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Wasn't originally planning on reblogging this, but it's been a Red Hot While since we've had a VoicePlay Mini of any sort (really hope they become more regular again), and also this is a very fun little video and the song slaps! Definite earworm!

VoicePlay:Papa Oom Mow Mow

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You know how I said this fic would be probably no more than 10 chapters? Yeah no, I've planned it out and it's actually now looking more like 10 chapters minimum. I would be shocked if it winds up being more than 15 chapters long though.

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Okay, I did a first watch-through/reaction and was going to type a few thoughts and then go back and rewatch it, but then I realized I'd probably have more to say after the second time.

Probably won't do a Voiceplay Visuals post for this video (unless any of you really want one anyway), but that doesn't mean there weren't any interesting things to look at! Really need to go back and pause a few times when I inevitably go back and rewatch after writing this

This was an Eli & Layne arrangement! The last time Eli and Layne collabed on a song arrangement was for Enemy, and the last time Eli did any sort of arrangement at all was for Creep (which also featuring Anthony Gargiula, interestingly enough)

I thought from the teaser image that this was maybe filmed at OptiView360 like Sleeping In The Cold Below, but actually it was filmed at Vū Studio Orlando, the same place that was used for Valhalla Calling!

We love a good subharmonic drop from Geoff <3 (and I love his grey streak too okay bye)

Oh boy I cannot wait for the reaction videos for this one! Plus I feel like this cover deserves some proper analysis that I don't have enough knowledge to do myself!

And just like with Sleeping In The Cold Below, Voiceplay have created this fascinating world/story concept, that just makes me want more!!!!

(Never beating the non-human allegations now /j)

Black Hole Sun - VoicePlay ft. Anthony Gargiula (acapella) Soundgarden #...

This is just mind-blowing 🤯 As someone who loves the original and ADORES the cyberpunk aesthetic, it's like VoicePlay put this piece of art together for me specifically. Treat your ears today and give it a listen.

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Yes, I have seen the YouTube Premiere for VoicePlay's new video appear, and yes, I am very excited (I feel like I've been waiting so long for this one!) and have Thoughts™️, but I shall hold off on saying much right now, because I might make a Voiceplay Visuals post for the video and I wanna save my thoughts for it just in case (and if I don't make a VV post, I'll still probably provide a bit of reactions/commentary afterwards in some way anyway).

But basically know that I am very jazzed for the release of VoicePlay's cover of Black Hole Sun

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Chapter 3 of The Dragon In The Castle is now up! I can't say how long this fic will end up being (currently I'd estimate no more than 10 chapters, but I could prove myself wrong), but it will continue to update weekly, roughly at around the same time (on a Wednesday, roughly 8PM-9PM AEST).

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Me in my Voiceplay Visuals post for the Aca Top 10 Disney Villains video: "hey Geoff if you ever wanna make a cover of Trust In Me on your channel, like even just as a short... 👉👈" And now, roughly two months since that post was written (and 5 years since the release of the video), my wish has come true, and boy did he deliver! (Sharing the Instagram video because it has the full version)

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Geoff Castellucci (@geophr3y)

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This blog is going to get a little bit quieter now that my queue has emptied out, so eh, might as well reblog an ask game, why not? Send me some emojis if you wanna get to know me better! No minimum or maximum on how many emojis you choose, and no time limit either!

Get to Know Me!

This is just a fun little thing I’ve been wanting to do since the dawn of time but could never find a post to reblog that satisfied what I wanted. So I made this, feel free to reblog and use it yourself!

❤️ how tall are you?

🧡 what is your sexuality?

💛 what is your favorite feature on yourself?

💚 where are you from?

🩵 do you have any pets?

💙 do you have any siblings?

💜 describe yourself in five words or less!

🩷 dream job?

🖤 favorite hobbies outside of your blog

🎂 when is your birthday?

🌙 your zodiac (Sun, Moon, Rising)

💉do you have tattoos and/or piercings

🚗 can you drive?

✈️ favorite place you’ve traveled

🎤 have you been to a concert

🎵 favorite artists

🎧 last song you listened too

📺 last show you watched

📝 last thing you wrote

🔐 something no one would guess about you

🧟‍♀️ scariest thing that’s happened to you

🔥 craziest thing that’s ever happened to you

🍓 favorite food

🍅 least favorite food

🍊 favorite season?

🍋 favorite genre to read / watch / write

🍐 if you could make one character real, who would it be

🫐 some place you’d love to visit

🍇 a word your friends would use to describe you

🍒 what is your earliest memory

🍌 what is one talent you wish you had

💌 why did you start this blog?

✏️ when did you start writing fanfic

🖇️ what are your favorite asks to answer

📚 how do you come up with the fics you write

📌 what is the fic you’re know for

🔍 what character do you enjoy writing for the most

🖊️ what character do you not enjoy writing for

💔 is there a fic you wish you didn’t write

❤️‍🔥 what character do you simp for most often

🧚‍♀️ favorite characters of all time

🪐 favorite shows / series of all time

🌝 a show you would recommend to anyone

🌚 a show you’d tell people to stay away from

🌹 favorite kinks to write for

🥀 kinks you would never write for

🌊 a kink you would like to write but you think you’d be judged

❄️ full fics, imagines or head canons

☂️ your favorite fanfic from another writer

A couple of in depth questions!

