#one of my sporadic product reviews

[punisheddonjuan]

I bought an 8BitDo Pro 2 controller a few months ago because I wanted something that would be a good match for playing retro games through emulation. The Pro 2 seemed like a good choice because it's got that Nintendo reversed button layout (BA/YX instead of AB/XY) and a proper D-pad. It took a little finagling in RetroArch, but it performs this task admirably. In fact this thing is just so damn good that it has replaced the XBox Series controller as the gamepad I reach for when playing any game where a controller is the optimal choice (e.g. FromSoft games).

The sticks are responsive and make use of hall effect sensors rather than potentiometers so there's no risk of stick drift over time, the R2 and L2 triggers are fully analog and adjustable, it's got programmable paddles on the bottom (I've got them set to R3 and L3), and the software allows for full programmability of the face buttons, dead zones for the analog sticks, and variable turbo settings, all of which can be saved to one of the three user profiles. The rechargeable battery lasts 20 hours, failing that you can swap it out for two AAs. The Bluetooth is rock solid and fast after a firmware update. It just feels solid too. The big thing for me is that it's just really comfortable to hold. I have large hands with very long fingers so the wider spacing between the analog sticks and the buttons means my hands are much less cramped with this controller. I'm not shaking out my hands and doing finger stretches every fifteen minutes because of cramping.

Oh and if you plug it in and set the input toggle over to Switch mode, YuZu reads it as a Switch Pro controller and the Pro 2's motion input works perfectly, which makes those dungeons in Breath of the Wild/Tears of the Kingdom where you need to move a ball through a maze a hell of a lot easier.

I grew up in the Nintendo 64/PlayStation era when a third party controller was something you forced on your little brother because it was a piece of shit. This is miles removed from that experience. Now don't get me wrong, the XBox Series controller is really nice, but it's the one I'm giving to be forcing onto any friend who comes over and wants to play Mario Kart 64.

[active-mind-15]

If the GoM + KagaKuro + Momoi had YouTube channels

I saw a headcannon post like this a few days ago and thought I'd take my own crack at what I think the YouTube channels of the main cast of KNB would look like if they had them. Hope you enjoy!

[KUROKO]

Mainly on the book side of YouTube.

He likes to do book reviews and book recommendation videos and keep people updated on what he's been reading recently.

He also does this thing where he opens up a Google Form every once in a while and takes suggestions from his subscribers on what to read and then he'll pick a few suggestions at random and give his thoughts in a video.

Sometimes he does vlogs where he hits up his favorite bookstores and encourages people to visit them (he mainly supports local bookstores and also is a big library advocate and often urges his viewers to support their local libraries, too).

On occasion, he uses YouTube shorts or the community tab to post pics and short vids about Nigou like taking him for a walk or dressing him in cute outfits (Nigou is Kuroko's pfp on his channel).

Kuroko also never shows his face in any of his videos and his viewers always get so curious about what he looks like, but when they ask for a face reveal, he never budges.

Because no one can see his face, they focus a lot on his voice and Kuroko has been told by many people that his voice is calming and he could definitely dip his foot into ASMR. He compromises by posting the occasional video of him reading excerpts from his favorite books.

[KAGAMI]

Very much a "ball is life" type of guy. He posts clips of his basketball game highlights from school tournaments. Also posts clips of him playing streetball with his team members from Seirin and sometimes other GoM members if Kuroko invites him to come play.

He posts travel logs, too. It could be something like him heading to LA to visit or to get some basketball training in with Alex. OR he could do "day in the life" vlogs in Japan where he just shows people how he's living. He posts them very sporadically, there's no schedule for any of his vlogs.

I feel like he could also do those "What it's like to live in ____" videos where he tells people about his experiences living in the US and Japan and gives people travel tips he's picked up along the way.

I bet he has YouTube shorts where he films what he eats in a day, and because of the sheer volume of food he consumes, his subscribers always think he's bullshitting because who tf eats that much in 24 hours?

He also does YouTube shorts where he cooks simple dishes. He always gives people an ingredients list so they can try the recipes, too.

He probably has both a domestic and international viewer base because he's bilingual (and I saw a headcanon someone had that Alex taught both Himuro and Kagami some Spanish so maybe he's even trilingual). When talking directly to viewers, he switches between languages a lot.

I bet he does livestreams too every once in a while when he's alone on a basketball court at night and wants some company, so he just props his phone up and comes back to it every so often to read the live chat.

[KISE]

Oh, he's a beauty guru through and through. I know he's got makeup tutorials on his channel. He also does viral makeup challenges (or maybe he creates his own challenges and they go viral on their own).

He also posts a lot of GRWM videos. Sometimes he gets ready for modeling work, and other times he gets ready for school or a basketball game.

Also, he deffo gets sponsorships from cosmetic brands all the time like maybe foundation or face wash. He just has so much social media presence that brands are all lining up to ask Kise to use their products.

I can see him doing vlogs, too. Usually when he's out doing modeling work. He likes to show his subscribers behind-the-scenes stuff about modeling and how the industry works.

He 100% does clothing hauls, too. He likes to pick clothing brands he thinks deserve more love so that his subscribers start shopping there and the brands get more business.

He does livestreams where he does Q&A with his subscribers and talks more about himself there. They're a fan-favorite because subscribers get to see him more laidback and comfy.

I can also see him trying to do simple dance challenges for YouTube shorts as well. He usually tries to drag his Kaijo teammates or even the other GoM into it. Some are more receptive than others, to put it lightly...

[MIDORIMA]

He's a weirdo (said endearingly) on YouTube. He makes content for all the boys and girlies interested in obscure niche topics.

I'm sure a good chunk of what he posts is related to horoscopes and compatibility stuff.

He also does livestreams where he does fortune-telling for his subscribers, usually summoning the power of whatever his lucky item is that day.

I would also like to think he does videos picking apart popular conspiracy theories and then going to war with said conspiracy theorists in the comments.

But then another part of his channel is almost like "study with me" type videos where he shows the process of completing homework or getting ready for an important test/exam.

A lot of people under his comments for those videos ask him for study tips and he freely gives out advice.

There are also people under his comments who talk about how stressed school makes them and he's actually very encouraging and supportive to them in his own way. He's big on motivating his subscribers to try their hardest and not to get too down on themselves if their results aren't as good as they expected. Because of this, his subscribers love to update him on their academic progress, both the good and the bad, and Midorima reads every single one of their comments.

[AOMINE]

Probably the most sporadic poster of them all. Nobody ever knows when this boy will post and he gives no heads up either. YouTube community tab is for losers. You'll see his videos when you see them.

Most of the time he uploads videos they're usually super short, maybe no more than 2 minutes long. And the content of these videos could honestly be about anything.

Sometimes they're clips of gameplay from a video game and other times, it's just him filming random stuff that captures his eye.

He doesn't edit or nothin, he just rawdogs the YouTube experience and posts his videos as they are from his phone.

In a way, you could call some of the videos vlogs, but they're just so short and borderline cryptic that his subscribers don't see them as anything other than shitposts. And that's precisely why Aomine has amassed a sort of cult following.

The non-shitpost short videos are ones where he films himself catching bugs in the summer. Those are actually super cute and wholesome because he likes to share factoids about the bugs he caught.

The only times he does longer videos is if he posts clips from streetball matches he has with the other GoM + KagaKuro. They're usually titled something like "Kicked Kagami's ass in b-ball today". Any and all dislikes on videos like that are solely from Kagami and all the burner accounts he uses to dislike Aomine's videos.

[MURASAKIBARA]

I think his most popular segment would be snack/sweet reviews. Especially when there are new limited edition flavors of something. Sometimes snack brands like to send him mystery boxes for him to open up on camera.

He also likes to talk about what he eats when he travels to new places, giving tips on places to eat in foreign countries that you may not find on an initial search online.

His subscribers treat his word like the holy bible and a lot of them will not trust a snack unless Murasakibara has said it's good. He's like the Keith Lee of snack YouTube. Very wholesome but also holds a lot of authority.

I think he would totally do mukbangs, too. He noticed his subscribers love it the most when he eats crunchy stuff, so a lot of his videos around that are him eating chips or his maiubo sticks. It's basically ASMR, at this point.

While he does mukbangs, he likes to rant talk about his day to his subscribers. They find it very endearing when he gets invested in telling stories.

I remember Fujimaki once saying Murasakibara's alternate future job would be a baker/patissier, so I think Murasakibara would also have content where he's just baking. He likes to take suggestions on what he bakes from subscribers. His taste testers are his Yosen teammates or the GoM if he happens to be down in Tokyo/Kyoto for whatever reason.

