look forward to that! I’ve also decided to mix things up sometimes with posts like this and not just stick to episode blogs. As long as I have something to talk about, anyway! I’m hoping that more people find the blog this way. If you liked what you read, check out more! I’m not necessarily the fastest at posting, I am a busy, busy college student who sets schoolwork as priority. But I do posts for every single episode of the DC Animated Universe! I also take submitted questions, and would love to start discussions!

Also, check this out:

[angrylizardjacket]

Could you tell us more about your job with lighting? Not like where you work or something creepy like that, I do lighting for my school and the stuff you talk about is really interesting

Okay so I’ve been doing lighting for a few years now and I’ve had a few roles. This isn’t all of what I’ve done, especially not in terms of what I’ve done in uni, but these are my most noteworthy, and it’s basically just me rambling. hope you enjoy it.

(I’m putting it under a read more because I’m including production photos.)

Assistant/Roadie for a rock band

I took a gap year after high school where I basically worked 3 days a week at a pizza shop, had rehearsals for a show I was acting in and assistant directing during the other two week days, and on weekends I would travel with my dad up and down the coast for his gigs. Basically the setup we had was 4 quad 12s; one lighting up the bass drum, one lighting up the guitarist’s amp, and the other two positioned to hit the guitarist and the bass player. we didn’t have an operating desk, so the bass and amp lights were set at a specific colour (i favour blues/purples/reds) while the other two would fade through colours automatically. it wasn’t super difficult, but it was fun, and was a good way to get me into it. I spent a lot of time coiling leads and setting up amps, i was just a general assistant more or less, and it was just a little pub-rock setting, but i spent basically every weekend, friday & saturday, for a year doing it.

Roadie/Bump In Crew

Okay so this is the other thing I did during my gap year; I was assistant director, as well as having a minor acting role, in a musical that as being put on in the big theatre in my city. in terms of tech, I didn’t have a lot of involvement, i helped bump in the equipment, and i was a walker when they were doing the focus/plot, and i remember 2 specific moments where i was like…… lights give me heart eyes; 1, we had LED movers (i genuinely don’t know the technical term, that’s just how everyone around me has referred to them, they’re the lights that move) with swirly gobos on them and i was In Love. 2, getting to talk with the lighting designer and the director about what we wanted for the show, walking around looking up at the rig with the worker lights on, trying to work out how to best light the show, and seeing the affectionately nicknamed ‘rock and roll bar’ just hanging up there ready to be lowered for the final scene, my Heart Burst I Fell In Love With That Lighting Rig.

I’ve been in theatre for 12 years, spent about 7 of those years in and around the production side of theatre, and about 4 years within lighting specifically.

Lighting Operator/Assistant

Earlier this year I worked on the same show twice, first in June and then in October, it was a retelling of Shakespeare but like… more supernatural. The first iteration was very bright, quite camp, we used primarily traditional lights, and the rig was super complicated; i lived my life at the top of the scaffolding refocusing shit after every show where i could see it was Just A Little Bit Off. So we had 2 LEDs in total that were used for the really rich colours, but the rest are just traditional lights with gels over them. I also spent a lot of time cutting gels and frankensteining them together for different effects the designer wanted. also, so many spotlights with blue gels over them to make the normally warm lights cool toned. i spent literally 2 hours with the on-site techie derigging them all after the last show, got mad rope burn too.

The October iteration of the show, or as it was known ‘The Halloween Season’ felt like a completely different show, again we had the three big LEDs, but we also had a lot more quad 12s, and two long, rectangular sets of LEDs that absolutely terrified me. more importantly, we had floor lights with rich blue gels over half, the other half still being warm white, and they cast these beautiful, eerie shadows on the back wall. i’m a big fan of shadows and backlighting and being a part of this really hit all the right notes for me.

Lighting Designer

So I’m in uni currently studying to be a lighting designer, and since literally no-one else in my course is specialising in it, it means I get to do it A Lot. I usually work with my uni theatre’s standard rig, which consists of 8 lx bars, 4 in front of the proscenium arch, 3 behind, and the cyc bar at the back. the standard rig is comprised of entirely LEDs, favouring quad 12s for colour and we have approximately 6 that mimicked traditional, non LEDs that were used as just front lighting and a general wash.

okay, so i’m gonna talk about my favourite show to date; SHELTERED (2017).

basically the show was set in a bunker, so the set was designed with this bigass set piece at the back made to look like the back of a bunker, which means we didn’t have a cyc, instead what I did put in was 2 parcans on either side of the door that would shine whenever the door would open to create the illusion of overwhelming light from the outside world;

I was also insistent that to really replicate the feeling of the bunker, there be a fan with a light above it, spinning very slowly, however the set designer didn’t want a fan on stage, but he loved the idea, so we rigged a truss warmer (little but powerful LED) above a fan with a show moving motor that the tech officer at the uni had to build, and the whole thing was out of sight behind the proscenium. also i was in charge of the smoke machine, i die for a good bit of theatrical fog.

i made a radio that could be carried around and played with on stage, but also could be operated by me in the bio box when a certain character touched it in one scene? it’s got a truss warmer inside of it, and i was Fucking Adamant that it worked, because it comes out of Nowhere, it’s this prop that’s super important, it’s meant to be a broken radio, but it lights up and music starts to play?? like the character just touches the top of it so it’s obvious he’s not like, turning it on or anything, it’s just meant to light up because it’s a little bit supernatural, And It Lit Up Because I Don’t Do Things By Halves

i die for backlighting

also, you can’t see it in the photos, but each of the three characters in the show that wear red (and the surprise fourth character who only appears in the last scene) have a colour story.

Anyways, here’s an excerpt from my report of the show:

“Any practical lights – the radio, the letter box – were originally in the script but neither the director nor the designer had really considered what it would take to bring those practicals to life. Every light that is not part of the standard rig is one that I have carefully thought about, from the placement, to where it’s use would be most effective in the show – the two truss warmers that light up every time the announcer segments play, thereby creating that association between the gold lights, a colour that is not used anywhere else in the show, and the announcer, enhancing the unsettling nature of his entrance by having those lights fade in, and the cyclorama lights and backlights lighting the stage in the same dirty orange. Every colour, every lighting change is one that I had thought out thoroughly to enhance the experience of the show, considering both the context of the show – the lighting tends to stay away from blues and green because they are very unnatural for a bunker, and are only used in memory sequences and the dance number, which is strange and unsettling in its own right – and the context of the characters, using the lights to draw focus to whatever Eli is focused on, as it’s technically all inside his head, therefore whatever catches his attention must also catch the audience’s attention.I also wanted to develop a reoccurring colour theme for each character;

Sammy; Yellow, like sunshine.

Frank; Red, meaning danger.

Zoey; Purple, soft and feminine.

These are then played back when each character confronts Eli at the end, and even though the audience might not realise it, there has been an association built up with each colour and character, which contrasts the stark white of the bunker at the end, it’s natural lighting.

Every lighting change is well thought out as both an aesthetic choice, and a dramaturgical one.” 

[docholligay]

Everything I hated about Lesbian Bear Storm

@katrani‘s commission was a little odd this month--she asked that I condense my thoughts on Yuri Kuma Arashi, which she’d heard I’d seen part of. It was a little odd, but I was happy to do it! Warning: None of this is complimentary to the show. 

SHOOOOCK! KUMA SHOCK!

Shock is possibly the only realistic reaction to 99% of what goes on in Yuri Kuma Arashi, or, at least, the four episodes I committed myself to before remembering that I have a full and happy life with people who love me, and I don’t have to lash out in self-harm. So it may well be that after ⅓ of the goddamn anime is over, it actually starts to engage with the audience in ways that aren’t “Hey, check out me licking honey off a lily spurting from this girl’s body, in a way that you will be forced to remember is being written by a man constantly and all the time.”

This show is literally about predatory lesbians.

This show is about lesbian bears, who pose as schoolgirls, and literally consume girls. And kill them. By eating them.

And this is “what bears do” and the implications of it AREN’T GREAT and they didn’t think about it, or ask a helpful and honest lesbian, because I cannot imagine anyone with two fucks to rub together would greenlight this sort of thing.

And maybe that’s the trouble. Ikuahara is a man, a legend, and untouchable, and so that leads to ruin, most of the time. He doesn’t give a fuck because he doesn’t have to. He can make whatever her wants and no one is going to tell him no.

At the time, YKA seemed to be the answer to every one of our ineffectual tumblr posts asking why everything was not about lesbians, and in fact, the show helpfully tells you that apparently every woman we meet is (Yuri) and all the bears are also (Yuri) and it also like indicate that school is a (Place) and things are (History) because apparently we have lost the ability to identify things on our own.

I kept waiting for the show to do something with the concept, to tweak the parentheticals so we could see people change, or the definitions of how we see things change, but it never materialized, and I never had the faith in the show that it would.

And that’s the thing. I know Ikuhara can take his time getting running from Utena (Only up to episode 29 pls to not be spoiling!!!) and that gross-ass concepts are a part of some of his larger vision for a story. But by the time I got done with a third of the goddamn show, I WELL KNEW that stuff was happening here. Even in the first episode, the opening story essentially tells you “Utena is dumb about this, we know, wait for it.” Even when the show absolutely squicks the shit out of me AND IT DOES, I trust that it’s going to do something with the broad concepts because...it has.

And YKA never seemed to even dabble in doing anything--it was even more about pushing sexual lines and really bizarre lesbian fetishism than Utena, but it had all the formulaic boredom that Sailor Moon can have. There was always a Yuri Bear Transformation Sequence, for reasons that never fully made sense to me, and then it was just a great deal of plodding along with our main character. Which….you can’t do in a 12 episode anime. I tend to enjoy 12 ep animes more than others because you have to tell a story in an abbreviated fashion. But this never did that. Nothing is ever really revealed in 4 episodes that lends any kind of depth or interest to the storyline or its characters.

There is much more attention and loving detail lavished on the sexual content, up to and including sexual assault. This anime is SATURATED with a man’s hot take on lesbian interactions in a school setting, and it’s exactly as gross as that sentence just made it sound. There’s very little to be had of genuine affection (and the couple that may have had that has one of the girls get killed right off in front) but much to be had of ramming one’s knee between a girl’s legs, crawling on top of her, licking honey off her lily while she’s unconscious (I cannot make this shit up), and other various and sundry acts that read like the personal journal of that one guy whose house you stayed away from a teenage girl, because he looked at you THAT WAY.

And part of the sad and and frustrating thing is that when it is not being disgusting, it is hilariously dumb, so much so that it is TERRIFICALLY QUOTABLE, were you not having to quote an anime that you could not so much as mention to another human being lest they seek out the terrifying and hidden knowledge, opening Pandora’s box and allowing all the sins of the world to fall upon them.

