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aristidetwain · 3 years

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The Shared Dalek Universe of the 1960s: A Case Study

In 2011 (a little over ten years ago!), El Sandifer cited my dearly-beloved 1960s Who Annuals as examples of stories which ended up influencing the TV series many years down the line despite making an unrepentant hash of continuity.

Her first example is that the Doctor is called Dr. Who, and that he alternates between being from Earth on one page, and not being from Earth three pages later. I would point out that TV was doing much the same thing in those days, and went on flip-flopping basically until Jon Pertwee, so it’s not a terribly good argument to begin with.

However, she spends more time pondering the Daleks of the comics. These Daleks, she notes, are very different from those on television at the time. There are hordes of them, they travel in fleets of saucers, and they’re ruled by the Emperor. This contradiction, she argues, later fed back into the TV series in the RTD era, when huge fleets of Daleks became the norm and, earlier but still well after the first burst of Annuals, in the form of Patrick Troughton facing a very different Dalek Emperor in The Evil of the Daleks.

In no way do I wish to undermine Sandifer’s ultimate conclusion that “canon” in the sense of diegetic consistency is a red herring of little importance, and what matters for any sane definition of ‘canon’ is whether a story is referenced at all, not whether it’s contradicted.

However.

Having gone back to 1966′s The Dalek Outer Space Book, I have made a very startling discovery, in the story entitled The Secret of the Emperor. The rest is after the cut; I will leave you with a delightful panel from this story, showing the “bewildered” Dalek Emperor being bullied by knights at the Battle of Agincourt. (This is one of my favourite Doctor Who images ever, and if it doesn’t put a smile on your face I am not sure I want to take you seriously.)

So, famously, when he debuted in the comics, the Dalek Emperor was not the giant, static Dalek later shown on television in The Evil of the Daleks and The Bad Wolf of the Ways; instead, he was golden, squat, and had a bulbous head; to house all the ego, one expects.

Thus, most people will point at the fact that when the Doctor met “the Emperor” in The Evil of the Daleks, he resided in a huge tower-like casing in the Dalek City, as evidence that although ideas received a first treatment in the comics which later made it to screens, no direct continuity was intended; the comics’ Emperor was an alternate, a first draft, to be discarded once a more definitive TV portrayal emerged.

And yet, of course, it is somehow appealing to think of the two as the same Dalek, isn’t it? John Peel (Dalek writer voted most likely to be a 19th century Victorian man who stumbled into a time eddy; it’s mostly the remarkable sideburns) spent a lot of time in his Dalek novels establishing the life story of the Dalek Prime, the First Dalek Ever, who transitioned from the globe-headed casing to the towery Evil one and then deeply regretted it, what with the “getting killed by his own infighting troops with no way to escape”.

But this is usually viewed as a retcon. A cute retcon, an admirable retcon even, but a retcon. My good friend and esteemed fellow canon-welder, @rassilon-imprimatur, espoused such a view four years ago:

Well, all of this is, if you’ll pardon my French, bollocks. John Peel didn’t make anything up, except for the snappy name of “the Dalek Prime” as a designation for the individual. The Dalek Emperor in Evil of the Daleks was always the Emperor of the 1960s comics, and there is a very good reason for his seemingly-contradictory change of appearance. What’s more, I am not talking about murky authorial intent: these are things that the discerning Dalek fan in 1967 was meant to have known.

Let me wind back the clock to 1966. A Dalek master-plan is unfurling, a multi-media agenda spanning several years, more ambitious perhaps than even Time Lord Victorious in its scope; for the ultimate aim of a small cabal of men including David Whitaker, Terry Nation and Brad Ashton is nothing less than spinning the Daleks out of Doctor Who and into their own non-BBC TV show — to be made in America, and in colour, if you please!

For over a year now, a Dalek story arc has been running in the pages of TV Century 21, tracking the early rise of the Dalek Empire and its early interactions with 2060s humanity. Though the Daleks encroach over other parts of the book, including the headline stories, the bulk of this story arc comes in the form of weekly one-page comics making up one long serialised history of the Daleks, under the minimalist title of The Daleks.

Also under the solo brand of “The Daleks”: Annuals, an exclusive audio story, and, of course, toys. Time for Phase Two. It is time to end the Daleks’ endless confrontations with Dr Who on television, and set the stage for a new status quo able to support the TV series Nation dreams about.

Important background: Terry Nation, famously, does not like the Dalek Emperor. Whitaker made him up without consulting Nation, who maintains that the highest rank in the Dalek hierarchy should be the Dalek Supreme. The Emperor was hard to do away with in the comics, since he was basically the protagonist of the TV21 strip, but one imagines Nation was keen to jettison him from the world of the planned TV series.

I am speculating, of course, but I picture Nation sitting in his office, pondering the two great thorns in the side of the Independant Daleks Masterplan.

Thorn one: the Daleks are entangled with the Doctor both diegetically and symbolically; unless something can be done, the Daleks will remain “the Doctor’s enemies”, and a show where they commit evil and the Doctor fails to show up would ring false with the kids watching. The Daleks must be removed from Doctor Who in a sensational and definitive manner, or the whole enterprise is a nonstarter.

Thorn two: I, Terry Nation, have foolishly allowed David Whitaker to shape the lore of the Daleks, and he has made this Dalek Emperor guy very central to early Dalek history, leading up to the 22nd century Dalek Invasion of Earth that most of the Doctor’s subsequent conflicts with the Daleks have stemmed from. But I do not like the Dalek Emperor. I wish I could get rid of him in my new status quo.

…………Aha.

A triumphant Terry Nation adds a post-it note to the ever-widening corkboard representing the multimedia Dalek Masterplan setting up the TV series, which must already include things like “convince Jean Marsh to come back as Sara Kingdom”. Notes distilled from this corkboard will form the backbone of The Dalek Outer Space Book, this year’s Dalek annual, which exists principally to set up the prospective main characters of the new TV series: Sara Kingdom and Agent Mark Seven, of the Space Security Service.

The new post-it note reads:

Construe the Daleks’ enmity with the Doctor as a personal enmity between the Doctor and the Emperor, a la Sherlock Holmes and Moriarty. Have the Doctor triumph over the Emperor on TV in a big ‘event’ story.

Result: the Doctor-vs-Daleks storyline is over; the Emperor is dead; I get everything I ever wanted.

(Except maybe a pony.)

Then he phones David Whitaker, smirking all the while like an evil genie preparing to grant a badly-worded wish.

“Good news, old chap, I’ve decided you can write a new Dalek story for the BBC, all by yourself. I promise I won’t interfere.”

*confused and delighted David Whitaker noises*

“ And you can even bring in that Dalek Emperor of yours. Yes, you heard me!”

*Whitaker enthusiasm intensifies*

“Ahhh, but there’s a catch. The Dalek Emperor must DIE.”

Of course, like all good Faustian bargains, this is irresistible even though it is ruinous and the victim knows it to be ruinous. Whitaker agrees to the scheme. He and Nation begin planning out the events of the great finale of the Dalek-Doctor confrontation, which will hit the screens in 1967 as the mildly racist, but otherwise quite well-loved, ‘The Evil of the Daleks’.

Quickly enough, it is decided that Patrick Troughton crouching to berate the short and bubble-headed Golden Emperor would look silly. If the Emperor appears on TV, alongside human performers, then it should tower over them. Besides, this is to be the archvillainous Dalek Emperor’s last stand, and certain traditions must be followed.

Hence another task is added to the bucketlist of the Dalek Outer Space Book: tell the story of how the Emperor transformed from the globe-headed dwarf to some huge and terrible towering form under the Dalek City, for the Doctor to stumble onto later. This rebuilt Emperor may be teased, but must not be truly seen or truly defeated in the book; that would defeat the whole idea.