The only non-food content he has on his channel is his livestreams, where he plays video games. He either plays cozy farming sims or horror games. There is no in-between.

[AKASHI]

A total equestrian boy. A good chunk of his channel is riding sessions he has with his horse, Yukimaru. He answers questions about horses from his subscribers in the comments all the time. Sometimes you will see him under the comments of other good horse YouTube channels gushing about how beautiful those YouTubers' horses are and how well their owners take care of them. He asks them about certain riding gear he sees them use, too, so he can buy it for himself.

Another chunk of his channel is music-related. He likes to upload videos playing his favorite pieces on both the piano and the violin. He takes song requests from his subscribers, too. Once in a blue moon, he'll even post a piece he composed himself. One time, he posted a video of himself playing the violin for Yukimaru, and his subscribers thought it was the most precious thing ever.

He also posts videos of himself playing shogi, either by himself or whoever he has convinced into playing shogi with him. It's usually Midorima, and he always loses.

Speaking of Midorima, Akashi noticed his "study with me" videos and wanted to try doing it, too. This eventually led to once-a-month livestreams where Akashi studies by himself in his room. This led to his subscribers nicknaming him "Lofi Girl". He did not understand the reference.

He posts basketball stuff on there, too. Usually, stuff he's taken from his own team's practices as he observes them from the sidelines.

He also sometimes posts YouTube shorts of the Uncrowned Kings when he's hanging out with them. They're always candids of them engrossed in a conversation, or when they're goofing off, and during those times, when Akashi feels compelled, he'll sneakily record them and post it later, almost like an archive of memories to look back on and smile.

He's also pretty passionate about mental health and sometimes talks about it on his channel, encouraging people to normalize conversation around it. He gives updates on his own mental health journey (yes, I have a headcannon that he starts going to therapy after the Winter Cup) and his subscribers are always so supportive of him for being open and honest about it. His transparency in turn inspires his subscribers to take their own mental health more seriously and they give Akashi updates of their own. He always loves hearing their progress and always tells them to hang in there.

[MOMOI]

She loves a lil vlog here and there. She loves showing people what she does on a day-to-day basis. Her editing style is also super adorable.

She also likes to livestream to just talk to her subscribers about anything, really. A lot of times, it ends up being about romance, though.

Her content has a slight overlap with Kise in which she also does GRWM videos. Usually for school or to go into town. Sometimes this bleeds into her doing videos where she puts outfits together for specific situations and gives fashion/makeup advice to subscribers.

She does hauls, too, but it's all bath salts and bath bombs. She has an extensive collection of candles, too, and she loves to tell her subscribers when she gets new stuff.

She's probably also done a room tour, too, I bet. I like to think her bedroom has that gamer-girl vibe. Just all cute shit but at the same time she gets down to business you do not play around with data analyst Momoi.

I would say she also includes the other miracles the most out of everyone. Kise is usually the most willing participant in her videos. They probably team up for makeup challenge videos. Somehow they rope Aomine into them to be their test subject, may God bless his soul.

She also likes to take videos of the GoM when they have get-togethers. Her subscribers get a kick out of seeing their antics and they constantly tell her she has amazing friends. Momoi agrees.

Anyway, that was it from me. I don't think I've ever done a KNB headcanon post like this before, so I just wanted to try. I hope you guys liked it! ✨✨✨

[fulgurbugs]

It’s time for another doll review!

today, i’m unboxing venus mcflytrap, the newest in the series of core students for monster high g3. she’s been showing up in targets sporadically, though my targets tend to be late on the pickup so i ended up ordering her for delivery as soon as she was up on the website.

she was delivered a few days early and i sent her to my moms house, so i was dying to go back there to open her up for those few days. here’s her in box! she’s quite tall, though without an abbey to compare im not sure if she’s about the same size as her?

freed from the box! once again the star jar is my prop-up instead of a proper stand, though venus is actually sturdy enough to stand on her own without too much trouble.

of course we’ll take a look at the shoes. g3 loves a gradient boot, and i’m a fan here. the look like concrete planters before they fade to pink, and the teeth are just hilarious.

the vines are rubbery and removable. the bottoms of them have a peg that secures them to the boots.

another detail i wanted a close up on is venus’s molded vine details. i love that g3 is going more in with the monsterey details, and these are awesome. they peek out just above her mismatched legging pieces

the face: venus’s mold and makeup are both great. instead of the shaved side of her g1 version, she has molded braids, which still give her that asymmetrical look. her ear mold also has a leaf look to it as well. her hair is some kind of yarn, i believe. i’m not sure how durable the ends are, though, so i may see if there’s a need to seal them to preserve them. (in addition, one minor defect i have seen people have with their venus rooting is that the larger yarn plugs seem to sometimes tear her scalp slightly, so it may be something to check for if you’re buying her in person.) i’m a very big fan of the black features they’ve added to venus this generation, which i think has been the general consensus on her design that i’ve seen online. her reception has been overwhelmingly positive, and she is the doll that has many people warming up to g3. and id have to agree! i’m a little picky with what dolls i want (unless they’re draculaura dolls, lol) and she was an instant note on my wantlist as soon as those stock photos were out.

accessories! venus comes with a clear open backpack, icoffin, energy bar, water bottle, a hair product bottle (if someone knows specifically what product it is please let me know, im not sure off the top of my head), sunglasses shaped like venus flytraps (of course) and her pet, chewlian.

chewlian is well… definitely a pet! he does come out of the pot, though. i said this in a previous review, i think core lagoonas, but i’m continually baffled and amused at the ability of g3 to turn every pet into a dog or cat version of it. while the pets have never been a draw for me, this is just comical. i think i’ll stick by a previous joke i made that chewlian just ate someone’s dog, and that’s why he looks like that.

the backpack can hold one (1) chewlian or all of her other accessories. something about the way this backpack sits on her or the silhouette or something is awesome to me, i love it a lot. it’s super cute, and i want to display her with the bag instead of storing the backpacks like i usually do.

one last little thing, while i don’t have abbey, my draculauras, or even twyla to compare her too, i think venus is about abbey height, though i think she’s got a slimmer body and hips. here’s her next to frankie. venus also uses the clawed hand mold.

of course, we have to have the obligatory .5 shot

and that’s venus! one last note i want to make is there’s been a lot of fomo around her, but i want to remind people she is going to be widely available as abbey and clawd are. she is going to stick around for a long time compared to other lines, so there’s no need to pay scalper prices for her (i know i say this as someone who bought her as soon as i could, but that was as soon as i could for strictly retail price. i’m just saying i get it, lol.)

i also recognize that that’s a bit america-centric, but she also did start showing up in person in the UK before the US, so hopefully her international release isn’t as frustrating as other lines and characters.

thanks for reading! big g3 venus fan now and forever, and i’m excited to see her eventually show up in other lines, too!

[lesamis]

tag people you want to catch up with/get to know better

tagged by @starkey & @percybysshes :') thank you!

last song: the chemical worker's song, great big sea

last film: mr malcolm's list, upon receiving a very convincing freckle recommendation. it's wonderful. highly recommend for your autumn saturday afternoons.

current/last read: recently finished alec, which made me miss maurice, so now i’m on that one again. i also recently bought ruins and visions by stephen spender, which i’ve been sporadically dipping into - very puzzling and very good.

currently watching: miss fisher’s murder mysteries s1, ofmd s2

current obsessions:

chocolate and cherry bircher müsli

improving my backstroke

frenchie ofmd (it’s such a good season for him! fairies! glittery cat flag! peanut allergy! best outfits on the entire show! if he doesn’t get to sing again before the season’s over i’ll personally show up in david jenkins’s house)

the lotr musical

this german youtuber’s reviews of new vegan products

zero pressure tags: @winterwyrd, @mysunfreckle, @byrons, @dannydakota, @sorgenfalter, @kazimirov, @gellavonhamster if any of you feel like it! :')

[adultswim2021]

Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job #35: “Tommy” | March 9, 2009 - 12:30AM | S04E05

I’m feeling pretty great about season four, but this is the first straight-up dud if you ask me. Still, there’s stuff to like about it: 

This one is actually fairly dominated by wraparounds, which have to do with Tommy Wiseau of The Room fame coming in to “direct” the episode. This amounts to supposed behind-the-scenes footage of Tommy directing Tim & Eric in their sketch “Pig Man”, which Tommy takes over by replacing Tim and Eric with himself and Jessica Alba (not real).

