Stereogum covered Salt Lake City’s Kilby Block Party, capturing the festival atmosphere with authentic Instagram photography and informative yet fresh hashtags. The festival featured acts like Vampire Weekend and Water from Your Eyes, who impressed with their music. The event’s connection to the punk rock film “Salt Lake City Punk” adds an intriguing historical dimension.
Vampire Weekend was at Kilby; and so was Water from Your Eyes. Stereogum remarks that some of the older acts went with the vibe that they did it right in the first place and it’s never better.
Water from Your Eyes is Rachel Brown and Nate Amos. Thanks for Coming is likewise Brooklyn pop.
Tonight was the first time I looked at Stereogum on IG and I appreciated the realism in their festival photography and the discrete but authentic captions. The hashtagging was suitably informative but fresh-feeling. Remarkable.
Salt Lake City is the setting for the 1990s punk rock film Salt Lake City Punk. I am not sure about the two things, neither Kilby nor SLC Punk have any other connection except for the locale, but if Kilby is twenty-five years running that puts its start date at something like the first release date for Salt Lake City Punk. Interesting that there was an indie rock scene at Kilby starting and, according to the film, some kind of punk rock culture, too.
I had thought the film had mostly employed Salt Lake City to highlight the irony that punk rock had spread to the far-flung reaches of Utah, where a religious element has its sway, I understand. I am not sure that religion and punk rock would be exclusive in any way, but I don’t know that punk rock would lend itself to any kind of conservative element in any way (I’m sure it wouldn’t). I’ve heard it observed that the fashion element of SLC Punk is savvy and charming for viewers who enjoy that dynamic, not just a cult music dynamic like the film has.
It was nice to see the Stereogum page. They have a great newsletter—you should consider subscribing.
My best friend certainly doesn’t agree with much I’ve considered when doing blog posts on much related to underground music.
I think she feels that I’m not considering what song means, in the popular sense, and she doubts I have much good taste in any aspect of music.
I wasn’t looking at it that way at all.
Infrequently but steadily webpages describing feats of current music, typically, or other things to have gone on in musical works, seem to me like they would be interesting where I to share them, usually as to X given that we are a lot older.
She doesn’t see why. It isn’t at all a hobby that speaks to her.
Well, there’s no compelling reasoning behind the decision to do those, except that the posts are accompanied by media images that look intriguing next to post copy, and typically the webpages linked to contain methods to stream music, like Spotify previews or embedded Bandcamp selections.
To me, that’s enough in and of itself. I see, though, the passion she understands that goes with that kind of thing is something she easily has an insight into that I don’t myself.
I wouldn’t be reading the discourse about the music if her insight was as penetrable for me as it is for her. She is lucky she ever uncovered that.
Their ingenious intermingling of sonic range and urgent rhythm helped me understand why music reviewer Anthony Fantano on YouTube spoke highly of the lead-in single to their debut Everyone’s Crushed, especially how discordant it is when he reviewed that record album.
Why wouldn’t you want a very gruelling record like Everyone’s Crushed to be awash in beautifully reckless noise that is examined from without?
Until last year, I hadn’t realized Kyle Alexander Reid was a talented musician until I heard Big Beautiful Dance. There is a wonderful instrumentation in the song that only comes along very rarely, and Kyle’s vocals are arranged to a satisfying end. In the song, Kyle shows the type of day he might present Big Beautiful Dance to the Internet near and far as well as what he thinks about how the beat and rhythm might interact and how to create that moment.
The inventiveness of his vocal delivery and the odd percussive elements that keep the whole song zany and thoughtful are two of the most obvious details that make Kyle appealing. https://t.co/KHLCW4I9tT
My favourite Deerhunter record is Halcyon Digest. My last look at Deerhunter’s Bandcamp page was shortly after I learned the band disbanded. The discography for Deerhunter ended before Halcyon Digest, which is a curious way to delay the completion of their Bandcamp discography.
It’s been a long time since Bradford Cox last performed music, except for one small appearance with another person doing a noise rock show, and the television appearances by MGMT which featured that outfit doing Pink Floyd songs with the Deerhunter rocker in the performances.
There are observations about every song on Halcyon Digest included in the Muse review.
