I talk about stuff I watch, read, and play. I review kids' shows, books, games, and junk I find on the internet. I swear a lot. I'm kind of a poser because I swear so much less in person.
So...with the new developments in Gunnerkrigg Court do I rescind my theory that Coyote is the Forest? Nope. In fact, if you’ll recall that I closed out the mini essay by saying “ANNIE IS COYOTE EVERYONE IS COYOTE!”
See, I was going to do a part 2 of this theory working out some thoughts about what Kat is, and what The Court might be, but I think that’ll have to wait considering the escalating “Holy crap!” incidents in recent chapters.
Let’s start with dividing Antimony in half and what the hell that could mean. Now, because it’s been a while since I’ve felt like doing content I haven’t done my research to see what other current theories people are throwing around and this might not be as thorough as it could be.
Now, one could say that “No, this isn’t Loup ripping Antimony in half illustrated by him literally having two Antimonies on screen while literally manipulating the symbol of her fire which is analogous to her soul because the other Antimony says she doesn’t remember to this point.”
Well, remember the paradox is “can a thing exist before it is created” and Coyote does think that it can be. Also, Court Antimony could be lying. Also, Coyote had the powers of memory consumption and time manipulation - even if we aren’t dealing with paradoxical Antimony this would seem to be within the power set. And the fact that it fits within the visual metaphor already established by etheric scenes is rather genius. I love this page.
I’m rather impressed with the framing of Court Antimony vs Forest Antimony because we don’t want to trust Court Antimony, but what has she done that’s really and truly out of character for Antimony Prime? Nothing.
Not even that.
The framing of Court Antimony probably gives us a chance to see how other people view Antimony normally. Standoffish, perhaps a bit stuck up, hard to read, is she sincere? Is she being manipulative? Antimony Prime could be manipulative when she wanted to be - like when she rejected Jack after leading him on, she could be sulking, intense, pouty, she’s been jealous of Kat’s affections, she could fight dramatically - and give her a few months she’d probably learn how to shoot laserbeams from her fingers. It’s disorienting to us, and it’s great.
But...
Surma was never supposed to have two daughters. She physically couldn’t. And what did Ysengrin mean when he said that they intended to take Antimony far far away?
Well, if she’s a part of the forest that Coyote could have someday dragged back to himself and the court is actively draining ether away - (and if it’s built on part of the body of a God wouldn’t that have an awful lot of power?) - well, it might make a type of sense to keep parts of that power inaccessible.
What is the Omega device? Why did Surma have a child?
One possibility is if the “flame” is to endure they could be trying to weaken it with human blood. There’s implication that Antimony started weaker than Surma in her powers. The treatises regularly depict Antimony drawn to the forest or the forest trees wrapped around, the 5th treatise and the 6th show her with plants springing from her hair - and in the 6th she’s part of the forest as their medium. What if that is rather literal? Coyote seems rather interested in fanning her flame.
So what could be the consequences of Antimony’s flame being divided. There’s the barest of hints that the tear might not have been clean.
But if Loup is not going to combine them or steal one or both of them - what could be the possibilities here?
Could Antimony raise her own child if only one of her selves dies? Would they both die? Is this setting up a dramatic sacrifice?
https://biblehub.com/matthew/23-27.htmhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Wine_into_Old_WineskinsSo for Music Monday (which isn’t a thing - or is it!) I got my favorite New Year’s song - which isn’t a thing but yeah - New Years Eve by Five Iron Frenzy.
To be honest almost all the music I like tends towards some level 11 morose and Five Iron Frenzy are some A+ Christian Ska Punk Sad Boys - which is also not a thing but you know. Pretty much every year it’s like the song I got stuck in my head (except for the end of 2017/2018 when it was the beginning of Binary for : If “hope springs eternal” it never did here / guess I lost all my Hope last year” which is in fact a reference to the political situation by me, thank you and oh wait that’s a tangent)
Cut for Tumblr messing up my formatting every time I try to save and edit I Swear this godforsaken website is going to drive me to youtube.
We open super strong with some cynicism:
It's New Year's Eve and I'm full of empty promises
I half pretend to keep this time
Just like last year
The band is loud and I'm wandering in the shadows
Wishing I was never here <Watch for the double meaning here
I persevere
A crowded room
These whitewashed tombs <Biblical Reference
They raise their glasses high
They kiss the past goodbye
This New Year's Eve, I'm waiting for tomorrow
My heart is on my sleeve, and yes I still believe
This New Year's Eve, will turn out better than before
I'm holding on, still holding out
Until they close the door... on me <Chorus goes for a theme of hope in the face of overwhelming despair that goes through some of the best FIF songs.
