#also a rant

[lanascurse]

Nothing is “meant to be”. It’s either for you or it isn’t, that’s your choice. You get to choose what you want to change or not. Fuck relying on the “divine” that was never there by your side. The “divine” that demands blind loyalty, guaranteeing you nothing. It’s all made up bullshit, go live your life how you want, choose who you want in your life, do what you want that fills you with passion, all without the fear that it isn’t for you. If you want it, then get it. It’s yours.

[mikrokosmos]

Dutilleux - Sonatine for flute and piano (1943)

Every now and then I’ll come across a story about a piece of music where the composer thought that it was somewhat “beneath” them, or that it isn’t as worthy of performances than their more “mature” works. I can understand this attitude to some extent…as an amateur pianist and composer myself I do feel insecure about whenter my own music is “good enough” to share with other people, but in these cases I’m annoyed by “Great” composers who aren’t happy with their own work if it isn’t “Great Enough”. Obvious example is Brahms and the countless drafts and works he burned due to this perfectionist attitude. He almost erased the first piano trio from his oeuvre for not being good enough. I’m thankful he didn’t, because that trio has some of his most beautiful passages in it (you can listen here). The case is similar to Henri Dutilleux, who was dismissive of his early music for being too juvenile or not reflecting his more mature style, as if the piano sonata and the sonatina for flute and piano are mere trifles with little value, and not the masterpieces they are. Maybe this speaks to a similar issue with figures of the 20th century who were so concerned with their legacy and image in posterity that they had a bit of…maybe rude of me to say, but a bit of arrogance in thinking that they are too good for their own music. All the great composers have weaker music in their collections, but none of that music isn’t “worth” listening to or doesn’t deserve to exist. Sometimes I do wish we could go back to the days of constant publishing and feeling confident enough to share anything we create, even the “less great” works.

Ok, rant over. I got annoyed about this topic from reading about how Dutilleux didn’t care for this Sonatine, despite how great the music sounds to me. Either I have bad taste, or he needs to get off his French high horse. Perhaps the dismissive attitude is because of how much this sonata betrays the influence of Debussy and Ravel. And maybe it’s the 20th century attitude of “Make everything New” that would make someone be insecure about not sounding “original”, even though the majority of artists throughout history show how the greats of the past influenced them, and in this case, Debussy and Ravel are two of the greatest composers of all time and one should be proud to say yes, they inspired me to write music. Maybe a more understandable reason he didn’t love this Sonatine too much is that it was written primarily as an exam piece for flute students at the Paris Conservatoire. Despite being an academic exercise, the music is not stodgy and academic or perfunctory, and it manages to utilize both the lyrical expectations of flute playing with high technical demands in a musically enjoyable way, one that makes it more engaging and worthy of going out of your way to listen to than something like a Hanon piano exercise.

The work is in three short movements, the first opening with piano in unison octaves with creating mysterious atmosphere that the flute then emerges from. This section feels like a dreamy barcarolle quietly rowing along with whole tone scales, and then decorations in the piano with hints of Stravinsky, leading into a beautiful “chorale” passage that makes me think of a Poulenc sonata. In the repeat, both flute and piano parts are more heavily decorated and change the opening texture. There is a sudden pause in the momentum, and over a pedal point and chord in the piano, the flute flies up into a cadenza in its higher registers, somewhat reminicent of birdsong, and the piano interjects with solemn octaves. This leads into the slower middle movement, another chorale like passage but with a more ambiguous character with the flute passage becoming somewhat more haunted. The tension builds and the music gets faster and more frantic, imediately transitioning into the finale with the piano playing a kind of perpetuum mobile passage, and when the flute joins in the character completely changes into something sunny, bright, and glistening with color. This fun movement passes glittering passages between the two instruments before the flute is given another cadenza, longer than earlier and incorporating material from the previous two movements. It is full of impressive passages of scales, fluttering, trills, and pushes into both the lowest and highest registers of the instrument. The piano slowly and quietly creeps in as the music builds another crescendo of energy until the final bar, an abrupt ending that winks at the audience. Even though this was written primarily for the flutist to show their skills, the piano part is also demanding and the music has both instruments playing significant roles. It is also another example of Dutilleux’s interest in contrasts of instrumental color. And as I already said, even though he didn’t think much of this work and almost didn’t publish it, I’m glad that he did keep it alive so we could hear it, because the music is still great and enriching even if the composer didn’t think so. The world is always better with more music, not less.

