So about "uninvited"...

Context: this is the song that plays when Joshua and Dion first meet right after Titan's defeat.

Ya'll I want you to know first hand that if you play the song synchronized with their reunion like in the game, the song, which ends in violins ends when Dion says "I thought you long dead".

Because of course it would.

Anyways! First thing to point out is that Joshua's leitmotif's refrains in this song are done in freaking acoustic guitar a.k.a. one of, if not the go to instrument for romantic melodies. So Soken certainly made A Choice™️.

Not to mention it was deliberate. All of Joshua's leitmotifs are in piano (or a cappella, for that one poignant scene in Clive's acceptance), not strings. Do you know whose leitmotifs are in strings? Dion's. So you could argue Joshua is trying to match up the wavelength of Dion, trying (and successfully, you'll see) speak to him in the same (musical) language and reach him in the way Dion's core knows.

Now onto the music proper. The song starts before the phoenix appears even if you can't notice in the cutscene. It starts with tense violin. Again, violin solo is indicative of Dion. Tense violin = Dion's tense, no wonder why.

You can even hear brass instruments in the background of the tense violin. A foreshadowing, of how all of this tension will eventually become.

But not just tense violin. It's actually a tension that would be carried across multiple phrases if not because suddenly Joshua enters with his freaking guitar theme.

So Joshua's theme starts as he enters the tent. It's guitar, but it isn't tense. There's melancholy and the accords of course aren't the most romantic ones (because of course Soken wouldn't make it more obvious.) The melody however carries and most importantly, the violin in the background starts to mellow.

it is also very important to note that: First guitar refrain: reaches poignant chord Joshua: pardon the intrusion your highness /bows (synchronized with the music btw)

First guitar refrain: reaches following chord Dion: I know you

In fact, there's an entire musical dialogue in their verbal exchange. First guitar refrain: reaches last chord Dion: At ease!

Second guitar refrain: starts Dion: we're in the presence of the Phoenix

Ya'll we have music dialogue with Dion continuing to speak inside the phoenix guitar refrains while his musical cues (violin) mellow

Second guitar refrain: reaches third cord Joshua: I hope I'm not interrupting Second guitar refrain: reaches last cord Dion: Not at all and then cue mellowed out strings for the rest of the song. it keeps the note, but it isn't tense.

In the two guitar refrains of this song we have:

Greetings, recognition, Protection demonstration of non aggression

Presentation, inquiry, reassurance

Joshua gets to hold and care for the fallen Wyverntail while Dion's mellowed out strings play in the background and inquires about their past connection. Then the melody fades gently.

Meme analysis of this is pretty much Dion: * is tense * Joshua: * serenades with Guitar * Dion: * is a bit chilled out*

It's hilarious because either my ears aren't that good (which hey, fair af) or the last 4 seconds of this track are silent.

Why would you leave 4 more seconds of silence???? This may be just me going delulu, but do know what happens between those 4 seconds of silence?

Joshua: Twenty? Dion: I thought you long dead

Look, all I'm saying is that if the musical conversation reached a duet at the end, nobody would deny there was some romantic tension and resolution.

Here’s WHY I’m nervous—

If you listen to the Bancroft Brothers podcast where they feature Jodi Benson (Ariel’s original voice), she talks about how she was coached and given very specific direction on how to sing “‘Part of Your World” so that they got the most accurate emotion out of every line, so that they prioritized what Ariel was feeling during this song over how pretty she sounded.

Because it’s Jodi Benson, she’s a great singer, she was going to sound pretty no matter what. 

The important thing in this moment of the movie is that the audience feels Ariel’s longing to be part of a world she doesn’t have ownership of, that she has no way to get to, that she desperately wants to understand and live in. And she already believes it is a good and wonderful world. The song and the whole scene work together to make you understand what Ariel is feeling so that when she leaves her father and sisters and tail and everything she’s ever known behind, you understand why. You don’t think she’s a brat as much as you think she’s a dreamer. 

And maybe this version of the Live Action Remake Part of Your World is not how it is actually sung in the final product, it was just recorded this way for this trailer

But if it’s NOT

If this is how it’s sung in the new movie, then I’m nervous. 