It's New Year's Eve and I feel my insecurities
Are haunting me like ghosts, this sinking quicksand
And then with thunderous praise and lofty adoration
A second passes by, yet nothing changes <This is strongly in my top five of their lyrics ever. **
I hate my skin
This grave I'm standing in
Another change of years
And I wish I wasn't here < The payoff recall of the line in the first verse that makes the depressive episode explicit and severe.
This New Year's Eve, I'm waiting for tomorrow
My heart is on my sleeve, and yes I still believe
This New Year's Eve, will turn out better than before
I'm holding on, still holding out
Until they close the door... on me
A year goes by and I'm staring at my watch again
And I dig deep this time
For something greater than I've ever been
Life to ancient wineskins. And I was blind but now I see <More Biblical Reference
This New Year's Eve, something must change me inside
I'm crooked and misguided, and tired of being tired
This New Year's Eve, I'm waiting for tomorrow
My heart is on my sleeve, and yes I still believe, in You <Ends on hope and a reaffirmation of faith.
Now I’m not going to say that whatever genre of Christian Rock this is has to be anyone’s thing, but it’s a song that kind of resonates with me. I can go on, he sings that “his heart is on his sleeve” which evokes a sort of openness about what he’s feeling but he still drifts through a room full of people somewhat ignored and irrelevant. He doesn’t think much of the people he’s with but there’s a fear of being shut out and given up on that - and for that matter he doesn’t think much of himself.
So for all who appreciate the subgenre of music that is “I AM SO SAD AND THINGS ARE SO HARD GUYS!” (which isn’t a thing, but it is) have a Happy 2019 and I hope it’s better.
(**Okay so my other top lyrics are the first verse to Every New Day , From Binary : You hide behind your broken wings / your dreams are all for better things. , From Spartan : He said “love endures all things” and it hurts to think it’s true / did it nail him to a cross? Did it crucify him too? , From See the Flames Begin to Crawl I got notebooks full of misshapen words, I’ll never speak them anymore / ten years from now, you won’t know my name throw the microphone down on the floor. ) They not even necessarily my favorite songs - just the lines that give me a little catch in the chest.
Oh and also, also, one of my New Years Resolutions is to do more content. So, hi!
Jim Henson Holiday Special - Why Emmet Otter Endures
So I went to the apparently poorly marketed Jim Henson Holiday Special in the theater last night. Like on a whim. There was pretty much no one else in the theater. It was a double feature of Emmet Otter’s Jugband Christmas and The Bells of Fraggle Rock.
I’m probably glad there was no one else in the theater to hear me snort when Gobo says “I FOUND IT” after Wembley pointed out the bell-shaped cave on the map. Also, he almost kills all his friends.
DID YOU THINK I HAD FORGOTTEN? DID YOU THINK I HAD FORGIVEN?
Anyway, I did a whole shakedown on The Bells of Fraggle Rock and why it’s really good and you should watch it way back, let’s talk instead about the enduring power of a dorky show called Emmet Otter’s Jugband Christmas.
I watched this show a few times as a kid and liked it because funny animals and songs. But there’s something about it that sticks with you when other things might have faded - I mean not gonna lie I was a dumbass kid who liked a lot of stupid shows.
But there’s something charming about the show - the real emotion. You can almost overlook that Pa Otter is a serious deadbeat and that noble poverty stuff kinda rubs me the wrong way (disclosure: having deadbeat parents and growing up poorer didn’t make them good people.)
Let’s be honest, now, the real reason that everyone remembers Emmet Otters Jugband Christmas is these assholes:
These guys are a perfect part of the show in ways that you probably don’t get as a child.
For one thing they’re “antagonists” that don’t do anything besides be kind of rude to our protagonists. They’re rough with someone’s shop, they’re mean to Kermit the Frog, but what’s the worst they do to Emmet and his friends? They’re kind of rude. That’s it.
And they win the talent contest.
They win it by rights, not cheating as these things sometimes go. They win and the contest stays won. The protagonists mostly just don’t matter to these guys who are going though the story on their own terms.
