#2019 also had better wigs

[shredsandpatches]

Congrats on watching the 2004 Faust! Bryn Terfel's Mephisto has to be one of the best acting efforts in any opera recording ever, to me. Mildly unusual take on the character, but just honestly 100% perfect in every scene. He's so ugly! And he's so disappointed! And he's evil! Performance of all time. And I agree the serenade/duel scene is fantastic.

Oh their Marguerite also has the rare combo of being super beautiful and sounding super good. I love her. Alagna Faust also not bad, I like how he's so small. And the cartwheel of course.

And the ballet dancers 😭😭😭 And how the devils come out to cheer / mock the patriotism during the soldiers' chorus. That's like borderline poignant.

Well this was really more of a comment than a question but I just love that recording.

(I like Keenlyside and I like Valentin but Keenlyside Valentin is meh to me) (Degout Valentin is where it's at)

Okay I gotta admit: I actually thought Bryn Terfel's Mephistopheles was really hot. In a creepy and sweaty way, certainly, but also, really hot. Maybe I'm weird? (Or a Marthe kinnie.) He absolutely rocked that ballgown. And we are, at any rate, in complete agreement that he was AWESOME. THAT SOUL-PIERCING STARE. I honestly saw a lot of Marlowe's Mephistopheles in his take on the role--that very grim quality he brings to it, and the touches of melancholy at the beginning and end. Maybe the Marlowe vibes are a British thing? Really interesting contrast with Erwin Schrott's Mephistopheles, who brings a lot more of the traditional sass (and who also absolutely rocks the ballgown, of course). Terfel's version would never do the dork dance that Schrott does at the end of "Le veau d'or" (NB. I love the dork dance.) I also thought the 2004 had more homoeroticism than the 2019 and of course I'm always gonna be on board for that.

Angela Gheorghiu is pretty much always great, I agree. She was still married to Roberto Alagna when they did this and real-life couples don't always have chemistry in performance but they did here--obviously they are playing a disaster couple but you still need to have chemistry. I'm not a huge fan of Alagna's singing generally (too reedy and scoopy for me) but his acting and especially his physical acting was really good. (Another interesting contrast: Michael Fabiano in 2019 reads a lot younger than Alagna does in 2004 even though the relative ages at the time of the performances are not that far apart: 35 vs. 41. They were both younger than I am now! I guess Fabiano is just more baby-faced but their duets with their respective Marguerites read pretty differently.)

Also agreed about the soldiers' chorus--given the setting in Belle Epoque (and the fact that I wrote a giant term paper about it in high school) it gives the impression that the war they're coming back from is the Franco-Prussian (even though the localization is not that literal/specific) in which case, of course, they'd be coming back from getting pasted.

ANYWAY. YES. Love this production a lot, both versions. Oh, I also thought that although the DVD quality wasn't as clear (it predates HD I think, or at least HD being common), some of the scenes were filmed in a way that makes the narrative a little clearer -- the Walpurgisnacht ballet in particular. I thought the actual dancing was stronger in 2019 but the 2004 filming put you closer to it. (Also you got a better sense of Faust's reactions; in the 2019 you could hardly see him.)

[operafantomet]

I’m curious, what is the reason a production will give a Christine actress a blonde/different colored wig? I know smaller productions often have a blonde Christine (I think at least) but like- London for example, I thought they had a few Christine’s with a blonde wig, I assumed because the actress was a blonde but I swear there were some blonde Christine’s that also had a dark wig as well. Is there any reason for this? Or is it just random?

I the earliest days of POTO there was a will to adapt the 'Degas' wig to whoever played Christine and Meg. Whereas all three original Christines in West End followed the Sarah Brightmanesque look with big brown curls, they did feature Patti Cohenour on Broadway with a much lighter brown wig, to adapt to her colouring. It wasn't blonde, but it was a light auburn / reddish brown:

For the original Toronto production they also changed Susan Cuthberg's wig from brown to blonde during her run, making her the first blonde ALW Christine out there. This too was due to it being closer to her own colouring:

Equally, Janet Devenish started out with a very red Meg wig in West End. Later in her run it was changed to a blonder one. It's the blonde look that's stuck on Meg, but interestingly she was a redhead first!

A final example from early POTO days is that original Australian Meg, Sharon Millerchip, started out as a blonde, but it was decided that a brunette wig looked better on her. Once again to adapt to the actress' natural colourings.

But later in the 1990s the general formula stuck. Christine as a brunette, Meg as a blonde. A handful of Christines in West End was featured with auburn wig to match their own colouring, and one or two Megs got a brown wig, but they were definitely the exception rather than the rule. Especially in the US and the World Tour the Christines has worn a general dark brown wig completely unrelated to what hair colour they have in real life. This is what is generally done for the replica production, as the design indicates brown curls, but with some exceptions here and there.

With the first ever non-replica production, in Hungary 2003, their Christines partly wore their own hair, braided, with extensions in the back. This meant that a variety of colours has been seen there: Vanilla blonde, darker blonde, auburn, brunette. Here's barbara Fonyo (auburn), Renata Krassy (blonde) and Andrea Maho (brunette):

The non-replica productions that followed chose different strategies:

The 2008 Polish production emulated the 2004 movie, with curly brown wigs

The 2013 Restaged Tour did a less curly, general brown wig

The 2014 Estonian production featured their Christines with their actual hair colour (one brunette, one blonde)

The 2014 Czech production stuck fairly close to the original design, with long brown curly wigs,

The 2015 Finnish/Swedish production tried out different shades of red; first strawberry blonde, then flaming red.

The 2015 Romanian production and later Norwegian/Greek/Tour version went blonde. The Romanian production featured the actress' own hair, while the others has done wigs. But there's been different shades of blonde, different lengths and different curls. Gaston Leroux has been mentioned as inspiration.

The 2017 Serbian production also featured their Christine with their respective hair, which gave one blonde and one brunette.

Ditto for the 2019 Bulgarian production, ranging from light brown to black hair.

The 2020 Swedish production first went red for Christine. I have read they thought it was never done before and that's why they wanted to try it out (but as seen above, the Finnish/Swedish production beat them to it). When a new principal Christine was cast they gave her a blonde wig, to better match her colouring.

The 2022 Sydney Harbour production did fairly classic brown curly wigs.

The 2023 new Romanian production also feature Christine with her own hair - like the original Romanian production, and incidentally the same actress. But it looks like there's a bit of extensions going on as well.

Last, but not least, the 2023 Mediterranean production premiering in Italy did somewhere between honey blonde and auburn.

So in large, a non-brown Christine wig seems to be a way of adapting the hair to the actress - whether a wig is in use or not. In some cases it's also a way of actively differentiate the look from Maria Bjørnson's original design (as well as the iconic Mary Philbin look).

In replica production the 'wildest' things they did in the 1990s and early 2000s was auburn Christine wigs, and primarily in West End. But in the later 2000s more variations started to appear. The very light brown wigs of Janine Kitzen in Stuttgart and Robyn North in West End comes to mind, and Anne Görner's fairly redhead wig. Then Harriet Jones' first auburn red wig in West End, and them going all blonde on Emmi Christensson. Again the overall strategy seems to be to match the actress' own colours and the wig. Left: Anne Görner in Essen, and right: Emmi Christensson in West End.

In recent years there's also been a will to adapt the texture of the curls. From recent West End examples there is Lucy St Louis, Beatrice Penny-Touré, Paige Blankson and Chumisa Dornford-May with afro-textured hair. Ditto for Emilie Kouatchou on Broadway. Here's Lucy St Louis with Killian Donnelly:

And then the recent wig change for Eve Shanu-Wilson in West End, which is meant to closer reflect on her heritage. Though the Phantom historian in me also thinks it brilliantly reflects on the 1990s West End wigs, so I'm doubly happy...