Movements:

Allegretto

Andante

Animé

[helenvader]

My freedom to be insane ends in half an hour or so. Boo.

BTW I do not understand my friend, but once she yelled at me that she didn't want to hear anything about my fandom activities ever again, because it's childish and stupid and whatnot, and I told myself ok, you just went a step down on the friendship ladder, but are still worth being in contact with. Unless something similar happens again on another topic.

This never happened to me with anybody. At worst people were bored. 🤣

[write-away-from-here]

The gifts I never got to give you:

A notebook full of pictures and paragraphs for our fifth anniversary

A crocheted purple fox I made, I bought the yarn just a week before you left

A dinner at a fancy restraunt at the beach with fresh seafood, no lobster this time

A blanket, big enough for both of us, without sherpa on one side

Matching keychains made with lesbian pride yarn

A piece of genuine jade jewelry, a necklace or bracelet, whichever you would pick

Two necklaces from the renaissance faire... one was a sword, the other was a cat sitting on a crescent moon

A picnic under the trees in the crisp air on a quilted blanket, a basket full of takis and sandwiches with everything spicy on them

A night, just the two of us, soft and sweet, slowly going over every single thing I love about you

A sword, made by hand, just for you

A ring

[ramblesrantsmusings]

As interviews for TFATWS are making the rounds, the cast is excited about having their characters get some much-needed screen time and focus  (understandably).

Now because of this, there is (rather obviously) some talk about how this was not the case with Pepper, Rhodey and Happy. You are right. It wasn’t. The reason behind it is that all three Iron Man movies were released before Disney began having a say in the MCU. It is because the writers and others involved didn’t have the pressure to tie the movies to a larger plotline and other ensemble movies. It is also because some element of Tony was also a somewhat prime focus of these ensemble movies. Even CW, which was a Cap movie, ended up being not really about him. So yes, Sam, Bucky, Sharon and the titular character of the movie were sidelined to give someone else the focus and it’s about time some of them get their due.

I guess what I am saying is that when you call it the TCU, you do recognise that the movies were largely about him but somehow do not acknowledge it during the discourse. Somehow it wasn’t enough. Somehow it was better than the rest.

Edit: I want to clarify that I am not an anti and this is an oversimplification. I am just cognizant of the fact that some characters weren't explored to their full potential to make space for another. Because this is the MCU, this is very common and worse for POC characters and women. But just putting this out there.

[yumeceo]

bro i hate gender !!

wearing a regular bra ? WACK

i have breast dysphoria, but binding ? WACK

i have hair dysphoria, but tucking my hair in a hat ? WACK

leaving my hair down ? WACK

like how the fuck do i present as androgynous if i’m not comfortable presenting in ANYTHING ???????

I’M GONNA FAIL MY GENDER PRESENTATION !!!!!!!!!!!

THIS IS WHAT BEING QUOIGENDER AND CHAOSGENDER FEELS LIKE 

[marcirose]

My thoughts on Code Lyoko Evolution

Okay I know this post is about 3-4 years late, but now that I’m getting back into Code Lyoko again, I decided to give my full thoughts on the noncanon season 5 titled “Evolution”

(Yes, I refuse to acknowledge it as canon. In my eyes, Code Lyoko ended at season 4. Evolution is a shitty fanfiction)

Now the biggest thing that really put me off was the fact that it was live-action. That’s always been the most critiqued thing regarding a show transitioning from animation to live action, and I will acknowledge that they gave us some good shots, but overall, I wish they stuck to animation because it looks like they were limited on what they could do (I mainly saw this with XANA’s attacks but I’ll get to that later) compared to what they could do if it was animated: character expressions, movement, lighting, a whole bunch of stuff could make a huge difference. It’s like Moonscoop said “Oh we can’t do this, so we’ll do this” without really thinking of what they could do.

