#so of course he doesn't contribute to any of these documentaries. of course he doesn't agree to interviews

[everlastiingiimmortals]

yall ever think about the fact that ratio personally contributed to exactly none of the documentaries or memoirs about him

[kmp78]

'HE WOULD NEVER EVER EVER HAVE GOTTEN THIS FAR ON HIS OWN. 💯'

No one rich or famous gets that way entirely on their own. They have support from friends and family. They make connections and network. They exchange favors. No one just wakes up rich or famous one day, unless their family already did the work to get there.

It was J who took the initiative to go to art school and to get away from the drug scene. It was J who moved across the country on his own to try to break into the film industry. It was J's charisma and talent that got him roles. It was J's money that offered CL and SL a more comfortable way of life.

It was J's love for SL that made him drop something he knew he was good at to take a chance on tstm. J's money that covered the beginning purchases for travel to gigs and instruments and any little advertising. J's voice and J's persistence that got them somewhere. J's song and video idea/directing that gave them The Kill and launched the band.

J's stubbornness and curiosity that stopped the label from keeping everything they should have earned. J's money (again) that allowed for them to build a studio and to self fund while they were basically unemployed. J's idea to bring light to that problem in the industry and J fighting until they won. No one else ever looks the slightest bit stressed in Artifact; they worked the music and totally left the lawsuit as a J problem. Had they lost, it'd be J's money from J's acting that paid for any/all of it.

J is who has the work ethic to bounce between two large careers. He is who continues to get his name out there in movies and shows. He is the one who doesn't give up despite all the shit talked about him. It's his talent, looks, voice, personality, charisma, charm, smarts that get him roles and that bring people to concerts.

J is no doubt who paid for SL's multiple stints in rehab. J who thought up Vyrt. J who thought up Camp Mars and Mars Island. J who promotes their tours and their merch. J's visions and passions that have brought them winning music videos and documentaries. J's sm efforts and publicity stunts that keep him and the band relevant.

It's J who catches all the shit when an idea goes sideways or doesn't pan out. EVERYONE says SL checked out years ago...it's J that has kept writing and performing and keeping tstm alive.

It's J as a person who draws in fashion designers and commercials and magazine campaigns to want to work with him. J who has the attitude and confidence/bravery to work whatever they throw at him. J who juggles gigs and travels relentlessly to make it all work for everyone.

J who puts up with his life on display and constantly being mauled by hoards of people. It's J who can basically never "turn off" because he's constantly being watched and judged and talked about. God forbid he have a human moment or human emotion that someone catches and twists into some huge thing.

J who has invested wisely and networked and schmoozed with the right people. J who keeps taking chances by trying to branch into new territories...I could keep going. The man is smart. He's determined. He's a hard worker. He's had help, yes, but SO much of his success (and other's success) is on him 👏 👏

That was not even remotely the point. 🤦🏼‍♀️

THE POINT is that JL has to deliberately belittle and diminish anyone and everyone else - except of course his retard bro who does and contributes FUCK ALL. 🙄

[emptymasks]

Cameron Mackintosh, The West End, and Transphobia in Musical Theatre

So I cannot be a trans person who talks about musicals without addressing this. I haven’t seen anyone else talking about this, and they may well have I just haven’t seen, and this interview is a few weeks old now.

For those unaware of who Cameron Mackintosh is, he perhaps the most famous musical theatre producer and is the producer behind the original productions of: Phantom of the Opera, Les Misérables, Miss Saigon, Kinky Boots, Cats, Mary Poppins, Oliver, Little Shop of Horrors. And the West End versions of: Anything Goes, Follies, Carousel (1993), Oklahoma (1980), My Fair Lady )1970s and 2001), Godspell, Avenue Q (2006), Hair (2010), Sweeney Todd (2015) and most recently the West End production of Hamilton (2017-present), as well as many other musicals. He was knighted in 2017, as of 2019 he has an estimated fortune of £1.28 billion and has been called "the most successful, influential and powerful theatrical producer in the world" by the New York Times.

Let’s take this point by point shall we?

"Classic West End musicals should not be rewritten to make leading roles transgender”. They wouldn’t have to be. If a trans man was cast as Raoul in Phantom of the Opera, nothing would be changed, nothing would be rewritten, it would just happened to be a trans man playing the part instead. Because trans men are men, trans women are women, they are not ‘other’. Nothing, absolutely nothing would have to be rewritten. For all the audience would know, that could be a cis actor playing the part.

You know how I know casting an LGBT+ person as a character who is cis or het makes no difference? There are multiple gay actors who have played Erik/The Phantom in Phantom of the Opera and the role never had to be ‘rewritten’ for them.

If what he means is the music would have to be rewritten, I don't accept that either. I doubt a trans person is going in for a part they do not have the range for. Some trans people may not be able to sing way out of their assigned-birth-gender vocal range, but some can. I doubt this man has ever sat through an audition of a bass Christine Daaé or a soprano Phantom. There are cis men singing high notes in Jesus Christ Superstar, of course plenty of trans woman can sing high notes. Vocal range is not static to your birth gender.

“You can’t implant something that is not inherently there in the story of character.” People make headcannons about characters being trans because there is no proof that they aren’t. Nowhere in any of these musicals that Mackintosh producers do any of the characters ever call themselves cis. For all we know Munkustrap or Mary Poppins or Enjolras could be trans, and some trans people find comfort in that. Show me somewhere in the original libretto where it says any of these characters are “cisgenered”. You can’t. No of course the original writers never thought about that, I’m some of them are transphobic and would hate the idea, but it is not implanting anything that goes against anything mentioned in the text. And again, like in the point above, would not change anything to the story.