So yeah. Usually the variations in wig colour and curls is due to a will to reflect on who the actress is and how she looks in real life. But the wig is of course also a tool to create a certain look for a certain role. Which means that every wig is an interpretation, and a negotiation between wanted look and the many possibilities for adaption.

[rivalsforlife]

pardon me if you’re tired of discussing this but. we know aa7 is on capcom’s radar on some level. and now they’ve rereleased every game right?? they’ve finally run out of backlog material after almost yearly releases since 2019…. Not to put the clown wig and nose back on too early but do you think we’ll actually get news about, or get to see, aa7 next year?

Never tired of discussing this!! This is right around the time of year where I'd be preparing to make my yearly AA7 Speculation Post anyway so this is great timing. (TGS, my enemy, is approaching.)

So just to make sure everyone's on the same page, here's a quick recap of where we're currently at:

In November 2020 we got internal Capcom leaks which included a calendar from 2019 with the roadmap for the AA series the next couple of years. This included:

DGS1&2 collection, which I did not think was going to happen ever, releasing April-June 2021

AA7, releasing around October-December 2021, right around the 20th anniversary.

Through late 2019-mid 2022, reconsider porting 456

We got DGS1&2 (a bit later than in the plan, but by like a month), we got the 456 ports, we got bonus AAI ports, we have nothing for AA7 nearly three years after it was supposed to come out. The pandemic is an obvious feature that could contribute to its delay, but at this point with 456 ports out I think we can safely say that this was not the only cause.

Some other things that may or may not be contributing to AA7's delay include:

Yamazaki, the previous main writer for 5&6 and the AAIs, left Capcom in 2020. If he was involved in AA7 at all, that could throw a wrench into things, but I recall hearing he intended AA6 to be his last AA game (I AM STRUGGLING TO FIND THE SOURCE THOUGH SOMEONE PLEASE HELP ME), so I don't think this contributed very much. It does, however, mean that we're unsure about who the next main writer is - depending on what Takumi's up to or if they had to bring someone new on, there could be complications related to that.

I think TGAA did way better than anyone expected, which I covered in this post. It's possible that this could have shifted Capcom's priorities to porting more old games / porting to all modern consoles. It may have made people at Capcom think "damn everyone loves Takumi" so they tried to lure him back to AA7, and I have no idea how well that would have gone or if Takumi is even interested in continuing mainline AA right now. (I do think this at least contributed to the Ghost Trick ports.)

In my first ever AA7 speculation post I talked about how the ending of AA6 kind of wrote them into a corner re: how to continue with the series and which protagonist to use. I still stand by that argument even if a lot of that post aged badly.

Console ports! Previously new AA games were for whichever Nintendo handheld is out now (GBA, Nintendo DS, Nintendo 3DS). But now that the series is doing really well on all consoles, they may have decided to try to make their next mainline entry on all consoles, which would take more development time. Adding to this is that the Switch is near the end of its lifecycle with the Switch 2 (or whatever the successor will be) being announced soon - meaning that, if AA7 is coming out soon, Capcom is in the position of "do we try to squeeze this into the end of the Switch's lifecycle" (which, I'll need to find sources for this, is speculated to be some of the reasons behind why AAI2 and DGS2 sold badly when they were first released, and they can't make the same mistake thrice... right...?) or "do we try to time it with the release of the Switch 2"?

Also, a lot of this depends on how far AA7 was into development whenever it was derailed. If it was derailed from the pandemic, then according to the calendar, it would likely have still been in the prototype stage. It may be early enough that they would have had to start from scratch whenever they picked it up again. I don't work in the gaming industry so I have no idea how long it takes them to make a game or how easy it would be from what stage they're in.

One thing we can compare to is some of the comments about the recent AAI ports: in this interview, Shunsuke Nishida, the producer of the AAI collection, says that development on the collection began in 2022. He also mentions that this began once development on 456 was concluded. This leads me to believe that (contrary to my previous assumptions) 456 and AAIC were not developed concurrently (or if so, had very minimal overlap), and that the process of upscaling graphics, porting, and localization took them... about a year, maybe? So that takes time, even without taking into consideration how long it would take to come up with a new idea + write the script + the bulk of the programming that would have to be done that isn't considered with porting + probably way more than I can think of because again I do not work in the gaming industry.

There's also the question of why 456 and AAIC weren't developed concurrently. The calendar from 2020 shows that TGAA and AA7 were meant to be developed at least somewhat concurrently, and the staff from TGAA would eventually merge into working on AA7. Once again, we don't know what happened to the staff that were supposed to be working on AA7. It's possible pandemic complications meant they got shuffled onto other projects. It's possible the AA-related team is smaller now than it was in 2020, so they only have enough people to work on one project at a time. It's also possible that there's a team that was working on ports, and a team that was working on a new game, and now the "port team" is freed up to work on the "new game team".

Either way though, pretty much every interview with the staff for the 456 or AAI ports are all saying "look forward to the future of the series", which is definitely Corporate Speak, but unless they're bringing the ports of the Layton crossover (fingers crossed) that can only mean one thing. (AAI anime?) Plus, like I've discussed in this post, AA is having fantastic sales in general. They've seemingly either hired a new social media manager or changed the strategy so there is much more engagement on twitter. And AA is getting on bigger and bigger announcements - though AA trilogy ports were announced at TGS (at an AA-specific panel), TGAA duology ports were announced unceremoniously on twitter. Afterwards, 456 ports got announced at the Capcom Showcase during Summer Game Fest. And now AAI collection got announced at a Nintendo Direct, which I imagine is even more expensive, so the series must be going in a good direction for them to think that's worth it!

That's a lot of rambling for me to say I definitely think it's coming.

When are we going to see it though!!

Coming up in September is my eternal enemy Tokyo Game Show. Since AAI collection is being released at the beginning of September... it might be a bit too soon to announce a new game, but who knows. They might think it's profitable to ride the hype they're building now for AAI collection to announce a new game. Or they might let it sit for a while.

With AAIC getting announced at a Direct, I'm thinking they'll want to make AA7's announcement a) big and b) global. AA6 was announced in Famitsu, but the problem with that is that it's a mostly Japanese audience, and some interviews have been talking about how AA's global audience is particularly contributing to how big it is right now. So I'm expecting AA's next announcement to be at something major and something that will get attention from overseas audiences.

If they have been working on AA7 concurrently -- and honestly I do think there has at least been some progress on it since 2019 -- we could definitely see an announcement within the next year. I was also saying this in 2020, though, so don't take my word for it. There's been two year gaps between ports up until the AAI collection, and they seemed pretty proud about releasing 456 and AAI in the same year, so... maybe they'll want to keep it going and announce AA7 within the next year, especially if they'll have a longer announcement -> release period than they normally would for ports.

Potential candidates include:

Tokyo Game Show: As previously stated, it's very close to the AAIC release, so I don't think it's the best timing for it. I would not want my favorite AA game overshadowed by whatever the hell they're going to do with AA7. Likelihood: depends on how fast they want to follow up on the hype.

The Game Awards: is the next major gaming event, but that's already massive in terms of the type of games that get announced there, and it's expensive! Nintendo Direct is one thing since AA has always been a Nintendo-first series, but I don't think it's big enough to justify putting in a Game Awards ad. and I already have my clown wig on for persona 6 there. Likelihood: pretty low tbh

Next Year's Summer Game Fest-related Shows: I think this is the most likely, considering both the 456 collection and the AAI collection were announced around this time. For AA7 I'd say a Nintendo Direct to get lots of eyes on it, especially if AAIC sales pay off. Likelihood: pretty high!

