#David Lean inspired versions

[aq2003]

omfg . radio play version of much ado with david as benedick from 2001

[moodboardmix]

Miss Françoise (17 janvier 1944 - 11 juin 2024)

Miss Françoise Hardy, whose elegance and beautifully lilting voice made her one of France’s most successful pop stars, has passed away today.

She was born in the middle of an air raid in Nazi-occupied Paris in 1944, and raised in the city, mostly by her mother. Aged 16, she received her first guitar as a present and began writing her own songs, performing them live and auditioning for record labels. In 1961, she signed with Disques Vogue.

Inspired by the French chanson style of crooned ballads as well as the emerging edgier styles of pop and rock’n’roll, Miss Hardy became a key part of the yé-yé style that dominated mid-century French music.

The self-penned ballad Tous les garçons et les filles was her breakthrough in 1962, and sold more than 2.5m copies; it topped the French charts, as did early singles Je Suis D’Accord and Le Temps de L’Amour.

Her growing European fame meant she began rerecording her repertoire in multiple languages, including English. Her 1964 song All Over the World, translated from Dans le Monde Entier, became UK Top 20 hit, her fame endured in France, Italy and Germany.

In 1968, Comment te Dire Adieu, a version of It Hurts to Say Goodbye (originally made famous by Vera Lynn) with lyrics by Serge Gainsbourg, became one of her biggest hits.

Miss Hardy’s beauty and deft aesthetic – which encompassed cleanly silhouetted tailoring alongside more casual looks, including knitwear and rock-leaning denim and leather – defined the seeming effortlessness of 20th-century French cool.

She became a muse to designers including Yves Saint Laurent and Paco Rabanne, and was also a frequent subject for fashion photography, shot by the likes of Richard Avedon, David Bailey and William Klein. Later, designer Rei Kawakubo would name her label Comme des Garçons after a line in a Hardy song.

Miss Hardy was an object of adoration to many male stars of 60s pop including the Rolling Stones and David Bowie. Bob Dylan wrote a poem about her for the liner notes of his 1964 album Another Side of Bob Dylan, beginning: “For Françoise Hardy, at the Seine’s edge, a giant shadow of Notre Dame seeks t’ grab my foot …”

She was also courted by directors, appearing in films by Jean-Luc Godard, Roger Vadim, John Frankenheimer and more.

Miss Hardy signed a three-year deal with Sonopresse in 1970. This creatively rich period saw her record with Brazilian musician Tuca on 1971’s highly acclaimed La Question, and continue her multi-lingual releases.

She spent the mid-1970s chiefly focused on raising her son Thomas with her partner, musician and actor Jacques Dutronc. Releases restarted with 1977’s Star, and Hardy embraced the sounds of funk, disco and electronic pop. A longer hiatus in the 1980s was punctuated by 1988’s Décalages, billed as her final album, though she returned in 1996 with Le Danger, switching her palette to moody contemporary rock.

She released six further albums, ending with Personne D’Autre in 2018.

Miss Hardy also developed a career as an astrologer, having written extensively on the subject from the 1970s onwards. In addition, she worked as a writer of both fiction and non-fiction books from the 2000s. Her autobiography Le désespoir des singes... et autres bagatelles was a best-seller in France.

She remains one of the best-selling singers in French history, and continues to be regarded as an iconic and influential figure in both French pop and fashion. In 2006, she was awarded the Grande médaille de la chanson française, an honorary award given by the Académie française, in recognition of her career in music.

Miss Hardy had lymphatic cancer since 2004, and had undergone years of radiotherapy and other treatments for the illness. In 2021, she had argued in favour of euthanasia, saying that France was “inhuman” for not allowing the procedure.

Rest in Power !

[zahri-melitor]

League of Shadows: Detective Comics #951-956

Wow. Just wow.

I knew Tynion IV was working overtime to try and get a level of normality re-established in Rebirth Batman, but he has so many moving pieces going on here.

First up: this is the Cass and Shiva story, so it’s rehashing and re-exploring the most vital elements of Perfect For A Year and Destruction’s Daughter.

It’s not a perfect blend, for a bunch of reasons, but I respect the effort involved.

The bit that blew me way however? Tynion brought in Carolyn.

Cass content where she is given inspiration by her aunt’s words??? I mean. I am listening.

Kate Kane gets to approximately play Babs’ role in the push-pull over what Cass needs against Bruce.

Cass in the Mud Room obsessed with winning fights and working through her problems of course perfectly reflecting Cass in Babs' equivalent holoroom doing exactly that as a way of dealing with her emotions.

Cass gets two fights with Shiva, and she of course loses the first and wins the second.

Cass running around with swords? Some people might say that’s not Cass, I say hello Kasumi and BatO 2008 references!

(Tragically Cass didn’t get to stab Kendra and keep that motif running, but alas no Justice League appeared in this book)

Cass and David together flashbacks still don’t feel entirely on target: previously when Cass has gone to David to answer her questions he would eventually give her what she asked for, not deny it to her. But David Cain was left in a horrible state post B&R Eternal so any writing even slightly more on track was helpful.

It's also fascinating to me that we go to this very heavy Cass story, leaning into her growth as a person and moving from being a lurking shadow who is a vigilante only to someone who is making civilian friendships and connections and doing things outside of simply being a vigilante (going to the ballet in person with Bruce and Kate escorting her) happens in a period when Steph has left. This is echoing Cass' Bludhaven arc! Argh Tynion knows the whole of Batgirl 2000 so well.

And Shiva. Oh, Shiva. I have to say, as always, I’m not thrilled when Shiva is directly linked to Ra’s Al Ghul, but admittedly we were redoing Destruction’s Daughter, so Shiva being called in to train League assassins is on target (though it was Ra's this time, not Nyssa), as was Shiva not actually working with Ra's ordinary troops so much as the set he was using for the League of Shadows.

What I also liked: Ra's trying to manipulate Shiva using what he knew of Cass, and Shiva not being fully on board with what Ra's was selling but synthesising it in her own way.

I don't love Ra's being more involved in Shiva's backstory, but I did enjoy her arguments with him, and the way Shiva, despite herself, became compelled and interested in Cass as a fighter more than as her daughter. (Daughter? raw material, boring. Fighter with that skillset who happens to be my daughter? deeply fascinated).

Just picking out a few scenes here, but I feel this does add an additional layer of depth to Shiva's motivations? That she knows she burnt everything away in the fire of Shiva, but also she has a level of regret over it all.

And then that being reflected in part of what gave Cass the understanding of how to defeat the League and Shiva was the words of Carolyn and her message of how to act as a shadow yet still find yourself? A message Sandra has lost but Carolyn protected even in her death, because Shiva has worked to slough off Sandra, but that is still a loss.

On top (on TOP) of this storyline being a synthesis of Batgirl 2000 into 5 issues, Tynion was just packing in the references.

The atomic bomb to open a faultline under Gotham and *checks notes* make the city fall into a cavern below? Is that Cataclysm, 'Quakemaster' (aka Ventriloquist) holding the city hostage over an even worse earthquake I spy? Because. The vibes were very much there. But on top of that, it's also a version of the Batgirl story of Alpha hiding a fusion bomb in Gotham and Cass needing to track him down to work out where that bomb was.

Shiva and the League of Shadows having a special technique of stabbing people with swords through their chest in a way that doesn't damage any organs. Shiva, is that you saying The Widower was bad at his job? Because most of those sword wounds were similar in location to Tim's one from The Widower but specifically on the other side of the body to avoid the spleen.