It explains Cox’s most pressing health concern during Deerhunter’s Halcyon Digest, which I found fascinating.
This also explains the meaning behind Halcyon Digest’s closing song He Would Have Laughed, which made Deerhunter seem like one of the most important indie bands ever.
Not that I had any idea this was going on at the time. At the time, I wasn’t a big late-night TV watcher when Deerhunter performed a song from Halcyon Digest on one of the late shows.
It was a mess—as much a guilty pleasure as that song is. First viewing the video and getting my first look at Bradford Cox, I was aghast, asking the universe what was wrong with him. Would he be okay?
Like someone like Iggy Pop, he seemed cool.
A lot of the extra material that accompanied Deerhunter’s discography of indie rock albums as they made their name for themselves quickly challenged that perception, though.
That’s quite a cat, Bradford Cox.
The mysterious song on Halcyon Digest by the other songwriter in Deerhunter is interesting. Deerhunter played it a lot of times. It was a fan favourite.
The two musicians in Deerhunter always seemed to have a friendly relationship as bandmates.
As a matter of fact, there’s been more to the picture that’s been explained now.
A Nightmare on Film Street is the name of a website devoted to horror films. For October 2023, A Nightmare on Film Street prepared a thirty-one-day horror challenge providing prompts for visitors to help them select horror films to watch. A new prompt, presented every day with different degrees of insight, encouraged participants to watch horror films and discuss them on social media. I needed to get a grip on my life, but, reasons. Things You Missed in A Nightmare on Elm Street 3 – YouTube
There were prizes, as well, to make the challenge more immersive. The prizes included Blu-ray editions of films such as Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street. I participated in that contest, but didn’t win.
Freddy Krueger was my theme. For Halloween, the TV channel AMC was running “Fear Fest,” a horror film marathon.
The Fear Fest marathon surprised me that morning when I stumbled upon AMC’s broadcast presentation of the 1987 movie A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, directed by Chuck Russell. Despite the fact that Fantasy was evaluated M15+ in different territories of Australia, it was prohibited in Queensland by the then Bjelke-Petersen government, because of its medication content. To my delight, I got comfortable and settled in for having my morning coffee with the company of the film for thrills and other delights.
I am not a fan of A Nightmare on Elm Street. I have just jumped into the Nightmare on Film Street blog challenge for the first time.
Recently, I listened to Quentin Tarantino talk about A Nightmare on Elm Street 3. The first film in the series (A Nightmare on Elm Street) was better than this movie, according to Tarantino. He did point out that the casting of the actors is a little better now (in 1987 compared to 1984).
The film is bad because it isn’t as inventive as the original.
Top best blogger Arianna Huffington. Arianna Huffington, founder of Huffington Post (silliest news website)
My younger self got an email saying there were brilliant people online. There was also strong long-form blogging.
When I was a lot younger, I remember getting an email saying there were all kinds of brilliant people online. Young people indeed made collages honoring their favorite musicians during the era. As for long-form blogging, which I’ve done a lot as well, I think it was strong too, and it still is, though perhaps less widely adopted than podcasting.
Maybe this is the time that is time for a change.
Content is king, and if you’ve got a good understanding of SEO you can get on the first page of a search if you’re very lucky.
I think it helps mental clarity to write ideas in long form, and the only reason I publish blog posts that might make sense is that there’s vanity to them.
WordPress usually pitches itself as being benign on the Internet, as in inclusive, for example. I think it’s the only social media I do much of that is somewhat sane if I had to get to the point.
If you understand SEO well, you can be on the first page of a search if you are very lucky. Content is the tried-and-true way to be creative online. Generally speaking, you need to be blogging with a lot of focus, speaking in terms of the niche you want for your blog, and you need to have good timing as it really is most likely going to work out if you’re also researching what Internet traffic wants from long-form blogging.
I really don’t know why I do this. It is simply a personal blog with a social purpose. I don’t think pursuing better available themes for a blog would be much better, as I like writing what is supposed to feel like essays to people who don’t really get into it.
It’s interesting to see what might respond from the long-form blogging corner of the Internet.
Connections made between people can be valuable for several reasons. In a personal blog, you might engender some goodwill if your posts are relatable.