Okay it’s obvious that the best scenes are when the gang is on Lyoko, which honestly kinda proves my point further. The characters are more expressive, more lively, and the action scenes are actually rather nice to watch.

The more I watched Evolution, the more I realized that the switch from animation to live action was the least of my worries.

A whole lot of stuff regarding the story didn’t seem to make sense to me. Scratch that: everything regarding XANA didn’t make sense to me. The way he was brought back was basically Moonscoop saying that they can’t really move on from XANA to another villain to keep the show interesting. I kinda get it: the show started with XANA, and by that note, it should continue with XANA. But, if you killed off your main antagonist at the end of the series, but later you want to continue the series, give it a new antagonist.

Literally XANA’s return is summed up as “XANA didn’t really die. He escaped into another supercomputer so now the Lyoko Warriors have to go into that supercomputer to defeat him.”

I’m sorry, but did that mean Franz Hopper died for nothing?

I’m sorry, that’s just really lazy.

Speaking of XANA, what happened to him? He used to be the biggest threat in the show: controlling a satellite, creating killer robots and killer music, ripping the school in half, killing Yumi on multiple occasions, taking control of William for an entire season, destroying Lyoko, rearranging the route of two trains carrying nuclear bullshit so they’ll crash into each other, controlling a bus with Ulrich inside it to crash into a nuclear power plant, sending his monsters to the real world, REVERSING GRAVITY TO SEND EVERYONE INTO SPACE.

Do I need to go on?

Instead, he’s sending spectre after spectre after spectre. Yeah, they can do something, but in Evolution, they just walk around menacingly and that’s it. They don’t shoot lightning out of their hands, they don’t try to stop the warriors from escaping, they don’t try to throw anything at the warriors to immobilize them. They literally follow them until they’re cornered before deciding to attack, and that takes the ENTIRE SECOND ACT OF AN EPISODE. It might be because of XANA being weak, but even in a weakened state, XANA could cause some major havoc.

Now that we’re talking about villains, let’s talk about the secondary villain in Evolution named Lowell Tyron (I literally had to look up his first name). Compared to XANA, he’s a weak villain. He doesn’t affect the plot in any sort of way (save for the bullshit with Aelita’s mom) until the very last episode where he destroys the Cortex and tries to recruit Laura (I’ll get to her soon enough), and he mainly just sits back and lets the Ninjas (the basic equivalent to XANA’s monsters) do everything for him. I kept forgetting he was in the show until someone mentioned him. If you have a villain who doesn’t affect the plot in any way, shape, or form, then you have a bad villain no matter how good the personality is.

(He also has the typical personality of “evil scientist guy” and it’s just weak. Same with his motives. This was in 2012. You cannot have a live-action villain so cartoony unless it was intended).

I’ll admit, the Cortex is really cool, and the MegaPod is a cool vehicle.

Most of the stuff is just never explained in the show. For example, the Lyoko Warriors (Except for Jeremie and William), are embedded with codes that helped XANA come back. Where did the codes come from? I don’t know. How did they get these codes? Good question. Are they important? HELL NO! Take out the code bullshit, and literally nothing changes. “The codes are used to strengthen XANA when he gets a hold of them.” The Return to the Past strengthens XANA too. I don’t see the point in why this exists.

You have a new villain, you have a new character, you have a new area to explore, you have plot points that the original left unfinished. Why do you need this?

They also explain that the Ice and Forest sectors practically deleted themselves because of the Supercomputer being shut down for a year. I’m sorry, the Supercomputer had been shut down for A DECADE before Jeremie found it, and all of the sectors were in one piece. Plus, those were the prettiest sectors. How dare you?