Ulysses Armstrong continuing to be the creepiest kid absolutely obsessed with Tim as Robin and trying to 'get into his skin'? Ulysses being in the military now via Jacob Kane's secret organisation yet still completely and utterly hung up on Tim and trying to prove himself is commitment to Tim's Robin run.

And then we get to this: to Ra's telling Bruce that inside the League of Assassins he has a secret League of Shadows, which he has concealed from Bruce and forced him to forget.

But the important bit here to me is Ra's saying Bruce has uncovered them three times before. And we get this series of pictures.

The first is an underground cavern lit by an orange glow (this looks very much like an orange Lazarus Pit in the background: references this resembles include Son of the Demon, any of Nyssa's pits, Matt Wagner's Trinity and a bunch of others).

The second is Bruce standing shirtless on a frozen lake, surrounded by mountains. (Can you say Batman Begins? But also technically you could map this to Bride of the Demon I guess by the art team not realising Antarctica doesn't have trees. Or frozen lakes like that. His first shirtless duel with Ra’s is Batman #244 but that’s in the desert. The various Nanda Parbat and Himalaya fight scenes I reviewed don't look much like this)

The third is Bruce being taken down in what looks like a fancy office (my first thought was possibly Tower of Babel & Dependence, but this again could be a lot of occasions).

And the focus here on Ra's having concealed Bruce's memories and forced him to forget events, in Rebirth stories where we are pushing at the timeline to extend it out again and backfill it with post-Crisis content? A genius way of focusing on there being stories that n52 Bruce doesn't know.

I've been trying to work out exactly which stories Tynion is claiming these three 'discoveries' of the League of Shadows occurred during, and I can't quite pinpoint three specific occasions. But they are so very, very familiar. I do wonder which he was specifically thinking about.

[librawritesstuff]

Here in America review from The Guardian via Yahoo

(Yahoo link doesn’t work and Guardian paywall)

Here in America: A small London theatre punches above its weight

Real-life political clashes have proved fine dramatic fodder for Britain’s leading playwrights in recent years. Peter Morgan’s 2006 play Frost/Nixon was based on the interviews the former president gave following the Watergate scandal, while in 2021 James Graham’s Best of Enemies dramatised the televised political debates between Gore Vidal and William F Buckley Jr.

Veteran political dramatist David Edgar now turns to the falling-out between playwright Arthur Miller and director Elia Kazan amid the febrile anti-communist mood of 1950s America. When Kazan was subpoenaed and called upon to “name names” by the House Un-American Activities Committee or risk being blacklisted from Hollywood, his decision to inform left Miller disgusted. Kazan had previously directed Death of a Salesman to great acclaim and, as Here in America posits, the pair had been like “brothers”. They didn’t speak for 10 years.

It’s certainly a fascinating and fertile subject matter: this feud between two greats of theatre and film had great artistic consequences. Miller was inspired to write The Crucible about the Salem witch-trials – a clear allegory for McCarthyism and the effects of wrongful accusation – while Kazan’s 1954 film On the Waterfront, where Marlon Brando’s dockworker stands up to a corrupt union by informing, won eight Oscars. Meanwhile, Marilyn Monroe, who both men were involved with, was a central figure during all of this. Miller used his engagement to Monroe as political capital when he himself was hauled in front of the HUAC – a speech that is reenacted compellingly here.

Edgar, who has written more than 60 plays since 1970, has managed to cram all this history – albeit with some not very subtle exposition – into a nifty 80-minute four-hander comprising Michael Aloni’s Art, Shaun Evans’s Gadg (Kazan), Faye Castelow’s Day (Kazan’s wife) and Jasmine Blackborow’s Miss Bauer (Monroe). Imagining the showdown between the two men at Kazan’s house in 1952, Edgar asks questions about betrayal, a theme that plagued Miller throughout his works. Both men had already betrayed their wives through infidelity. Should Kazan stay loyal to communists who had previously betrayed him? Will Miller betray Kazan by publicly denouncing him as a traitor?

Evans’s Gadg seems hesitant about the decision he has to make but withers under pressure from his more opinionated and assertive wife, physically leaning on her for support before he gives testimony to the HUAC. When Art relays his intentions with The Crucible, Day fierily argues with him while Gadg can only look on dumbstruck. And when Art himself has moments of doubt, Blackborow’s Marilyn is there to rally him. “The man I want to be with is the man who tells the truth,” she says.

As for Marilyn, Blackborow deliberately gives us a sketch of the woman, as versions of how Art and Gadg saw her at that time. Similarly to the “flashbacks” in Death of a Salesman, she appears as a memory or as an imagined presence interjecting in the conversation. With Gadg – with whom she had a sexual relationship – she is more sultry, pulling him between her legs and grabbing his face. With Art, she is a thrilling whirlwind but also vulnerable and bashful, gazing up at him with gooey-eyed admiration.

Here, then, is another example of the Orange Tree punching above its weight. The minimal staging devices largely seem sophisticated, with blocks seamlessly shifting the scene from a park bench to a living room to a courtroom. Black leaves litter the stage and the stars of the American flag light up the floor during the hearings. “I had this thought,” Art explains about the Salem witch trials, “that if we came to understand what happened then, then we might start to understand what’s happening in the here and now.” From the banning of books in schools to the links between McCarthy and Trump, the comparisons Edgar invites us to make with the state of modern-day America are all too clear.

The push and pull between the four actors, almost like they’re in a dance, is captivating to watch. The intimate 180-seat Orange Tree space proves the perfect setting for these non-verbal dynamics to play out: a glance of admonishment here, and a raised eyebrow of disbelief there convey meaning beyond the words and breathe life into speeches that might otherwise feel overly dense and stuffy.

[thealmightyemprex]

Sci Fi Month :I read the Canon Spider Man script by Ted Newsome and John Brancato

So for those not in the know ,in the 80's -the 90's there were several attempts at a Spider- Man movie,most of which were done by Cannon ,best known for low budget fair ,though they attempted both prestige and blockbusters .Now they went through several scripts but this is the one that got the closest to being made from what my research tells me .

So Dr Otto Octavious makes a device that shifts reality that goes wrong ,fusing him to metal appertauses and mutating a spider which bites wannabe photographer Peter Parker.As Octavious descends to murder,madness and crime ,PArker attempts to use his abilities for fame and fortune till through tragedy he learns with great power comes great responsibility

So I mostly really liked this ,this is one of the better unmade scripts Ive read .....It is a first draft so there are things that seem to ambitious and definately thing that needed to be ironed out

Peter/Spiderman himself is pretty well handled,they got the quips and cleverness and the orgin is pretty faithful to the comics ,no real notes

Doc Ock is well written ,a broody obsessive who is driven to complete his experiment at the cost of humanity .Now I liek how Ocks and Spidey orgins are intertwined ...But their is no dynamic to them :To Peter ,Ock is just a crazy guy ,to Ock ,Spidey is a mere annoyance .....And there are two perfect ways the script couldve fixed that.Simple way is instead of making Ock just annoyed with Spidey,have him monologue and really go into his God complex .In the comics Ock is VERY verbose and Spidey is infamously chatty,so really lean into adding some heroo-villain banter .Option 2 is Octavious is a professor at Peters university ......And it does nothing with that.Well how about make Otto a mentor to Peter,or the one student he likes ,hell later versions really lean into that dynamic for good effect ,it adds a sense of tragedy.Speaking of later versions ,Octavius's motive is similar to 2004's Spider Man 2 ,so am curious if they took some inspiration from this script