And that’s one reason I think the story endures. Sometimes...you can do your best and that best can be really really good and things still don’t work out perfectly. Sometimes there isn’t a grand good vs evil throwdown and sometimes assholes “win.” But if you pick yourself up and you try your best maybe you’ll find something different. Maybe it’ll be better, and maybe it won’t.
Ma and Emmet get a job, it’s doing something they love but it is a job working for someone else. Pa Otter’s ideals may have given them the kick to take risks, but their own hard work ethic and love for each other got them a good opportunity. The risk got them out there, but it also almost ruined them. Endurance and love won the day. That’s something that sticks with a person where a simple “win” might have made the story fade.
They don’t get a guitar or a piano right then, but they have a chance and things will be okay. Who knows what’ll happen to The Nightmare, they don’t matter to the protagonists either. And that’s a pretty nuanced and sophisticated happy ending for a show about puppet muskrats.
I’ve been thinking about doing it for a while. Twilight has unquestionably ended up in the category of “culturally relevant” and I’ve been on board the “your hand-wringing over the role models in this book seems suspect if you don’t do the same for media aimed at men” camp. So when the talented Lindsay Ellis did a video essay on that subject I decided it was finally time to bite the bullet.
It’s...not that bad. I would read all of Twilight before I ever read anything by Heinlein again.
A lot of it depends on whether Twilight is your “poison” so to speak. It’s a specific genre that isn’t usually meant for men, so I understand men not being drawn to the book or even finding it off putting. I find certain tropes that end up in male writing off-putting. And not just sexism. (For example your Scalzi, Brandon Sanderson, Andy Weir, and their insufferable “I’m so much smarter than my genre tropes” writing that makes me want to punch them in the goddamn teeth. ...and I LIKE Sanderson.)
I do read other young adult novels aimed at young women, even ones that take place in high school, and so I have some tolerance for Twilight’s brand of tropes. So the base book is something I can stomach but isn’t something that men are generally exposed to.
On the other hand it didn’t really draw me in like a better book would. Most of the time when I read a book that’s good, or even compelling, I can’t put it down and want to keep reading it. I had zero trouble walking away from Twilight until my checkout was almost expired.
But I did genuinely like Bella’s love of Arizona. It really came through how great Phoenix is (Phoenix is amazing.) And that she never came around to renouncing her love of the desert fully. That was nice, most people kind of hate the desert or tolerate it.
I’m going to be “coming back” officially like soon from my unofficial hiatus and 2017 sucks funk. (Ugh it’s over now but I don’t feel better.)
But I feel I have to say something. Just a little something.
When I was young, and unhappy I read and reread the Earthsea trilogy. Especially the Tombs of Atuan. The idea of being a young high priestess with her own secret underground world really appealed to me. A place just my own, the power to punish those who’d wrong me, there was a part of me that was very sad that she was “rescued” from this life in the end.
Now, of course, there was more to it than that and I realized it even at the time. But the dark secret place stuck with me. And though I’ve grown up and read more of her books, the famous and serious ones, the important ones. That feelings of beautiful, lonely, melancholy is still what I think of when I think of her work.
I’ve never blamed authors like Octavia Butler or Margaret Atwood for distancing themselves from the label of “science fiction” because there has been (and continues to be) a lot of hostility towards women who write science fiction - who consume science fiction. If the gatekeepers want them out, how dare we try to insist they belong here when they write something wonderful.
In college I went through several lit classes that used Norton Anthologies, and only recently did they add a section on “speculative fiction” and one of the very few selections was by LeGuin. There was some discussion in one of these classes on what is the “literary canon” and who decides it. Some gatekeepers want women out. But LeGuin was one of the authors who elevated the genre.
Go see Coco. It was beautiful and very engaging. You should go see it. The pacing is great, doesn’t feel like it drags.
I make it no secret that I live in Arizona, but I wasn’t born there. So I can’t speak as much on the accuracy or not of the Day of the Dead aspects. I have been to local exhibits about it, and the imagery seems familiar but it’s not something I’m intimately familiar with.
And the imagery is where it stands out. There’s a real sense of wonder in the Land of the Dead. The character designs there were amazing, and great verbal and sight gags throughout.
To address the elephant in the room : it’s not really that much like Book of Life at all.
There were just a couple things that were disappointing.
Nooooooow let’s talk about those things....
WITH SPOILERS!