The characters have gotten a huge downgrade as well. I’d have to say my favorite out of the bunch was William, and that’s saying a lot since I never liked William in the original show, although I think it’s cause I mainly feel bad for him for all of the shit he had to go through. Odd was always my favorite Lyoko Warrior, but I had to ask “Moonscoop, what did you do to my son?”

Ulrich and Yumi had it the worst of all. It’s like they took 2 steps forward and 100 steps back regarding their characters and their relationship. Most of the time, Yumi just spends her time just glaring at Ulrich, and their main interaction was the two of them fighting that’s the central plot of an episode. This is exactly why I never shipped these two. They always got into fights over nothing, and instead of talking about a misunderstanding, they just spite each other more.

Now we’re getting to the newest bitch on the block, the bitch that everyone hates more than Sissi (her character just made me appreciate Sissi): Laura Gauthier. I never liked Laura. I’ll say that right now. When Odd first called her “Mrs. Einstein,” I believe I can say for the entire fandom that we said “Odd Della Robbia, you better take that shit back.”

Swear to God, Laura pissed me off more than Sissi and William combined. I could not stand her whenever she was onscreen, and she gave off the vibes of being a Mary Sue. How the fuck could she fix the Supercomputer, a device she has NEVER SEEN BEFORE, and create a program that makes her immune to the Return to the Past WITH JEREMIE LOOKING OVER HER SHOULDER!? She practically forced herself into the group, and was a huge red flag, and that’s not even involving her just being a fucking bitch, especially to Aelita. That comment about Anthea just made me want to slap her. I just wanted her written off of the show. I didn’t care how, just get rid of her.

Laura also gets a pass for doing shit the other warriors got kicked out of the group for doing. Her father wanted to take her out of Kadic (Good riddance), and she automatically shows him the Supercomputer in an attempt to let her stay. I don’t give a shit what her reasoning is; that is the biggest fucking rule of being a Lyoko Warrior. AND SHE GETS A PASS FOR IT! ASIDE FROM AELITA, EVERYONE INCLUDING JEREMIE VOTED TO KEEP HER IN THE GROUP! YEAH, SHE WAS IMMUNE TO THE RETURN TO THE PAST, BUT AS SHOWN IN “MUTINY” THEY REVERSED THAT SO WHAT’S THE PROBLEM!? SCREW TYRON BEING THE SECONDARY VILLAIN! THAT TITLE BELONGS TO LAURA!

I’m not even involving shipping bullshit. Take that into account with my criticism.

The show didn’t even end well. It ends on a shitty cliffhanger. Jeremie creates another virus to put in Tyron’s computer so it could destroy XANA, but Tyron shuts down the computer before the virus could finished downloading. The show ends with Jeremie basically saying that the virus will take effect when Tyron turns on his supercomputer again.

JEREMIE BELPOIS WHAT THE FUCK DOES THAT SOLVE!?

They’re basically playing a waiting game, and I’m just wondering why they would think Tyron would turn his Supercomputer back on with the knowledge that they go inside it? If I was him, I’d keep it closed for good. Besides, XANA can’t do shit because the Supercomputer is off. Even without the virus, you guys still won so what’s the issue here?

Code Lyoko Evolution is a fucking fanfiction and I refuse to acknowledge it as canon. The original series ended perfectly, and the plot points it left hanging could be interpreted among fans. Some people like it, and I’ll admit they took some creative liberties with it and experimented with live action, but the story just falls flat, the characters have gotten worse than their original counterparts, the new characters are bad, and the only good thing I can say about the show is the CGI has immensely improved. Hell that’s the only good thing people can say about Evolution.

Honestly, just watch Evolution for the CGI scenes, but aside from that, you can ignore it completely. It’s not worth your time. I’d prefer Evolution not exist, but if it has to, I’ll make a post about how I would rewrite it. Take this post with a grain of salt if you actually like Evolution. Just know that I don’t, and I wish it didn’t exist.