TheUniverseIsWithYou

cumaeansibyl:

dark-haired-hamlet:

saint-sacrilege-blog:

100% Disagree

It’s an underdog story about classism in which the folk hero (Johnny) is confronted by a powerful man (the Devil) who tries to exploit the hero’s perceived ignorance and inferiority by offering a great reward with impossible odds. Although Johnny warns him that looks can be deceiving, and that he’s going to regret the dare because Johnny is the “best there’s ever been”, the devil is blinded by his greed and arrogance.

The devil creates an awful cacophony of technically excellent fiddle playing that would be impossible for Johnny to replicate. It’s a trick.

But Johnny just grins at him and starts to play “simple” classic country fiddling songs - Fire On The Mountain, House Of The Rising Sun, and Daddy Cut Her Bill Off. He doesn’t rise to beat the Devil - he simply creates his own music from his home, in the style that he knows, and his love of it and the familiarity of the music make his “backwoods” fiddling more perfect than the Devil could ever achieve.

It is thus the devil’s pride, not Johnny’s, that allows Johnny to Bugs Bunny his way into a golden fiddle.

(In that sense, I do agree that it is the most American song: in a land of prejudice and inequities, great power lies - dormant but ever-present - in those we underestimate and attempt to exploit.)

Also people initially react to the devil’s part like “holy shit that’s badass” because he’s got electric guitar and bass and a whole backing band to make him sound good. Of course he sounds amazing. But if you drill down to the actual fiddling – and this is straight from Charlie Daniels – it’s not as technically difficult as what Johnny does. It’s fast? But it’s mostly just going up and down scales.

Here’s a good performance – the devil’s part starts around 2:00. Check out how long Daniels just stands there holding his fiddle while the guitar and piano carry the weight. I love that piano bassline but fiddling it ain’t.

It’s still an American narrative: if you can afford to hire a bunch of more talented people, you, too, can look like a genius. Doesn’t make you one.

(via ranchdiip)

neil-gaiman:

good-omens-meta-library:

krakensdottir:

krakensdottir:

Okay I need to have a quick word with the fandom here, guys.

So, ‘dear boy’ does not mean what some of you think it means. Not from a guy who’s LARPing as an older English dude, anyway. It’s kind of just a phrase men use for each other, not exclusive to loved ones or even people you actually know. It’s also not necessarily a nice saying - quite often it’s a veiled way of saying ‘you absolute pillock’. Picture it being said in the most passive-aggressive tone humanly possible for the full effect.

Point is, Aziraphale probably says it a lot. There’s no point getting hung up on who he says it to, because the way he’s using it is not actually an endearment. Not like the way he says Crowley’s name, which I could probably write an essay about.

NOW we’re all on the same page.

OP’s tags:

Select additional commentary: 

@geeoharee reply: oh yeah it’s fun as a neutral phrase, but it’s FUN when it means ‘you are an ant who I am currently deigning not to crush’

‘Dear boy’ is far more of a statement about who Aziraphale is than who he’s addressing. It’s part of his vibe, it goes with the waistcoat and the manicure.

@perfectlyineffable​ tags:  #yes. there’s a difference between ‘dear boy’ and ‘my dear’. one is patronising to neutral. one is neutral to an endearment.  #‘dearest’ is straight up an endearment though. love seeing that in fics […] #in my head 'dear boy’ is closely related to 'old sport’. they’re not *quite* the same but the vibes are similar

There’s a “my dear fellow” from Aziraphale to Crowley in Ep3 S1 and nobody ever comments on it.

(via lineffability)

cipheramnesia:

kipplekipple:

cipheramnesia:

cipheramnesia:

outpastthemoat:

outpastthemoat:

one of my personal favorite dichotomies in atla is how iroh, once the top strategist and highest-ranking general of the fire nation, now directs all his energy and considerable tactical experience towards attempting to keep his teenage nephew from throwing himself into life-threatening situations AND IROH REGULARLY FAILS TO PREVENT HIM FROM DOING SO.

he lead a six-hundred day siege and now iroh can’t keep up with a sixteen-year-old armed with two swords and a passionate deathwish. zuko’s motto is “act first, think never” and he’s running rings around his uncle. it’s like!!! who’s gonna come out on top, iroh’s west point education vs. zuko’s deep and abiding commitment to always choosing the stupidest possible course of action, and zuko manages to win every single time

y'all are straight up EVISCERATING that boy in the tags

Not to downplay just how committed to self destructive stupidity Zuko is, but Iroh still managed to keep him alive and in one piece. He lost literally every battle but he won that war.

Not to step on the knife, but also figuratively losing every fight as long as it means the child who is like a son to him is alive is the exact opposite of literally winning every battle and losing his son which is what he did when he was young so that’s probably why he keeps so chill 90% of the time around the Zukoness of it all.

Stepping on the knife? Reading that was stepping on a RAKE made of FEELINGS and being SIDESHOW BOBBED by my own EMOTIONS

that’s how i roll in clown town baybeee

(via kazliin)

vyvilha:

“I can fix him” not in a “I can make him into a better person” way but in a “if he was my character I would’ve handled his story better” way

(via lineffability)

frankbelloriley:

medblr-td:

Sooo hilarious but I can completely see this being a real conversation between streaming execs 😏

(original vid: Asif Ali - instagram - https://tinyurl.com/2p8jpkzz)

“they even put an Indian guy in WandaVision”

hang on a second, I gotta look up something

yeah, this is really funny

(via inkedberries)

catchymemes:

(via inkedberries)

teathattast:

teathattast:

You all understand me

(via inkedberries)

psychotrenny:

animentality:

This is just what being transgender is like

(via retroactivebakeries)

revengeromance:

(via spockoholic)

globuspolski:

i think it shld be more widespread for ppl to read aloud to each other as a means of spending time together. like even just a bunch of adults sitting together reading wikipedia articles or something

(via soupcollector)

wanderer-chronicles:

crazy-brazilian:

Holy shit he’s back

(via ranchdiip)

shadowmaat:

lost-on-kamino:

Originally posted by the-punforgiven

(via flamingbluepanda)

postmarxed:

tilthat:

TIL that because of a mistranslation Jimmy Carter told the Polish people in 1977 that he desired them carnally and that he had left the United States to never return.

via reddit.com

Imagine being a Polish citizen and you hear the American president say he’s here to fuck and he’s not leaving

(via sugar4ndroses)

found-in-retro-game-mags:

Magic The Gathering: Battlemage

“Someone in Nebraska just summoned the Lord of the Pit. And he’s sending him your way.” (Computer Gaming World #148, Nov. 1996)

(via retroactivebakeries)