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morallyinept · 9 months

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Writing For Ezra - An Overall Analysis Of Our Favourite Scoundrel’s Articulation.

I often see writers mention in their blog/fics that they’re worried or concerned about writing for Ezra because of his loquacious nature. As a fanfic writer it can be daunting to translate an already loved character into your works, without trying to alter their main personality trait. In this case, it’s Ezra’s way of talking that is his standout mannerism and the reason why so many have a soft spot for him.

So, I got to thinking and put together this, somewhat, deep dive into him and his talkative ways. I hope it proves useful for anyone tackling him for the first time (myself included), or even for the experienced Ezra writers already here, who are already killin' it. 🖤

If this is beneficial to you in any way, please kindly re-blog, and also tag me in any Ezra works you write because of it. I’d love to read your work and feature it on my Ezra fic recs list for others to enjoy too.

⚠️This will contain spoilers for Prospect, so if you haven’t watched it yet, then you might want to save this for later.

Ezra’s accent is Southern.

Ezra’s accent has been likened to a Texan accent with a side of ham. Ham meaning someone who enjoys performing or behaving in an exaggerated style. Not the pig meat. 🐷 And his accent and voice certainly does have that hamminess about it. Back in the day, approximately around 1882, the term ‘ham-fatter’ was used referring to a poor person who overacted. It was then shortened to just ham.

It was Pedro Pascal himself who gave this specific accent to Ezra. Although it is not confirmed in the film where exactly Ezra hails from, he is confirmed human. In the Prospect-verse there is no mention of Earth as we know it, but that’s not to say it doesn't exist or isn’t referred to by another name. The closest being Camrea or Lau in terms of similarities of planets with land and water. So there is a good chance that his accent stems as a direct result of his heritage from either Earth itself, or a planet just like it in The Fringe.

In the deleted scene with Ezra and Cee, Ezra reveals he has a brother. This is the only personal information we get from Ezra - and it was deleted.

Ezra says in the scene where he encounters Damon for the first time, "me and my partner feel we both deserve... satisfaction."

If you didn’t know already, the term ‘deserve satisfaction’ stems from the 17th century where duels were mostly single combats fought with swords. But then in the 18th century, the swords were commonly replaced with pistols. You’ve heard of the term ‘pistols at dawn’ right? Well to demand satisfaction means to restore one’s honour by demonstrating a will to risk one’s own life for it. Again, this originates from the Southern states of America, during such times where duels were prevalent.

Damon and Number Two actually have a duel-type shootout, which is how Damon dies (aside from Ezra putting him out of his misery).

So yes, Ezra is, in fact, a Texan space cowboy of sorts. 🤠

Edit: Whilst I can only find one source that states Ezra has a "Texan" accent (and it's a film review article, so not based in fact), many argue that he sounds Louisianan more than Texan. Either way, he's definitely Southern, so you can make your own mind up on where he hails from originally, as it's never actually confirmed. 👇🏻

Source of Article

Yes, Ezra is a rambler, but pay attention to the frequency of his actual rambling.

It would be easy to overdo it on the flowery language when writing for Ezra.

The fact that Ezra throws in some words that are not commonly used in everyday conversation, doesn't mean that he does it ALL the time. Try not to fall into the habit of writing paragraphs of archaic and wordy language, when sometimes a simple sentence is sufficient for him to get his point across.

Here are some examples where he speaks with simplicity in the film:

“How poetic.”

“The starter, if you don't mind.”

“Funny, I don’t see any mercs. Where are they?”

“This is so exciting.”

“You friendly with these fellas?”

“You got a field kit?”

“It seems I must.”

“Keep it creamy and it’ll be fine.”

See? Short and snappy sentences.

What’s in a name?

Names are important to Ezra; he uses names as a gentle threat. When he comes across Damon for the first time, he uses his name almost constantly:

“Nice to meet you, Damon. I'm Ezra.”

“Where’re you from, Damon?”

“Alright, Damon.”

“Damon, it has truly been a pleasure, but pleasantries pass, it’s time to get candid…”

“So how did you get here, Damon?”

“The starter, if you don't mind. Where is it? Don't make me root for it, Damon.”

“But Damon, if there is talk of the Queen’s lair, the excitement is momentary.”

“Damon, I have clearly underestimated you, I must stop doing that.”

“Damon… does this mean that the plan is off? You have me all hot and bothered up over the Queen’s lair, Damon.”

“It's a shame, Damon.”

Ezra uses Damon’s name 11 times in just the first few minutes of meeting him and his untimely death. A name is important for Ezra to gain the upper hand and to subtly manipulate and appear menacing, more so than he probably is. It’s also done to grab the attention of Damon constantly; to ensure that Damon’s focus is directly on him by mentioning his name continuously.

Later, when Cee won’t give Ezra her name despite him asking for it repeatedly, you can see the frustration this causes within him. Because he has no way of gaining influence over her without it.

He refers to her instead as “little bird, birdie, girl & oi, number 3.”

When he does eventually learn her real name, he uses it only once.

“Nice to meet you, Cee.”

He doesn’t use it again for the duration of the film as their relationship has evolved into an unspoken, mutual trust. Something he did not have with Damon and therefore used his name repeatedly as a way of asserting dominance over him.

☝🏻So, if you’re writing Ezra, don’t forget to use names in abundance, like he does. Especially if he doesn’t trust or like them.

Double Entendres.

Pay close attention to the possible hidden meanings inside Ezra’s words too. This might not be deliberate, but his face when he speaks and says certain things hints at a devilish playfulness about him.

A particular scene that stood out to me is when Ezra and Cee are at the Queen’s lair.

Ezra says, “somebody ought to give her a go… That's the price for a dry breach. My chem will calm the brine.”

Now, if you’ve a dirty mind like me, (😜 ha!) A dry breach could be interpreted as ‘a dry pussy’ and his chem is ‘his semen’ that will calm it, or moisten it up as it were. 😏 I like that he can speak with a double meaning, if you're looking for it, but of course this is subjective.

So, dirty talk from Ezra doesn’t always have to be directly on the nose.

Some more subtle examples are:

“Hello, sweetheart.”

“Hold it like you love it.”

“Slippery son of a bitch.”

His tone also changes when he wants to emphasise a point. When the Saters give him and Cee the juice in their tent, Ezra can sense Cee’s reluctance to drink it.

He knows it tastes bad, yet urges Cee to drink it, without insulting his hosts who he knows could be dangerous. His face changes; his features become sharper and serious as he says "it's good for you, cleanses the dust."

Only moments before he was smiling and jovial. 👇🏻

Cussing.

Ezra never swears, in the conventional sense, for just the sake of it. I get the impression he would find that kind of language lazy. Cussing/swears are saved purely to express his frustration or fear in the situation.

“Oh shit. Oh shit. Oh shit. Oh Shit. Oh Shit. Oh Shit.” - (Yes, 6 times he says it!) When he loses his arm. - Fear

“Slippery son of a bitch… No, no, no. Ah shit.” - When he's mining the Aurelac husks. - Frustration

When mining for the Aurelac where he can’t separate the gem from the blister due to his physical impairment of only having one arm, Ezra mumbles a long string of unintelligible words in frustration.

Despite listening to the audio over and over, I can’t fully decipher it, but some words I pulled out were: “cob spitters(?)... can fuck more nuggets(?)... in this sleep for snatch(?)…”

Who knows exactly what he is saying here, (if you know, lemme know) but he rambles quickly and incoherently when he swears; especially when frustrated.

He likes to fill the silence.

When walking with Damon, he keeps conversation flowing by questioning Damon about the corporate expeditions, and with Cee, he tells her about the channel rats. He seemingly can’t abide silence.

And this is prevalent when he first meets Damon, he says “I can't tell you how refreshing it is… hoo… to encounter another talker.”

It’s safe to say Ezra likes to talk. If you’ve not already grasped that yet. So make that ramblin' man chatter away.

Ezra's redemption shifts his language too.

Ezra fully admits he is not a good man to Cee. He does this first by blaming the way of life that they are thrust in.

“Why should I trust you? You stole from us. We did nothing to you.”

“That's The Fringe, girl.”

Later he confirms coldly he is indeed a killer when Cee tells him so.

“You’re a killer.

“I am. But are you?”

As time goes on, Ezra realises he is at fault for the death of Cee’s father.

“Well you can't... you can't think like that. If you go down that path. It's not good. If you need someone to blame, you blame me.”

You can see the shift in his language from being blunt and to the point in the beginning, to more accepting and gentler later on. Full character transition.

He also refers to Cee as his partner, rather than his daughter, when he is impersonating Damon to the mercs later on. His choice of words here is interesting.

This indicates he thinks more highly of her than he lets on; that she is equal to him. He soon thinks less of the Aurelac - the sole reason why he is on the moon - and more so of getting off the moon intact with Cee beside him. A complete metamorphosis from when we first meet him, and he's stealing Aurelac from Damon.

“You are not understanding me.”

“I say the terms have changed.”

“You’ll find a way if you want that buried treasure.”

“A ride for me and my partner on your handsome craft, or no deal.”

Actions speak louder than words.

Ezra’s movement is interesting, as too is the violence he engages in - it’s slick.

He slices the Achilles Heel first of the merc at the Queen's lair, thus rendering him unable to fight back or run for assistance from the others before ploughing him face first into the acidic hole.

Despite only having one arm, Ezra’s strength is still pretty impressive. He’s quick, experienced and brutal. And not opposed to fighting dirty to ensure his survival.

Ezra also has excellent aim with the thrower; he kills another merc with only one shot, and in the dark too. That’s pretty kick-ass when you think about it.

Describing not only his language, but also the way Ezra moves in your writing, will really make him leap off the page when you write him. Be that in an action sequence, or completely fucking you up between the sheets. 🫠

A man of few words in the end.

Ezra’s last words are for Cee:

“You grab the gun and you go. You can make it. Get outta here.”

He’s fully aware of his impending fate at this point and has accepted it. He doesn’t say anything else, not even when she comes back for him, suggesting their bond now doesn’t need a spoken word to cement it. It’s transcended verbal communication.

Even when in the safe confines of the pod ascending up to the sling back, Ezra doesn’t say anything, even though you can see he is awake.

☝🏻In the end, words are not always needed. Sometimes it's the things he doesn't say that has the most impact.

So there we have it, Prospectors. I hope this was helpful and insightful to you about writing for Ezra and how he talks.

He is my favourite Pedro Boy, and despite feeling that I know him pretty well as a character, the thought of writing him still brings me out in a cold sweat to some degree… 😬 So I can understand if you feel daunted by it too.

There are so many wonderful works already out there that are written fantastically and really captures the essence and the personality of Ezra. And if you’re thinking about writing for Ezra for the first time, please don’t be put off by it - he’s such a great character who can be thrust into so many different scenarios, and of course, you can also mould him to be your own creation.

That’s the great thing with fanfic and head canon - there are no rules. We all interpret characters differently. And that’s what makes reading about them so fun.

If you haven’t seen Prospect yet, I highly recommend it. Check out the Ezra deleted scene here too.