Because Ariel sings it like:

“Out of— the sea… (gentle and quiet and fast on “sea,” like she’s bored by that word and getting it out of her mouth as fast as you might say the commonplace, boring old letters of the alphabet)

Wish I…could be! (She’s SAYING at his part, not singing it, because it’s more genuine, and you can hear her impatience and the hushed way she says “be.” Because BEING a there, existing as part of the world she’s dreamed about instead of watching it and imagining it from the outside, is what is important to her. And she says it quietly like a prayer or like something sacred. And maybe most importantly, her body language and her facial expression add to this word with a motion of her fists coming down, like a child who is trying to hold on to something they know they can’t keep. And then it cuts to Flounder’s sad face, because he and the audience are supposed to feel for her, that she CAN’T “be” there.)

Part of that…world—…” (This part is sung quietly too, because it’s like after singing “be” in a way that indicates she knows she can’t have what she wants, she goes back to singing “world”  like it is a dream only in her head, and she’s thinking about it to herself, and that’s where it has to stay. But it’s still special to her, which is why she pauses to let the audience FEEL it before she sings “world.” The word “world” is not sung triumphantly until she’s on the rock in the reprise and Eric has made the dream close and possible, to her.)

BUT IN THIS NEW TRAILER.

Halle Bailey emotes a little like she’s thinking of the world she wants to be part of fondly. Her best facial expression is on “be,” like it should be.

But I don’t like the way she draws out the word “be” with all the riffing, (if that’s the right word for it,) because it doesn’t sound like she doesn’t know how she’ll ever get there! It sounds like she’s enjoying the thought of it, sure, but they sacrificed the longing that came with Jodi Benson humanly speaking those words for the Star power of flashy vocalizations! And it sounds beautiful, sure, but it doesn’t make me feel what Ariel is feeling.

And she rushes through “part of your woooooorld,” and takes out that perfect PAUSE that is supposed to be there! The pause in a pattern makes you long for the pattern to be resolved (like Andy from the Office) and that longing helps you relate to Ariel’s longing!

And I know I should be able to detach from how I’ve heard the song sung before if I’m going to give the new thing a fair shot, but that’s just not how this works. Everyone’s heard Part of Your World. Everyone has an expectation of how the words will be inflected. You can change that up! As long as what you change doesn’t change the heart of the song. 

I know it’s small and oh wow, am I making a big deal out of the tiniest things from the tiniest trailer, but UGH. Not THIS MOVIE. Not this one! The little things are BIG THINGS in a movie. Because the little things weren’t THERE until someone DECIDED they should be, and when they DECIDED the little things, they did it for a GOOD REASON. Don’t MESS with that GOOD REASON!

I find it interesting that the lyric following “Kinda wishin that I never did Saturday” is “Is that a stain? You should change”

Since it’s a direct acknowledgment of the black paint on Tyler.

For the uninitiated the black paint represents Blurryface, or more specifically, Tyler’s insecurities, especially his insecurities in regards to what he creates. He uses his hands and throat to make music which is why the paint is there specifically.

The two lines give this implication that the backlash from Saturday, for Tyler, caused this insecurity to creep up again.

I just wanted to ramble a bit about that. I could go on and on about Backslide with various interpretations honestly.

would you like to tell us your feelings about the ultimate bugs love song which is ‘in spite of all the danger’?

Oh Nonny. You're just here to indulge me, aren't you? Bless you. Thank you.

Where to start? Perhaps with baby boy Paul writing this like seven months after meeting John and after his dad trying to keep them apart and saying their dreams of running away together and conquering the world would end up with Paul ruined. Anyway, I can't imagine what would have inspired this song....

Got to say, I find it almost unspeakably cute that Paul ripped off an Elvis song to impress his crush (who had already probably told him that he thought Paul looked like Elvis). God. Can you imagine how smug he would have been when he played this for John? Can imagine the swagger? The levels of showing off? Could it have been reached before or since? I doubt it.

But, he took the melody from The King and one of the lyrics. But, crucially here, pals, not the sentiment. That's all Paul's. Let's look at that next.

I love that why there's danger is never made entirely clear. Like, sure, sneaking around was normal then but it's so overly dramatic:

In spite of all the danger In spite of all that may be I'll do anything for you, anything you want me to

Also, Paul being all butch is a little unusual? It's not jealousy here, it's more of whatever this 'danger' might be, that means he needs to protect his love:

I'll look after you like I've never done before I'll keep all the others from knocking at your door

It's all so romantic. Full on first flush of a crush where you can't imagine being apart, where you just want them around all the time. And anyone trying to keep you apart is not only wrong, they are cast as a full on villain:

In spite of all that may be I'll do anything for you, anything you want me to

But back to the 'danger' I suppose there is two options for the danger. It could whoever he needs to protect his love from. But it could be from his lover:

In spite of all the heartache that you may cause me

Although, it's not clear, really, if the lover is doing that on purpose or if it's more because this danger is going to get them in trouble. Anyway, I love that it could be either or both!

