Entry tags:
Year 2 of Lockdown, Day 97
I feel very out of the loop. But I have this week off work, so I am trying to do things like clean the house and catch up with stuff and Darcy thinks we might even go away - like, overnight! - one day.
~
I feel I should talk about what I've been watching, because I have been watching stuff, just nothing that's caught me, fannishly. We re-watched the whole of The Bridge (the original Scandinavian one) and it's basically brilliant and I love it so much. Saga is the best, and there is a ton of meta in there too. I will try to make myself write it up.
We then watched The Boys (thanks to an amazon trial, no way we're giving them money), mostly because of this video: Building A Laser Baby, which means that advertising definitely works. Anyway...
The Boys is very violent & cynical & adult - it's basically our world but if super heroes were real. And not in the MCU way, ooooh no. In the way of being managed by a single company, branded up the wazoo, and tapping into ALLLLL the current issues. (Imagine if Donald Trump had the physique, powers, charisma and adulation of superman, and you can get a fairly decent picture.)
It's very good, but its soul is pitch black. If you are curious you can get a feel for the leader of 'the Boys', Billy Butcher, here - just a lot of clips, so disconnected that they're not really spoilery. He is ALSO as messed up as they come and basically thinks the only good superhero is a dead superhero.
I don't know if I like it, but I'm not sorry I watched it.
Currently we are watching The Killing (the original Danish one - not very keen so far, I am SO OVER murdered young women), and Shadow and Bone which is interesting Fantasy and comes with a warning that it might cause obsessive fannishness. :)
~~
Now, since I have the week off I think I'll declare it Igor Krutoy Week, and post one of his compositions every day. He is a Ukrainian and Russian music composer, performer, producer and musical promoter, and his work is just... ♥ ♥ ♥
I've posted a few so far, but they all require a lot of work hence the gaps. But he is doing a lot of work with Dimash (and has written a fair few songs for him, since Dimash is basically a composer's dream), so you will often see Igor at the piano when Dimash is singing. (Follow the tags, or check out the masterpost.)
Daily Dimash: The Love of Tired Swans
I will post several performances, and almost did an eeny-meeny-miny-mo to choose which performances to put outside the cut. But this one has the best subtitles (turn on closed captions!) which is important because the lyrics are gorgeous, matching the melody beautifully. It's very distracting trying to post this, because all I want to do is watch. <3 This song is originally one of Krutoy's instrumental compositions, which now has been rearranged for singing. (Turn on closed captions for lyrics. I also chose this one for the ending - Dimash picks up the song again to get the audience to join in, and Igor's 'Oh heck, best get back to the piano' is one of the most aumising moments I've yet seen in a performance. Also just the way he interacts with his audience/the Dears is ♥ Literally just one of the nicest, most humble creatures on this planet.)
Dimash Qudaibergen, Igor Krutoy - Love of Tired Swans ~ New Wave 2019
And today you get another video outside the cut, because a very clever fan edited together one of Dimash's performances with Lara Fabian's and created a stunning virtual duet. (They need to do this for real once the pandemic is over!)
Dimash Kudaibergen & Lara Fabian - The Love of Tired Swans:
Dimash Qudaibergen - Love of Tired Swans [Official MV]
Background for the movie story/imagery (with thanks to a Dimash Dear whose name I have lost - it's from the comments somewhere on youtube):
The music video director Alan Badoev actually explained the video back then, it's an old fairy tale popular in Russian and other post-Soviet countries, the fairy tale about the "one-winged angels". So even though the title suggests it, they are actually not swans, they are angels. So, the music video is not that directly based on the song's lyrics, on the other hand this "swans can not live apart" still makes sense in that context. So, of course most people assume that these are swans :) but it's not that directly based on the lyrics, they are angels :)
The fairy tale says that the angels represent good and that they were once attacked by evil. Evil cut off their wings to break them, to break the good. One-winged angels can't fly anymore, as you need two wings to fly, but they still can fly in pairs with their partners, their loved ones. So the message of the music video is basically that love saves you from evil and that through love good wins over evil, even if it's very powerful.
ETA: Behind the Scenes/the making of the video:
Other performances:
Dimash Kudaibergen & Igor Krutoy - Love Of Tired Swans / (performed at the annual concert "Song of the Year 2018" - this is the one used in the Lara Fabian duet)
The Love Of Tired Swans - Dimash Kudaibergen in Kremlin -Eng sub-
I might come back & add reaction videos. Being fannish takes a lot of time, yo. Although - again going back to Dating the Cleverest Boy in the World I renamed the Epilogue 'The Love of Tired Swans'. Perfect song is perfect.
ETA: Dimash - Love of Tired Swans, New York Dec 2019
Lovely performance, but added because he gets the whole crowd singing at the end. Get you an artist who can make New Yorkers sing a Russian song. ♥
ETA2:
Dimash Димаш - Soulful and amazing a capella "Love of Tired Swans" in Dusseldorf 30.11.2019
(It won't embed but ye gods this is wonderful. <3)
ETA3:
From the Digital Concert January 2021. Instagram, so not the best quality...
Dimash masterpost
~
I feel I should talk about what I've been watching, because I have been watching stuff, just nothing that's caught me, fannishly. We re-watched the whole of The Bridge (the original Scandinavian one) and it's basically brilliant and I love it so much. Saga is the best, and there is a ton of meta in there too. I will try to make myself write it up.
We then watched The Boys (thanks to an amazon trial, no way we're giving them money), mostly because of this video: Building A Laser Baby, which means that advertising definitely works. Anyway...
The Boys is very violent & cynical & adult - it's basically our world but if super heroes were real. And not in the MCU way, ooooh no. In the way of being managed by a single company, branded up the wazoo, and tapping into ALLLLL the current issues. (Imagine if Donald Trump had the physique, powers, charisma and adulation of superman, and you can get a fairly decent picture.)