There’s little documentary-style talking heads throughout, where Tim & Eric describe what went wrong. Tommy is also interviewed, but I think he’s being pretty genuine in his segments. Tommy getting mad at Tim & Eric is probably staged to some degree, but Tommy comes off genuinely controlling. Whenever Tim & Eric do their loud-whisper bit, Tommy immediately steps in and scolds them to stop, even though those are part of the scene outside of “the scene”. The set seems legitimately tense and awkward in certain moments, even though that’s what they probably set out to capture. 

Wiseau’s attempts at being funny are, of course, odd and troubling. If you’ve ever made the mistake of trying to watch his post-Room work where he’s actually trying to be funny, you already knew this. This footage must’ve been tough to salvage, but some moments are good, like Tommy calling cut during his talking head interview, which the editors spitefully left in. There’s even more of this stuff in the deleted and extended scenes, but there’s nothing too groundbreaking in there; it’s a lot of the same. 

The best part of the episode for me (when I saw this for the first time, I mean), was the baffling clip of The Room, which I had never heard of before seeing this episode. This, along with Adult Swim’s eventual airing of the film, got me into The Room. The clip they showed here probably comes off superfluous now that the film has reached more of a cultural saturation point, but at the time it was an unironic highlight and a revelation. I’m a The Room liker, what can I say? 

Other sketches: a middling song sung by a cast of Tim & Eric style freaks, singing about the “things (they) like”. This has some lines that are better on paper. This whole thing is sort of a miss. Fact is, this seems very derivative of “The Daves I Know” from The Kids in the Hall, and almost sounds like they maybe accidentally lifted the melody and had to make a last minute change to the music or something. I’m speaking as a person whose sincere attempts at writing comedy have yielded more than one “accidental” lifts from KITH. I can smell it form a mile away. I do like the sleepy guy transition they do at one point. That one dude was so sleepy!

There’s a Tim & Eric song about liking to pork. This is the sort of silliness I more associate with a season one episode. It’s fine, and I respect that they do stuff like this on television, but this didn’t set my world on fire. There’s also another installment of Afternoon Review (the talk show for women, but it’s footage of a weird guy doing something weird). This might be my least-favorite recurring sketch in the whole show. Hell, even just cutting to this footage without the jokey title card would be preferable. 

The best sketch in the episode is Fred Willard as the sole contact for a product called Mancierge. Business men call an overworked WIllard who sits in his office and tries to pour over various paper phone books while fielding multiple calls asking for things like good restaurants or dry cleaners. He’s in way over his head, and has some really funny lines. And the extended cut on the DVD is worth checking out. It’s probably also on Youtube. Seriously, I'm bad at linking to all the DVD extras that are on Youtube; I do it very sporadically. If you are looking for a DVD extra chances are some kind person has uploaded it somewhere, and you should look for it before committing to buying a used DVD if you are not a person who wants to buy and own DVDs.

I recall Tim talking about Fred Willard doing the show (probably on Office Hours, around the time he died). He said Fred was really pleased with the response his first appearance got. I think he thought it was cool that young people were recognizing him in public. He was definitely game to return, which is nice. I like to imagine Fred showing up to the set, dressed like a catholic school boy, clutching his over-break coursework. “I am ever so glad to return to your bosom.” It is a nice thought. Sadly, it will remain only a thought and he will never return. Fred Willard has passed. 

Tim, Eric, and Tommy were going to collaborate on Tommy’s “sitcom” The Neighbors, but Tommy wanted them to help with the script and production and stuff in order to help make it “good”. I recall Tim talking about it in a few places, saying that they intended to produce it but be completely hands off. I think they dodged a bullet, because that thing is borderline unwatchable. I attended one live showing of The Room, where Tommy was asked about working with Tim & Eric. He said it was fine, but they had creative differences before quickly moving on. LOL

MAIL BAG

Sorry I forgot to post Thursday Night. I forget why I forgot. We call that "big forget". Sorry I big forgot, everyone.

Zoe Lister-Jones is proof that Rashida isn't the only Jones that is ball-drainingly hot.

Disgusting, SEXIST remark. Using such foul words like "ball". But I agree, she's an extremely beautiful woman and I would be thrilled if she acknowledged me.

No, Jon Glaser didn’t recur on 30 Rock. He just appeared in the cold open of an episode that aired Oct 2009, months after this Delocated season 1. Sorry!

Do not be sorry! I was out of pocket there. I didn't watch 30 Rock, and I showed my dick to everyone. But I still have the vague sense that Adult Swim thought Delocated was like some kind of compliment to the NBC comedy night??? Like, they thought Delocated kinda-sorta resembled one of those shows, or that they had a shot at having some of that audience cross-over? Am I nuts?

[adventuresinclientservice]

The year in review (or the fruitless search for a title to this post).

Each anniversary of the past dozen years I’ve been tormented with the need to come up with a suitable title idea.  One year it was “In praise of unknown heroes.”  For another it was “A minor moment in a major life.”  For a third it was “Ideas are where you find them.” 

As I struggle with this one, I have an Occam’s Razor moment; I call it, “The year in review.”  Not scintillating, but serviceable.

This year there were 48 posts, 13 of which devoted to various aspects of before, during, and now after my trip to Bucharest, to speak at the International Advertising Association’s Annual Conference on “Why Client Service is an Art.”

Thirteen posts?  In a year?  What in heaven’s name possessed you to do this?  Why not just write one, or maybe two, as you do with most other workshops you give or speeches you deliver?  Was this an act of mindless, I-can’t-find-anything-else-to-write-about, ego-driven behavior?

True that, but this was an event like no other.

Take an unusual location, add a breathtaking venue and a line-up of talented, international presenters, then combine it with the most professional production I’ve ever had the honor in which to participate, and you have something extraordinary.  Not to you necessarily, but to me the conference and my participation in it deserve the time and attention I devoted to it. 

In fact, if this proves to be the last time I present – I surely hope not -- at least my exit was memorable.    

What about the other 36 posts?  Are any worth the time to read?  There are three I would single out:

“When advertising mattered.”

“At 233,000 a second, are Superbowl ads worth the money?”

“Final words.”

The first, because it celebrates an agency not just because of its creativity, but because of its integrity, something in short supply at most advertising and marketing agencies I know.  We often sell out when we should be walking out instead.

The second, because it explains in detail what makes an effective ad on the most celebrated, and expensive advertising outlet in the world.  So-called great agencies are responsible for much of what we see, so why are so many ads complete and utter failures, dismissible, perishable, and anything but memorable?

The third, because it offers counsel on an often-overlooked skill that is critical to everyone’s success, most particularly Account and client service people.

To those (few) of you who discovered Adventures in Client Service this year, thank you for becoming readers, even if it’s sporadic and fleeting.

And to those who have been with me since the beginning of time (2010) – the Ken Ohlemeyer’s, Rick English’s, and Peter Van Bloem’s of the world – you have my gratitude for sticking it out and sticking with me.

Even if it’s only a monologue, I look forward to our conversation the next 12 months!

[bashsbooks]

An Abundance of Katherines Book Review

★★★☆☆ ~ 3 out of 5 stars

Like most tweens and teens in 2012, I read The Fault in Our Stars and loved it. It was always my intention to go back and read more of John Green’s books in the future, which I only managed with a little success over the past decade, despite coming across John Green himself everywhere - at school via Crash Course, on TikTok and Instagram where he posts funny personal videos, and here on Tumblr, where he has long been the butt of a rather vicious bullying ‘joke.’ After running across him online once again at the end of 2022, I resolved that in the new year, I was finally going to get back to that goal and read more of his work. 

Enter An Abundance of Katherines, a book I had long been intrigued about from its title alone. What did that mean? I knew from skimming a synopsis that it had something to do with a teenage boy who only dated girls named Katherine - nineteen of them, to be exact - but otherwise, I had little concept of what was going to happen in this book.

To give a more comprehensive summary, An Abundance of Katherines is about a former child prodigy named Colin Singleton, who worries that he doesn’t have what it takes to be a true genius and that he will never find love after Katherine XIX dumps him. Colin and his best friend, Hassan, take a roadtrip to a small town in Tennessee where they meet a girl their age, Lindsey Lee Wells, and her mother, Hollis, who offers the boys a summer job interviewing locals about their lives. In the downtime between navigating this new job, town, and burgeoning friendship with Lindsey, Colin is trying to figure out a theorem that perfectly predicts the trajectory of any relationship - how long it will last and who will dump who. This last part means there was more math in this book than I’d hoped for, though, as Green points out in the footnotes at one point, not more than absolutely necessary. 