It’s a waste of time when writing can be monetized. However, I think connections between people are sometimes valuable for several reasons. If it’s for constructive reasons, it can be rewarding, for forging networks, and friendships.
I like some of the designs I put into long-form blogging, and that’s another valid reason to publish blog posts, as just writing the text and filling it out with images isn’t really much use, unless it’s published. It won’t necessarily get much traffic, but if you’re sincere, you might engender some goodwill, if your posts are relatable, if you have a personal blog.
I haven’t written anything too spontaneous in quite a while. I’ve done consistent microblogging, but it’s been feeling strange now that the politics and the algorithm of Twitter have altogether changed. The way I need to be sensitive now is to consider that I quite possibly should have stepped down, so I won’t waste other people’s time. I have to put enough work into posts that they could provide value of some kind to people who give up their time to look at what I’ve posted, which will more and more feel like shouting into the void, I fear, but with AI tools it is easy to justify spending only the half the time on a post into which comprehensive editing and design are going.
Learning is part of the journey.
The AI non-art that has a disconnect, like what I’ve done myself, usually with Runway, for imagery and with the help of WordTune, to keep my writing rewritten better than I might have thought through without the help of AI. I had a story idea come to me that is probably like sci-fi ideas others have using AI. In one scenario, informing an AI girl that she is becoming real and then being stalked by her could be one plot.
The 1986 Transformers movie holds cultural significance, marrying Japanese and American influences in a nostalgic sci-fi tale. Despite a box office failure, it gained a dedicated fanbase. The movie’s impact on pop culture is evident, as it paved the way for a series of successful spin-offs and prequels. Notably, Michael Bay’s 2007 rendition propelled the franchise to new heights.
Exploring why it is worth watching after all these years, opinions about the movie from different perspectives, and The moment we finally find our hero.
I was a child in 1986, young enough to believe in fantasy. I suspect the 1986 Transformers movie was available in a serial edit for Saturday morning television, as elements of the plot seem familiar to me.
History of Classic Transformers
In 1980, Takara made the “Diaclone” toy line in Japan as a unique sci-fi series of 1:60 scale figures, vehicles, and playsets. Microchange is a subline of Takara’s New Microman line of the mid-’80s, 3.75″ figures that were super-posable and cars and robots for use by them. They introduced robots ready to change into regular vehicles, electronic things, or weapons. Hasbro bought the Micro Change and Diaclone toys and partnered with Takara.
The TakaraTomy company makes toys in Japan. They are the maker of Transformers in Japan and plan a significant part of the design for Transformers toys. It has been a business partnership between Hasbro and Takara ever since.
Who was the very first Transformer? Primus is the divine force of the Transformers, an ancient and ethereal being that dates back to the universe’s beginning, a force for good that exists across multiple realities, and infinite alternate universes. It was Prima who was the first Transformer created by Primus, and he would later lead Thirteen.
The Thirteen were the Cybertronians made by Primus to battle Unicron. They were each given the ranking of Prime. Simon Furman further invented the Transformers’ origin independently.
Quintessons are a race of creatures being driven off by Sentinel Prime. They are the manifestations of Quintus Prime and rule their realm from the planet Quintessa.
Pre-1986
Tragically, the space transport Challenger crumbled 73 seconds after its send-off, killing each and every one of the seven space travelers. It has been suggested that those old enough to remember belong to Generation X (too old to be considered millennials). Would recollecting the 1986 Transformers feature also help confirm that I am part of Generation X?
The animated Transformers feature film was released on the big screen in 1986. It was in North America on August 8. It was co-created by Nelson Shin.
The screenplay was composed by Ron Friedman, who made Bionic Six. 7.2/10 on IMDb, The Transformers: The Movie is a story that heroic Autobots safeguard the world from Decepticons. Anger is raging between both factions, and that hatred has made them blind to a threat.
The Transformers: The Movie is the first Transformers feature, even though the live-action films get all the attention. The movie gained a cult following among genre fans despite being a box-office failure.
Compared with the TV series’ equivalent of 90 minutes, the film’s budget was six times higher at $6 million.
