beccalendsahand - Tumblr blog

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Hi-Diddle-Dee-Dee, this fox lives in my head rent free!~ 🦊

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Crimson Peak + Princess Peach concept now ft boos

Prints

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Alternative book cover for "Piranesi" by Susanna Clarke. Part of my series of alternative book covers for the books we read in our bookclub.

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Edgar and Alan

I really did not like the way Yuzuka's face turned out, so i changed it a bit in photoshop to do justice to her beauty.

Watercolor on paper.

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Pictures from Victorian Play “Death and the Lady” (1906)

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End of Year Zuka Tag 2023 (Part 1 of...)

I'm not sure how many parts I'll do this in coz i know it won't be daily so I'll just do however many questions I feel like at a time.

1. Sumire no Hana: Did you find a new favourite this year? (Either someone who has entered the company this year or someone who has been in the company a while but you have only just become a fan, or both!)

There's a couple of hanagumi girls i've been noicing more this year! I really love Asanoha Kotono, her performance in Junjo at the end of 2022 and then her first shinko lead in oshidori were both fantastic performances. I love her acting style and her singing is gorgeous! I'm excited to see where she goes next.

I also love Suzumina Natsuki! I first noticed her in Naiwa back in 2021 and she has been steadily getting bigger roles, particularly this year. I don't know what it is but whenever she has a little role it's like a pop of serotonin. I love how she's been getting comedy lines and older female characters. I think she's going to become a fun character actress!

Optional bonus question for those that did the tag last year: Who did you put this question in 2022, are you still following them and how have they grown as an actor/person in 2023?

I didn't actually get round to doing the tag last year but I thought it would be fun to mention the girls I talked about in 2021!

Mihane Ai: Back in 2021 I was so impressed by Mihane's performance in Prince of Roses and now look at her, 2 small theatre leads later! She's come so far! Her singing has improved a lot and her acting keeps getting better and better! I always find her performances so moving. Maihime was definitely a stand-out performance of the year!

Hoshizora Misaki: Is now one of my most beloved stars, after 2021 there was a little show called Fuyugasumi which instantly became one of my favourite shows of all time and there was one actress in particular where every time she was onstage I was thinking "wow shes so cool" and that was Misaki! I then wrote my first fan letter and have been writing ever since. She's done so much great stuff this year including playing CARMEN in the hanagumi national tour. So proud of her and I can't wait to see where she goes next.

Irodori Michiru: Since 2021 Michiru has moved to tsukigumi where she has been getting many amazing parts as a kind of nibante musumeyaku. I'm really rooting for her when the next topcombi gets announced! Please, it's what she deserves!

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End of Year Takarazuka Tag 2023

That's right it's back baby! Year 3! I thought it would be nice to share some positivity in the fandom so I have updated the tag for 2023, largely the same but I have tweaked a couple questions.

As always you can do this tag how you like, you can do it as one question per day, as one big post, you name it! Also, feel free to do this on twitter and instagram, basically do what you like!

Please tag it #endofyearzukatag2023 so we can look at each others, and link back to this post so more people can find it! Thank you!

1. Sumire no Hana: Did you find a new favourite this year? (Either someone who has entered the company this year or someone who has been in the company a while but you have only just become a fan, or both!) Optional bonus question for those that did the tag last year: Who did you put this question in 2022, are you still following them and how have they grown as an actor/person in 2023?

2. Ai sore wa... : Tell us about your number one! What's been your favourite role of theirs this year?

3. Never Say Goodbye: Which taidansha was the hardest for you to say goodbye to this year?

4. Material Girl: Favourite piece of merch (most treasured Takarazuka thing you have bought yourself this year, OR if you didn’t buy anything this year, a piece of merch that is on your wish list)

5. Mon Paris: Did you discover a new fav show that was not from this year? (This can be any fav show that you saw for the first time this year that was released before 2022)

6. Wings of the Heart: Favourite fandom memory (this could be a fun stream experience, going to the theatre with friends, all collectively freaking out about something together, anything really!)