Which leads me into my wildcard answer:

Switch 2 Announcement Stream: If Capcom decides to go in and make AA7 one of the first games for whatever the switch successor would be, it could be announced here. I regret to admit that I am a very bad gamer and only like two things, and therefore have not ever been present for one of these things to know how many games get announced as launch games for a new console, but, like, it's possible.

In the above scenario, I'm not necessarily saying that AA7 would be a Switch 2 exclusive - because I think that would be stupid after so much of the support they've gotten from the ports has been from playstation and steam - but I am definitely the kind of person who would buy a console for one video game. Shoutout to me buying a switch in part anticipating that aa7 would come out on it and that is not looking likely

Anyways, that's my speculation!! Reminder that this is mostly uninformed and that I have no knowledge of anything related to sales or marketing or video game development, and as a result of that, I have been wrong (aside from the one time I accurately predicted AAI ports as a joke) for four consecutive years.

[windstir]

liliath info/notes!!!!

(thank you @/gentle-starlight for providing the image! and thank you muu for helping with a bit of the translation)

so here we are again with more kazeki info, this time on liliath florian! and oh boy the council wants to end it ALL!!!! check on your local liliath fans NOW!!!!

by the way, this was found in a "how to draw" book keiko made in 2019! if you have it, please let me know! i'd like to get better pictures of this and other pages that could have important information :)

link on ebay

link on zenmarket

it has stuff on kazeki, terra e and other stuff Keiko made ...

the page above basically talks about character notes for liliath*, and describes him as a "toy with no sense of self" ...

*i'm pretty sure these are beta versions considering the look of the characters and the style, but it gives un an insight on what keiko had in mind when creating liliath and it might give us some new perspectives, you know?

anyway ...

here are some notes that stood out to me! (keep in mind! the notes weren't professionally translated and some translations might be a bit iffy, if someone has the original book, again, please send pictures my way! i can't purchase it right now ...):

- he applies a bit of pink powder (which was used to tint wigs back in the day) in his hair to add a hint of pink

- his hair is platinum blonde according to the book

- also, apparently, his curls aren't natural

- it's said that he likes landscapes and mountains!

- he's described to "act like a woman" and as a doll, he's quiet and only does things when asked to

- he used to be shy/timid, and became hateful "because of gilbert"

- he's always around someone

- "the man he's always hanging out with (leonhart) has only one thing to say about him"

- just like gilbert, he was targeted by older students, and he "learned to gain from it"

- "like a toy, if they get tired of him, they'll throw him away".

- he's satisfied as long as he's loved

[accio-victuuri]

Tencent All Star Night CPNs. 💛

you know what it is. if there is an event, we take it as an opportunity to clown. i’m mildly salty that this wasn’t a joint event like we all hoped it would be. but we will get it when the time is right. i’m posting this a bit earlier than my usual end of show schedule but that’s too late and i want more people to enjoy the sweets!

the bjyx taxi in macau invites you in…..

This isn’t actually a CPN but more of a nostalgic thing for cpfs cause WYB was wearing Celine and it’s a brand that he often wore during CQL promotions. Celine never misses when it comes to him & I really wish he becomes their ambassador, if that’s even allowed, since he’s also working with Chanel. and the fact that this comes after GQ MOTY where he wore the hat that reminded us of CQL fan meet too. 🥹

some cpfs are likening these two shoots and how it was done at night and in the streets. it was pre filmed the night before the event. tho i would imagine that other can do this too, i personally love to see how certain photoshoots of theirs match. in this way, it’s better to edit them together.

also wyb’s hair!!!!!! <3

he probably loved his look in bazaar and the cap truly made it more street. i feel like wyb loves to blend casual/street style with formal wear. their hair! ahhhhh!!!!! i’m so happy! even if wyb’s is a wig.

speaking of his cap, no one has identified it yet. and i guess that’s because there is no logo to go by. however it looks suspiciously like the same style of what a certain someone wore earlier this month 🤨 don’t mind me.. i just like seeing that they still gravitate towards the same things when it comes to certain personal pieces.

can we also talk about the matching deep V? these two are honestly making us suffer ( in a good way ) with their fashion choices lately. i hope the bold choices continues on and as long as they could. 🖤

and oh, WYB’s clothes are from Maison Margiela 👀

&&& their choice of BGM for their respective videos are from the same album. Lol.

THIS ONE THO. How an amazing rendition of Wuji was placed at the start of Tencent Video All Star Night. I don’t know what other stuff they played but you would think, they will choose something more recent or from this year. They have had a number of dramas since 2019 that they could have given a spotlight but they chose that. granted, CQL was super popular and something like that is special and hard to replicate. too bad wyb was backstage. Imagine if the 2 of them were in attendance!

and how it was labeled, original singers : xz, wyb. a clip was also flashed.

😭😭😭😭😭

It even went on HS, the topic is about the opening itself however all the conversation was about is that Wuji was played. They did other songs but it’s so clear based on the hot search which one made an impact. It’s so funny, cause a common gripe against turtles is why can’t we move on from a drama that is years ago. oh well.. the platform couldn’t either lol. and why would we? when it’s so good? when it’s a literal cultural reset. hahahahahahaha!!!!!

it’s nice cause we started the day being nostalgic with wyb’s celine suit and then freakin tencent plays this 🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹

-END.

P.S: if something else comes up i will just post separately ✌🏼

[smoshsfavoritepizzaplace]

You asked about first Shourtney shipping moments. This is gonna be a long answer but hopefully it's an interesting read.

I started my Smosh journey with Games videos from 2022-2023 and immediately sensed that Shayne and Courtney have an interesting bond. Initially, I thought that Shayne was secretly crushing on Courtney (but tried to keep things professional) whereas Courtney was acting flirty with everyone. I also noted that they would be cute together but didn't think too much of it.

It was actually the comment sections that made me more interested in their dynamic since fans had so many different views of them. Many commented on their "sibling energy" or admired their friendship but some were convinced that they were not in good terms anymore. And obv there were a lot of shipping comments as well but those were often ridiculed or viewed negatively. As a new fan, I felt confused 'cause I've never encountered so many contradicting descriptions of an onscreen duo. I also found it weird how some fans were trying to deny any romantic tension between them when it seemed pretty clear to me that they were not acting 100 % platonic with each other.

So I'd say that I became interested in their dynamic almost right away but it was Shayne Interviews His Exes (nro 1) where I became much more sceptical that they would be just friends. Shayne seemed weirdly shy when Courtney walked in, and Courtney had a very loving gaze when they played the "shouting" audio and Shayne was cry laughing. It just didn't seem like normal friend behavior to me.

Also, Courtney basically buried Shayne's head in her boobs which like... idk. At that point it seemed like something other Smosh members wouldn't do to each other. (My views have changed a bit once I started to know Amanda and Chance better...)

A long-winded answer but I don't know how to explain this more shortly! It was more of a process than an immediate thought to me.

Don’t worry about sending long asks in, I enjoy reading all of them and this one especially. Aside from 2019, I think 2022-23 had some of the most interesting yet very telling shourtney moments imo. Shippers have gotten a lot of flak/criticism in the past and some even now, there were so many people who really believed we ruined Courtney and Shayne’s friendship. Meanwhile, they were dating/engaged most of the time that was being said. I’ve also seen a bit of people say that since Courtney was considering leaving smosh at one point, her and Shayne started letting loose more in videos and presumably when she finally decided to stay, they cut back a bit. I guess they thought that bc if Courtney actually left, they wouldn’t have to deal with the pressures of being public while still being in videos together.