Harry is kind of typical 80's weird friend but the friendship feels genuine and I liked him

This Aunt May feels more modern,more of a stylish cool old lady then the doddering oldwoman about to keel over every 5 minutes from the comics

Uncle Ben is not in much of it but he is a kind if not bright guy who tries his best to show he cares about Peter

I am conflicted on Liz Allen ,I like the clever duel she has with Peter but as a love interest the film feels like it is juggling so much stuff it feels out of place ,though the last scene is swweet

Jameson is typical Jameson thogh with non nuance hes pure comic relief

As for the rest of the script the action is well described ,comedy is pretty funny,drama hits,and Ocks murder scenes are effectivel menacing .The only real oddity is some of the 80's pop culture refrences ,like David Letterman and Hulk Hogan are characters in the film

I do think if this had a bit more work it could be a good script for a film.I very much enjoyed this

@ariel-seagull-wings @piterelizabethdevries @the-blue-fairie @themousefromfantasyland @theancientvaleofsoulmaking @princesssarisa @countesspetofi @filmcityworld1

[dvarapala]

🎉🎉

all the characters, everywhere // @sentinaels

🎉 for characters that i want to write someday

an alternate/headcanon based/show leaning yet book inspired version of elena gilbert with anya chalotra (or banitha sandhu or charithra chandran) as her fc and the reasoning for that is the fact that there are two dead indian characters in the tvdeu, one who didn't even get a name and got devoured by malivore and one who's still alive but was written off so there is a grand total of four indian characters in the tvdeu: there was aimee bradley in tvd, portrayed by tiya sircar but she was killed because katherine wanted to make a point at the masquerade ball; there was gia, portrayed by nishi munshi, in the originals who was killed by klaus because he wanted to make a point to elijah; there was emma tig, portrayed by karen david, in legacies and we knew nothing about her other than the fact she was a witch and a guidance counselor and that she ended up with dorian and eventually moved away.

my very alternate and headcanon based take on maggie gilbert because she should have been in the show (and yes her fc would also be someone of indian descent).

a supernatural oc - she'd either be the daughter of dean and kali or sam and kali. she would be born from fire as a nod to draupadi's story.

marvel and/or dc characters of indian descent because there are many and i'm pretty sure i made a list detailing some of their adventures and also ocs belonging to the aforementioned universes.

two teen wolf ocs. dunno who or why or how but that would be fun. one oc would have a biiiig big crush on scott mccall and the other one would be younger and would carry a torch for hayden and liam.

libby rhodes with kritika bharadwaj as the fc. just because i can.

qcode podcast characters.

dnd/cr/dimension 20 ocs.

just a lot of ocs in general. i have so many ideas.

that's it. that's the post. send tweet.

[subsequentibis]

2, 7, 9 and 10 for laz, sal and john?

wooo let's put this one under a cut!

2. Why does your oc look the way they do? What are your reasons for their appearance?

sal is pretty heavily inspired by most of the tall gangly awkward sweaty weirdo scientist/researcher characters i recall fondly from a lot of media i liked growing up, plus hair that's fun to draw and that mimics the fungus's tendril shapes. she started out looking fairly different as my vtm character, but then i fell a little in love with dev patel (and this was also when i was still drawing her as a man) so she ended up closer to his look in david copperfield. purple is a color that doesn't exist much in nature, or so i've heard, so it can have a mystical/spooky/unnatural feeling to it, especially i think a kind of paler ghostly purple, which is why i chose it for her sweater. similarly i gave her grey eyes because i feel like they give off a slightly unusual or unnatural vibe while also being very beautiful. she gets a turtleneck because i gave her my fear of/discomfort with having my neck touched to an extreme degree, she doesn't even like feeling the wind on it. the rest of her clothes are brown/dark tones to give her an earthy and grounded feel. i'm not very good at thinking of outfits so i made her like a cartoon character that only has one set of clothing but just gave her sensory issues so she has a whole wardrobe of nearly identical sweaters, pants, and jackets for comfort. originally i was going to have the fungus able to chameleon-esque shift color so it would be mimicking her hand and eye almost exactly except for almost imperceptible lines where the tendrils meet, but i ended up not liking that idea so much and gave her gloves & a glass eye to hide the bits that she loses over the course of the story. she's long and spindly because i tend to think of her hunched up and curling in on herself, like she's always felt just a little bit too big and is trying to compensate for it, and also because that's very fun to draw.

lazarus is pretty heavily inspired by john constantine, sam vimes, columbo, hellboy, any cigar/cigarette-chomping long coat-wearing detective or investigator with a dry sense of humor. he's gone through a couple versions actually, he was my character in several different ttrpgs until i settled on him as a detective npc for an urban shadows campaign i ran and that really nailed down a lot for him looks and attitude-wise. grey raincoat to help him blend in a little more with the city, i like to think he could lean against a concrete wall and almost disappear. big stompy boots or heeled shoes because he's short as hell and wants to look taller. red as an accent color for blood/fire/etc. actually i debated red eyes as well for a bit and finally settled on orange because, of all things, pilferingapples drew bahorel with these really lovely orangey whiskey colored eyes and that always struck me as gorgeous. i just cranked up the orange to make them obviously not natural and as a connection to lava. he's a bit of wish fulfillment for me as a trans man - short but with a broader build, fairly strong shoulders and hips but a bit of stomach to fill out between so he's not really hourglass-y at all. hairy all over, big obvious top surgery scars that will get an update to probably look like flames or claw marks soon, and covered in interesting scars. i always wanted to come up with a story behind all of them but i only ever figured out ones for two, one on his knee and the brand on his chest that ties him to his demonic patron. he had a shitty tiny ponytail for a long time because i love getting my hair just long enough to have a tiny shitty ponytail, but his hair started getting longer over time and now i like him with long hair. cringefail facial hair. he cannot grow a mustache to save his life but that's not gonna stop him.

ok so john. john was originally a hotel podcast oc, as in like i had this idea that the owner might have once been a human guy and got yoinked and twisted to fit the hotel's needs. so john was just my design for the owner but a little more saturated, like he goes semi-greyscale when he gets got. i ditched the turquoise bolo tie when i decided i wanted him in underbelly and i'm trying to fill his wardrobe out a little more with clothes that a divorced dad trying to find his feet again after a painful break up might pick for 'fun'. where laz was my wish fulfillment as a trans man back in college, when i was barely beginning to believe i could possibly be genderweird, john is my wish fulfillment as a trans man now. tall, beefy, hairy, big shaggy sideburns. he's got less thought put into him than the others because he's not been around as long, give him a few years to mature in the soup and i'm sure he'll develop.

7. Does your oc have any notable skills or good personality traits? Why did you give them those traits? Why do they exist in-universe?

see prev answer for sal!

lazarus is somewhat similar to sal in that he's quick to pick up on tiny details, but i would call him more street smart than book smart. i wanted the two of them to have a bit of a battle of the minds going on, not quite like death note levels but more like your average columbo episode. laz is in total control of himself at pretty much all times, as well - he is driven primarily by anger, but he's had enough time to figure out how to use anger instead of being used by it. sometimes he loses control but it's rare. he has a good relationship with a lot of people in the underbelly, he makes a point to help out where he can and engages in a lot of favor-swapping. i really want him to be a pillar of the community sort of guy, someone really intensely invested in the space they've helped to build because he's been aimless and wandering in the past and it's no way to live. he's a bit world weary and can come across as cynical, but deep down even if he doesn't believe in the inherent goodness of man, he thinks man can be dragged kicking and screaming towards some kind of goodness.

john is a good natured and good hearted kind of guy, despite his flaws he has a fairly strong sense of right and wrong and he's really fiercely loyal and protective of his loved ones. frankly see that one post that's like 'character that's submissive in the way a guard dog is submissive'. he's lost people and relationships in the past for various reasons so when he finds something that sticks he's desperate to keep them close and safe and intact.