Ah, there it is. Suddenly we’ve gone from trying to hide the transphobia behind ‘no, it’s just that it wouldn’t fit in the story’ to ‘trans people are unnatural and putting trans people in things is just forcing people to see them’. As if this needs to be said, but there is nothing unnatural about trans people. Casting trans people is not ‘forcing wokeness’ it’s just employing anyone who is talented enough for the part. For a community that prides itself on being inclusive and lgbt+ positive, that really does only seem to apply to cis gay men a lot, doesn’t it.

Already addressed above why it isn’t “inherently there in the story”, but also no, being trans isn’t a ‘gimmick’, casting a trans character in a role is not a ‘gimmick’ done to try and bring in lgbt+ viewers (at least it never should be). Actors are not just a silly part of your show, they are a key part of your show and they have their own experiences that they bring too the table and make each character their own, and that includes trans people.

That’s very interesting. Wrong, but let’s see what he means. There’s a new musical opening up soon on the West End where the lead character is a trans woman. It’s an adaptation of the book Breakfast On Pluto, which was also adapted into a movie in 2005 staring Cillian Murphy. Now, I do adore the film because as a teen who was starting to question their gender it spoke to me a lot, but it did make the mistake of casting a cis man as the lead trans woman. But it’s 2021 now, and Mackintosh said new musicals with transgender characters could cast trans people in those roles. So that’s what Breakfast On Pluto did right?

That’s what they did, right?

Oh...

Yes a new musical with a lead trans woman character has cast a cis man to play this character. All the while turning down all the trans woman who auditioned, as if auditions should have ever allowed anyone other than trans women to apply, and casting a trans woman to play one of the other side cis characters.

The team behind the musical doubled-down after the backlash and were quick to point out that they have other trans people on the crew so that’s good enough right? Wrong.

Violence against trans women goes up when cis men are continually cast as trans women. It perpetuates this idea that trans women are actually men when audiences see the actor outside of the character and the actor is a man. Cis men are terrified of being perceived as gay for liking a trans woman and when the trans woman characters in films, tv and theatre are all played by men (most noticeably and recently Eddie Redmayne in The Danish Girl) it only seeks to push that belief further.

Cameron Mackintosh doesn’t believe trans people have any business playing characters that were not 100% explicitly written as being trans and we should essentially ‘stick to our own stories’. But then when a new musical comes to the West End with a lead trans character, a cis man is cast.

I implore everyone to watch this short clip from the documentary Disclosure: Trans Lives on Screen:

And just because cis women do not abuse and attack trans men to the same scale that cis men do to trans women, it still means seeing a female actor play a trans man contributes to transphobia in the audience as all they see is a woman 'pretending to be a man', a 'man in a skirt', someone who off-screen is not that gender.

Tdlr: Trans people can play cis characters and it doesn't require the role to be re-written, or the whole script to be re-written. Trans characters should be played by trans people.

[blueberry-beanie]

4, 5, 11, 25, 35, 48!

4. Is there a song you love but don't like its music video? Omg so many... I'm very peculiar about music videos (though it has become better with time). I used to not watch any music videos at all when I had strong feelings about a song. Let's use EE videos as an example. I love Supernormal and Breadwinner, but Jonathan has a special taste for very weird videos that are just disturbing at times haha, so these are not my faves. I have a strange dislike for Coldplay's Charlie Brown video and I also hate the one for Adventure Of A Livetime.

5. Is there a song you don't like but like its music video? Damn, this is a difficult question. I don't think I can answer it because why would I watch the video in the first place if not for the song... I'm sure there must be an example, but it doesn't come to mind rn.

11. Favorite songwriter? Damn, difficult again. I think it's often hard to point out for bands because each member usually contributes something. For example, Yannis said in a live stream that he gets to play the guitar part Jimmy came up with in a song. So how to distinguish that? On the other hand, we know that Yannis comes up with all the lyrics and I am so in love with most of them. He's a poet. Also, for bands there are just crucial things people contribute. Imho, a Coldplay song that deliberately excludes as much as possible of Jon's genius is not a good song. He is the magical ingredient in all of their music. When it comes to solo artists, I think Aurora is a genius. There is nobody like her and nobody has such a strong artistic vision (and stubbornness, rip to her management... only Magnus can deal with her). Her lyrics and the unique soundscapes she creates are just astonishing. Florence has a great way of transforming everyday, human and mundane themes into something universal and big, make personal problems and experiences into hymns that should be sung by a big choir and performed with a huge orchestra to call out the gods tbh (not being poetic here) so that's definitely a talent.

  25. Is there a song you used to like but can’t listen to anymore because you associate it with someone you don’t like? No, I don't have a song that I shared with a friend, family or a loved person that I no longer like. However, I do have a lot of songs that carried me through very dark times. I feel like they have soaked up my sadness and hurt and now they are drenched in these memories. Part of that is why I moved on a little bit from being a Coldplayer. Though I still enjoy the band and keep a blog and participate in the fandom; I rarely listen to their songs anymore. Especially Ghost Stories and AHFOD carried me through some of the worst times in my life. 35: A song you like in a language you don’t speak? Haha... I got to say most of the music I listen to is in English, with extremely few German songs (mostly from my teens/childhood) and some very old Russian songs (also childhood memories) and I do speak all of these languages. What immediately comes to mind is this funny gem by Coldplay. Some songs of course have parts in another language that I don't understand, especially songs on Coldplay's Everyday Life Album, like Arabesque and Bani Adam بنی آدم I also watched that one documentary about Olympos and it had this song called Έρημα βουνά. I have absolutely no idea what it's all about and it's definitely not what I normally listen to but it got stuck in my head. Some of the first music I ever had were the example songs that came with my version of Windows back in... maybe 2008 or so? To this day I still like I Ka Barra (Your Work) and Din Din Wo (Little Child) by Habib Koité and Bamada.