Hence, The Secret of the Emperor, a story which sees the Emperor becoming self-conscious about his own efficiency and letting the Scientist Daleks rebuild his casing from scratch. The final page is a splash panel, a delightfully nonsensical diagram of the mechanical components of the new casing.

The almost surreal array of colours and shapes is so arresting as to obscure an important detai. Many have seen this page over and over, and yet still missed it. The recent(ish) ‘Anatomy of the New Dalek Emperor’ artwork from Time Lord Victorious clearly looked at this page for reference, in spite of the fact that the TLV Emperor is much more inspired by the old Emperor than the rebuilt one.

Let me spell it out for you: look at the Scientist Daleks in the top right and centre-left. Look at them.

The new Emperor is huge.

And what else?

That Scientist on the left is plugging huge wires snaking from the wall into the tower-casing.

He now resides in the Great Hall of the Dalek City.

The background wall is a weird checkered pattern.

In addition, the following facts are seeded throughout the earlier pages of The Secret of the Emperor.

The point of moving to the new casing was to grant the Emperor increased brain capacity (suitable for concocting masterplans).

He acquired said increased brain capacity to help the Daleks attempt to overcome humanity once and for all.

The Emperor has recently had a trautmatic but eye-opening experience with time travel.

Ignore the fact that the Emperor was here depicted with what appears to be a still fairly bulbous, and golden, head, and it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that this is very, very direct setup for how the Doctor finds the Dalek Emperor in The Evil of the Daleks — tower-like, in an imperial throneroom in the Dalek City, with a checkered wall pattern, planning out a complicated scheme to harness time travel as a means of defeating humanity once and for all!

Yes, the designs don’t quite match — but how could the artist behind the visuals of Secret of the Emperor have known precisely what Shawcraft would build, a year later, based on the same basic description by Nation & Whitaker? The parallels far outweigh the minor differences in execution. (It’s worth noting that elsewhere in the Outer Space Book a different artist drew what was clearly intended to be the Golden Emperor as a large, golden, but normally-proportioned Dalek, so it’s not like the visual descriptions of these scripts were exceedingly precise…)

The rebuilt Emperor is never seen in the Outer Space Book outside of this ‘dissection’: he is heard throughout The Brain Tappers but kept carefully off-panel, and his new and dangerous new casing is pointedly not destroyed in the story’s conclusion. Well, of course not. That’s what Dr Who is for.

tl;dr: it is not a post hoc retcon, or even a secret, that the round-headed Emperor of the comics became the Dalek Emperor of Evil of the Daleks. A holistic view of the state of Dalek media in 1966-1967 shows that, in fact, it was the whole point that this be the Emperor of the comics; and that the comics had begun setting this up long before Patrick Troughton encountered Edward Waterfield on TV.

And thus, to circle back to Sandifer’s 2011 post, it is not enough to simply say that the “seemingly non-canon” comics inspired the show down the line. In fact in this instance, what appeared on Doctor Who existed for the benefit of the Daleks spin-off — not vice-versa!

#Daleks #Canon-Welding #Doctor Who #Analysis #Doctor Who Meta #Dalek Emperor #Dalek Prime #The Evil of the Daleks #Terry Nation #David Whitaker #Brad Ashton #The Secret of the Emperor #El Sandifer #Canon #Jacob Black

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thisisartbylexie · 4 years

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Sherlolly Appreciation Week - 2020 Fic Rec Post

@sherlollyappreciationweek is this week and I’ve had my head not screwed on straight and missed daily posting. Which means y’all are going to deal with a single LONG post of Sherlolly Fic Recs. I’m making up for timeliness by dumping more recs than anyone asked for. Buckle up.

(tl:dr - Listen, you can find every flavor of Sherlolly fic curated like a Willy Wonka’s factory over on @miz-joelys-sherlollilists, but I have curated a gourmet banquet for you right here. Please leave feedback for the creators.)

DAY ONE - Gone But Not Forgotten (WIPs/Incomplete Fics)

I left a review and am also recommending The Ghost and Molly Hooper by doctor_WTF. This is the story of Molly who purchased 221B Baker St only to find that the last inhabitant died, but never really left. This is set as an AU with the context of TRF.

Also gonna recommend A Line to Cross by @blogyourfeelingsaway. This is an AU where Molly doesn’t actually like Sherlock at first, much to his surprise...

Delayed For A Little While by @lono285. A Princess Bride AU we don’t deserve.

DAY TWO - Angst Fest

Phoenix by @lono285. This is the author’s summary: Nothing could bring Molly Hooper back to life. He saw her final breath leave her body. But with a few short words from a nameless voice on the telephone, he realized the resumed beating of his heart had a name: hope.

Ghost of A Girl by Alethnya. Author’s summary: Death, as it turns out, wasn't quite as final as Molly had always believed. Fear not, you will smile at the end, I promise.

All You Ever Wanted At Just The Wrong Time by @soyeahso. This wasn’t what Molly expected being a relationship with Sherlock would be like.

The Coffin-Maker’s Lullaby by @hobbitsdoitbetter. This is ANGST but it’s more like catharsis post-S4.

But if you’re REALLY looking for The Pain Train, take the emotional tour via The Gods Have [No] Mercy by TuesdayTerrible. This is a soulmate AU.

Also, The Five Stages of an Illogical Death by AndInTimeThisTooShallPass. It’s exactly what you think it is.

DAY THREE - When We Were Young (S1 & S2)

A Beautiful Mind by jankmusic. I have a theme for fics, apparently, because this one is also super emotional. This is set vaguely in the S2 timeline, but it’s an amnesia fic that starts with established Sherlolly. But then...

Her Last Bow by @PetraTodd. This is just after S2. Author’s summary: Like a knight going off to war, when Sherlock goes off to fight Moriarty's network, he takes a favor from Molly Hooper. (Of course, favors are normally *given* but Sherlock isn't really one for manners.)

All The Things Said and Unsaid by @elixirbb. Molly goes with Sherlock after The Fall.

Every Time and Always by @flaignhan. Written just after S2.01 aired.

Do I even need to mention The Full House and Always Something by @emceefrodis? Because like, that should be part of the Sherlollian Bible or something.

DAY FOUR - Bust Out (Comedy Gold)

Friends Like These by @elixirbb. Sherlolly post-S2 from Lestrade’s POV.

A Little Inspiration by @lilsherlockian1975. Humor with some angst, but a fun read.

If You Like It... by ll_again. ...put a ring on it. Post-S3 where Molly and the Holmes parents form a friendship.

The New Conception by Quarto. Post-S3 ish. Author’s summary: It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single consulting detective in possession of an undercover assignment must be in want of a wife.

DAY FIVE - EPIC (Long Fics)

A Fearful Hope Was All The World by @miabicicletta . End of the world AU that somehow hits HARD especially now. Not for the emotionally fragile, but there’s still HEA.

In matters of the heart by TheSapphireSky. Regency AU. There’s mystery and heart-wrenching emotion with our favorite idiots. It’s *chef’s kiss*.

The Signs of the Four by Emma_Lynch. Victorian AU you’re looking for.

The Necessary Mother by darthsydious. Victorian AU where Sherlock is a single father and Molly comes to help him. This isn’t on AO3, so I will tag with the warning of character death (secondary, but still gutting due to period typical mortality).

Molly Hooper and the Flagon Nocturnal by Zoa. It’s a CRIME that this Indiana Jones AU doesn’t have more comments.

