Second Biggest Book Series--Ever--Censored Against Living Author's Wishes, Jennifer Lawrence's New Comedy Looks Amazing, The Songwriting Method That's Killing Music, (The Five for 03/10/23)
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It’s Friday, so let’s dive into Culture & Commentary.
[one]
It’s one thing to censor the works of dead authors like Roald Dahl and Iam Fleming (the author of the James Bond novels). It’s quite another for a publisher to change the works of a living author without consent.
Kids’ horror author R.L Stine has denied sanitizing his classic “Goosebumps” books to “appease the woke” — accusing his publisher of altering his work behind his back.
The 79-year-old horror author spoke up after The Times of London claimed that he had “censored over a dozen of his books” to avoid mentions of race or calling characters fat or crazy.
“This story is false. I have never changed a word in a Goosebumps book,” Stine stated firmly to a report accusing him of “re-editing the books to appease The Woke.”
Instead, the changes were made behind his back, Stine said in response to an angry reader who accused him of being “shameful” for supporting censorship.
“The stories aren’t true. I’ve never changed a word in Goosebumps,” he again said of the second biggest-selling book series after “Harry Potter.”
“Any changes were never shown to me,” he stressed.
The changes sparked outrage coming on the heels of woke edits to Roald Dahl’s classic kids’ books, as well as planned changes to Ian Fleming’s James Bond books. Unlike those, however, the UK Times initially accused Stine of making the changes.
Wow, that knob got turned up to 11 REAL QUICK.
Remember when it was “just” censoring “conspiracy theorists” on Twitter who thought COVID came from a lab (which now Government officials believe, according to CNN), that the COVID vaccine could cause heart issues in the young (which the CDC now admits can happen) or that the vaccines don’t prevent the transmission of COVID (which now Johns Hopkins Medical School admits).
The problem is…censorship is a creeping problem. And it’s crept fast, apparently.
Because we now live in a world where the 2nd biggest selling book series author is having his work stolen and changed.
This is why you don’t give up the natural rights, which are outlined in the U.S. Constitution…because mankind doesn’t do well with yielding power, unchecked.
Two takeaways here:
A). If something matters…if it’s right…if it’s true…say it. Consequences be damned.
B). Buy paper copies of books. You never know when the luxury of owning the original, REAL, work might no longer be an option.
[two]
According to a new report, the LA County Sheriff’s department is infested with gangs.
The report identifies at “least a half dozen” active gangs and cliques — and names them: the Executioners, the Banditos, the Regulators, the Spartans, the Gladiators, the Cowboys, and the Reapers.
These groups pose a threat to the general public — deputies hoping to prove themselves worthy of gang membership routinely seek out violent encounters with the public, the investigation reports — as well as to the internal command-and-control structure of LASD. The gangs “undermine supervision, destroy public trust, are discriminatory, disruptive, and act contrary to … professional policing,” the report concludes.
Perhaps most alarming, the investigation reveals that in recent years “tattooed deputy gang members” have risen to “the highest levels” of department leadership. It calls out recent former Sheriff Alex Villanueva (who lost his 2022 reelection bid) for betraying promises of reform by installing gang members as his right-hand men. Villanueva, the report says, “at minimum tolerated, if not rewarded deputy gangs.”
Ready for the quick and effective fix?
Fire them.
Not a department of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.
Termination.
Companies and organizations apparently think they can be in the business of changing the human heart.
Nah. Pink slips.
Also, lest anyone label this a “systemic” issue…only if similar gangs are popping up all over the country in major police departments. Otherwise, this is just the story of a screwed up department with corrupt leadership.
Which is very serious, but simple.
[three]
If you weren’t there (younger readers) or weren’t paying attention to the rise of Linkin Park in the early 2000’s, it’s tough to convey just how quickly a band that had been turned down by pretty much every record label took off with the best selling album of the 21st century (27 million copies—2.75x DIAMOND status). The other arena-filling heavyweights: Eminem, Korn, N*SYNC, Jay-Z, Britney Spears, et. al. couldn’t hold a candle to Linkin Park’s blazing inferno of success.
But the problem with your debut being the biggest selling album of all time is…what’s next?
Linkin Park decided to take huge sonic risks to differentiate from the bevy of “clone” bands chasing their clout…and released Meteora three years after their smash introduction to the world.
The album did the impossible—it satisfied fans and critics alike. Later, the music press would turn on LP, pretty much because the band became successful. When vocalist Chester Bennington took his own life in 2017, he was ridiculed rather than respected (which I wrote about for Relevant Magazine).
The band has always been a reference point for elder Millennials like myself (who undoubtably associate the band as essential listening in the post-9/11 world), but Gen Z are starting to find their way to LP as (gulp) “classic rock,” a band that’s still influencing the sonics of today’s top artists and biggest hits.