The temptation to introduce myself as Doc Holligay (Yuri) is overwhelming. SHOOOOOCCCKKK! X SHOCK! Is a perfect way to react to anything that is not at all shocking, perfectly carrying over the mocking tone such things deserve. The desire of have and use the “Yuri Approved” gif forever and for all time (and from me! A person who does not respond in gifs to anything, ever!) is painful. But much like the Uranus and Neptune figures from Crystal, beautiful as they were, every time I saw them I would have to be reminded of the thing they came from.

I didn’t watch beyond four episodes, and have zero percent intention of ever doing so, because there are so many better ways I could be spending 4 hours of my life, up to and including underwater basket weaving, which is at least a source of stress relief and will create something functional, which is more than I can say for literally anything happening in this show, but I guarantee you Kureha (Our main girl) ends up fucking a bear, I KNOW this to be true in my senshi heart.

And this is not me being particularly clever. It’s that every single bear who meets her talks about what a ‘lovely smell’ she has, and how badly they want to eat her, because apparently Ikuhara read Twilight and was like “oh shit, this is fucking genius, NANAKO MY NOTEPAD AND HOLD MY CALLS.” So you know that sooner or later, she is going to end up romantically entangled with some bear, probably the tsundere little one named Ginko, who talks about basically nothing BUT eating her, and then will decide not to because true love or something something.

This is despite the fact that literally anyone Kureha has ever cared about in her life has been eaten by a bear, but true sexual assault conquers all. If you’re a bear and you stalk a girl long enough, she will forget every terrible thing that has ever happened to her and go with you instead.

I wish I could say something complementary about the anime, and I suppose the nicest thing I can say about it is that it IS hilariously quotable. Jill and I now occasionally say “Gau gau,” after a sentence (Apparently that is bear accent) and as mentioned, I want to throw the Yuri Approved gif everywhere. But in any part of character or story, I find it lacking. I don’t know why I really care what happens to Kureha, and there’s nothing in her that feels like she’s compellingly responsible for her own problems in the way of say, Utena, or Madoka, where you can be frustrated and interested in their story at the same time. It feels almost UNFINISHED.

I’m not saying this concept could literally never be good or interesting, but I am more than willing to say that Ikuhara seriously fell down here, and it feels like a really amateur effort from a man who wrote the most solid season of Sailor Moon and Utena. I know it doesn’t have to be like this, and it’s frustrating to see someone I know to have potential turn in something so pathetic and lazy and also GROSS.

All in all, I urge anyone reading this to give it a miss. There’s nothing to be gained by watching it, and if someone managed to find deeper meaning in it, you deserve your lit degree more than mine, because I never could get there despite being the queen of spinning literary straw into gold. Whatever you’re hoping to get out of YKA, you are going to be disappointed for, unless what you are hoping is to get a lot of lesbian assault and extremely weird sexual situations, in which case, congratulations, I’m not sure you could do much better.

I probably won’t try anything else by Ikuhara after this--he narrowly toes the line for me in Utena, and it appears time and success has only emboldened him. So I will sit and rewatch Sailor Moon S, and remember that, at one time, he was capable of showing some level of genuine affection between lesbians, making them complex and troubled characters, and not having them assault each other.

That is the sexy way. Shaba-da-doo.

[notnicky]

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom - SPOILER FREE Movie Review

So, it’s been a hot minute since I’ve written anything on here. I’d blame it on college but really I think it’s just because I’m so lazy. I’m working on that and hopefully, this summer will give me some time to get stuff done. Anyways, here I am, and I’m about to talk about the movie I have so patiently waited THREE years for - Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom.

Unfortunately, this movie isn’t out everywhere yet, so I’ll keep this review spoiler FREE, and maybe I’ll get myself to write a spoiler-filled review once this movie is out worldwide. Bear with me, this is long.

1. Cinematography

My absolute favorite thing about this film was the incredible cinematography thanks to Oscar Faura and JA Bayona. Almost all the shots in this film are ones I’d like to hang up on my wall. The scenes on the island are breathtaking, but the cinematography in the second half is on a whole different level. The brilliant use of light and shadows by Faura adds so much to the gothic/horror tone that the second half possesses. The visuals together with the score, courtesy of Michael Giacchino (which I will talk about later), create a striking effect that will be sure to scare the living shit out of you, and sometimes make you feel emotions you didn’t think you could feel in a Jurassic movie. The cinematography in this film is unlike any other Jurassic film, and I say that in the best way possible.

2. Music

Michael Giacchino’s score is absolutely gorgeous. At times, it was the reason why I couldn’t stop my heart from aching, and other times, it was the reason why I couldn’t stop my heart from beating uncontrollably. The music during emotional scenes would be the main factor in me sobbing out loud, and the music during tense scenes would be the reason why I would jump out of my seat. The power that Giacchino’s score has over this film is truly incredible, always being the reason as to why I felt specific emotions during different plot points throughout the movie.

3. Story

I can’t delve too much into this because I don’t want to enter spoiler territory, but I really enjoyed the story. 

All I’ve heard over the past week was “why do people keep going back to save the dinosaurs, just let them die” and “why do we need another Jurassic film?”, and this really frustrates me. This might be because I’ve developed a specific emotional attachment to these animals, but I personally believe that every human being in this franchise is responsible for keeping these animals alive. They brought them back to life, despite none of the dinosaurs wanting to (at least I doubt it), and exploited them for their own gain, so I don’t believe that humans deserve an easy way out of the mess they created in the first place and the dinosaurs certainly don’t deserve to die when they didn’t ask for this shitshow in the first place. The core of Fallen Kingdom explores the ethics behind this choice, which is precisely why I love it so much. 

I know a lot of people think the plot is useless and repetitive, but along with what I previously said, there is so much left to explore about this ethical dilemma. It is incredibly nuanced, interesting, and relevant. Fallen Kingdom shows us the reason why we can’t just leave these animals to die. It explores guilt, empathy, and redemption. But then again, I have a strong personal opinion and I love ethical dilemmas, so I am heavily biased. 

in addition to the core of the movie, there is a plot twist later on that I really loved. I thought it seemed like a natural progression for the franchise, and it opened a lot of new doors for the story to continue through. Although I loved it, plenty thought it was stupid and unneeded, but to each their own.

Despite this, I understand the reasoning behind why some people think it’s a stupid idea to go back to the island in the first place, which I will discuss when I look at the pacing of the movie.

4. Characters

We know that in Jurassic World, Claire started out as cold and calculated and as the events of the movie unfold, she begins to change, as her actions started to become more in sync with her morals. In Fallen Kingdom, Claire has started her own foundation that is dedicated to protecting these dinosaurs she once exploited for money. Though I do wish that we got to see more of how this change developed during the time between Jurassic World and Fallen Kingdom, the way her character has changed for the better and how that change makes her the driving force of this movie is one of my favorite things about it. Seeing Claire having the passion that she lacked in Jurassic World was something that made me love her even more than I already did. Although we don’t see how this 180-degree change develops, we definitely get to see how it influences her actions and choices throughout the movie. Bryce Dallas Howard does a wonderful job at really showing us this profound change in Claire, making us feel for Claire and truly believe that she has a passion for saving these prehistoric creatures.

As for Owen, he is more or less unchanged by the events of Jurassic World, so his character development is much less, or maybe even non-existent, in comparison to Claire. The one thing I can point out is that perhaps his decision to go back to the island and save Blue is an indication of trying to face his problems, rather than simply running away from them.

For those who know me, I live for Claire and Owen’s relationship. Fallen Kingdom builds on their relationship and puts Bryce Dallas Howard and Chris Pratt’s natural chemistry to good use. I have always loved that these two characters are polar opposites but work very well as a team, and I was glad to see that dynamic again, although, I wish there could have been more time spent on further elaborating and developing this dynamic, but that’s mostly due to problems with the pacing of the movie.

Maisie, Maisie, Maisie. She is the heart of this film. All the Jurassic movies have had kids in them, but for the most part, they aren’t hugely significant. Maisie changes the game. No more can be said without entering spoiler territory, so I’ll stop there. BUT, Isabella Sermon is INCREDIBLE as Maisie, I am so surprised this was her first ever acting gig. 

As for the supporting characters, I really loved Zia and Franklin, played by the wonderful Daniella Pineda and Justice Smith. The brother-sister relationship the two have off-screen translates very well on-screen and makes for some really fun interactions between these characters. Franklin serves as comic relief in a lot of scenes, and I think the skills he brings to the team are underappreciated. Zia is a badass, however, Pineda’s performance is the reason why and not and so much the story that is written for her.

The villains are a little too “I’m evil!” but for the most part enjoyable. Toby Jones seems to be the villain in every movie I watch so he’s pretty good at doing that. I don’t want to specify certain actors since I’m not sure if its common knowledge that they are villains, but I think the performances by the villans are good, apart from, as I said earlier, sometimes being a bit too cartoonishly evil. 

For the cameos... Ian Malcolm is back, but not for a whole lot, which I think is a shame. Jeff Goldblum is excellent and shines in his scenes, despite not being in the film for very long. Dr. Wu appears yet again, and the one big problem that I have with this movie is how underused he is. His character understands that what he is doing is a whole other level of fucked up but he understands how these dinosaurs work as well as the consequences of what he does. I really wished that his character was more significant because his opinions reflect a big part of the ethical dilemma that the movie explores.

5. Dinosaurs

There are a lot of them and they look incredible. The animatronic Blue, Indoraptor, and T-Rex breathe a whole new life into these dinosaurs, making them feel more like characters rather than just animals for us to be in awe of. My favorite has got to be the Stygimoloch, as it plays quite a significant role in a couple parts of the movie, and also, it's so adorable. OH and I think dinosaurs are really smart, people are dumb, and so maybe people should be extinct, not the dinosaurs.

6. Pacing

Now, this is the biggest problem I have with the movie. From the very start of the movie, AFTER the beautiful opening sequence, that is, everything seemed to be moving at warp speed. There was always something going on and it was just non-stop, not giving the audience a chance to breathe and take in whatever they just watched. There are a lot of character building moments that are ruined by the lack of time the audience gets to process them, making them much less impactful than they could have been if the film had slowed down for just a few minutes. Whenever something significant would happen, it immediately became insignificant because something else would happen not long after. 

The part of the film that takes place on the island moves way too fast, and I really wish they stayed on the island a bit longer, especially considering this is supposed to be the last time we will ever see Isla Nublar. The lack of time we spend there takes away from what should be an extremely significant and emotional plot point not just for Fallen Kingdom, but for the entire Jurassic franchise.