In general, if you’re looking for LONG fics, check out the 2015 Sherlolly Big Bang Collection. Every fic has a minimum of 25K.

DAY SIX - Fluffy Friday

So I like my fluff with a side of angst (for ~flavor~).

Order From Chaos by MaybeItsJustMyType. Soulmate AU.

Semantics by @geekmama. Sap everywhere.

Intuit by ClassySpanks. Molly runs away to Switzerland.

Zephyr by @writingwife-83. A Victorian AU arranged marriage.

I also had to mention Wedding Day by floosilver8. This is Groundhog Day-set up, Molly POV, set at the Watson wedding. Not like 100% fluffy, but I love reading it when I need a pick me up.

DAY SEVEN - Free For All

You guys know I’m a sucker for a period AU. So I’m going to recommend one of my favorite AUs: London Bridge Is Falling Down by @lono285. This is a WWII-era AU that I love to bits and pieces because it’s ADORABLE.

Speaking of AUs, here’s a Victorian amnesia fic. Changing Faces by @likingthistoomuch

Also, there’s an S2-ish hasty marriage AU Band of Gold by @mizjoely and the 1940s AU remix With This Ring written by me. (yup, I am SHAMELESS. And quite proud of this one.)

I’m gonna add with a tear, the truth comes by broomclosetkink. Semi-angsty AU of the Watson wedding. Fix-it fic.

Looking for the Christmas Carol AU? Well, try A Knockout Christmas by Ellis_Hendricks.

Here’s Sherlock-Is-An-Actual-Moron. Unplanned pregnancy AU where Sherlock doesn’t realize it’s his. Hearts Don’t Break Around Here by darthsydious.

OOOOOOOOF. I’ve been reading your Sherlolly fics since like 2011 and I have heaps more (SO many fantastic authors I didn’t even mention here!).

Please check out the official post because the other half of this appreciation week is also leaving feedback for authors.

Give them some LOVE!

#sherlolly appreciation week #Lexie reads things #sherlolly #epic fic rec list 2020

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paraclete0407 · 3 years

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Stuff I might never get to do (from books I read after I thought I had mastered the Bible / Scripture)

Theories of ‘political vision’ - ex. Obama’s ‘A Promised Land,’ or from someone I miss, UKPM David Cameron’s ‘For the Record.’ Also records of military careers and the consequences and lessons therefrom, particularly Gen., Prof. Stanley A. McChrystal’s ‘My Share of the Task’ - decades of one meal a day, utterly excellent love-letters and wisdom-writings to his wife, sweeping reports, culminating in the operation that ‘extrajudicially or para-judicially executed’ bin Laden. I also never forgot the NYTimes photo of the SEAL operator’s back-muscles. My giant Obama critique, however, was one of those ‘grandfather Hall of Presidents’ books that I want to postpone.

My mistakes and wishes. Ex. the woman I wanted to marry in early 2011; I had cut off my parents for 6 months and called one night my mom; she got really drunk that night, flirted with foreigners from [ultra-mercenary cram-school that hires anyone], got terrorized by [b/Black man of the type who clearly believes ‘As I am b/Black I know everything worth knowing and can terrorize, antagonize, demonize anyone and anything for the greater glory of my own ego / Chairman Mao]. Culminating in me in the ladies’ room telling her to get up and I told her so, going back to the pub-room and threatening the mercenaries, and finally being ‘mogged,’ masculinity-compromised or eclipsed / overpowered, by the man who was either her surrogate father-figure, rapist, seducee-turned-wrist-breaking-controller, no one really knew, and my ex-father-figure who however either a) failed to bait the trap properly and/or b) failed to communicate the true meaning and message and purpose of his love for me, to me. But, it was instrumental in blowing what was probably the best job I ever had, and the only job that ever asked me back.

After that I started honestly trying to live for either a) the younger generation b) ‘just me.’ I also made a number of hard or soft promises to students involving me writing stuff. Don’t say ‘will’ or ‘might’ to Koreans b/c it kind of spiritually translates in to ‘shall’ or ‘must’ or ‘has to.’ They’re the poor in spirit from what I can tell.

I also drove around California for a while, missed a job-offer from a Catholic university in [central Korean city], and thought a lot about F. Scott Fitzgerald. Studied Emmanuel ‘ethics-as-first-philosophy love-of-wisdom-converting-into-wisdom-of-love’ Levinas a bit, read ‘Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother’ and couldn’t sleep

Sundry ‘Teacher Dream(s).’ I’d been hoping in a way that ‘Free Food for Millionaires’ author Min Jin Lee, JD Yale etc, would put this all in her ‘American Hagwon’ but she’s been baking fancy cakes and writing offside / deflective lit. about Japanese gays for like 10 years while NK marched on in real life killing people and Koreans were also dying from numerous causes, running away from home, economically induced suicide, amazing shame- and rape-culture: cashing in. I remember my last night at the hagwon, a time of bonhomie, when I perhaps might’ve even said, ’Y’know, can I un-resign-in-protest?’ Boss, What’ll you miss most about Korea, Korean women?’ Me (playing the fool), ‘There are Korean women in America.’ Boss, (sforzando), ‘Gyopo women.’

My ‘best guess’ anyway at ‘edubusiness’ was sth I labored at off and on for now like 6 years called ‘Three Kings’ which is partly about a white ex-literary agent family named ‘Foch’ after the French Generalissime who actually won WW1, famous for his ‘moral factor’ theory of war as well as his remark, ‘This is not a peace but an armistice for 20 years. He makes 400,000 dollars in his 1st year of college by advising his roommate to publish his ‘freshman’ novel with an extreme ‘point,’ not worrying about winning every possible reader, just let me edit all the sign-post-phrases and tell you what I firmly believe you were trying to write, sell this novel for 2million dollars, marry the Korean girl across the hall, forget RU, cultivate life and love with your stylus, and I’ll continue to march on simultaneously trying to promote love while reading everyone and everything semi-against or [angle / thrust-vector to] their grain (for their own good). Later he starts a school with his two friends, an MD/PhD program dropout from LA and an MBA ex-Samsung Managing Director or something. But in the end his MD/PhD friend can’t stop thinking about [student’s] amazing breasts and [MBA] friend can’t stop hating and short-selling himself w/r/t marriage and self-regard b/c he’s stuck in the other-always-has-more-money-always-more-money-to-make mentality. In the end the protagonist resigns in protest from the company he himself designed, developed, planned, etc. but didn’t have the money to call his own after reaching the position of ‘Joint Department Head’ which is kind of like ‘Chief of Staff’ to a president at a much smaller scale. He’s a devout literal Christian or at least Christianist who wishes the world were Christian and he reflects in the end on the Longfellow poem about the Three Kings who ‘know King Herod’s hate’ and had to travel back to their homelands a different way. There is also a possibly-to-be-deleted ‘Interludio Meridiana’ where he happens across the molested constantly male-gazed student in Nonhyeon (a neighborhood South of the Han River but not at all like the PSY song), starts to hear Palestrina’s ‘Sicut Cervus’ (listen to it on YouTube - Palestrina’s polyphony philosophy is one of the crowns of human art) in his head, wanders down to the bus depot and finds that his thoughts / creativity etc. have become cathected, chained to, or at least led by memory, and he has joined a ‘chain of being’ that connects the past to the future.

‘Bethlehem Dream’ - kind of my homage to the forementioned Kim Minju of IZ*ONE, my last favorite pop-star before assuring Christian friend I’d stop following K-pop (I’m against BlackPink and their entire organization). Connects to all my dreams and theories of education - including my extreme disillusionment with education, and sympathy for anyone made the ‘beneficiary’ of the latest theory or tool - as well my homage to the school that most closely approximates my dream school, Prof,. Pastor, Dr. Chancellor John Piper’s Bethlehem College and Seminary in Minneapolis. And also, women’s desire to have children / babies, even without husbands, men’s desire to bear spiritual fruit with or without traditional fellowship.