48. Who’s an artist you think it’s criminally underrated and deserves more recognition? *inhales* *screams* EVERYTHING EVERYTHING!!! They are so amazing, it took them one day to completely convert me into a huge fan, tbh. N and I fell into the EE rabbithole almost a year ago when we wanted to see/hear more of Jeremy, because there was not enough of him at the Foals concerts for our liking. N already knew their albums and I knew Night of the Long Knives because of Mark Owen's Spotify playlist, but when we started watching their concerts we realised that they are an absolute gem. Each member is so goddamn talented, their sound is catchy as hell and yet absolutely unique. Everyone go watch Everything Everything, become obsessed, join the Get to Heaven cult etc. A few links for anyone who wants to check them out:

EE live from Granada Studios

Violent Sun

Desire

No Reptiles

Night of the Long Knives

Leviathan

Distant Past (Lollapalooza Berlin)

Thank you so much for asking, N! <3 I've written WAY too much, so thanks everyone who read this, hope you found at least 42% of it interesting.

[neil-neil-orange-peel]

Yeah I find that Ben and Rik's other work you can see what they contributed to the Young Ones writing, but none of their other work had that 'was that a part of the episode or a fever dream I had as a child' element Young Ones had, so I like to think that was Lise. Bit of black humor but i cringe/laughed when they were looking back at the show and asked Lise what her fave bit was and she said with this sadistic smile 'when they drove off the cliff and died' knowing her history with Rik 😅

Yeah Lise... Has not had it easy with men, let's just say that! I have no idea what terms her and Angus Deayton parted on and I'd never claim any insight (they were together for a long time, after all, and have a son), but the stuff he got up to in the early 2000s shocked everyone. 😅

As for Lise and Rik. Yeah. Terrible behaviour on Rik's part and I'm glad he (to my knowledge) never defended it. In fact, I'm pretty sure he eluded to it being a reason he shouldn't be held up as a role model in an interview many years later. Apparently Rik and Lise weren't on speaking terms for a long time, but did make up. I watched along as Robin Ince hosted a TYO quiz on Rik's last birthday, and Lise asked to be involved for a segment. During their general chatting about TYO and Rik, she said when he died it became clear just how loved he was and that she hopes he knew how loved he was. I thought that was a nice sentiment and would seem to suggest the both of them were on okay terms before he died. Oh! And she had a big poster of Rick from the opening credits of series 1 too. And a poster from from Nasty. The fan is me was dancing!

I'm really glad Lise is still open to talking about TYO, even after all this time, and can I just say that the woman does not age! She is some kind of goddess. And not to be feminist on main, but I'm glad there was a woman involved in the creation of TYO too. Just 'cos.

So yeah, Rik did fuck up. Of course he did, he was human. I don't like the way online purity culture holds people up as pure evil the moment it's discovered they're flawed in some way, because no one is "pure" by those standards. It's good to remember the people we look up to/admire/fancy the pants off are flawed, as putting them on a pedestal doesn't help anyone, least of all ourselves. However, at the same time, it's not any of our places to forgive Rik for cheating on Lise, or try to excuse it with all the ways in which he was great. It has nothing to do with us, so to do so would be a bit arrogant really. He hurt her, and that wasn't okay.

About the young ones driving the bus off the cliff - Rik also cited it as his favourite bit of TYO in a documentary Ben did about 10 years ago called Laughing At The 80s. I think because it's an iconic scene and was quite exciting to film, it sticks out in a lot of people's minds as one of the - if not, the - defining moments of TYO. Not to mention the fact that they probably couldn't film it today 😂 a stunt man literally weighted down the gas and then had to jump from the bus before it went over the cliff. Lise's said elsewhere that she's sure they could have brought the lads back from that death if they'd wanted, since they'd killed them before and brought them back (at the end of the first episode, in fact).

Thanks for the ask!

[ingek73]

Fairytales for fuckwits: Meghan, a children's book, and the school bully tactics of the British tabloids...

Piers Morgan's obsession with Meghan Markle continues, while Mike Graham appears worried there may be too many big words for him to understand.

Mic Wright

May 6

On May the 4th, there was a great disturbance in the force, as if thousands of tabloid reporters and talk radio pundits cried out at once: The Duchess of Sussex had announced she was writing a children’s book.

Since the earth-shattering news that Meghan has written a story about the relationship between father’s and their sons — apparently based on a poem she wrote for Prince Harry — the tabloid press and talk radio stations have gone into meltdown.

The Sun has managed to crank out seven hysterically-pitched stories on the announcement since it dropped — the book isn’t out until June 8th — with each more unhinged than the last:

MEG TO PAPER Meghan Markle writes children’s book inspired by Prince Harry and baby Archie about ‘bond between father and son’

MEG-A MOVE Meghan Markle’s first priority should be mending broken relationships with royals not writing kids’ book, expert claims

SOUNDS A BIT WOODEN ‘Schmaltzy’ Meghan Markle ‘on dodgy ground’ with kids’ book celebrating fathers ‘after own bust-up with dad’ says author

DOUBLE DUCH Meghan Markle accused of copying her kids’ book The Bench from another story – but author defends her

NOT WRITE Piers Morgan slams ‘hypocrite’ Meghan Markle for kids’ book on ‘father-son bond’ after ‘ruining Harry and Charles’ ties’

'RIDICULOUS' Meghan Markle using Duchess of Sussex as author name ‘laughable’ after she wanted to cut Royal ties, says royal expert

CUT PRICE Meghan Markle’s kids’ book has price slashed already at Amazon and Waterstones

You’ll notice that Piers Morgan — a man who has turned one drink with Meghan after which he claims she “ghosted him”, which took place in 2016, into a five year and counting obsession — gets his own story there. That’s The Sun filleting Morgan’s spittle-flecked Daily Mail column on the book for its own news piece.