As I mentioned in the “story” portion of this post, the movie explores the reasons as to why we can’t just let the dinosaurs die. Although the movie does look at empathy, guilt, and redemption, it does so through the characters, as if we should already know these characters well enough to know why they are motivated to go and save these dinosaurs. For someone like me who is familiar with these characters and previous characters in the franchise, it is easy for me to understand their motivations. However, the film doesn’t give enough time for the casual viewer to empathize with these dinosaurs and help them understand why these characters feel a responsibility for these creatures’ fates. Again, this has to do with pacing, since with a lot of things happening from the get-go, there aren’t enough opportunities for the story to build and give viewers this understanding. I think the lack of build-up toward the decision to go back to Isla Nublar to save the dinosaurs is the main reason why many people don’t understand why this movie had to happen at all. 

IN CONCLUSION, I really really did love this movie. I’ve seen it twice now and it was better the second time around because my over-excitement for the movie as a whole and for some specific aspects didn’t get in the way and I was able to focus on a lot more things, allowing me to enjoy it even more. To end things, I really need to send my biggest thanks to JA Bayona for his excellent addition to the Jurassic franchise. Whenever people talked about Jurassic Park, they’d always talk about how terrified they were when they saw the T-Rex on screen for the first time. The first time I saw Jurassic Park, I had already seen big scary monsters in the cinema, so the movie never really scared me the way it did some people. However, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom made me feel so terrified at times that I could finally understand where these people were coming from when they talk about being terrified by Jurassic. So thank you JA for scaring me into a true Jurassic experience. Despite major problems with pacing, the film is beautiful when it comes to the visuals and sound, has a really interesting plot, as well as characters that I really love. I know this movie has been met with mixed reviews, and that really bothers me, but I loved it and I hope you at least give it a shot because it certainly deserves a fighting chance. 

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom gets 4/5 baby Blue’s

[girlonfilmmovies]

The Top 25 Films of 2019

25: Shadow (dir. Zhang Yimou)

"Without the real, there can be no shadow. A principle no one's understood."

After a string of terrible films trying to play to Hollywood audiences, Zhang Yimou manages to successfully return to the goldmine he stuck in the early 2000s and craft another absolutely gorgeous wuxia. Here he swaps out the poetic, colorful beauty in favor of monochromatic, surprisingly violent tone poem about deceit. It ultimately works against it, as by the seventh or eighth double cross you kind of just give up trying to figure out who's on what side, but the main action setpiece is so wonderful it deserves a spot for that alone. Hopefully a good sign for Yimou's future, as long as we don't have another nationalist war epic that somehow inexplicably also has a white savior narrative too.

24: Climax (dir. Gaspar Noé)

"...something's kicking in..."

Noe takes us for another plunge into the dark, twisted, vomit-inducing, neon-lit hellscape that is his mind and at least has the common courtesy to put the pleasant parts upfront this time. While it will eventually devolve into the same type of chaos that we all love/hate from him, the first act is kind of a wonderful departure from him. He basically accidently makes a musical for a while, with wonderful and deeply intricate dance choreography as well as a fantastic extended sequence where every character jumps in and out of frame and gets a chance to strut their stuff. That movie would have been a strong top five contender, but alas, the man has his particular quirks that he must abide by. But at least he also strung together probably the best soundtrack and sound design of the year, with the fantastic EDM bangers rumbling through the walls throughout the entirety of the film.

23: Long Shot (dir. Jonathon Levine)

"Oohhh boooy!"

Charlize Theron and Seth Rogen doing a political comedy that manages to be both smart and extremely funny seems like a long shot indeed, but Johnathon Levine finally strikes gold again after a number of disappointing duds. He manages to make a pretty good story about how navigating the political minefield destroys what little hope and dreams high level politicians still manage to have, but then he also happens to make it all absolutely hilarious too. Theron demonstrates a surprisingly strong comic game too, easily matching all the other talent and cracking jokes along with them. It ends up being a charming romance where the woman takes charge in a very pleasant change of pace. And if nothing else, the way Seth Rogen yells "oh boy" in that video is always going to make me laugh no matter what.

22: 6 Underground (dir. Michael Bay)

"Ghosts have one power above all others: to haunt the living. Haunt them... for what they've done."

Theoretical question: what say Netflix gave Michael Bay a blank check and no restrictions, and he turned in the most overblown, dialed to eleven, nonsensical spectacle that he ever crafted and was allowed to put it into almost every American home for free? Now what if I told you that it was actually kind of awesome? Sure, it's basically a child playing with his $150 million dollar GI Joe set, smashing his toys together and making pew-pew sounds, but it's also probably the best testament to the power of conventional effects work over the increasing insistence on CGI for big setpieces. Let's face it: explosions are pretty cool, every one likes exotic locales and bright sports cars, and there's at least someone here to appeal to you (least surprisingly for me, it was Melanie Laurent with bangs wearing a suit). It almost reaches a late Michael Mann kind of abstraction, as both are respectively breaking apart the action movie into stranger combinations. Bay gives plot only because he contractually has to, and even then doesn't seem as committed to characterization as he is showcasing surprisingly brutal ways for the gang to dispatch their enemies. It's nonsense, but the damn best nonsense of the year.

21: Ip Man 4: The Finale (dir. Wilson Yip)

"Is that it?! Is this your Chinese Kung Fu?!"

The finale in the decade-long quadrilogy of supremely silly and borderline racist worship of China finally attempts to tackle America to delightfully amusing results. Scott Adkins doing his best evil R. Lee Ermey impression while slipping in modern neo-con punchlines, neverending Bruce Lee worship, and more nationalism and bad fake American accents than you could ever believe. Yet also a more bizarrely honest portrayal of racism in 1960s America than most movies would ever have the courage to acknowledge. It’s almost fascinating considering how a lot of the non-Asian racism basically serves as set dressing, but they still put more effort there than pretty much every Hollywood movie set in the 60s that isn’t directly about civil rights. But ultimately they're selling you a bill of goods saying "watch Ip Man beat the crap out of racist meatheads" and you better believe they're going to give you what you want.

20: Let It Snow (dir. Luke Snellin)

"Have you ever been with someone, and you stay up until like 4AM just talking about everything, and you're just like, I can't believe I get to exist at the same time as you?"

Okay, so let me explain myself on this one:

So yeah, it certainly is a generic teen romcom where everyone plays into basic teenage stereotypes, half the cast is clearly nowhere near eighteen, and all of the romance is oddly chaste. But there truly is something to be said about representation in a romcom, and after a thousand boring cis, straight, hetero couples falling in love for decades, this movie actually managed to hit a lot of notes that are at best rarely explored in the genre and also manages to probably sneak in some genuine firsts. While both the "tomboy/softboy" and "Latina struggling with her family" storylines have been done before, these are some nice, cute little iterations on those befitting a teen-friendly movie. But the Dorrie/Kerry story is not only legitimately groundbreaking, but also an absolutely perfect encapsulation of the types of problems that queer teenagers struggle with during that time of their lives. It's a queer romance, played by two actually not-straight people, with one of them being a nonbinary actor too. And it's not cordoned off into some bargain bin DIY indie that fell out the back of the truck on the way to an indie film festival; no, this is in a major holiday release, with well-known actors, and as one of the central storylines! Plus, it perfectly captures the woes of modern teen coming out, knowing that everything will probably still be cool, but the fear haunting you as all you can do is look jealously at someone who is out and proud. And it does it without being real shitty and horribly traumatic too. Eat your fucking heart out, Love, Simon!

19. John Wick: Chapter 3 -- Parabellum (dir. Chad Stahelski)

"Si vis pacem, para bellum!"

Another year, another John Wick movie. There's more plot; you don't care, and let's be honest, neither do I. Stahelski is here to serve up more badass characters and incredible action, and no one in Hollywood does it quite like him. It's got familiar action favorites demonstrating why they still remain supreme, with Yayan Ruhian, Cecep Arif Rahman, Tiger Chen, and the ever underrated Mark Dascascos. It's got surprising action showcases for Halle Berry, Lance Reddick, and somehow Boban Marjanović. It's got great character actors doing their thing, from the returning McShane and Fishburne to newcomers Saïd Taghmaoui and Anjelica Huston. It's got Asia Kate Dillon as an awesome nonbinary shadow organization asshole. It has a bewildering Jason Mantzoukas cameo. And above all else, it has Keanu Reeves, still demonstrating not only his incredible physical skill, but also how to perfectly utilize his particular acting style to create an iconic character.

18. Doctor Sleep (dir. Mike Flanagan)

"Man takes a drink. A drink takes the drink. And then the drink takes a man."

While not the most accurate adaption, it might be the only Stephen King adaptation that comes to mind that actually successfully channels what makes him such an appealing author. King's stories have an inherent corniness to them and for as much as you unsuccessfully try to cover that up (look to this year's The Outsider for a good example), it's where the true charm of his work shines. It's what makes this so fun, because as much as an epic, eldritch terror is exciting, it still doesn't have the goofy fun of a bunch of vampiric bohemian drifters led by a Stevie Knicks knockoff in a top hat breathing up souls. Plus, the epic three hour runtime actually allows Flanagan to at least try to cover all the more subtle serious characterizations of Danny Torrance, from his recurring alcoholism to him seeking closure with regards to his parents. It manages to actually make the final act's nostalgia play kind of work, or at the very least get the terrible memory of the Ready Player One version out of my head.

17. Her Smell (dir. Alex Ross Perry)

"I thought you were better than this, but deep down I knew you weren't."

Perry must have had some extra pent-up nastiness in him after having to restrain himself while writing Christopher Robin (by the way, that happened), because he really created one of the nastiest characters in cinema here. Her Smell is the equivalent of being locked in a room with the shittiest person you'll ever meet, as she constant lashes out at everyone and everything with the kind of delirium that the truly demented are cursed with. And credit to Elizabeth Moss where it's due: she really perfectly embodies such a horrible human being and proceeds beat you damn near to death with it during a majority of the runtime. Eventually it slows down and all of the problems become apparent once they script isn't flying by at a thousand words a minute. But Moss literally did her job so well that people fucking hate this movie because of her character, and if that isn't a testament to her acting talent than I don't know what is.

16. High Life (dir. Claire Denis)

"At 99% the speed of light, the entire sky converged before our eyes. This sensation, moving backwards even though we're moving forwards, getting further from what's getting nearer. Sometimes I just can't stand it."

Denis finally makes her English debut with what she does best: nauseatingly uncomfortable sexuality oozing from terrible people doing horrible things. In this case, she takes an innovative detour into sci-fi, setting up a decades-long story of human experimentation, murder, the horrors of space travel, and whatever unholy things are going on inside of the "Fuck Box". It has an appropriately dingy production design too; the clean retro-futurist spaceship design soon dissolves into a torn apart den of depravity, caked in a mixture of filth and dry blood. Pattinson once again manages to be likeable while also being extremely standoff-ish; only playing with his baby daughter do we seem to see him actually enjoy interacting with a human being. Kind of gets lost in the sauce near the end, but at least manages to land some surprising emotional notes considering the kind of horrors that they've shown up until then.