🍄 what is something that’s happened in your life that you wish you could go back and change?

⭐️ what is one of your biggest accomplishments? Why is it so important to you?

🪻what is the toughest thing you had to go through, but can say you’ve successfully overcome?

🌺 what is the best gift someone has ever given you and why is it so important

🍀 what is your comfort show/series and why is it your comfort show? How has it helped you?

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Chapter 2 of The Dragon In The Castle is now up on AO3!

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Voiceplay-adjacent Visuals: Unshaken

Geoff's cover of the song Unshaken from the videogame Red Dead Redemption 2 was uploaded on the 10th of March, 2024, i.e. a month ago for you reading this. I wasn't quite sure at first if I was going to make a Voiceplay-adjacent Visuals post for this video or not, but I waited a couple-ish days (it released on a Sunday morning, and I'm currently typing this on the following Tuesday night), had a think about it (and watched it about half a dozen times, 5 of those just in its first day of release), and decided "yeah, I can talk about this!"

So let's get into this!

Ho boy, that's one hell of an opening shot (and yes I know I said the same thing about Jack's Lament), and we linger on it for like 5 seconds as well!

(Howdy there, Daryl!)

Original thumbnail/Spotify image alert! (And this was the image Geoff posted a week earlier on his Community tab as a little sneak peek, like he really gave nothing else away ahead of time)

For a red hot second (hah) when I first watched this video I thought there was gonna be a red tint to the visuals the whole time, but thankfully no

Did you notice how the screen expands at the same time as the lighting changes? Very neat!

Also interesting that the lighting on Goff, Daryl, Jeoph, and Jeff (more on them in a minute) is not just plain white or yellow; it's almost definitely green. The red lighting has not disappeared, as you can tell from the background, but it gets (mostly) cancelled out in the foreground by the green lighting, because red and green are of course complementary (opposite) colours. But also, red can be associated with danger and warnings (and it's in the title of the videogame of course), and green can sometimes be a "spooky"/"eerie" colour, particularly the bright neon kind. Things to think about!

(And of course, the credit for lighting automation goes to none other than Eli. Thanks Eli! (though I assume Geoff had a fair hand in coming up with ideas for lighting design as well).

If you're reading this, you almost definitely know that this video is technically a prequel to Geoff's video for Ghost Riders In The Sky - here, we see Goff, Daryl, Jeoph, and Jeff as living human cowboys, before they became ghost cowboys. I made a side-by-side comparison post not long after this video dropped, which you can find here

I am of course, quite pleased to see the return of the "Geoffettes", and if you've been following my Voiceplay-adjacent Visuals posts (the last of which was written at least a few weeks before this), you'll know I was keenly anticipating their next feature in a Geoff video. What I wasn't expecting, however, was to have a video that was in fact, just them! Jeff, Jeoph, Goff, and Daryl, but no Geoff! A bold move, to let them do a video all by themselves, but hey, I'm not complaining! 😁😉

Jeoph takes lead vocals for most of this one (technically a primarily-visual observation, for obvious reasons), which is interesting, as he was the only one of the four "brothers" in Ghost Riders to get a proper solo part (the "cowboy change your ways today" line). I wonder if the connection is deliberate/intentional?

(Also Jeoph's got charm, I'll give him that)

I'm assuming that is in fact the same coat that Daryl wore in Ghost Riders In The Sky, since all the other costume pieces match up, but because of the lighting, it looks like a different colour. In Ghost Riders, it seems to have a bit more of a reddish tinge to it, but with the green lighting here, it looks more like a regular brown.

Also because I didn't mention it in my Ghost Riders post, I'll mention it here instead: Thanks to the leather coat (and a bit of extra clothing layering underneath I believe), Daryl looks like he's got a bit of extra "heft" (weight/muscle) on him compared to the other three riders, as pointed out by someone in the comments section of the Ghost Riders video

Oh yeah and there's this golden light backdrop as well, which is quite nice, and I feel like there's some sort of meaning/intention behind this as well, but I haven't quite figured it out yet, rip

Also if Daryl's the largest of the group, at least by a small margin, then I'm saying that Jeff is the thinnest, at least a little bit.

Back to the harsh red lighting for the chorus!

Oh yeah and then we get more of a cool green lighting backdrop for the second chorus - sorta fitting for the lyrics about the whispering pines.

Also I just realized I haven't yet said a word about the set design, which is honestly criminal of me because it is on point. All the props are so cool, like the lanterns and the horse saddle on the far left side, and it definitely nails the Old West theme!

(This was of course filmed at Pattycake Productions Studios, so shoutout to them for their help/collaboration!)