Morgan, who trails his columns on Twitter like they are exciting new releases rather than the tabloid equivalent of a letter scrawled in faeces forced through your letterbox, dashed out his thoughts on The Bench with the indecent haste of a man running along while his trousers fall down.

Image description: “Twitter avatar for @BreeNewsome

DEFUND & ABOLISH POLICE, REFUND OUR COMMUNITIES

@BreeNewsome

Piers Morgan’s obsession with Meghan Markle is genuinely disturbing. He’s really just using the guise of journalism to be a public stalker and harasser.

May 5th 2021

1,414 Retweets10,252 Likes”

-

Beneath a typically screaming Mail headline — How the hell can Meghan 'I hate royalty but call me Duchess' Markle preach about father-child relationships when she's disowned her own Dad, and wrecked her husband's relationship with his? — Morgan howled:

… she continues to cynically exploit her royal titles because she knows that's the only reason anyone is paying her vast sums of money to spew her uniquely unctuous brand of pious hectoring gibberish in Netflix documentaries, Spotify podcasts or children's books.

Of course, her equally cynical publishers don't give a damn about any of this shocking double standard.

Forget the fact that Meghan had a good degree of personal fame before she ever met Prince Harry, Piers Morgan accusing anyone else of being a cynical fame chaser is beyond parody. From his earliest days as a gossip hack, Morgan has muscled into pictures with the rich and famous, desperate to be someone.

When Meghan was willing to indulge him, he showered her with praise, but once she stopped taking his calls, he turned into the Tinder match from hell. That he has been married to his second wife, fellow controversialist columnist Celia Walden since 2010 seemingly did nothing to dampen his obsession.

Having repeatedly interviewed Meghan’s estranged father Thomas Markle — another man aggrieved because a woman would rather not spend time with him — Morgan sneers:

If she really cared about father-child relationships, she'd take a chauffeur-driven limousine on the hour-long trip to see her own father who's never even met either Harry or Archie.

It’s projection again: Piers Morgan’s ego is so egg-shell thin that after Meghan decided that one drink was more than enough, he’s spent 5 years seeking revenge and convinced that he’s been wronged, just like her ‘poor old dad’. That’s the ‘poor old dad’ that insists on talking about his daughter to journalists at every possible occasion.

At the end of an article that implies Harry and Meghan contributed to the death of Prince Philip — he died of natural causes — and rants on about “the woke”, Morgan ends with this:

But then as we've seen from her gruesomely self-interested behaviour during a pandemic that's caused so much devastation and pain to billions around the world, Meghan Markle doesn't really care about anyone but herself.

Remember, the Duchess of Sussex’s only ‘crime’ here is to write a children’s book which people will be free to buy or ignore with equal ease. But, as ever, Piers Morgan treats the news with all the proportionality of a US drone strike.

The real story here is about how Morgan — the bittiest of bit-part players in the narrative of Meghan and Harry’s lives — is so desperate to upgrade his place in the cast list that he will rant and rave to stay relevant. His departure from Good Morning Britain came after his last stream of invective about Meghan and he knows this schtick gets him the attention and money he craves.

Image description: “Twitter avatar for @MariaLRoach

Maria Roach

@MariaLRoach

Meghan Markle inside the tiny space called Piers Morgan’s head. #duchessofsussex Tap Dance GIF by Miss America

May 5th 2021

122 Retweets1,619 Likes”

-

Aside from Morgan’s column, MailOnline has published 9 other news stories on or related to the book announcement. The most telling of them is one that links the Duchess of Sussex’s book to another one… by the Duchess of Cambridge.

Headlined Bookshelf battle royale! Kate Middleton shares a glimpse inside her Hold Still photobook just a day after Meghan Markle unveiled her own £12.99 children's story, the story unsurprisingly treats Kate with kid gloves while continuing to imply that Meghan is the kind of person who would make gloves out of kids if it suited her devilish schemes.

There’s no shade thrown at the Duchess of Cambridge for revealing further details of her book just hours after Meghan’s announcement. Instead, the story — lavishly illustrated with images from the book — gushes:

The Duchess of Cambridge has shared a glimpse of her photography book Hold Still ahead of its release on Friday…

… Kate, 39, a keen photographer, launched a campaign during the first lockdown last year to ask the public to submit images which captured the period.

It even includes a mention of an image of a BLM protestor saying:

Over the course of the project, the Duchess shared a number of her favourite images on the Kensington Royal Instagram page, including a Black Lives Matter protester holding a sign reading: 'Be on the right side of history.'

If Meghan had done the same she would have been decried for “supporting extremists”. Remember the contrasting way their mutual taste for avocado was covered?

15 Headlines Show How Differently The British Press Treat Meghan Markle Vs Kate Middleton | Bored Panda

Over at The Daily Telegraph, Spiked alumna Ella Whelan offered her thoughts on a book that isn’t released until next month under the headline Meghan Markle’s fun-free children’s book may put an entire generation off reading, which makes it sound like a grimoire full of dark magic rather than a gentle children’s book about kids and their dads.

Just as with the Mail’s story on Kate’s book, it’s worth imagining what Whelan would say if the Duchess of Cambridge had written The Bench. Look at the following section…

It reveals something of the political superficiality of Harry and Meghan’s activism that an “inclusive” book would use the military father as its promotional message. Perhaps it’s a cultural thing, but if my kids have to read about soldiers, I’d prefer Hans Christian Andersen’s tin version rather than the woke posturing of a former royal.