Masculinity in novels. Not Norman Mailer Philip Roth stuff but novels that can lens reality from the top down and not get addicted to some or other cupidity or method of endearing / charming the audience, which often makes them stupider or causes them to regard hidden truth as an outright lie and/or triviality. MJL’s ‘Free Food for Millionaires’ was pretty masculine; better is billionaire Michael Kim’s ‘Offerings,’ a novel I wish I could teach someone only I can’t find a good student / reader and maybe I myself missed the point and only thought I got it.

Thinking quitting while ahead - I really don’t know whether adding to people’s minds and knowledge at this point in Time is good or whether writing amounts to feasting the already glutted, furnishing them further excuses for disbelief and inaction and alienating / dividing them from the hungry and poor. I like a song called ‘Love Song for No. 1.’ Remember talking about a walk in the woods I took, understanding something about the Other’s first language the authenticity of this language and its nativity to their understanding and ‘originary’ or ‘birth-mother’ identity or ‘self-system.’ Not something to tell your Anglo-but-ish-they-were-Teutonic biological parents because they will make like they want to backhand your head off then spend years denying they’re either racist, non-believers, or what I have come to call anti-believers; people who amid ‘Delta Covid Summer’ are trying to destroy the beliefs of others. Also Dr. R.C Sproul Ligonier Ministries, ‘Forgetfulness is apostasy.’

‘Flowers on Water.’ Kind of my homage to Krystal Jung Soojung of ‘hieroglyphic’ girl-group f(x) and later IMO excellent actress, her best moment perhaps the final episode of ‘My Lovely Girl,’ a shocking and awesome scene that appears to talk about Resurrection and Eternity. The protagonist is another cynical edubusinessman who is thinking about mass-death, getting mad at mainstream American Christianity for singing songs while people were drowning, and finally on Google Books comes across a teacher-poem from 1881 titled ‘Flowers,’ for a group of rather hapless seemingly American Indian students in California as well as critiques of educational praxis which, in 1881, were identical to what they are today. ‘God is sovereign in all things’ - such a difficult category. I abandoned this novel for a number of reasons such as the belief that I might be able to reverse-engineer Brad Thor or something for a quick buck. Went to Half Price Books (now closed) where they had a picture of the Jackson Five over the toilet in the men’s room. I read a bit of a one-dollar Brad Thor book about Russia but on the way on home I once started once again dreaming mytically about Korean girls / women as it began to snow and thinking about ‘Lo How a Rose E’er Blooming’ (’Es Ist Ein Rosentsprungen) the German Nativity song which Michael Praetorius composed at least in part in response to the appalling Reformation Wars and out of a hope or wish that remembrance of Christ’s birth could somehow reunite the Church. This also made me think about a high school I admire / respect and my old friend and his now-divorced wife with whom I many times fantasized about singing and talking with again; and whom I kind of wish I could tell the author of ‘All Quiet on the Western Front’ remarried his first wife eventually but IDK what good it is to give already-dreaming people more dreams either.

It’s 9:35 AM and my ‘insomnia’ type notebook-postings haven’t made me any new friends in a while. My last thing is just, if you care about Education or young girls / American women / culture / schools, achievement, heroines, stories, or for that matter Bible-translation or the latter-day odysseys of the nominal Episcopalian Church, with trembling heart, try to reflect on Headmaster Josiah Bunting III’s ‘All Loves Excelling.’

One of my favorite Christian songs is ‘The Death of King David’

And God said that day shall dawn

to bring that flow’r newly born

from thy stem in fullness growing

in fragrance sweet night and morn

all My people shall adorn

with Breath of life bestowing

Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah

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deeahhnuh · 4 years

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2019!

I've done this year-in-review thing since 2007! 2007-2012 are over on my old LiveJournal, and 2013-on are right here on my Tumblr. :)

2020. 2020! That year sounds space-age or something lol, and not like it's just, well, tomorrow. Happy New Year, Tumblr!

What did you do in 2019 that you'd never done before?

Not too much, lol! I guess I just kept doing the things I usually do, but tried to do them better/improve them (when it comes to work!), or do more of them (fun times and family times!).

Did you keep your New Years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?

Every year I mention that I don't really make New Year's resolutions - more like little goals all year! - but hey, it's a new decade! This year I think I will make a resolution that I will hold myself to. In 2020, I resolve to work hard - like really hard - on being healthy! Eat right, exercise, lose weight, work on maintaining less stress - be good to myself! I know everyone makes that kind of resolution, but it's a good one for a reason. :)

Did anyone close to you give birth?

Aw, no new babies this year!

Did anyone close to you die?

Sadly, yes... my uncle (my dad's oldest brother) passed away in May. ♥ We also lost a beloved neighbor in August.

What countries did you visit?

Lol, none!

What would you like to have in 2020 that you lacked in 2019?

I seemed to lack the ability to chill this year, haha - I stressed out about everything! :O So I’m ready to go with the flow better in 2020!

What date(s) from 2019 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?

Can’t think of any big dates, but this December marked 5 years since I graduated (and gave a speech at the departmental ceremony, to toot my own horn lol!) from the University of Maryland! Time is bizarre - 5 years feels both forever ago and also not that far back!

What was your biggest achievement of the year?

I’ve been working in the registrar’s office at a community college for three years now! I love it, and I’m proud of the work I do!! :)

What was your biggest failure?

Everything’s a learning experience of course lol, but thankfully I didn’t goof too bad this year! ;)

Did you suffer illness or injury?

Oh my goodness, I started off the year with a thumping in my right ear (the name for it is “pulsatile tinnitus” - which somehow makes it sound scary!). :O Happily, that mess dissipated in a few months’ time, but it sure did worry (and annoy) me! Other than that - all good! :)

What was the best thing you bought?

I was very fortunate this year to buy a few things that really made me smile!

I do love a perfume! Dior Addict is a stunning, spicy vanilla (I love ‘em sweet!) that really hits the spot.

I’m also pleased, on the “I stan goofy dance music” front, to have found a couple of old Ministry of Sound compilations that I’ve had bookmarked on Amazon for awhile - they came back in stock this year and I snatched ‘em up. Anthems Sound of Dubstep (2012) is brash and obnoxious fun, and Sessions Ten (2013) is slightly less brash but just as obnoxious so I love it. They’re both releases from the Australian arm of MOS!

Oh and one of my fave used record stores had a copy of one of DJ Rap’s “Bad Girl” CD singles with mixes I didn’t have; I was kinda shocked to see it and very very happy to buy it! It was only 99 cents. Wow!! I do like a ridiculous deal! :)

Whose behavior merited celebration?

My mom is amazing, as always, and so are my dad and brother! I love my fam!!

Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?

No one!

Where did most of your money go?

See above - my more frivolous spending went toward perfume and goofy dance tunes, haha!

What did you get really, really, really excited about?

I will never, ever forget opening a very special present for Christmas this year. I love and adore It’s a Wonderful Life, and I even wrote a paper about it in college. I used a fabulous book as one of my sources - The It’s a Wonderful Life Book by Jeanine Basinger - and since then I’ve always had it in the back of my mind to purchase it someday. It’s a fantastic keepsake kinda thing for a fan of the movie. Unfortunately it always seemed to be out of stock, or way too expensive to consider, so over time I kind of just put it on the back burner.