An Abundance of Katherines was written in 2008, and in some ways, it feels like a product of its time (most glaringly through Lindsey’s sporadic use of the r-slur). In other ways, it feels defiant of this time, though: Hassan is a Muslim who speaks Arabic regularly throughout the book, and Colin notes how his theorem will work for gay couples. This tension of succumbing and overcoming its time are a great microcosm of the messiness that it is deeply entrenched in every layer of the novel - from the clash of Chicago-natives Colin and Hassan with the small town folks of Gutshot, Tennessee, to Colin’s obsession with being a genius against Hassan’s satisfaction with not doing much of anything, there are a lot of differing ideas rubbing shoulders in this book.

Overall, this works well for An Abundance of Katherines. It is messy in a realistic way; the characters are far from perfect, but they’re not the worst people in the world. This is something I particularly enjoy about Green’s writing - he has an amazing ability to humanize his characters. There were points throughout the book where I thought each member of the main cast was being annoying or irritating, but this was not so pervasive that it kept me from rooting for them and ultimately wishing them a happy ending. 

I must confess, though, that while I found this messiness interesting, I found most of the book ultimately boring. Not bore-me-to-sleep boring and not I-can’t-finish-this boring, but it just did not feel like much happened. Its problems, at times, can be a little too mundane - interpersonal teen drama and the threat that a financial crisis can pose to a small town. That is not to say these aren’t important issues to cover, just that they are not the most exciting things in the world to read on their own. And personally, I find advanced math to be a bit boring, so when it was necessary to read about the theorem and how it functions, I found myself yawning. 

Additionally, though I like footnotes in fictional texts (House of Leaves rights), and generally appreciated the layer that An Abundance of Katherines’ footnotes added to the narrative (as these footnotes competing with the main text for attention also adds to that nice messiness I mentioned), I did not like them in a digital format. If you give this book a read, I highly recommend picking up a physical copy, unless you want to keep clicking back and forth between the page you’re on and the accompanying footnotes. I understand this is not a fault of the text itself as much as the medium in which I chose to read it, but it compounded my boredom with a certain tediousness that made most of this book a slog for me. 

Ultimately, this book was a solid 3 out of 5 stars for me. It was fine. Not the worst, not the best. I really don’t have much else to say about it. Read it if you like. I think it makes for fine leisure reading. But don’t expect anything terribly exciting or revelatory.

[4trackcassette]

well i said i wanted to do my top albums 2022 and that we should have a tag game sooo I'm inventing it myself. this is more the top 5 (ok. 6. Forgive me) albums that i actually listened to rather than my assertion of quality. but. Here goes.

Top 6 Albums*

*in no particular order.

Expert in a Dying Field by the Beths

Review: I've been a bit suprised by how much this album has been cropping up on EOY lists. 45 minutes of good rock music: insightful lyrics, catchy hooks, melancholy, and perfect pop/rock guitar. I feel like I could listen to this anywhere. I wouldn't say this is one of the greatest albums of all time or anything like that, but it's just a good and deeply enjoyable album, and I love it!!

Standout song: "Expert In A Dying Field"

Crash by Charli XCX

Review: Look, I didn't get into Charli XCX until this year. This album propelled Charli to my no1 workout artist. We all know she writes interesting pop bangers, and does great collabs, and manages to pack a lot into just a few words. This album is no different. A rare album that I enjoy listening in order, on shuffle, or just individual songs. Also Charli is REALLY hot in the Hot In It music video which isn't even on this album but I like it anyway. #hotgirlnation

Standout song: "Yuck"

Nymph by Shygirl

Review: This one was brought to me by Tumblr Peer Review. Also an album that I wish was longer but works sooo perfectly the way it is -- no song over 4 minutes and 12 songs clocking in just under 33 min. I feel like listening to thisis scratching an itch in my brain, all the way from the beginning. Again, listen to a lot of this when working out. Great production, and a great journey through so many different interesting sounds throughout the album.

Standout song: "Shlut"

Preacher's Daughter by Ethel Cain

Review: It's rare I get into an artist based on what they're saying on their music, but I suppose not much about Ethel Cain is standard. I saw her saying things like "You're behind the counter at a diner, taking someone's order, thinking about how your world just ended a couple of hours ago. Life just does not stop" and desscribing her work as overkill American melodrama, and "ridiculous, psychotic, psychedelic." My first response to this album was "this is an epic" -- it must be said that I love a concept album, especially ones based around a complex persona such as Ethel Cain herself. But, as you all know, I was also a Religious Studies major. I like music that reflects back on God in America just as well.

Standout song: "Sun Bleached Flies"

Bonus: I'll share this piece on her from Vogue as well.

MATRIARCHY NOW by Pussy Riot

Review: I've never been a Pussy Riot fan in my life, though I had some sort of vague positivity towards their art-collective punk. I also wouldn't describe myself as much into hyperpop...but, you know. I think like, if you're taking a serious analytical perspective, it's probably like, whatever sexual political pop jam packed with collabs. But I don't CARE because it FUCKS and I LOVE IT!!! And also because ending the album with Big Freedia sells me over any day of the week!!

Standout song: "PRINCESS CHARMING"

A Bit of Previous by Belle and Sebastian

Review: I love Belle and Sebastian. I'm probably most a fan of their first three albums, and have sporadic familiarity with the rest of their discography. That being said, this was probably the album of the summer to me. Like the rest of their work that I love, this is a beautiful album about togetherness and being an adult and a whole bunch of different sounds. Sometimes it's just nice to listen to an album that's nice, and this is one of them.

Standout song: "Prophets on Hold"

Bonus: I enjoyed this interview on the album with Stuart Murdoch on Switched on Pop.

Honorary mentions

Special by Lizzo, MUNA by MUNA, Laurel Hell by Mitski, Palomino by First Aid Kit, I Walked With You A Ways by Plains (Waxahatchee, Jess Williamson), Stay Proud of Me by NoSo, Caroline Shaw: Evergreen by Caroline Shaw and the Attacca Quartet, Bleed Out by The Mountain Goats, Only the Strong Survive by Bruce Springsteen, Dance Fever by Florence and the Machine

Top 5 songs:

"Free" by Florence and the Machine -- my favorite single of the year, easy. also my top song of the year. Every time I hear this, I want to dance with my arms out and my eyes closed.

"The Only Heartbreaker" by Mitski -- I liked both this and "Love Me More," though was vaguely disappointed most of the rest of the album. As you can tell, I love some good synth.

"About Damn Time" by Lizzo -- Never let it be said that I'm completely unaware of pop music!!!!!!!! This song is fun and bouncy and well, I can't help but love Lizzo!!!!!!!

"Out of My Head" by First Aid Kit -- I'm under no qualms about this being one of FAK's best but holy cow does this song click in my head. It's just folky and soaring in the perfect way. Gorgeous harmonies. Also, I like any song with the word "running" in it.

Soul Days (ft. Sam Moore) by Bruce Springsteen -- I love Bruce's old man voice, I love the Sam Moore feature, I love the songs he's covering. This one in particular I think is a tempting languish and just really lovely, easy listening.

I tag....@loiteringdiligently @krysten-knitter @thelittlebirdthatkeptsomanywarm @holdoncallfailed @commontrait @beginnersmind and anyone else who might want to. Of course none of u have to do it to indulge me or write as much as I did... but I always just like to see what people r listening to...

[sergeantnarwhalwrites]

Happy STS! If your OC could have a YouTube channel, what would it be like?

Hey! Thanks for the ask!

I couldn't just pick one oc so I'm doing the whole Robots & Gardens crew.

Green: Stupid ass skits. Where she very vaguely shows off a lot of random skills she has completely unintentionally. She'll upload consistently then drop off the face of the earth for like a year and come back with a skit of a fake ass reason she won't online. Real reason is she gets demonetized cause she refuses to censor her cursing.

Peace: Probably reviews. Mostly off like online shops, random products, items seen often under sponsorships. Definitely gets age restricted for some of the products she reviews. She doesn't make money off the videos cause she has ripped apart sponsored products. Uploads sporadically.

Green and Peace: XD People saw them collabing and like people do they harassed them about a relationship they may or may not have had. They start making collabs on each others channel until they finally form one together. They now join lesbian youtube with an old school chapstick challenge but they don't kiss each other until the very very end like the fucking end bloopers. (Yes they have literally been figuring out flavors without making out)

Hollis: One of my favorite parts of youtube! The chaotic engineers side of YouTube. She will be building the most hectic bullshit sometimes it'll work sometimes it won't. Many three letter government agencies most likely have her on a watchlist after getting shit like fucking high focusing lasers. She'll joke constantly about her old job as her bot catches on fire behind her. Uploads sporadically, takes time to build stuff, they do stuff shit on Youtube shorts though.

