#still...at their very best

[the1975attheirverybest]

ATPOAIM Ep 4- Still...at their very best

As promised, here comes my break-down/ interpretation of yesterday's episode. I'm not really sure if I'm on to anything here. Just thoughts. a discussion starter perhaps. also, I do talk about the criticisms or problems that I have with this episode towards the end.

yeah, let me know what y'all think!

---

The opening scene does a lot to set the tone of this episode and let us know, from the start, that it is in stark contrast to episodes 1, 2, and 3.

For one thing, it's in color as opposed to black and white. The style of filming is difference. we see the wide open space surrounding Matty on his mattress, instead of the camera moving along with him, or, focusing on him.

He doesn't acknowledge the camera in the way that he does in previous episodes. In fact, he spends the first 59 seconds of a, roughly, 8 minute video just getting out of bed and getting dressed. Might not seem like a lot of time, but in a short video like this, every second counts. So, the decision to focus so much on this opening moment is deliberate.

The MUSIC, lest we skip over that, is also a big deal. It does have an eerie-ness to it that suggests we should feel unsettled by what we're seeing, maybe?

Of course, the first things that happen in the mid of the audience are: wtf? why is he sleeping on the floor? why does he sleep like that? where/what is this?

Curiously, the first thing that he reaches for is the oxygen mask? I wonder if it's sort of the opposite of reaching for cigarettes (or maybe im projecting as someone who has recently quit smoking, lmao). In any case, it's not normal. That is, it's not the sort of thing one usually does when waking up in the morning. Is it to highlight the artificiality of the set up? Is it the David Lynch thing? I know he had an oxygen tank for ATVB, but I can't remember how consistently he used it. Wasn't at every show, was it? idk. Or maybe it is simply to remind us of the strangeness of the seemingly mundane things that we are about to watch him do?

His clothes are laid out for him on the cart, which, again, makes the perfectly normal act of getting dressed in the morning very strange. Perhaps also eliminates the choice. He doesn't need to make a decision about what to choose, cuz there are no options. Kind of like a uniform.

First thing he does when he's dressed and has made his "bed" is go up to the wall. I'm interested in these.

Because, he is fixated on it, and because that's what we see later on.

The music and the tone of the moment changes when he moves on to making coffee (fuck, now im really craving a good cup of coffee).

The coffee-making scene is utilizing lab apparatus. Though, I will say, drip coffee does usually use a grinder, a scale, filter paper, etc. So, I suppose that process is, in itself, adjacent to working in a lab. It also requires exactitude, slow motion, a lot of waiting around for the coffee to finish brewing and dripping, etc. (side note: the coffee he makes is nowhere near as strong as he should be. What kinda color is that, Matty?!) So, is he dramatizing the process? exaggerating skills required for the task? or i he SO committed to his grass thing that he's taken to sleeping in his lab and this is legit just an obsessed scientist making coffee in his lab thats also his home.

Some of you have pointed out that the door he exits from and the door he enters through are two different doors to the same building. If that's the case, is he suggesting some sort of cyclical nature to this everyday routine (in contrast to the day in the life thing that we saw in episode 1? Two sides, one coin?

Now, he's in an entire different lab space! Here's everything we can see when he first enters.

The greenery certainly stands out in the otherwise monochromatic setting, and we shortly see him make very exact moves to snip a "sample" of the plant, and then mist it. But not before he puts on his "Matty" coat and tosses away the "Truman Black" coat in the biohazard bin (more on that in a bit).

He moves on from his potted plant to his ??? patch of grass perhaps? which, remember, we saw a picture of in the first minute of the video. on his wall of sketches and images. One of the images was showing the layers underneath the grass. Meaning that what we see at the top in only the surface?

Briefly, we see a crack in his "character." In contrast to making deliberate and precise moves, he's suddenly stirring chaos. Trying to ride the cart, fucking with the drill, and watching stuff on his phone. You can toss the Truman Black lab coat into the biohazard bin but you can't take the Truman Black out of the Matty?? after all, the Matty dude is just a coat that he put on. He can take it back off at any moment. Is he saying that every version of himself is, ultimately, a performance of selfhood? even if he were to be "Matty"? is he saying you can't totally separate the two?

He writes "la poesie eat dans la rue" in his notebook. "The Poetry Is In The Street" BUT WHY? Nothing he's doing has anything to do with streets or poetry. Hint for the future, but what?

Next, he gets pretty tactile. "touching grass" as we joked yesterday, but maybe also testing it a bit? We get a visual trick that makes him go from hovering over the small patch of grass to laying in a much bigger one. Followed very quickly by him posing for the SATVB Tour poster.

which is the very first time that we feel there's someone maybe with him? who's taking the picture for the poster? is it pre-set? but we didn't see any signs of it in the room prior to the shot. Has more stuff happened in between, that is conveniently left out? has more time passed by? is that why the grass is larger?