You also said that you started noticing a shift in the Shayne’s exes, don’t forget Keith switched his wig around and mentioned that Shayne liked blondes better. When I first watched that video, my mind couldn’t not think of Courtney, especially because her character was in the next clip I think. I feel like you’re the first person I’ve seen actually say that was the video that made you a shipper. I don’t think I have seen anyone say/write that before.

But yeah, all the people that said Shayne and Courtney have sibling energy, I wonder where they are now. This may be a controversial take but a part of me feels like calling two friends sibling like is a little weirder than shipping. Of course it depends on the duo and what they’re comfortable w/ but I think Courtney has said she feels weirded out by that and not shipping (as long as it’s boundary respecting).

[object-obsession]

| Combined post #2 | Low-budget horror movies featuring sentient objects as killers

Inanimate Object Characters List | Entry: 41

I have seen none of these and I never will.

This is a bunch of randomness, but as trash as these movies may or may not be (just kidding, ain't no way they are good), they must be included. Otherwise, I would not be able to honestly finish this list.

By the way, the images are gonna be small with these ones.

Movie: Killdozer (1974) | Object: bulldozer

I'm not sure if I had even heard of this movie until today.

Movie: Death Bed: The Bed that Eats (1977) | Object: bed

Look at that title. I'm sure this one is already as bad as it sounds...

Movie: Attack of the Killer Tomatoes (1978) | Object: tomatoes

I think this would work better as an animation like the cover, but in reality, it's a low-budget live-action movie.

Movie: Ferat Vampire (1982) | Object: car

It's a Czech movie. And I had definitely never heard of it until today.

Movie: Blades (1988) | Object: lawn mower

Apparently a parody of "Jaws"... I have no idea either, man.

Movie: Amityville 4: The Evil Escapes (1989) | Object: lamp

This movie revolves around a demonic lamp or whatever.

Movie: Battle Heater (1989) | Object: heater

It's a Japanese movie. Also looking ⁿᵒᵗ ˢᵒ promising, am I right?

Movie: I Bought a Vampire Motorcycle (1990) | Object: motor cycle

Are the vampire motorcycle and vampire car from Ferat Vampire related to each other...?

Movie: Amityville: It's About Time (1992) | Object: clock

Who thought it was a good idea to make more Amityville movies?

Movie: Amityville: A New Generation (1993) | Object: mirror

I... I give up...

Movie: The Mangler (1995), The Mangler 2 (2002), The Mangler Reborn (2005) | Object: laundry press

I saw the ending... It enough for me to decide not to watch it. Only today, I found out it has a two sequels. How?! And why?!

Movie: Killer Condom (1996) | Object: condom

Do I even have to say anything...?

Movie: Deathbed (2002) | Object: bed

No more bed horror movies, please.

Movie: The Red Shoes (2005) | Object: a pair of high heels

It's a Korean movie.

Movie: The Wig (2005) | Object: wig

It's a Korean movie... again.

Movie: Evil Bong (2006), Evil Bong 2: King Bong (2009), Evil Bong 3: The Wrath of Bong (2011) | Object: bong

And there is a WHOLE FIESTA of Evil Bong sequels. THERE'S 10 FRICKING MOVIES. Indeed, these three are not even all of them.

Movie: Road Train/Road Kill (2010) | Object: road train

No, it's not a train, it's a kind of semi-truck, apparently.

Movie: Killer Piñata (2015) | Object: piñata

Its design is pretty funny, honestly - but the movie's rating is not.

Movie: The Sand (2015) | Object: beach

Movie: Attack of the Killer Donuts (2016) | Object: donuts

The fact that they made this not even so long ago is embarrassing.

Movie: Bed of the Dead/The Dwelling (2016) | Object: bed

GUYS. JUST STOP THE BED MOVIES.

Movie: The Car: Road to Revenge (2019) | Object: car

Walmart Christine, I suppose.

Movie: The Drone (2019) | Object: drone

Killer drone goes brrrrrr. *someone's neck falls off

Movie: Bad Hair (2020) | Object: wig

Some concepts just somehow keep on returning, despite yielding bad results (almost) every single time. Like cars, refrigerators, beds and (most surprisingly, in my opinion) hair.

Movie: The Killing Tree (2022) | Object: Christmas tree

The rating is so bad, that giving it a try is too risky. And that title is foretelling as well. I don't trust such a title to be of a good movie.

--

✨ 36 movies FINALLY COVERED ✨

This undoubtedly will be the longest post. If people in the future decide to make more low-rating sentient object horror movies, I'll be sure to add them to this list if I come across them. If I don't and you noticed their existence, LEMME KNOW (please).

--

Okay, so I also have come across a bunch of short films revolving around sentient objects, but this list is long enough as it is right now already. So if you are curious, I'll just leave the link down here and you can check out the IMDb list I found yourself:

Inanimate Objects Horror (imdb.com)

I'm a tiny bit annoyed, because it took me a whole while to compile this list, but only after I found most of the titles myself already, I found this list. But oh well, at least some titles I have been able to add because of that list. And there are some titles here that didn't appear in that list, so in the end, some of my work was still useful.

--

Lastly, quick mention of Annabelle and Chucky, because even though they are technically objects, they resemble humans and aren't eligible for this list. However, the characters are quite popular among some horror lovers, so hence this shout-out.

[tex-now]

um hello. you said i could yap here? if i remember correctly

well whatever i hope you like cats the musical (or at least tolerate it) because here we gooo

okay so basically if youve never watched it its a musical by andrew lloyd webber based off a book of poems by ts elliot. the musical originated in london and first premiered in 1981. i really like it

its about a group of cats called the jellicles and like every year or whatever they have a jellicle ball where their leader(?) chooses one cat to send to the heavyside layer (which i guess is like the afterlife or something) and basically the whole musical is them trying to get picked to go there

im going to be talking about the MUSICAL as in LIVE PERFORMANCE and NOT the 2019 movie because that movie is horrible and terrifying. (even though it was my introduction to the musical the live performance is way way way way wayyyy better)

okay so like the most important thing in a musical: music! the music is very very fun and silly (for the most part. theres a part in the middle where it gets a little boring but! right after it is one of the most fun songs in the musical! skimbleshanks i love you! skiiimble shanks theeeee railway cat!1 the cat OF THE RAILWAY TRAAIIINNN) and just the music is very fun and i love it.

next is the choreography. which is absolutely amazing its so fun. everyone acts like cats which can come off as weird but like. its so cool. people do jumps! and flips! and cartwheels! (at least in the 1998 recorded version. i havent seen it live in a few years so i dont remember if they still do flips. they probably do though lmao) girls drop into the splits all the time ! and its because they are acting like cats! and it just is so dramatic and feels so alive !!