Also check out my Ezra specific fic rec list for further enjoyment of this dashing rogue from other writer’s points of view.

Ezra Thesaurus:

Loquacious. Flowery. Tincture. Drawl. Husk. Gravel. Gabble. Wordy. Babbling. Long-winded. Effusive. Droning. Garrulous. Gibberish. Multiloquous. Yakking. Muttering. Mumbling. Voluble. Cadence. Trib. Rambling. Glib. Clucking. Gregarious. Windy. Verbose. Prolix. Articulate. Fluent. Mouthy. Vocal. Opinionated. Drole. Gassy. Eloquent. Stylised. Chatterer. Logorrhoea. Word Vomit. Incessant. Spit-balling. Bleating. Clacking. Blabbermouth. Windbag. Motormouth. Harping On. Overzealous. Enthused. Mirthed. Crude. All Around The Houses. Effulgent. Airy-Fairy. Prattling. Harpsichord. Waxing Lyrical. Recounting. Din. Tone. Note. Music.

🖤

GIFS used by @uuuhshiny @perotovar @nicolethered @iamasaddie @pedgito 🖤

#ezra prospect #prospect ezra #pedro pascal characters #pedro pascal #ezra is my fav #writing ezra #hints & tips #ezra (prospect)#ezra x reader #ezra prospect x reader #writing advice #writing tips #helpful advice for writing #character writing #writing

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changingplumbob · 1 month

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Romero Household: Chapter 1, Part 4

Dia de los Muertos wraps up and we visit our friendly neighbourhood infants!

CW: Discussions of death

Marta’s first language is Spanish so she is teaching Keira (and me) some common Spanish phrases/words Abuelo/Abuela: Grandfather/Grandmother Ay dios mio: omg equivalent Buenas noches: Good evening / Good night Carino: Term of endearment for a loved one Cuídate!: Take care De nada!: You’re welcome/no problem Lo siento: Sorry Padre: Father Por favor: Please Si: Yes Te amo: I love you

With the departure of the Fosters leaving the couple alone, Marta has broken out the face paint to adorn her and Keira. It’s another way of honouring their ancestors.

Marta: Hold still por favor

Keira: I am holding still

Marta: Shhhh, moving your lips counts

Keira: Why didn't we do this before dinner

Marta: I haven't done it for ages so I'm not sure I'm good anymore. I didn't want the dinner thrown apart by focus on my lack of painting skill. Just one more line… there! All done, I’ll take a picture to show you

Keira: Wow this looks great! You’re really going all out this year

Marta: *sighs* I felt bad for all those years Liam didn’t let me make one

Keira: I should have done more than kick his ass

Marta: Carino violence solves nothing. He's in prison for now, let's not think of him

Keira: I’m sorry we didn’t make one at Alexander’s house, I didn’t realise what it meant

Marta: De nada. I didn’t say to you, how could you know

Keira: I suppose. But don’t let us miss it again

Marta: Si. I promise

Keira: Do you… do you think they would have liked me

Marta: I know they’re happy I’m happy but si. Padre would be happy you're active, he was to. And mama would love to talk to you about the ocean life

Keira: You think

Marta: Si. Being so close to the ocean was what she loved about Cuba. She missed it when we moved to Texas

Keira: Well I’m glad you left for Windenburg. Even though it was because…

Marta: Everyone was gone? I didn’t have to leave after padre and mama died. I had the community still but I felt alone. I don’t feel alone anymore

Keira: I’m so glad I worked up the nerve to propose

Marta: *giggles* It’s good you did or I would have had to do something extremely romantic

Keira: I mean… you could still do something extremely romantic if you wanted?

Marta: Maybe I’m saving it for the honeymoon

Keira: Can I get a preview

The two embrace on the sofa, feeling warm and fulfilled.

Abuelo Manuel: Did you see Rafael? She cooked the chimi to perfection. Remembered what we taught her

Padre Rafael: Si padre, she did a good job

Abuela Maria: Will you two shush, I’m trying to listen

Manuel: Corazon I think their conversation is finished

Mama Aymee: *sniffles* She looks so happy and grown up

Rafael: Ay dios mio, you’ll make me cry mi vida

Aymee: Lo siento. I just… we didn’t see our daughter for so long

Maria: You heard what that fiancé said, she’ll make sure Marta does the ofrenda now. She’s a keeper

Manuel: Do you think there will be a new generation next time we visit

Aymee: That would be nice *sniffles* even if would make me cry

Keira: The place definitely feels full when everyone is here, I thought we got a big unit

Marta: We did, people just fill it well

Keira: Am I meant to feel like I’m being watched

Marta: You’re meant to feel loved. I always want you to feel loved

Keira: I feel loved whenever I look in your eyes. Shall we go to bed

Marta: Si, I’ll just say buenas noches to everyone

Keira: We can leave the ofrenda up longer than tomorrow morning if you like

Marta: No. They’ll all be back in the forever save by then

Maria: Are you snooping

Manuel: No! I can’t snoop on what is out in the open, can I?

Rafael: I’m happy she’s still got these photos

Aymee: Liam didn’t take everything from her

Rafael: If I was still alive-

Manuel: There’s no point thinking about what we can’t do

Maria: She’ll be bueno

Rafael: Mi vida, it’s time to go

Aymee: Can’t I just watch her for another five minutes

Manuel: Dawn is coming, we must get back

Aymee: Buenas noches Marta, I leave all my love with you, te amo

In the morning Marta returns the living/dining room to its normal layout while Keira is on laundry duty. Taking their clothes to the shared laundry she wonders why so many people have left their washing in the machines. Being a helpful sim, she moves stuff to the dryers. Fingers crossed none of the clothes shrink!

Marta has harvested what she can from the garden and is singing to herself when Keira walks past in her work clothes.

Marta: Ay dios mio, is it 8am already?

Keira: Si. Te amo sweetheart

Marta: Te amo! Cuídate! Where did I leave my work gear?

Luckily she’s only a few minutes late to the local coffee shop, the perks of a quick commute. After an uneventful shift, where she mostly daydreamed about the upcoming wedding, she gets back home and hangs the washed clothes on the line. When Keira arrives back they go see the Staples.

Here Oli and Vernon are on the move! Marta scoops up Oli while Keira chats.

Marta: Do you want to hold him carino

Keira: Uhh, what if I break him

Margarita: You won’t, he’s sturdy

Marta passes over Oli, giving his tummy a cheerful tickle on the way.

Marta: You hold him for a bit, I’m going to play with Vernon

Keira: Okay but-

Marta: Who’s adorable Vernon? Is it you?

Keira: Sorry if we’re pushing in

Stefan: Don’t be silly. With two infants any helping hands are good

Keira: I think this is part of her plan to convince me to have kids sooner

Margarita: *laughs* I have to say she’s doing pretty well with Vernon, I love it when they laugh

Keira: Uh, anyway, we were wondering, since you’re a baker on the side Stefan, would you consider making our wedding cake?

Stefan: Sure thing! I have a free day tomorrow. Any special requests?

Keira: I think she said she’d like a pink one

Margarita: We had a pink wedding cake!

Stefan: Here, I’ll take him off your hands

Keira: Gracias

To her surprise Keira feels sad giving the infant back, especially as he smiles and giggles at her. Marta’s plan might be working.

Keira: Marta, sweetheart, time for dinner

Marta: Si, coming. Gracias for having us

Margarita: It was lovely to see people who can talk back

The whole group laugh as Stefan puts Oli on the playmat. Let me tell you, he is not happy our sims are leaving. After bursting into tears he glares angrily at his parents while we leave.

Previous ... Next

#sims 4 #the sims #the sims 4 #simblr #my sims #ChangingPlumbobStorytime #R0903 #MartaRomero #KeiraFoster

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moonshynecybin · 2 months

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i always find it fascinating how the whole rosquez relationship is (now more than ever) entirely on vale's terms. like if they are good, it's solely because vale decides it's so; like if he was happy enough with how racing was going/ or is happy enough with marc to be nice to him, he is nice and they're okay or whatever. if they're bad, it's solely because vale is pissed off about something that marc has (or hasn't) done and marc has to wait until he's earned the honour of vale's attention again. and it makes me feel sad for marc that it seems sometimes as though he just kind of sits and waits and will take whatever scraps of attention he's given from vale, like girl get up and know your worth, you are marc freaking marquez.

my actual favorite rosquez moments are when marc remembers this and decides to go absolutely apeshit. starts killing people. like in a way that’s what so fun about the race at sepang in 2015— he’s being so deliberate in how he baits vale there, it’s a CONCENTRATED effort to tell him he’s wrong and he fucking hurt marc’s feelings. he’s burning his exes entire house down and it RULES like it’s high drama 2 me. god forbid women do anything. and THEN at my beautiful wife misano 2019 <3 when vale and him tangoed during quali (absurd dick move from vale lol) and then marc was fifth on the grid, and he STILL came back and WON the race through pure fuck you energy after battling fabio… SEXY. he can and does stand up for himself !

like i do think he’s resigned himself to always caring about vale. it’s part of him, part of his racing career, and big wound in his life. and he knows himself pretty well… so i don’t think he’s naive about it anymore— vale will always be his hero and his idol and someone he was friends with, and whatever actions from vale’s end have given him enough hope that things will change that he can’t let entirely go. like it’s a smart PR move to emphasize the beef being one-sided but there a million different ways he could handle vale questions and being so public with wanting to reconcile is uh. certainly a statement.

AND i think that if vale wanted to reconcile it WOULD take a little actual work. some wonderful groveling. vale in his old man creaky knees. like as much as marc wishes he could just ignore/fix it and go back to when he was 22 and in love (and with an arm that works), life doesn’t work that way... it’s gonna take some actual effort. they’re gonna have to work through some stuff… and i do think marc understands that now !

#truly if he didn’t have a back bone he would not be a world champion and vale and him would still be friends #motogp #callie speaks #asks #rosquez

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wellthebardsdead · 18 days

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Clow Good end 1 pt2 (Infernal Stalemate/Paved with Good intentions)

Part 1 here

———

*6 months later*

Clow: *arrived to withers party in a burst of hellfire, tail swishing slowly and icy horns glinting in firelight as he walks between circles of his friends reminiscing and enjoying company he’d been without for a while* godfather- I- all I did was get rid of your engine and give you your heart back and you’re giving me that honour?! I-

Karlach: *now several months pregnant after Clow used his new found powers for the first time to help her* only?! You’ve really no clue how much everything you’ve done means to us do you you dingbat! Yes we want you to be our tater tot’s god father! We’ve already decided their middle name will be Do’Urden!

Wyll: and our next ones middle name will be Clopin!

Clow: *visibly tears up and sets his drink down* c-can I have a hug please?

Wyll & Karlach: *both smile seeing how far he’s come since they first met*

Karlach: oh sweetums you didn’t need to ask- *pulls him into a hug with Wyll, before immediately pulling away and grabbing the collar of his shirt, pulling it down as she sees a bruise* has he been hurting you?!

Wyll: gods- *looks to the other side of his neck* did he choke you?! What is-

Clow: *visibly blushing knowing what they’re actually looking at* no he didn’t choke me- th-those are- *coughs* l-love bites. He and Haarlep got carried away again.