But, of course, this being Paul, all this devotion is not unconditional. There's just the one condition. It's the same one it always is with him (and John):

I'll do anything for you, anything you want me to If you'll be true to me

It's also interesting to me that there are two songs that John wanted to sing of Paul's (that we know of). This and oh! darling. Which... hmmm. Is there anything that they have in common? Any reason John would have felt particular ownership over them? I wonder...

if this is the last song mcr releases, and it features gerard writing about themes of legacy, catholic guilt, trauma from fame, and fate. 

then, fuck. 

this song hits all the thesis points of the band. 

Me, on a new date: Hey, have you ever thought about the fact that there are plenty of planets where "the Doctor" doesn't refer to the Time Lord carrying around the sonic screwdriver, but rather to the young women who swing through their lives and ask their names and demand answers and sacrifice themselves, to the young men who start off unsure and second-fiddle but bring a kindness, a loyalty, with them and end up finding their own voices and their own purpose? Do you ever think about the role that myth plays in Doctor Who, how so many companion exits and finales take on the role of storytelling, about how companions become gods and immortals and walk the entire dystopian earth and wait two thousand years and be the cause of every Cyberman's single tear and wrench the Doctor back into the universe and carry the story off of screen with them, that they birth myths in their wake, that Doctor Who finales so often leave science-fiction behind them and become mythology itself, when these humans insert themselves into the mythology of the Doctor only to usurp him, that they make themselves the Bad Wolf and Orpheus and the Woman Who Walked the Earth and the Doctor Donna and the Last Centurion and the Girl Who Saw the Stars and most of all, they become the Doctor themself, that the Doctor's story goes nowhere if Rose doesn't save him on Satellite Five or Amy doesn't pull him back into existence or Martha doesn't walk the entire hell-earth to restore him or Clara doesn't make him forget her or Jack doesn't sacrifice himself to stop the Daleks or Bill doesn't carry him away from the Cybermen or Donna doesn't stop him from drowning himself with the Racnoss or Yaz doesn't pilot the TARDIS or River Song sacrifices herself at the library or Sarah Jane and Mickey don't help restore the earth back to its place in the sky and that the Doctor is only a myth with so many stories to their name because their companions make it so-

My date, sliding the breadsticks out of their purse back onto the table, hopelessly intrigued: Go on...

Kind of funny. SPN was supposed to end in s5, with Sam in Hell, Cas in Heaven, and Dean on Earth, living with a wife and a son. But it ends after ten more season later with Cas in superhell, Dean in Heaven, and Sam on Earth, living with a wife and a son. Like some fucked up game of musical chairs. Except the chairs are never taken, the song remains the same, and they’re just going in circles. Anyways, Happy November 19th.

"he was never unfaithful to robert, was he?" - jaime, acok

ha. ha ha ha. the irony of this line is incredible. what's so striking to me is how one dimensional the realm's understanding of eddard stark as an honourable man is - honour itself is an incredibly complicated and unattainable ideal in asoiaf and i think ned as the stereotypical emblem of it encompasses many of the reasons why. because whilst he absolutely does consider acting in a conventionally honourable way important, he always prioritises those he loves. he defended cat's actions as his own without a second thought when she arrested tyrion. his main priority in king's landing is to see his daughters safe, not to secure the succession. lyanna is the prime example: jon's existence is not the result of the lapse of honourable ned stark, it was honourable ned stark choosing his love for his sister over his duty to his king. that and his personal ethical belief that the political murder of a child is never morally acceptable.

no one in the realm has the insight into his personality we get in the first book. none of his children, vitally, understand that he would always prioritise their safety over any honourable scruples. all of the starklings question what their honourable father would think of their actions - killing in self-defence, marrying jeyne westerling, sleeping with ygritte to name a few examples - without recognising that ned's true first priority was always his family's safety.

in fact, he betrayed robert far more than he ever betrayed cat and he would have betrayed honour for his family's safety every time.

"Do the Evolution" - Pearl Jam

If there is one line I like to over-analyze in the ASoIAF books it is a rather famous thought that goes inside Cat's head before her death. As the steel is close to her throat Cat thinks "No, don’t, don’t cut my hair, Ned loves my hair." And this line and her entire inner monologue is absolutely heart-breaking but one thing I fixate on is the actual sentence itself.