9. In a group dynamic, what kind of role does the oc usually fill? Are they a worry wart? A troublemaker? The straight man?

sal is the worrier for sure and the one who goes home early because she's not having fun. laz is the one you think is the straight man until a third act subversion and then he's either covered in other people's blood or has challenged the biggest guy in the bar to a drinking contest that he will win and then make out with said guy. john is the designated driver.

10. What is your favorite trait regarding your oc?

i love sal's cowardice. it's really meaningful and special to me how little she wants to do with anything happening to her and how she figures out how to deal with it anyway and succeed while never really getting over how much she wants to just go home and get in bed.

my favorite lazarus trait is his anger, because i love a character who lets their rage bubble and boil under the surface while appearing completely calm until they just explode, but like a controlled demolition.

i love john's ability to adapt. when he ends up in the underbelly it's not long at all before he's got a stable job & a place to live & people who call him friend because he just goes with the flow and makes it work. yeah he's got goat eyes and horns and he sleeps on a pile of hay now bc he's too big for his bed most nights but hey, could be worse!

[chronicbeans]

Edgar Lee, The Actor (hehe more Batman OCs)

Basically I made an OC based off of Maladaptive Daydreaming. A lot of Batman Villains in specific versions of the canon seem to be based off of slightly exaggerated versions of their mental illness or trope, so this guy entered my brain. I needed to write the basic idea down before he left.

TW: Maladaptive Daydreaming, Imitation, Self-Hatred, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms, Regret, Fear

☁️ Edgar Lee is a man who is constantly lost in his own world. Ever since he was a young child, he constantly daydreamed. Now that he is a young man, he still engages heavily in fantasy. He even plays pretend, in a way, pretending that he is anybody but himself. He has been quoted saying "If I am anybody but myself, I will be fine."

☁️ With his head lost in the clouds, he enjoys going shopping in order to make costumes for the characters he creates. From buying a cassock to dress as a priest he made in his mind, to buying wigs and makeup to play the role of an alluring seductress, he does his absolute best to become his characters. He usually is pretty good about it, too, with some not recognizing him when he is in character.

☁️ Edgar's stories tend to lean on the... dark side. He even takes real life events and bases a character off of them. Characters like "The Puzzle Maker" or "Boba the Clown" taking clear inspiration from The Riddler and The Joker. As Edgar said, as long as he is anybody but himself, he will be fine. Even if who he is playing is a violent criminal.

☁️ He simply pretended in his room, pacing around and rambling to himself, for the longest of time. He drew his characters, made elaborate backstories for his characters, and even made their names have meaning. Then, one day, the pretending and the rambling and the pacing just... didn't satisfy as much as it used to. Pretending to pull off elaborate schemes didn't satisfy him.

☁️ After committing his first crime, he felt nothing but fear. He was terrified, full of regret and terror at what he had done. That stress caused him to begin fantasizing again, pretending to be a completely different character than the one he committed the crime as. Then, it became a cycle. He'd rather pretend than face his own actions.

☁️ Nobody's heard from Edgar Lee in a while. It is always "Father David Jones" or "Mrs. Williams". Then, when people ask to talk to Edgar as himself, and not a character, he simply begs them to play along with his fantasy. Repeating the same lines of "If I am anybody but myself, I will be fine."

☁️ This has made extracting information and treating Edgar Lee at Arkham Asylum extremely difficult. He is so deep within fantasy, refusing to face reality, that most interviews and sessions are not with him. They are with a character. Any mentions of his crimes to Edgar, while he is in reality and not in a daydream, are faced with fear and regret. Then, he promptly goes back to his fantasies and becomes a character, again. He has made it clear that it is not a case of dissociative identity disorder, saying that he made these characters up and is aware of when he is playing them, choosing to do so.

☁️ Many simply call him The Actor, despite him not creating that name himself, due to his constantly changing persona. One second, he's a mafia boss, the next he will be a con-man scamming people. The Actor is an all encompassing name for the numerous characters he plays. It also describes what he does to a T. He acts as these characters to cope with whatever he is trying to deal with, so much so that it is unhealthy and is now endangering others and himself.

[mourningbirds1]

Top 10 comfort movies

Inspired by @pennyserenade's excellent list and open tag

Blithe Spirit (1945 David Lean version)

Gosford Park

Almost Famous

The Apartment

Triple Frontier (For some reason?? lol I can only chalk this up to familiarity and the presence of Francisco Morales)

The Awful Truth

Pride And Prejudice (2005 Joe Wright version)

Mad Max Fury Road

Raiders Of The Lost Ark

It's Complicated

Tagging anyone who'd like to do this.

[starlostastronaut]

MOONAGE DAYDREAM

SUMMARY: every moment in his presence is magical. being alone with the true version of him even more so

PAIRING: han jisung x reader

GENRE: fluff, band au, lead singer!jisung, photographer!reader

WORD COUNT: 1.2k

i recycled a text i wrote for two of my characters from an original story i'm working on (essentialy i only changed names), because i'm lowkey proud of this and wanted to share it somehow, since it isn't part of the story, but more of just a character study for me. bit of background, jisung is a lead singer of a rock band and reader is a photographer traveling with the band, who's developing a crush on the singer while becoming friends. title from moonage daydream by david bowie, which inspired the original text.

shout out to mana who showed me how to do the gradients because it looks so good! proofread so hopefully i didn't miss anything. i hope you enjoy reading and i would love to hear your thoughts! <3

my masterlist

You heard the soft strumming of a guitar. You walked inside the room and saw Jisung on the windowsill, playing a song that was… frankly very outside of Jisung's usual style, as far as you were concerned. Though you were no expert on music genres.

You also didn't think you ever saw Jisung with a guitar, if you didn't count promo photos, and the band had been on tour for nearly two weeks. Frankly, you didn't think Jisung could play. Yet there he sat, perched on the window above night Madrid, guitar in hand and playing a song you didn't recognize.

He looked almost unreal like that. Like Peter Pan visiting a child's bedroom to take them far away. You would have let him. If Jisung asked you to go somewhere, anywhere, you would. Which probably wasn't the healthiest mindset there was, but you didn't have time to unpack that right now. You simply wanted to watch Jisung bring some of the Neverland magic to the hotel room.

“What's that?” you found yourself asking.

Jisung didn't flinch or react in any other startled way, which meant he either wasn't scared of anything, or he already knew about you. That thought warmed your heart. That Jisung was somehow able to sense your presence even before you brought the attention to yourself.

Jisung stopped playing, but it wasn't abrupt, rather a melody fading into the background. How did Jisung manage that with an acoustic guitar you had no idea. Perhaps it was just your mind warping the situation into your own magical dream. Or perhaps Jisung stopped playing a long time ago and your ears only now caught up.

You watched Jisung turn his head towards you and put the guitar down, seemingly carelessly leaning it against the wall, though you knew that wasn't the case. Jisung, despite his slightly intimidating exterior, was a gentle person who handled every instrument with care and precision and who wouldn't let even a grain of dust taint his precious belongings.