next is the costumes. which most people consider the weird part. but the costumes are so fun and creative like yes they are skin tight but who cares! the makeup is also so creative too and they have these wigs and just ugh im gonna show some pictures they are just so funky and fun (thank you pinterest)

i personally think this musical is very creative and very fun because like. its a musical about cats and the way they portray the cats is so cool and its just so ughhhh i love it. i get why people might not like it though. (my dad had to watch it like 5 billion times because of me and finally started to like it) it is kind of (very) weird and some people are unsettled by the costumes but its really such a fun show and i wish it didnt have so much negativity around it

my favorite character is probably mr mistoffelees. hes a magician and theres a whole song about him and its just so awesome. in the live shows ive seen he comes out in a jacket that has like. rainbow leds on it and its just so. wow. (if not the leds then very sparkly) (sorry had to add pictures) also! apparently sometimes they cast a professional ballerina for his part because of all his dancing and stuff and he doesnt have many lines

on the left is him in like the start and then the left is when he becomes sparklyyy ✨

this musical is just so cool! and you can tell the actors are having fun and its a great time and its just so fun! ive seen it live twice and its just.. so cool. (the 2019 movie did it sooo dirty..) if you were to watch it at home i would recommend the 1998 recorded version i think you can rent it on like amazon prime or something.(or just pirate it if you really wanted to. you could probably find it on a random website somewhere) i watched it ALL THE TIME in the start of covid im not even joking my parents had to buy it. (but be aware there might be some lines in the older script where its outdated because.. yk its old)

i hope you were okay with this random yap i just watched it tonight and wanted to yap because i love it. (also! theres an area conversation on pjsk where tsukasa and nene are telling emu about it. so yes i fear the circus kids might enjoy this musical)

(also how you do the small text is highlight the text like you would do italics or something and press the ‘<s>’ button. forgot to tell you oops. also tell me if you want more pictures from the musical or if you wanted you could just search google or pinterest or something)

OMIGOD YAAYYAYSYSYYSYSYAYA THANK YOU!!! cats sounds very fun I'll look into it :3 I haven't gotten into a new musical in YEARS so this'll be FUN :D

Also YAYAA TY TY!!! I can type tiny now :3

[coochiequeens]

Oh Canada…..two stories in one week? You can do better

Reduxx has learned that a convicted pedophile is the individual who had been protected by swimming pool staff after mothers expressed concerns about his presence in the women’s locker room. Parents and concerned citizens had been sounding the alarm about the man, who some say they had caught watching their young daughters undress, but were told he had a right to use the facilities as a “transgender woman.” 

In February, Reduxx reported that a mother had been threatened with arrest by staff at the Aquatic Centre in Nanaimo, British Columbia, after attempting to remove a male from the women’s locker rooms she said had been acting in a predatory manner towards her children. The man, who she described as wearing a wig and a face mask, had been peeping under the stall into the one where her young daughter had been changing.

Reduxx has now identified the man with the help of members of the community, and learned he is a convicted child sex offender. Jeremy Melvin Carlson now goes by Rylie Otter — sometimes spelling his first name “Rhylie” or “Rhiley.”

In 2019, Carlson, who was 28 at the time, was sentenced to 14 months in jail and 24 months probation for sexual interference against a young person. 

He admitted to touching an 8-year-old girl for sexual purposes on nine separate occasions while in a position of trust from December 2015 to September 2016. According to Vernon news site InfoTel, Carlson told police that he touched the child with his penis and fondled her genitals.

The girl eventually disclosed the abuse to her mother, who reported it to the RCMP. Carlson pleaded guilty to the charges in 2017. He later applied to have his guilty plea withdrawn but did not continue the bid and reverted back to a guilty plea.

The case gained national attention in 2018 when the victim’s mother read an impact statement aloud in court during the sentencing hearing in Kelowna, British Columbia, noting that her daughter had been severely traumatized by Carlson’s abuse.

“As a result of this trauma, (my daughter) continues to have nightmares,” the mother said, as reported by The Daily Courier. “(She) does not feel comfortable walking to school alone or with her siblings … She fears being in public places because she does not want to run into the offender.”

She also said that her daughter’s self-esteem had been negatively affected by the assaults and added: “I feel like I have completely failed my daughter as I was not able to protect my baby.”

While the victim’s mother was reading the statement, Judge Monica McParland dabbed a tear from her eye. This caused defense counsel Jacqueline Halliburn to make an application for the judge to recuse herself due to judicial bias.

McParland later dismissed the application, arguing that the victim impact statement was “highly emotional and moving” and that “there is nothing wrong with the court having a compassionate or empathetic response to it.”

During the sentencing, news outlets also reported that Carlson had started identifying as a woman. He had changed his name to “Rhiley Melvin Carlson” and was taking hormone replacement therapy.

The Daily Courier reported that “uncertainty was expressed in the court concerning whether or not Carlson would serve a jail sentence with men or women, and if sexual offender treatment would be available since it is typically geared toward men.”

The Crown sought a 15 to 20 months jail sentence and two years’ probation. Defense counsel argued that circumstances such as Carlson’s heavy marijuana use and struggles with gender identity and depression warranted a light sentence of only 90 days, despite admitting that he had “poor sexual boundaries.”

McParland felt that a strong denunciatory sentence was warranted in the case, with one aggravating factor being that Carlson has attempted to blame the young victim for the offense. She added that Carlson had to receive psychiatric treatment during his probation and barred him from being alone with children under 16, as well as from places where children under 16 could be present, such as swimming pools, community centers, schools, and daycares. Carlson was also added to the sex offender registry for 20 years.

Despite these conditions, concerned citizens have come forward to identify Carlson as the man who was spotted using the Nanaimo Aquatic Centre women’s facilities and closely watching the young girls. 

In February of this year, Reduxx reported that a mother had come forward after a man in a wig who claimed to identify as “female” walked into the women’s changing room and tried to peer under the changing stall her daughter was using.

The mother confronted the man, who said that he had a “human right” to be in there, and escorted him out of the changing room. When she reported the incident to pool staff, she was warned that she could be arrested and charged for her actions instead. Other local parents also came forward with reports of having run-ins with the man at the Aquatic Centre.

More recently, Facebook users have been sharing around a screenshot taken from a March 20 post about a convicted child sexual abuser in a Facebook group called Predators Of Vancouver Island. The post identifies the man pictured as Carlson and says that he has a current case open against him for another sexual assault on a child.

Reduxx confirmed the source of the photos and received confirmation that the man pictured is indeed Jeremy Carlson, a.k.a. “Riley/Rhylie Otter.”

Two anonymous sources who had encountered the man in the Nanaimo Aquatic Centre changing room also confirmed with Reduxx that it was the same man as the one pictured in the post.

“That’s 100% the person,” one member of the community told Reduxx. “I’m just so upset our justice system isn’t doing anything about it,” the source said. “They can’t charge him, not enough evidence, even though he breached by… not letting the sex offender list [know] he changed his name. Our system is a joke.”

A second source also identified the man in the pictures as having been the one present in the Nanaimo Aquatic Center locker rooms.

“I can anonymously confirm that was the person I saw and confronted in the changeroom watching a young girl change, yes,” she said, adding that she had also been in contact with the police but was told they had “hit a dead end.”

Reduxx also spoke to a concerned citizen who had been trying to get answers from Judge McParland in Kelowna and Crown council in Nanaimo about why Carlson was allowed access to the Aquatic Centre given his restrictions.

“I tried using online court services to see his conditions … and crown had said there [was] a public ban and that cops were well informed of Jeremy’s actions around the island as there were alot of incidents with that person,” he explained. 

“Cops won’t touch it [because] of trans issues now,” he added. “I’m honestly really shocked that the Nanaimo pool would continue to allow [Carlson]… to go there after numerous police were called and file numbers were taken. The police say they can’t do anything.”

Reduxx has reached out to the Nanaimo RCMP for details on whether the investigation into Carlson is ongoing, but did not receive a response in time for publication. This article will be updated in the event a response is received.

Reduxx also reached out to the Nanaimo Aquatic Center and received confirmation from an assistant manager that the matter was currently with police, but that no comment could be given at this time.

Police in Windsor, Ontario have located a suspect in connection to a sexual assault which reportedly occurred at a women’s shelter.