"Ned loves my hair."

Anyone who has read the books knows that Cat holds contempt for the fact that except for Arya, she has failed to give Ned children who look like him. It is also one of the reasons she dislikes Jon so much, because the mother of Jon (who she assumes to be Ned's bastard son) has managed to give Ned a child that looks just like him while she, his lawfully wedded wife gave birth to five of his children only for four of them to come out looking exactly like her. Red hair, blue eyes. Unlike Jon (and Arya) who share Ned's dark hair and dark eyes.

And knowing that it is so interesting to me that Cat's last thought about Ned (and her last thought ever) was that Ned loves her hair.

Because Ned loved her, he loved her hair, he loved her the way she was. And every time he looked at Robb, Sansa, Bran and Rickon he saw the reflection of the woman he loved, while Cat was so upset that they weren't all reflections of the man she loved.

Every time Ned ran his fingers through their hair, he ran his fingers through the hair of the woman he loved. He never resented Cat for the fact that four of his children didn't look like him, he loved that they looked like their mother, again, the woman he loved so much. He loved that they had the same hair he loved on Cat, and judging by it being her last thought Cat also knew that Ned loved her hair (and the way she looked), whether she ever came to the realization that Ned was perfectly happy with the way their children looked at all, or if she realized after he was dead and it was too late, it is unclear. But all those years she beat herself up over nothing.

Ned loved her the way she was, Ned loved his children the way they were, when they looked like him and when they didn't. Because when they didn't look like him, they looked like the love of his life, his darling wife.

And if the books decide to go with R+L=J it also adds another layer to Cat and Ned's relationship. Because Jon's mother was always a woman she didn't know but was still competing with in her mind for Ned's love for all these years. Turns out she didn't even exist. Turns out she didn't need to feel inferior to the woman Ned loved enough to not even talk about with her, no need to feel bad about the fact that she was able to give Ned a child that looked like him while Cat "failed".

At the end of the day, all the voices in her head making her feel insecure in her marriage never needed to be there, because everything she thought of as a problem with her were not problems at all for Ned. He was perfectly happy with her and their children.

WAIT WAIT WAIT. THE FUCKING "THIS IS THE BRIDGE WHERE WE GLOBALISE EVERYTHING" LINE FROM TGWDLM. PAUL'S WITNESS PROTECTION NAME IS BEN BRIDGES. ITS BEEN FIVE YEARS HOW DID I ONLY JUST NOTICE THAT

Ok, not only did Moon Dong Eun avenge the villains of this story. She found love afterwards and was able to pursue architecture like she always wanted to. She now dresses freely with her tattoo, proudly showing her scars. She's no longer confined to her trauma. Dong Eun got her revenge AND her happy ending!

Even though she was so convinced that she's a terrible person for wanting revenge, she actually managed to touch the lives of the people around her through simple acts of kindness (empathizing with them for being victims) and those same people came back to support her as well.

It's usually "revenge is bad" this "you got revenge but at what cost" that, but no, she got her revenge AND her and other people's happy ending. Even though it's a dark story about how victims suffer, there's always the underlying message of hope, where they also understand and help eachother. Even if they had to bend the rules to get it, The. Victims. Won. Oh. My. Goodness.

In the end, it wasn't exactly just "revenge," it was also about bringing justice to the victims.

Hello, love! I have been listening to a lot of solo!Paul and I have had let me roll it on loop for a few days now, i see people everywhere saying it's for john and i think i see it? but is it, really? if so what could he be really trying to say? (if you have answered this question before feel free to ignore) <3

Ah yes. I think most of the reason that people think it's about John is because it sounds like John. The echo on Paul's voice means he literally sounds like John.

According to Paul this is merely a coincidence:

Let Me Roll It was not really a Lennon pastiche, although my use of tape echo did sound more like John than me.

It's interesting though, because Paul seemed to think the issue is that people were saying he's copying John. Which perhaps they were at the time. So it makes sense he's going to push back on it. And, he does have a point when he says:

And you have to remember that, despite the myth, there was a lot of commonality between us in the way that we thought and the way that we worked.

But, it's just as likely that Paul's doing it as a message for John. Which is more likely how fandom on tumblr would probably see it. Paul says that it could have been a Beatles song, so perhaps he wrote it thinking he could show John what he's missing or have to act as a honey trap. As Paul says:

Me and John would have sung that good.