(This shot is more representative of how Daryl's coat appears in the Ghost Riders video in reagards to colour)

Interestingly, Goff doesn't get any solo/lead parts in this one, and also I can't figure out whether he's left-handed in this video too or not. He's holding a large gun (rifle? musket? idk I'm Australian) in his right hand, but I can't see a gun holster on his right hip, so I'm assuming he has a holster on his left hip like in Ghost Riders (and I know Jeff kept his underarm holster in this video)

If I may step "out-of-universe" and talk reality for a hot second, I love the fact that even when Geoff is portraying 4 different cowboy characters, the rings stay on the whole time, for every single one, and so does The Necklace (you can only see part of the necklace chain in shots of Jeff, Jeoph, and Goff here though). Like truly, his jewelry (all of which is a symbol/representation of his love for his wife <3 ) only comes off in the most exceptional of circumstances (like having your hands and chest spray-painted to turn you into a skeleton, for example)

On a completely different Doylian note, how the frick does Geoff Castellucci's hair work? Watch this video, and look at the colour/shade of his hair. Then go watch Wicked Game, the video released just last month, and do the same. And as a bonus, go watch Sleeping In The Cold Below. Seriously, is lighting more powerful/influential than I thought, or does he use colouring products sometimes? I swear I'm gonna be talking about this in many posts to come this year, lol rip.

Jeff is my favourite in this video, though I can't help but love them all 😁

And peep the underarm gun holster I mentioned!

Handsome pretty boy <3

Also love the fact that since Jeff's shirt didn't have any buttons on it to leave undone, he left a button undone on his vest instead (Geoff and his "Clones" are nothing if not consistent 😆)

Lighting change!

"Will the hunter be hunted by the smoking gun?"

Jeoph removes his hat, which in a lot of media is often associated with acknowledgement of death, and the way he holds/looks at his gun here makes me think that Cowboy Jeoph has in fact killed somebody (in this essay I will...)

(Also Matthew "Bucky" Buckner is credited as "special consultant" for this video. Did he help out with the use of the gun props or something? (they are just props, right?))

"Amidst the crash of the-"

Love the sudden light flash to match with the sudden line pause, like a flash of lightning, and it kinda sounded like there was a subtle thunderclap there too!

You know I love a good passionate belt from Geoff (or one of the Geoffettes) in a video 😄💜

It's quite different tone-wise, but this bit reminds me of Geoff's Shenandoah video, with two of the Geoff clones seemingly conducting with each other at one point. Go rewatch that video after this, you'll see what I mean.

Also either it's just me, or for most of this, the self-conducting hand movements are kept quite minimal/subtle, only increasing moreso here at the big climax of the song/video. I'm gonna have to watch this video a few more times to confirm, but it adds to the more sombre vibe of the video imo (like obviously we know how the story ends for the four of them here, and it's not exactly a happy ending)

Go off Jeoph!

I also wish to know if there's any particular meaning/significance behind Jeff taking off his hat early on in the video and then putting it back on at the end (other than the thought that only just came to me right now, in that it's very similar to Jeff in Folsom Prison Blues, removing his glasses early on in the video, and then putting them back on at the end.)

Honestly love this final shot, it's very cool 👌

There is one thing missing though: the gramophone logo at the end! It's not there! The video just goes straight to the Patrons list! It's not even at the very very end! Did Geoff just forget? Is it some subtle symbolism connected to how "Main Geoff" isn't in this video? I guess we'll just have to wait and see whether or not it shows up at the end of the next one!

And here I was wondering whether or not I'd have a lot to say about this video or a lot of screenshots to take! Guess I had no need to worry after all! Geoff once again knocked it out the park, and yes, as I said at the start, I watched this 5 times in one day! The arrangement is very impressive, as we've come to expect from Geoff, and though I predicted this would be a Low Bass Cover the moment I realized this would be a Western-style song/video, this was still ridiculously low. Geoff pulled out all the stops for this one, and I love it!

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Those of you who followed along with my Voiceplay Visuals posts, especially the earlier ones, will know that on the odd occasion, I would include what I call a "Geoff Hair Study", where, with the powers of my stylus and my Sketchbook Pro app, I would do a fairly simple outlining of a screencap of Geoff, to take a look at the length and style of his hair in the video (and, where possible, I would do a few colour-picks of his hair as well, because the colour/shade of it seems to be ever-changing and ever-dynamic).

Anyway, now that I'm currently done with Voiceplay Visuals for the time being (and almost done with Voiceplay-Adjacent Visuals for the time being), I thought I'd make a compilation post of all the "hair studies" I've done! Some have been included in Voiceplay Visuals posts, some haven't, and one is actually even different to the one I included for my post on that video (because I decided to do a do-over using a different screencap).

Is it perfect? Of course not, but I had fun with it anyway. (Bonus points: can you tell which video each image came from? 👀)

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Voiceplay-adjacent Visuals: Jack's Lament

Can you feel me practically vibrating out of my skin???

On one hand, I'm a little sad because this is the last video I'll probably be making a post about for a while (though by the time you see this, Geoff might have uploaded a new video that I can actually talk about the visuals for (EDIT from future me: he did!), and if so, you'll be seeing a post for that one tomorrow), but on the other hand, this is my third (though in no particular order/ranking) favourite Geoff video on his channel so far, and I am so excited to finally be able to make a post for it!