15. The Farewell (dir. Lulu Wang)

"Chinese people have saying: when people get cancer they die. It's not cancer that kills them, it's the fear."

Lulu Wang's followup to Posthumous is such a massive step up in talent it's not even funny. She manages to make such a wonderfully soulful and loving movie about impending death by utilizing near perfect comic timing to defuse a situation that threatens to stray too dark. Not to mention her point of view on modern China from a non state-sponsored eye actually captures a much more accurate shot of the country itself. It's almost as if an Edward Yang movie had set itself more modest expectations -- it's pleasant, goes down well, teaches you a couple of things about Chinese culture, and manages to do it all in only a hundred minutes. And Awkwafina manages to hold her own against far more experienced actors, even if you can tell her Mandarin is still a little spotty.

14. Uncut Gems (dir. Josh and Benny Safdie)

"I think you are the most annoying person I have ever met. I hate being with you, I hate looking at you... And if I had my way I would never see you again."

Adam Sandler's magnum opus performance -- there will never be another character that fully embraces every grating aspect of his style of acting and manages to weaponize them for two anxiety-inducing hours of hell. Sandler's Howard Ratner is an absolute sewer rat scumbag, an untrustworthy coward, and a perennial fuck-up of epic proportions. But he's still so charismatic and powerful on screen that you root for him every time he drives you further up the wall. And the Safdie brothers know how to keep him moving too, never letting the audience catch a breath of air for this movie-length panic attack as the odds stack further against Howard each minute. Whenever you see Sandler phoning in his comedies for fat checks, just remember this performance and how pretty much every awards committee completely ignored this film. No wonder he doesn't bother trying anymore.

13. The Last Black Man In San Francisco (dir. Joe Talbot)

"You don't get to hate it unless you love it."

A wonderfully evocative love letter to a changing city that is so full of life in every way, from the vibrant movement of the camerawork to the bombastic and powerful soundtrack blasting throughout. But it actually plays more like a New Orleans' funeral march, a melancholic chronicle of the original denizens of San Francisco even as the city warps into the caricature that it's slowly becoming. There is a definite feeling that the aggressive gentrification is unavoidable and even the love of the original quirky denizens can only stave off the metaphorical steamroller that paves over the past. It makes for a wonderful counterpoint to the previous year's Blindspotting: both about young black men dealing with gentrification in the Bay Area, but Blindspotting starts as a very angry comic satire that eventually ends on a note of hope and a will to survive the changing tide, whereas this begins as a joyous celebration of the city and ends on a heartbreaking resignation in the face of everything. Both come from respectively very different sides of San Fran culture, but it's rather interesting seeing each have such different approaches to the same topic.

12. The Standoff at Sparrow Creek (dir. Henry Dunham)

"How do we know it's not you?"

A simple "pressure cooker" scenario done to perfection: one empty warehouse, a bunch of hardened standoff-ish militia men, a missing gun, a ticking clock, and a whole lot of suspicious side eyes and probing questions. It helps that the gruff suspects are a perfect who's who of roughened character actors, all previously well-versed in playing suspicious people, and all of them hiding the kind of unspoken rage that makes a man secretly join an armed militia. All of this told with a nerve-wracking minimalism and style as weirdly detached from reality as some of these men are. One hell of a debut for Henry Dunham and hopefully a sign of good things to come.

11. Booksmart (dir. Olivia Wilde)

"How about we play a *rousing* round of J'ACCUSE!"

Profoundly silly and yet also so disarmingly sweet, Olivia Wilde whips a wildly stylized portrait of Gen Z high-schoolers and the many ways that they vastly differ from their older peers. Certainly much more welcoming and accepting of the diversity of teenagers than pretty much any other teen movies from the past, although they still poke fun at some particular brands of modern "wokeness" too. Stuffed to the brim with wonderfully weird characters, between the lovable catty theatre duo of George and Alan, the cringe-inducing desperate rich kid Jared, the endearingly dumb thirstball Theo, the dorky and blissfully unaware queer-bait Ryan, the effortlessly cool and extremely "top energy" Hope, and the absolutely batshit wildness that is Gigi. But mainly it serves as a vehicle for Devers and Feldstein, with both bouncing perfectly back and forth off each other in moments of comedy and drama. Feldstein always pulls off huge laughs pretty much every line and Devers sells a perfect amount of baby-gay awkwardness in one of the sweetest (and heartbreaking) queer romance stories in film. But above all else, it's just so damn fun and aware of what teenagers are actually like than most movies ever have been.

10. Luce (dir. Julius Onah)

*chuckles* "You really think I believe that stuff?"

One of the most wildly uncomfortable experiences in recent cinema history, but not due to any horrifyingly explicit graphic content being shoved in our faces. No, Onah and Lee created something much more discomforting: a constant challenging of all our biases and stereotypes, of us wanting to give chances and have faith in those that we trust. Kelvin Harrison Jr. delivers one of the best acting performances in recent memory because he's able to literally do everything; his Luce somehow manages to perfectly walk the tightrope required for a performance like his. With him behind it, Luce is such a charming, loving, likeable character but there's always just something that seems off about him. And even if Spencer's Wilson has a fixation on him that crosses all sorts of legal and moral boundaries, wouldn't we be cheering her on under different circumstances? In a way, she herself is trying to communicate a lesson about perception too, one that also mires in deep, troubling waters. Even if the film still feels very stage-y due to it's source material, the cold clinical aesthetic only further helps it make us squirm in our seats.

9. Violet Evergarden: Eternity and the Auto Memory Doll (dir. Haruka Fujita)

"Nobody wants a letter that cannot be delivered."

An absolutely magical experience that artistically excels over the original TV series it's based off of. The production is still as impressive as any other KyoAni work, but the composition and lighting in particular are outstanding, selling the social isolation of the first half and the childlike wonder of the second half. Beginning with a sublime Victorian romance in the first half, the story eventually morphs into a tribute to the workers of the world, the cogs in the machine. But in the context of the studio's recent history and the horrific arson attack that claimed 36 members of the studio, this instead comes off as a battlecry against the opposition against them. It's a story valuing those who are overlooked in the process of creation, a story about strong determined women, a story of a young girl defining her own future against society. KyoAni as a studio were most known for treating all their employees exceptionally as well as being a primarily female-led studio, both unfortunate exceptions in the industry as well as the target for a lot of unfair online hatred against them (and surely played some sort of role in why the arson attack happened to them specifically). To see the studio make their first post-attack work so proudly emblematic of what made them unique makes this so much more powerful than you would expect.

8. The Nightengale (dir. Jennifer Kent)

"You know what it's like to have a white fella take everything that you have, don't ya?"

The classic revenge fantasy narrative warped into a bleak, cynical portrait of racist cruelty in 1800s Tasmania. Jennifer Kent, improving leaps and bounds from the relatively straightforward Babadook, crafts a searing indictment of the foundations of colonialism and the misogynistic undercurrent of the barbarous society. It's a revenge movie where the vengeance is horrible and unsatisfying -- there's no crowd pleasing murderous money-shots, just brief moments of comeuppance in the face of everything in the world working against our two protagonists. Those who are squeamish should be aware that it is exceptionally graphic and grueling at times, although Kent does manage to keep up a very good pace for the two and a half hours of hell.

7. Transit (dir. Christian Petzold)

"They say that those who were left never forget. But it's not true. They have the sweet, sad songs. Pity is with them. Those who leave, no one is with them. They have no songs."

Hitchcock by way of Kafka -- a classic existential mystery told in a disorienting separate reality not quite like our own. It's a bold move to take a Holocaust set narrative and completely throw out the actual setting itself, but Petzold only enhances the weird themes of the story by taking it to a completely different but still very familiar time. This is a classic tale of becoming the person you say you are but really aren't -- then begging the question of what if you're not the only one also living a false identity. Buoyed by an excellent and very enigmatic lead performance from Franz Rogowski, who displays a tremendous skill for playing somebody so closed off but also very charismatic and watchable.

6. Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood (dir. Quentin Tarantino)

"When you come to the end of the line, with a buddy who is more than a brother and a little less than a wife, getting blind drunk together is really the only way to say farewell."

Tarantino trades in his B-movie worship and penchant for comical bloodbaths (well, for the most part) to make something I certainly didn't expect from him: a relaxed hangout movie about getting old and falling out of fashion. Exceptional production design whisks us away to the height of Hollywood and three different people all looking at their future careers in very different lights. Leo gets to stretch his wings in all sorts of silly fun ways and Brad Pitt finally lets go of the young superstar image and easily slips into his more natural "hot single dad" swagger, playing the most effortlessly cool character of his career. Tarantino sets aside time to look back on his own flaws as well and playfully reflects on his own particular ...quirks. Easily his best since his 90s prime and the first time in a long time I've felt the maturity that he showcased in Jackie Brown.

5. The Lighthouse (dir. Robert Eggers)

"Damn ye! Let Neptune strike ye dead Winslow! HAAARK!"

Hyper-masculine mania as told through a wonderful blend of dark comedy and cosmic horror and with some of the most lush black-and-white cinematography maybe ever in a film. Eggers' now trademark devotion to absolute accurate period detail in both visual design and dialogue greatly helps this reach transcendent heights. But it's truly the two performances of Dafoe and Pattinson that help it weave a perfect spiral of insanity that also manages to be so oddly fun. Never could there be any other paring of actors that would perfectly showcase these two dirty sea-dogs going stark raving mad at each other so well.

4. Midsommar (dir. Ari Aster)

"As Hårga takes, so Hårga also gives."

(Director's Cut) Every generation deserves their own paranoia-fueled pagan horrorshow, but Aster strikes a much deeper vein in his epic take on the classic territory The Wicker Man had previously claimed. The brutal rituals of the Hårga are only set dressing most of the time, with much more focus poured into the vile toxicity plaguing the relationship between students Dani and Christian. Reynor's Christian is such a perfect portrayal of a terrible influence -- he's charming, fun, and likeable when he's on your side, but the second anybody goes against him his seedy manipulation begins to seep into everything he says. Pugh continues her winning streak too, delivering a broken person desperately trying to put a smile on while falling apart on the inside as she realizes she truly is all alone in the world. While some might be disappointed by the lack of actual "terror" for a good chunk of the movie, Aster has found something much more likely to scar us than these friendly Swedish cultists.

3. Sunset (dir. László Nemes)

"The horror of the world hides behind these infinitely pretty things."