He ends the video by shutting things down and pulling the lever, just like he used to do at the end of ATVB shows.

I'm not entirely sure what the "studying plant in lab" is alluding to or suggesting other than bringing the natural into an unnatural space? experimentation? exercise of control over natural being? construct building? I think that's the key to putting together the subject matter of the following tour.

NOW FOR HANG UPS I HAVE these might not be legit criticisms. It may be that once we get more info/ see more episodes, these things will become clear, but for now,

I'm not sure that this needed to be an episode of atpoaim. Like, couldn't the tour announcement have been its own thing? the series seems to have had a very specific goal that it was trying to achieve in a very specific way, and this was different. Didn't Matty say atpoaim was meant to get to color gradually as the series also got more theatrical and dramatic? kind of as a parallel to the 1975? this wasn't gradual. this went into color right away!

We also know that Matty filmed this in NJ a few weeks ago. MUCH after filming other stuff for future atpoaim episodes. Does this mean he's scrapped all previous footage and changed the whole plan? is this a brief interruption and we get back to normal next month with episode 5? is episode 5 gonna be totally new and different from an original episode 5 that maybe he'd planned before? This is why I say, if the tour announcement isn't intrinsic to where atpoaim is going, then it should've just been its own thing.

ANYWAYS THOUGHTS???? I DONT KNOW ANYTHING ANYMORE.

[cryley]

I GOT BALTIMORE GA!! I'm going to cry for the next 4 months

[squidsarentcool]

Went to my very first concert yesterday! It truly was the most amazing night I've ever had, and it's something I will cherish for many years to come ❤️

[egophiliac]

IT WAS ERIC AFTER ALL!!!! I'm so glad we got to meet him (before Vil snaps him away with those Infinity Gauntlets) (can't wait to see what happens when we get the matching Infinity Tiara to go with them, there will be no survivors)

(sorry to be so slow/rough lately, just got a lot of stuff on the ol' brain at the moment! alas, if only I could spend all my time drawing incredibly stupid characters I mean I do but)

[aalghul]

once again thinking about jason as duke’s robin. he’s ~4 years younger than jason, and that’s puts him at 8-12 during Jason’s time as robin. that’s prime time to get attached to your local kid vigilante before your own life goes downhill.

and if we try to keep duke’s meeting with bruce in zero year + duke’s age (so he can remember the meeting and hold that conversation with bruce), he has to be around 8. if he starts following batman through the news at that time because of the mess that just happened, the robin he sees is probably jason. I’ve literally connected the dots

[u3pxx]

KIM KITSURAGI - “Is that. My kineema.”

COMPOSURE [Medium: Success] - Something in him is about to break, *big time*.

EMPATHY - And it’s not going to be pretty, do something!

- DRAMA [Formidable] - Everything is fine!

- “Sure is.”

DRAMA [Formidable: Failure] - Surely he’s aware that he’s not the *only* person in the world who owns a Kineema?

YOU - “Is it really *yours*? I mean, plenty of people have their own Kineemas, right? Like working men, government offices, uh, firefighters I guess, maybe even animal control people? Exactly! A million different people who could’ve driven it into the uh…”

DRAMA - Pause, my liege! Ixnay on the Ineemakay!

YOU - “It could even be our *mysterious* joyrider!”

KIM KITSURAGI - Your frenzied babbling falls deaf to the lieutenant's ears. Instead, he approaches the broken vehicle, sunken in the ice. He moves with a caution and gentleness you haven’t seen him display before.

INLAND EMPIRE - It must be cold and lonely down there, in the icy water. Maybe he could sense its sorrow, calling to him…

PERCEPTION (SIGHT) [Easy: Success] - His hands, which are always stiffly placed behind his back, are trembling.

ENDURANCE - This is the shuffle of a tired, tired man.

HALF LIGHT - He’s going to do something drastic because of you. Oh god, terrible! You’re a terrible liar! You can’t look at this, you just can’t!

VOLITION [Formidable: Success] - It's not *you* who drove his kineema into the sea. You have plenty of faults, but this one is decidedly not yours.

KIM KITSURAGI - He kneels down with his head bowed, casting his face in shadow. He plants a hand on the ice to stabilize himself, squinting to get a better view of the motor carriage. “Detective, it says ‘57’ on it.”

YOU - Sweat drips down your brow, and you feel a terrible headache coming. “Maybe our joyrider has an affinity for that number?”

LOGIC - He's not stupid, he knows that it's not that.

KIM KITSURAGI - “57.”

YOU - “What about 57?”, you brace yourself.

KIM KITSURAGI - “Precinct 57.”

YOU - You wince. “Kim, look-”

KIM KITSURAGI - “When I woke up in the Whirling-in-Rags with no memory of what happened during the days before, I've taken note that something of mine has gone missing.” He grits his teeth. "A very. Important. Something."