Geoff's cover of Jack's Lament debuted on the 8th of October, 2023, though I didn't see it pop up in my YouTube recommended until the 29th (if you remember from my Hellfire post, I wasn't initially subscribed to Geoff or Voiceplay, and both channels somehow ended up dropping off my radar for a while. Jack's Lament was the first from either channel that I had seen in at least a year, and as soon as I saw that thumbnail, I knew it was going to be amazing, but oh my GOD it was even better (and with me stumbling upon Hellfire the very next day, well let's just say I was pulled even deeper down the Geoff/Voiceplay rabbithole than I had been the first time around 😅).

Anyway, I'm not sure if I'll hit image limit on this one, or how much actual commentary I may have, but regardless, let's freaking go!

One hell of an opening shot, not gonna lie. Geoff's very-skeletal-looking hands playing the piano (in a beautiful way, might I add), immediately sets a very spooky/eerie vibe!

And this is one hell of an establishing shot! I mean goddamn there is a lot to take in here! Though one thing I will point out (that I actually only just noticed myself ^^;) is the Haunted Mansion headstone on the left, memorialising Madame Leota!

(Also shoutout to Pattycake Production Studios where this was filmed!)

I of course have to give a MASSIVE shoutout and kudos to Rick Underwood for the makeup job in this one, like holy christ he really outdid himself here! (and I can't thank him enough)

Ngl, if I don't come up with any other ideas between now and October, then I kinda wanna dress as "Jack Skellington Geoff" (Geoff Caskellington? 🤔), makeup and all (or just attempt the face makeup at least)

And seriously take a look at his hands! If it weren't for the super-high-definition closeup of his hands on the piano at the start, you'd be forgiven for thinking those are just really well-fitting gloves, but nope! An amazing airbrush job from Mr Underwood!

Also, if you look at his neck and chest in both this image and the previous one, you'll notice that he's got airbrushing going on there too, highlighting (or more accurately, shading) his ribs and other bones!

Finally, on the subject of the body paint job, if you've been paying attention to some of my other Geoff posts (and some of my Voiceplay posts), you might notice what's missing...

No necklace, and no rings! Had to remove them for costume/makeup/character purposes, rip. Must have felt a bit weird without them, but all that paint must have felt weird too, so maybe the weird feelings cancelled each other out? 😅

(His acting in this is of course 10/10 👌)

This video is one that I do actually know involved Geoff deliberately colouring his hair to make it grey, and it still looks as lovely as ever!

(Also this picture is a better one to check out the airbrushed detailing on his chest! (if you're gonna leave a couple of shirt buttons undone and your chest exposed, might as well take advantage of it! 😁))

The "moon" in this video is apparently just some big spotlight with a moon cover on it or something? Apparently you can fairly easily find them online or something, and you can in fact see the pole it's attached to underneath in this image here, but you likely wouldn't notice the pole if you weren't looking for it, and the usage of the moon is 100% perfect! (I've seen/heard one or two people wishing the moon was yellow like in the movie, but eh, it probably wouldn't have fitted the overall colour scheme of the video as much)

I had to include the "jumpscare" of course I had to! 😁

Also I can't get any good screencaps of it, but the way Geoff shifts from sombre on "a longing that I've never known," to more theatric/dramatic on "I'm a master of fright, and a demon of light" is so good, and the acting/choreography is absolute chefs kiss

"Bonjour!"

(For those of you not familiar with the original, the line "and I'm know throughout England and France" is part of the original song, but the "bonjour!" bit is not 😆)

A Geoff head not connected to the body! It's happened again! 😂

Also it's cool the way Geoff is quickly jumping/flashing from one point to another, reminds me of his Headless Horseman video

"No animal, nor man, can SCREAM like I can!"

What can I say, it's a very cool effect! Really ups the "oomph" factor of the little belt moment!

Tiny pumpkins/jack-o-lanterns in his eyes!!

"But who here, would ever understand..."

(I'm not even at half the maximum image limit yet, so I'm 100% just throwing in an extra screencap (or two) just because 😁)

Geoff pats the side of his leg to call for Zero the ghost dog, just in in the scene in the movie! (Also shoutout to Kathy, who I believe helped with puppeteering for this bit?)

"...that the pumpkin king, with the skeleton grin,"

(Freaking obsessed with this video, I tell ya!)

"The fame and praise, come year after year, does nothing for these empty tears"

This is the last shot before we see the gramophone logo (a very gorgeous shot btw), but there's a little bit of a bonus bit for those who stick around for the Patron credits!!

It starts to snow! Like at the end of the movie! It's a sign of hope and good things to come! <3

The original song is good for the movie, sure, but Geoff's cover feels like it has so much more depth (in more ways than one!) and emotion! And his vocal range is ugh god absolutely stunning and mindblowing! I cannot get enough, can never get enough!

But anyway, I hope you've been enjoying my Voiceplay/Voiceplay-adjacent posts! If there are any videos I've skipped over that you actually would like me to make a post on, please let me know! (And don't worry, I am planning to do all the 2017-onwards Christmas videos for both channels eventually - maybe as a Christmas In July thing?) I'm typing this on the 22nd of February, and if Voiceplay uploads a video in March that I wanna make a post on (nope), well you reading this will have already seen that post, and if Geoff uploads something in March that I wanna talk about (he did), then you'll see that post tomorrow (you will!). But otherwise, thanks for reading!