Karlach: Again- I, so he’s not hurting you then?

Wyll: you can tell us if he is Clow we-

Clow: he’s not hurting me, I promise, not without… my consent at least. *looks down with a shy playful grin* they take good care of me… I promise. *smiles and hugs them both again before walking off to continue mingling* I’ll see you both later.

???: Clow?…

Clow: … *turns around to see Gale standing behind him* …

Gale: I know I’ve no right to tal-

Clow: *pulls him into a gentle hug and smiles as he lets go and steps back* you don’t have to be sorry… my plan still worked out in the end… we get the hammer, Mystra gets the crown. My soul gets sacrificed. I expected to be enslaved for eternity or violently tortured and compressed into a soul coin but… Raphael had other plans.

Gale: I… sacrificed?… you were going to give me the crown?…

Clow: Mhm. I knew I couldn’t give it to Raphael in the end and he certainly lets me know how upset he is about it. And you needed the orb gone. So, give up my life to fix yours and save millions more. I never really had a life or concept of freedom to begin with and… it’s been good. Raphael treats me very good. It’s been an adjustment being a devil at his side and all and no longer needing food or having a great concept or grasp of passing time. But… I’m getting there.

Gale: you… You only just got your freedom, a chance to live life on your terms and I took that away from you. Now you’re stuck with that fiend how- how are you not angry? At me? At him?!

Clow: *sighs* Look. you did what you thought was right. And so did I… besides… *smiles and swishes his tail* I love him… *gives him another hug* goodnight, Gale. *walks off*

Gale: *standing there mortified that he could just be okay with all this* goodnight… *looks over at Wyll and Karlach before nervously approaching* Karlach… do you know anything about the sword of Zariel?

Karlach: just that it’s surrounded by an ever growing scab, why?

Wyll: what’s wrong Gale?… *looks past him to see minthara creeping up on him*

Gale: I think… I might need the blade if Raphael and Clows relationship isn’t all he’s telling u-

Minthara: *grabs Gale by the nape of his neck and yanks him back* You three listen to me and you listen very well. I did not cast aside my distaste for water and spend hours swimming until I collapsed to search for his body after you attempted to kill him just for you to try and ruin his life again. He has a good thing now, an existence he is happy with, and so help me I will end you if you attempt to take that from him. *lets go and storms off after Clow with a huff*

*a few hours later*

Clow: *returns to the house of hope and immediately runs and jumps into Raphael’s arms as he sees the devil waiting for him* I’m back!

Raphael: I’m glad~ how was your little party?

Clow: good, everyone is doing very well!

Raphael: that’s good- *gives him a kiss and whisks him away back to their room* welcome home, my love…

#minthara is very protective of him o3o #Raphael bg3 #Clopin Do’Urden #Clow Do’Urden #Clow tav #Clow oc

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greypetrel · 2 years

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The Herald’s Rest

My favourite ship dynamic is “They’re two idiots, your honour”. Also how does that cape work, HOW. Just to show I’m not in solavellan hell.

Also hey I rediscovered writing appearently, go figure.

***

Frump.

Something collided against his back, just between the shoulderblades, bumping just heavily to be felt. It was a nice and sunny day over Skyhold, fluffy clouds travelling the sky above white snowpeaks, the air crispy and cool. He had been told that he needed fresh air, for his health and bla bla bla, so he had taken the latest report and decided to keep reading while slowly walking on the battlement. He was taking some fresh air, they never mentioned he couldn’t work in the meanwhile.

He stopped at the bump, feeling the mysterious weight still and unmoving, tried to turn his head to see exactly who was it, but all he could glimpse, hidden almost completely behind the thick fur of his collar, was a glimpse of golden hair. And he could hear some indistinct grumbling in a voice he knew.

“Inquisitor?” He asked.

“Not if you have something work-related to tell me, I’m taking a break.” She replied, voice muffled.

“I didn’t see you coming, I’m sorry you bumped into me.”

No reply, he could feel her weight shifting closely, cloak moving when she did and fur raising up to the back of his neck. He had seen her casually touching people she was in good terms with, patting the shoulders of mages and soldiers she sparred with, shaking hands, rubbing arms in comfort. Hugging her close friends and sitting close. It was clear it was platonic and good-natured, and seeing how the only one that she shied away form touching and hugging was Vivienne -and her relationship with the Grand Enchanter was notoriously polite and civil but strained… Cullen just assumed that the Inquisitor never touched or hugged him because she didn’t like him. Hence, she must have been distracted, and he must have been in the way, right?

“Inquisitor? Are you gonna stay there?”

“… Do I bother you?” She asked, somewhat shily against his back.

“No! I just- Ah, aren’t you uncomfortable?”

“It’s fluffy. It’s been a shitty morning, and I need… Uh, I need some fluff.”

He knew it was not, it was somehow coarse and rough, and it matched his mood and it helped in not showing he had lost weight. He liked it, but fluffy it was not. He didn’t reply, tho: he just shifted his weight to stand more comfortably and kept on reading his report. Knowing he had Lavellan currently leaning in his collar was distracting, tho.

“I’m not bothering you, am I?” Aisling asked again after a couple of minutes.

“Not at all.” He replied. He wondered if he could be bold. Could he? “Please, stay.” He could. “Ah, that is – if it pleases you.” Not so much.

“Thank you.” She stretched out a hand, slowly, and patted his arm twice, underlying her words.

They moved awkwardly and clumsily and Cullen thanked he chose a part of the battlements that wasn’t so crowded, so they could lean against one of the merlons and get a little comfier still, and he dared not say anything, fearing to scare the elf away. He tried to stay on the reports, but his mind kept on running in the moment and in Aisling back there, and the silence grew not the best way to spend a moment alone with her.

She must have thought the same thing, tho, because they started speaking and they did it together, covering each other voice. She started to laugh, he followed her suit, and the silence was not so heavy anymore.

“Thank you… Cullen.” She probed, still shily. His heart beated a little faster at her using his name.

“Don’t mention it. This old thing is not fluffy, but I’m glad I could help.”

He wanted to add she could have the damned old thing whenever she asked and he would have said yes, because she was kind and gentle and brave and he had this stupid crush on her since she marched to a fucking Archdemon as if it was any regular Tuesday. But he knew he was in no position to act upon it, so he said half the things he wanted and raised a hand to rub his neck.

She took some moments to reply, and when she did, he felt her stepping and pressing a little closer, saw her arms showing up from both sides of his ribcage. Time seemed to be slower than usual while he watched her encircling his bust and squeezing in a brief hug, pressing against his back slightly. He realised time hadn’t slowed down, he was just catching his breath.

“It is my favourite kind of fluffy.”

She mumbled, he could barely hear her in all that fur. But he heard her, and he placed a hand on hers and didn’t know what to say. Time started again when she quickly stopped the hug, retrieved her arms and emerged from the fur. He turned around to see her making her way back to the stairs. He bid her goodbye and wished her good luck with the afternoon, and his heart skipped another bit when she turned to face him and smiled and bye him in turn. And she was blushing, and she was cute, and for just a moment there was nothing else but Aisling Lavellan smiling shily at him, just at him, and he felt light again.

#dragon age #dragon age inquisition #da fanarts #cullavellan #cullen rutherford #dragon age oc #inquisitor lavellan #lavellan #da: i #traditional art #marker #doodle #fanarts

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nikofortuna · 9 months

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JTTW Chapter 10 Thoughts

Chapter Ten for the @journeythroughjourneytothewest Reading Group! A slightly shorter commentary on my part this time, but with a queer little headcanon of mine right at the start.

This one is very poetry heavy at the start with the fisherman and woodcutter. It’s very interesting to see how this kind of poetry works through the examples they are showing off.

Also… they’re cottage-core husbands your honour, there is simply no other way I can see them. Hear me out, during their back and forth each one of them is trying to convince the other of moving in with them.

The woodcutter in particular started the debate and continues it every time, he certainly pines after his friend, pun intended.

Meanwhile the fisherman is the first one to mention the more traditional family unit once in a while but it doesn’t feel very serious, he’s just going with the flow of the poetry, pun once more intended.

Then they compose poems together, which are literally called linking-verse! In the J.F. Jenner translation it’s said that they match couplets, which is an equally cute term as linking-verse in my opinion.

And after that they banter as they are worried for each other! Husbands!

“Good friends would even die for each other!” or in the J.F. Jenner translation “I'm your friend; I'd die for you.” Either phrasing is a totally normal thing to say as friends, sure. One might call them “close friends”.

The German translation unfortunately doesn’t contain any of those poems. They cut out a lot of poetry in general, which is the only somewhat unfortunate thing I have noticed about it so far.

Moving on to what might be considered the main plot with the dragon. The whole fishing issue could have been resolved much more easily by just telling the fisherman outright that he is fishing too much for it to be sustainable and that he’ll suffer too once all the fish are gone. The fisherman is a scholar too after all, so surely he’d have understood and both parties could have come to some sort of conclusion together.

Or the Dragon King could have played matchmaker so the fisherman goes to live with the woodcutter instead, I’m just saying. Anyways.

Again with the overblown punishment! And once again it is a dragon that is immediately sentenced to death, how curious. He didn’t even not follow the given orders, he merely shifted the times a little and the amount of rain was a bit less, which is easily fixable. I wonder did he even get to plead his case? Atone for his wrongs perhaps? Highly doubt it. Is simple demotion even a thing when they jump straight to execution or banishment if you aren’t a dragon seemingly all the time?

Though to end on a happier note, I found that there are quite a few art pieces of the fisherman and woodcutter! So I picked out one I liked in particular. Look at them just hanging out and probably talking about poetry.