But just a few days ago on Christmas morning as we all opened gifts, I tore wrapping paper off a box, pulled off the box top, and bam - there it was. Decorative tissue paper obscured it, but I could see the book cover peeking through - The It’s a Wonderful Life Book! My mama, the best mama, found this awesome book for me! My Christmas - my year! - was made! ♥

What song will always remind you of 2019?

Here’s a Spotify playlist of the songs that I loved this year; most are old releases lol. New(er) songs and albums I loved this year:

“Like Sugar” by Chaka Khan. Funky!

“Lost in the Fire” by Gesaffelstein feat. The Weeknd. Cool and atmospheric!

“Lights Up” by Harry Styles. Boy band guy makes good lol! Great tune.

Mazy Fly (2019) by SPELLLING. Dark, richly layered, weird, beautiful.

The Destroyer - 1 and The Destroyer - 2 (2019) by TR/ST. Two EP-ish releases that make up a whole album-ish listen. The Destoyer - 1 slightly edges out the second release, but I just like hearing so much synthy TR/ST goodness!

Compared to this time last year (2018), are you:

Doin' all right, and hopeful for a great start to 2020!

What do you wish you'd done more of?

Listen to more albums - new or old! The last few years I seem to listen to a handful of albums a year, then spend the rest of my music-listening time playing dance music compilations. Ah well, maybe I'll catch up on my massive "to listen" list in the next decade lol!

What do you wish you'd done less of?

Stress (see above lol) - but I'm def working on it! :)

How did you spend Christmas?

Family time!! ♥

What was the most embarrassing thing that happened to you in 2019?

Nothing, yay lol!

How many one-night stands?

None lol

What was your favorite TV program?

My silly cartoons! Family Guy, American Dad, Bob's Burgers, and SpongeBob SquarePants (lol idk, nostalgia is hard to kick!) still make me laugh even though I am otherwise a perfectly reasonable adult. :)

Bravo's Real Housewives - all of 'em! - crack me up and bring the totally ridiculous drama!

The Orville is fantastic, one of my fave more recent shows. I love the cast! Each episode really adds to their stories and builds the show's world. Looking forward to the next season!

Emergence is a great new sci-fi show with a strong cast - especially the sensible, big-hearted lead Allison Tolman - and suspenseful storyline!

I haven't seen the first season, and to be honest I don't think I'd be able to explain what the heck it's actually about because I'm easily confused, but American Gods caught my attention this year! The cast is excellent - even if the plot escaped me, lol, I really got into the characters.

And What We Do In The Shadows! Such a delight!!

How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2019?

I love a classic, slightly minimal style, but I'm just happy to look decently put-together lol!

What kept you sane?

My fam, my entertainment stuff (music, movies, TV, magazines), working with wonderful colleagues... ♥

Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?

No! :O

What was the best book you read in 2019?

The It’s a Wonderful Life Book was probably the best book I read (well, most of it!) this decade. ♥

What was your greatest musical discovery?

SPELLLING is awesome - definitely an artist I'm excited to hear more from!!

What did you want and get?

I won't say The It’s a Wonderful Life Book again! :)

On a more serious note, I had my first MRIs in a while for MS maintenance - my previous neurologist retired and my new doctor wanted to get a baseline. I was very, very anxious about getting the results. My former doctor last ordered an MRI in 2011, so this was definitely a good and highly necessary step, but very nerve-wracking! I'm so fortunate to not be experiencing symptoms - and haven't since my initial occurrence of optic neuritis in '09 (though I was actually diagnosed with MS in 2011) - but what might the MRIs (brain and T- and C-spine) reveal?

I wanted to receive good results - a report of stability, not progression. And would you believe it? I did. My (amazing!) neurologist gave me the greatest news I had all year - stable, no new lesions, all good!! Of course this is for now - who knows about the future? - but I'm thrilled, and thankful. As this year ends and I reflect on all the good, this takes the cake!!

What did you want and not get?

Pffft, nothin' lol! I've got so many lovely things and reasons to be thankful - who could ask for more?!

What was your favorite film of this year?

Lol I did not see many new movies, but of the '19 films I saw, my fave was Knives Out! I only just saw it yesterday - what a fun way to close out the year! Fantastic cast, clever story, funny - just all-around entertainment.

I also loved Yesterday. All the Beatles references and the obvious affection for the group and their fans just felt like a great big hug! So good!

What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?

Girl I'm well and truly a thirty-something now - 33!! I had fun! I did lots of little fun things with my fam - like shopping, watching movies, that kind of good stuff!

What three things would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?

Like I said above - who could ask for more? Not me! :)

Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?

I'm late to the David Harbour bandwagon - but better late than never!

And also Daniel Craig in Knives Out was a good thing.

What political issue stirred you the most?

Ew, there's something stirring like every hour or so.

Who did you miss?

Losing my grandmother at the end of last year really colored a lot of this year... and then losing my uncle added more shadows. ♥♥♥

What is a valuable life lesson you learned in 2019?

I always answer this one with a twist on the Pet Shop Boys song title and my life philosophy - "Happiness is an option." So here we go! The chorus of the song acknowledges that "it is not easy," and some times are definitely like that. This year had those moments, and next year will too, because that's how life is! It is often not easy.

But! The last bit of the chorus follows "it is not easy" with "happiness is an option." Things can stink, but they can be okay too. That's what "happiness is an option" has always meant to me, and it means that just as much this year. Maybe even more!!

What quote can be used to sum up your year?

See above haha! "Happiness is an option” has been my fave quote for years, and I’m gonna keep on living it! :)

#year #deeahhnuh #2019

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mint-sm · 7 years

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LOS CAMPESINOS! REVIEW/ANALYSIS: No Blues

Ugh… I’m about to do a bad thing and probably make a lot of other Los Camp fans angry. If they actually read this, that is.

Okay, I want you to take a look at this cover art for a second. This kinda lush greenery flushed out with this pink-ish mist. It’s a little funny visual pun of the title of this album (Get it? No blues? Hah), and it probably does bring some form of atmosphere and interest to someone in the right mindset or just has a different taste in visual aesthetics… but I’m sorry, personally for me, it’s kinda flat. Not only is that pink that kind of flat-looking “millennial pastel pink,” but as a whole, this cover feels like it’s lacking contrast.

Honestly, it feels like a bit of an apt summation for the album itself: I can totally see the potential appeal to a certain crowd, and there might technically be nothing much wrong with it, but honestly, I can’t get into it despite it apparently getting a lot more positive response than something like “Romance is Boring.” I’m not trying to be resentful or anything, but it’s kinda confusing because while I can find a lot of arguments as to why “Romance is Boring” is so compelling, I can’t honestly find much about “No Blues” that explains why people love it so much, and it just doesn’t do it for me. That’s basically the “No Blues” right there. It don’t do it for me.

So remember in my first few Los Camp reviews how I said the band has 3 distinct eras? Reminder: “Hold on Now Youngster...” and about half of “We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed” were part of a “Twee Pop Era,” which then bled slightly into the “Noise Rock Era” with “Romance is Boring,” but it was immediately halted with “Hello Sadness,” and since then with this album and the next, “Sick Scenes,” we’ve been in a sort of “Mellow Alt Rock Era.” “No Blues” epitomizes this era very much, and it does signify a lot of the gradual changes to the band throughout the years that I can both appreciate, but also not.

On one hand, I’m really glad that Los Camp have changed their sound as pretty fluidly as they had. While I think I’ll always find their earlier works a bit more compelling, I’m glad to see that a crashing twee-rock band of college students in their 20’s is willing to grow up an adapt to something more mature-sounding and refined with a few more years to grow and personally develop, especially in a music scene that has kind of eschewed the music they had found previous success in, and have shifted to this sort of alt rock scene. One that has much cleaner production and mixing, one with slightly gentler guitars, tighter vocals, and more “grown-up,” much more self-aware themes.