Donnie: Plant dad! They talk about all the plants in their home and how to propagate plants. They'll try to build their own green house and recommend small business plant nurseries that they love. Gains a large following after people soon found out that they're not just mute but has multiple prosthetics. They occasionally talk about prosthetic care! Uploads like once a week and works hard with an editor to have an effective voice editor and captions.

Digits: Our fellow prosthetic haver. Definitely more of a gym rat youtuber gives a lot of helpful hints and workout routines. Sure to attempt to give alternatives for those who find certain exercises undoable. She's a pretty big soccer and mixed martial arts fan. She'll occasionally post vlogs of her watching these sports. Gets invited to fight in creator clash posts a shit ton of vlogs about it. She's pretty consistent updates like twice a week is pretty close with her fanbase.

[mediaevalmusereads]

Supersex: Sexuality, Fantast, and the Superhero. Edited by Anna F. Peppard. University of Texas Press, 2020.

Rating: 5/5 stars

Genre: non-fiction, literary criticism, comics and graphic novels

Summary: From Superman, created in 1938, to the transmedia DC and Marvel universes of today, superheroes have always been sexy. And their sexiness has always been controversial, inspiring censorship and moral panic. Yet though it has inspired jokes and innuendos, accusations of moral depravity, and sporadic academic discourse, the topic of superhero sexuality is like superhero sexuality itself—seemingly obvious yet conspicuously absent. Supersex: Sexuality, Fantasy, and the Superhero is the first scholarly book specifically devoted to unpacking the superhero genre’s complicated relationship with sexuality.

Exploring sexual themes and imagery within mainstream comic books, television shows, and films as well as independent and explicitly pornographic productions catering to various orientations and kinks, Supersex offers a fresh—and lascivious—perspective on the superhero genre’s historical and contemporary popularity. Across fourteen essays touching on Superman, Batman, the X-Men, and many others, Anna F. Peppard and her contributors present superhero sexuality as both dangerously exciting and excitingly dangerous, encapsulating the superhero genre’s worst impulses and its most productively rebellious ones. Supersex argues that sex is at the heart of our fascination with superheroes, even—and sometimes especially—when the capes and tights stay on.

***Full review under the cut.***

Content Warnings: discussions of misogyny, rape/sexual assault, homophobia, racism (including the n-word)

This book is an edited volume of essays in addition to being non-fiction, so my review will be structured a little different from my usual pieces.

Full disclosure: I’ve never met Anna F. Peppard, but she’s in my professional sphere. We have mutual friend/acquaintances and we’re friends on Facebook, so we’ve had some interaction. I pause to mention this because neither I nor my review are without bias, so while I did genuinely enjoy this book and think it was smart, insightful, and intellectually rigorous, I also think people should read it for themselves and not just take my word for it.

Supersex is a collection of essays on a range of topics from gender to sexuality to desire and the female gaze. Readers can find discussions of female empowerment/disempowerment, queer found families, masculinity, reproductive desire, nationalism, and more in the pages of this book, but what unites them all is the focus on the superhero; all essays take as their subject a costumed, super-powered individual (or team) from serialized comics (some Marvel, some DC, some others such as Miss Fury and Gay Comix) or their representations in live-action films, tv, cosplay, porn, fanart, and even fanfiction. Peppard states that the reason why she gathered these contributions is in part because of the lack of studies about superhero sexuality. While a number of books on sexuality in comics have preceded Supersex, Peppard’s collection stands out because it captures a range of perspectives which dovetail nicely with themes of transformation, disguise, passing, fan culture, and so on.

Personally, I found this collection to be incredibly intellectually stimulating. As a scholar myself, I enjoy reading work that is both articulate and thoughtful, and all of the contributions in this book felt academically rigorous while still remaining accessible. I particularly liked the way each author deployed critical theory or interdisciplinary studies to make their point; a number of scholars use the works of Judith Butler, Michel Foucault, Julia Kristeva, and more, but all actively engage with both the established body of comics scholarship and more interdisciplinary publications. As a result, it felt like I was reading a conversation about comics between a huge panel of sharp, insightful scholars, and I felt like each did a good job of taking me along for the ride.

If I had any qualms, I would say that a few of the essays had arguments or bits of arguments that might have felt like a stretch or amounted to basically “X is problematic/X is subversive” without much of a “why is that important” behind it. These types of arguments are not commonplace, however, so I was able to appreciate the larger points being made as well as the close readings that supported the more nuanced takes.

In sum, I found this book captivating, and though I don’t publish as a scholar anymore, I think it would be a very useful research tool. Supersex could also be good casual reading; if you’re interested in comics criticism or even just gender and sexuality in pop culture, there’s plenty here to love. I’d only recommend that such readers also be comfortable with literary theory. Though this book doesn’t use dense prose to communicate complex ideas, it’s still not an “introduction.” Overall, it’s a lovely collection, and I can’t wait to check out more from the authors contained within.

[punisheddonjuan]

My IEMs gave out the other week. No great loss, I liked them quite a bit but they were $30. I mostly bought them as an experiment to see if I could tolerate wearing them, I have a bad history with earphones. A pair of Apple iPod earbuds netted me a four day stint in the hospital back in 2007 with a staph infection in both ear canals that got so bad they were nearly swollen shut (and even after I was discharged I was on IV antibiotics for a week at home). So I've been understandably squeamish about earphones since. That said, wearing heavy closed back headphones with a ten foot long cord to the grocery store is not super convenient, and I just need that sound isolation if I've got a migraine. So I bought a pair of cheap, well reviewed IEMs to dip my toes in, the 7hz Zero. I really liked them, my partner even bought a pair.

So when they died the other week I decided to upgrade a tier and bought a pair of 7hz Sonus IEMs with the small amount of Christmas money I received this year. These things are fantastic, it's honestly insane that a dual driver IEM is available under $100 (those are Canadian dollars I think they're around $60 USD). They're very good on the technical merits, and they're tuned so well that it's the first time I haven't been tempted to fiddle with the EQ right out of the box to compensate for a lacking in the sound characteristics. They've got very good bass, smooth mids, articulate treble, almost no sibilance at the frequencies you'd expect to find it (4khz to 6khz), and nice sound stage too. You don't feel "inside your head" so much with them.

They even come with a nice carrying case.

I've got them paired with a $10 USB-C headphone amp/DAC with my phone (RIP headphone jacks, I will never buy fucking wireless headphones, fuck that bullshit) and I'm streaming my music collection from my home server through PlexAmp, and it's all fantastic.

I used to carry around an expensive and heavy stand alone DAP (iBasso DX150) with all my music loaded on microSD cards and this new set-up is such an upgrade in convenience (and battery life) and is on par vis-a-vis audio quality despite being half the cost. I miss some of the features from Neutron Music Player which I was using with my DX150 (parametric EQ, stereo-to-binaural DSP) but on the other hand I'm not switching out between three or four microSD cards, my entire 5600 album collection is just available on the fly, and it's one less thing to carry.

So yeah, a strong recommendation for the 7hz Sonus for anyone looking for a very affordable, excellent sounding pair of IEMs. I guarantee that these will net you a better experience than a pair of Airpods at a third the cost.

[witchesoz]

Oz lore: The Great and Powerful (1)

« Oz : The Great and Powerful » is a 2013 fantasy movie part of the Oz universe. And when it comes to the Ozian lore, it is a mess.

You see, this movie was Disney’s attempt at remaking/restarting the heritage of the MGM Wizard of Oz movie, by creating its prequel explaining how the Wizard came to Oz (a green-skinned wicked witch, Glinda travelling in bubbles, that’s all the MGM). However, Disney actually did not had the rights to the MGM movie and thus had to twist things to avoid a lawsuit (with things such as the wicked witch being of a different shade of green than the one used in the MGM movie, or Glinda becoming blond instead of a red-hair). As a result, the movie presented itself officially as a “prequel to the original books” and took inspiration from it (the China Town for example), but this inspiration is sporadic and a thinly-hidden attempt at escaping lawsuits, since the movie is heavily if not almost entirely based on the MGM product.

Anyway, despite all of that, the movie became very famous and unfamous, popularizing a lot of concepts and ideas – especially towards younger generations unaware of the other MGM-related works such as “Return to Oz” or “Wicked”. So let’s dig into this lore, shall we? I’ll divide it into two sections.

Oh yeah, and there will be bits of review-like stuff here and there, because why not throw a review at the same time?

WARNING SPOILERS AHEAD

I) The Witches

It is not just because the witches of Oz are my favorite part of any lore. This movie relies heavily on the Ozian witches. They are key players to the story, and the movie’s plot is about how they came to be who they were in the MGM movie – we mean novel – we mean neither because ultimately the movie actually doesn’t add up to either the book or the MGM canon, putting it in its own unique chronology that never went anywhere since no sequels were made.

