Kuunavang’s Disciple

An outfit I made for my main for the Dragon Bash Festival but actually ended up falling so in love with I might make a new character just for it lmao

Sins of the Past Pt.9

Camelot. Present. Morgana's Chambers. (Morgana hurriedly returns to her chambers through a back passageway.) Guinevere: (Calling from outside the door:) "My Lady?" (Morgana looks down at her muddy cloak and tosses it behind her bed just as Guinevere enters.) Guinevere: "I saw the light, wanted to make sure you were alright." Morgana: "I’m fine." Guinevere: "You were missed at the festival today, the people of Camelot are eager to welcome you back." Morgana: "They have already waited ten years, I'm sure they can manage without me for a little while longer." Guinevere: (Smiles:) "Of course. Will you be joining us for dinner in Storybrooke?" Morgana: (Hesitates:) "I think not. After a day re-familiarizing myself with the castle, I'm really quite tired." Guinevere: "I'll leave you to rest then. Would you like-" Morgana: (Steps back:) "Guin, you are queen now. You helping me undress would just be embarrassing for both of us." Guinevere: "I really don't mind, it wouldn't be any trouble." Morgana: (A sharper tone:) "I’ll prepare myself for bed. (Making her tone light again:) Goodnight, Guin." Morgana: "Goodnight, My Lady." (Guinevere leaves.)

Camelot. Past. Forest. (Morgana sneaks out of the castle at night to meet Morgause in the woods.) Morgause: “You look well.” Morgana: “Thanks to you. (Morgana touches the enchanted bracelet Morgause gave her:) I wear it all the time. I can’t remember when I last had a bad dream.” Morgause: “But you do not seem happy. Why is that?” Morgana: “I would be if I didn’t have to pretend.” Morgause: “Pretend?” Morgana: “That I’m Uther’s loving daughter when I hate him.” Morgause: “Have you ever imagined a new world, Morgana? One where Uther was no more?” Morgana: “Sometimes.” Morgause: “And is that what you’d like?” Morgana: “I once had the chance to be his assassin.” Morgause: “And what stopped you?” Morgana: “I don’t know. I believe he cared for me. But not anymore. He cares for no one.” Morgause: “So, you want Uther destroyed and his reign to end?” Morgana: “More than anything. But it doesn’t matter what I want. The future’s not of my making.” Morgause: “You are wrong, Morgana. You underestimate your importance. The decisions you make now will change the shape of everything that is to come.” Morgana: “What do you mean?” Morgause: “Whose side are you on, Morgana? Are you with Uther? Or are you with me? Are you prepared to help me bring about his downfall?” Morgana: “I am.” Morgause: (Reaching out to stroke Morgana’s face:) “I can’t tell you how much it means to hear you say that.” 

Storybrooke. Present. Swan-Mills House. (Tired, sore and covered in mud, Mrs & Mrs Swan-Mills arrive home victorious, carrying their trophy between them.) Regina: "Well, that worked out nicely." Emma: (Closing the front door:) "It did, didn't it?" Regina: "Although technically I still think I won. It was my horse who crossed the finish line first." Emma: "Hey, tell it to the judges, their decision is final." Regina: "Hm." Emma: "You heard them, it was a dead heat. Too close to call! Take the win, Regina. Anyway, I should be the one that's upset. I don't get to see your Lady Godiva moment now." Regina: "No, but I do still want to see you wearing that necklace tonight. So how about a compromise?" Emma: (Gasps in mock surprise:) "You? Mayor Mills, compromise? The hell you say." Regina: "It's Swan-Mills, and yes. Interested?" Emma: "I don't know... it’s a pretty ugly necklace. Your compromise had better be good." Regina: "What if, instead of heading back to the stables, I take off all my clothes right now, jump on your back and ride you around every room of this house?" Emma: (Laughing:) "The image I have in my head right now is so ridiculous. (Tries to control her giggles when seeing the slightly hurt look on Regina's face:) I'm sorry, it's just..." Regina: "Forget I said anything." Emma: (Reaching out and taking her hand:) "Wait. Please wait. (Composing herself:) Now, it's not the craziest idea I've heard." Regina: "Only the funniest, evidently." Emma: "Well, yeah, and I know you meant it to be sexy but, maybe with a couple of tweaks, it could be very, very hot." Regina: (Still annoyed:) "I'm open to suggestions." Emma: (Smiles:) "Okay, well, I have zero problem with the you getting naked part. That part I love. But how about instead of my back, you jump into my arms and, (Waving her hand, Emma envelops herself in a cloud of smoke. When it clears, Emma stands naked but for a few hefty straps at her waist. Smirking as Regina's eyes are immediately drawn to the appendage now bobbing between her legs:) I give you the ride of your life?" Regina: (Still transfixed:) "Well, there's only one thing I can think to say. (Using her own magic to shed her clothes:) Giddy up!" A Short While Later. (Reclined in each others arms in the bath tub, Regina and Emma discuss the night's plans.) Emma: "Do I really have to wear that thing to dinner?" Regina: "Not if we don't go." Emma: "Mom wants us there." Regina: "Then yes, you have to wear it." Emma: "What if she asks why I'm wearing it and not you?" Regina: "You tell her the truth. You lost a bet." Emma: (Smiling up at her:) "If you call this losing, I can't imagine what winning feels like." Regina: "Well don't ask your father, he wouldn't know what winning felt like either." Emma: (Chuckles:) "All right, you asked for this." (With much splashing and screams of delight, Regina and Emma take turns dunking each other under the surface, causing huge waves of water to spill over the edge of the tub and onto the tiled floor below.)