“Bowie,” Jisung answered and brought one of his legs up on the window, wrapping his arms around his knee. He laid his head on his forearms and watched you with a curious gaze.

There was something about Jisung's eyes that you loved. The warm brown, deep like the universe, was holding inside all the stars and secrets ready to spill out. Big and round like black pearls, and all on you. It wasn't even a stern gaze and there was a chance Jisung wasn't even directly looking at you, but it still made you weak in the knees for a second. That was just the Jisung effect, as you called it.

You slowly walked to the window under Jisung's knowing gaze. It felt like the singer saw all your fears and dreams, and maybe he did. There were so many secrets about him that you had yet to uncover.

“Bowie?” You sat down on the other side of the windowsill and Jisung lifted his head. “I didn't peg you as the type to listen to Bowie,” you said truthfully.

If there was one thing about Jisung that was certain, he liked his music loud. Screaming, noise and curse words made up the better part of Jisung's playlist, you learned that the hard way.

Jisung shrugged. “Guilty pleasure?” His lips stretched into a lazy smile.

You wished for nothing more than to have your camera with you. To capture that moment and frame it and hang it up in your room to look at when you needed to lift your mood. Your father always said the right smile could light up thousands of worlds and after meeting Jisung, you finally believed him. Jisung's smile had that kind of power.

Especially now, when he was looking at you like that. Sparkling, half lidded eyes, the faintest remains of glitter on his cheeks. Wearing a simple washed-out shirt of some band, having rid his fingers of rings and keeping only his rainbow bracelets. Light from the night city was reflecting on his tanned skin and your heart was about to explode. Jisung looked ethereal. So out of this world and yet so familiar. So close and yet so unreachable.

You couldn't resist any longer and pulled out your phone.

“What are you doing?” Jisung laughed softly, chocolate strands of hair falling into his face as he let his head fall sideways.

“For your Instagram?” you chuckled. “So you have something to feed to the sharks.” And so I can have a reminder that only I get you like this, stripped version of you that no fangirl can see. Possessive much? Yeah, that was a problem for future you.

“Okay.” You didn't expect Jisung to actually pose, oh my god. All the Wattpad writers would have a field day for sure, because Jisung had the bedroom eyed fuck boy look down to a T, whatever was that supposed to mean. You were seriously considering sending your medical bill to Jisung, because this heart rate could not be normal.

Fortunately for your health, Jisung got bored of modeling very quickly. He settled back on the window in his original position and continued to look at you. “So what’s yours?”

It took way too long for you to respond, in your opinion. “Uh what?”

Jisung laughed, but it wasn't a mean kind of laugh, more like the amused, intrigued one. “Your music guilty pleasure,” he answered, leaning his head back to rest it against the wall.

Oh. We are making conversation.

“Um… I don't know. Nickelback?” you laughed, hoping it doesn’t sound too forced. “I listen to like, everything, so it's hard to have something like that? Just pick something mainstream and currently hated.”

Jisung laughed again. “You're funny.” Then he thought for a moment. “I always thought you were a swiftie. You look like one.”

You almost got offended, when you saw the tiny smile tugging at Jisung's mouth. “Nice, very nice.” You couldn't believe it. Jisung was clearly enjoying the moment, having got back at you in a way.

“What can I say? Don't typecast music taste.”

“Lesson learned.” You raised your hands in surrender.

“And between us, there are way better bands to have as your guilty pleasure than Nickelback. Like this one that released the song…” Jisung went on a rant about whatever band was now trending at TikTok, you didn't really care. You wouldn’t listen to them anyway.

You leaned back, content to just watch Jisung for a while as he talked. It was fascinating, the way his whole face lit up when he talked about something he was passionate about. He was gesticulating and leaning forward, to be closer to you to share his passions.

It was one thing to watch Jisung do a show. He was radiating happiness and energy when he was on stage, capturing the eyes of everyone with his bold outfits, bright personality and (in your humble opinion) angelic voice. But here, in the serenity of a hotel room, talking about which album was better, with his messy hair and crumpled shirt, it was the real Jisung. Someone you were privileged enough to be able to witness.

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[musings-of-a-lit-student]

Prisoner of War: Part 11

Disclaimer: I don’t own Maus or any of Spiegelman’s work. I have attached the photos from the work itself, but do not claim to own the scanned version either. I highly recommend purchasing the book to support the original author. My thoughts do not represent the author's work and are merely my own interpretations.

Warning: MAUS is a graphic novel based on the author’s father’s experiences during the holocaust and includes anecdotes and scenes including violence, blood which may be considered triggering. 

Introduction: The work MAUS by Art Spiegelman is a novel that tells the story of Vladek Spiegelman and his experiences during the holocaust using an allegory and parallel storylines to depict the Vladek's past and Artie's present as he hears the story from his father. This work includes an autobiographical and biographical element due to the inclusion of two main characters - Vladek and Artie. Spiegelman makes the decision to introduce himself as a character in the work as a mouthpiece for himself.

Main Characters: Artie: The author Vladek: Artie's father Anja: Artie's mother Mala: Vladek's second wife Françoise: Artie's wife

Navigation ->Prisoner of War Masterlist -> Previous Part

MAUS by Art Spiegelman

Points of Interest

Friendship

The light drawing him out of the shadows symbolizes the power of friendship. In addition to the mouse that readers use to identify Jews, he also wears a Star of David, marking him as prey. Orbach arrives like a savior, stirring Vladek from his fears in a rousing and inspirational manner. This clear showcase of brotherhood helped save lives and improved their chances of survival. Vladek's safe arrival in America was influenced by a series of events, including this moment.

Stripes

The last panel resembles a jail cell, suggesting that even after leaving the camp, Vladek feels imprisoned. His constant movement in the chair and the dialogue show his restlessness. The hatching and the dialogue shows that he wasn't free to roam in Lublin and couldn't wait to get back home. It plays on his psyche, showing how he's leaning back as he did earlier in the chapter on the pillow, but here we see more bars caging him in. It suggests he felt more restricted here than in the prisoner camp.

Luxuries

Chocolates are depicted as luxury goods in the image, showing how Vladek wins over the family with such treats. Artie reminds us that Jews were underprivileged, and such simple items were considered out of reach for them. Visually, the spiral effect used to show the girl's excitement is thought-provoking. Their youthful innocence has been marred, and although Spiegelman doesn't mention it, he would be reminded of Richieu too. The reminiscing suggests that Orbach, too, may have passed away under Nazi oppression.

The Mask

This important theme is expressed through the use of masks. The allegory has different elements: the mouth represents moments of pain, and the tail represents comfort in self-expression. These characters have human bodies, and their faces reveal their true origins, with the masks serving their usual purpose. By hiding his ethnicity, we see Vladek covering up his identity and temporarily forsaking it. The use of masks continues to develop and is perhaps one of Spiegelman's best graphic techniques.

Secrecy

Vladek is in a closet, and in an attempt to be clever the panel, seems to look a lot like a closet in which he would be hidden. Separating his unveiled face we see Vladek take advantage of the camaraderie between poles, suggesting a jew wouldn't have had a similar reception but a veteran pole would have. The other idea Spiegelman shows us is the smuggling of people over to the other side. It pays off though, and we see Vladek leave similar to Artie at the end of the chapter. Music to suggest he is now far more jovial despite all the torture and mistreatment he faced.