After striking gold with Son of Saul, Laszlo Nemes takes a hard turn into a very different genre but manages to create a wonderfully unique spin on classic detective noir. His signature camerawork powers this yarn, successfully taking the claustrophobic eye of Saul and using it to give a truly immersive sense of place in the tumultuous world of 1913 Budapest, where danger is simmering under the surface and ready to boil over at any moment. After all, noir is always about the eye of the detective, so Nemes' style takes it to a literal degree where everything outside of Irisz' field of vision is incomprehensible. We catch the same shady sideways glances and hushed whispers at the same time she does too. The plotting, like all noir tales, gets a little too complex for its own good, although it's less because of double-crossing and deceit and more from the story slowly dropping its connection to reality to function on a far more allegorical level. But as far as immersive, experiential cinema goes, not even 1917 can stack up to this film's highs, as the enraged lower-class populace eventually comes for the heads of the bourgeoise and Irisz suddenly realizes she is in the very wrong place at the very wrong time.

2. Portrait of a Lady on Fire (dir. Céline Sciamma)

"Do all lovers feel they're inventing something?"

An absolutely breathtaking portrait (hehe) of yearning and love, so astonishingly romantic and actually aware of what will make a woman swoon. Every technical aspect is perfect, from the gorgeous locale to the lovely windswept dresses to the soft, classical cinematography. But the true magic comes from Merlant and Haenel perfectly delivering every line of Sciamma's wonderous script. Those two have a sexual tension strong enough to burn down the theater, as their shy glances turn into deep longing stares and both their steely professional reserves give way to poorly suppressed joy at just being able to be with the other. Even their initial terse dialogue melts into pure romantic splendor, as they lovingly catalog all the little gestures the other does when flustered. Their connection during filming was powerful enough to fuel rumors around the two in the press and is currently providing the desire for every thirsty lesbian who finishes this to immediately pull up videos from the press tour and hunt for those same things between the actors themselves. And trust me, they are there.

1. Parasite (dir. Bong Joon-ho)

"Not 'rich but still nice.' Nice because she's rich, you know? Hell, if I had all this money, I'd be nice too!"

Very rarely does a film come along that actually warrants to be described as "perfect", as in one that literally generates no critiques in any way even if I was forced to pick something at gunpoint to complain about. But Parasite truly does every single thing right. Even Bong's tonal whiplash style, which does grate on me at times, somehow fits perfectly here as the schemes become increasingly madcap and the increasing sense that this will all come crashing down horribly mounts ever higher. Until then, it's an absolute joy to watch in every way, as Bong stacks the card deck higher and all the characters dive further into the sewer for their own benefit. The midpoint pivot works wonderfully too, as it goes to show that literally every person is getting played in the world of Parasite. It's massive success is only surprising to those who haven't seen it: it's the perfect movie for the era it came out in and may as well be the watershed moment for a new age of cinema where Hollywood finally admits that it's not the king of the world anymore.

[neoduskcomics]

Steven Universe Review: Seasons 4 and 5 (PART 1)

STEVEN UNIVERSE SPOILERS

Okay, so, I haven’t done one of these in quite some time (I think like two or three hiatuses ago). But we’re once again at a point where we don’t know when SU is coming back to us, so I feel like this is a good time to get caught up on my thoughts of the show. This is gonna be a two-parter since I’ve skipped over so many episodes.

But anyway ON WITH THE REVIEW

Steven’s Dream

This episode doesn’t really tell a whole story so much as mainly set up what’s to come, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t hit some good points. Steven having some kind of ominous, mystical dream is a great way to get us intrigued with what’s going on. We follow up with an uncomfortable confrontation between Steven and the Gems, and it’s actually kind of cathartic to have Steven finally stand up to Garnet and Pearl like “You know what? Screw you guys. I actually want to be told something straightforwardly for once instead of having to piece it together myself across seventy episodes which then culminate in an earth-shattering plot twist.”

Greg and Steven’s short little montage in Korea was pretty amusing (did not expect that fourth-wall breakage in the Korean animation studio) and it was nice to see Andy is still around and serving the plot. Of course, this is all topped off with the unexpected emergence of Blue Diamond, and her very presence in this episode just creates a huge shift in tone. When Greg actually converses with her, there’s such a feeling of tension, like you couldn’t have put two characters who are on more opposite ends of the threat spectrum together into such an awkward and serious situation.

And of course, it doesn’t end well. Greg gets captured, and this event sets up the rest of the episode. So this wasn’t really a self-contained story and it doesn’t really follow any kind of significant plot or emotional thread, but it was pretty good as setups go. There’s not a lot to say about this aside from that it made me want to keep watching.

Adventures in Light Distortion

This episode isn’t terribly memorable to me as it felt a little all over the place and, again, didn’t feel to me much like a significant story, but I think there are a couple good reasons for that. For one thing, it’s a bit all over the place. Again, this episode doesn’t really feel like a self-contained story so much as a continuation of the last episode and a lead-in for the next one. But that makes sense, because all these episodes are very much meant to blend into one another to create a multi-chapter arc. I almost considered just writing a single review for the whole thing, but I think it’s better to break it up by episode.

Now it’s not a bad episode by any means. It has some fun and creative bits, playing with the effects of the ship on the Gems’ physical forms in a pretty innovative way. It also has a pretty intense sequence where Steven accidentally launches them into faster-than-light travel and you can really feel the helplessness and desperation of his struggle. Especially when he starts crying for his dad. It’s actually one of the few moments in the show (post -first half of season one) where you’re really reminded that he’s a just a kid.

Of course, everything gets resolved by the end and we feel all comfortable and secure and Steven learns his lesson, etc. etc. etc. Again, not really a strong plotline or arc here—just a continuation of the story. You could arguably have cut it out, but I think it helps reinforce the emotional stakes of what’s going on and just how important Steven’s dad is to him, and how he reacts when his dad is threatened. We’ve seen him get worried about and rush after the Gems, but his own biological family has never been threatened in this way, and it’s pretty effective to see just how torn up Steven is over it all.

I wouldn’t say it’s a terrific episode, but certainly not pointless, either.

Gem Heist

Now, again, this episode is another continuation of the previous episode and a lead in to the next one. But, like the last couple episodes, it has some pretty strong moments. Except instead of turbulent, emotional scenes, they’re comical. The title is pretty appropriate because the episode does feel like something of a humorous heist movie plot. Seeing Ruby, Sapphire, Pearl, and Amethyst trip over themselves to fool the Holly Blue Agate is pretty damn funny.

And Holly Blue is a great character. You only have to spend half an episode with her to completely get what she’s about and what her role is at the zoo, and it makes for fantastic dramatic irony when the cast is fumbling about to pull the wool over her eyes.

I actually can’t say much else about this episode. It’s fun and funny and I very much enjoyed it.

The Zoo

This episode feels a bit more like a self-contained story than the other ones do. We’re introduced to a new setting, new characters, a new status quo, and a new conflict that are all contained within this one episode, even if it still ends with a cliffhanger.

At the same time, though, while the premise of the episode is somewhat intriguing, it’s ultimately not that entertaining or engaging. I mean, it’s not boring by any means, but there’s not a whole lot of terrific comedy or drama driving the episode. We’re sort of just observing and learning about this little self-contained world that comes crashing down around them by the episode’s end. There are a few amusing moments and some message in there about choosing freedom over a rigidly dictated security (though I think I feel a bit conflicted over how they seem to trivialize the validity of the zoo-humans’ way of life), but that’s really about all I can say with this episode.

It’s not great, it’s not bad. It’s just somewhat interesting and somewhat amusing.

That Will Be All

This episode feels basically like Gem Heist, except with a couple more dramatic beats and a great payoff to the heist component of the plot. Which is to say, I liked it quite a bit.

First of all, it’s great seeing Amethyst bond with the other Amethyst and Jasper soldiers at the Zoo. Homeworld is always made out to be such a rigid, restrictive and totalitarian society, so it is interesting to see that Gems there are capable of (and perhaps, against their purpose, predisposed to) having individual personalities, being a little rebellious, and developing relationships that foster happiness and unity—not just utility. Also, with Amethyst always being the black sheep of the group, it’s just nice to see her find something akin to a community that she can identify with and that doesn’t judge her for being different (fun trivia: the term “off-colors” is actually first used in this episode as far as I can tell).

And seeing how those Amethysts bond and get along actually just makes Holly Blue out to be even more of a tightwad, which is why her downfall at the end of the episode feels so great.

And of course we get that scene with Blue Diamond and Yellow Diamond, and we get that song. Now, I didn’t love this song when I first heard it, but now I’ve listened to it quite a few times (thanks to the new Steven Universe soundtrack) and I have to say it’s really grown on me. I love how the Pearls provide backup singing, and the song itself is just so strong and somehow weirdly eerie. And really, who saw it coming that Yellow Diamond would get a musical number in this episode? I think this is actually the first song we can consider to be a “Villain song” in this series, and it’s pretty damn great.

The best part of this episode, though, has to be the end where the gang is just trying not to be spotted by Holly Blue as she prattles on about the Diamonds. It’s just so damn comically tense, especially when the Amethyst guards are seeing what’s going on and just look so nervous for them. And then Holly Blue catches them in the act at the very last second in the most compromising position possible. And then if that weren’t enough, we get an awesome scene where Ruby and Sapphire fuse back into Garnet and the Gems fluidly and almost effortlessly take Holly Blue down. That bit where Garnet is like “I’ve been waiting to do this all day” and then just bops her with her un-gloved hand kills me.

And then, and THEN as the cherry on top of the sundae, we get Pearl just totally telling Holly Blue off in the absolute most perfectly vindicating scene for the character ever. I don’t think that sequence could’ve been scripted or animated any more perfectly.

So overall, while this story arc didn’t exactly quite have the emotional gravity I was expecting from a multi-episode arc, it was still pretty damn entertaining. My favorite parts were the heist bits, hands down, and Yellow Diamond’s song. As a plot, maybe it felt a tiny bit contrived and awkwardly paced at moments, but still very entertaining.

The New Crystal Gems

Okay, we are out of the five-episode story arc and are now entering filler territory.

And as light, fillery episodes go, this one is fine. When I first saw it, I actually found it pretty boring and had some disdain for it as I felt that the plot was overly simplistic and seemed like something I’d seen a dozen times in other shows. But, on a second viewing, I more readily accepted the simplicity and lightheartedness of it. It has some playful, self-referential humor that I can appreciate, and it’s interesting seeing Connie interact with Peridot and Lapis. In the end, I still can’t say that I thought it was terrific or hilarious, but I think it’s alright. Not much I can say beyond that.