Storybrooke. Main Street. (While the festivities of the day begin to wind down and the crowds slowly disperse, Henry takes a break from driving to stretch his legs. When passing by someone clearly from Wonderland, Henry feels compelled to reach into his pocket and pull out his phone. However, as he's about to dial Ella's number, he stops himself, remembering that there are no cell towers in Wonderland. Looking up from his phone, he spots a familiar face sitting alone on a bench.) Henry: “Drizella?” Drizella: (Sniffles, wiping her eyes:) “Oh. I'm sorry. I don't remember calling a taxi.” Henry: “Funny. You’re here for the festival?” Drizella: (Nods:) “If I had known it was going to be a celebration of the Charmings and the Swan-Mills’ I might not have bothered.” Henry: “Try living with them.” Drizella: “Ooh, trouble in paradise?” Henry: (Taking a seat beside her:) “Alright, that was a little unfair, but sometimes it can get a little annoying - living in their shadow I mean.” Drizella: “Tell me about it. At least you weren’t overshadowed by your sister all your life. (Thinks:) Oh wait, don’t you have a little sister now?” Henry: “I think you know I do. Judging by the amount of gifts my moms received, I doubt there’s one person in all the united realms who doesn’t know about my sister.” Drizella: “And so it begins.” Henry: “It’s not like that at all. I love Maria and I’m thrilled to be a big brother.” Drizella: “Just give it time.” Henry: (Shaking his head:) “Speaking of which, where’s your sister, Anastasia?” Drizella: "Oh, probably off somewhere moping. Torturing herself over her past as the Red Queen. I mean, it's not like it happened recently, it was for a very brief period thirty years ago. I wish she’d just get over it already." Henry: "Well to be fair to Anastasia, it was very recent to her mind." Drizella: "Oh please, not the resurrection again. You know people always talk about that but they never seem to remember that I was encased in stone for roughly the same amount of time." Henry: "That had to be a hard time for you." Drizella: (Smiles, despite herself:) "Ha. Ha. (Sighs:) Look at us, sat in the middle of a festival throwing our own little pity party." Henry: "Yeah, Ella would've loved this." Drizella: "Is that your little dream girl?" Henry: "She came from the Dream Realm, yes." Drizella: "So where is she now?" Henry: "Searching for her mother." Drizella: (Scoffs:) "If she's also looking for her mother's approval, she'll be gone a long time. Trust me, I speak from experience." Henry: "Well the good thing is you haven't let it effect you. I mean it's not like you released an ancient immortal creature and a dust cloud filled with hate over the land just to prove yourself to your dead mother." Drizella: (Pursing her lips:) "Exactly." Henry: "Cause that would've been crazy." Drizella: "This from the son of the woman who conjured the Dark Curse?" Henry: "Touche. At least you're not the only one on this bench with baggage." Drizella: "Okay, then. So, how do we get rid of it. The baggage." Henry: "Take a chance? Do the scary thing? Hope it all works out." Drizella: "Is that what you call what you’re doing with Ella? The 'scary thing'?" Henry: "I don't know. I'm just figuring it out, same as you." Drizella: "Well, I for one need a drink." Henry: "Good idea." Drizella: "So, come on." Henry: "What?" Drizella: (Squints:) "You are legally allowed to drink now, aren't you?" Henry: "Yeah." Drizella: "Well, let's go!" (Hesitating for a moment, Henry looks down at his phone, then puts it in his pocket. Standing, he and Drizella walk together in search of the nearest bar. From a short distance away, Tiana watches them leave, with a troubled look upon her face.) Wonderland. Night. Will and Ella’s Campsite. (Will lays on the floor with his arms crossed attempting to sleep while Ella stands, turning the necklace over and over in her hand.) Will: “Please go to sleep.” Ella: “I can't. You sleep.” Will: “How can I sleep if you insist on thinking so loudly?” Ella: “What you said before... maybe you were right. Maybe she's moved on.”

Will: (Sitting up:) “I'm sorry, Ella. I put that terrible idea in your head. Don't listen to me, I don't know nothing about it. Do you believe that she truly loves you?” Ella: “I did.” Will: “Well, that's good then. Because when somebody truly loves you, they can never move on. It’s like you said, you don’t need any proof.” Ella: “That’s true, but it's still nice to have.” Will: (Sighs:) “As much as I’m going to regret this, as your guide on this little journey, it is my duty to help you in any way I can. So, if you want proof, proof you shall have.” Ella: “What are you talking about?” Will: “I’m talking about finding a way to prove your mother is still out there somewhere.” Ella: “And how do you propose we do that?” Will: “That’s for me to know and you to find out. Tomorrow. After a good solid night’s sleep. Deal?” Ella: (Smiling:) “Deal.” Forest of Balor. Caves. (Mulan and Ruby walk through the caves carrying torches.) Ruby: "There they are." (The flowers they seek are across a large gap with a narrow ledge and long drop. Mulan looks down.) Mulan: "Keep back from the edge. Don’t worry. We’ll be out of here soon.” (Walking carefully over the ledge, Mulan heads toward the Mortaeus flower growing on the cave wall. The cave begins to rumble, but seemingly nothing comes of it. Reaching the flower, Mulan grabs it and puts it in a pouch on her belt, then makes her way back to Ruby.) Ruby: “Well that was easy.” Mulan: “A little too easy.” Lord Macintosh: “You’re right. (Ruby and Mulan turn to face him:) I’m afraid I can’t allow you to leave here with that.” Mulan: “Macintosh. So it was you who poisoned the goblet!” Lord Macintosh: “I don’t know what you mean, Lassie. All I know is with Merida gone, that makes me the rightful ruler of all Dun Broch.” Mulan: “Over my dead body.” Lord Macintosh: “Aye, I thought you might say something like that.” (Turning, Macintosh motions towards the darkness where several of his men emerge. Mulan draws her sword.) Ruby: “Mulan, no. We don’t have time for this.” Mulan: “I don’t think they’re going to give us much choice.” Lord Macintosh: “Surrender the flower and no harm will come to you.” Mulan: “So I give up the flower and you’ll let us go?” Lord Macintosh: “As the new King of Dun Broch, I give you my word.” Mulan: “You aren’t King yet. Quick, Ruby, hand me your cloak.” Ruby: “What?” Mulan: “You’re right, we don’t have much time. (As Ruby removes her cloak, Mulan places the flower carefully inside:) I need you to transform.” Ruby: (Realising the plan:) “Oh no, I’m not leaving you.” Mulan: (Folding the cloak:) “You have to. You have to get the flower back to Storybrooke before it’s too late. (Reluctantly, Ruby does as she’s told and transforms into the wolf. Macintosh and his men recoil at the sight. Placing Ruby’s cloak into the wolf’s mouth:) Take it and go!” (With a low growl, the wolf paws at the ground and leaps toward Macintosh’s men. Desperately clinging to the walls to get out of the wolf’s path, Macintosh looks on helplessly as it runs from the cave and out of sight.)