1986 Underdog Autobots
In The Transformers: The Movie, after a Decepticon assault devastates Autobot City, Optimus Prime wins a deadly one-on-one duel with Megatron, but sustains fatal injuries in the encounter. It was Megatron’s correct calculation that the Decepticon crew would not set off the automated defenses of Autobot City.
I’ve thought about how the story for The Transformers: The Movie fits a quest pattern.
Quest “Initiation”–The Decepticons conquer Cybertron, the home planet of the Transformers, in what was 2005. Thundercracker, Skywarp, Shrapnel, Kickback, Bombshell, and Megatron are jettisoned to conserve fuel, by several Decepticons, led by Starscream. The injured Decepticons are found by Unicron, a conscious planet.
In exchange for the destruction of the Matrix–which Megatron knows can destroy him–Unicron offers him a new body. He tells him Ultra Magnus has it.
Quest “Instructions”–On his deathbed, Optimus passes a power.
Quest “Journey”–Retaking the Decepticons, Galvatron drives to search out Ultra Magnus.
Quest “Confrontation”–The Autobots and Junkions head for Cybertron. The Autobots crash through Unicron and become disbanded. Dinobots, Decepticons, and Junkions continue to battle Unicron.
Daniel safeguards his dad Spike from Unicron.
Quest “Conquest”–Understanding this is the Autobot’s breaking point, the work changes Rodimus Prime, the Autobot pioneer. He is now an Autobot champion.
Quest “Return”–Rodimus throws Galvatron into space to obliterate Unicron, then escapes with the other Autobots.
Quest “Transformation”–With the Decepticons in chaos, the Autobots praise the conflict, and the retaking of their home planet, while Unicron’s head circles.
Screenplay Resolution
During the conquest, Galvatron acquires high ground. (Remind you of Ewan McGregor’s dialogue in Revenge of the Sith?)
The Matrix, realizing this is the Autobots’ darkest hour, transforms Hot Rod into Rodimus Prime. According to Hot Rod’s tech specs, he is an Autobot Cavalier, while Rodimus Prime is an Autobot Protector – unlike Optimus Prime, who is an Autobot Commander. While Unicron’s severed head orbits Cybertron, the Autobots celebrate both the war’s end and the retaking of Cybertron from the Decepticons.
As a screenplay, I find the action and story adequate, and I also think the voice acting is notable. It mostly deserves the 7.2 it has on IMDb, although that score is possibly a little generous.
With numbers as over-whelming as scenes, the Transformers surprisingly realistic film was delivered in 2007 and has gotten five blockbuster spin-offs and a prequel. Even those who don’t like the movie suggest the brand benefited from the film overall.
I agree that Michael Bay is a great movie director, whatever criticism is leveled at him, and his first Transformers film shows it. Shia LaBeouf played the leading role in the movie quite admirably as an up-and-comer, and Megan Fox is gorgeous and fun as the film’s leading actress. Bay had a $147 million budget in the US for the movie, and the box office was $4.8 billion.
Sadly, notwithstanding posting Autobot-sized numbers that followed – Fallen ($836M), Moon ($1.12B), Eradication ($1.1B), The Last Knight ($605M) – the films tumbled off a precipice. While he delighted in making them, Bay ought to have tapped out sooner.
Despite many calling the second movie the worst of the franchise, one Reddit user, chris95rx7500, claims it is still his favorite. Furthermore, he remarks, “if you didn’t like the movie, the toy line made up for it.”
Fans of Transformers tend to view the movies as relatively disposable since so many exist to date. The sixth film in the flagship series, and the seventh overall, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, is set for release on June 9, 2023.
Paramount Pictures
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The summer of 2011, Jun 3, 2011, the movie adaptations of Marvel’s X-Men continued with X-Men First Class. To many fans’ delight, it turned out to be both well-executed and of substantial interest. Film history website IMDb identifies that Jennifer Lawrence is “the most successful actor of her generation” https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2225369/
Beneath is a link to a scene from X-Men First Class.
X-Men: First Class (2011) – Charles Xavier & Raven Darkholme
Jennifer Lawrence in X-Men First Class is Raven. She tackles the question of what it means to be beautiful and what it means to be normal. She is the shapeshifter.