[acaplaya-musings]

Voiceplay-adjacent Visuals: Folsom Prison Blues

Never have I been so much of a fan of a country song (or at least, a country song performed by a male singer) before!

Geoff's cover of Folsom Prison Blues was uploaded on the 6th of August, 2023, and it's another one of my 3 favourite videos on his channel. Emphasis on "video", because although the song is great and it's yet again a cool arrangement of his, the video is what really sells it for me. So without further ado, let's get into it!

If you've watched the video (of course you have) and watched at least the first bit of Geoff's outro at the end (I hope you have), then you'll know that Geoff legit rented out an actual legit prison for this video! No longer used of course, and I think this section was the only part of the prison that actually still looked like one, but still! (Shoutout to the Patrons who helped make it possible for Geoff to do this! I'm still considering joining Geoff's Patreon myself tbh.)

I didn't think it was possible for Geoff to look any more handsome than he already usually does, but Geoff in glasses? Whoo yes please! 👀👌 (Or should I say, "Jeff" in glasses? 😉)

Also check out the book he's reading! It's a Johnny Cash book! (A little nod to the original artist of the song, of course)

So what's up with the numbers on the uniforms, and how do I know that the one in the glasses is "Jeff"? Well they're connected! Each uniform has a different number on it, and each number connects to a letter, phone-keypad style:

So the one in the glasses (and now holding that book in a very questionable way) has the uniform number 05333, which can be translated as _-J-E-F-F. Then next to him we have uniform number 43633, which translates to G-E-O-F-F, aka "Lead Geoff" (also context clues can help you out here - he's the lead vocalist for this one, and therefore, it's Geoff 😁)

Walking up to the foreground we have uniform number 32795, which is Daryl! (Fun story: I've done a few Voiceplay/Geoff marathons with two of my best friends (always via video chat, because I like seeing their reactions but also there's no way I'm letting them listen without headphones), and when we were watching Folsom Prison Blues and we got to this bit, one of my friends exclaimed "holy crap he's jacked?!?!" 😂)

And I'll clarify now that the one leaning(?) on the cell door has the uniform number 53674, and it's Jeoph!

(Apparently Kathy told people in the live chat or something that Goff isn't in this one because he's a good boy who would never end up in jail, or something like that 😆)

I'm guessing you've noticed how very fluffy Geoff's hair is in this one? 😁 (And also the prominence of his white-grey streak, gotta point that out too <3). Apparently it was quite a warm day when this video was being filmed, and quite humid too, and the "set" was open-air with no air-conditioning or proper cooling system to speak of. And look, as someone who lives in Queensland, Australia (which is frequently Humidity Central during summers), I can certainly sympathise, but dang the humidity didn't do him any sort of disservice, that's for sure! 👀

Also, because there is plenty of natural light for the shots in this one, this is another good video for exhibiting Geoff's actual eye colour (hazel), because the tinges of green are decently noticeable in this one! <3

To quote one of the comments: "a Geoff being unimpressed with other Geoffs will never not be funny" 😂

(Also more appreciation for Jeff in glasses, while he's still wearing them, because he (sadly /hj) takes them off as the first verse starts getting repeated, and then doesn't put them back on till right at the end!)

How nice of you to decide to join in, Jeoph! 😆

Also notice that the "Geoffs"/"Quadruplets" here each have a slight difference to their outfits? (Until Jeff takes the glasses off, anyway). It's in the sleeve lengths! Well, if there are any sleeves at all of course. Daryl is wearing a sleeveless shirt (we always stan <3), Geoff has sleeves rolled down to his elbows, and both Jeff and Jeoph have sleeves rolled up higher than their elbows! (Took me freaking ages to notice that, ngl).

(Though note even when Jeff takes off his glasses, he still keeps them hanging off his shirt, so they're still kinda technically a point of difference)

(And is it just the lighting, or is it just me, but is Jeff's shirt slightly different in colour to Jeoph's? Or am I just losing it a little bit? 😅)

I'm not someone who usually cares much about how physically strong/muscled a person is, but boy, he really do be jacked!

(Also necklace pendant in full view!)

"Don't ever play with guns!"

(Sharing this image because I literally only just noticed Daryl's sort of "warning finger" gesture (and accompanying facial expression 😝), though it's literally right at the start of the shot and he pulls his hand back fairly quickly)

(Sidenote: I adore the way that Geoff gives his "Backup Geoffs/Clones" individual personalities/identities in some of his videos, I can't get enough of it, and as much as I love the "truly solo" stuff he's been doing since, I hope I get to see multiple "Geoff clones" in a video again sooner or later (NOTE: yes this was written very much before Unshaken was released))

What's that you're holding there, Jeff? 😉

Also shoutout for not only the acting work by Geoff in this (subtle but certainly valuable), but the editing too! We're getting multiple angles of Jeff, Geoff, Daryl, and Jeoph, who all start in different positions in the foreground/midground/background btw, and it looks clean as anything! Maybe it's not actually too hard to do, relatively speaking at least, but had you shown this to me in like 2018 or something, that alone would have blown my mind, let alone the rest!