#xiyouji #journey to the west #jttw #Zhang Shao the Fisherman #Li Ding the Woodcutter #cottagecore husbands #i adore them #also a Dragon King I guess #jttw reading group #jttw book club

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nayatarot777 · 1 year

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wednesday 1st feb 2023 ~ Collective Reading

hi collective! hope you’re having a good day.

i’m seeing that today would be a good day to give some love to the darker aspects of ourselves - or rather whatever we consider that to be. it could be the parts of ourselves that we feel have been demonised or shamed - and i feel like it’s primarily about self love. that might sound like a strange message but many of us have been shamed for showing ourselves love and care, especially through making ourselves look good in order to feel good. miserable people who are ugly on the inside (and who probably feel ugly physically too) have thrown jealous ass, hating ass energy towards us over the course of our lives for doing what they can’t bring themselves to do. however that’s their problem. for them to even be threatened by us, they must’ve seen beauty in us in the first place right? something that they don’t feel like they could ever have. which is why these bitches didn’t want us to see that within ourselves. because they knew that if we did recognise it, we’d be untouchable. now’s the time to identify it again though. look in the mirror for a good minute or two (or three or four - however long you want to 😂) and try to see your physical state of being from your higher self’s perspective. remember that beautiful, cute ass infant child that you were (and still are in many aspects?). you’re them - but just grown now. would you call them ugly or nit pick at their appearance? hopefully not. it’s a disservice to do that to yourself because you ARE them. they haven’t gone anywhere and neither has your internal and physical beauty. people have just clouded your view from it with their bs and fuckery. if you could go back in time, you’d never tell your 5 year old self that they’re going to grow up to be ugly would you? no. you’d let them know that they’re going to grow into the prettiest/most beautiful/handsome person to walk this fucking Earth. and guess what? you’re the physical embodiment of that now. practice some self love - physically and in terms of emotional + mental care. this doesn’t even have to be anything drastic. try to get out of bed and shower if that’s something that you still need to do. or eat. or watch a movie. make some tea. read a book. bop to your favourite music in your room alone - and do all of this mindfully. there’s an extra message to also love and honour your anger. your anger is your protector and you may be feeling guilty for projecting it onto someone who deserved it. don’t be. again, if your inner child was provoked to anger and ended up reacting to that, would you expect them to beat themselves up about it? no. maybe their toxic ass parents would. or toxic ass teachers, bullies, and “friends” would. the provokers and perpetrators of mistreatment - but who gives a fuck about what they think when they’re the types of people who choose to deal with their personal issues in the form of abuse, mistreatment, and suppression of others? they’re not who we should be listening to, and i feel like many of us still have their ugly ass voices echoing in our minds whenever we exercise our human right to feel and express emotions. or to feel good about ourselves. you don’t deserve punishment. they’re the ones who made you feel less-than and ugly because they were threatened by you. nobody’s threatened by people who they don’t believe holds more power than them, right? they tried to dilute our power but it’s time to find it again. even if it makes you feel “egotistical” or “selfish”. there are abusive motherfuckers walking this earth with the biggest, narcissistic egos you’ve ever seen. if they can have a “healthy” or big ego, so can you - someone with a genuine heart and good intentions (unless crossed 🙃) who just wants better for themselves and others.

#pick a card #psychic readings #pick a photo #pac #tarot reading #divination #tarot #pick a picture #spirituality #pac reading #collective reading #intuitive #daily tarot #tarot cards #tarotcommunity #free tarot #naya tarot collective #tarotdaily

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shmaptainwrites · 2 months

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Hey, so I totally understand if you don't feel comfortable answering this. I was just curious if you had any like tips for writing? I'm new to writing, especially about Wilson, and I LOVED your stories and blurbs and etc. I'm just having trouble like getting out there and getting my own ideas written as well as certain requests. Anyways again, it's totally ok if you don't have an answer! Great work, btw!

oh my goodness nonnie i’m so honoured you came to ask me about this and i’d love to share a bit about my process with you!

first i wanna put a little disclaimer: this is just my process and not necessarily some tried and tested thing, it’s just what works for me, and if it doesn’t work for you that’s okay! sometimes you’ll find things that don’t work for you before the stuff that does

so usually most of the stuff i write starts with a small concept or idea, and from there depending on how much motivation/inspiration i have i go one of two ways. if i have a lot of motivation and inspiration i often just go in head first and write without an outline and just get everything out into a document while the creative juices are still flowing.

if i’m feeling like i enjoy an idea but am a little stuck on the progression of things in my head, or i have motivation but a LOT of ideas i want to include, i’ll make an outline to help guide me, this is just really rough bullet points, sometimes interspersed with small pieces of dialogue i want to include for certain scenes

i think getting a feel for what type of things you enjoy is pretty key, but that just comes with practice which is also how you can improve your writing skills (along with reading! my english teacher always used to say a good writer is also a good reader)

i’ve done a lot of fandom hopping since i was a teen and so not being hard on myself when inspiration begins to fade for one thing or move to another helps me always come back to writing even after hiatuses that can last years (i never force myself to write if really not feeling it, because then it’s not enjoyable anymore and this should be a fun experience!)

in terms of characterization, sometimes having a beta reader who is familiar with the fandom is helpful because then they can tell you if they’re struggling to hear something in the character’s voice or think they may respond to a situation differently than you had described

i think all writers have certain preferences for certain parts of stories, for example, i know some people who much prefer dialogue to description or vice versa, now sometimes when you’re stuck there’s ways to get around doing one or the other, but really you can do whatever you want as long as the flow of your story is good. also on this topic, if you’re really feeling drawn to writing a particular scene that’s not linearly next in your storyline, do it anyways! there’s no rules that say you have to write your story linearly, if jumping around from scene to scene works for you then go for it

okay i think this is probably a lot and i can’t really think of anything else that would be helpful at the moment, but i hope this helps on your writing journey and please feel free to continue to reach out and update me on how things are going!

edit: i forgot to mention, also don’t feel obligated to take requests if they don’t work for you! i honestly almost always have my requests closed and when i open them it’s for short periods of time and for blurbs which i find more manageable:)

#mimi answers #long post #writing #writing advice #writing asks

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cloudsrust · 10 months

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I have a lot on my mind after that ending and I truly need to write it down before I actually spontaneously combust so- Parallels between Azira/Crowley and Nina/Maggie and Crowley’s independence from Hell vs Aziraphale’s dependence on Heaven (especially in fighting) HERE I GO- (Tried to also make TLDR but I'm not great at those eh-)

1- Parallels between Crowley/Aziraphale and Nina/Maggie

Your honour they’re a mirror- but seriously, if there were any doubts on it, the Ball scene in which both couples dance at the exact time had to be the final confirmation. But anyway- the parallels between these two “wannabe couples” are truly something. Going into the serie we are led to believe, through their appearance, personality and a bit through their occupations, that Maggie is supposed to fully mirror Aziraphale (vintage wardrobe and likes, really sweet but that wants to assert herself and appear more courageous (which she is, just in a dumbass way.. just like the angel)), while Nina mirrors Crowley (dark and more modern clothes, very direct and sarcastic but it’s apparent she has a lot of baggage that she carries around, has difficulty asking for help wanting to fix everything herself). But relationship wise? They switch. Maggie is an emotional dreamer that knows that life can’t be a bed of roses (it’s mostly thorns with a few petals thrown around tbh) but that still desperately wishes for a happy ending where everything works out in the end- she is also the first one to make a step towards her crush, awkwardly but she tries her best by offering something she enjoys- (Crowley offering Azira food and wine? The latter that he came to enjoy first? Yeah.) and OH not even checking on her precious record shop to instead help out Nina, leaving it behind to help and stay with the one she cares for.. just like Crowley did with both his precious car and hell.

While Nina is someone that seems attached to her routines and, especially, her duties (her worrying about her coffee shop opening late even after she almost died by a demonic horde attack- she cares a lot to maintain her day to day alright.) and she is also stuck in a toxic relationship until Lindsay herself literally kicks her out of their ,possibly, shared house/apartment. She would’ve stayed in that relationship if the other one hadn’t completely cut ties with her, she would've stayed with someone that accused her of being selfish, only thinking about herself and that was VERY controlling on a daily basis. Nina also doesn’t seem like a very showy kind of person when it comes to love or affection, her love language perhaps being simply worrying for the other one, (then again we didn’t see a lot of her post relationship, so just my guess) and she is also someone that needs time for things to change (not because she didn’t jump into Maggie’s arms the moment her relationship was over, no no, it’s because of how she stayed in that stagnant relationship- it feels as if she didn't want things to change.). And I’m sure many have already seen this point but- Lindsay is to Nina exactly how Heaven is to Aziraphale.

Crowley and Maggie are, well.. were, at the same square: waiting for the other to be ready. Now Crowley is back at Maggie’s “post shop blackout’s fight”.

Aziraphale is behind Nina in terms of squares: he is still in that toxic relationship and that, now that he feels he has the power to do so, he is desperately trying to fix by going back to Heaven. And if the parallels goes on, Aziraphale might also find himself thrown out- this time for real.

TLDR; In terms of relationship's views, Azira is the mirror or Nina while Crowley is the mirror of Maggie. Crowley has been in the "waiting for you to be ready" for a good while and now he is back at the step of the "fight at the coffeeshop during the blackout". Aziraphale he is still in a toxic relationship with Heaven (Nina and Lindsay parallel) and is still at the step of wanting to make things work out and fix the relationship while shutting out who really cares for him.

2-Crowley’s independence from hell vs Aziraphale’s dependence on heaven

There are many instances in which we see it. Crowley has fought tooth and nail to fully cut himself off from Hell and ,at least mentally, I’m sure he already was on his own waaay before the whole Armageddont ordeal. Aziraphale in comparison has simply.. took a step away from them, just gently slid to the side (Great, now we got the Demon that simply sauntered downwards and the Angel who just gently slid to the side. You’re welcome Neil.) but mentally he isn’t over them at all, like AT ALL. (to badly quote the “But it’s so nice to have someone to tell the things you’ve done to now that I don’t report anymore”, he is still trying to fix his bloody routine into something more normal- he hasn’t fully accepted being a rogue angel at all.).

I mostly would like to point it out with how they choose to fight though.

Crowley when he has to fight always chooses to use either his own mind or his own stuff: Season 1, at the Armageddon, all he has as a weapon is that thingy from his dear car (I have no idea what that’s called, I'm so sorry Crowley;;) and his powers/mind that he uses to both stop time and talk to Adam AND, before that, to not burn alive in his Bentley (it’s not a demonic thing since Hastur discorporates in the fire, that’s all Crowley’s doing). There is the bit in which he technically used a heavenly weapon, the Holy Water, to destroy Ligur- but that for me only demonstrates even more how much he DOES NOT care for either side. Using a weapon from the opposition? Yeah sure why not. Destroying your own kind (which is apparently frowned upon in Hell)? Yep, he got what was coming to him.

Season 2, at the attack on the bookshop, he still just uses his mind to trick Shax into letting the humans get to safety- he doesn’t even use any real rule from Hell, he just makes something up that sounds convincing enough to work.

Also- Crowley is always shown being very distant to the other demons, and in season 2 he doesn’t even try to hide how much he isn’t interested in their conversations or the job they’re doing at the moment, even to BEELZEBUB THEMSELVES- Hell he only starts breaking a sweat when they mention Aziraphale, until then he was just bothered.

Now let’s see Azira.. he is very, very dependent on Heaven:

Season 1, at the Armageddon, he ends up wielding a flaming sword that resembles to an extreme amount the one he was assigned (and gave away which- could I hazard a “I tried to get rid of it but in the end here it is (a copy of it) in my hand again”?)) by Heaven back at the Eastern Gate. And before that, to try and stop it he calls upon the Metatron to try and speak to God Herself, straight up using an Heavenly Circle (which also ends up discorporating him and leading to the events of the bookshop catching on fire, which yes it was an indirect consequence but.. I don’t know I like to see it as a cautionary tale about how toxic Heaven is to him.) The only demonic thing I can give him the props of doing is taking over, well- sharing, a human body, which apparently Heaven doesn’t really like. (Not counting the Holy Water thing because it would harm Hell more than it would harm Heaven.)

Season 2, at the attack on the bookshop, to stop the demons he once again uses the Heavenly circle, and once that falls he is completely helpless- Nina and Maggie are the ones who keep trying to fight with anything they can (his books to his dismay.. that poor bookshop keeps on suffering). The only last thing he tries is using his literal Holy Halo has a sort of grenade (which, the moment I saw, I liked to see it as a symbolic “I’m letting go of a very important angelic part of me to protect the humans which I actually hold dear”, and that could still be- but I also now see it as him still relaying desperately on his angel’s status).