He runs his hands over his face, messing his already unkempt hair in the process. Regret creeps up on his features. “God. Fuck. They’re going to fire me over this, they’re not going to hear me out.”

EMPATHY - Desperation settles in the lieutenant's tone. Sadly, you find yourself in agreement, even if you don’t want it to be the truth.

YOU - “People are more valuable than machines, Kim.”

KIM KITSURAGI - “Not people like me.” He rasps.

YOU - “…”

KIM KITSURAGI - Before you can say anything more, you fail to notice the lieutenant carefully walking onto the edge of the ice. He looks over the frigid water, a dizzying blue that mirrors and distorts his exhausted face back to him.

YOU - “Kim?”

KIM KITSURAGI - Seconds pass as he looks to be contemplating something. Out of nowhere, he casually takes another step where the ice ends and the sea begins. It happens all too quick for the lieutenant to even voice a call for help— if he even wanted to — his body plunging into the cold water before your eyes.

YOU - “KIM!!!!”

uhhh bonus stuff? sorry i have swap au brainworms pfttt

(im not sure what skills kim has at the moment so rn he only has narration as his inner monologue ok whoops, i would like to keep harry as the guy who thinks in dialogue trees so im still figuring it out pfttt)

also, this was done bc i wanted to expand on these old scribbles of mine, just like an idea, i just think that he'd be having an even worse time wheezes

[kayleerowena]

horror barbies legally distinct pink-themed horror dolls available now from your local t-shirt store!

[grapejuicegay]

I haven't got a job. Why not? I think they only want clean people. They haven't taken that thing off yet? It's gone. But I guess some people still see it.

[lesbiancassius]

Elektra in Mycenae, Casey J. King

[clownsuu]

i love all the flavors of howdydarling art you make sm!! i've really been stuck on the drawings you did of wally with insomnia, i love the idea of howdy carrying his ass to bed when he shows up at the bugdega totally exhausted. i thought it'd be cute if wally stepped in to take care of howdy too when he's feeling overworked, or the two of them just collapsing into a nap pile at the end of a long day

It’s been raining all day and the vibes for cuddles n sweet shid is I m m a c u l a t e

Sometimes when I think about howdy and Wally, I think about them doing that specific lil wiggle/dance you can do with your followers in cult of the lamb smhhh (and frank really wanting to join but is very shy about it)

[knifearo]

ultimately when it comes to shipping and fandom space treatment of aspec characters i just don't accept "aro/ace people can still date/have sex" as an answer from nonaspecs. like yeah. mhm. okay. now i think we both know that you're not saying that out of real interest in the diversity of aspec experiences. so you can turn in your seventeen-page essay on why and how you plan to examine this character's aspec identity within the context of a romantic or sexual relationship complete with evidence from canon and peer reviews from multiple aspec people within the next week or i'm putting you in the pit from the edgar allen poe story

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

The most evil celebratory kiss

[First] Prev <–-> Next

[ruporas]

drank too much

[ID: Digital Art of Vash and Wolfwood from Trigun Maximum. Vash’s body is turned slightly away from the viewer as he holds a staggering Wolfwood by his shoulder. He has one foot ahead of the other, the foot in the back used to stabilize himself from tipping over. Wolfwood is tethering into Vash, his weight pressed into him with his arms wrapped around Vash’s waist and his face is hidden away as he leans against Vash’s shoulder. Vash’s expression can be seen, his eyes wide and mouth tight-lipped, and his face is flushed red. A speech bubble comes out from Wolfwood, saying a drawled “Spikeyyy...”. The background are desaturated pastels of blue and green, showing night time, as they stand in the middle of an empty street that is also lit by the moon not depicted. Yellow light is seen coming from the inside of a saloon. End ID]

[coraorvat]

SAVOIR FAIRE: I'd worry in Necktie's place, lieutenant can get quite creative with a piece of fabric~ I have seen several cases where people were mixing Electrochemistry and Horrific Necktie and tbf they're pretty easy to mix, but there is a slight difference: EC is your pleasure center which wants you to feel good no matter the source, while Necktie is your imaginary drinking buddy who want's you to party hard like young people do (by getting drunk/hight, sleeping with younger women and doing stupid shit for lulz).

So I'm pretty sure our *bratan* won't be Kim's biggest fan (and vice versa), EC on the other hand…

[zu-is-here]

Has aim ever had a night terror?

safe.

[12/12] Happy birthday, baby boy ♡

I'm so late to reply the blog is deactivated already... :'D

Since Cross is the one who physiologically needs more sleep, Dream takes care of Aim at night (úwù) But maternal instincts often take over, so Cross tries to be close to his son <3

As for their morning routine, usually Dream is in charge of the basic things like feeding Aim, while Cross mostly plays with him ♪

[theladyyavilee]

you all know the drill, corporate needs you to find the difference between these two pictures 🤣🤣🤣