Storybrooke. The Dragon's Lair. (Sitting down to dinner, Emma looks around the restaurant, clearly agitated.) Emma: "Great, now everyone's staring." Regina: "Well who could blame them? I often find myself staring at my beautiful wife." Emma: "They're starting at this ridiculous thing around my neck! (Regina promptly hides her face behind her menu. Narrowing her eyes:) You know if I had won, there's no way I would’ve had you embarrass yourself in public." Regina: (Lowering her menu:) "Do you think I'd have anything to be embarrassed about if you did?" (Knowing she's been out maneuvered, Emma quickly changes the subject.) Emma: (Picking up her own menu:) "There's just so much good stuff to choose from. (Still feeling Regina's eyes on her, Emma looks around for a distraction. As Maleficent walks by their table:) Mal, what would you recommend?" Maleficent: (Without missing a beat:) "A stylist." (At this, Regina bursts out laughing while Emma glares at Maleficent's back.) Emma: (As Regina continues to laugh:) "Oh, shut up. (Looking over Regina's shoulder:) Wait a minute. Is that Henry?" Regina: (Turns in her seat:) "Yes it is." Emma: "Who's that he's with?" Henry's Table. (Drizella returns to the table with a bottle.) Henry: "What's this?" Drizella: "Something better than the cheap antifreeze you're used to drinking." Regina & Emma's Table. (Emma's eyes widen in recognition.) Emma: "Drizella? What the hell's going on?" (Regina puts a hand on Emma's arm to stop her making a scene.) Regina: "Calm down, we don't know what the situation is." Emma: "The situation is that Henry let Ella go to Wonderland alone so he could go on a date with Drizella!" Regina: "Would you keep your voice down! I'm sure it's not as bad as it looks." Emma: “Since when did you start giving people the benefit of the doubt?” Regina: "Since you did the same for me all those years ago. Need I remind you that's our son you're accusing? Now sit down and let me handle this." Emma: (When Regina returns to her menu:) "Well?!" Regina: "I'll go over there after we've ordered. I seem to have worked up quite the appetite." Emma: (Looking over Regina's shoulder again:) "Yeah well if you don't get over there soon, I'm going to lose mine." Regina: (Under her breath:) "And your mind." Emma: "What?" Regina: (Smiling sweetly:) "Nothing."

Camelot. Past. Council Chamber. (Uther dines as Morgana enters with tear stained cheeks.) Morgana: "I have come to apologise, My Lord. You have been generous and kind and fair. And I owe you everything. I truly don’t know what came over me." (Uther stands and rushes to meet Morgana. He embraces her with tears of joy.) Uther: "I am so glad you’ve seen sense. Come, dine with me. Let’s put this unfortunate incident behind us." Morgana: "No, no. I am on my way to the chapel, to pray forgiveness for my sins." Uther: "Of course." Morgana: (She wipes his tears away with a handkerchief:) "I don’t know why you put up with me. But I promise, in the future I will show you the love and respect that you deserve." (Morgana walks away, smirking.) Forest. Night. (Morgana leaves the castle and rides to a cave guarded by the Bloodguard.) Morgause: “My sister. How have you fared?” Morgana: “Uther has welcomed back his daughter with open arms.” Morgause: “Uther does not suspect?” Morgana: “He laps up my lies like the snivelling dog that he is. He believes I’ve changed. And he’s right. Soon he will see exactly how much.” Morgause: “You’ve done well. The tears of Uther Pendragon have only begun to fall.” (Morgause drops the handkerchief with Uther’s tears into a giant cauldron filled with boiling liquid and adds a large root. The root screams and Morgana flinches:) The mandrake root is very special. Only those with magic can hear its cries. But for those without magic, the mandrake pierces the very recesses of the soul, twisting the unconscious into the very image of fear and dread. Uther Pendragon will find that his great kingdom counts for nothing, when he has lost his mind. (She begins an incantation:) Mid þæm wundorcræft þæs ealdan æwþ ic þe hate nime Utheres wopdropan ond þa gemengan mid his blod. Sy he under wittig ond deofol seocnes his heorte afylþ.” (Morgause’s eye glow. She pulls out the muddy root and hands it to Morgana.)

Storybrooke. Present. The Dragon's Lair. (Guinevere sits alone at the bar deep in thought when Snow White joins her.) Snow White: "Guinevere. You look troubled." Guinevere: (Smiles weakly:) "Just thinking about Morgana." Snow White: "Where is she? I thought we might see her today?" Guinevere: (Shakes her head:) "She didn't feel up to it. And I can hardly blame her, after all she's been through." Snow White: "Has she managed to tell you where she's been all these years?" Guinevere: "No, but I can only imagine the horrors she's seen." Henry & Drizella's Table. (Drizella pours Henry another drink.) Drizella: "Thanks for listening to me earlier, no one ever does that." Henry: "No problem. I know finding where you belong in this world can be hard." Drizella: "So what happened with you and Ella? Why didn't you go with her? Couldn't take a chance and do the scary thing after all, huh?" Henry: "It's complicated." Drizella: "Hm. (Picks up her glass:) Well, to keeping things uncomplicated." (They clink glasses. Having seen enough, Regina is about to break things up when there is a commotion outside.) Main Street. (David and Emma exit the restaurant first to find people running for their lives. Heading towards the source of the chaos they find a wolf growling and charging at the doors to the library.) David: (Noticing the familiar cloak laying in the moonlight:) "It's Ruby!" (Picking up the cloak, David moves carefully over to the animal and drapes the cloak over it. Transforming almost instantly, Ruby lifts her hood and grabs hold of David.) Ruby: "You have to help me, they've got Mulan!" (Emma and David look to each other in surprise while a crowd begins to gather around them.)

Q&A with Britt Daniel of Spoon

(Photo by Ysanne Taylor c/o Gasparilla Music Festival)

In an effort to save some time, I’ll be omitting full Q&A’s from any feature interviews that appear on cltampa.com/music. If you’d still like to read my chat with Britt Daniel of Spoon for research, then find it, not completely polished up, below.

You working on the new album with Alex today?

Not today. Today I'm just kind of getting ready to get back on the road we had a few days off.

What advice do you think Prince would give Spoon as it closes out this run?

He probably had some fashion advice that I would take.He would probably tell me to read the Bible.

I feel like you’ve explained the selection process behind the new compilation album every which way possible.

Yeah, I mean, it's that is the thing that gets asked the most.

How did you how did you pick the songs? How does it feel leaving this song or that song off?

Yeah. I'm happy to talk about whatever anybody wants to.