Well, first, the Frozen short before the movie sucked. It sucked so bad. It was SO BAD.
Mostly it was long. I get it, it’s a show for children. Tiny tiny easily amused children who just want to see their favorite characters again. I actually get that - I was one of those kids. And the parts with Anna and Elsa are the best parts of the short - and their dresses are amazing. The animation quality - especially for what was to be a TV short - is superlative. But it’s just so long and it’s just so banal. And the songs are awful.
Now for the disappointment.
Super spoilers
SUPER SPOILERS
So Coco’s worst sin is that’s it’s pretty predictable and formulaic. That’s not always bad. In some ways to be predictable might be better than to be stupid about twists.
Unfortunately that’s the formula they’re trying to follow now - stupid twists. We got us yet another “bait and switch villain” ala Hans from Frozen.
It’s just not working for me anymore.
I think we could have had an equally interesting story without finding out that “Family is good and pure and the most important thing ever! See, he never meant to leave and aw shucks the guy who is ambitious is ACTUALLY MURDEROUSLY EVIL.”
Lolwut?
You could have had an incredibly similar movie, and just had him be a coward who didn’t give credit to a friend while he was alive and have him feel remorse now and help in the afterlife.
You could have had an interesting movie about an imperfect ancestor who kept promising he’d go back “eventually” but died too soon and the goal was to help him make those amends to his family.
But nah. That would be nuanced. We gotta go for the formula.
Anyway, this is just me being picky. You should go see it. I did enjoy it. It wasn’t perfect, but nothing is. And it was a great way to spend an evening and it was worth the money spent. It was wondrous and brilliant.
Blitz Reviews: All the movies I watch on the plane from PHX to Bangalore and Back Again
So...I survived hurricane Irma. My first summer vacation was to Tampa. That was...exciting.
And then we barely made it through London Heathrow and apparently a hurricane was hot on our tails.
You know it managed to hurricane on me in the desert like two years ago? Frickin’ Norbert.
Anyway. ALL THE MOVIES I WATCHED ON THE PLANE.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
I thought it was better than the first one in a lot of ways. I think that Lindsay Ellis said everything better than I ever could.
My Cousin Rachel
Ooooh mystery and sexism. Not bad. But not really my style.
Alien Covenant
The bad thing about having to do Freudian analysis exercises for lit class is that I can’t help but think that Ridley Scott really wants to suck a dude’s dick but feels really uncomfortable about that fact.
Kung Fu Panda
Wow, I really missed out not watching this sooner, this was pretty funny.
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
I liked this one though it did seem just a liiiiitle long.
I tried to watch the new Mummy movie but the machine didn’t want to let me.
Four episodes of Brooklyn Nine Nine so now I went and borrowed the first three seasons from the library.
Rewatched Deadpool
Possibly the best movie. But I’ve only watched it on planes so maybe the altitude plus free plane alcohol has affected my opinion
Danielle Reads - Houston, Houston, Do You Read? (Spoilers)
“They were good men, he says bitterly. They aren't bad men. You don't know what bad means. You did it to them, you broke them down. You made them do crazy things. Was it interesting? Did you learn enough?” His voice is trying to shake. “Everybody has aggressive fantasies. They didn't act on them. Never. Until you poisoned them.”
They gaze at him in silence. “But nobody does,” Connie says finally. “I mean, the fantasies.”
“They were good men,” Lorimer repeats elegiacally.
It’s been bouncing around my head for a while that James Tiptree Jr.’s “Houston Houston, Do You Read?” is a really great short story and you should read it. For my monthly book club we recently read the collection of short stories “Her Smoke Rose Up Forever.” It’s a great collection, highly recommended. But the individual story can be found here, and as an audio drama on The Internet Archive (It’s #17).
Read it now there are spoilers in the next paragraph.
The plot is briefly that a mission from the early space program goes wrong and the men go through some type of time distortion and end up in the future. They are picked up by a ship full of women. And they come to find out that there are no men left on earth. They don’t take it well.
The lead quote is from the end of the story and really stuck in me. The repetition of “They were good men.”
One of these good men tried to rape a woman. One of these good men tried to take over the ship and kill people because women ruling themselves offends him religiously and personally.
We hear again and again the things “good men” do. This isn’t a comment on any particular incident - this has stuck in my head since April, I’ve had this draft started for weeks. You can’t go very long before someone, somewhere, some “good man” has done something harmful to women.