A re-release of Metora on the 20th Anniversary (out 04/07) is helping to re-write the narrative about just how good these guys were (are? no word of if the band will ever record or tour again)…and is being re-examined as the record where the band “left it all on the court,” so to speak.
Digging through the archives also uncovered songs that had never seen the light of day…the first of which, “Lost,” is climbing the charts.
Apple Music | YouTube Music
The New York Timeshas an excellent writeup on how the band transformed through the pressure of writing a second album.
As Linkin Park matured and its members started families and pursued other commitments, the band inevitably began to shift. The new collection offers a portrait of a group that was still ascending, and working as a unit to achieve all its goals. “When we made ‘Meteora,’ the band was everything,” Shinoda said. “We had so much dedication to what we were building at the time, but there was also that wonderful naïveté. We were just flying by the seat of our pants.
[four]
A new study of country music found that one factor is making songs…really dumb.
A bunch of songwriters on a single song. This phenomenon of “writing by committee” results in a high degree of repetitive lyrics…and therefore singles all sounding pretty much the same in the country genre.
Saving Country Music reports:
“While more repetitiveness in a song is not inherently an indictment of its musical quality, this metric can be used as a proxy for storytelling. The more unique words there are in a song, the more likely a story is being told beyond the repetition of a catchy hook. At its core, Country music has always been about storytelling. That is one of the anchors that differentiates the genre from other popular genres. The more repetitive Country music lyrics become, the more the lines blur between Country and Pop.”
A notable exception to this is Zach Bryan (I know, I know, he’s in The Five A LOT) uses a large vocabulary of words, and has risen to superstar status…by not sounding like anybody else.
Turns out being an actual artist with something to say (that hasn’t been snipped, rewritten and ironed out by a track team number of co-writers) still works.
[five]
Jennifer Lawrence really is a great at her craft (let’s not forget she was nominated for best actress for her very first movie—Winter’s Bone). But after a break, following a series of flops (Joy, American Hustle, Red Sparrow or something like that?)
Lawrence’s comeback film, Causeway (about a military injury head trauma/PTSD I think?) didn’t even cause a ripple in the pop culture conversation.
There aren’t many comedies these days, and pairing up with the Good Boys director could be the right pairing.
Heads up, this one’s fairly crude, so keep scrolling and skip the trailer if that’s not your thing.
In theaters June 23rd.
Ghosted looks like a Mr. & Mrs. Smith update, with Chris Evans (Captain America, Avengers: Endgame) and Ana De Armas (The Glass Onion, No Time to Die) wrapped in a lovesick-guy-stumbles-into-CIA-caper action/romance/comedy.
Apple TV+ keeps looking better and better. Streaming 04/21.
Citadel feels like Jason Bourne+Inception+The Matrix or something. I’m pretty much down to give anything with Richard Madden (Game of Thrones) a shot, but cramming this many ideas into a single series could flop…hard.
It appears to be both a spy thriller and sci-fi. I can’t think of many times those two genres have blended well…outside of Captain America: Winter Soldier.
Streaming 04/28.
Apple TV is apparently chasing the success of The Last of Us and Snowpiercer with Silo, based on a book trilogy, and starring Common (John Wick Chapter 2, Suicide Squad) and Rebecca Ferguson (The Greatest Showman, Dune) has enough good things going for it to catch my interest.
Streaming May 5th.
Jon Bernthal (The Walking Dead, Fury) will reprise his character as The Punisher in the upcoming Daredevil: Born Again. Questions have been circling for years about whether or not the Netflix Marvel characters would make it over to Disney+ with the original actors attached.
Originally, Marvel sold Daredevil, The Punisher, Jessica Jones and Luke Cage to Netflix, when the company was more strapped for cash. However, when Disney launched their own streaming platform, Netflix canceled all four shows out of spite.
Bernthal is one of the greatest working actors of this era, so it’s great to see him get another shot at donning the legendary skull mark. However, it remains to be seen how a character who’s main storyline involves shooting lots of people can be Disney-fied.
Speaking of Disney, Jeremy Renner’s travel-show-meets-custom-cars-meets-philanthropy effort Rennervations looks awesome, featuring the MCU star creating custom vehicles to help communities in need around the world.
NEW MUSIC
It’s easy to forget that Miley Cyrus is an actual artist…and not just a meme machine that requires food and oxygen. I’ve gotta say, I’m a fan of this new project at first listen.
After going weirdly psychadelic with the help of that Flaming Lips singer (Dead Petz) and then one or two? (I dunno) albums embracing a full on 80’s pop sound, Miley is getting back to a 90’s/00’s singer/songwriter sound.
Vocally, she embraces the huskiness and warm tones of her vocal range.
The best way I can describe this one is somewhere between the confessional songwriting of Taylor Swift and the hypnotic vocal tones of Nora Jones and Alanis Morrisette, with a dose of Blondie thrown in.
Until the next one,
-sth