It's very good, but its soul is pitch black. If you are curious you can get a feel for the leader of 'the Boys', Billy Butcher, here - just a lot of clips, so disconnected that they're not really spoilery. He is ALSO as messed up as they come and basically thinks the only good superhero is a dead superhero.
I don't know if I like it, but I'm not sorry I watched it.
Currently we are watching The Killing (the original Danish one - not very keen so far, I am SO OVER murdered young women), and Shadow and Bone which is interesting Fantasy and comes with a warning that it might cause obsessive fannishness. :)
~~
Now, since I have the week off I think I'll declare it Igor Krutoy Week, and post one of his compositions every day. He is a Ukrainian and Russian music composer, performer, producer and musical promoter, and his work is just... ♥ ♥ ♥
I've posted a few so far, but they all require a lot of work hence the gaps. But he is doing a lot of work with Dimash (and has written a fair few songs for him, since Dimash is basically a composer's dream), so you will often see Igor at the piano when Dimash is singing. (Follow the tags, or check out the masterpost.)
Daily Dimash: The Love of Tired Swans
I will post several performances, and almost did an eeny-meeny-miny-mo to choose which performances to put outside the cut. But this one has the best subtitles (turn on closed captions!) which is important because the lyrics are gorgeous, matching the melody beautifully. It's very distracting trying to post this, because all I want to do is watch. <3 This song is originally one of Krutoy's instrumental compositions, which now has been rearranged for singing. (Turn on closed captions for lyrics. I also chose this one for the ending - Dimash picks up the song again to get the audience to join in, and Igor's 'Oh heck, best get back to the piano' is one of the most aumising moments I've yet seen in a performance. Also just the way he interacts with his audience/the Dears is ♥ Literally just one of the nicest, most humble creatures on this planet.)
Dimash Qudaibergen, Igor Krutoy - Love of Tired Swans ~ New Wave 2019
And today you get another video outside the cut, because a very clever fan edited together one of Dimash's performances with Lara Fabian's and created a stunning virtual duet. (They need to do this for real once the pandemic is over!)
Dimash Kudaibergen & Lara Fabian - The Love of Tired Swans:
Dimash Qudaibergen - Love of Tired Swans [Official MV]
Background for the movie story/imagery (with thanks to a Dimash Dear whose name I have lost - it's from the comments somewhere on youtube):
The music video director Alan Badoev actually explained the video back then, it's an old fairy tale popular in Russian and other post-Soviet countries, the fairy tale about the "one-winged angels". So even though the title suggests it, they are actually not swans, they are angels. So, the music video is not that directly based on the song's lyrics, on the other hand this "swans can not live apart" still makes sense in that context. So, of course most people assume that these are swans :) but it's not that directly based on the lyrics, they are angels :)
The fairy tale says that the angels represent good and that they were once attacked by evil. Evil cut off their wings to break them, to break the good. One-winged angels can't fly anymore, as you need two wings to fly, but they still can fly in pairs with their partners, their loved ones. So the message of the music video is basically that love saves you from evil and that through love good wins over evil, even if it's very powerful.
ETA: Behind the Scenes/the making of the video:
Other performances:
Dimash Kudaibergen & Igor Krutoy - Love Of Tired Swans / (performed at the annual concert "Song of the Year 2018" - this is the one used in the Lara Fabian duet)
The Love Of Tired Swans - Dimash Kudaibergen in Kremlin -Eng sub-
I might come back & add reaction videos. Being fannish takes a lot of time, yo. Although - again going back to Dating the Cleverest Boy in the World I renamed the Epilogue 'The Love of Tired Swans'. Perfect song is perfect.
ETA: Dimash - Love of Tired Swans, New York Dec 2019
Lovely performance, but added because he gets the whole crowd singing at the end. Get you an artist who can make New Yorkers sing a Russian song. ♥
ETA2:
Dimash Димаш - Soulful and amazing a capella "Love of Tired Swans" in Dusseldorf 30.11.2019
(It won't embed but ye gods this is wonderful. <3)
ETA3:
From the Digital Concert January 2021. Instagram, so not the best quality...
Dimash masterpost
no subject
I want to see The Boys, if only for selfish, fannish reasons. Jensen Ackles is coming in for season three and I feel I must watch the other two seasons to get a grip on it. I rather liked your insight into it, as I had no real clue WHAT I would be watching. So a bit of warning does not go amiss (and honestly, it sounds rather up my alley...which is a terrible thing to admit, I know).
*HUGS*
no subject
Well covid put paid to those plans!! Ah well. One day indeed...
I want to see The Boys, if only for selfish, fannish reasons. Jensen Ackles is coming in for season three and I feel I must watch the other two seasons to get a grip on it.
I understand your reasons, even if mine are kinda the polar opposites. It had no big names (apart from Karl Urban) and I loved that. Saw Big Names announced for 3, and - considering that I loved how S2 ended - am not sure if I want to watch S3... But if it pulls you in, yay!
I rather liked your insight into it, as I had no real clue WHAT I would be watching. So a bit of warning does not go amiss (and honestly, it sounds rather up my alley...which is a terrible thing to admit, I know).
Hey, nothing wrong with enjoying a walk on the dark side... And it's a good show, definitely. I can see you liking it. I hope you enjoy if you manage to watch and am happy to have given you a flavour! :)
no subject
I am excited and yet still apprehensive. I need a new fandom like I need a hole in the head. I have too damned many, lol! Even if I don't fic them all. Arrghhh.
*HUGS*
no subject
no subject
Translation if needed:
"MASK! MASK! PUT ON YOUR MASK!"
"There! Alright?!"
"Yep, it's good."
"Okay, bye then."
"Have a good day!"
no subject