7. The Final Dance (Saigo no Dansu): What was your favourite duedan of the year?

8. My Everlasting Dream: What show have you rewatched the most this year?

9. Fascinating Rhythm: What zuka song has been stuck in your head all year?

10. Diamonds are a Girls Best Friend: What was your favourite costume(s) of the year?

11. Cool Beast!!: what was the most ridiculous costume(s) your saw this year?

12. Greatest Moment: A special moment on stage that stayed with you

And finally, the big ones:

13. Musical: What was your favourite musical (one act or two act or both you want!) of the year?

14. Revue: What was your favourite revue of the year?

BONUS: The Diamond: "A Play is great, but coupled with a Show: that's divine." Finding a performance with both an amazing revue AND an amazing one-act show is very very difficult. Was there a show this year that did this for you? If so, bestow it the highest honor, The Diamond Award:

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Tumblr babes dinner is ready 🍽 (cranky random sketchbook page of one of my classic dishes kanej + musical lycris)

Todays side dish : killer by phoebe bridgers

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BLUE EYE SAMURAI ↳ Season One, Episode Three • A Fixed Number of Paths

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mizu in every episode: hammerscale

You are blind, and so cannot see the shame of my face. I am... made of mixed metal. No amount of hammering can remove my impurity. At the time I was born, there were four white men in all of Japan. Men who traded in weapon and opium and flesh. One of them took my mother and made of me... a monster. A creature of shame. I do not know their names. I do know their fate. They will all die by my hand. I have vowed this.

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𝐆𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐦𝐞𝐥𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐤 ����𝐨𝐥e.

—

Direct reference to that one famous photo of Anne Hathaway, Audra McDonald & Raul Esparza in “Twelfth Night”.

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Autumn always feels like the perfect time to reread Jane Eyre, so, have some Jane and Mr. Rochester (though I've made him too cute, so, any other Brontë or Austen couple is also possible) 🍂

Mmm, I hope one day I'll manage to paint a colorful landscape and be happy with the result...It's so much easier in black and white :')

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goody baddy goody baddy goody baddy GOODY BADDY 🎵

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as an addendum to last post.... i was really, really struggling to figure out these characters

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Lovely article+illustrations by Kimono Ichiba (via Tanpopo <3), overviewing famous "scary"patterns... which are in fact often auspicious as traditional Japanese patterns ;)

I believe I have them all on the blog somewhere but it's nice having them in one place so let's go!

Spiderwebs (kumo no su)

In ancient China, spider were seen as auspicious messengers connecting Heaven to Earth.

As the spider catches its prey in its web, spiderweb came to signify "grasping happiness".

Apparently during Edo period, prostitutes and geisha used spiderweb patterned items as a good luck charm (meaning something like "this customer will come back").

A very famous spiderweb depiction is the Lady Rokujo ukiyoe [焔 honô (the flame of passion)] by female artist Uemura Shoen. Wisteria caught in the web could mean ``I hope [Prince Genji] will come tonight'' which is pretty sad considering her story T_T

Skulls (dokuro)

Exact name for human remains pattern is "nozarashi" (lit. "weather beaten") ie bones scattered in a field. This depicts a corpse turned to bones/unveiled from its grave by the elements.

Skulls are thought to ward off evil and bad luck. Bones can also symbolize a do-or-die spirit​, or hope for rebirth after death.

OP stresses a theory linking bones pattern to a buddhist saying 色即是空 shikisokuzekū "form is emptiness, matter is void, all is vanity​". An interpetation is that we'll all turn to dust one day so we're all equal.

Bones patterns are often seen during Obon (Festival of the dead) season.

Monsters, ogres and ghosts (yôkai / oni / yûrei)

Monsters patterns were then worn to ward off bad luck and evil spirits. Reasoning is: let's repel scary things by wearing an even scarier monster!

Fearsome monsters were especially use by people with dangerous jobs, like Edo period firemen.

Firemen often had the lining of their heavy fire attire (火事装束 kajishouzoku) embelished with lavish designs of brave heroes and fantastic monsters. It was both a talisman and a way to show that they did not fear danger or death.

Another reason behing monsters patterns is the Edo period love for "scary" entertainements, be it ghost stories, parlor or other types of games, art (see for ex. Utagawa Kuniyoshi), etc. And Edo city dwellers were all about being fashionable so a monster pattern would have been considered quite iki!

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Jack Seward: enjoyer of men.