Next Part Note: I'll be writing a post to discuss the mask and some themes, once I've finished this chapter, so keep an eye out for that

[yessadirichards]

What's streaming this week: Donald Glover, Run-D.M.C., 'Choir' and bye to 'Curb Your Enthusiasm'

LOS ANGELES

The final, cringeworthy season of “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and a documentary on Run-D.M.C. are some of the new television, movies, music and games headed to a device near you.

Also among the streaming offerings worth your time as selected by The Associated Press’ entertainment journalists: Donald Glover starring as a spy in the new TV series “Mr. & Mrs. Smith” and a documentary about the making of the charity megahit “We Are the World.”

— Regardless of whether you think the 1985 charity anthem “We Are the World” is great or not, the making of it is fascinating. Director Bao Nguyen got access to never-before-seen footage and new interviews with Lionel Richie, Bruce Springsteen and Cyndi Lauper to help tell the story of how famous musicians, including Michael Jackson, Bob Dylan, Diana Ross and Stevie Wonder, got together one night for a marathon recording session. Nguyen told the AP in a recent interview that “The Greatest Night In Pop" humanizes "some of these icons that we’ve sort of idolized over many generations.” It’s on Netflix.

— So Greta Gerwig didn’t get a best director nomination, but the good news is that the Criterion Channel has a new series starting Thursday about some of the “Lady Bird” and “Barbie” director’s favorite films. Gerwig’s “adventures in moviegoing” includes David Lean’s “Brief Encounter,” Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s “The Red Shoes,” Max Ophüls’ "The Earrings of Madame de…” and Claire Denis’ “Beau travail.” The channel also has a series on “Interdimensional Romance” with films like “A Matter of Life and Death,” “Wings of Desire,” “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” and both versions of “Solaris.”

— And for those who were curious about “Dicks: The Musical,” but not enough to bite the bullet on a movie ticket, it will be streaming on Max starting Friday. In an article about the movie out of the Toronto Film Festival, AP Film Writer Jake Coyle wrote that this “Dadaist riff on ‘The Parent Trap’ … may be the most demented riff on a familiar story yet. The film … has been called the most gonzo movie of the year. It’s lewd, ridiculous and surreal. Hanna-Barbera was an inspiration.” Josh Sharp and Aaron Jackson star alongside Bowen Yang as God, Megan Thee Stallion, Nathan Lane and Megan Mullally.

— AP Film Writer Lindsey Bahr

— Bob Marley & The Wailers, The Clash, Beastie Boys — what do these legendary artists have in common? They owe much to Lee “Scratch” Perry, a pioneer of the dub music scene celebrated as one of reggae’s founding fathers. Perry (real name Rainford Hugh Perry) died in 2021 — but during the pandemic, he worked on new music material, which will be posthumously released in his final album, “King Perry,” out Friday, Feb 2. It features guest performances from Greentea Peng, Shaun Ryder, Tricky, Marta, Rose Waite and Fifi Rong. The final track, appropriately titled “Goodbye,” is Perry’s final vocal recording — an ambitious and celebratory song that features Perry repeating his farewell over and over again. It’s a fitting coda, and still an experiment, bringing his reggae into synth wave, drum’n’bass, big beat, and electronica. Even in death, Perry is looking towards the future.

— When you’re done streaming “The Greatest Night in Pop” (see above), stay in the musical mid-’80s with “Kings from Queens: The RUN DMC Story.” This Peacock original documentary offers a close look at the early days of Joseph “Rev Run” Simmons, Darryl “DMC” McDaniels, and Jason “Jam Master Jay” Mizell's revolutionary group — finding inspiration in the streets, bringing hip-hop to the masses, and, in doing so, validating and legitimizing what will soon become the most popular style of music — and assisting in turning it into a billion-dollar business. Let’s face it, “It’s Tricky to rock a rhyme, to rock a rhyme that’s right on time,” is both an earworm for the ages — and some astute musical analysis.

— AP Music Writer Maria Sherman

— The new Amazon Prime Video series “Mr. & Mrs. Smith” is not your 2005 “Mr. & Mrs. Smith.” Instead, Donald Glover and Maya Erskine star as two stranger spies who meet and are required to marry for their cover. The series was created by Glover and Francesca Sloane, who says she looked to reality TV like “Love is Blind” and “90 Day Fiancé” for inspiration. All eight episodes will be ready to binge on Friday.

— “Curb Your Enthusiasm” fans are pretty pretty pretty disappointed because the show begins its final season on Sunday, on HBO. The irreverent comedy stars Larry David as a fictionalized version of himself who lands in awkward situations at every turn. Recurring favorites Jeff Garlin, Susie Essman, Cheryl Hines, and J.B. Smoove will be back.

— A new Disney+ docuseries called “Choir” follows the Detroit Youth Choir — who first made a splash appearing on “America’s Got Talent” in 2019 — as members audition and prepare to perform at Carnegie Hall in New York. All six episodes drop Wednesday.

— UK comedian Sir Lenny Henry used his own family history to create “Three Little Birds,” a BritBox series that follows three women moving from Jamaica to London in the 1950s. Henry says the show’s immigration story is universally relatable because all immigrants understand that it’s difficult to start over and build a new life. “Three Little Birds” premieres Thursday.

— Past seasons of National Geographic’s “Genius” anthology series covered Albert Einstein, Pablo Picasso and Aretha Franklin. Season 4 focuses on two civil rights legends, the Rev Dr Martin Luther King Jr and Malcolm X. “Genius: MLK/X” delves into each man’s formative years, rise to influence and differing philosophies. The first two episodes drop Thursday on National Geographic. It will also stream on Hulu and Disney+.

— Don’t worry, “Dateline” hosts, your jobs are safe. For now. Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino of “Jersey Shore” has entered the chat. He’s hosting “Statute of Limitations,” a new true crime show where everyday people who have committed nonviolent crimes tell their story. (Think: A thief who used a hot air balloon as a getaway vehicle.) What’s more, their statute of limitations has run out so they’re free and clear to talk. In 2019, Sorrentino served eight months in prison for lying on his taxes. “Statute of Limitations” will be available to stream beginning Thursday on platforms including Tubi, YouTube and The Roku Channel.

— Alicia Rancilio

— England’s Rocksteady Studios built its reputation on 2009’s dazzling Batman: Arkham Asylum. Alas, the developer is turning to the dark side of the DC Universe with Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. Rather than soloing as the Caped Crusader, you’re now invited to team up with friends as members of Task Force X: Harley Quinn, Deadshot, Captain Boomerang and King Shark. What do they have against Superman, the Flash and their buddies? Well, Brainiac has brainwashed the superheroes and now it’s up to the supervillains to save Metropolis. You can expect guest appearances by the likes of Lex Luthor, the Penguin and the Riddler, and publisher Warner Bros. Games is promising a steady flow of downloadable scoundrels in the future. The brawling begins Friday on PlayStation 5, Xbox X/S and PC.

— Lou Kesten

[insextras]

Genome OC Headcanons

Over the years, Genome's hair has turned completely white due to exposure to others' DNA and taking on their physical traits. He usually will shift part of his hair black because he likes it better that way.

Due to having white hair/streaks, a single blue eye (the other is red), and being unusually tall, people typically assume Genome and Ororo are related somehow (they think she's his mom). In addition to having a similar confident, no-nonsense demeanor and (apparently) similar facial features, people claim they're "so much alike".

In the krakoan era, Genome has become a messiah figure not just on the island, but in various places in the world. Occasionally, Hope asks him for advice on how to deal with the same behavior from the island's inhabitants and he has trouble giving her advice beyond lean into it for a laugh.