… and notice that because Meghan is the author including a father who is in the military is “political superficiality”. If Kate had written a story that featured an analogue for Prince William — who also spent time in uniform, though in less dangerous circumstances than his ‘spare’ brother — Whelan would likely deem it a ‘touching tribute to their love’.

Similarly, Sarah Ferguson — the ex-wife of Prince Andrew, top Yelp! reviewer for Jeffrey Epstein’s houses and noted avoider of FBI questioning — uses the title Duchess of York on her many execrable children’s books.

Now that Meghan is the tabloid’s new monster in the monarchy, Fergie’s antics are pointed to as a positive with her books flattered even as Meghan’s as-yet-unpublished book is panned.

Image description: “Twitter avatar for @talkRADIO

talkRADIO

@talkRADIO

Meghan Markle is releasing a new children's book about father-son relationships.

Mike Graham: "It's so juvenile. This is somebody who acts like she's still in high school... it's not exactly Tennyson, is it?

@mrmarkdolan | @Iromg Image

May 5th 2021

36 Retweets221 Likes”

-

Over on talkRADIO, Mike Graham — a melting mass of expired meat — ranted about a children’s book, worried perhaps that it will contain too many long words. Speaking to his colleague, Mark Dolan — Dennis Pennis without the charm — Graham crowed:

It’s so juvenile. This is somebody who acts like she’s still in high school… I don’t have anything against her for any particular reason, other than she’s a bit too American, you know. She thinks everything is just great and cheesy. Rhyming the words ‘joy’ and ‘boy’. It’s not exactly Tennyson, is it?

Ah yes, that famous children’s author, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, known for such devastating rhymes as this one from The Lady of Shallot: “She left the web/ She left the loom/ She made three paces through the room.”

I’m not saying The Lady of Shalott is rubbish — though I do still hold a grudge against Tennyson after some very tedious teaching in high school — but that focusing on one rhyme in a poem is an easy trick if you want to say its shit. That Graham cannot see the irony in decrying writing a children’s book as “juvenile” is just one of the reasons he’s employed by a station with less than 1% reach.

Image description: “Twitter avatar for @NadimJBaba

Nadim Baba

@NadimJBaba

Piers Morgan ranting about the one who got away in 5, 4, 3.......

Media Guardian @mediaguardian

Meghan wins copyright claim against Mail on Sunday over letter https://t.co/cJZTgDMvgz

May 5th 2021

1 Like”

-

There’ll be a new round of these columns, stories, and talk radio segments when the book is released, particularly as The Mail on Sunday just lost the second part of Meghan’s copyright claim against it.

There’s nothing that either Meghan or Harry could do that wouldn’t drive these rats in a sack rabid. If they did nothing, they’d be called lazy. When they make things, take jobs, or really say anything the very media that benefits hugely from stories about them scream that it’s a cry for attention. And yet Piers Morgan regularly pissing himself in public is “commentary”.

[morbid-n-macabre]

The Eyeball Killer-

Dallas, Texas

In August of 1933 Charles Albright was born, and the woman who'd brought him into this world gave her baby up; within weeks he was adopted by a grocer named Fred Albright and his wife, a schoolteacher called Delle. While they say that Delle definitely doted on her son, she was also very strict, domineering even; Charles was often punished in cruel ways for the most petty of sins. If he wouldn't take a nap, Dell would tie her son to the bed; if the boy didn't finish all of his milk, mother would lock him in pitch black room. It is thought that Charles resented his mother and the woman who had given him up; it's possible this is where his deep seeded hatred for women began.

It's thought that Charley's fascination with eyes stems from his childhood. As a young boy Charles and his mama would roam the city in search of dead animals; the pair were very much into taxidermy. Mother and son would find a suitable corpse, bring it home, gut the animal, stuff it up, and sew it back together. Since eyeballs will rot, a taxidermied animal's eyes are supposed to be removed and replaced with fake ones, but these eyes are a bit pricy. Mrs. Albright had been a bit thrifty and, to the dismay of her son, refused to fork over the cash for those fancy taxidermy eyeballs; young Charles was forced to sew buttons on his deceased pets instead. This was very bothersome to the boy, and it's believed that this is how that eyeball fetish came to be.

There is no denying that Charles had been a super bright young man who not only skipped one grade in school, but two! It is impressive, and he was intelligent enough to be successful in anything he attempted, but Charles just couldn't seem to stay out of trouble with the law. By the time he was a 13 Charles already had a criminal record, yet at just fifteen years of age he had managed to graduated from high school and enroll in college. At sixteen Charles was again arrested for theft, and spent a year incarcerated. After his release Charles took pre-med courses at an Arkansas college, but he was found to be in possession of stolen property and expelled. At this point Charles figured, why actually work to get a degree when you can simply lie about having one? He forged all the necessary papers and voila! The crook found himself a job at a school where he taught biology classes and even coached a football team! Charley wed his college girlfriend and that union produced a daughter, but the marriage didn't last; the couple officially divorced in 1974. Charles continued to get in trouble here and there throughout the years but he was cunning and usually managed to receive probation. As an example, in 1981 the pervert even molested a friend's 9 year old daughter; for stealing this little girl's innocence, a crime to which he actually plead guilty, Charley again merely received probation! It's despicable, and insane that no one bothered to stop this train wreck in it's tracks!

On December 13th of 1990 a sex worker named Mary Lou Pratt was found deceased. She was partially unclothed, arms lifted over her head with her shirt shoved way up so that Mary's breasts were exposed. The woman had been sexually assaulted, shot in the head, and her eyes were gone. They'd been cut out, but not in the way you'd expect; these eyes were removed with such precision that investigators were sure that their killer must be some sort of a doctor or have some medical training at the very least!