I don't know if you can answer this question objectively. But how's the signature Tele playing on the tour?

I love it. I mean, it feels really good. It looks really good. I have two main guitars I'm using right now about that. That one and a similar white. Thinline Telecaster and the yellow one.  The custom one is a little hotter. When we were picking up the pickups for that guitar, I wanted it to be more of a ‘50s sort of really hot twangy sound. You really hear the pick scraping against the string. I love that.

Not a lot of guitar on Hot Thoughts, has the instrument returned to the tape for the follow up, I mean I know won’t be “Marquee Moon,” but you have two guitar solos on “No Bullets Spent”?

Yeah, there's something.. I don't know. I mean, I recorded that song before I had the Brit Daniel Telecaster, but I don't know what happened. It just started making sense to play some guitar solos for the first time. It fit with the song. I’m having more fun with it.

I think there were three contender songs as far as which new tune you wanted to put on the compilation. And I believe you're about halfway done with the new record. And obviously promo of this album, and this tour is going to keep you away from that. But how many songs are there are working for the new record right now?

We started five songs. We're pretty far on five songs. And I got, you know, a bunch more that I'm working on. As soon as the tour is done, I'm going to need to take a little time to do a little more songwriting to up the record for the end of the year.

You’ve obviously got some good lyrics, but chords and melody is really where I think Spoon expresses what it is feeling — is communicating a song’s sentiment easier or harder in an amphitheatre?

Everybody can hear chords and melodies, but there are people who sort of listen to music and hear the lyrics first.

That must be a little difficult when those kind of people go to see shows, because you can't always hear the lyrics in a live setting, you know? All we can do is just go out there and do the best show we can. Yeah, I'm one of those guys, with a lot of shows I've seen, especially in clubs, I might not know a single word that got said all night, but it doesn't matter. I still don't know whether or not I know whether or not I love the songs because of that melodic information. And because of the attitude that performers will be carrying on stage, the look and the way they moved — all that stuff.

It's interesting to hear you talk about when you go out to see shows because I remember you playing a festival down here in Tampa and you had come out into the crowd during the Warpaint set. Do get emotional at shows?

Sure, sure, of course I do. Not every show will I feel every type of emotion.

When's the last time you teared up or got really emotional?

Watching Prince, I wish I would get like that. When you’re watching Prince it’s almost like watching God’s love. It’s an amazing, otherworldly experience. I feel like he was probably feeling that, too. I do remember the festival in Tampa — that was a fun one. I remember I remember feeling like whoever put it together just did a great job with the lineup. It wasn’t too big, it was a nice, little comfortable, great environment.

You you and Warpaint played in that Moody part of the day to kind of cloudy and a little rainy, the time of the day when normally the sun's starting to kind of burn off. So that was pretty cool. And you guys obviously brought the the good lights that you always bring. 

Does warming up these rooms ever make you think of the Natural History? And those tours that he took that band on?

I have been thinking of the Natural History a lot lately because there’s a book coming out, and there’s a piece in Playboy coming out about our history. I don’t know if you read that one, but it’s really good.

Someone asked me to mention “Laffitte Don't Fail Me Now,” but it doesn’t look like the band ever plays it live. Any particular reason why, is it just way too old to even remember? It’s kind of a fuck you song to that A&R person now, right?

It was definitely a release for some major frustration that we were feeling at that time. The way that that thing happened was.. first he quit the label. And then we got fired or got dropped the same week, you know, because he quit the label. And then shortly after that, we were back doing local shows in Texas, and our tour manager, out of the blue, he said, “Oh, the agony of Laffitte.” And I said, “That's funny. That should be a song, and then somebody else came up with “Laffitte Don't Fail Me Now.” So it was just that was that easy. We had the song titles, and then the songs had to be written because of them. And then we put it out just because it felt good, you know? And we had a manager her lawyers were saying, “Maybe that's not the best idea.” I said, “No, this is absolutely the best idea. This is the best thing we could do right this moment.” And I think I was right. But yeah, we've never played “Laffitte Don't Fail Me Now” live, I don't believe I could be wrong, but I don't think we have.

I used to play it solo all the time. So we do we do our show. And then we go away for the Encore, I come back out I play. And then the band will turn out we play a four song. So that was that was kind of a deal used to do.

The group seems to use empty space in songs almost as its own instrument by the absence of instruments; how did the group come to decide that these pauses in sound and large dynamic shifts in their songs were an important element of their music?

I think when we were working on Girls Can Tell, and that's when I kind of figured that out. And at that point I was I was getting pretty bummed on — I guess you'd call it “alt-rock,” it seemed like the formula was, you write a song on rhythm guitar, maybe you write it on acoustic, or whatever it is you write on, and then you when you record it, you just use this really heavy, distorted rhythm guitar that takes up all the space. And that's the sound of your band. I mean, that was the sound of Weezer. That was the sound of I mean, Nirvana did it well, but that was the sound of Nirvana to at some point, they also had an amazing drummer. I don't know that we just sort of the sound of alt-rock was distorted rhythm guitar, and I wanted to get away from that. And so at that point, we took it out. I said, “We're not going to do that anymore.” We're going to, I'm going to use guitar, it's going to be a little, single line. little note, it's gonna happen sporadically so that there's lots of states and just make it be more of a focus on bass and drums.

Just out of curiosity, did you guys ever re-demo “Written In Reverse” after Mark Ronson gave you notes on it?

We never recorded it until he gave me notes on it. I did a demo, and I sent him the demo, and he suggested that there'd be some kind of break. He had some other suggestion, I think I used both suggestions. And then we started playing it live with those things in mind, and we recorded it, but we never, we never ended up working with Mark because the schedule was crazy. We both planned, we would do the next record with him. And we were just waiting on it like, “It's gonna be it's gonna be too long between records,” you know? We would have a much different reaction to the next record if we've done it with him. But all things happen for a reason.

I like your story about “Lafitte” from earlier, how lawyers suggested otherwise, but you recorded it anyway. I think some people try to write about Spoon as if the band just so happened to last this long, but I feel like the real narrative is that Spoon always kind of did what it wanted to do artistically and didn't go and make another Ga Ga Ga Ga Gaa after the success of that one, you know?

Right, right.