Witches in this movie are… unexplained. We know they exist in Oz, but we actually do not know anything about what they truly are. It is unclear if they are a different species from humans, or if they are humans with magical gifts, but one thing is sure: they are very different from ordinary people. All of them occupy high positions in the Ozian hierarchy. Theodora comments strongly imply that people are naturally afraid of witches (she says that, due to her being a witch, no one ever gave her genuine gifts, wooed her or offered her to dance, making her insanely lonely) – however this is contradicted by Glinda’s subjects behavior, who gladly offer her gifts and are very close and friendly with her, visibly not bothered by her being a witch. So this is up to debate.

We can however establish several common points of witches. All of them are females with magical powers. All of them are tied to a certain element, as which their magic will manifest. All witches have the natural ability to “fly”, that is to say levitate into the air. And each of the witches has a gem with her, that is the source of all of her powers, and breaking it means defeating her. Oh yes, and all their names end in -a. Now, we have three witches in total in Oz:

# Evanora

Evanora is the witch that pretends to be the good witch, but is the wicked one.

Evanora was the Royal Advisor of the previous King of Oz. She was also, unknown to him and to everyone else, a wicked witch. Her presence however was visibly felt already in Oz, since the King (who was also a wizard) made a prophecy: one day, a powerful wizard bearing the name Oz would come from the sky to save the country from the evil and darkness infecting it. However, he died soon after this prophecy. Evanora had poisoned him – and she tricked everyone into believing that the King’s daughter, Glinda princess of Oz, was the murderer of her own father. She banished her from the Emerald City, and publicly made it known that she was the Wicked Witch who caused all sorts of evil deeds across Oz. Except that all these evil deeds were actually done by Evanora herself. She held on the throne of Oz as a “regent”, until the arrival of the Wizard per the prophecy, and thus secured her power as the unofficial ruler of Oz. When the so-called Wizard actually arrived, Evanora immediately knew that he was a fake, just a greedy impostor, but she used it to her advantage, playing along with his lies and forcing him into killing the “wicked witch” by breaking her wand. Thus, she could have gotten rid of Glinda, her enemy, for good. This is actually very interesting here – because later Glinda explains that the “good citizens of Oz” are forbidden from killing anybody, and Glinda herself doesn’t want to kill Evanora for her actions. So visibly, death sentences are not existing in Oz – and so, for Evanora to explain to the Wizard that killing the Wicked Witch is the only way clearly reveals her wickedness.

Evanora, despite being the oldest evil in the room, with a lot of experience, is actually not the most ferocious person. She is a liar and a manipulator who tricked everyone into believing she was the “good one”, including her own sister. She also is shown to never do dirty works directly. She always arrange for other people, her agents or her armies, to kill or attack people for her, and rarely gets into direct fights, except when she is sure to win or cornered. In fact, when she is certain she has no way to win a battle, she cowers and flees before the threats. Evanora also has an obsession with eliminating Glinda – and it is not just because she is the only force of good left and the legitimate heir to the throne. Evanora takes a great delight into publicly torturing Glinda, and she makes several time comments about Glinda’s “pretty face” and how she hates or curses it. I will get back on that later.

Evanora’s gem/power source is an emerald necklace/amulet. Her magic, when raw, takes the shape of green electricity. Outside of her ability to fly, common to all witches, her other powers rely on magical items: she has a red powder that she can use to craft items magically, and a huge crystal ball she can use to spy on anyone in Oz. She has directly under her commands an army of flying baboons (savage and evil versions of the flying monkeys, massive angry baboons with bat wings), and an ensemble of “Winkie guards” (I’ll talk about them later). Note that all of these items of her powers actually belong to the Wicked Witch of the West in the MGM movie. Evanora ends up defeated when Glinda breaks her amulet, which not only deprives her of all powers, but also “removes” an enchantment she cast upon herself. You see, in the MGM movie they explain that “only wicked witches are ugly”. And the rule seems to carry on in this movie – when a witch turns wicked, she becomes ugly. More specifically, the glamorous and beautiful Evanora is actually in truth an old, hunchbacked crone with long grey hair, rotten teeth, a hooked nose and chin, as well as warts (a typical “hag witch” so to speak). Considering this, and how she is visibly displeased by her sister’s wicked “hideousness”, it becomes clear that Evanora’s obsession with Glinda’s “pretty face” is tied to a strong vanity and envy. She clearly resents her for being beautiful and pure, where she is ugly and corrupt.

And here is the ultimate key to understand the character of Evanora – she is actually a Disney witch more than anything. The obsessive vanity dates back to the Evil Queen of Snow White, and her transformation into an old crone also reminds one of this movie – let’s not forget how she uses literally an enchanted apple, like the Evil Queen. On the other side, the use of green electricity reminds of another extremely vain Disney witch: Winnifred Sanderson. And of course, the use of electricity, green color and the flowing dress also reminds one of Maleficent. As a result Evanora, while a great villain, is fundamentally a Disney villain, and the biggest mark of Disney’s attempt at owning the franchise.

In the end, Evanora becomes who would later be known as the “Wicked Witch of the East”, using two of her surviving flying baboons to fly away. It is unknown how she came to conquer the East – in fact, this movie makes no mention of either silver shoes or ruby slippers. But, many have theorized that Theodora possibly helped her sister regain power – since Theodora’s gem is a ruby, and in the MGM continuity the magic shoes are made of ruby…

# Glinda

Glinda the Good. She is clearly based on the MGM movie character, but she is also mixed up with the novel character (for example, she is here Witch of the South, and not Witch of the North). But just like in the MGM movie, she turns out to be the only Good Witch in all of Oz.

Daughter of the previous king-wizard of Oz, she was falsely accused by the treacherous Evanora of poisoning her father, and banished from the Emerald City, publicly denounced as the “Wicked Witch” whose minions caused horrors in Oz. However, Glinda managed to build herself a small kingdom in the South, welcoming people who fled from the disasters of the Wicked Witch, and revealing to them the truth and who the real enemy was. She later is the one who helps the Wizard fulfill his destiny – though he first tried to kill her. Oh yeah and they also kind of fall in love together.

Glinda’s gem is a diamond, located in her silver wand she carries everywhere. Evanora claims that breaking Glinda’s wand would kill her, however it seemingly was a lie, since breaking Evanora’s gem merely deprived her of her powers. Glinda’s powers are associated with the color white and the rainbow. It seems she has a control over either water or air, it is slightly unclear: she uses her powers under two forms. One, as a white fog, to blind enemy or conceal objects. Two, as bubbles – she can create individual bubbles for transportation, and she created a giant bubble dome to protect her kingdom, a magic wall that only lets good-hearted people pass through. To make matters even more confusing, her raw magic actually looks like light, either light glow or light rays. Not just a simple light, but a light that, while mostly white, has some colors of the rainbow in it – in fact its other magic (the fog and bubbles) are also iridescent. This is a nice touch, a nod to how diamonds and prisms can fracture the white light into a rainbow. She also has the ability to fly like all other witches – usually she surrounds herself with a bubble to do it, but she admits it is “just for show” and she doesn’t truly need it.

Glinda is kind, good, moral, charitable, gentle, etc… but she is also a clever girl (well, most of the time). Glinda especially believes in abstract and spiritual concepts, instead of material ones. What I mean is that, for example she keeps repeating that her father might have died, but his spirit and his ideals will live on through his people and those that fight for them. In a similar way, she immediately realizes that the Wizard is not actually a true wizard, but she explains that what the people of Oz need is actually someone to believe to and someone to guide them – the real magic power isn’t important, the most important is the power people put in you.

# Theodora

Theodora is without a doubt the missed character in this story. It is no spoiler now, but she is the origin story of the Wicked Witch of the West. And yeah, she is a cliché becoming-a-villain character, very unconvincing and unimpressive compared to the original (in fact Evanora left me more of an impression than her). As Theodora she had at least something interest, but all her becoming wicked is… not interesting at all. At least for me.

So let’s dig in, shall we? Theodora is actually a good witch at the beginning of the movie. She calls herself Theodora the Good and has been fooled by Evanora into believing her sister (which she loves deeply) is the good witch protecting Oz, while Glinda is the Wicked Witch. Note that Theodora visibly knew Glinda beforehand, and in fact Evanora and Theodora have an interesting discussion – Evanora accuses Theodora of “finally” having joined side with Glinda, implying that they were friends or close before, to which Theodora answers that she is on “no one’s side” and her only wish is to bring peace to Oz. In a similar way, when Evanora shows Theodora that the Wizard is not killing Glinda, Theodora is delighted, believing that the Wizard is “brining her back to the light and the goodness”. All throughout the movie, Evanora plays with her sister’s emotions to manipulate her, playing with her naiveté to make herself look good, playing on her jealousy and wrath to make the Wizard look bad... The typical textbook of an abusing older sister. Evanora especially likes to remind Theodora that “deep down” she is wicked, and only pretending to be good, which always enrages her.