When police were called to another crime scene two months later, it must've felt like deja vu! The next victim, a sex worker named Susan Peterson, was discovered in close proximity to the first. This corpse was posed in the exact same manner as the first: her arms were way up above her head, shirt lifted and breasts exposed. Susan, too, had been sexually assaulted, shot in the head, and her eyes had been removed just as carefully as her predecessor's. Tragically, police were certain that Susan had known her killer. Days prior to her death Susan had confessed to police that she knew precisely who had been responsible for Mary's murder, but for whatever reason Susan refused to name the man. Truth be told she was probably afraid, and who could blame her? Women in this profession very often grow disillusioned with police, which is part of the reason why they make such great targets for serials.

Anyhow, a month after Susan's murder, on March 19th of 1991, there was another victim; this one's name was Shirley Williams. Shirley had suffered the same injuries as the others, but her death was much more brutal. She had bruises about her face, and her eyes had been ripped out with such force that a sliver of metal from an xacto blade was left in the otherwise empty socket! Near this corpse lay a bright red condom.

Police soon realised that the only way they were likely to catch their killer would be to enlist the help of the women working in the local Red Light district. While speaking with these ladies, investigators noticed that one man was brought up time and time again; Charles Albright was known to be violent with his dates, at least one of the women claimed she'd narrowly escaped one encounter with her life. Charles seemed fixated on pretty eyes, he had a hatred for "hookers" and once stated that he'd kill them all if he could, plus the man had been friendly with one of the victims. After hearing all of this, police were able to secure a search warrant. Inside Charley's home investigators found several firearms, an abundance of xacto knifes just like the ones used to remove the women's eyes, and bright red colored condoms. But that's not all! Charles had mannequins and masks throughout his home, it's said that he was obsessed with their blank, dead eyes; at least one source states that there were dolls with their eyes removed. In a barn out back were rows of dead animals preserved in jars!

Charles was arrested and originally charged with multiple murders, though he was convicted of murdering only Shirley. Today he is serving life in prison, and while incarcerated he passes the time by drawing eyeballs which he hangs on the walls of his cell.

Before doing in depth research for this case I had been lead to believe through documentaries that police could only pin 3 murders on Charles, which is not true! There is a much lesser known victim from 1988. The modus operandi from Rhonda Bowie's slaying is much different from the rest; she had been stabbed 30 times (overkill) and her eyes remained intact. It seems to me that either this earlier murder isn't connected to the others and a killer got away, or it was the same murderer but he hadn't found his signature yet. Maybe Charles didn't plan to kill Rhonda; it's possible he became enraged by something, stabbed her to death, and discovered he enjoyed killing. If this is the case, are there other murders which could be contributed to Albright? While it's not unheard of for a man in his mid 50's to begin killing, but it's not the most common thing, either. Lastly, there is another possibility which must be addressed: many do believe this man to be completely innocent of all charges. It's impossible to deny the fact that the evidence used to convict Charles was circumstantial, relying mostly on fiber evidence; there was no DNA or anything truly concrete which tied him to these serial killings. Charles's girlfriend even swears that he was with her during the times of the murders so he couldn't possibly be guilty. But you know, that seems a likely story, doesn't it? How many spouses have been in denial and covered for their lovers? The thing is, this one could prove that Charley had had no access to a vehicle during two of the murders. Now I'm not in any way saying that Charles Albright is innocent, especially when you look at those drawings of eyeballs which he keeps in his cell, but I can understand why some people think that might be the case.

[back-and-totheleft]

Oliver Stone on his new documentary JFK: Destiny Betrayed

For a period beginning with 1986's Platoon and continuing through a stunning run of hit films including Wall Street, The Doors and Natural Born Killers, filmmaker Oliver Stone was firmly at the centre of the zeitgeist, sparking debate and creating iconic cultural moments with everything he made.

During this fruitful period, the Stone movie that unquestionably had the largest impact was 1991's JFK, which presented a wide-ranging "counter-myth" to the official story of the assassination of US President John F Kennedy on November 22nd, 1963.

The film elevated interest in the JFK assassination to a level that can still be felt, and Stone is revisiting the subject in the new four-part documentary event series JFK: Destiny Betrayed, available on the DocPlay streaming service.

"This is not a dramatisation, this is a documentary," Stone tells the Herald in an exclusive interview. "This is fact. It is crucial that people understand this came out of the Assassination Records Review Board, [an independent agency] that was created out of the [reaction to the 1991] film. Unfortunately, the media didn't pay any attention to the files. So we had to do this. I have to do it."

The series presents a raft of eye-opening material from files declassified by the ARRB covering the corruption of the evidence chain, eyewitness accounts contradicting the official timeline, the farcical autopsy and the notion that Lee Harvey Oswald was working alone.

"All I can do is show you what we found out from this and you'll see that it's clear that there was more than one gunman. It's also clear that there's a motive for Kennedy's death. And it's damn clear that there's a lot of corruption around the case."

Speaking to the Herald via a Zoom video call from his book-lined home office, the multi-Oscar winner is as passionate as ever about the JFK assassination. In JFK: Destiny Betrayed, he posits that Kennedy's liberal, globalist policies were just starting to re-shape the planet for the better when he was murdered and his successors reversed course, giving rise to a much more militarised approach.

"Since he was killed, we've been unable to change the lock that the national security state has on all of our countries. Kennedy was breaking through that. It would have been a happier world if he'd been successful."

When JFK was released, conspiracy theories were almost romantic. But events in the last several years have illustrated the real-world dangers of such thinking. I ask Stone, perhaps the world's most famous conspiracy theorist, if he thinks conspiracy theories have gotten out of control.