You might say it’s ironic that the name of the mutant team, the name “X-Men,” implies that the X-Men should be male, but Raven ranks among them as an important character who is female. Jennifer Lawrence was the highest-paid actress in the world in 2015 and 2016. Her casting in the film reflects her strengths as an actress, in addition to X-Men First Class’ effectiveness exploring gender, and ever-elusive equality.
In 2019, the next Star Wars struggled with a backlash among fans given woes with another film in the franchise. The 2019 film I’m referring to is Star Wars Episode IX, coming in after the disastrously written Star Wars Episode VII: The Last Jedi. Star Wars Episode IX had its work out cut out for it.
The Last Jedi Opening Weekend USA box office was $220,009,584, 17 December 2017. The X-Men First Class USA Opening Weekend was $55,101,604, 5 June 2011, twenty-five percent of the former.
While box office returns mean that both films were successful, in 2019 the Marvel Universe remained hotly anticipated with a trailer for Marvel Avengers Endgame airing in the Superbowl television broadcast yesterday.
Star Wars is suffering some major troubles, with entries like Episode VIII The Last Jedi savaged by fans for who Star Wars is close to the heart.
Solo A Star Wars Story failed financially in 2018. In fact, the Star Wars franchise is suffering owing to the reception of The Last Jedi, which, while returning an economic gain for Disney, failed to ignite the same passion in the hearts of Star Wars fans that the original trilogy generated, as did (again, arguably) Episode VII The Force Awakens in 2015.
Yoda
What Jedi Mind tricks are afoot? I think essentially both X-Men: First Class and Star Wars Episode IX calculatedly use a sense of the past as an aspect of the setting. However, the two movies address gender and gender equality rather differently.
In X-Men First Class, the mutant Raven struggles with her self-image in a very literal sense. Contrast that with The Last Jedi. Here the female Jedi apprentice Rey, Daisy Ridley, is problematic for many viewers in that Rey lacks a distinct character arc.
In other words, she is without a back story that can make sense in viewers’ minds. Rey’s origins are unknown, but she masters aspects of The Force which were previously established in Star Wars lore as being impossible. Rey’s mentor Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) struggled to achieve his status as a Jedi Knight under both Obi-wan Kenobi, and Yoda (in the 1977 and 1980 Star Wars films).
The late Alec Guinness portrayed Obi-wan Kenobi in the original trilogy and Ewan McGregor was Obi-wan in the prequel trilogy.
Like it or not, the backlash to Last Jedi director Rian Johnson is a compelling drama in its own right. I see it everyday on YouTube.
That said, Star Wars needed success in 2019 the way that the X-Men franchise needed a success following X3.
Star Wars Episode IX had a release date in December 2019. Marvel Avengers Endgame has a release date in April 2019. It’s the sequel to Marvel Avengers Infinity Wars.
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The International Day of Democracy is today, 15 September. I am curating my Conventional Wisdom post.
May 13, 2018
The world bid RIP to Margot Kidder, the sixty-nine-year-old actress who was Lois Lane for the seventies and eighties’ Superman films. For 1978’s film Superman, Kidder played Lois Lane near perfectly.
15 September
While there are no more new Discover Challenges for WordPress, I wanted to update this post for clarity.
Reflecting on their launch of the Superman origins series Krypton, one of the hosts of Innerspace in an episode from earlier this winter reflected briefly but pointedly that Man of Steel is a bad movie.
I take it Man of Steel is regarded many times as such and to counter the perception that it isn’t a good retelling of the thousands of Superman comics available in print, I want to include here from Jun 2, 2014, Exploring Man of Steel on YouTube TWITTER ► https://goo.gl/koijhV which is a go-to for a review in detail about a maligned film.
Henry Cavill in Man of Steel (2013)
It is now known that Henry Cavill will no longer appear in the film role of Superman. You can hear thoughts on Man of Steel in a brief discussion piece about Superman and the rest of the DC Comics Universe. Henry Cavill Leaves Superman
Conventional Wisdom
My thoughts on the conventional wisdom of Man of Steel are presented here.