When Hope suggested she be able to join the council, Genome followed. From his remote observation, he felt that there was too much trouble brewing and that someone needed to keep everyone on track. But considering there was only a single seat available, he would join council meetings as a representative of krakoa similar to Doug rather than an individual council member.

One of the first people Genome met at the Xavier School was Emma Frost. He would always refer to her as Ms. Frost and as an adult, still does.

When Genome met David (Legion), he was immediately overrun by the sheer number of personalities and abilities David possessed. One of them, Delphic, proved to be quite useful. Genome created his own version of Delphic named Alex (short for Alexandria, named after the library) and used her power of omniscience to answer submitted questions on a YouTube channel he made called Book of Infinite Pages.

Genome will often use his powers to crack jokes or recreate memes in real life.

Because of the amount of stimuli and information he is exposed to and has to process, Genome is constantly experiencing sensory overload. Fortunately, his body is constantly adapting to handle it.

Because he came to the Xavier School after graduating high school, he couldn't really be a student, but he also wasn't one of the adult staff either. So, the adults put him in charge of communicating between the two; whatever the students need, he'll tell the adults and vice versa.

Genome is one of the few people Rogue can touch without harming them.

Since Genome found out he could copy powers, he was assigned to helping the students train and learn their powers better, with him showing them unique ways to apply their abilities that they may not have considered.

Genome will use any source, real or fictional, as a means of inspiration for how to use his powers. Oftentimes, he will attempt to recreate moves and techniques he's seen characters use and hope for the best. It almost always works.

[lenbryant]

It's the last Sondheim...

‘Here We Are’ Review: The Last Sondheim, Cool and Impossibly Chic

This inventive, beguiling and not quite fully solved puzzle of a show is a worthy and loving farewell to the great musical dramatist.

Stephen Sondheim had a genius for genre. Some of his best works were adapted from very niche sources like penny dreadfuls (“Sweeney Todd”), epistolary novels (“Passion”) and Roman comedies (“A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum”). Leaning hard into their specific styles, he mined their expressive potential in songs that could hardly be improved and never sounded alike.

Still, for him and for others, surrealism was often a genre too far. Musical theater is surreal enough already. (Why did that taciturn man suddenly start singing? Who are those dancing women in lingerie?) Building a show on a willfully irrational source risks doubling down on the weirdness, leading to “Huh?” results like Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Cats” and Sondheim’s own “Anyone Can Whistle.”

So as we waited what seemed like decades for what would turn out to be his last musical, never quite knowing if he’d ditched it or not, the dribbles of information he and his collaborators let drop suggested that the new show — eventually titled “Here We Are” — might be misbegotten.

Not only are the two Luis Buñuel films that Sondheim and the playwright David Ives took as their inspiration maximally surrealist, they are also surreal in different, seemingly incompatible ways. “The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie” (1972) is a sunny romp about a group of friends who, seeking a meal, are mysteriously unable to find one. “The Exterminating Angel” (1962) is a much darker affair, about a dinner party no one can leave. Both movies ridicule aristocrats who are underfed yet over-sated: people for whom nothing is ever enough. But one is like the silky tartness of a lemon meringue pie and the other like chicken bones stuck in your throat.

The first act, about an hour long and with perhaps seven numbers — though it’s hard to count because they weave in and out of the dialogue — introduces us to Ives’s American versions of Buñuel’s French gourmands from “The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie.” Leo Brink (Bobby Cannavale) is a crass tycoon and Marianne Brink (Rachel Bay Jones) a society decorator; their Saturday morning is interrupted when four of their circle arrive at the couple’s hyper-sleek apartment, insisting they’ve been invited for brunch.

The interlopers include Paul Zimmer (Jeremy Shamos), a plastic surgeon celebrating his 1,000th nose job, and his wife, Claudia Bursik-Zimmer (Amber Gray), an agent, she brays, for “a major entertainment entity.” Along with them are Raffael Santello Di Santicci (Steven Pasquale), the horndog ambassador from a Mediterranean country called Moranda, and Fritz (Micaela Diamond), Marianne’s sour younger sister, a revolutionary with champagne tastes.

Ives quickly and amusingly delineates the six with specific and almost universally obnoxious traits. Raffael, who butchers his English, and Claudia, quick to pull rank, have a weekly assignation behind Paul’s back; Paul and Leo run a drug cartel with Raffael’s ambassadorial assistance. Fritz is a pill. As they go on the road in search of a meal, accompanied by a Sondheim vamp that starts out marvelously jaunty and ends like water swirling down a drain, each reveals worse and worse traits, except for Marianne, who is too dim to be venal. When she asks her husband to “buy this perfect day” for her, it seems less acquisitive than sentimental.

The changes of scenery as they visit various establishments featuring outré waiters (Tracie Bennett and Denis O’Hare) in ever more ludicrous wigs (by Robert Pickens and Katie Gell) are accomplished with swift grace on David Zinn’s shiny white box of a set, as neon marquees descend from the flies and then descend further to form tables or banquettes. (Zinn’s costumes are also telegraphic, including Leo’s velour sweatsuit and Claudia’s sky-high purple Fendis.) The theme-and-variations format is enchanting, allowing Sondheim, the great puzzler, to treat songs almost as anagrams. Eventually, along with three other characters they pick up — a colonel (Francois Battiste), a soldier (Jin Ha) and a bishop (David Hyde Pierce) — the crew lands, by now starving, at Raffael’s embassy, where they dine as Act I ends.

Here the musical hinges into “The Exterminating Angel,” only instead of a completely different set of characters (Buñuel’s were presumptively Spanish, living under Franco), Ives, in a neat piece of joinery, continues with Leo and Marianne and the others. It is they who find it impossible to leave after dinner, and wind up, in Act II, sleeping, bickering and eventually fighting over food scraps as their metaphysical entrapment persists for days. Ives also complicates Buñuel’s antifascist, anti-bourgeois glee, in which plutocrats are exposed as pigs, by implicating the revolution as well; Fritz turns out to be less of a threat to her own way of life than she intended.

Had Sondheim written more songs for Act II — there are just a few, bunched at the beginning — that problem might have been eased. In any case, Mantello and Ives decided to reframe the dearth as an opportunity. Before his death, Sondheim apparently agreed with them that the lack of songs in fact made structural sense: Once trapped in a repeating nightmare of deprivation, these characters would have no reason to sing. But then why retain the ones he’d already written?

Perhaps because the songs he did write are everything you could want them to be. There are fewer trick rhymes than usual, but laugh-out-loud jokes nonetheless. A rhapsodic love song for the soldier and a paean to superficiality for Marianne — “I want things to gleam./To be what they seem/And not what they are” — have the familiar Sondheimian depth and luster to crystallize complex insights.

Though we sorely miss that in Act II, and especially at the attempted triple lutz of an ending (which is probably two lutzes too many), Ives, the author of “Venus in Fur” and innumerable clever comedies, has done much to compensate. Some of his dialogue scenes — including a riveting colloquy between the questing Marianne and the questioning bishop — have the shape, rhythm and sorrowful wit of a Sondheim song. (Jones and Pierce are standouts in the excellent cast.) Also lovingly filling in blanks are the musical supervisor, Alexander Gemignani, and Sondheim’s longtime orchestrator, Jonathan Tunick, who have arranged themes from the earlier part of the show as instrumental interludes to take up the slack in the later part.