ALSO- Aziraphale is still trying to keep his Heaven’s connection as pristine as he can, he invites them in, he is polite (even humoring Muriel’s whole thing while Crowley was ready to de-mask the poor thing at the first slip up), he tries his best to lie and maintain his facade of a good angel with the whole love thing. And he is scared. He is still deeply scared of Heaven, of the other Archangels and of the Metatron (he is on edge when he is going out the bookshop with them, while Crowley spoke to them as if they were just a stupid floating head you’d see in a bad Luna Park). But he still chooses to help out the one that wanted both him and Crowley dead, GONE. He is afraid but he still believes in Heaven being the good guys, or at least they have the ability to be.. maybe with his help.

TLDR; Crowley is very independent with what he uses to fight and help himself, he also has clearly shown he doesn't care about Hell at all. Aziraphale is instead very dependent of Heavenly props to fight and help himself, as much as he wants to think he has accepted being a rogue Angel he is still not ready to leave Heaven behind.

That ending- I don’t think it’s out of character for Aziraphale to make that choice. Both he and the Demon want to do what they think is best for the other: Crowley wants to give his Angel a precious, fragile, peaceful human existence, just the two of them doing their own thing- no Heaven or Hell to think about. But for Aziraphale that “fragile” is a problem, I feel like he knows that they cannot just run away from their respective sides and go live in peace. And he wants to fix that at its core- first by offering to make the Demon and angel again, back to the good old times, then by presenting his hope that he can make everything better, fix Heaven and all of its problems. Unlike Crowley, he doesn’t know that you can’t cure a rotten apple- but he is still deeply attached to Heaven and he will stay there- even if that could mean rotting alongside it.

I say that but- something bothers me about that damned coffee offering from the Metatron. It’s so specific, so unlike them- they were being way too kind, a contrast to how dismissive they were when they first spoke with Aziraphale.

And the way Azira’s expression was twisting in the elevator- he could’ve been going through all the stages of grief alongside Crowley or putting on a smile for when he arrived at the top but.. that smile at the end I just- dammit it really bothers me. Something is still up in the Up I swear.

#Good Omens 2 #GO 2 #Good Omens season 2 spoilers #GO season 2 spoilers #headcanon #?? idk how to call this rant #I only saw the season once and I need a break before I'll be able to see it again- so some of my views may change #but this is what I got for now.. enjoy my brain trying to piece things together ;;;w;;;

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writ-in-violant · 9 months

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The Sharp-Eyed Stormwatcher meets a friend for tea, as they approach the second phase of the Marvellous:

“Professor,” the Lily greets. He pulls out a chair for Vivian, as though they were some society belle -- he always has. Vivian has stopped giving him shit for it. “How -- ah. I suppose it is foolish to ask how you are faring, as of late.”

Vivian is aware they probably look…disreputable. Their cravat is askew and untucked. Their vest’s buttons may be mismatched. They’ve pushed up their sleeves, which helps them cool off but bares their scarred forearms to the world. Their hair might still be singed. They’ve never felt more alive.

“I’m fine, Terry,” Vivian says, hoping their smile looks reassuring and not deranged. “I’m -- it’s close. I placed in the middle in the Honour -- you don’t need to know the details. I’m not even sure I can tell you,” they admit. The Lily -- Terry Leirion, their once-roommate whilst he was paying other bills and Vivian needed help making rent -- narrows his eyes at them. His past, checkered as it is, has given him a fine eye for someone who is bullshitting.

“Word on the street is that you’re in and out of the Bazaar all the time, lately. Buying up secrets and rumours like nothing else, and selling even your Enigmata. What’s happening, Vivian?” His eyes are serious. He knows how carefully they saved every Searing Enigma they could find, the caution they always treated their hoard of London’s secrets with. Of course he would be the one who caught their behavior, who wasn’t willing to brush it off as the half-mad Professor off on another wild tear. Vivian sighs.

“Terry. I’m fine. This is -- this is what I gathered everything for,” they admit. “This is it. Everything on the line. Everything on the line in every game. That’s what it’s all about, you see? A prize at the end and a challenge around every corner. My opponent -- no, I’ll not be saying who it is, you can guess if you wish to -- spread my secrets across London.” They smile again. They don’t know how it looks on them. “Now that I’ve dealt with that, I have to cut off his options before we meet for a match. That’s all. I’d be disappointed if he didn’t try something like this, honestly.” They would. They always considered the Bishop of St. Fiacre’s an intelligent, canny man; part of the joy of the Marvellous is testing themself against people such as him.

“Well. God knows I can’t stop you, Vivian,” The Lily sighs, leaning back. “What else is happening in your life? I heard there was something about you returning to the Royal Beth recently--”

It’s a mark of how long the Lily has known them, Vivian thinks, that he doesn’t seem too concerned by their return to a state of some confusion and what others term “insanity.” They smile and indulge him in some of their stories, and ask after his theater and his husband. They’re at an outside table at Beatrice’s; Vivian does their best to pay attention to the Lily’s speech, but their eyes keep drifting up, following the tall spires of the Bazaar into the dark. The tea with the Lily is good. Keeps them grounded, keeps them sharp, and they’ll need that for their next few weeks.

“Vivian,” the Lily says, as they both collect their coats and begin to leave. His eyes are kind, which is never a great sign when someone is about to ask Vivian a question. “What are you looking for? Is it -- will it be worth it?”

…what was Vivian looking for, huh. Their eyes drifted back along to the spires reaching up in the Bazaar. There were so many answers they could give: when I first came here, I listened to the drownies sing, and learned I was destined for Authority. When I was younger than that, I lived my life entirely at the whims of others’ kindness or lack thereof, and I refuse to do that again. There is a science down here that lets you become greater than what you were born as. There is power at the end of the game. There is a path to Authority. I do not know what it will make me but I would take so, so much to never again be who I was.

But all of that, even to the Lily, is too much to admit into the stale air of the Neath, so Vivian only smiles. This one, they’re almost sure, is reassuring. “It will be worth it.”

They’ll make it worth it.

#oc: the sharptongued stormwatcher #vivian is doing Just Fine all the time always #also yeah vivian is a generally magnanimous and kind person. that doesn't meant their goals are not self-serving #they're not a revolutionary or a savior #they're in the marvellous for themself and themself alone #they probably tell themself they'll use their power to help others. they probably even will use it to help others #but they're doing this for themself

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spectaculardistractions · 1 year

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To José Rubia Barcia Mexico City, 5 September 1948 My dear Barcia, Thank you so much for your lengthy and instructive letter. Kenneth did indeed write back in similar terms to the ones he used in his conversation with you. I don’t think he understood Illegible, Son of a Flute because, although he calls it a striking script, he follows that up immediately with an absolutely standard critique of what he sees as its structural defects. You can’t just say of a poetic film like this one, that it lacks a climax, or that the plot is underdeveloped or too confusing. You can’t judge a naturalist novel and a lyric poem the same way. Still, I’m not about to start arguing cinematic technique with my good friend Macgowan. He thinks there is no chance of it being made in Hollywood anyway. And he’s passing me on to that poor man who made that appalling film Dreams That Money Can’t Buy. Said film-maker, Hans Richter, is a German of precious little talent who made a few vanguard films back in 1927 or 1930. I know him well, and the very fact that Macgowan associated that film with Illegible, Son of a Flute suggests he regards everything unusual as bizarre in the same way. As for a teaching job, I gather it might be possible next year, as long as I could get some additional income elsewhere. I’ve taken note, in case something comes up (although not as a Spanish teacher, of course). I’m finally going to make a film with Dancigers. I’m moving sideways here like a crab. I produced several of Arniches’s films, in 1935 and 1936 just for the fun of it and to earn some money. I didn’t even put my name to them. And now, 15 years later, it turns out I’m going to be directing El último mono by Mr Carlos Arniches ‘seriously’ and with my name on it. Well, at least as far as light work goes, it’s one of the least undignified. They are giving me 18 days to film it. It’s going to be a real mess! But I’ll fight like mad to add at least a little dignity to the mise-en-scene and script. I’ll be free again in January and if I haven’t spent all the money I earn, we’ll all go to Los Angeles. I’m now negotiating with an American company, who want me to film Falla’s Master Peter’s Puppet Show. The terms of the proposal they sent me the day before yesterday are a bit confusing and I’ve asked for clarification. They talk about sending someone down here to talk things over with me and I’ve written back saying that I would be more than willing to travel up to them. If they agree (and if they pay my expenses, of course), we’ll see each other soon. But if they want to see me and this ohso-Aztec of lands at the same time, I’ll just have to agree. One of the reasons I would really like to come up for a week is to see you, drink co-both (a little neologism) gallons and talk at great length as Evita watches over us with her enigmatic Oriental eyes. And that’s that! I completely agree with you about giving the script to Jay Leyda. He’s one of the most honourable and intelligent men in American cinema. As well as being one of my best friends in the world. He wrote to me six or seven months ago, and I haven’t replied. I hope I’ll be able to soon. I’m ashamed… Send my regards if you see him. And to the Edwins as well. What is Rolfe up to? Working still as writer for Warner’s? I gather from his letters that came to an end. As for the dubbing business you mention, it’s impossible. Reasons: I’m not – we’re not – businessmen and would surely get our fingers burned. I have only enough money to get me from one day to the next, and that’s only when I have some; recently, if it hadn’t been for a good friend or two, I would have gone hungry. However, if we can get a bit of capital to start it up, it would be worth thinking about. But where would it come from? They are still doing dubbing here and Dancigers is losing money on every film. The union comes up with more obstacles by the day. They’re trying to stamp it out. They are ferociously antidubbers. And speaking of Dancigers, he won an Ariel yesterday for best film of 1947. It’s pitiful, trying to copy the world’s great film producing centres by handing out Ariels and Oscars to the miserable little films they make down here. It’s insane. If I didn’t have to go to union meetings, I wouldn’t have anything to do with the film world here. That’s how I keep out of all the mess, envy, sycophancy, machinations, etc., etc. Who knows if we’ll see one another soon, perhaps? Warmest regards to Evita and you, Luis PS It would be good if you could send me the original for Cuadernos Americanos. They are very quick at processing them. Please hold on to the two copies of the Illegible, Son of a Flute script and the ‘Introduction’. I may ask you to pass one of them to a certain person soon.

Jo Evans & Breixo Viejo, Luis Buñuel: A Life in Letters

#jo evans #breixo viejo #luis bunuel: a life in letters #luis bunuel #jose rubia barcia #kenneth macgowan #hans richter #jay leyda

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deadcactuswalking · 2 years

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Top 10 Best Hit Songs of 2000

The year 2000. Y2K. I’m a little too young to have any overt specific memories of this year, so let’s see how the year 2000 started. So, let’s see here... January 2000: the UN sentences five Bosnian Croats to up to 25 years in prison for killing of more than 100 Muslims. Okay, well, at least justice was served. What else happened in 2000? Oh, Dr. Harold Shipman, the UK’s most prolific serial killer believed to have killed 215 people, was found guilty of only 15 murders? Second Chechen War? A leaking petroleum pipeline in Nigeria explodes and kills at least 250? DeviantART is launched? Thanks, Wikipedia, now let’s talk about the Backstreet Boys or something.