According to a public news bulletin issued today, a female victim had contacted police on April 4 to report that she had been sexually assaulted while staying at an unnamed women’s shelter in Windsor, Ontario. The suspect, who was also residing at the shelter at the time, is alleged to have climbed into the victim’s bed and sexually assaulted her. 

The suspect has been identified by Windsor Police Service as 32-year-old Desiree Anderson, who may also be known as Cody D’Entremont. 

Anderson was the subject of a police search today, but turned himself in just hours ago.

The case bears some resemblance to a crime which occurred in Parry Sound, Ontario just last year. 

In October of 2022, it was reported that a woman was allegedly raped by a sex offender at a women’sshelter after the predator identified as transgender in order to gain access to the facility.

Shane Jacob Green, 25, was arrested on August 24, 2022, by Ontario Provincial Police (OPP). At the time, the OPP issued a notice stating Green had been charged with two counts of sexual assault, four counts of failing to comply with a probation order, and one count of failing to comply with a release order. But it was later revealed that the crimes had occurred while Green was staying in a local women’s shelter.

Despite Canada’s vast size, there is only one known single-sex shelter in the country.

Vancouver Rape Relief (VRR), located in British Columbia, is Canada’s oldest rape crisis shelter. In 2019 it was stripped of its city funding after asserting it had a right to provide services to females only. Trans activists successfully lobbied the city government to make the shelter’s funding contingent on accepting males who identified as transgender. 

As a result of its hardline stance on being exclusively for women in need, VRR was targeted by trans activists repeatedly in incidents of disturbing vandalism which included nailing the corpses of dead animals to its charity shop door.

[white-cat-of-doom]

🔥non-replica productions

Beyond my preference for non-replicas with full cat costuming, I do not really have any specific unpopular opinions. I do not tend to watch non-replicas all that often, so I cannot be too particular about most. The key thing with non-replicas is that they present something different to enjoy from the typical stage show, and you can always find something fun to enjoy!

I guess an unpopular non-replica opinion is that the Italian Tour 2009-2011 had great designs and an interestingly unique approach to the musical. Most opinions I see are that the masks used in the production are weird or creepy, and I disagree with that. I think the work that went into creating and melding the masks to each performer's face is a detail that is overlooked based on topical views of how they look. No other non-replica production comes close to having that unique design quality of the Carnival of Venice.

I really enjoy the Il Sistina production, to the point where I would consider it to be one of the best non-replicas ever performed (and it is my personal favourite), which may be a contentious thing to say. I love the costumes, makeup, and wigs for everyone, and the fact the some designs and parts of the show are influenced directly by the 2019 movie make me love it even more. I do not think I can realistically say anything negative about it other than the fact the Grizabella makeup and wig is pretty meh. I am crossing my fingers that they come back for shows in Milan and I hope that one of the shows is recorded for us to see!

The recent Mexico non-replicas (2013 specifically, due to the higher sponsorship funding that allowed them to have a more professional show) is an amazing one as well! The vibrancy and happiness throughout the show is great and they all seem to be having so much fun!

Gothenburg/Stockholm is something that also looks like so much fun, and they utilize the circus theme much better than a certain other production in my opinion. The designs are interesting of course, and I wish that we had more footage of it!

There is something for everyone.

[website-com]

heres my thing i wrote specifically because my teacher wrote a huge paragraph about this exhibition on historical mens fashion (sorry to link a vogue article, i do so only for the photo i need) specifically the following photo;

in which she discussed the dress on the left at LENGTH, around 200 or so words at least, talking about how revolutionary it was for harry styles to wear this dress on vogue. not mentioning ONCE even in passing the dress on the right worn by billie porter a full year prior that kicked up its own media frenzy a year prior.

this pissed me off to no end so i submitted the following for one of my module essays, sorry some of the citations are so lame and there are so few they had to be from coursework. and sorry i couldnt discuss more i only had 500 words give or take

skip the first two paragraphs if you only want to see the rant.

Module 2

2.2 How has masculine dress changed throughout history?

A great quote to describe the history of western masculine fashion ideals comes from a symposium by Dr. Valerie Steele on the colour pink and its history, when she discussed how the colour officially became feminine in the west she said; “The reason pink became feminised, that colour became feminized, was that it left the masculine wardrobe.” (1:23- 1:30). This quote quickly encapsules a reoccurring trend in attitude toward fashion trends that is repeated throughout history in regard to what clothing is considered to be ‘masculine’. The item is masculine until it is considered feminine. 

Another example of this rule of this given in the High Heels, Wigs, and Beauty lecture is the feminine appearance of a heel or a high boot. Both of these attributes originally were associated with masculinity because they were practical (as most modern masculine fashion is, anything impractical is feminine), their length protected the leg and the heel could be used to anchor a horse rider’s foot to the stirrup, giving them better control. As well as aesthetic achievements of the heel increasing the wearers height, a masculine ideal.

Women originally adopted heels into their wardrobe to add masculinity to their style, and once they started to do so it was observed that the heel could serve to enhance the appearance of the wearer’s legs and rear end the style was quickly sexualised and lost all staying power in the masculine wardrobe. While there are ways for men to dress in an erotically evocative style the heel became synonymous with a sensual sexuality, that is not compatible with a strong masculine sexual energy. And as a result, heels left the masculine wardrobe in the west. 

The fashion cycle has been trending more androgynous for quite some time now, and with the revitalised memory of historical queer, androgynous male icons such as Prince and David Bowie coming back into the public conscious with their deaths, as a contrast to the heavy heterosexual masculinity of the early 2000’s, androgynous male fashion is coming back into style. Coming off of the backs of black, queer American men such as the dress displayed at the end of the LACMA’s collection Reigning men, worn by black, gay, androgynous champion and icon Billy Porter to a 2019 red carpet event, who has worn many dresses to events before and since. That same exhibition also highlights how feminine fashions have even been adopted by white cishet men such as Harry Styles on the cover of Vouge, which at the time kicked up a huge media frenzy. Him being an excellent contrast to Billy Porter, who dresses the way he does as a product of his pride in his identity, as Harry Styles, as an ex-boyband member, is someone happy to mold himself to fit whatever aesthetic is most marketable, even if to outsiders his choice is a perceived risk the amount of backing he received from his core audience is undeniable evidence in the shift on public opinions of masculinity that have been built by queer people for the past few decades. 

But ultimately, as is often the case, he reaped all the benefits and cultural relevance from left leaning media built off of a history of androgyny built and fought for by queer black people while their efforts are quietly forgotten. While his iconic cover is an example of a shift in public opinion, attaching him to the head of the movement is wholly attributed to the wrong source.

Steele, Valerie (19 Oct, 2018) “Pink: The history of a Color” The museum at FIT www.YouTube.com. Last Accessed 24/10/2022

King, Emerald (2022) “High Heels, Wigs and Beauty” HAF234, Masculinities, University of Tasmania, Tasmania

https://www.lacma.org/art/exhibition/reigning-men-fashion-menswear-1715-2015 2016, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 5905 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90036

i recommend the pink: history of color video, its very fun and interesting.

given more time and space i wouldve explored the neutralisation of mens bodies and fashion and the power this holds, the relationships race and sexuality play and butchness in non-men i think. my other 3 essays all included butch and stud women though so dont be sad. the rant also left no room for a conclusion but this was not an essay it was a short response, feel free to look up my lecturer whos name is included in my citations to see her cosplay which she advertised in every class she taught. also feel free to notice that she only cosplays japanese characters in traditional edo or earlier clothing. i think thats weird for no reason other than i do not like her

[tickledpink31]

In the spirit of Halloween and celebrating the arrival of the Scary Monsters event to Eng Twst, I drew four different costume ideas for Minako. Credits to @thoselethalarts for the Halloween SR backgrounds. Thanks again!