Storm in the Room

Now this episode is a lot meatier, and it tackles some conflicts going on in Steven that needed to be addressed. Over the course of the series we’ve seen Rose Quartz be built up as this ultra-divine, flawless goddess who serves as the very embodiment of unconditional love, righteousness, and beauty—before being gradually complicated as a Gem who had a darker history than Steven might have thought. I think it was a great idea to have an episode where we have Steven try to reconcile these two seemingly contradictory images of his mother and then bring that conflict to the forefront of the plot.

Using Rose’s room to give a physical manifestation to that conflict was also very creative. I like the idea of Steven creating an ideal version of his mother with whom he kind of lives out this fantasy he’s always had, only to remember that there’s this darker side of his mother that he only just recently has begun to grasp, and it physically transforms her and the room around them. It’s a very appropriately poetic way to convey the war going on inside Steven’s head.

Now, while I’d like to say that I unequivocally loved this episode, I do think it’s bogged down by a couple issues. The biggest one is that I think the episode simply spends too much time on the Connie subplot. It’s like, I get it. I get what you’re doing. Connie’s worried about her mom, the mom comes and gets her, and Steven starts thinking about his own mom and how he’s never had that relationship. I don’t need to spend so much time dwelling on it. Just please do it and move on.

The other thing is that I think the ending of the episode feels really forced. Not the resolution, but the actual ending before it cuts to credits. Having Steven be in this bad mood and then the Gems and Greg suddenly pop in to make everything better—again, it’s like, I get it, Steven still has his family and they’re always gonna be there for him. But do we need to wrap up every episode or heartfelt story like that, now? I feel like this is increasingly becoming a thing, where we have some emotional, possibly sorrowful tale and then we have to end with things on a high note where Steven’s happy to be with family. Bismuth kind of gave me that vibe, this episode gave me that vibe, the most recent episode gave me that vibe—I mean do people remember Rose’s Scabbard? That episode was heavy—possibly the heaviest in the whole series. And it didn’t end with some uplifting note. I mean it kinda does, but it’s still definitely bittersweet. It’s just Pearl and Steven riding on Lion’s back, and Pearl doesn’t even look happy. She’s kind of just sitting there, taking it all in, letting it register. I think the show needs to have more endings like that. Endings which aren’t afraid to just leave you off on a note that doesn’t feel like it was crammed in to make you feel secure by the end.

But that being said, it’s still a pretty good episode. It had some nice atmosphere, a good story to tell, and a creative way to tell it. Maybe it was plagued by a couple awkward notes, but it’s still very well crafted and very well delivered.

Rocknaldo

This episode is an interesting one. Now, I don’t really participate in online discussions of the show, but I think that there is some understanding out there that this episode came across as being at least partially directed at the fans. At the very least, it takes a couple jabs at them (“rock people hate men”). I mean, look, everyone knows it. SU has a some pretty damn toxic fans (everyone remember when that girl was almost driven to suicide because of people harassing her over her SU fanart?).

If this episode is meant to be in any way a commentary on them, it does a pretty good job getting to the heart of the problem. Steven Universe is a show about understanding, acceptance, and being who you want to be. To turn that message against other fans and the show itself completely goes against everything that the show strives toward. Even if this episode isn’t meant to be directed at the fans, though, it still embodies that message and I think it does in some indirect way hold a mirror up to the face of those types of fans (or just those types of people in general who harass and judge in the name of stopping harassment and judgement).

But that all aside, this episode was just sort of…not great. Like from a straight up storytelling perspective. There’s not really any character to root for in this episode. There’s no real conflict to be resolved other than “Ronaldo is acting like a total douche” and then Steven tells Ronaldo off at the end. And, okay, yeah, maybe it’s sort of cathartic, but to me it doesn’t justify the eleven minutes we had to spend with Ronaldo being like “I’M A CRYSTAL GEM! LOOK AT ME! PAY ATTENTION TO ME!” The comedy wasn’t that great and the story is incredibly thin.

The main redeeming qualities to this episode are that 1) it has a message for the show’s toxic fanbase, intentional or not and 2) it finally has some goddamn character progression for Ronaldo. Maybe he won’t be as annoying from now on? Only time will tell. But, yeah, overall, not an episode I think I’ll be watching again anytime soon.

Tiger Philanthropist

This episode’s not bad. It has some cute moments and is generally fairly amusing. I like that it goes back to the whole pro-wrestling plot thread that it sort of left dangling back in season one and never really went  back to. Not that this was something I was dying to see addressed again, but I like that it sort of goes back and says “hey, look, Amethyst has undergone character progression since that episode. Let’s see how it affects her relationship with Steven.” There are a couple funny jokes and a somewhat sentimental ending—pretty much just like the last wrestling episode. Not much I can say about this one. It’s just pretty standard as filler-y episodes go. Pretty good, not great.

Room for Ruby

This episode was kinda weird. I wasn’t really sure where it was going, other than that I totally saw it coming that Navy was gonna turn out to be a total troll at the end of the episode. But the whole thing is basically just setting up that plot twist joke at the end. There’s KIND OF a character thing going on with Lapis and how she’s sort of upset at herself for taking so long to adjust to the Earth, but really there’s nothing that strong going on there. It’s mostly absurd gags and that twist at the end. I saw it coming pretty early on, so I can’t say I thought it was mind-blowing or hilarious or anything to that effect. Just kind of another substandard to standard filler-y episode for me.

STAY TUNED FOR PART 2, WHERE I TALK ABOUT MORE FILLER, PLUS SOME EPISODES THAT ARE ACTUALLY INTERESTING!

[studylifeusa]

Introducing Student Blogger, Valeria: Fearless

Knowing I was able to help my deaf brother become more independent through technology changed my life. I grew up thinking that robots, tools and Legos were for boys, while dolls, make up and teddy bears were for girls. The toy stores said so, TV commercials said so, and society in general, said so. Eventually, it became my point of view as well. Growing up, I wasn't too interested in science and technology and I thought that if I were to talk about those things, I would sound “nerdy” and “less feminine”. However, when I was 18 I was selected to participate in RUTA IN, a tech camp where 20 students from Costa Rica (my home country) get together each year to create prototypes that give solutions for our society through technology and entrepreneurship. Experts in the field would train us to use numerous tools and methods, so that each team could come up with a product that would create a positive impact on our country and the world. On the first day of camp, I was terrified. I didn't know much about coding or prototyping, and I was surrounded by very impressive people. I felt overwhelmed and I feared that I wasn’t good enough. As my team and I started our creative process, I could only think about my little brother.

My younger brother, Sebastian

Sebastian was five years old when he was able to hear for the very first time, after receiving a cochlear implant. Since then, it has been a hard-working journey, where as a family, we have helped him develop his language skills. There has always been a problem, though. Sebastian relies 100% on his implant to hear and, at nighttime, he has to take it off. On early school days, he depends on my mother to wake him up, since he can't hear an alarm on his own. So, my team and I decided that we were going to create a prototype that would help him wake up independently: The Joy Up Pad. My team and I created a pillow pad looking prototype that was programmed to vibrate at a designated time and would have augmented vibrations every certain frequency, programmed by the user. We also created The Joy Up App, which allowed the user to set what time the Joy Up Pad would start vibrating, at what level and how many times per sequence. Then, the user would only have to insert the thin and light pad under their pillow and the programming would do the rest. Those 8 days of hard work and getting to create something unique was so thrilling and empowering. I would idealize how our product could be better for my brother and eventually for the deaf and hard-of-hearing community around the world. I felt so challenged and excited, grasping new knowledge and skills every minute. What I loved the most was realizing I was capable of using technology to come up with a solution and create whatever I wanted, despite my limitations and fears. Because deep inside, I was still scared.

When I was nine years old, I was diagnosed with moderate neurosensorial hyperacusis, in other words, I have a hearing loss. My parents, the doctors and I were shocked. How did I learn to speak two languages growing up with a 35-40% hearing loss? How did I not notice that my hearing level was below average? But, how could I compare if it was all I had ever known? All of these questions came into my mind at the time. Days later, I was told I had to use these weird and big devices called hearing aids so that I could hear better. I refused immediately. Why would I need them? I had done it on my own for nine years and I was fine. I didn't want my friends to think I was different, and I definitely did not want to use those awkward devices... so I didn't. At nine years old I decided to deny the fact that I had a hearing loss. I kept on living my life as if I were completely normal. I kept reading people's lips discreetly, I always sat in the front row at school and, frequently, I would just nod and pretend I agreed on whatever someone else was telling me. It wasn't easy, but to be honest, I was too scared to be different. Too scared to embrace who I was. I was shutting down all these beautiful sounds I had never heard before, just because I couldn't see the wonder and magic of hearing aids’ technology.

Working on the Joy Up Pad for my brother, wearing my new hearing aids :)

Eight years later, at 17 years old, I finally decided to accept my condition and get my hearing aids. I was feeling frustrated and I was struggling in school. I started to wonder if there were more sounds out there and I imagined what it would be like to not feel uncomfortable and excluded in many situations. Every time I remember what it felt like when I tried my hearing aids for the very first time, I can't help but smile. Birds chirping and tweeting, children at the park playing from afar, my shy classmate's tone of voice, my mom's holler from the other side of the house, new musical notes... I could hear it all. I feel so lucky and fortunate that I can now hear everything so clearly and beautifully. Getting hearing aids gave me the confidence to try new experiences such as RUTA IN and Hackathons, learning two more languages, speaking at conferences, and making one of the best decisions of my life: to study abroad. I deeply believe in the power of dreaming and taking action on those dreams, and studying abroad has always been one of mine. Even though Costa Rica is my home and I love my country, I decided to move out of a deep desire to explore beyond borders, to get to know new people, new cultures and to discover what I am capable of achieving outside of my comfort zone.

It is now my ninth month here in Reno, Nevada, and it has been absolutely incredible! I love going to school here, living in the “biggest little city in the world” and getting to know people from around the world. Even though the experience has also been challenging, it has been so fulfilling to look back and know that I am not scared anymore. I now see the world with a new refreshing perspective and look forward to what the future holds. I dream of creating technology that will touch people's lives and that will make a more inclusive world for everyone. What I dream of the most is reaching out to young girls all over the world that feel like they only belong in the dolls’ aisle at the toy store, and I want to empower them through what they can do with technology, leadership and courage. I want to help different cultures understand each other better and I want to provide opportunities for those who are voiceless in this world. May I never lose my wonder and high hopes for a better tomorrow, because I vow to dedicate my gifts and talents for what I so strongly believe in. As I continue to lose my fear, I am convinced that it will have no power over my decisions and actions. Instead, I want to rejoice every day in the opportunities that I have been given to leave a positive mark on this world.