Theodora is actually an interesting character when you look at her. She explains to the Wizard that she is extremely lonely, because being a witch, no one ever gave her a gift of their own free will, and no one ever asked her to dance. She also immediately believes that the Wizard is the one foretold in the prophecy. The Wizard uses her extreme naiveté by seducing her, and in his flirty words, Theodora believes that he promised to make her Queen of Oz, aka his wife. This all actually is what put the Wizard in his uncomfortable situation in the first place. We also see that Theodora, despite being a sweet and timid girl, has actually a “temper” – when Evanore makes a disagreeable comment, she gets very angry and momentarily loses control of her destructive powers, something she visibly is ashamed of (and in general, Theodora was the one using the less her magic out of the three). Later, Evanora plays on her emotions: not only does she invent a fake story about the Wizard seducing her and promising her to be Queen, to spark Theodora’s jealousy, but she also shows Theodora the real romance that is budding between the Wizard and Glinda. Theodora is heartbroken, making her cry – and her tears burn her face (I’ll come back to that later), which makes her suffer a lot, but she only considers it as a deserving punishment for how much of a fool she is. She is so overwhelmed with sadness and hate (mixed with the pain of her own tears) that she succumbs to Evanora’s proposition: to bite into an enchanted apple in order to stop her heartache (and thus the painful emotions she feels), and in exchange share the throne of Oz with her sister, banishing the Wizard and Glinda together (Theodora still believes then Evanora is a good witch, but she simply will not let Glinda become the Wizard’s Queen for anything in the world).

Now, I’ll stop there to actually point out something: at first, Theodora might seem like a cliché, flat character. But in fact, when you look at her on a second view, you realize that she is seems to actually suffer from a type of borderline personality disorder. She checks numerous marks: a feeling of solitude and emptiness ; an inability to control your temper and anger resulting in excessive mood swings ; an impulsive behavior resulting in unstable relationships (such as forming in your head a perfect image of someone you love only to realize later reality is different) ; a deep fear of abandonment (here both by the Wizard and her sister)… the only ones missing are the frequent changes in self-image, the stress-related paranoia and the suicidal threats. This already makes her a more disturbed and tragic character. But on the other side, you have to admit that honestly she is quite dumb. The most jarring element was when she used Evanora’s crystal ball to spy on the Wizard and Glinda. She sees how happy, colorful and joyful Glinda’s realm is, she sees that the people are certainly not oppressed and that there are no flying baboons or evil things anywhere. And yet she still believes Glinda is the wicked witch? Come on!

After biting in the enchanted green apple (in a very heavy nod to Disney’s Snow White), Theodora realizes that Evanora tricked her into becoming wicked. The apple first “makes it all clear”, because apparently, wickedness sharpens your mind? Theodora understands Evanora is the wicked witch, not Glinda, and then starts to suffer the intense pains of her “heart withering away”, all emotions and goodness replaced by wickedness and hatred. And, since all wicked witches are ugly in Oz, she turns into a copy of the iconic image of the Wicked Witch of the West: green-skinned, with a hooked nose, yellow eyes and a hooked chin. The movie also added black claws able to leave marks on marble, which is a nice touch.

Theodora’s magic manifests as red fire (she usually throws red fireballs, that sometimes explode upon hitting their target; and she can also teleport herself like a meteor and manifest out of fire tornadoes). She can fly like all other witches, but chooses to do so on a broom (broom which leaves a thick black smoke behind her) – specifically because the Wizard once told her that in his world witches flew on brooms. Her gem is actually a ruby she wears as a ring. Theodora also shows another power the other witches have not: telekinesis (she notably forces the Wizard to dance like a puppet). In fact, Theodora is implied to be the strongest of the three witches, being able to break Glinda’s wall when Evanora could not.

It is established here that Theodora is dreadfully allergic to water – it burns her like acid. To the point her own tears burn her cheeks. However, this is never actually explained. We do not know how or why, and we don’t know if Evanora has the same problem or not. It might be related to her having fire-magic, but the other witches don’t seem to suffer side-effect from their own elemental magics. So… yeah, an unanswered question.

Theodora as the Wicked Witch is basically pure hatred and violence. In fact, she only knows now how to threaten, shout and cackle. Even Evanora is taken aback by how furious and bloodthirsty – where Evanora wants people to flee in terror at the sight of her army, Theodora wants to kill all their enemies without mercy ; Evanora suggests hiding Theodora’s ugliness behind an enchantment, but Theodora refuses because she wants the Wizard to see what “he” did to her ; finally Theodora takes leadership of the “wicked” army and even calls Evanora a “coward” and the “weak one” when she flees in front of the Wizard, while Theodora fights to the last minute.

I also forgot to mention, but quite obviously the witches are color-coded: Glinda is entirely white ; Evanora is linked to green, with touches of black ; and Theodora used to be all red before switching to an all-black outfit.

[a34trgv2]

Plans for 2023

2022 was a productive year for this blog, but there were a bunch of stuff I didn't get to do this year. So, for 2023, my goal is to do a lot more with this page and hopefully grow my audience. In no particular order, here's all the things I want to do for 2023.

Post something every week

As much as I value quality over quantity, I know I can't just make sporadic posts throughout the year. This year, I want to try to post something every week. Be it a review, a Top 10, a Why It Worked, or an essay. This will ensure that this blog remains active and I get to talk about subjects I've been meaning to get to for some time.

New Blog Series

One of the things I hate seeing online is needless jabs and put downs of talented creators. For this year, I'd like to start a new blog series that highlights the creator's accomplishments, detail what inspired me their creativity, and how they inspire me personally. I'm calling it Creative Creators because every creator has a story and I love hearing their stories.

Getting Back Into Writing Stories?

I know it's been a hot minute since I've written any new stories. I wish I could confidently say that's what I want to do this year, but that all depends on if my parents get back together. I could write a short story or 2, but it won't be related to Jack Frost & Fira. Speaking of, nothing changed, I'm afraid. I'd love to get back to writing stories about them, but I just can't bring myself to do it. I was a much happier person when I first started writing Jack Frost & Fira. Even after 4 years, I'm still nowhere near content with myself enough to start writing about these 2 crime fighters as I was then. Here's hoping things will be different in the new year.

Starting Up A Patreon

This has always been more of a hobby for me. I'm not asking for money, but for those who want to support me, my Patreon will serve as my personal online tip jar. More will be explained once it's set up, but rest assured it will not be a pay wall to exclusive content.

More How I Would Writes

Family Guy isn't the only thing I'd make significant changes to if I was the head writer. This year, I plan on doing more posts about shows or movies I'd make changes to if I was in charge of writing them. I don't claim to be better than the professional writers of these projects, I just want to offer my alternative creative choices and see how they affect the final product.

That's all for now. 2023 is gonna be a year for new possibilities. I look forward to growing this blog and sharing my takes with everyone. Thank you so much for reading and I'll see you soon :)

[grateful-for-zayn]

Zayn Delivers His Own MTV Unplugged Set on ‘Room Under the Stairs’

The musician’s stripped-down fourth studio album is a showcase for the bare foundations of his artistry

BY LARISHA PAULMAY 17, 2024

Zayn’s starting point for his fourth studio album Room Under the Stairs was an emotional low point. “Alienated” began in his home studio in rural Pennsylvania, where he wrote the majority of the record on his own in a state of both creative and physical isolation. The percussive track simmers in solitary sorrow as the musician dives simultaneously into the darkest depths of his mind and the bottom of a bottle. “Know my reasons for the pain, but if you brought it in front of me I know I’d do it all again,” he sings over hollow acoustics, admitting: “I know from all my years that my feelings never change.”

Ahead of the album’s arrival, Zayn performed “Alienated” with a five-piece band for a rare live performance video. The instrumentalists are really his only audience there, following his lead and providing layers of harmonies throughout the performance. And yet, the singer spent most of the set crooning with his eyes closed, seemingly growing more comfortable in the space throughout the song. Zayn last performed in front of an actual live audience more than half a decade ago, having cited severe anxiety as the primary blockage between him and the stage. That will change tonight as he celebrates the release of Room Under the Stairs with an intimate concert at London’s O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire.