The Top 10 Best Hit Songs of 2000

This is a weird US Billboard Hot 100 year-end list. Before listening to it, I had no idea what the #1 even sounded like. It’s “Breathe” by Faith Hill – it didn’t go to #1 on the weekly chart and it’s not near the best or worst of this year. There are many reasons for this, of course, the rise of Napster and peer-to-peer filesharing being the most obvious as what the kids were listening to wasn’t necessarily represented through CD sales and radio plays. As a result, these songs fell into around two categories: I either had no idea what they sounded like until this year or they’re some of my favourite songs ever. Honestly, it’s a pretty damn good list of songs too – I’m sure it’s missing many a hit or iconic song from the turn of the millennium in favour of country radio schlock but as we’ll find out, even some of that stuff is good. Despite the mish-mash of genres, it also just felt very consistent sonically, it was a calm bed to rest in more often than not and whilst it could get boring, I was pretty happy to do a 10-song session every couple weeks and gather my thoughts. A good fifth of this list I found to be great songs, and half of that fifth will be talked about in length. I also can’t bring myself not to honourably mention some of the great songs that just missed out and were really tough cuts, like “My Love is Your Love” by the late Whitney Houston, “It Feels So Good” by Sonique, “Say My Name” by Destiny’s Child, “Try Again” by the late Aaliyah, “It’s Gonna Be Me” by (the late) *NSYNC, “Only God Knows Why” by Kid Rock of all people, “Hot Boyz” by Missy Elliott featuring Nas, Eve and Q-Tip, “The Next Episode” by Dr. Dre featuring Snoop Dogg, “Cowboy Take Me Away” by The (then-Dixie) Chicks, and finally, just not cracking my top 10, “Party Up (Up in Here)” by the late DMX. We don’t stray too far away from that kind of song with our first entry, however.

#10

“Party Up (Up in Here)” is an alarming banger for the ages, with aggressive bars from DMX barked in needless fashion and some of Swizz Beatz’s most rumbling productions. That’s why it’s great, but equally the reason why it’s not on this list. See, the year 2000 was at its best when it mellowed out a tad, and whilst I’m not going to say this next song doesn’t have energy, because it’s full of it, I wanted to ease you in with something a bit less cacophonous than DMX’s best tracks. See, this list may end up slightly depressing in terms of the topics we talk about, considering we’ve got vengeful post-breakup tracks, desperate loneliness, suicidal ideation and God forbid, thongs, coming up, so let’s start off this list with something more lighthearted: prostitution.

#10 – “Big Pimpin’” – JAY-Z featuring UGK

Peak: #18 | Year-End: #60

Okay, to be fair to UGK, only JAY-Z really raps about actually “big pimping” in the first verse, and it’s mostly reserved to a casual misogyny that gets ridiculously blunt to the point where even though I know JAY-Z is not joking, I kind of hope he was. I question if Beyoncé has heard this verse. Regardless, even though he sets himself up as this heartless Casanova, he still ends off the verse goofily singing “let’s ride”, so clearly fun is being had. Barely any of that fun would be present without one of Timbaland’s career-greatest beats, as he chops up this Egyptian percussive loop alongside the soaring flute that twists in and out of each measure like a snake. It barely changes throughout the whole song, and I don’t think it needs to, since it has enough bounce to make JAY-Z sound like he can flow competently... which is rarer than fans will admit.

The difference between JAY-Z and his Texan guest stars is that JAY-Z treats this as any other lackadaisical beat that he can mosey over, whilst the Underground Kingz know full well that Timbaland’s production a bit more attack. The late Pimp C brings his signature drawl to a verse that feels breezy and effortless, as he compares his white accountants that pay him at the record label to the white that used to pay him, if you get my gist. That’s all fine and good, but even with Pimp C, this song would not be here without Bun B’s killer verse, where even through an intricate rhyme scheme and content that really is just flexing but delivered with enough charisma to really sell it, he still feels like he’s kind of playing word association. It’s such an observational, casual-sounding verse with its comical asides, brags and put-downs, but delivered with conviction that just lawnmowers through the beat. In the middle of the verse, he tells an “illiterate son of a bitch” to read a book and “step up his vocab”, seemingly out of nowhere, and it just continues on that stream of hunger that deservedly gave Bun the reputation of being the guy from the South who carried JAY-Z, who felt so bad about it that he added a second verse in the video version... and it’s still not better than Bun’s. This is a bonafide rap classic, far from the last that any three of these guys would make, and even with the intimidating and inconsistent discographies overall, this shines right through as a smash hit.

Recently, I’ve had to mourn the loss of my music taste, particularly the fact that I actually kind of like pop-country to an embarrassing extent. Sam Hunt and Jon Pardi have got slappers, it’s time for people to finally admit this. One of the important stepping stones in me finding out that my taste in country is despicable was this 2000 list, which had a lot of really decent if dated country tracks. I’ve already mentioned the despondent power ballad “Only God Knows Why”, but I also appreciated the compelling songwriting from George Strait’s “The Best Day”, the immense power and catharsis of Lee Ann Womack’s “I Hope You Dance” and the hilariously bad Auto-Tune of the honest-to-God bop that is Faith Hill’s “The Way You Love Me”. The song on this list is probably not as effective a composition or as resonant lyrically, but remember how I said I liked Sam Hunt? Well, I may have just figured out where his general lyrical tone came from.

#9 – “How Do You Like Me Now?!” – Toby Keith

Peak: #31 | Year-End: #82

As far as I’m aware, Toby Keith is basically a punchline now thanks to his biggest hit, “Red Solo Cup”, but this was far away from the bro-country pipeline... not that it’s going to stop me from making connections. A song like Sam Hunt’s “Hard to Forget” is whiny and disjointed, expressing the bitter post-breakup in way of clunky trap beat and Hunt’s pestilent vocals. Now, don’t get me wrong: I like the song a lot, but it’s a messy track, one that doesn’t always feel fully formed. Toby Keith has the same bitter post-breakup track but takes a really different spin on it. Sure, they derive from the same premise of remembering an ex, but “How Do You Like Me Now?!” takes it a step further, with Keith “reminiscing” on how desperate he was to be with the valedictorian of his high school. The valedictorian was too pre-occupied with her other partners and made fun of him for playing his guitar “too loud”. That’s all the reasoning we get for this song, and it’s decent enough detail, sure, but it doesn’t prepare for the freaking vicious attack of the second verse, where he goes on an unwarranted rant about how her husband tore her dreams apart, never comes home and leaves her to cry whilst her children hear. It could play off as kind of a sappy, “you could have been with me” track, but given how cruel and unnecessary this second verse, I don’t think Toby Keith wants anything to do with the woman other than point and make fun of her for her terrible living situation whilst he plays on the radio as she cries herself to sleep.

This should be a terrible, hateful song, right? Well, no, that misses the point: a song can very much be hateful and deliver its hateful message in an uninteresting or silly way that doesn’t work. Toby Keith’s “How Do You Like Me Now?!” delivers it with a scathing punch, starting with that retro-sounding guitar riff that already scratches through the mix before the more traditional country instrumentation comes in for the ��flashback” in the first verse. It almost tricks you into thinking there’s a happy ending, but the real happy ending is that Toby Keith is a country star and this woman now has a terrible life with a potentially abusive husband. Yet no, given the deep-voiced rasp of Keith’s yell in those choruses, the sing-songy mock of the guitar in the outro and the quick, one-and-done solo, it’s just a catastrophically pissy song... and I’m not going to lie, sometimes we can do with that. This is technically not the only country song on this list, but it’s the only time you’ll see Nashville proper and there’s no better way to represent the industry other than with unwarranted cruelty and injustice. #1 country song of the year 2000, everyone.

This one might be a bit harder to explain. Daniel Jones and Darren Hayes had just finished writing for their second album after an incredibly successful debut, but they realised – or more accurately, the label came knocking to tell them – that they had no love ballad on the scale of, say, a “Truly Madly Deeply” to pull at the heartstrings. I never liked that song, and I think it’s because it comes off as too genuine. Its sickly-sweet platitudes never appealed to me because they come off as almost too longing and sincere for what is a really bargain-bin production and composition. By 1999, “Truly Madly Deeply” could not be replicated.

#8 – “I Knew I Loved You” – Savage Garden

Peak: #1 for four weeks | Year-End: #7 | Decade-End: #54

In 1997, Darren Hayes was for the first time away from his family and then-wife, and “Truly Madly Deeply” is longing and desperate. By 1998, Hayes was separated and by the year 2000, he’d divorced, and started coming out to his friends as gay. Now, of course, this does not look good for a pop duo who make the middle-aged white ladies swoon, and the album this stems from, Affirmation, whilst immensely successful, was their last. Hayes himself says he felt “wounded by love” in the process of writing and recording that second album so he wrote a love song in 40 minutes to spite his label... and God, you can tell. The instrumental is similarly sickly, but in a more deactivated way this time, with a downtempo drum scuffle and lazy yet well-produced acoustic guitars providing a foundation for Darren Hayes to sell his worst and most meaningless lyrics with as much conviction as possible... and it sounds like it hurts.

I’ve never liked Hayes as a singer but here, he plays up the boy-band inflections in a way that sounds a tad forced, from the beginning hums and riffs in the intro to how he’s drenched in harmonies that render his performance emotionless. What he’s singing about is also complete nonsense, as you can’t know that you love someone before you meet them, at least not in the days of dial-up Internet in 1999 unless you’re a stalker, which isn’t really an angle I can discuss this song at. There aren’t many leads towards that; I’d argue that it’s more clearly about just... completing the song, getting the album done with. The second verse is essentially him voicing his process of writing the song, and there’s this frustration throughout the whole thing as he slightly restrains himself from really singing his heart out. He just wants to end his limelight career, get on with what matters in his life: he had an estranged wife, he was closeted in an industry that was really not open to accepting an openly queer singer in adult contemporary – and given Sam Smith, I don’t think they are now. A contemporary critic – of a Christian fundamentalist organisation no less, which should explain some of Hayes’ strife here – said that this is how it feels to be “hopelessly in love”, but by the time the key change hits, I just think this is how it feels to be hopeless. This is a beautiful song, in all the ways it did not intend to be. I hope it doesn’t get lost and derided with the rest of the slow AC tracks that came out during this time, because it’s something special.

As I said earlier, and as proven by the last two songs, a lot of these tracks will be more sensitive, emotionally resonant and have deep reasons behind me enjoying them. A lot of them also will not. This one is just here because it’s a bop. There’s technically a narrative to this one, but I just don’t care. It goes, that’s all I can say.