International friends at TMCC

Valeria Saborio is from Costa Rica and is pursuing her Industrial and Systems Engineering degree at Truckee Meadows Community College in Reno, Nevada

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[momkiddies-blog]

Latest Post On https://momandkids.fun/2019/03/05/picture-books-to-teach-sequencing-beginning-middle-and-end/

Picture Books to Teach Sequencing & Beginning, Middle, and End

It’s important to teach sequencing to kids. Use picture books as mentor texts to teach sequence including beginning, middle, and end. Sequencing is part of the Common Core Reading Standards. Understanding a story’s sequence helps kids when they need to retell the events in the story. It also helps kids predict what happens next because they understand the structure of a story or plot.

I specifically love using wordless picture books to teach sequence but there are many wonderful picture books that also can model story sequence or beginning, middle, and end. Here are some of my favorites you can use as mentor texts to teach this specific text structure.

But first, let’s start with a few possible activities to help you teach this concept…

Ideas for Teaching Sequencing to Kids

Skip the Beginning, Middle, or End 

Take any book with a clear beginning, middle, and end but don’t read one of the three parts. I love using Pancake Breakfast by Tomie dePaola and skip the ending.

Start by reading the story aloud to your students. As you start the story, you’ll want to talk about how it begins. Chart the beginning in a large graphic organizer or on a whiteboard. Then continue reading and stop after the middle. Ask your students what happens in the middle. You might prompt with, “After the beginning event happens, what happens?” Now recall together what happens in the middle. (She’s missing an ingredient. When she leaves to get it, the dog and cat make a mess of the batter.) Then, STOP. Don’t read the ending. Brainstorm with your kids what would make for a good ending. Would she come back and eat cereal? Make pancakes again? Ask them to write or draw (if they are pre-writers) what they think the ending should be.

In the next few days, you can use the same story or new stories and formulate what makes for a good beginning, a good middle, and a good ending. Use this to analyze the stories you read (did you like the ending?) and even more importantly, to help your students become better writers. If they know that the ending gives a sense of closure and the beginning gets readers interested as well as provides the setting and characters, you now have a rubric.

Human Sequential Timeline

Split up the story into clear sections that you’ll have them reconfigure back into order. You can do this with small groups or large groups. Have groups take each section, read it, and write a summary sentence about it. Each group shares with the entire class what their part was. When they finish, ask the groups to decide the sequence of events — and arrange their sentences accordingly. If you want to do this in small groups, have each member get a section and the small group rearranges the story in sequential order.

Use Graphic Organizers / Thinking Maps

There are some fantastic visual organizers that will support your kids in thinking sequentially.  As always, model using these organizers one at a time before you do a guided practice or ask your students to work independently. Pick one organizer to use. Gain mastery with that one before asking kids to move on to another one.

Story Sequence Map (Beginning, Middle, End)

Story Sequence Map (First, Next, Then, Last)

Story Sequence (Time Increments such as Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, …)

Flow Map

Timeline

Use Your Organizers and Maps to Retell

When you synthesize the main events, it makes it much easier for children to retell what happened in the story. Use the above graphic organizers to support your children in retelling what happened.

Picture Books to Teach Sequencing and Beginning, Middle, and End

PRINTABLE BOOKLIST

Sequencing with Wordless Picture Books

Quest by Aaron Becker Quest is an enchanting and imaginative picture book written only in pictures that will transport you to a magical world. Follow a boy and a girl with a purple, magical bird on their quest to save the king and his kingdom.

No Dogs Allowed! by Linda Ashman, illustrated by Kristin Sorra What a gorgeous book with a very clear sequence of events. The owner of a fancy bistro turns away a young customer with a dog, replacing his Welcome sign with a “NO Dogs Allowed” sign. More customers with animals of every kind — cat, kangaroos, elephant — arrive and are turned away. The customers and their animals congregate in the nearby plaza where there are a fountain and lemonade stand, prompting the owner to change his mind.

NOPE! A Tale of First Flight by Drew Sheneman For any kid who has been afraid to try something, this book shows in hilarious and sweet illustrations (with almost no text) a young bird’s fear of flying out of the nest. Finally, his mama gives him a swift kick out much to his joyful exuberance.

Pancakes for Breakfast by Tomie de Paola An old woman decides to make pancakes for breakfast. She has all the ingredients for the batter except one. When she leaves to get the missing ingredient, her dog and cat make a mess of the pancake batter all over the house. What will she do now?

A little girl catches a vibrant orange fish. She takes it to her house where she creates a lake system with a hose, a swimming pool, glasses, vases, and pitchers. Then, the little girl returns the orange fish to the lake after a sweet good-bye.

Sequencing with Narrative Picture Books

The Napping House by Audrey Wood and Don Wood One of the most beloved picture books EVER, certainly by my family if not the world, The Napping House is a gentle, rhythmic story about the inhabitants in a sleepy house slowly falling into slumber– then, waking back up again.

“There is a house, a napping house, where everyone is sleeping.”

As the snoring granny, dreaming child, a dozing dog, a snoozing cat, and a slumbering mouse settle in for sleep, they’re unexpectedly awakened in a surprising chain reaction of events. Muted blue-toned illustrations enhance this book’s perfectly sleepy ambiance.

Goldilocks and Just One Bear by Leigh Hodgkinson This is a whimsically illustrated picture book about a bear who gets lost in the city and stops to rest in an apartment. Can you predict where this is going? He really wants some porridge so he tries some but it is too soggy (fish tank water), then too crunchy (cat food), and then too dry (toast). Does this story sound vaguely familiar to you? After the bear tries different “chairs” and beds, he falls asleep. The perfect surprise ending makes this a new favorite fairy tale.

Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs by Mo Willems Here’s another unpredictable and side-splitting retelling of Goldilocks. In this story, we have Dinosaurs, not bears: Papa Dinosaur, Mama Dinosaur, and some other Dinosaur who happened to be visiting from Norway. And “one day, for no particular reason, the three Dinosaurs made up their beds, positioned their chairs just so, and cooked three bowls of delicious chocolate pudding at varying temperatures.” Also, in this story, the dinosaurs eat little succulent children. Oh, and there is some sarcasm. And by some, I mean a lot. “The three Dinosaurs went Someplace Else and were definitely not hiding in the woods waiting for an unsuspecting kid to come by.” I won’t give away the rest — but you can be sure there is silliness and clear event sequencing.

Little Bear’s Big House by Benjamin Chaud It’s another sort-of Goldilocks story with a humorous twist when Little Bear decides to leave his home. He finds and explores a big, empty house. Which is fun at first but he realizes that there are noisy scary monsters in the house, what will he do? Race back home, of course. Meanwhile, you the readers will realize that the noises come from Little Bear’s family who is searching for him. Not only are the illustrations incredible, but they also narrate the family’s parallel search story. It’s a relatable topic for our children — they want independence, but not too much…

Chickens to the Rescue by John Himmelman Good thing for this farming family that their chickens will help with EVERYTHING Monday through Saturday. What will the family do on Sunday, the chicken’s day off? Use this for sequencing a week-long time period.

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Joffe Numeroff In a domino effect of craziness, we learn that one thing leads to another when you give a mouse a cookie. What will happen next? This models sequencing as well as cause and effect.

The Bear’s Song by Benjamin Chad Papa Bear is searching for Little Bear, who has escaped the den. Little Bear is following a bee because where there are bees, there is honey! When the quest leads both bears into the bustling city and a humming opera house, theatrical hijinks ensue, culminating in a deliciously harmonious reunion. Use this to sequence the series of events.

Leave Me Alone by Vera Brosgol This grandmother just wants to be LEFT ALONE so she can finish knitting her grandchildren sweaters for the winter. In peace and quiet. But even in the woods, she’s not left alone. Finally, she finally finds a quiet, dark place to finish her knitting. And then she returns to gift her family with her loving work. A clear beginning, middle, and end.

The Forever Tree by Teresa Surratt and Donna Lukas, illustrated by Nicola Slater

You’ll fall in love with the spirited animals who live in this tree and the loving family they share it with. When Grandfather puts up a swing, the animals at first are worried but not for long. The swing begins a beautiful relationship of family gatherings near the tree. When the tree dies, as trees do, builders give it a second life — it becomes a treehouse.

Twig by Aura Parker My daughter and I absolutely adore this 2018 story about kindness. Bug school is starting and no one notices the new girl, Heidi, a stick insect, not even the teacher. Here’s where the brilliant artwork comes in because kids will have to look closely to see where Heidi is — can you notice where she is? You’ll feel so sad for Heidi who watches the other kids playing. Why won’t someone play with her? When Heidi is finally discovered (on accident by a ladybug), the teacher has a wonderful idea — all the students will knit a square for a scarf. The scarf will help everyone be able to see her. Now she always finds friends in the playground! Clearly shows beginning, middle, and end.

The Little Red Fort by Brenda Maier, illustrated by Sonia Sanchez Remember the story of The Little Red Hen? The Little Red Fort is the same set-up but with a girl-powered engineering twist. And it’s SO awesome — both the clever story and the fantastic illustrations!! Ruby asks her brothers to help her build something. They dismiss her idea. She isn’t daunted– she learns and does it herself. She invites them to help with all the steps in the process — making plans, gathering supplies, cutting the boards, hammering the nails — but the others always decline. The illustrations show the boys playing outside, playing in the pool, playing on screen time. Of course, when Ruby is all done, the boys want to play in her fort but she says no. To apologize, the boys contribute to the fort — flowers, paint, and a mailbox — then they all have a fort-warming party.

The Antlered Ship by Dashka Slater, illustrated by the Fan Brothers Fox has so many questions, questions the other foxes don’t understand. He decides to join the Antlered Ship’s crew where he asks questions, finds adventure, and makes new friends. Now he knows some answers but he’ll always have more questions and plenty of friends.

The Only Fish in the Sea by Philip C. Stead, illustrated by Matthew Cordell When they hear that little Amy Scott dumped her goldfish into the ocean, Sadie and Sherman set off on a rescue mission. They gather supplies that strangely include balloons and monkeys and set off in a borrowed boat. Pay close attention to the illustrations as they tell much of the story. Filled with humor and relatable moments, this is a delightful book to teach story sequence.

Do you know why the wolf howls at the moon? You’ll find out in this story! After a wolf eats him, a little mouse is quite surprised to meet a friendly duck inside the wolf’s belly. A duck who lives there and offers him soup. Now, the duck explains, there is no need to be afraid of getting eaten by the wolf. Together the two trick the wolf to give them exactly what they want to eat. Then, they save the wolf’s life so they can keep living in the comfort (and safety) of his belly. Your kids are going to love this silly story that somehow makes so much sense!

You Might Also Like:

Welcome!

Download my “Can’t Put ‘Em Down” book lists for your kids ages 3 – 13.