I know we're kind of getting low on time here and I don't want to talk about Trump. Everybody's talked about Trump. Obviously the mayor Pete thing was cool and you've played some stuff for Beto… this stuff has happened in El Paso which is pretty far from Temple I mean, it's like 500 miles, but does this ever make you rethink about your place as a musician? Your audience in particular is engaged, intelligent a listening audience, in my opinion. Do events like this week's make you think about where you fit into bigger conversations like the one we’re having this week?

It’s honestly not the first thing I think about when these kinds of things happen, I don’t think about my band. But I did a a quiet remarkable photo of Trump holding an orphan baby today and with the thumbs up… one of the orphans, I think it's a two year old kid who lost both its parents during this massacre. It’s classic. I don't know what's up with this guy. I don't know you can get to a person like that just clearly did not have any emotion for that situation.

Maybe last one here. How much of the new album can fans expect to hear?

None. We’re playing such short sets. It makes more sense. We played one headline at the begining and got to stretch out. A lot of people don’t know us on this one, so we’re playing the best known songs.

OK, bye Britt.

Good to talk to you, thanks for the questions.

Intermezzo: Free Solo Review

Pre-Cycle 11

So, first of all, for anyone wondering, I did get the go ahead from the warlocks on Tuesday to continue with treatment through Cycle 12 (assuming my blood tests come back okay), which is great news. And I’d normally write about that and how awesome it is (Hooray! More chemo!), but it’s been such a long, weird, event-filled week even by my standards (my car got hit by lightning)(that’s a dramatic exaggeration, but, like everything else in my life, far less of one than I’d like), that instead, I thought I’d review the fantastic (and - for me - utterly terrifying) film “Free Solo.” Also, that’ll enable me to put off trying to figure out my upcoming chemo schedule, which is somewhat less-predictable than others (I’d have to come in on Christmas Eve or Christmas according to my current estimate, which seems a little ghoulish even for me).

A bit of background. Even though I like rock climbers and have many friends and family in that group, and even though I have nothing but love for them, their utterly terrifying sport isn’t for me (and thanks to them for putting up with me long enough for me to figure that one out). Full confession; I’m not only psychologically unfit for it, I’m physically not a good candidate. Even putting my neurological issues aside (unreliable left leg, vertigo)(those are the lasting impacts of neurosurgery #3 and #2, respectively), I’m terrified of heights. And with good reason - I’m about 182 cm tall and 100 kg; if I fall, it’s a much bigger problem than if someone smaller/closer to the ground and lighter does. And I’m about 85% torso, by height. So, why would I see a film about a sport that frightens me? Simply put, Alex Honnold, who is possibly the world’s premier greatest living rock climber.

Many, many, many years ago, someone pointed out to me that everyone’s heard of LeBron James, or Colin Kaepernick; fewer people have heard of Royal Robbins (or Kelly Slater, for that matter), largely because the latter two exist in a weird sub-culture of extreme sports that’s not as profitable or plugged in to pop culture as main-stream sports (I’ve only heard of Honnold because I’m a big fan of the Banff Film Festival). So, one of the world’s most niche-sports-figure getting a film - even if it’s not in wide release - is really cool. Again, it means society, as a whole, is opening up to non-traditional people, and sports, and stories. Which, as a now non-traditional person (again, traditionally, people like me die within two years of diagnosis, and that annoying new gimp/cripple physical aspect makes life a lot less accessible than I’d prefer), is cool, and, more importantly, as a storyteller, it means more, different, and better stories.

The story of “Free Solo” is pretty straight-forward. A man works his whole life to perfect his craft, and then, at the height of his talent, decides to gamble it on a potentially lethal career high-point. Wait, what? Most rock climbers - and certainly my sub-par, failed attempts - use various safety equipment and climb with buddies and do other things to minimize risk. The downside is both minimized risk, and, from my limited understanding, some of these safety devices permanently “hurt” (or pierce, anyway) the rock. “Free solo” climbing eschews such devices, or, indeed, a sense of self-preservation. Says the guy who’s letting science use him as a lab rat for a poisonous substance. Again, when you’re desperate, you make odd choices. However, like me, A. Honnold points out that most free-solo rock climbs are calculated risks (to paraphrase him, “The odds of me actually falling are low, but if that happens, the odds of something really, really bad happening are high.”). Which brings us to El Capitain, the Everest of the climbing world. As I may have mentioned previously, this is the Holy Grail of climbing. If you ever go to Yosemite Valley in Yosemite National Park (and I recommend you do this before you die), you will not be able to miss El Cap. If you’re like me, you might even have to go lie down for a few minutes just looking at up at it (it’s terrifying even from ground level). Even though it’s been climbed by blind, deaf, and physically disabled people (it’s a long story; there’s an old Yosemite joke that El Cap is handicap-accessible), it has never been climbed (clumb? someone help me with these conjugations) without safety devices. Enter Mr. Honnold, stage right, and the codependent National Geographic film crew. To make a long story short, he climbs the mountain and survives, with the support of both the film-makers and his long-suffering girlfriend. Hooray.

The reason this film is worth seeing - and why I’m reviewing it - is that, for all that, it’s a very weird film (it’s a really good film, but it’s weird). First of all, the camera and framing devices need a little description. In every scene or shot of El Cap, it not only dominates everything around it, but they use some cool VFX devices at various points to show Yosemite valley shifting and swinging around El Cap. Which made me grip my seat rests, but also gave an interesting insight into how Yosemite is absolutely dominated by these staggeringly massive walls on all sides. Secondly, this is - as far as I know - the only character study of A. Honnold on file in video form. Even though he’s been prominently featured in the Banff Film Festival and other places, they don’t give a real sense of who he is - he’s just a sort of stand-in rock climber fantasy figure; a James Bond of the rock climbing world - in all the other films I’ve seen, he goes somewhere and climbs something impressive; there’s not a whole lot revealed except he likes to climb. And he’s pretty much fearless - according to a little background research (yes, I do read about my subjects before tackling them), Honnold isn’t known for being the most technically-proficient or skilled climber, but he is known for taking on risks and challenges that no one else in the climbing world does.  Qui audet adipiscitur and all that. This film delves a little more into that, actually following him into an fMRI (one of those specialized MRIs that shows which parts of the brain “light up” during various tasks and images. The science-person in me would point out that this test is so overly sensitive, it should be taken with a grain of salt (my favorite research poster of all time was one that used fMRI analysis to show which images a dead salmon prefers)(you read that correctly). However, in this case, it showed that Honnold’s fear threshold/tolerance was much, much higher than usual. The film also looks at what that looks like in a relationship, as they also follow Honnold’s girlfriend, Sanni McCandless, for some of it. In retrospect, she’s probably the real hero of the film, because she fully supports him in his near-suicidal ambitions. There’s also the weird aspect about how the world’s most recklessly brave climber gets... stage fright. The film actually documents this very well, about how Honnold doesn’t seem up to the task when everyone’s around, watching him; and it takes a series of hidden cameras and a tactical retreat by McCandless to force him up the wall. As someone who has, ah, “performance issues” when it comes to urine samples (I’d imagine that after a year of those, it wouldn’t be a big issue, like the IVs and neuralgia bother me less, but we all have our idiosyncrasies - I intend to ask the chemo ward to quietly move to a different floor next time), I weirdly get it. And I also sort of weirdly get how, in an extreme situation, sometimes the riskier, more outrageous path is also the safer one. Having said that, I still have to give the man props for a following through on a near-psychotic ambition and seeing it through.