"I can't talk about these other things that people talk about. Crazy things get said all the time. I'm not responsible for that. But I do believe this case is valid and important because it sets our policy today."

He acknowledges that JFK led to greater suspicion of governments.

"I think in general, my film contributed to it. Governments lie. This is not news. But it's news for a lot of people who grow up very naive. Governments line their own interests."

Does Stone think the general public is equipped to distinguish between genuine cover-ups and paranoid fantasies?

"It's always hard. This is what history is about - it's a fight. A fight between what one side says and other people say. People have to decide for themselves and hopefully every citizen should be concerned. It doesn't work out that way."

"What we need to understand is the our government, the US government, is corrupt. It was corrupted after World War II, in that period when we became another kind of nation, we became an armed citadel. We're a colossus. No government can operate outside our gaze. [The JFK] assassination opened the gates of corruption in a big way."

I end our conversation by asking Stone if he remains hopeful for the future despite the dispiriting power dynamics outlined in his new series.

"I'm always hopeful because I'm an optimist. We have to be. It's the only way humanity can survive. By being optimistic."

He smiles.

"I'm still alive. They haven't killed me yet."

-Dominic Corry, New Zealand Herald, Nov 27 2021 [x]

[darapnerd]

G33k HQ Presents: MC Front-A-Lot Interview

Interview Questions From G33K-HQ & Darealwordsound (Wordy): Nerdcore Interview Collaboration Questions

MC Front: Thank you for bearing with me! So sorry to continually drop the ball on this. Here you go.

Wordy: What was your first creative outlet? MC Front: I seem to remember kindergarten involving a lot of drawing. First and second grade had poetry exercises sometimes. But the way we played D&D between 2nd and 6th grades was how my imagination really got fired up. We didn\'t like dice and maps that much. We\'d take turns DMing and just sort of freestyle the stories to each other at recess. Wordy:  What was the first rap album you ever purchased? MC Front: It was also my first CD. DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince, He\'s the DJ, I\'m the Rapper. Wordy: Who are your biggest music inspirations?

  MC Front: Tom Waits, Public Enemy, Bjork

Wordy: Describe your studio to us.

  MC Front: I have an Ikea desk that\'s been out of print for 10 years so I get fussy when anyone leans on it. Creaky, cheap old thing. It\'s the only one where you can bolt the rotating side shelves at any height. Perfect for the near-field monitors and re-aiming them for any version of the stereo field. I mix there in my bedroom which isn\'t treated, but I\'ve been in there so long that I can work around most of the room effects. I have a coat closet fully treated, very dead and dry, for vocals. I keep some buttons in there to engineer myself, but everything\'s still happening on the studio computer. My pre-amp and mics and monitors are satisfactory. I could use a better ADC/DAC.

  I will record occasional hand percussion, etc, in that closet booth, but very little fits in there. For other acoustic capture, I\'ll rent time at a real studio (any time I\'m tracking my drummers) or I\'ll go field-record strings at someone\'s apartment.

  A solid two thirds of the non-vocal sound on the albums is electronic, and I can get keyboard performances or work on drum machine material in the project studio without worrying about the ambient noises of Brooklyn.

  Wordy: Describe your ideal home studio if money wasn\'t a problem.

  MC Front: A proper treatment of the mixing room would be great. I guess I\'d have twenty of these Avalon pre-amps and a little drum room, as well as a booth big enough for upright bass or cello. There is almost unlimited fanciness available in the hardware market... I guess I\'d have to make a hobby out of shopping. I\'d still use Reaper as my DAW, though -- the least expensive version of that kind of software, and also the best. I could probably spend sixty grand on plugins.

Wordy: What is your creative process for writing and or producing a song?

MC Front: Baddd Spellah, my Canadian beatsmithing partner, has been kind enough to work on grooves with me for the last fifteen years. Usually I will start with something he\'s been kicking around, or he\'ll take a pass at some live drum that I\'ve been chopping up, and we\'ll add keyboard material from Gm7 (Gaby Alter), my longtime music co-writer. When there is a verse-appropriate groove that is in pretty good shape, I\'ll leave it on loop and write. Once in a while, I\'ll write a hook over a groove that feels like a chorus, and start from there. After I\'ve got most of a lyric, I\'ll put down a scratch vocal so that Spellah and I can build a full song arrangement. Then I\'ll record too many takes of the final vocal, and spend too many months dicking around with the comp, the mix, and all the instrumental details. Finally I\'ll listen to it on as many different devices as I can, fine-tune the mix, and stay up for a week and a half making increasingly bad decisions about everything on the album, leading up to the mastering appointment I foolishly committed to several months prior.

  Wordy: What is your happiest On-Stage Moment?

  MC Front: I think a PAX crowd demanded a second encore once. That makes you feel like a superstar.

Wordy: What was your favorite song to write or record?

  MC Front: Maybe Stoop Sale? But that might be because the video came out so well. For the most part, my happiness with the process relies entirely on the result: it makes me happy to listen to a track if I don\'t just hear a barrage of fuckups that it\'s too late to go back and fix. But there aren\'t very many of those. Of all my lyrics, I\'m probably proudest of Two Dreamers from the Question Bedtime album. I feel like I worked out every bit of the story and then obscured it just enough that the listener\'s careful attention is rewarded.

Wordy: What advice do you have for aspiring artists?

  MC Front: Practice a lot, develop your talent. Get the skills you need to properly communicate with whoever your creative partners are. Take the craft seriously but give yourself a break for not having mastered it -- that is a lifelong process with no actual end goal.

Wordy: What project do you feel best describes you as an artist?