The 2,000-capacity space is a fitting launch pad for the album. It was in venues of that size, and occasionally even smaller, that music’s biggest stars broke their songs down to their simplest forms on MTV Unplugged. Zayn crafted Room Under the Stairs in this same vein. The record, written almost entirely solo and co-produced with Dave Cobb, is a 49-minute acoustic special in its own right. While promoting the album, Zayn’s most persistent messaging pushed his solitary songwriting process as the core of the album. Bolstered by live instruments, the stripped back production format he established with Cobb naturally places so much emphasis on the lyrical content, particularly on songs like the standouts “Shoot at Will” and “How It Feels.”

“Can you tell me just one thing/Can you give me a reason to stay/‘Cause the feelings I’m harboring/Don’t seem to see the light of day,” Zayn sings with a sense of defeat on “How It Feels,” his vocal wrapped in swelling orchestral production and a sparse piano melody. “Shivers down my spine/Never forget to remind me, I’m alive/‘Til I let go of this moment/Something holdin’ me to this place/I’ve been breaking, always faking/I’m just lying to your face/And I can’t tell you how it feels.” The singer spends a significant portion of the album in his headspace — operating from the vantage point of someone self-aware enough to recognize the problem, but not yet resolved enough to enact meaningful change.

On “Gates of Hell,” Zayn completes another loop in his cycle of chaos, repeating: “I don’t like you very much/But I keep putting up with your shit.” It’s one of the weaker lyrical moments on the record, burdened by the monotonous strum of an acoustic guitar over production that sounds especially incomplete. The singer started working on Room Under the Stairs around four to five years ago, and while the timeline of when each song emerged is unclear, certain cuts like “Gates of Hell” and “Concrete Kisses” — which channels Frank Ocean on a bridge that deserved better lyrical company — come across as early demos that were never conceptualized to their fullest potential. In those moments, Zayn’s MTV Unplugged set becomes a singular barstool in a bustling café where no one is paying too much attention to the man on the open mic stage.

Sporadically, Zayn communicates the sense that he would have almost preferred that context — the quiet life of a coffee shop crooner. On his farm in Pennsylvania, he’s achieved as much seclusion and anonymity as any former member of One Direction could likely hope for. Room Under the Stairs is a reflection of that change, but it isn’t a complete departure from the singer’s three R&B-driven studio albums that came before it. His solo debut Mind of Mine leaned into atmospheric simplicity on “It’s You” and “Drunk.” And on “Good Years,” from the both bloated and underrated Icarus Falls, and “Better” from his third effort Nobody Is Listening, he similarly explored crucial self-reflections. He wasn’t truly lacking insight across those R&B-inflected records. Mostly, he just needed an editor.

Occasionally, Zayn slips back into that R&B pocket. “Something in the Water” gives weight to the Justin Timberlake comparisons that emerged when he became the first to go solo. It’s one of three songs on the record that the singer didn’t write himself, but he sings “got me dripping in that old school love” with the conviction of a true veteran of the genre. On “Grateful,” Zayn delivers a highlight not only of the album but of his complete catalog. “And it feels good/And I knew it would/When I’m telling this story/It’s complicated, some mishaps/I’ve been mourning/But I’m grateful for it,” he sings, relieved to be freeing himself from the burden of the past. Reminiscent of an early career Alicia Keys, that same passion (and stunning harmonies) breaks through in his vocal performance across the soulful album closer “Fuchsia Sea,” pulling it into the space of an instant classic.

It’s not hard to understand the appeal of teaming with Cobb for Room Under the Stairs, meant to serve in many ways as a reintroduction and reentry into the pop machine on Zayn’s own terms. The producer is one of Nashville’s most in-demand collaborators whose credits include team ups with Chris Stapleton, Brandi Carlile, Sturgill Simpson, and more. But it was never really the sound of country and Americana that strengthened their releases — it was the emotion, songwriting, and storytelling.Zayn hits most of these core marks on “The Time,” but sings each verse with a distracting country accent mountains away from his British twang, which randomly resurfaces on the chorus.

But it’s on “Birds on a Cloud” that he clears each category with thrilling ease. The song is set against the sonic backdrop of what sounds like a perfect beach day — all sunshine and perfect temperatures — but features one of the most devastating refrains on the album as he pleads: “Please give me one more day of happiness, I need it.” For a moment, in the warmth of his lower register on the bridge, Zayn finds the contentment he’s been searching for. “Stardust” evokes the same breezy feeling — though it channels a flower field more than a beach. It marks a rare moment where a love song on the album isn’t marred with the acknowledgement of toxicity — though, to be fair, he didn’t write that one. It’s a curious selection in the context of the rest of the record, but perhaps signals towards the optimism he spends most of the record hoping to make room for.

While MTV Unplugged often captured artists at the height of their careers, Room Under the Stairs is a showcase of an artist willingly setting the bar higher to give himself something to yearn for both emotionally and creatively. Zayn’s simultaneous emergence as a lead songwriter, producer, and — for the first time in nearly a decade — a live performer is a heavy load to place on one record and it doesn’t arrive without its stumbles. But across these 15 songs, he evokes the feeling that those missteps and the spectators making note of them disappear when he closes his eyes and just sings, entirely unplugged.

[markboschilang]

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[mywifeleftme]

61: Gonjasufi // Callus

Callus Gonjasufi 2016, Warp (Bandcamp)

Gonjasufi was one of the hip finds of 2010, when his unclassifiable debut LP A Sufi and a Killer drew raves from the indie press. Flying Lotus was probably the hottest beatmaker in the world at the time, and he was at the centre of a Warp Records-affiliated scene that seemed poised to upend electronic music in the same way the Odd Future collective was shaking hip-hop’s mainstream. A Sufi and a Killer’s production was primarily helmed by Flying Lotus associate The Gaslamp Killer (with assists from Mainframe and FlyLo himself), and its scabby, phlegmy take on rap/psych rock/noise/whatever drew perplexed but positive comparisons to weirdos like Tom Waits and George Clinton.

That was as good as it really got for Gonjasufi though. He seems to have drifted out of FlyLo and Gaslamp Killer’s sphere (and the attention it brought) shortly after A Sufi and a Killer, and by his next release (2016’s Callus) he was back to producing his own music. (2012’s MU.ZZ.LE EP consisted of pre-ASaaK recordings.)  Although I haven’t checked out any interviews to confirm it, I suspect Gonjasufi grew weary of the attention/credit being paid to his starry collaborators and wanted to prove that he was the driving force behind the album that’d drawn such acclaim. The situation reminds me a bit of Cannibal Ox, the rap group forever defined by a classic collab with an iconic producer (The Cold Vein, with El-P) who went on to sporadically release plenty more good music to a diminishing cult audience.

Gonja’s 2016 effort Callus is basically a purely solo venture, aside from some guitar on a few tracks by Pearl Thompson (formerly of The Cure). Reviewers often describe Gonjasufi’s music as weedy, but Callus is more the kind of high you get from melting plastic: smoggy, a hot pulse in the forehead that will be a splitting headache later, staggering around in an interesting fashion while listening to a guy who sounds like George Clinton shooting smack in a tenement squat stairwell. It further confirms that Gonjasufi was the auteur of own sound—but also reveals how much more “outsider” his music is without the comparatively accessible sample-based beats provided by his collaborators (like ASaaK’s “Ancestors” or “Candylane”) to leaven his propensity for industrial gloom. While Gonja is clearly a spiritual man who seems to approach his music as if in a visionary trance, Callus makes for a pretty fraught psychic journey.

Despite its insularity, the LP covers a ton of ground. Opener “Your Maker” resembles an Afghan Whigs demo more than it does anything on FlyLo’s Brainfeeder label. It bleeds over into the murky trip-hop of “Maniac Depressant”; the breakcore-shaded “Afrikan Spaceship”; a thousand miles of bad dub vibes in two-minutes-and-forty-six of “Carolyn Shadows”; and finally “Ole Man Sufferah,” a doodle that sounds like post-hardcore drifting in from the next room while I wash my hair in the bathtub. Aside from the oozily sexy “Vinaigrette,” Callus isn’t an album where individual songs stand out much. On balance, it’s an album of very clangorous ambient music.

I hadn’t heard mention of Gonjasufi in quite a while, and I don’t think he’s put out anything since a 2019 DJ mix for Warp’s thirtieth anniversary. (It likely hasn’t helped that The Gaslamp Killer became embroiled in rape allegations in 2017, which limited the tenth anniversary hype cycle that A Sufi and a Killer might otherwise have enjoyed.) I did learn that Gonja had a hand in the production of Tanya Tagaq’s 2022 album Tongues, which strikes me as a great stylistic match. His IG posts suggest the pandemic has been tough on him and his people, so my fingers are crossed he’s able to get some new stuff out there soon.

61/365