#7 – “Then the Morning Comes” – Smash Mouth

Peak: #11 | Year-End: #48

“All Star” is not good, and neither is “Walkin’ on the Sun”. Don’t even get me started on their cover of “I’m a Believer”. In my opinion, Smash Mouth struck gold with the similarly basic “Then the Morning Comes” which gets here essentially entirely because it sounds cool. The song is essentially about a hangover, and the consequences of living life recklessly when “the morning” coming is a looming threat, and they’ll regret everything afterwards and man, this song sure sounds like careless living and simultaneously the regret that comes with it. Steve Harwell’s lyrics are just as admiring as they are condescending, and the main guitar riff is lackadaisical but fuzzed out to Hell and back in this compressed mix that takes a traditional lounge swing and shuffling drum pattern, only to plaster on cryptic sound effects in the intro, robotic backing vocals and beeping in the pre-chorus, and a complete cacophony of buzzing synths in that infectious chorus. This is probably on the song that I find the hardest to really explain what’s so good about it, but it does really come down to how needlessly catchy every part of this song is, whilst it stays as weird as possible.

Smash Mouth tended to like blending genres, but this feels pretty singular in how it mixes the then-current Cocktail Nation trend with cheap synth-strings, a wiry guitar solo and the cluster of synth and guitar work that just gets shoved into a pretty sizeable groove that could have worked well in a more minimal mix that kept the lounge-influenced instrumentation... but it just wouldn’t have fit a song about regret, with the nonsense of it all essentially being the alarms that wake up this character and make them realise the consequences of all the garbage they got up to the last night. Sadly, Steve Harwell himself does not seem to heed this song’s warning, as he’s yet to fully understand the consequences of a drunken Nazi salute or defiance of COVID-19 regulations... but he’s the Smash Mouth guy. I don’t expect moral righteousness from any famous musicians, but if you do, a standout exception has got to be the Smash Mouth guy. We’re continuing a string of Summer pop-rock bangers with our next entry.

This spicy early 2000s Latin rock jam was a #1 hit... in the Winter of 1999. Listen, if you thought that once the clock struck twelve, technology will crumble, society would panic and humanity as we know may cease functioning, this is probably the best song to celebrate all of those Summers you’d end up missing, because it’s a hot one.

#6 – “Smooth” – Santana featuring Rob Thomas

I mean, what better introduction can I give than that? It’s the third biggest song of all time in the United States, and I think what that really comes down to is something that all humans can appreciate in music, especially the kind of popular music that gets played in public and on the radio. Whilst intimacy is just as respectful and has just the appeal – and really, this song tries to be about intimacy – there’s nothing secret or just between you, the listener, and Rob Thomas in the song. It’s all-out honesty, delivered in the most brazenly earnest way possible. Rob Thomas is not really that good a fit for this song on paper but I simply cannot imagine another guy on it. From the opening lines, you can tell that his post-grunge croon, barely filtered in the sensual verses, doesn’t have any right to be on this jazzy Latin groove, with the iconic brass riff and the virtuoso guitar from the legendary Carlos Santana. Three decades into his career, he’d mastered Latin jazz-rock, so running the risk with Rob Thomas seems almost silly... but then the pre-chorus comes in. He’d already been coyly ridiculous when calling this woman the “Spanish Mona Lisa” who melted everyone by speaking, but stripping the filters off gives Thomas’ overly-pronounced rhythm a new sense of liveliness. A song with so much technical expertise is now immediately accessible to sing along to, as Thomas harmonises with himself about how he feels the same as the ocean under the Moon when he’s making love with this unnamed Spanish woman... and does she need to be named? It would almost cheapen the raw emotion here, and the immense breakdown after each chorus that however long feels just as cathartic as it does sexy.

“Smooth” and its success, alongside “Maria Maria” the same year, could have – and probably has had – books written about it. I’m not going to try to explain any of Santana’s career up to this point, God forbid if I’m going to listen to Matchbox Twenty, and I couldn’t care less about the music theory behind what makes this song tick. All I care about is hearing Santana shred on one of the most iconic guitar solos of all time, the little intricacies in the drum fills, and Thomas sing his heart out as if this unnamed Spanish woman is a Goddess. It’s almost profound and makes the point towards enjoying this song when he says “give me your heart, make it real, or else forget about it” – the song stenches of people, and pure human enjoyment. Looking at it from a 2022 perspective, where that feels inaccessible, this is always a joy to come back and I’ll never get sick of it. It’s the third biggest song of all time for some damn good reasons, and the purity of how “Smooth” works on a basic level is commendable on all fronts. If I were more objective or ranking with consideration to legacy, this would be up there, but I’m not Rolling Stone and I don’t care how iconic “Smooth” is. The “Thong Song” is just that much better.

Remember when I said that there would technically be a second country song on this list? Well...

#5 – “Country Grammar (Hot Shit)” – Nelly

Peak: #7 | Year-End: #29

“Ride wit Me” is one of the best rap songs of all time. It is on the 2001 year-end only, and hence is not eligible for this list. In a year with “Fallin’” by Alicia Keys, “Ms. Jackson” by OutKast, “Get Ur Freak On” by Missy Elliott and “Hero” by Enrique Iglesias... the song absolutely would have topped my list, with little hesitation. I just wanted to get that out there before I say I’m absolutely not settling for this Nelly track in place of an unfortunate omission, because “Country Grammar” kicks just as if not even more ass as the general public’s introduction to Nelly.

Much like “Then the Morning Comes”, this is here purely because of how much I enjoy listening to it. “Country Grammar” is a banger, plain and simple, and it’s largely not because of the beat. It’s far from bad, and is actually pretty great, with Jay E adding the knocking and chanting in the intro, as well as the twinkling synths behind that bumping drum beat that has equal amounts bounce and grit. This would be a good beat with anyone on it, but with Nelly on it, it’s a great beat. Much of his time is spent flexing in typical pop-rapper mode, smoking weed, chatting up women and threatening to shoot people whilst bragging about how cool is car is and how much money he has, with pop culture references and brand names that really emulate the modern word-association form of pop-rap flexing. The difference here is that Nelly sells all of this as if it were his life story, with an effortless charisma covering up the effort and craft put into managing the highly melodious and technically manic flows for his time, with slick rhyme schemes and chanting ad-libs that act as his own posse hyping him up. Oh, and Nelly says that whilst he hangs with Hannibal Lecter, he would rather hang with the elite as he pleads Bill Gates and Donald Trump to “let him in” to the exclusive club. He also compares his spending sprees to how MC Hammer ruined his fortunes, compares himself to a Jehovah’s Witness, and disses his own producer because he sold this same beat to another group that did nothing with it. Once Nelly stops rapping, the track would almost feel empty if not for that sharper piercing synth and alarm that comes in to grab your attention during the last few measures of the instrumental outro. It’s a song full of character, to the point of some non-sequiturs that feel aptly of the year 2000, that absolutely goes off in pretty much any setting... though seriously, “Ride wit Me” is even more of an all-timer. 2001 has the less interesting year-end list overall, sadly.

I’ll admit; until we get higher – like Creed at #11 on this year-end list – this list is kind of a sausage fest. You can see in the honourable mentions that songs by iconic women of the era just barely got knocked off and I’m not going to try and mix what I see as “necessary inclusions” to my genuine taste, though I could have absolutely swapped out some tracks lower down the list for, say, “It Feels So Good” or “Try Again”. I’m saying all this because the next song is one I’ve teased this all list – you knew it was coming and it’s basically the musical representation of an erection. It’s only the Goddamn “Thong Song”.

#4 – “Thong Song” – Sisqó

Peak: #3 | Year-End: #14

It’s pretty well-known by now but it still amazes me that “Incomplete” was the Sisqó single that hit #1 instead of this classic. Hate it or love it, “Thong Song” is more immediately recognisable than the painfully forgettable “Incomplete”, which hit #1 largely as a result of both radio and the fact that its B-side was, you guessed it, “Thong Song”. It’s actually lower than its B-side on the year-end list, landing itself at #25 and really, I can understand why because the difference is night and day. Sisqó sounds similar on both songs, both in how he actually performs the songs and how he tackles the instrumentation, which either shows you how not varied he is as a singer or shows that he’s a comedic genius for treating his ass anthem with as much sincerity as his love ballad. The thing is, though, it’s not even really an ass anthem. It’s a thong anthem.

The song is about how he first discovered a thong when his partner was getting undressed and how flabbergasted he was at this new article of underwear. He was so surprised that he ran home, told his friends and a couple days later, one of them announced to him in joy that the girl he’d been with was wearing a thong. So naturally, this needs a string section, right? In terms of songwriting, this is a minimal track, with basically no verse and just a constant chorus, with much of the writing in the later choruses being additional vocal riffs and ad-libs because, well, what else is there to write about? It’s a damn flimsy song concept and he absolutely does the most with it, making the discovery of a thong sound as triumphant as possible. To be clear, he doesn’t talk about this narrative in the track, and much of the song is actually just his surprise at how the girl let him see that thong – not her butt, but her thong. He mentions the butt, and the thighs, and the “dumps like a truck”, but only in reference to the thong and the scandalous dress. Oh, my God, the guy is just pouring his heart out at this sexy revelation. It’s just great “shut your brain off” music, a theme that runs through a lot of these year-end hits. It helps that it has UK garage-influenced percussion that keeps shuffling and emulating the stuttering of the chorus, to make the song feel oddly tense. It’s just a ridiculous song overall that I can’t help listening to for the grin it always provides me with. “Your thighs, your knees, your breasts, your feet!” Lennon-McCartney wouldn’t dare. As a side note, there was a music video made for this song that promoted Nutty Professor II: The Klumps starring Eddie Murphy and Janet Jackson. This is not the last time that the film will appear in this list.

This next entry is not nearly as fun, but I should maybe have a disclaimer here. I’m going to put aside everything about the Red Hot Chili Peppers that is not this song, including all of my gripes. They have an inconsistent at best discography, all of the band members have icky pasts regarding their sexual interactions, especially Anthony Kiedis, and I hope that my praise of this song is no way taken as an endorsement. Whilst this should be inherent and IS inherent for all of the people featured here on this list, since this song involves a more serious topic, I feel like I should preface the song with that note and also that this section will feature discussion of drug addiction and suicidal ideation. If any of that is something you don’t want to hear, I recommend you skip reading to #2. With all of that said, the next entry is “Otherside”.

#3 – “Otherside” – Red Hot Chili Peppers

Peak: #14 | Year-End: #59

I’m kind of surprised this even charted, considering that whilst it’s very much an accessible song, it’s not really within the same sphere of pop music that most of 2000 was in, which felt like an extension of the sunshine-pop late 90s, with just as much random experimentation in EDM and R&B, fluke hits, manufactured boy-bands and pop rock not yet on its dying breaths. To have a song like this sticks out on the year-end list, but it’s for good reason as the way it tackles its topics is as nuanced as it could be from someone who has been on both sides of the “otherside” and ultimately came out clean.