The Witch

Faithful to the costume theming of the dorms, Minako also dressed up as a witch. She pulls a Malleus and tells people that she is dressed as a gothic witch and her regular cottagecore/academia witch aesthetic is different.

Grim

I had an idea where Grim and Minako dress up as each other. Grim goes as a witch while Minako is his faithful cat. I took a page from the Cats the Musical costumes (the actual stage musical not the cursed 2019 movie) to make the look. Minako went the extra mile to make the fake ear fire glow.

Fun fact: I've dressed up as Victoria from Cats when I was 15. Let me tell you, making the wig was a long and painful process. I also couldn't find a unitard that didn't cost a fortune, so I had to make due with a long sleeve shirt and leggings. At least the costume turned out great, and I was very proud of it.

Fairy Godmother

Initially, I was going to combine the live action costume with the classic 1950 costume, but it was a bust when I drew it out. A big, poofy gown just doesn't go well with the cloak. I still like how this turned out. It looks warm and somewhat nice enough to wear casually.

I made a joke to myself at the idea that somebody pulled a prank on Minako and painted her ebony wand white to complete the look. Whoever did that will D I E.

Red Riding Hood

I have no excuse other than that I just really love Red Riding Hood themed clothes. I mean the red cape is just to die for! For this, I took some inspiration from Lila Crawford's Red Riding Hood from the movie adaptation of Into the Woods. (Also, I suggest watching the proshot stage musical of Into the Woods rather than the movie. It's free on YouTube and a lot better than the movie. Seriously the music and comedy are a work of art.)

[strideofpride]

hi I just finished reading the first fic in your little women modern au series and I’m wondering in the au does jo still cut her hair when she’s younger? would she she still sell it or would donate it to an organization that makes wigs for cancer patients? it’s been a while since I’ve seen the 2019 film (two months technically but I’ve got a really bad memory ;-;), but I’m currently reading the book and beth gets sick once, gets better but never back to how she was before she got sick, and then gets sick again later and eventually dies, is it the same in your au with her cancer? that’d be an opportunity for jo to cut her hair since it’d be a very jo thing to do to make that grand gesture for her sister, maybe she even takes it to someone or commissions someone to make a wig specifically of her hair for beth? idk food for thought also do you think she kept it short? I’m a big fan of short hair jo march but when I was reading your fic I also pictured her growing it back out, it was wonderfully written and I’m psyched to read the rest you write them all so well!! I love the bite and/or humor you give beth, it’s so refreshing after the very one dimensional shy/quiet/kind and nothing else reading the book gives her. sorry this got long your fic is so good and it hit all the spots for me I love your writing ok goodbye have a lovely day/night!!!

Ahhh thank you so much!!! What a lovely ask to receive!! 💚🩷💚

Honestly, I don’t think Beth had cancer before in my AU, or at least, that wasn’t my intention when I was writing it but also I never specified one way or another so that’s one of the things that I say is open to interpretation! And what you said makes a lot of sense!

I do still think Jo would have a short hair phase, although I think she would just do it for fun, shave her head or get an undercut cause it’s on trend, you know 🤷🏻‍♀️

And then yeah in my head, Jo has long hair again in my AU but that’s also cause I was picturing Saorise Ronan and all the 2019 actors as I was writing, but I purposely left out physical descriptions cause to each their own!

And thank you!!! I had so much fun writing for Beth and yeah I’m not a fan of those one dimensional portrayals of her that I see in fanon of her always being shy and quiet and perfectly polite so I’m glad that came through! 🥰

[sillybub]

what do you think about cats movie 2019? did you enjoy it?

So the movie was my introduction to Cats, and I went to go see it ironically with my siblings since we all heard how mortifying it was.

And like, yeah I didn't like it very much? I thought it was weird and I didn't understand it, and humans are so scared of what they don't understand. Granted, I had no clue about what I was going into, and my initial reaction was mostly in part to being taken way off-guard. I remember liking Skimbleshanks and thinking that, the fur itself looked really nice even if the designs were ugly. But mostly I thought it was a bad weird movie.

Now that I've had three years to reflect on it?

It's still a bad movie, but for different reasons than I initially disliked it.

1) The character designs are just bad and uncomfortable. They all have fully human faces, hands and feet, and it does not look good. This was an initial takeaway but I still stand by it. The fur itself was rendered well, but it doesn't save the designs.

2) They just made some straight up upsetting decisions regarding Jennyanydots and Bustopher Jones. I don't care that they're different, they're just actively unlikable and uncomfortable (I don't want inaccuracy to the stage show to be a factor in my opinion; I'm trying to judge it as a standalone entity). You can tell that Rebel Wilson and James Cordon just kind of thought of their characters as a joke and had no respect for them, which is simply not a good look. I'd never cast an actor who didn't have respect for their role. And if the character isn't deserving of any respect, then it's a badly written character.

3) I'm sure we've all seen the Sideways video about what a trainwreck the music was. The way it was recorded was not flattering for the vocals OR the orchestra; rhe style of recording lends itself to realism, which just does not work with the kind of story Cats is.

Which leads me to qthe most complicated one:

4) They tried to force Cats into a traditional narrative, which...just did work. They tried to have a focal protagonist (who I feel like wasn't effective foil for Grizabella), they padded the movie with dialogue in an attempt to flesh out the Jellicle Ball and Jellicle Choice, which just made things MORE confusing tbh, and trying to make Macavity more of a present threat was a noble move, but ultimately failed.

This open up a conversation about what a good film adaptation of Cats would look like.

Good news,, we already got one in 1998.

It's not just a proshot; it's also a film. They used cinematic techniques that are specific to the medium when they recorded it; use of CGI, use of editing techniques such as slow-motion, performing multiple takes, pre-recording the vocals and lip-syncing during shooting, etc.

They even modified the makeup designs to better suit close-ups. And to replicate the audience interaction, they chose to have the cats look into the camera. These are adaptational choices that WORK.

But like, okay, suppose that 1998 doesn't count. You want a "proper" film.

In my professional Film Major opinion, Cats is one of the worst musicals to adapt to film. Too much of its appeal lies in the strengths of theater and the weaknesses of film.

We want films to be realistic, in a visual sense. In theater, you can get away with standing on an empty stage and miming washing dishes, and the audience will believe that the character is literally performing that task, not pretending to do so. That does not fly in film. We need to see a sink and plates and forks and water. There's little room for abstraction, is what I'm trying to say.

And Cats is so abstract. This works GREAT on stage, but not much so for live-action film.

Abstract meaning "exists as an idea, but not having a concrete existence".

We understand that the cats we see on stage are literally cats; but they're representing by the suggestion of cats. Bold makeup, fluffy wigs, and painted unitards combined with certain movements suggest cats to us without trying to literally look like a real cat.

In film? You need to look like a cat. If a lady walked onto the big screen with a rope tail and painted on whiskers, you'd say "that's a lady in a cat costume, not a cat." You want to see furry ears and a tail that actually twitch and move. Probably retractable claws and slit pupils, too.

And then you'd have to figure out how to adapt the rest of the plot. Do they stay in the junkyard, keeping it confined to one location as per the stage musical? Do you lean into the abstraction, or try to make it more realistic? That, of course, was the failure of 2019; trying to make an abstract and whimsical musical into something realistic. If you want to aim for realism, I truly think you'd have to change the source material beyond recognition.