I’m also glad that this was made during a point where Gareth Campesinos! finally seemed to reach a breakthrough and write lyrics and music that was especially HIM. Going once again back to “Youngster,” another reason why he’s not very fond of it was because of his lyrics, which he felt like was from a caricature of himself rather than himself-himself, and it felt rather dishonest or the like. Starting from “No Blues,” it seems Gareth has finally allowed himself to be as freely-moving and esoteric as he wanted, especially since the darkness of his 2011 personal history that resulted in “Hello Sadness” being the darkest album they’ve ever released no longer clouded him. I can totally respect that: he finally found a grip on the type of music that he wants to make, and the band was now free to reach its current goals, and that’s completely appreciable an artist.

MY PROSE IS PURPLE BUT NOT AS PRETTY AS LUCER-ER-ER-ERRRNE! / FOR SWEET NOTHINGS FROM THE LIPS OF A GARGOYLE, NOBODY EVER YEARNED /

HOWEVER... The problem that I immediately have with “No Blues” is that despite all of its admirable artistic intentions, it comes off as pretty pale and boring, to be honest. Musically and lyrically, this album just is not very compelling to me, because it honestly feels way too much of an attempt at the band going “Oh fuck yes, we’re done with being emo like in Hello Sadness, now we can actually write the music that we actually want to make!” But instead of it turning out somewhat adventurous, it feels both very crammed, rushed, and mildly inaccessible (for the band, anyway), and it’s done so in a way that it’s not only lacking diversity, but there’s almost no room for it to properly breathe, and as such just feels samey-sounding and choked a lot of the time.

Two terms I’ve used a lot regarding Los Camp’s discography are “dense” and “engaging,” and I think I need to specifically define what I mean by that. When I say “dense,” it usually means the music or the lyrics are compact with details, sometimes in like a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it rate. This gives a lot of the albums a lot of their relistinability, and you’ll keep finding more and more creative and colorful little moments every time you listen to a song.

But something that you also need to tap on if you want to make them actually worth listening to again is that you have to make them “engaging,” and that comes as a result of a lot of things, such as making the music or lyrics properly digestible, building up empathy or sympathy, building up the listener’s interest in the topics you want to delve into, whether the listener is remotely interested in your topics, etc. It’s not an exact thing and it is very subjective, but unfortunately, I don’t feel that majority of “No Blues” really checks off any of those ticks.

With “No Blues,” what it often feels like is that the lyrics have become very dense, with some of the most obscure references to date -- lots of lyrics about other musicians’ lyrics, politics, obscure postmodernist novelists, constellations, Greek mythology in correlation to those constellations, and European football. Holy shit, European football is everywhere on this album -- but there’s nothing particularly engaging about it unless you actually give a damn about it, because as I mentioned with “Hello Sadness,” one of my bigger problems with it was that it lacked context.

PEOPLE LAUGH, THEY WILL CALL IT FOLLY / BUT WE CONNECTED LIKE A YEBOAH VOLLEY /

Yeah, these may be complex and esoteric metaphors, but not only do they end up being incredibly distracting for me as I have to manually figure out with almost every line what the hell emotion Gareth’s supposed to be conveying, but I have no real drive or motive to actually bother because it doesn’t really say anything as is (That “Yeboah volley” line above? Guess what that’s supposed to mean without googling it. Trust me, context doesn’t really help) In that regard, it’s actually making an even bigger flaw I had with “Hello Sadness” even worse: Los Camp’s first three albums were able to convey a smattering of different, sometimes diametrically opposing emotions. “Hello Sadness” reduced itself to be being more comfortable with trying to convey just one.

But “No Blues”? I can’t really find anything that personal or really that narrative or thematic about what’s going on here other than a really vague… I dunno, millennial liberation? Light humor? Mature upbeatness? This doesn’t feel confusing in the sense that “which one of these many emotions should I be REALLY feeling?,” it’s more like “what is this one thing I’m supposed to latch onto? Whatever it is, it feels like I’m clutching at straws here.” Or more directly, it’s just one-half an emotion at best, and even then, there’s nothing very engaging or dynamic about it.

And that’s one of my biggest problems with the album as a whole, as well as why up to this point I really haven’t said anything about specific songs yet. It all feels rather flat and too clean for its own good, like a really sharp, hard glowing red, now being reduced into a flat, grayish pink. It might have a little bit more shine to it, but a lot of its actual vibrance has been lost, resulting in all the songs being mostly homogenous, unadventurous alternative indie rock that honestly doesn’t feel like it’s offering anything that new or unique as a now-turned alt-rock indie band. It may have shed the youthful problems that Los Camp themselves felt they were plagued with, but in the end it feels like a lot of that youthfulness is what made them so compelling, and now they’re just… boring.

THERE'S NO BOX TO TICK FOR RED, SO I PUT DOWN BLUE INSTEAD / 'CAUSE IT'S CLOSEST THERE'S TO GREY IN THE CATEGORIES / AND THE VEINS WITHIN THE WHITES ARE A STATEMENT OF DEMISE / DOE EYES, YOU SHOULD STAY AT HOME LICKING BATTERIES /

But I suppose I should get onto individual tracks. Like I said, a lot of it feels rather homogenous and unadventurous, and as such, a lot of it is pretty uninteresting to talk about since most of the tracks feel like they lack diversity, lyrically and sonically.

“What Death Leaves Behind” and “Cemetery Gaits” are I feel what are the album’s more “banger” tracks, but unfortunately, with the cleaner and more sterile production, a lot of it feels a little flaccid. Yes, Gareth’s voice is loud, the drums and guitars are wailing away, and you can totally tell when they’re trying to make the catchy standout moments, but that’s kind of the problem: I can totally expect what they’re doing at this point, and it doesn’t strike any chords for me.

They’re playing chords, they said their lines (which again, since they’re so obtuse a lot of the time, I can’t really hear them as anything except just words instead of, yknow, concepts or ideas), but it all sounds very generic and sanitized, and honestly very stuffed; since there’s not a lot of proper breathing room or actual relief, the progression of these songs are often very uneventful and unsatisfying. In these tracks especially, I don’t feel any sense of escalation, climax or relief despite SOME flatly-mixed-in additional instruments near the end; it all somehow sounds exactly the same and I’m like “Get the hell on with it already! Where’s the actual payoff?”

I feel bad drawing comparisons back to the band’s earlier works, but I kinda have to because it shows the band have been shown to be capable of definite satisfaction (hell, some tracks I’ll get to later on manage to pull this off). Those albums were messier and noisier, yes, but if I could describe them as like a texture, they would be like nice slabs of concrete pavement. Probably really gritty, but not unpleasant enough to walk on barefoot, and you’ll probably get a lot of different consistencies and feels depending on how it was paved, and overall it feels solid.

“No Blues” on the other hand just feels like a sheet of completely smooth, cheap plastic. Brittle, lacking in texture, and completely devoid of life despite it attempting to mimic a popular sound and style, but whether by design or by accident, it’s still cheap, hollow, and feels really artificial, but not even in like a PC Music/SOPHIE way where it’s also trying to be so whacked-out and alien and uncanny-valley-ish on purpose.

This trait also goes onto the slower moments, such as “A Portrait of the Trequartista as a Young Man” or “Glue Me” or “Selling Rope (Swan Dive to Estuary)”, which again, are not only not very musically adventurous, and they get kinda tedious and boring after a minute or so despite any sort of attempts at escalation or being dynamic, and the lyrics that could usually pick up that slack are really unengaging. I’m reading the lyrics, and I’m trying to find the many, many references in this album, but while I can understand them, I don’t “get” them, because I’m like “Okay? So?”