The song’s writing is relatively cryptic in the way that all RHCP songs are as mysterious as they are straight-forward, and it’s never clear what “otherside” refers to but I’ve always seen it as the drawing line between sobriety and addiction, with either playing as the “otherside” depending on what side you’re on. Kiedis said about former band member Hillel Slovak that his addiction had robbed him of “life force”, and that prior to his overdose, which Kiedis largely believes was suicidal, he had essentially been dead and was just coasting off his addiction and denial, hence the chorus. Kiedis goes out of his way to diminish the societal myth that drug addiction makes someone an inherently bad person whilst never ignoring its truly harmful impacts, going into pretty stark detail regarding the metaphor of heroin as a false “soul mate” who starts as a “starlet”. The first few verses are introspective from Kiedis’ perspective, essentially introducing the narrative wherein he takes upon the perspective of his late friend recognising, denying and attempting to fight the addiction and the mental anguish that comes with it. Sure, the bridge could be on-the-nose but through the soaring instrumental break that follows and the distorted catharsis of Kiedis’ yelling over Chad Smith’s chamber of drums, it feels like an almost cinematic moment, and the ability to turn something so intimate and introspective into a theatricality mirrors the facade that rockstars like Slovak and Kiedis have to keep on throughout the most difficult and weakest times in their lives. You can see this same unwillingness to truly elaborate on how addiction affects him in One Hot Minute, which truly sounds like a deathbed album and is probably my favourite from the group.

This is all beautifully performed, of course, with John Frusciante and Flea at their primes with the iconic acoustic guitar riff being twisted into the eeriness of the verses, and set free within the melancholy of the choruses. Kiedis sounds freaking devastated here, and the little touches like having the surrounding voices – represented by Frusciante’s backing vocals – as well as the bass take higher prominence in the mix as the song goes on is just a brilliant touch. This is one of the band’s best songs, and a really stark look at addiction that I don’t think they’ve topped since. By the end of the song, either Slovak, Kiedis or both have just come to the acceptance that it doesn’t even fill them with grief anymore. If it’s the easier way out than living a lie and fighting the undefeated, then it may as well be the best route for everyone. This is the bleakest hit on this year-end, and I will reassure you that from here, it gets happier.

For whatever reason, only the first Nutty Professor movie is on Netflix. I could have just watched the sequel THROUGH TOTALLY LEGAL MEANS for research for this list, but I remember watching the first one at silly o’clock and being utterly confused for just about every second of it... so I imagine I’d just be having a similar if not worse experience watching the second one. Honestly, looking at the plot of the second one, I may have also watched the second one in the same late-night fever. For whatever reason, this bargain-bin sequel – although a big-budget comedy at the time – had a soundtrack album with songs by JAY-Z and Eminem, and the uncensored version of the “Thong Song”. Oh, and it also produced a #1 hit out of Goddamn nowhere. Until the Super Bowl, there really was no stopping this woman.

#2 – “Doesn’t Really Matter” – Janet Jackson

Peak: #1 for 3 weeks | Year-End: #18

This song is a mess. Disregarding its connection to an Eddie Murphy sequel that critics called “obnoxious”, its release and composition as a whole is all over the place. It was leaked to radio stations unmastered, so the mix was a rush job to push it out to release. The lyrics are from a poem that Janet found and sporadically altered and added to whilst recording, the song has two choruses written by both Janet and Jimmy Jam, both of which end up on the final track, it was initially conceived as a slow, lounge song but on a whim, Jimmy Jam decided to both increase the tempo and record the song mostly live on tape, and it’s a stark contrast to the sparse R&B that Janet had mastered on The Velvet Rope. By all measures, it should not work, and to tell the truth, I hadn’t heard of this song until looking through this year-end list... but I quickly fell in love.

This is such a unique hit with so much going on, so the fact that a lot of it wasn’t sequenced should actually show you the talents of Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, as well as, of course, Janet Jackson, who spends most of the song in her impeccable higher register, as she coos breathily in a tone that once probably felt intimate at a slower tempo but at this speed feels unrecognisably tense and confident, especially when placed upon the stuffy snares, random squelching percussive noises, and the writing that is so wordy and unfitting, yet also mind-numbingly repetitive, that it creates constant little mantras and earworms through each little crevice of the track. Somehow, through the five minutes, the song never really loses steam, mostly because of the constant hooks and refrains, including the chorus which kind of just feels like a restart of itself every time. It turns the squelching percussion to 11, has Janet double-track every vocal, before it breaks down into a sea of harmonies that took me aback on first listen since it’s just gorgeous.

This manic, broken production honestly really fits the content which is about unconditional love – the writing is clunky as all Hell and I think that’s kind of the point: regardless of any conditions, including what her friends believe, what the situation is – sometimes mentioned to be economic trouble, which would definitely lead to the kind of stress that fuels a song like this – she will love Eddie Murphy in a fat suit forever. It represents this bubbling desire to just be with a person forever in such a uniquely messy way... because love and relationships are messy, especially if you’re married and the finances end up going into the same household and there’s a family dynamic. This couldn’t have been a ballad because a long-term relationship is not just simple, traditional and moving. Janet even tries to go for a half-time ballad in the bridge but even then it’s overwhelmed by the bass and instantly kicked into gear once again. She’s “in love with the inner being”, and the “nutty” image that their relationship gives off is really just a front for how they’ll love each other unconditionally. If everything is perfect, the only place to go is downhill.

Oh, and she does indeed profess her love for the Nutty Professor by the end of the track, before her infectious ad-libs and laugher that’s always a pleasure to the ears come in to decorate an already busy track with as many layers of personality as possible. This song is just pure joy, and for me has been on constant repeat since I discovered it on this year-end list. It’s a bonkers song, but crazy in the name of love, which is a niche emotion that really found its home in pop music.

Something I’ve been thinking about for really the past couple months is why electronic music to me has been so much more resonant in forming a human, emotional response. Any good music will stimulate the brain or create some kind of gut feeling, whether it be visceral hatred, indifference or admiration, and deeper in those categories are two factors: how the song makes you feel and what the song is trying to make you feel. Now, in say, a classic rock song, maybe a Beatles track, “I Want to Hold Your Hand”, the band is trying to make you feel happy. The preferred response is naturally, to be convinced by Paul McCartney’s love-struck performance and infectious chorus, and you feel happy. You could also find the song annoying because of its repetition and lack of self-awareness, but you can’t really debate that the song is trying to make you happy. Electronic music, especially dance music, is where the line becomes harder to distinguish, and the goals of the artist are separate. I could use a more nuanced, narrative-driven folk song to make my point instead of a classic, basic Beatles tune, but electronic dance music, especially the type that hits the pop charts, will also use infectious hooks, one-note performances and repetitive beats and melodic patterns, just like “I Want to Hold Your Hand”. However, the human component is distanced in an EDM song, and whilst the Fab Four aren’t as intimate as a singer-songwriter, they’re using guitars, they’re singing pretty clearly: the humans are available, and you can resonate with the human emotion that a human has written, rehearsed and performed. When the human component is a DJ who hasn’t as much sat down to write the song as much as he has crafted it from samples, programmed beats and synths, that “human component” becomes more fragmented. Whilst there may not be anything as nuanced as a human, what comes close is a human’s thoughts and emotions pushed through a technological lens, which is what to me makes the emotions in electronic music hit harder and deeper.

I did not know this song was on the year-end list until I had nearly finished it and I heard it, seemingly out of nowhere, amidst forgotten R&B and middle-of-the-road country music. It stuck out like a sore thumb, but I quickly remembered why I loved it so much.

#1 – “Better Off Alone” – Alice Deejay

Peak: #27 | Year-End: #88

Sebastiaan Molijin of Alice Deejay says that he wrote the signature lyric of this trance classic about the love of his life, whom he had separated from. She left him, they never spoke again and he never told her that the big hit stemmed from that heartache. Once again, the human component proves its limitations: he couldn’t cough up the aching question of “Do you think you’re better off alone?” to her face, but he can through song, and better yet, through Edith Pronk, a female vocalist. Molijin uses a vocalist closer to his ex-partner’s tones to him to echo those thoughts back. It becomes mutual and confused rather than the basic, simple and aching question, which considering the loaded nature of said refrain, was only ever basic in melody and verbiage. None of that matters though, because by the end of the song and by the time that the one question has been asked repeatedly, that question gains as much gravitas as possible... and remains answered.

The only other in the lyric in the song is the desperate, longing refrain of “Talk to me”, which doesn’t answer the question as much as it echoes the devastated heartache of Molijin, but through Pronk’s voice, it emulates what Molijin wants to hear as much as it does what he wants to say. This lyrical simplicity of course would be an entrapment if not for the ethereal instrumental, which is instantly recognisable and constantly re-interpreted. It starts squeakily, with blaring, dated synths and a plodding four-on-the-floor beat before the synth riff we all know and love comes in... but isn’t complete. It takes until the beat comes to a stop for the synth riff to complete itself in a cloud of cheap but universal synth strings – it’s the closest I’ve really heard music try and replicate the feeling of sudden rain.

Yet, the beat kicks in once again and could get the dancefloor going, kicking in harder than ever, and that’s where a lot of the dissonance comes in. It’s a desperate, depressive track but also just bumps, with an aptly stiff groove but a present one that feels absolutely club-ready. That’s why it’s such a shock to the system when the vocals first come in – Pronk’s a good singer, but it’s a hardly-trained vocal, not Auto-Tuned and just layered over the ethereal synths and a counter-melody that comes beeping in to take over the track for sheer urgency’s sake. It’s imperfect and clashes... and that’s the human component creeping right back in from where it first emerged with the singular lyric. It’s almost a cycle, but Pronk never really stops asking that question. She never stops pleading, even when her only accompaniment is a ribbiting frog of a Eurodance bass tone, and refuses to leave the question unanswered even when showered in a cloudy mist of synth and four-on-the-floor beats that make the whole ordeal seem worthless. She can beg, “Talk to me”, all she wants, but life keeps on going as quickly as possible around her – or him – and even if she can put a stop to it in moments of dreamy bliss, where the synth strings blossom and the percussion takes a backstage role, these moments won’t be forever, and reliving it kind of seems fruitless. Yet reliving is exactly what us humans want to do, and that’s why the song ends with Pronk singing, unaccompanied, a final “Talk to me”. It’s universal.

There’s a reason this song has been constantly interpolated, remixed and sampled by any artist, genre or scene under the sun – it’s purely universal. It asks of two things that we as humans all need: communication and closure, and does so through the most visceral and basic of words yet holds so much nuance and complexity in said words, not to mention the detailed and perfected production choices. When someone samples “Better Off Alone” or even listens to it, they’re definitely the electronics, the synth tones, the entirely digitally-programmed mix, because that’s the only way for the human component to truly resonate and be understood. A dance track with this much energy, melodrama and feverish emotion can really make a song based off two, universally human lyrics work, because it’s taking the human component and layering it on top of what may be more human than any emotional resonance: feeling the beat.

Thank you for reading. I’m not sure if another one of these is in order at any time, since this did take a while to prepare for and listen, even if it didn’t take very long to actually write. These are all great songs, so much so that I feel they could have much more justice done for them than my rambling so I hope I got some of the messages across that I was trying to convey, or that I just convinced you that these are great songs, though really, listening to the songs should prove that in itself. Again, thank you for reading, and I’ll see you on Friday for

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