  MC Front: The Nerdcore Rising documentary probably says more about me and the band than I\'d ever be able to, and in kinder words. Of my own projects, I like the Zero Day and Solved albums as a window into whatever it is I\'m trying to say about nerdcore.

Wordy: How do you feel about the disconnect between \"Nerdcore\" and \"HipHop\"?

  MC Front: Well, hip-hop is a cultural movement with very specific origins and elements. Rap is a formal music style that emerged from hip-hop. Any \'variation\' or \'new perspective\' that someone brings to rap is fine -- if meaningless. It might matter that you came up with a new thing to say, but the fact that you chose an unusual form for your expression should be the least interesting thing about it. You can write a march for your peace movement, even if marches come from military music, because the march itself is just a formal style of composition. You\'d be smart to note the ironic relationship there, or you\'d be dumb to suggest that there isn\'t one, or that your choice to use a march as an expression of pacifism somehow reaches backward and affects the origin of the form. Anyone who thinks they\'re \'expanding\' or \'liberating\' hip-hop from its roots by rapping about things that haven\'t been rapped about traditionally is probably an idiot. 

  My idea about hip-hop was only to observe that it was cool. Like, it was the coolest thing happening in American culture when I was a kid, and it probably still is. Breakdancers were the coolest kids on the playground. Graffiti kids were the coolest outlaws in fourth grade. And rappers were the coolest possible composers of verse.

  To want to compose and perform verse in that formal style without having any direct connection to hip-hop, and without being cool, is the sort of desire nerd kids might express by themselves, away from arbiters of hipness, and share only with other uncool kids. The idea of nerdcore went no deeper than that, originally. I\'m glad that a lot of other DIY rappers have found that resonant enough to expand upon.

  Wordy: Do you feel more \"Nerdcore\" rappers should know about its roots in \"HipHop\"?

  MC Front: Definitely. I remember trying to write a Villanelle in a college poetry class. First, we had to read and dissect a sheaf of them. The professor was of the opinion that we would all flounder in the assignment, because there had been only a handful of good Villanelles ever written. I\'m sure none of us wrote one of lasting value. The point was to learn how formal composition connects works, and to appreciate the complications. You can always just do it anyway. But knowing where it comes from and how it\'s been attempted before teaches you how to try to do it well. I think anyone who wants to compose lyrics within the rap genre should know all they can about how raps have been composed so far.

  That doesn\'t even begin to address the cultural issue. Some artists misidentify nerdcore as comedy music, and worse yet, think the joke is \"it\'s rap, but white kids are doing it.\" I think that outlook leads to the weakest possible songs, and is generally disrespectful of hip-hop in a way that concerns me and offends anyone who cares about American culture. Of course, not all of the nerdcore rappers are white, but all of the schticky ones are. I wonder if a delve into hip-hop\'s history would cure them of that impulse, or at least afford them the humility to hush it up.

Wordy: Are you involved in any philanthropy in your local communities or abroad?

  MC Front: I try to do something in support of Child\'s Play every year. I\'m going to contribute to the upcoming Worldbuilders album project.

Wordy: Can you freestyle? Meaning rap off the top of the head? If so, can we see you drop a few bars next time live?

  MC Front: I never do this! I think I\'ve conditioned myself into a certain kind of vanity. Almost everything on the albums is rapped in complete sentences, with rhymes that I\'ve never used previously. Freestyling doesn\'t work that way. I\'m too ashamed to let anyone see me freestyling about the frog, on a log, in a bog, who got sog-gy.

Wordy: Do you consider yourself a “GEEK”?

  MC Front: Of course.

Wordy: In your own words, describe what the word “GEEK” means to you?

MC Front: I decided at some point a long time ago that geeks are all direct descendants of the side-show geek, whose job was biting heads off of chickens. They weren\'t special in any way, except that they were willing and able to do that thing, and it was a fairly extreme thing to do. But because nobody else at the carnival was willing to go to that extreme, the geekery came to seem like a highly specialized skill.

  That\'s why you can be a geek about anything. You just need a topic where your knowledge or expertise is so specialized that it seems distastefully extreme to non-geeks. You can geek out about fantasy novels or about robot AIs. But you can also geek out about car engines or cooking. You don\'t have to be a nerd to geek out.

  Nerds are almost always geeks, and their subjects of geekery are often recognizably nerdy. But a nerd is something else, a person who was already too weird or too smart, and felt alienated, and embraced geekery as an alternative to whatever broader pursuits the cool kids enjoyed.

  Wordy: What is your earliest geek memory?

  MC Front: I was a Star Wars geek starting at age three and a half when the first one came out. It was the only thing I wanted to do. I made adults take me to see it 11 times before Empire came out (I kept careful count). I collected the Kenner figures obsessively until they stopped making new ones a year or two after Jedi.

  Wordy: What is your \"Geek\" hobby? Do you collect comic books? Anime? Video games?

  MC Front: I do still love comics, but I own too many. Video games take up less space. I spend more time gaming than I do working on music, occasionally 70 or 80 hours in a week. It\'s as much an emotional self-medication as it is a hobby.

Wordy: Who are your Top 5 emcees dead or alive?

  MC Front: In no order: Busdriver, MF Doom, Del, Q-Tip, Chuck D

Wordy: When is your next show or tour?

  MC Front: When I get the dang old album done! Maybe spring 2017 for tour. PAX South is the soonest lone show.

Wordy: Do you have a new album coming out?

  MC Front: It\'s called INTERNET SUCKS, and it is going to have a heavy \'get off my lawn\' vibe. Everyone will be mad at me, yet secretly agree with every word on the record. Watch for it to take your feeds by storm.

  http://frontalot.com

more at darealwordsound