A man can be a good man - to men - and it doesn’t say anything about how he it to women. There’s another line at the end:
“what do you call yourselves? Women's World? Liberation? Amazonia?
“Why, we call ourselves human beings.” Her eyes twinkle absently at him, go back to the bullet marks. “Humanity, mankind. She shrugs. The human race.
Which illustrates the problem : woman is other. Man is human woman is...something else. The way the men talk about women in the story is masterful at illustrating this : bantam hen, chicks, space bunnies, bees, ants. Dehumanizing. And we see inside the head of the “good man” the one who “sides” with them. Even he is disdainful of women, doesn’t like talking to them, thinks of raping them and tying them up, taking the ship from them.
“Good men.”
I guess you could argue that they are drugged and not responsible for their actions. But before they are drugged they don’t want to believe in a ship full of women, before they are drugged the Captain says he’d hit them to punish them if they were his daughter, before they are drugged the captain brings up the subject of rape “ I guarantee the conduct of my crew provided you can control yours.” “Provided you can control yours.”
The drugs don’t make them what they aren’t.
You hear this excuse a lot : it was a different time. You might read me being terribly unforgiving to shows from my childhood when they’re sexist or racist or otherwise badly behaved. An insidious way to excuse horrendous behavior - and to keep it spreading - is to minimize it under the excuse of “it was a different time.” I’m not saying we should not read or watch old material, but let’s call bad what’s bad and not try and forgive bullshit.
If men are to be truly “good” they have to stop defending bad.
I know I should be taking this seriously but I’ve been marathoning X Files and the dissonantly cheerful music now feels inexorably tied that thing they were going in Season 5&6 -
-oh DEER!
Slow burn horror movies are my favorite and this is amazing.
I’m not even sure I’m qualified to speak on how great this is.
AAAH THE PHOTOS IN THE CLOSET. AAAH AAH AAH.
Oh this is classic!
I love the sunken place imagery.
Hmm, could do without the flashbacks to the foreshadowing. Minorest of quibbles though.
Oh man holy shit.
Okay not as much commentary on this one because you SHOULD JUST WATCH THIS MOVIE.
Seriously though if she would have gone and reached out at the very first and said “yes, this is all more than I can handle” things would have -
-HOLY SHIT THE DOG
Problem with horror movies is there’s a finer line between scary and goofy than we like to think.
Uhm. ‘k.
See, yeah, she needed to acknowledge it to disempower it making it a metaphor for mental illness and the feelings of being overwhelmed and helplessness she’s had since her husband died.
Ppppfffaaahahahaha “My cousin’s not coming because I broke her nose in two places.”
So it still lives in the basement because it’ll always be a problem but blahblah overcoming it.
Seriously though are either of you actually getting therapy?
Aww yes, home alone with junk food and a bunch of horror movies. Let’s go! We got : The Babadook, Get Out, and What We Do in the Shadows. Babadook first!
Tl;dr : No movie is perfect but this is one of my favorite serious superhero movies ever.
This movie was a great time. I’ll even - for once - forgive the gray hue of the film in man’s world since it serves in contrast to Themyscira. I enjoyed Gal Gadot (tall ladies represent!) and thought that she was completely charming. Dr. Poison is my favorite villain in like forever. Great look, great menace.
Spoilers and more detailed thoughts below.
One weakness is, with all shows that deal with someone not from “modern” Western Society plunked down in a big city you end up with a storyline that at some point is just as much about people “dealing with” the fish-out-of-water. This isn’t limited to female characters (see Thor, George of the Jungle) but it does serve to take focus of the title character.
I didn’t care for the budding romance between her and Steve. I think that
((((((SERIOUS SPOILER))))))
That she would have been just as upset losing him without that aspect since he’s the only other person who saw Themyscira. Everyone around her looks at her as if she is mad. And more as if she were a madWOMAN a rather dangerous thing to be at any time. She surely notices, though she has more goals than fixing what people think of her. But she had one person who knew where she was from and that she was telling the truth and now he’s gone.
I was kind of hoping Dr. Poison would have been Aires, but I guess it worked pretty well how it was.
Though that guy really reminded me of Nigel Thornberry.
Danielle’s Top 10 Favorite X Files Episodes (Season 1 to 5) (Top ten Tuesday)
I LIVE! Excuses are boring, let’s get right back to work.