MAKE HIM RECITE THIS MURDER BALLAD / A SOMBRE TUNE TOLD BY A BORE / PUMP BLOOD AROUND THE LIMP AND PALLID / HARMONISING AS YOU SNORED /

However, I will say though, this album isn’t completely devoid of good ideas, because despite me saying this album doesn’t have a lot of standout moments, there are some good concepts here and there. While I think the rest of the song is kinda “meh,” “Cemetery Gaits” has a pretty neat intro, with that small swooping, kinda-windy and radio-wave-sounding soundscape matched with this little looping synth arpeggios, then gradually matched with a gradual increase instrumentation, like guitars, pianos, then finally just exploding with drums, it’s a great start to the track. It’s a shame that it doesn’t quite escalate any further than that, even with the introduction of Gareth’s vocals, multi-man chorus and that... ugh… millennial whoop near the end.

“As Lucerne/The Low” also starts of pretty well, and I think the verses actually do more in getting close to building a vibrancy that Los Camp was sorely needing, especially since the opening lines are just Gareth wailing “There is no blues that could sound quite as heartfelt as mi-i-i-iiine!”, just this wonderful bit of self-deprecating yet such sincere energy that I’ve missed for since previous albums, and is just one hell of an intro (I remember this was the first song of the concert I went to, and it was just like “Yep, that’s Los Camp!”). Unfortunately, by the time you get to the choruses, it all just slows down really awkwardly as all Gareth does is sing “Is what I came for… in the darkness I do adore… is what I came for” and it just doesn’t work, especially alongside those tropical steel drums. Yeah… I don’t really get it either.

I think one of the only tracks I love all the way through is the first one, “For Flotsam,” which admittedly does set a good first impression for the band’s new sound on the album. Refined and maybe a little too pristine, yes, but it actually covers a lot of range instrumentally and vocally, and actually feels like it has an actual atmospheric soundscape, and the mixing actually makes everything stick out a bit more.

Also, while the melody I probably should find monotonous and boring, especially with Kim’s looping vocals in the background that almost sound kinda artificial at times, it surprisingly flows really well, and it actually feels powerful and kinda… grooving at times. It’s got a really catchy hook, the melodies actually feel diverse, the lyrics are nowhere near as overly-ornate and distractingly referential as with other songs, and it provides both a satisfying rising tension AND also a satisfying climactic payoff, I love it.

FLOTSAM, JETSAM AND SPINDRIFT, ALL THE GIRLS I HAVE LOVED / DUMPED TO EARTH BY A SPENDTHRIFT, GILT ANGELS FROM ABOVE! / AND I SAW GOD IN THE BATHROOM, I BAPTISED HIM IN SICK / EMBRACED HIM AROUND HIS CISTERN, "C'EST LA MORT, ENOUGH OF THIS!" /

“Avocado Baby” is also a pretty good track, which also seemed to have a more compelling mix to it, and actually feels like a poppy “banger” track that does have more energy and a few more laughs to it that actually make sense without being a diehard football fanatic. The lyrics here feel a lot less overly-poetic than in other songs, and it manages to have a dense amount of wordplay in a way that’s both more easily digestible, but also pretty playful and kinda cute, especially for this era of Los Camp.

I HAD A FRIEND WHO HAD MADE A FLAG DAY / BLOOD ON THEIR HANDS FROM SHARDS OF A HEARTBREAK / I HAVE KNOWN FRIENDS TO CRACK FROM LOVE'S WEIGHT / BLOSSOM IN RIBCAGE, UNTIL THEIR BACKS BREAK! /

These two songs near the end, “Let It Spill” and “The Time Before the Last Time” also do manage to be a bit more accessible, and are more actually explicitly about something: Sex. Yay! But this being Los Camp, it’s played for a bit more awkwardness and comedy, one of my favorites being with this lyric in the latter song: “The shower-head moaned / and I looked down to the tray / Sons and daughters washed away.” Gross.

These actually do feel more instrumentally engaging as well. I love that descending, actually genuinely energetic and climactic chord progression for the chorus to “Let It Spill,” and that weirdly synthesized soundscape of “The Time Before the Last Time” actually feels both really refreshing, but also kinda beautiful and epic, and something that I honestly didn’t feel like I’ve heard Los Camp make before, but I’m glad they did.

LET IT SPILL, LET IT SPILL / LET IT SPILL ALL OVER US TWO / YOU'LL FIND ME UPSIDE DOWN IN THE BELFRY / 'CAUSE BABY, I'M BATS, IT IS TRUE /

I hesitate to call “No Blues” a “bad” album. I honestly do feel like I am missing something, especially when I write this among a sea of people who find that this album is one of Los Camp’s best. It has a lot of great ideas, and it even has a few really good songs, but the sum of its parts just isn’t making a compelling whole for me, and while I will still listen to those songs, there are a lot of parts of this album that don’t do it for my tastes.

I get the feeling that this really does come down to a lot of personal tastes and biases. I know that everybody has an equally valid opinion, but at the same time I kinda feel as though this album just wasn’t made for my person in mind, and in the end, it probably wasn’t. As I said earlier, this was basically Gareth deciding to go all irreverent and write the lyrics he wanted, and the band the music they wanted, and as it just so happens, it seems a lot of people genuinely appreciate it, so you know what, good for them; I’m glad they still have an appropriate audience (one that I can only assume are just as much football fanatics as most of the band is, and trust me, the football isn’t going to leave anytime soon).

Unfortunately, for me, I’m not that person. I’m less interested in Gareth’s referential humor and poetry and more for him being able to craft those conflicting mental mindscapes through standalone metaphors born from a deep sense of self-deprecating self-awareness, and in a way that anybody can really immediately sympathize with him. When he does come through with those moments in this album, I think it’s great, especially when the production becomes once again able to carry that emotion.

Sadly for me, most of the time, it does not, and what you get is like this weird plastic, beige box covered completely smoothly with a few symmetrical football-themed etchings onto it. If you have an appreciation for uniform, productive smoothness and those football-themed etchings, I won’t hold you back from appreciating it, but as for me, it’s just kinda “meh.” And that’s a shame. (2/5)

FAVES: “For Flotsam”, “Avocado, Baby”, “Let It Spill”, “The Time Before the Last Time”

#los campesinos #music review #no blues

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theliterateape · 4 years

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I Like to Watch | Game of Thrones (All Eight Seasons in Three Weeks)

by Don Hall

On April 17, 2011, I watched the first episode of the first season of HBO’s Game of Thrones. I immediately loved it like so many others. I was so happy to see Sean Bean as another epic hero in a Lord of the Rings sort of drama. Before the second episode, a friend of mine let me know she had read the first book and that Ned Stark is beheaded shortly after.

“Fuck that!” I thought. “That’s some bait and switch bullshit.”

Despite the overwhelming pop-culture gravitas the next eight or so years held, I ignored the show from that point on. Sometime during Season Five, I decided that I’d wait until the goddamned thing was done and then I’d watch all of it in one fell swoop.

Thank you, COVID quarantine.

I’m not one of those DON’T SPOIL IT assholes unless it just opened, so I knew a number of things going in. Of course, that Ned Stark would get his head lopped off. I knew that there was something called The Red Wedding and all hell had broken loose after but didn’t know whose wedding it was or who got axed. I knew about Cersei’s walk of atonement but not the circumstances. I read some squawk about Arya finally getting laid and I knew that the finale disappointed, well, everyone.