I used to talk about adapting Cats as an animated anthology, showcasing each song in a different style of animation. And I still think that would be sick, but my thought process there was that animation lends itself well to abstraction; you would lose out on the magic of live dance, but could perhaps make up for it with stunning, stylized animation. It's what I personally would enjoy most.

TLDR; it wasn't a good movie OR a good adaptation, but to be fair, Cats is fucking hard to adapt.

[squeakadeeks]

had the thought to compare and contrast difficulty levels for costumes that i've made 👁👁💦 i gave a brief description in the images above, but in the read-more I go more in depth about what it was like working on all of these

Sandalphon: honestly i felt like the sewing parts of this one were the hardest. I didnt have to do too much tailoring other than following my usual pattern and slapping foam accents on top. the wing assembly also went smoothly bc i managed to use large surface areas of velcro, that being said i really wish i had put more effort into the wings and made them look nicer. to me they look really flat and...blah. the foam feathers needed more detail.

Lif: lif was hard but shockingly not as bad as one might assume? mostly my standards were really high but the engineering for him wasnt too crazy. Casting the transparent worbla was a NIGHTMARE but it was frustrating more than hard if that makes sense. there were a few armor pieces like his bracers I had to make several times over, but what made him difficult was making sure each armor piece looked really polished and overlaying everything. i think i had maybe a rage-quit or two but not a crazy amount.

Corrin: speaking of rage quits man corrin was probably the hardest armor for me, mostly bc he was maybe the 3-4th armor set i had made and he was entirely vinyl wrapped, which was new to me. I almost quit this project like 4 times. what made it hard was overlaying all the armor pieces and getting a good, flattering fit while also achieving smooth vinyl wraps.

Alfonse: I've only alluded to this but i actually made alfonse to cope with my extreme depressive episode in 2019 where i had daily Unaliving thoughts and my coping strategy was "everytime i want to Do That, get up and work on alfonse" and then boom alfonse got made. my memory of that project is hazy, but i know i worked like an absolute madman on him, but the details are eehehehhehhehhhhhh. i remember it being really hard and i had to remake most pieces on him several times (i know i was up to 6 attempts on his shoulder)

Hypnos: I made hypnos after a string of armor projects and jumping into chiffon was a challenge, i also had to learn french seams and all that and it suuuuucked. His blanket was also really hard to work on bc it was so large, fitting it into my maschine was a struggle and even small changes took large amounts of time bc of the scale. I also wanted him to have the highest polish of any recent project so i went bananas making sure everything turned out as perfect as possible. it was hard!! but breaking down his costume into individual parts helped.

Robin: oops im writing an essay so i'll keep this short, the hardest part of robin was figuring out how to effectively have "glowing lights" with no obvious source on my torso. the concepting stage took about a week of fiddling with LEDs, but once i had a plan making him wasnt super bad. the hardest part was his jacket just bc i used pleather and it was hard to finangle.

Nekomancer: TBH he was i think the easiest project ive made in recent years? the capelet posed the biggest challenge, but other than that it was a pretty friendly project (the broom was also hard, but i struggle with props unilaterally so hmmm)

Kaworu: Kaworu was like..."hard easy" if that makes sense. what made him hard is there's virtually 0 margin for error on plugsuits so everything has to be executed perfectly which is hhhhaaaard. vinyl wrapping his armor was tough. I also messed up on the patterning (the ribs should be much smaller) and that haunts me.

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Padparadscha: looking back padpa was harder than i remembered, like not just tailoring a 12 paneled bodice and figuring out the wig, but im also recalling how difficult fabric matching was. Getting a perfect pale gold with the right balance of sparkle that also contrasted nicely with the ivory sateen took a lot of trial and error. padpa was hella hard, but i do wish the end result looked better -_-

Phos: wow almost the same situation, tailoring the bodysuit was hard (im not at all happy with how it turned out) it wasnt as crazy as padpas, but still turned out worse oopswhoops....fabric matching was much harder here since i had a super clear vision for what i wanted the moon outfit to look like, i had to layer 5 different types of tulle and organza to get the look 👀 and the wig was difficult bc the vinyl i got was harder to work with (making sure it curled and curved took a lot of effort)

Karna: KARNA IS THE HARDEST PROJECT IVE EVER DONE D: people always think its lif but nah...it was karna. karna had so so so many armor parts, and they all had to be clear, clean and polished. similar to a plugsuit, i felt like there was no margin for error and with his design there was little to no ability to hide flaws AND his attachments make no sense. he took a month and a half of daily work and im still iffy on his end result. the armor had to be super form fitted, the bodysuit had to be perfectly flattering to fit his stupid betty spagetti ass frame, the wig was hard, the cape was hard, he was hhhhhhaaaarrddddd

i might write the other ones later rn im tired and i got an exam to study for girl help

[1ddiscourseoftheday]

Fri 16 April ‘21

BUT DADDY, I LOVE HIM. FINALLY Hariel is canon, the Harry Little Mermaid content we deserve manifest in the world- somehow mermaid Harry went into the OUTTAKES (?!) of his 2019 SNL shoot and we were only just now blessed with his shiny tail, seashell bra, and red wig photshoot-- I mean better now than never (ugh I can’t believe it was almost so) but WHY didn’t we get them then, at the tail end (heh) of MONTHS of fevered speculation about his potential role in The Little Mermaid remake and Hariel memes?! The fact that at that time he was like, here is what we should do, I am gonna be Ariel; PRICELESS. We WERE ROBBED. Anyway today is dedicated to all the blogs out there who have been proudly sporting mermaid Harry URLs all this time and how long they’ve held out for this blessed day- you deserve this!

Niall posted form the studio-- another tiny song snippet!- and he’s interviewed on a golf podcast, out today. Mostly he talks about golf, obviously, but also about music. He said, “I’m making an album at the moment. Trying to. Quite deep into it now, I’m pretty obsessed with the music thing because obviously I was so deprived of it last year, not being able to go to a studio was tough...don’t know the timings on it because if a big song comes, I’m releasing it. Until then, I’ll be in the studio,” and “I’ve been playing all the instruments on these records I’m making and I’ve actually never had a music lesson. I just kind of watched things off YouTube, pause the video and see where their hands were and go from there. Luckily enough I had rhythm. To this day, I still don’t know about piano. I just go up and find notes I like the sound of and try and create some sort of a chord.” That is… really impressive actually. And not only that, even some of the golf stuff is exciting! For example, “I got hit in the back of the head recently. I was playing a hole going the opposite way and this guy shanked a 7 iron to the back of the head and hit me. Had a big lump in the back of my head.” Oh no Niall! Show me to go around thinking golf is boring, damn; action sport.

Louis liked a post from childhood friend and famous boxer Dave Allen, who writes his version of Louis’ statement of intent about doing what he does for the love of it and the way he wants; “I’m not coming back aiming to win any titles, I don’t plan on being papi pay per view again, I want to box because I love to box, I want to help the fighters I work with have opportunities which myself fighting will bring them and I want to make everyone laugh and smile as I try to do on a daily basis and more than anything else I just want to be happy and boxing and bringing opportunity and happiness to others will do that for me,” I love it.

Also today, the case against Briana for not paying back the money she was given/ borrowed by her terrible former sugar daddy to buy her breast implants was thrown out when neither of them showed up for court. It was never really about the money anyway so I’m not surprised, but this is how it ends?! Truly a whimper and not a bang, and I’m not ashamed to say that as a gossip columnist this was a VERY DISAPPOINTING OUTCOME. If you’re gonna cast yourselves as some kind of reality show you really need to deliver better content than this, smh.