I ended up liking X Files. Well, I “like” X Files in the “this is something I like to watch but also like to claim I don’t like to watch.” It helped when I learned that a lot of people I know also find the myth arc episodes to be weaker.
So, I was GOING to do a “pre movie” set of my favorite X Files episodes, and then if I made it through the series then maybe a second set. HOWEVER Netflix decided that I was done watching X Files a few episodes shy of the end of Season 5.
Let’s go!
Number 10: Kill Switch
I don’t think that Kill Switch is one of the best episodes of the show, but it’s one that I enjoyed a lot because of my own preference towards tragic AI and ambiguous endings. Some of it is too dorky and I’m not sure I consider it a really “good” episode, but it’s one that I especially enjoyed.
Number 9: War of the Corprophages
Is pretty much here for that one effect. You know the one. Crawling on my screen. *shudder* Also, though, a lot of interesting fakeouts in this one. Usually that’s kind of frustrating but I thought it was compelling how they unwrapped this one. I’m not a fan of “jealous Scully” episodes, though.
Number 8: Ice
Yes, yes, it is another rehash of “Who Goes There?” / The Thing but I think that they did a good job. This episode was one of the first ones that I sat still and actually watched. Before that I would just kind of “let it run” while I wander around.
Number 7: Die Hand Die Verletzt
An interesting episode in that it subverts your “small town” expectations. Also your cultist expectations. X-Files is nominally about searching for truth but the truth can be elusive when dealing with repressed memories, false memories, and satanic cults. Creepy without being too gory.
Number 6: Piper Maru & Apocrypha
One of the few “Myth Arc” duology episodes that I enjoyed. The black oil arc in general was one of the more tolerable parts of the “myth arc.” And I appreciate the reintroduction of Krycek. This one also seems like it could stack “on top” of the tangled conspiracies rather than supplant them like some others tried to “it’s aliens!” “no it’s genetic engineering!” “No it’s false memories!” Until you don’t care anymore. Black oil has such a visceral impact - genuinely unsettling.
Number 5: Unusual Suspects
An interesting opportunity to flesh out The Lone Gunmen some with great use of Mulder as a side character. Funny without being too corny. Sometimes elaborating on interesting side characters kills the charm, but I think that this did the opposite for me.
Number 4: Humbug
This is one was one of my first real favorites. There was some good humor here, and some effective use of the characters. Scully eating the cricket (real or not) is a good highlight. Mulder jokingly hitting on the hotel proprietor. And the sideshow actors get their own good lines “Imagine, going through your whole life looking like that.”
Number 3: Paper Hearts
Probably kind of a weird episode to be on a favorite list, but I have weird tastes. I mean, we KNOW that the episode is going to come to nothing, but this episode is a great examination of Mulder’s character. While I’m not the biggest Mulder fan Duchovny does a great job here going through a huge range of emotions. And just the plot idea - what if Mulder has replaced one terrible terrible event with another one in his mind. What happens if you replaced banal and sick and human evil with a grand dramatic conspiracy. And Mulder is just as obsessed and just as rules breaking and just as careless with people as he ever was. It kind of puts into light just how great the collateral damage can be when the collateral damage is potentially a little girl. Great character exploration.
Number 2: Bad Blood
If you can glance down and look at number one you might see why this episode would be number two. I enjoyed the she-said he-said aspect. I enjoyed the vampires just trying to get by and living in a trailer park. Loved the “I WAS DRUGGED!” joke. Duchovny and Anderson did a great job switching up the acting but still being in character. It was so much fun.
Number 1: Jose Chung’s “From Outer Space”
Of course it is! Trying to figure out what really happened and who is telling “the truth” may be futile, but it sure is fun! Every bit of this is great and it’s the only episode that I went back and watched twice (so far.) It’s hard to talk about since you should really just experience it.
Music Monday: Danielle’s Playlist of Favorite Songs for your abusive parents declaring they are visiting for Mother’s day as if that’s subtle.
It’s a working title. IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER. (Oh god I’m so sorry my brain is too scattered to read Lacan for you lately and it’s finally time it really is.)
1. My Mom by Eminem - Not my faaaavorite song because abusive hypercritical moms who jump down your neck for every little thing are why I have trouble with singing stuff that doesn’t literally apply to me. And I’ve never done drugs. Unlike my mom.