I also had heard that Daenerys dragon-flamed thousands in a bloodthirsty move, John Snow killed her, and that Brandon Stark was made the king at the end (all making long-time fans Twitter-furious).

I read that the show runners for the final season no longer had a book to adapt but an outline of possibilities from author George R.R. Martin and that there was a Starbucks cup present in Season 8, Episode 4.

Endings are hard. I recall really enjoying LOST during its six seasons. I loved the characters, the riddles, the labyrinth of theories about the island. I also have a sour taste in my mouth because I hated the conclusion. That failure to stick the landing tainted the entire six years of engaging and fun television.

I loved Spielberg’s AI: Artificial Intelligence but the last fifth of the film (the epilogue following the kid’s descent into the ocean staring at the statue of the Blue Fairy from Pinocchio) was both unnecessary and has made any repeated viewings uninteresting.

Stephen King is almost legendary for shitty endings to brilliant tales. The most notable is the creation of Pennywise the Serial Killing Clown. Easily on of the scariest villains ever penned only to reveal at the end that he is just a big fucking spider.

On the other hand, Six Feet Under, The Leftovers, and the most recent Watchmen all ended so well and I was so satisfied that they sit on a mental shelf of some of the best told stories I know.

Watching Season One of GoT and knowing the ending likely had me looking for clues. And the clues are there. Brandon Stark is the first significant character we see which indicates in some way that the whole thing is his story. Likewise, Daenerys shows us her impulsive anger and desire for power very early on. Throughout the series, both these aspects built a resume in my viewing that indicated the logic behind where it ended.

By Season Four, I realized that there are three things that define this sprawling storyline: a fixation on cocks (and the removal and absence of balls), broken vows and lies, and spectacular deaths.

Lots of talk about testicles. Like almost ridiculous amount of time spent on so many characters without them. Ramsay Bolton cuts off Theon’s nuts and he became like a neutered puppy. Varys has a dude in a fucking crate he keeps as revenge for lopping his grape nuts off. Grey Worm, while often badass, still spends an awful lot of screen time either reminding us or him being reminded that he is a Ken Doll in the crotch.

Add to that the nearly non-stop cock bragging by Bronn, Tyrian (a dwarf in size but, oh, the size of his Johnson!), the mysterious primacy of Podrick’s magic man meat. Yeah, George had a fixation on dick and sack.

I could be wrong but the only character among hundreds who never told a lie or broke a promise was John Snow, right? I mean it was fucking 76 hours, so I may have missed it but it was almost a guarantee that no one in this series could be trusted ever.

By Season Six, if Martin were trying convey some sort of overarching message it was not that power corrupts but those who pursue power are corrupted by the pursuit. The only truly decent characters in the entire cast of hundreds are the ones who do not want to be in power. Ned Stark doesn’t want to be Hand of Robert Baratheon. John Snow has less than no interest to be Lord Commander, King in the North, or Occupant of the Iron Throne. Tyrian Lannister enjoys power but rarely seeks it. Arya Stark isn’t invested in acquiring power but instead skill to avenge injustice. Jorah Mormont only wants to serve a Queen he loves and is inspired by.

Back to the spectacular deaths.

The best Death by Dragon Fire was the first, Kraznys mo Nakloz, the slave trader who sold the Unsullied to Daenerys.

Sansa Stark feeding Ramsay Bolton to his own dogs was well-deserved (he was maybe the only truly irredeemable character in eight seasons) and satisfying. I never liked Sansa but her double-tap with Arya killing Littlefinger was just exactly right.

Lyanna Mormont dying by being crushed by an undead giant just as she stabs it in the single blue eye was rad.

Oberyn Martell getting his eyes gouged and his skull crushed by The Mountain after one of the best single combat scenes in the series was awesome.

Tyrian capping his dad while Tywin is dropping a deuce wasn’t spectacular but was somehow perfectly fitting.

In my view, the best death was Arya’s assassination of Ser Meryn Trant. Gruesome, well deserved, and by the exact right means and by the right character.

Arya Stark was, hands down, my favorite character in the entire thing. Her journey to Bravos and subsequent training and then what she did with that training was righteous. Tyrian was also a favorite and Peter Dinklage carried so much of this series it’s difficult to imagine any of it working without that specific actor playing that specific character. Third on this list was Bronn. Plain-spoken, always true to his nature, funny, and surprisingly honest in intent, Bronn felt like the audience stand-in in this world of royals, religious fanatics, and soldiers.

Also, I’ve been seeing cinematic dragons since I was a kid and these dragons were what I think real dragons would look like.

I understand the need for so many to want there to be messages of import from such a pop culture behemoth but I’m not so sure Martin was going for any of that. Aside from the idea that the act of pursuing power is the true corruption, any über-ideas were like the best characters — set up for our enjoyment only to be axed as soon as we fell in love with them.

The feminist message seemed to be that women are perfectly capable of being in charge and just as capable to be fuck ups and despots as well. The whole Bernie Sanders-ishness of Daenerys freeing all the slaves would be quite progressive except that, once freed, all her slaves tended to serve her, die for her, or kill for her. In fact, the two most prominent freed slaves — Grey Worm and Missandei — served virtually no distinguishing purpose in the storyline.

I read some pissing and moaning about the only two black characters in eight seasons either being killed off or becoming the tool of fascism and I’d be more distraught but Missandei was a cardboard cut-out of a character and Grey Worm was simply a follower. Not a lot on diversity in Westeros, you know?

But let’s look at that fucking ending.

If I were to throw out a recommendation to anyone thinking to watch the series for the first time, I’d say STOP AFTER “THE LONG NIGHT” AND GO NO FURTHER! First, the epic battle to defeat the Night King is a fucking ride and definitive. Season One, Episode One: “Winter is coming.” Season Eight, Episode Three: “Winter came and we kicked its ass.” Done. Finished. Second, after saving the world from the undead and the creepy snow god on his undead snow dragon (was that blue fire hot? Cold?) who gives a flying fuck about the Iron Goddamned Throne?

Sure you’d miss the fight between The Hound and The Mountain but after eight seasons of build up, that battle royale was pretty much just a brawl, devoid of the emotional pay off expected. You’d miss Daenerys burning the Red Keep and thousands of innocent women and children (which is some spectacular filmmaking and completely in character for her despite your need for her to rise above her obvious and oft-stated lust for power and vengeance).

You’d also miss the two biggest missteps in the series: the deaths of both bloodthirsty Queens. Which ain’t much to miss because spending 76 hours of Cersei connive, betray, napalm hundreds in a church, fuck her brother, try to kill her other brother, lose her children, and become one of pop culture’s most indelible villains, she dies by getting rubble dropped on her. WTF? Are you kidding me? Not even a callback to the first episode and drop her out of window?

And, while I felt the transition from Mother of Dragons to Pol Pot was rushed, I bought that Daenerys let the rush of power seize her. But a character so larger than life, so imbued with destiny, dies by getting stabbed in the gut? WTF? Even her shitty brother got a molten gold crown.

In a series defined in some ways by creative and satisfying deaths, to punt the demise of two of the most interesting and central characters just blows.

The internet is filled with die-hard fans playing coulda/woulda/shoulda with the ending of Game of Thrones but that changes nothing. We are stuck with the ending we are given.

I thoroughly enjoyed the world of Westeros. Like a book I’m thrilled to read, I feel a little wanting for more after the final page and I’m still hearing that goddamned catchy theme song in my head. I choose to pretend I never saw the final three episodes. I choose to end the series with the defeat of the Night King because once you save the world, who gives a fuck about almost anything else?

#I Like to Watch #Games of Thrones

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