ANYWAY… WEIGHT: 96 kilos CONCENTRATION: Not bad, but I’m also exhausted from a week of travel and holidays. Which reminds me, if I make it out of this alive, I intend to start hibernating from Nov.15-Dec, 25, which should make this sort of holiday seasonal travel a little easier. APPETITE: Good. I’m even starting to appreciate “fun” things, like non-vegetable or protein-based foodstuffs. I imagine that’ll definitely decrease as I get back into the grind and find my willpower renewed with... well, the same willpower that allows me to swallow pills that come in “biohazard” bags. ACTIVITY LEVEL: Good, but I’m still exhausted. SLEEP QUALITY: Okay. COORDINATION/DEXTERITY: Excellent; I even went to the gym yesterday without braces. MEMORY: Not bad, I still have trouble forgetting to complete long or multi-step tasks, but that’s hardly new.. PHYSICAL: Overall, not too bad. At the moment, I’m mostly tired, sore, a little cold, and hungry, which - if you haven’t had peripheral nerve damage or chemo-induced panic-attacks, might seem bad, but to have normal, every day physical complaints instead of my usual, hyper-bizarre ones... well, it’s deeply comforting, in an odd, slightly-masochistic way. EMOTIONAL: Good. I realize I just got a clean scan on Monday - I had to wait until Tuesday to review the findings, though - and after 24 hours of that sort of frenzied anxiety, the volume on standard emotional issues gets muted. SIDE EFFECTS: Tired. So tired. Which reminds me, based on my records, I’m pretty sure my limp’s tied into exhaustion/fatigue issues. Which gives me hope that, after the next two cycles (and possibly a six-month nap to catch up on my sleep) I might get something like consistent progress fixing that complaint.  CURRENTLY READING (For Donna): “A Monster Calls.” 

New Post has been published on Cinephiled

New Post has been published on http://www.cinephiled.com/interview-climber-alex-honnold-achieves-impossible-award-winning-doc-free-solo/

Interview: Climber Alex Honnold Achieves the Impossible in Award-Winning Doc ‘Free Solo’

From award-winning documentary filmmaker E. Chai Vasarhelyi and world-renowned photographer Jimmy Chin (the directors of  Meru), Free Solo is a breathtaking, intimate portrait of free soloist climber Alex Honnold, as he prepares to achieve his lifelong dream: climbing the face of the world’s most famous rock — the 3,200-foot El Capitan in Yosemite National Park — without a rope! Celebrated as one of the greatest athletic feats of any kind, Honnold’s climb set the ultimate standard: perfection or death. Succeeding in this challenge places his story in the annals of human achievement.

Free Solo, winner of the Grolsch People’s Choice Documentary Award at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival, is an edge-of-your seat thriller and a truly inspiring portrait of an athlete who challenges both his body and his beliefs on a quest to triumph over the impossible, revealing the personal toll of excellence. As the climber begins his training, the armor of invincibility he’s built up over decades unexpectedly breaks apart when Honnold begins to fall in love, threatening his focus and giving way to injury and setbacks. Vasarhelyi and Chin succeed in beautifully capturing deeply human moments with Honnold as well as the death-defying climb with exquisite artistry and masterful, vertigo-inducing camerawork. The result is a triumph of the human spirit. I sat down with Alex Honnold and filmmaker E. Chai Vasarhelyi to talk about the film and his remarkable achievement.

Danny Miller: This was such an awe-inspiring film in every sense of that word. Alex, I feel like I’m a member of a different species when I see you and the other climbers in this film. When you talk to us civilians, do you understand why we have to first move through our fear-based thoughts such as “Are you insane? Why would anyone do something so dangerous?!”

Alex Honnold: Oh yeah, I totally get that. I mean, that’s how I feel about big wave surfing or extreme downhill biking or other human endeavors that I see that I don’t totally understand. But then I just assume that within the context of what those people are doing, it must make sense to them. You know, like if I spent my whole life in the ocean, then maybe surfing a 50-foot wave would feel kind of natural even though it seems totally crazy to me now.

That’s reassuring to hear — I don’t feel quite as inferior as I did a few minutes ago!

(Laughs.) I think one of the main points of the film is that anything like this is an enormous process of preparation. I’ve been climbing for over 20 years, I’ve gone up El Cap more than 80 times, and I dove very deep into one very specific thing. That that doesn’t make me better at anything else, as you can see in the film!

I was a little surprised early on to hear how many times you used the word “scary” to describe some of the stuff you were doing but then then word that disappeared later on. Is it that when you finally commit to such a huge thing as free soloing El Capitan you just banish all thoughts of fear from your head?

Well, I think for the actual free solo of El Cap, I wasn’t really that scared because I’d spent so long preparing for it. But talking about climbing in general? I mean, it’s always kind of scary! Nobody wants to fall to their death. And certainly any time that you think about that possibility, it’s hard not to think, “Oh, this is scary!”

It’s inspiring to see you move through that, and also inspiring to see people like your mom and your girlfriend Sanni deal with their own fears about it. It’s moving to hear them talk about how they would never try to stop you, that it’s just who you are, no matter how fearful they are about what could happen. Chai, you could have made a whole documentary just on the making of this film, I can only imagine the complexities of getting your crew out to where they had to be. Was there a lot of discussion about how much your presence would be felt in the film?