Timing-wise, they are careening towards lost weekend meet-up when he writes it. Also, Paul's been having a rough time in terms of critical reception of his solo albums, but is about to come out swinging with this. So he might really be missing John as a creative partner, or just long enough is passed that he’s over it.

But, anyway, what does it all mean? Especially if we can assume that it is about John as well as potentially being for John.

This lyrics always makes me laugh out loud:

You gave me loving in the palm of my hand

A reference to Beat the Meatles? We know John was kind of obsessed with guys jacking off together, so could be something they joked about a lot. Or it's Paul acknowledging that John was trying to reach out at various times in their relationship and he's now sad he didn’t do more about it.

Anyway, overall, the vibe of the song is about wanting to make a definitive move on someone that you've been struggling to admit your feelings too for awhile.

Paul's also said it's a double meaning - joints and sex. Which, to be fair, is essentially just Paul's brand so that makes sense.

I think the most telling thing Paul says about the song is this, and it makes total sense:

"Let Me Roll It' is a love song at its heart. The other, erotic, sense of rolling that is part and parcel of rock and roll is very much part of it. The image of “My heart is like a wheel' so 'Let me roll it to you' is one that anyone can connect with. Anyone can understand how exposed you feel when you offer your heart to, or reveal your affections for, another person. It's very difficult.

The hesitation we feel in that situation - of wanting to reach out but being reluctant to be completely open - is made physical in the abrupt starting and stopping of the riff. The constant cutting short of the momentum of the song mimes the subject matter... "Let Me Roll It' is a sort of long, drawn-out stammer.

This is super interesting to me. He also says that the most important part of the song is the riff. He's so into it, that he's built the theme of the song around it. I think that shows the most important part of the song is him acknowledging that the relationship has been stop-start, that they've been - dare I say it - 'playing hard to get'. So yeah, this very much fits in with where John and Paul were - well at any time in their relationship but - certainly in the run up to the lost weekend and them connecting again. I refuse to believe John was in contact with Paul before he left Yoko - just setting up his escape plan.

It’s a good one and I think chances are good that it’s some form of message to John.

The way this song pulls so many themes and elements from across the entire band canon to make this exclamation point on their legacy… they way it’s the raw & heartfelt postscript after The Kids From Yesterday and Fake Your Death.

fuck.

My Chemical Romance.

at the end of the day i think the reason we’re all so obsessed w jon snow in the books is the inherent comedy of the Chosen One being sent to magical boarding school and just hating every minute of it. he’s not realizing his full magical girl potential he’s just exhausted. mans is TIRED. there’s a literal giant camping out in his front yard and he’s stressing over salt beef. there is an uber hot magical witch actively trying to seduce him and he’s just like ‘omg ygritte had red hair... im going to kms’. he is actively becoming a wolf. like straight up animorphing into his pet dog. and he doesn’t give a shit he’s like ‘hm that’s weird’ and then he gets distracted smelling satins’ hair again. easily the most character of all time. god.

now. i know what you're thinking. i know. "kallie oh my god let this quote die". but no. because i've had yet another thought.

"achilles, lamenting the death of patroclus. whenever he’s mentioned in the iliad, patroclus seems to be defined by his empathy."

"he became achilles on the field of war. he died for him there, wearing his armor."

i think by now we've all already seen the posts or recognized that hannibal and will have swapped clothes for the battle between them and dolarhyde. if not, here's a nifty little visual (2x13 mizumono, 3x10 ...and the woman clothed in the sun)

and if you're like me, you'd think "oh that's really sweet. he's wearing hannibal's shirt. it shows their lines beginning to blur". but you know what else it shows?

"[...] he died for him there, wearing his armor."

will went into war (the fight against dolarhyde) wearing hannibal's armor, and he (presumably) died there. he died in hannibal's armor, as patroclus died in achilles'.

and even THEN.

"he did. hiding and revealing identity is a constant theme throughout the greek epics."

"as are battle-tested friendships."

where will embraces his becoming, and steps into himself - where he casts off the persona of the man he'd been displaying and reveals who he really is underneath, which is a very constant theme throughout hannibal and will's relationship ― the battle to see each other, to understand.

"achilles wished all greeks would die, so that he and patroclus could conquer troy alone. took divine intervention to bring them down."

if you know me then you know, of course, i love love love the religious symbolism that hannibal is drenched in. and i think it's a very lovely parallel to the fact that hannibal, who sees himself as above but so intertwined with religion, and views will as his god, went to his death with the very man he worshipped.

you know. divine intervention.