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[newmusicmonthly]

2017

Hello,

It has been a whole year without a monthly mailer, hence this now being a yearly mailer.

I hope you’ve all had a great year (and that said monthly mailer hasn’t been missed too much… or has it?).

Anyway, below are my top ten picks of the year, plus my five track picks per month for the whole year (which I have sequenced and arranged roughly chronologically, for your listening pleasure, and because I like lists).

Normal monthly service will hopefully be resumed next year.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year, Roger

TOP 10 TRACKS

LCD Soundsystem – how do you sleep?

The Killers – The Man

Godspeed You! Black Emperor – Anthem for No State (Pt.I-III)

The War On Drugs – Pain

The Horrors – Something To Remember Me By

Spoon – Whisperi’lllistentohearit

The Orange Drop – The Curse of Kukaka

Endless Boogie – Back in ‘74

Chris Forsyth – Have We Mistaken the Bottle for the Whiskey Inside

Ron Gallo – Young Lady, You’re Scaring Me

TOP 10 ALBUMS

LCD Soundsystem – american dream

The Horrors – V

Endless Boogie – Vibe Killer

The Orange Drop – Stoned In Love

The War On Drugs – A Deeper Understanding

Mount Eerie – A Crow Looked at Me

Broken Social Scene – Hug Of Thunder

Michael Nau – Some Twist

Boubacar Tarore – Dounia Tabolo

Richard Dawson – Peasant

Special mention to the best compilation of the year, Various Artists – Wayfaring Strangers: Acid Nightmares

TOP 10 GIGS

31/10/17 – Godspeed You! Black Emperor, The Troxy, London

16/03/17 – Glass Animals, Brixton Academy, London

29/10/17 – The Horrors, KOKO, London

09/12/17 – Marilyn Manson, Wembley Arena, London

01/09/17 – Interpol, Alexandra Palace, London

04/11/17 – Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Brixton Academy, London

17/06/17 – The Stone Roses, Wembley Stadium, London

11/02/17 – Matthew Logan Vasquez, Islington Assembly Hall, London

13/06/17 – Prophets of Rage, Brixton Academy, London

26/09/17 – Kirin J. Callinan, Hoxton Bar And Grill, London

Special mention to the best festival of the year, quite clearly Glastonbury.

NEW MUSIC 2017

The Orange Drop – The Curse of Kukaka Strictly speaking this was released late last year; an exemplary psych wig-out.

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – Nuclear Fusion Ever wondered what people mean by playing behind the beat? Well you can hear the two drummers play both behind and in front of the beat… in the same song! Mentally groovy!

Dead Horse One – Insight Again, released at the end of last year; a wonderful droning compressed psych embrace.

Miles Mosley – Abraham Man alive this band have chops, a fantastic piano-led soul/funk work-out.

Small Feet – A Winter Coat On Bare Bones I think Stockholm band-leader Simon is special singer/song-writer somewhat reminiscent of Neil Young; a song for lonely winter walks.

Loyle Carner – The Isle Of Arran Great rapper, inspiring lyrics, awesome performer, and one of the best samples all year; nuff said.

Sinkane – Telephone Subtle this is not; big dance grooves.

Ron Gallo – Young Lady, You’re Scaring Me Part White Stripes, part Two Gallants, part Rival Sons,; all rock n roll!

Tinariwen – Sastanaqqam The elder masters of ‘desert’ blues always hit the spot.

Strand of Oaks – Everything Punchy boisterous rock, with a few Elvis/Josh Homme ‘Huhs!’ thrown in for good measure.

All Them Witches – 3-5-7 Love this band; rolling heavy stoner rock grooves.

Chicos de Nazca – Never Ends Even woozier than the above, sun washed tequila haze guitars abound.

Great Ytene – Locus Post punk but also four to the floor rock, interspersed with, and descending into, gnawing nervous, and bordering on atonal, washes.

Cameron Avery – C’est Toi Crooning ‘standards’ love song authentically made modern; big baritonevoice, strings and cinematic appeal aplenty.

W.H. Lung – Inspiration! This is a stellar find, coming across as a mix up of Neu!, Talking Heads and Hookworms, exceptional!

Spoon – WhisperI’lllistentohearit Really good album but it is the propulsive drumming which is absolutely stand-out brilliant on this track.

Tamikrest – Wainan Adobat New masters of ‘desert’ blues in my opinion, this is a great up-tempo number.

Mount Eerie – Ravens One of the most difficult and most emotionally affecting songs I’ve ever listened to. Painfully sad and personal, as real as a portrayal of grief as I can imagine.

British Sea Power – Praise For Whatever A tale of two songs in one, with the first half given to atypical British Sea Power songwriting, before mid-way through out stomps an enormous bass lead groove wig out.

The Black Angels – Half Believing Modern psych kings back on form with this menacing yet mournful track.

Betrayers – Belong Here Raga No idea how I found this, but it’s a chugging bluesy number, although not sure it qualifies as a raga.

Matthew Logan Vasquez – Same Stomping, grooving funk soul rock.

Jane Weaver – Did You See Butterflies? Jane laying down those now trademark motorik bass and beats and ethereal vocals, this time concerned with butterflies.

Thurston Moore – Exalted A slowly unfurling melodic opening gives way to some molten guitar workout, before some almighty build and release crashes, and then comes the vocals; immense.

Ho99o9 – United States Of Horror Speaking of immense, these guys are fucking awesome; turn it up to 11, atop spitfire politically charged lyrics, but unlike anything else out there.

Endless Boogie – Back in ‘74 Boogie-tastic with perhaps my favourite lyrics of the year about a kite flying contest at a Kiss concert in 1974.

Pumarosa – Red Beautiful vocals float above a glorious melody and some seriously tight grooves.

Aldous Harding – Blend Sparse, confessional sounding, but altogether quite beautiful.

Minotaurs – Hipswinger Now I know I go on about grooves, but seriously, this is just groove-tastic, when it drops around 0:55, I mean, hell yeah I’m gonna swing my hips; with added brass.

Richard Dawson – Weaver This is a very unique album; it is a concept album, I’ll say no more; this was the track I returned to most often.

Hey Colossus – In A Collision Chugging rock which also manages to sound ominous and delicate at the same time.

Floating Points – Kelso Dunes Ambient instrumental post rock that really taps into a driving motoric groove, that borders on space rock!

B Boys – B Boys Anthem Arty, brash, tight rock song barely over a minute

Michael Nau – Good Thing The sound of this album is a joy, with warm tones and an obvious hiss akin to old records; this track is the most lovely of the lot.

Peter Perret – Living In My Head This is real climbing up the walls, in your head, blues-esque stuff; how Peter Perret has come back from the brink to deliver this kind of great music is anyone’s guess.

Broken Social Scene – Vanity Pail Kids Industrial pounding opening and a soaring indie chorus.

Holy Fuck – Chains Oh Holy Fuck; this is scary techno, which piles on the layers of noise and pounding beats until your ears bleed; it has it’s time and place, but I love it.

Public Service Broadcasting – The Pit Top band, with another great idea for an album; battle like drums and swelling guitar swirls and strings.

Dan Croll – Tokyo Classy pop song-writing with an absolute earworm of a motif.

Jesus on Heroine – Neu!comers A glorious bed of guitars and gentle swells.

Kacy & Clayton – The Light of Day Some 70s folk sounds, bordering on country vocals, warm yet clear.

Chris Forsyth – Have We Mistaken the Bottle for the Whiskey Inside There is that groove; reminds me a bit of a favourite from last year, The Wave Pictures, in the instrumentation, except this has more drawl.

LCD Soundsystem – how do you sleep? So fucking good; the definitive 101 on how to create a build in a song; ominous percussion, unnerving strings, savagely brilliant lyrics (perhaps a touch Bono-esque), which has drop after drop as each instrument is introduced, building to the brilliant titular pay-off; my only gripe is that James didn’t fucking play it live!!!

The Horrors – Something To Remember Me By Great band, great album, and an absolute banger.

The War On Drugs – Pain Guitar solos; hummable, glorious, soaring guitar solos.

The Killers – The Man This is the best song of the year (except LCD obviously); a groovalicious squelchy lyrical monster; it’s USDA certified lean!

Thee Oh Sees – Animated Violence The heaviest Thee Oh Sees (or whatever they’re calling themselves these days) have ever been; a giant slab of heavy sludge interspersed with bizarre guitar arpeggios.

Godspeed You! Black Emperor – Anthem for No State, Pt.III I consider myself lucky to be here at a time I can see Godspeed play live; they are truly peerless. This best track from their latest album comes across like an apocalyptic mariachi song, with strings, guitars, drums, building to a trademark cacophony before the subtle transition at 6:20 which carries you away; beautiful, mournful noise.

Neil Young – Captain Kennedy Not strictly new music, but from the unreleased ‘Hitchhiker’ album released earlier this year, this is Neil at his folky acoustic best.

Juju – And Play A Game A bizarre but wonderful song built upon one repetitive bass line, which literally has about a dozen genres stuffed in it; stick with it though, and from roughly 2 minutes in it is motorik gold.

Marilyn Manson – SAY10 Manson doing what Manson does best; that chorus is one of the hookiest things I’ve heard all year, and the guitars sound absolutely on point, just the right about of crunch.

St. Vincent – Smoking Section I think of this as Annie’s broadway showtune of sorts, like ‘A Man Needs A Maid’, but it’s more than that, it’s personal, mournful, and yes theatrical, but also has a wonderful send off.

Courtney Barnett, Kurt Vile – Fear Is Like a Forest Much as I struggle with Courtney’s vocal delivery, she does sound great here, and with Kurt layering on the Crazy Horse guitars, it’s just a great track.

Curtis Harding – Ghost Of You Smoky soul and grooves.

New Candys – Tempera Reverb?! Can we get anymore reverb?! Solid psych under 3 minutes!

Baxter Dury – Miami Perhaps the best bassline of the year, slinky and disgusting at the same time, with the lyrics to match depicting a grotesque character amped up to 11, but absolutely delicious.

Baltic Fleet – A la Mortal I have a penchant for crescendo focused instrumental ambient rock, which is exactly what this is.

Pete International Airport – Flowers Of Evil Languid grooves buried beneath ambient textures and Robert Levon Been’s (of BRMC fame) trademark sing/sneer, but transitions into a gentle and quite beautiful outro.

Pretty Lightning – The Rhythm Of Ooze With a distinct whiff of Archie Bronson Outfit, this takes a blues riff and pushes it to the max.

Boubacar Traore – Dis lui que je l’aime comme mon pays Absolutely fantastic acoustic blues from the legendary Malian bluesman; it’s the same progressions and structures but with a vital energy and magnificent instrumental interplay which is as rousing as it is impressive.