E. Chai Vasarhelyi: Yes. We were always very reluctant to become part of the story because it felt like that was calling too much attention to the process, but it soon became clear that we had to be present to a certain extent. For starters, we had to have people responding to Alex since these free solos usually happen in such a vacuum. Our crew was almost entirely made up of climbers who were very close friends with Alex. They lived through what he was doing and it was important to show some of that.

And they were accomplishing amazing athletic feats in their own right, just getting their cameras to the right position on that wall! I could watch a whole film on the activities of the camera people alone.

Totally. And we were also continually grappling with the existential question of whether or not we should participate in this, given the risks. I remember one conversation between Jimmy and John Krakauer when John asked, “Is Alex going to free solo El Cap anyway, even if you’re not making a film?” The answer was yes. “And are you guys the best people to do it in a meaningful way and do justice to that story?” Yes. But even after we decided to do it, you have to make yourselves imagine the worst because that’s part of your responsibility. It was difficult, but the bottom line for us was knowing that Alex lives a life of total intention He’s thought a lot about it, he’s very mindful, and this is the life he wants.

When I first heard the term “free solo,” I thought that meant that you just start going up a mountain and see what happens. I was relieved to learn that it’s a lot more planned out than that!

Alex: Yeah, that’s a very common misconception. We just did a screening in Yosemite, which was great, but a lot of tourists there say, “Oh, I just saw a YouTube video of you climbing some cliffs without a rope,” and they think you just climb up any way you can. That never happens. There’s a whole history and culture to climbing I’ve spent many years learning about El Cap and planning every move. You need a huge amount of knowledge involved.

I could see that meticulous training in the film. But then, when we see the actual climb, it looks like there are times when you’re making some split-second decisions in the moment about what you’re going to do.

Not really. At least not for anything difficult. I know exactly what I need to do at every step.

Chai: I think he’s remembering that one foot move everyone talks about.

Alex: Oh yeah, the backwards foot thing. Some things may look tentative but they’re not. But then there are some parts to the climb that I don’t need to practice as much. Like there’s this one 200-foot section of crack that once you get inside, you just kind of shuffle along and engage the whole way. But at the more challenging points you definitely have to remember every single move, like your left hand grabs this one thing, your right foot goes here, but for the rest of it you just kind of grind it out.

In addition to the unbelievable achievement of getting up that wall with no ropes, I was surprised at how fast you did it. Was that a deliberate goal of yours, too?

No, that’s just a byproduct of a free soloing, but it was nice, I was excited to break four hours! For me, climbing the wall without a rope was great, it was everything I was looking for — climbing it quickly was just a bonus.

Chai: It was complicated for us, though.

Alex: It was? Why?

Chai: Once we began to realize how fast you were going, we had to adjust a lot of our plans.

Watching your group, even knowing that you’re all climbers, I have to say that you all looked pretty terrified watching Alex!

I’m not a climber myself, not at all. But yes, it was utter terror for everybody!

Alex: Really? I mean, not for everybody, was it? Was Jimmy horrified?

Chai: Oh, yeah.

And I loved that guy who said, “Okay, that’s it. I’m never going to go through this again.”

Alex: That was Mikey. Mikey was pretty horrified. I’ve known him for a long time and one of the first times I worked with him he was holding lights for Jimmy for a photo shoot of me climbing and I remember Mikey would just hold the lights steady with one hand and look away, he couldn’t watch!

Which shows how much they all love you, of course, and don’t want to see anything happen to you. Even though I knew you were going to succeed, I burst into tears when you made it to the summit of El Cap. Can you even put the kind of euphoria you felt in that moment into words?

Just delight. Deep satisfaction.

Chai: You can see it in his face.

Alex: I was very happy. Watching that part of the film is always pretty exciting because I think it really does justice to that feeling I felt when I got to that top and knew that I had lived my dream.

When you watch the climb now, are you ever critical? “Why did I move my left foot that way?”

No, actually, which is interesting, because I can be very critical. No, I watch the footage, and I’m like, “That looks great!” Of course, that’s after many years of practice, I’ve put a lot of effort into it. But I think the execution was great, I’m pretty pleased with myself.

Chai: It was perfect.

Alex: It was well done. I wouldn’t say perfect but it was pretty freaking good!

When you show the film, do you get a markedly different reaction from climbers versus non-climbers?

Oh yeah, for sure. For one thing, they laugh at totally different things — like me eating out of the pan with a spatula. At the New York premiere, everybody laughed at that. In Yosemite, nobody did because they all eat out of the pan with a spatula, it’s completely normal! And people usually laugh at the scene with me and Sanni buying a refrigerator.

I wondered about that scene. Chai, I’m sure you had a massive amount of footage of Alex in his regular life, I was very interested that you chose that one.

Alex: Yeah, why DID you choose that?

I can tell you my interpretation and you can let me know if I’m close. The key to that scene for me was seeing them walk past all these gorgeous, expensive refrigerators and Alex heading towards the smallest, cheapest one. The simplest thing to do the job, no frills.

Chai: That’s exactly why we included that! It was so true to character, such a real character moment. I also think that this is such an intense story, I loved finding moments of humor that endears Alex to people.

Alex, do you cringe at that one moment after Sanni let go of the rope which caused you to injure your ankle and you said that you wanted to break up with her after that?  I could hear audiences gasping at that.

Alex: No, that was all true, I did want to break up with her at that moment. We hadn’t been dating that long when that happened and I was thinking, “Well, this is a great girl, I think she’s awesome, and I think this relationship has a lot of promise, but if it’s bad for my climbing, I don’t know if it’s worth it. I remember this lunch we had after that where I basically was trying to dump her and she said, “What are you doing? Will breaking up with me make your life any better?” And I thought about that and said, “No, not at all.” And thankfully, we stayed together!

It’s so fascinating watching you go through this new territory of a committed relationship. On the other hand, I do understand the people in the film who say that to be as committed as you were to achieving that one goal, being in a relationship really isn’t very helpful to that.

It’s not! I mean, it would make a lot of sense to just be totally single, and live a kind of monastic life when you’re in this kind of quest. But, I met Sanni and we thought there’s no reason to throw away a great relationship just because I was was on this quest. As you see in the film, it was challenging, but I think we managed to find the balance!

Well, thank you so much for this film. It made me think about my own passions and how watching you can inspire me to move deeper into those even if I can never get anywhere near any of your physical accomplishments.

Oh, I don’t know, it’s never too late to start.