This week’s WordPress Discover Challenge presents the trial of posting a different point of view than what other people have, whatever POV. This appealed to me because I thought of Superman, as a matter of fact, from the films of the nineteen seventies and eighties about the popular comic book character, and also from the 2013 film Man of Steel, which is what specifically I have a different interpretation to write about than the casual interpretation it often gets otherwise (a great superhero film).
On Christmas Eve last year, December 24 of 2016, late in the afternoon my younger brother and his son went with me to my parent’s house for Christmas. My brother let me know that the two had been in the middle of complaining about Superman, in the movies, and I was surprised that they have this opinion, which is not the same opinion I have.
Man of Steel presents the Superman character as an alien, which I know he is, as in the story of his life told in the 1978 film about him (titled Superman). However, whereas in that film Superman is a very human character, who blends in with his peers, in Man of Steel (2013) Superman is almost an alien monster, considering that while he looks human, he has the mentality of an outsider. This is clear, for example, when he only takes his job as a reporter for the Daily Planet at the conclusion of the film (spoiler), which is unlike Superman (1978), in which his entire time in Metropolis is spent in the alter ego of Clark Kent.
What I think about Man of Steel is that Man of Steel is the story of an alien creature living among humans whose fate is to help people. This is like how in ancient Egypt, Egyptian workers built enormous pyramids, tombs for their leaders once deceased (the Pharaohs).
It is unknown how the ancient Egyptians were able to build these pyramids because there is no evidence that the Egyptians of ancient times had technology that could have made building those pyramids possible. It is a great mystery.
Les Anderson
One theory is that, as in history when impossible feats were accomplished without the benefit of technology, alien forces could have visited Egypt and helped the Egyptians build the pyramids with the help of the alien people’s technology. It is a popular theory among people who believe in life among the stars (Erich von Daniken is one scholar who argues that the theory is based on the real history of Ancient Egypt).
Given that the pyramids would have been nearly impossible to build without technology, consider that aliens visited and lent a helping hand, with an interest in contributing to the prosperity of human beings (as a species). Man of Steel is a little like that, because Superman is an alien living among humans, helping preserve people from dangers that are inherent to people encountering alien creatures.
Wil Stewart
What I think is that when Superman reveals himself to human authorities, when he is given the ultimatum to surrender to his enemies, it is noted that Superman may be a hazard for human folk merely because his body may contain a disease that could be spread to humans. I say this because it is not immediately the fear of Superman’s powers as a superhero that bothers the authorities or the details of Superman’s past in Smallville, but whether Superman’s body could spread illness and death to the humans who meet him. I don’t think that the Egyptians, meeting aliens who gave them help to build the pyramids, stopped their alien benefactors to question whether they would become sick from contact.
What I am thinking about Man of Steel is the point of Superman’s existence among humans if he doesn’t succeed at guiding human beings to a better existence. Every time it is questioned if humans in ancient times visitors from other worlds among them were had, there is never evidence that the aliens caused devastation and ruin.
What if Superman’s role as a visitor to modern-day people of the world demonstrates good intentions on Superman’s part, but poor planning for the man from Krypton reduces the success of people to safely maintain conditions for life around the planet? When you sit down with Man of Steel, consider the possibility that while the strange realities that led Ancient Egypt to pyramids, in this film, when Superman is battling and causing destruction in both Smallville and Metropolis, this could be the beginning of events that challenge human’s mastery of Planet Earth and undermine them in a way that will end in cultural defeat and downfall. If Superman for once is the alien visitor closest to human beings in his physical form, could he likewise have the kinds of human weaknesses at the end of humanity’s reign over their blue and green planet?
Every other time in history that aliens might have come to help humans with the growth of their civilizations, are we, at last, to understand that there is no more? However, Superman feels about belonging to people, which is clearly passionate, consider the climax of the film when Superman is challenged by his nemesis as to how he feels about human life. If Superman is the final alien visitor to Earth, is it because he will eventually destroy us all? That is how I would understand Man of Steel, instead of interpretations that are more along the lines of a visitor from the stars who kindly brings the benefit of his superpowers to help us, folk.
The Korus
Thank you for reading and good luck to you, whatever you do. Take care of yourself as always.
The Myth of the Independent Blogger and How I Learned to Love It 