Harmonica time! Truly a man of many skills and talents! (Apparently Geoff used to play harmonica for a Blues Brothers show he did at Universal Studios Orlando or something (knowing how to play it was fully required to perform in the show), and he brushed up on his skills/knowledge for this video!)

Also I know it's obviously much more common to know how to play guitar than harmonica, but I found it a little amusing at how literally not a single reactor batted an eyelid at Geoff "playing" guitar in Man Of Constant Sorrow (though he's overall better at playing it via piano plug-in than with the actual instrument), but at least one or two reactors on this video were like "is that really him playing it?"/"who's playing the harmonica on this cover?" It's all Geoff! 😁

Jeoph's face right after Daryl hits a very solid F#1 in chest, literally the epitome of "huh, not bad" 😆

Obligatory comment of "hhhhh he's so pretty"

(Also gotta love the fact that neither Geoff nor any of the Backup Geoffs have any fewer than 2-3 top buttons undone. Full respect 😝👌)

Another point of difference to look out for in this video: all four of them move their hands differently when singing/harmonising! Most noticeable between Geoff and Geoph. Daryl, meanwhile, keeps his hands pretty still in comparison, mostly either standing with his arms folded, or with his hands half in his pockets like in the shot above.

"If they free me from this prison..."

(Nobody points out/seems to notice Daryl in this bit, which imo is a darn shame, so I'm making up for it!)

Bonus Geoff Clones up top in the background! (They're multiplying!!!!)

Now come on, that's just showing off! 😂 (Also if go back and rewatch this and pay attention to the background, you'll see that the background Geoff Clone on the far left starts clapping! 😁)

Massive kudos to both Geoff and Kathy for this video - other than Ed Boyer (who does the audio mixing for both Voiceplay and Geoff's solo stuff), this cover and video was purely a Castellucci production! Kathy was production manager as always (and she is for Voiceplay as well), and she and Geoff collaborated on "creative/visuals" (quoting the credits in the description, and the rest was all Geoff! The arrangement, the producing, the filming, the performing, (the harmonica playing!), and the editing! All him! He does a lot of this stuff himself for his other solo videos too, but this one is very brilliant, even without knowing how much of an independent creation it was!

[acaplaya-musings]

Voiceplay-adjacent Visuals: Man of Constant Sorrow

Geoff's cover of Man Of Constant Sorrow was uploaded on the 15th of April, 2023 (the birthday of one of my best friends actually - lucky them). Geoff says in the description of the video: "As great as the song is, I always felt like it needed a bridge, so I wrote one. I fully expect some haterade in the comments section for that, but I love you all anyway." As far as I know, he has received exactly zero (0) "haterade" in the comments section for it, and nor does he deserve any! The bridge is great, and so good that those who don't know the original song (like myself and a few of the reactors I've watched) could think that it was just part of the original song (and did in fact think that), and those who do know the original might think it's from a completely different song! (Like one or two other reactors I've watched).

But anyway, enough about the song (and Geoff's mind-boggling ability to just write new lyrics on a whim, apparently), time to talk about the visuals! Let's go!

This video was filmed at "Big Oaks Ranch", which you might recognise as being the same filming location of Geoff's video for Take Me Home Country Roads (which I skipped over I know), as well as Voiceplay's videos for Daddy Sang Bass and Billie Eilish In 3 Minutes!

(Also check out how warm/saturated this shot is!)

A rare occasion of giving each of the Backup Geoffs different outfits despite it not being a theatrical/majorly-story-based video! We got Blue Shirt Geoff (wearing a polo with none of the 3 buttons done up on it), Light Shirt Geoff (wearing what I think is a pale-green shirt, but I'm not sure, with the top two buttons undone), Black Shirt Geoff (surprise surprise 😝😂) (t-shirt, so no buttons to speak of), and Plaid Flannel Geoff (with at least two buttons undone at the top, and open enough that you can see his necklace on full display!)

(Also that reddish brown belt gets a decent bit of usage doesn't it? Same one as two of the Cowboy Geoffs were wearing in Ghost Riders I believe, and I think it's been worn in Sixteen Tons and/or Big Bad John as well?)

Appreciation for the way the camera panned down along the train tracks, then panned up to Geoff, feet to head. We stan (also full necklace spotted here too!)

Sir how does your hair do that, how is your hair so good that you're giving me hair envy? (For the record, I have long, orange, wavy hair, and yet I can't help but be allured by Geoff's hair sometimes! 😅)

Let's talk about "Hat Geoff" for a minute here, because he's clearly the protagonist of this video, but in an interesting and uncommon twist, he's not actually the lead singer in this video - Light Shirt Geoff is!

(Also I'm genuinely wondering if that's an actual photo that he's holding, and if so, what's on it? (knowing him, my bet is that it's a picture of Kathy/him and Kathy <3 ))

Fun fact: Geoff's "guitar-playing" in this video is mostly just him faking it; doing simple strumming and stuff like that. He can't actually play guitar - or not in the typical way at least. For most of the instrumental stuff in his covers, he uses some sort of plug-in that connects to an electric keyboard/piano, iirc.