Ha. Thank you for looking at me and not saying, “Yeah, you’re right, don’t try that.”

Hey, my mom started climbing at 58 because she really wanted to go climbing with me. She’s enjoying it a lot and having great experiences outdoors.

You’ve definitely inspired me to want to spend more time outside and see more of the beauty in this country. We went to Bryce Canyon in Utah this summer and it was spectacular watching the sun rise over the rim at six in the morning.

I used to hike there as a kid. And I love Zion National Park which is close to there. Have you been to Yosemite?

No, not yet.

Dude, you have to go! It’s only a five-hour drive from here. I just did two days of interviews sitting in the meadow underneath El Cap so I spent days staring at that wall. No matter how many times I’ve seen it, it never loses its grandeur. You look at it and you’re like, that is one immense piece of stone. It’s a magnificent wall.

In terms of climbing, are you done with it now, or do you still want to go back to it?

Oh, I’ll be back, there are tons of different things you can do. Earlier this summer I did a speed record on El Cap with Tommy, who you see in the film.

So you might even free solo a different part of it again?

Oh, I don’t know about that. I doubt it, but time will tell.

Chai: I think it would okay if he didn’t.

Alex: (Laughs.) I think I’d be fine, too, if I didn’t — but we’ll see!

Free Solo, presented by National Geographic, opens on September 28 in several cities. If you are in Los Angeles, click here for the schedule at Arclight Hollywood where Alex Honnold and E. Chai Vasarhelyi will be participating in Q&As following several showings this weekend. The film will also be screened in the theater’s gigantic Cinerama Dome — the best place to see this breathtaking film.

Mindstir Media Owner J.J. Hebert

As a best-selling author and the owner of Mindstir Media book publishers, J.J. Hebert has had the opportunity to travel extensively over the years. Whether it’s for a book signing or meeting up with clients, he’s often seen out and about. His love of sports has also played a major role in his travel history. He has attended many professional sporting events in various cities in the USA.

Tell us about a favorite trip you’ve taken.

One of my favorite trips would have to be my excursion to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York in 2000. That was before my writing career had taken off and also before the inception of MindStir Media. I had never been to Cooperstown prior to 2000, so this was definitely an eye-opening experience. Baseball has such a long and rich history, being America’s favorite pastime. I think we only spent a couple days there but we could’ve easily stayed there for a week or two.

What attracted you to the Hall of Fame?

I grew up a huge Boston Red Sox fan. Carlton Fisk was being inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2000, so my dad and I and some friends decided to visit Cooperstown to watch his induction speech and also take part in the festivities. I also played baseball through high school and it was easily my favorite sport growing up. I had always wanted to go to the Hall of Fame. It’s kind of like Disney World for baseball fans — you have to go at least once in your life.

When did you travel there and who did you go with?

I can hardly believe that it’s been 17 years since I’ve visited. I’m from New Hampshire, so we drove to New York state. If my memory serves me correctly, it took us about seven hours to get there, give or take. By “we,” I mean my father and a couple friends of ours. One was my former baseball coach and the other was a former baseball teammate of mine.

Please share your memories from the trip.

I didn’t really know what to expect going into it. As I said earlier, this was my first time — and only time thus far — going to Cooperstown. I thought we were just going to go for a couple days and see the induction speech from Carlton Fisk and also visit the the Hall. To my surprise, when we got to the Hall of Fame there were event tents lining the streets. I quickly realized that each tent housed a Hall of Fame baseball player who was kindly signing autographs.

That day I met numerous Hall of Famers. But first, we went into a local shop and bought a ton of Major League baseballs. We had to be equipped for this! So we went around with our baseballs and had them all signed.

I met up with Pete Rose, the 17 time all-star and three-time World Series champion. In my opinion, he’s one of the best hitters who has ever lived. I was a little nervous approaching him with my baseball in hand but he quickly showed his sense of humor when he looked at the ball and saw that it said “American League” on it. He kind of joked that I had given him the wrong ball because he actually played in the National League, but he signed it anyway and it was a funny experience.

I also spoke with Luis Tiant, also known as “el Tiante” to Red Sox fans. He spoke in broken English but was a really funny guy. Very smiley and welcoming. He’s really well known for his unconventional pitching wind-up and delivery.

We even met Willie Mays, one of if not the greatest centerfield who ever played the game. Of course, fans swarmed him so I don’t really remember much dialogue between he and I but he was friendly enough. Just to shake his hand and have a ball signed by him was good enough for me at the time. Not many people can say nowadays that they met the legendary Willie Mays!

We also met Brooks Robinson, Harmon Killebrew, and Bob Feller. These players were all amazing in their own right. Robinson was one of the best third baseman ever; Killebrew was one heck of a power hitter with almost 600 career home runs; and Bob Feller was a flame-throwing righty. They called him Bullet Bob and he pitched three career no-hitters. Ted Williams said that Feller was the fastest pitcher he had ever seen. I actually didn’t get an opportunity to meet Carlton Fisk, the main reason we were in attendance, but we were OK with that, ultimately…

The highlight of the trip would have to be when we had dinner with Warren Spahn. Anyone who knows baseball is familiar with the name. He has the most wins of any left-handed pitcher in Major League history. My former coach set up the dinner. He knew Warren’s business manager, apparently, so we had dinner together at the Otesaga Hotel, where many of the Hall of Famers stayed on their trip. Warren was fairly reserved but definitely exuded confidence. We all had lobster and cracked some jokes. My friend and I were going to play wiffle ball after dinner on the front lawn of the Otesaga and we invited Warren. I honestly believe that he would’ve joined us if his wife didn’t chime in and object. Now that would’ve been an amazing experience, playing ball with Warren Spahn!

Looking back, I wish that I had owned Mindstir Media, my publishing company, back then. I probably would’ve offered to write Warren Spahn’s biography and publish it for him. Unfortunately, he passed away three years later.

What other places have you visited?

Some highlights would have to be Disney World and Universal Studios in Florida. I met up with one of my author clients from Mindstir Media while I was out there in Florida. A beautiful resort in Punta Cana was also a very nice experience. Downtown San Francisco was amazing as well. I got a chance to go on one of the trolleys there and see the area. Nevada was a blast, too. I spent quite a bit of time at Lake Tahoe. I’ve also been to a few wineries in Napa Valley. I’m not a wine connoisseur, but it was still an amazing trip and experience. I’ve never had wine taste so fresh.