2. I Don’t Care by Apocalyptica ft. Adom Gontier - No no, not the music video version. The version with profanity. “I’m getting tired of this shit, I got no room when it’s like this, what you want of me just deal with it.” There we go, there’s the right emotional level.
3. The Outside by Red - “What if you were always wrong - and what if I said I knew it all along?” I could write a half an essay on why this is like the best song for people disaffected with their family.
Disaffected by? Moving on.
4. A Better Son/Daughter by Rilo Kiley - “And your mother’s still calling you insane, and high, swearing it’s different this time / And you tell her to give in to the demons that possess her and that God never blessed her inside” Can you believe that Rilo Kiley is a “them” like Pink Floyd? That still gets to me, it really does.
5. Small Town Trap by Eve 6 - I grew up in a town of 5000 people that was a total amoral shithole. Kind of more evocative of a general “this is what I have overcome” than to this specific and immediate situation.
6. Mama Who Bore Me from Spring Awakening - “Mama who gave me no way to handle things who made me so bad.” Did you know my grandma died? She was by all accounts a terrible parent, too. Not that my mom learned anything but “at least you don’t have it as bad so you should be grateful.” Fine, you win, “cool motive still murder.”
7. I Will Not Bow by Breaking Benjamin - “I will not bow, I will not break I will shut the world away. / I will not fall, I will not fade I will take your breath away. And I’ll survive - paranoid. I have lost the will to change.” I find this song oddly uplifting despite being about someone who’s enduring despite being 900% done arguably while dealing with someone who cares very much about appearances - OH WAIT.
8. Carry On by Fun. - “ If you're lost and alone Or you're sinking like a stone
Carry on / May your past be the sound Of your feet upon the ground
Carry on.” Fun is REALLY too family oriented for me in general, or “Be Calm” would be here instead. But Carry On has the enduring sentiment and the only thing explicitly stated about parents in this is that they’ll die. So, you know, "La mort de l'auteur” and all that.
9. You’re Gonna Go Far Kid by The Offspring - “ Slowly out of line
And drifting closer in your sights / So play it out I'm wide awake
It's a scene about me /There's something in your way
And now someone is gonna pay/ And if you can't get what you want
Well it's all because of me.” I have a feeling if you don’t know why this song might evoke feelings of growing up in a manipulative and messed up household and processing those feelings and experiences then I’m not capable of explaining it briefly.
10. Let Go by Red - Oh man just the whole song. Though right now I’m homing in on “I can’t ignore you anymore.” You know how some bands have a God or Girlfriend problem? Red has a “religious metaphor or crappy childhood metaphor” problem.
And that’s ten and time for bed. Share with me your favorite songs for dealing with your terrible childhood.
Seriously goddamn it if they hadn’t taken down all the Fraggle Rock song channels “Do You Want It?” would be on here.
Danielle Watched : Series of Unfortunate Events - NETFLIX edition
Full disclosure : while I was totally into these books up to around book 10 I still haven’t got around to reading the last couple books of the series. Overall I enjoyed the Netflix Series of Unfortunate Events adaptation. So this is just kind of a quick impression review with some SPOILERS but first some not spoilers.
There’s a real Wes Anderson X Tim Burton vibe to the show, which is quite pleasant if you like that sort of thing. If you don’t like that sort of thing it might be insufferable.
Making each book into two forty minute episodes is something I have mixed feelings about. The books are short. A fast reader could read the first book in less time than it takes to watch the film.
So it can drag a bit at times.
Some of the effects are super clunky and not in a charming way.
Watching rather than just reading about the grim things that happen to the kids can sometimes be a bit uncomfortable, especially with how things can be dragged out a bit.
I agree with the Dom that this is more a remake than an adaptation of the series.
I get a kick out of noticing every VFD. Watching this with people who don’t know the VFD thing is kind of fun because they keep wondering why I’m smirking.
Violet is getting kind of a short shaft getting relegated to “hold the baby and be distressed” a little too much for me.
The kid who plays Klaus is not twelve. Since he’s not a great actor I’d have preferred they get someone who was actually twelve (yeah I know that there are labor laws for kids.)
If not a twelve year old they should have got a short kid. Not for book accuracy but because larger+male tends to equal “stronger” in the societal eye farther making Violet look weak.
Patrick Wharburton as Lemony Snicket seems odd at first but then it seems right.