(Also the strings are barely vibrating as he's strumming, and I don't think he's even holding a guitar pick. I can't play guitar either though so what do I know? 😅)

Well he certainly looks good with it at any rate! 😁

"I can feel it like a bullet, no matter where I tread,"

(On my list of "movements/gestures from a Voiceplay/Geoff that I replicate nearly every time I sing it to myself 😝"_

"All my days I have been running from these GHOSTS within my head!"

The flowers placed next to Geoff's hat here, are known as "baby's breath", and apparently they've long been used as a symbol of purity, innocence, hope, and new beginnings. Their inclusion in this video would not have been for no reason!

(Also maybe Geoff does know a little bit about guitar-playing? Based on the way he changes hand/finger position on the neck of the guitar).

To just throw in an E1 subharmonic like it's the simplest thing in the world, while looking this good... god it's almost too much!

Also a bit of a fan of Plaid Flannel Geoff though ngl 👀

Genuinely some lovely cinematography in this video! (And apparently a lot of that is because of Geoff as well! Although Layne often helps out with the Steadicam)

Neat!

And I feel like it would be remiss of me to not highlight Geoff's message to people at the end: 😁

"I should mention that the train tracks I was walking down were not in use! So please please please don't go walking down any train tracks near you - trains are big and strong, and you are soft and squishy." [pfft, a Very Important Message indeed!]

I enjoy Man of Constant Sorrow for the fact that for the majority of the song, I can stay pretty easily on key with it (though often a couple or so octaves higher, of course). And that bridge is really awesome, and I could not imagine the song without it!

Only got a couple more Geoff videos that I wanna talk about (at the time of me typing this, at least), but they are my two other favourite videos on his channel (other than Way Down), so be prepared for many more screencaps! Stay tuned!

[acaplaya-musings]

Voiceplay-adjacent Visuals: The Sound of Silence

I wasn't entirely sure whether I would make a post for this video (uploaded on March 11th, 2023) or not, as although I knew there were at least a few things I wanted to point out/talk about, I didn't know how short the post might end up being. But I did a bit of a "refresher watch" just earlier, and I determined that if I did make a post, it certainly wouldn't be any shorter than my post for Ain't No Sunshine, so here we are! Haven't really got anything else to say in my little intro thing, so let's get into the video!

I could watch/listen to Geoff playing piano all day long honestly

In my previous post, for Ghost Riders In The Sky, I made a comment on how Geoff wasn't wearing anything on his left wrist. I was partially teasing, but my point was that this is what Geoff's arms/wrists usually look like (and honestly I can both vibe with it and highkey relate)

"When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light..." (he's lit by a neon light! While singing this!!!!)

Like always when it comes to awesome lighting stuff in Voiceplay/Geoff videos, I gotta give a shoutout to the one and only Eli Jacobson!

(Also I know I go on a lot about how pretty Geoff is, but it's not for no reason! Look at this man!!!!)

I almost literally can't talk about the visuals here without talking a little bit about the vocals/arrangement, because they're so intertwined here! Like okay maybe that's not anything unusual, but when you have such a visually-simple/"stripped back" video, the elements that are included on screen (such as lighting) feel a lot more prominent, and it might be more apparent/noticeable when it lines up with the actual song.

All that to say, the well-timed spotlight flashes are very wonderful, and help add extra emphasis to the lyrics that Geoff is singing <3

And again! On the line "no one dared disturb the sound of silence", Geoff does a low bass slide downwards on "sound", and as he goes lower, the lighting gets lower as well! Bright to darker!

Alright I'll admit it; half the reason (at least) that I wanted to make this post was just so I could include pictures of Geoff being an absolute rockstar! 😁

(Man I love the frame-by-frame video scrubbing ability, perhaps even more than the way Geoff's hair is blowing and moving in this part of the song! 😄😋)

More of Rockstar Geoff in 2024 please and thank you!

(Not that I'm actually particularly fussy when it comes to Geoff content 😝)

And then bringing the tone right back to where we started, as is common for Geoff's covers!

I'm not gonna lie, when I was looking through the Geoff videos I had missed out on since my unintentional break from his and VP's channels (see my Hellfire post), and I saw that he had covered Sound of Silence, I was actually a little bit skeptic! Oh me of so little faith, I know, but it's such an iconic song, right? Everyone knows at least parts of it, and I knew a fair bit of it, but it didn't take too long before I decided to see what Geoff had done with it. It was good, I liked it, but THEN, when it got to the part with the surge of energy? My jaw dropped, and I was grinning in shock and awe! And now I don't even want to hear the original ever again, just Geoff's version! This! Man! Can! Do! No! Wrong!

[acaplaya-musings]

Wasn't expecting a Voiceplay short this morning, and definitely not a non-song based one, but I'm certainly not complaining! (Honestly this was a delight and I kinda wanna see more of these videos)

Scrambled Egg Challenge GEOFF VS LAYNE - VoicePlay #cooking #food #eggs

These guys are the silliest 😂

[acaplaya-musings]

Since it's the day of my Voiceplay-adjacent Visuals post for Ghost Riders In The Sky, I thought I might as well give this fic a reblog for anyone who might have missed it the first time!

Word count: 4,645

Summary: Based on Geoff's videos for Ghost Riders In The Sky and Unshaken. In the "Ghost Riders In The Sky" song, one of the riders calls out to the old cowboy as they pass by him, but what if they were able to stop and rest for a while to tell the old cowboy their story? This is my story of them telling that story.

So basically Geoff's video for Unshaken got my creative juices flowing, and my brain really wanted me to either draw something for it or write something for it, and this time I chose writing. I've been working on this since the day of the video release (it released last Sunday morning, I started writing this that afternoon or night iirc), and I actually finished the draft last night, but I decided to read through the full thing this morning to make final edits/alterations before posting. This was a bit challenging to work on at times, but it was also kinda fun, so I hope you all like it!

[acaplaya-musings]

Voiceplay-adjacent Visuals: Ghost Riders In The Sky

Geoff's Halloween video for 2022 (uploaded on the 2nd of October) was a cover of the song Ghost Riders In The Sky, written by Stan Jones (who also wrote Saddle Up), and performed by many artists since, such as Marty Robbins and Johnny Cash. As Geoff himself said in the description, Geoff had been getting "MORE than a few requests for this song" over the past few months prior, and honestly, with it being both a "spooky" song and a country/Western song, it practically had his name written all over it. And well, Geoff certainly delivered, as always, and I have a decent few things to talk about here, so let's go!

Not actually talking about the Cowboy Geoffs just yet, but of course I gotta point out the cool way that they flash in and out of shot right at the start of the video, like a sort of teaser of what you're gonna get from the rest of the video.

And doubly of course, I must show my love for this very cool logo for the cover/video, which apparently Geoff designed himself or something? Seriously this freaking slaps 👌

I'm guessing that Lead Geoff's fairly simple black/grey outfit is meant to help the Cowboy Geoffs stand out more in comparison/contrast, but also goddamn this guy wears black a lot 😂😅

(Also oh my god he's not wearing anything on his left wrist! A very rare occurrence for sure! 😝)

Shoutout to Rick Underwood once again for the ghostly makeup! (He's also credited in the description as "beard wrangler" 😆)

There have been at least two (maybe three) reaction videos I've watched which have compared the Cowboy Geoffs to the Night King and/or his army from Game Of Thrones. It's the eyes, mostly

Right, now time for individual shots! I'm gonna mess with the chronological order of screencaps here just a tiny bit, just so I can do a straightforward left-to-right introduction:

Geoff credits his "backing vocals" in this one, but apparently the credits aren't in respoective order of their positioning in the video. I found out which Cowboy Geoff is which from comments (Patrons of Geoff I'm assuming) on a reaction video. So anyway, this is Jeff!

(For once Lead Geoff (or just Geoff for this one) isn't actually the one with the least amount of facial hair (Geoff has a bit of a 5 'o' clock shadow in this video)).

...This one is Daryl (love the red-brown coat, very nice) (Yes, Daryl (the Patrons helped name him I believe?)).

...This one is Goff (notice that he takes off his hat with his left hand? He's a leftie! (for this video at least))

...And finally we have Jeoph. This isn't the first time Geoff has had 4 Backup Geoffs helping him out in a video (e.g. see Ain't No Sunshine), but this was the first video that the 4th/extra Backup Geoff was officially given a name 😄

No prizes for guessing who got credited with lighting design (and 3D renders!) for this one, but regardless, shoutout to Eli!

Love the translucent/ghostly effect on the Cowboy Geoffs, very neat!

Geoff could have kept the Cowboy Geoffs on screen for the whole time, but instead they disappear along with the background landscape at the end of the first chorus, and then they fade back into shot after the first line of the second verse, about 4 or 5 seconds later. I vibe with it! It's creative, it's interesting, it encourages you to keep paying attention to the video!

And this of course was very cool!

(Also notice how as well as Goff being left-handed, Jeff's gun holster thing is on the side of his vest, under his left arm, rather than on his belt! Details!!!!)

(Super big aspect ratio for this video too btw, like it nearly takes up the full height of my laptop screen! (Gotta have enough space to get good full-body shots of all 5 of them I suppose))

This man has such a stranglehold over me that even just seeing him whistling in this (on my first-time watch of it) had me doing a short intake of breath! How is he allowed to be this good at so many things? 😅

(Also a little jealous because not only can I not raise one eyebrow independently of the other, but I also can't whistle!!! (I can't click/snap my fingers either, but that one I've learned how to do a "cheat" version that's more like a one-handed clap))

I've said it before and I'll say it again: I love it when Geoff gets to belt out a line or two in a song! Especially when you can actually see him putting full effort into it!

Very cool! (Also this video is the second usage of the gramophone logo on Geoff's channel; the first was on Rains Of Castamere, but I forgot to mention it ^^;)

Also also I can't help but give a shoutout to the audio panning effect right at the end, with the sound of hoofbeats that move from the left ear of your headphones to the right, as if you're really listening to horses running by you. It might be one of my favourite clever sound effect things ever tbh.

Geoff doesn't upload full-length covers as often as Voiceplay does (totally understandable btw), but when he does, it's always an absolute treat! Currently (i.e. as of the 21st of February), I only have a few Geoff videos left to talk about (some of his 2023 uploads!), but I'm quite excited for them, so stay tuned!