You can understand their care. Pending the discovery of some unpublished juvenilia or yet another iteration of the penultimate “Road Show,” this is the last Sondheim musical we will ever have. That alone makes the production historic, a pressure that happily does not show in the product, which is fleet and flashy. Natasha Katz’s lighting, Tom Gibbons’s sound and Sam Pinkleton’s droll choreography do a lot of the heavy lifting for Mantello’s agenda.

More important, “Here We Are” is as experimental as Sondheim throughout his career wanted everything to be. To swim through its currents of echoes of earlier work — some “Anyone Can Whistle,” some “Passion,” some “Merrily We Roll Along” — is to understand the characters’ monstrous insatiability. We, too, will always want more, even when we’ve had what by any reasonable standards should already be more than enough.

Here We Are Through Jan. 21 at the Shed, Manhattan; theshed.org. Running time: 2 hours and 20 minutes.

Jesse Green is the chief theater critic for The Times. His latest book is “Shy,” with and about the composer Mary Rodgers. He is also the author of a novel, “O Beautiful,” and a memoir, “The Velveteen Father.” More about Jesse Green

[oc-beehive]

Do you associate your magical girls with any songs/musicians or specific musical movements from the eras they were based off of? Other than Etsuko being grunge ofc (but if you have songs do share)

I hope you don't mind that I'm answering this as a textpost and not a drawing!! It seems more directed to me as a creator + i want to include links and you can't do that on an image. lol

I'll go in chronological order in terms of inspiration! This got REALLY long because I am insane so please excuse the paragraphs.

Disclaimer that I am American and thus my perception of music trends is pretty warped through the lens of what was popular in the US around these times.

Aimi - It's hard to mention the 50s music sphere without mentioning Elvis Presley. That's just a given. The 50s was the major rise of rock and roll, and there's a bit of that inspiration in Aimi's character. But her biggest association for me is no question Doris Day. Specifically songs like "I didn't slip -- I wasn't pushed -- I fell" and her version of "A Bushel and a Peck" (you know, the song from Guys and Dolls!). "Candy Lips" too. Very much the tail end of big band music that pervaded the 40s. I won't include more links because it would just be her entire discography. All those saccharine flowery metaphors about love??? Totally up her alley. I like to imagine that her magical girl transformations are similarly accompanied by those jaunty string plucks.

Hikari - The 60s! The British Invasion! Hoo boy. Initial honorary mention here goes to Roy Orbison's "Oh, Pretty Woman". Outside of that, though, she's definitely a Peter, Paul, and Mary typea girl. "If I Had a Hammer", "Weave Me the Sunshine", so on. A bit more folksy than one might expect, and completely ignoring the elephant in the room, but I think it fits her well! Throw in a couple early Beatles hits if you really must - "Love Me Do" and "I Want To Hold Your Hand" come to mind. Anything simple but upbeat, with a focus on guitar in the instrumentals. "Lemres," you say, "that's every single fucking pop song from the early 60s". Yes. Yes it is.

Akane - Time to get your groove on. The 70s kind of exploded in variety for popular music, and Akane leans heavily towards the disco side, but it's not exclusive. Immediate picks are anything by Earth, Wind and Fire - "Shining Star" and, of course, "September". I am legally obligated to bring up the Jackson 5. "Blame It on the Boogie" is a good pick. Don't tell me you can't imagine a planning montage to these bass lines. Lots of pop and rock acts emerged around this time, but most of them don't seem her style. She'd love David Bowie though. We all love David Bowie. Specifically Diamond Dogs. Shoutout to "Rebel Rebel".

Izumi - Listen man, I had to save writing this blurb for last. The 80s spans so much music. Izumi is a clusterfuck. I guess that makes this appropriate? AC/DC is definitely up there in terms of artist inspiration, with some Journey and REO Speedwagon on there too. I think they deserve a little bit of power ballad, as a treat. Also glam metal/rock, like Poison. You know what? I'm just gonna throw a bunch of songs out there and make you figure it out. "Back in Black", "Walk this Way", "Nothin' But a Good Time", "Once Bitten Twice Shy", and so on. They're having fun and that's what matters.

Etsuko - As mentioned, Etsuko is chiefly inspired by grunge bands! The good old Seattle Sound. Nirvana are obviously the poster child band for that - Pearl Jam and Soundgarden coming in a very close second and third. The latter two of those bands hate(d) being called grunge, by the way. Song examples are "Lithium", "Even Flow", and "Outshined". It's like if you took punk rock and played it through speakers submerged in molasses. Good shit. Mudhoney is also a GREAT example, especially songs like "Good Enough". This is the perfect genre for Etsuko because most of it is composed of complaining vaguely about Society™ and relationships, which is all she does in life.

This has been a glimpse into my sick and twisted mind. If you'll excuse me I have about 40 tabs of YouTube to go and close now.

[cinema-tv-etc]

1945 film version of Blithe Spirit with Kay Hammond, Margaret Rutherford and Rex Harrison

Blithe Spirit: Dame Judi to raise Britain’s spirits as Coward’s mystic madame

New film of 1941 play hopes to heal a haunted country

In 1941 when Britain was at the mercy of the Blitz, the staging of Noël Coward’s classic play Blithe Spirit, a comedy about death, was considered a risk. But it turned out to be a big hit, with a record run in the West End and then Broadway before being turned into a film four years later starring Rex Harrison.

Now the director of a new version of the film and one of its lead actors, Dame Judi Dench, feel that the “dark space” we are currently in provides another fittingly gloomy backdrop for the release of a production that they hope will lift people’s spirits.

The Oscar-winning actress plays the eccentric mystic, Madame Arcati, who inadvertently conjures up the ghost of a jealous first wife, who is unaware that she is dead when she returns to haunt her scoundrel husband and his new partner.

“When the play opened in the West End in 1941, its subject-matter was, on some levels, quite dark because it was about ghosts, death and losing people,” said Edward Hall, the director of the latest incarnation of Blithe Spirit, which begins filming this week. “But actually Coward wrote this wonderful comedy and it struck a vein. I feel that the time is right to tell that story again to a broad audience because we’re in quite a dark space at the moment.”

Dench is one of Britain’s foremost actresses, whose roles have ranged from monarchs to M in the Bond films. Hall said: “She loves the story, the character and Coward. Like us, she feels it is a great moment to cheer people up. I said to her, ‘when you come out of the cinema, you should feel like you’ve drunk a glass of cold champagne a little too quickly’.” The film marks Hall’s directorial debut in films. He has just stepped down as artistic director of the Hampstead theatre, London, where stage hits include Sunny Afternoon, the Kinks musical that was also a huge West End success, winning Olivier awards. His television productions have included William Boyd’s Restless.

Working with Dench is “extra special”, he said. His late father, the director Sir Peter Hall, cast Dench in landmark productions such as Antony and Cleopatra and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, as well as another Coward classic, Hay Fever.

Blithe Spirit, set in 1937, is one of Coward’s most-loved plays. Hollywood studios competed to adapt it but Coward took the project instead to his friend David Lean. The new film will be released next year, marking the 75th anniversary of the original, which starred Margaret Rutherford alongside Rex Harrison.

The shoot will take place at various UK locations, including a private art deco house and Cliveden, the National Trust’s Buckinghamshire estate. Dench’s character, Madame Arcati, is described by Coward as “a striking woman, dressed not too extravagantly but with a decided bias towards the barbaric”. Hall said: “I always felt there was only one person in the world who could ever play her and that was Judi. Fortunately, she felt the same.”

Downton Abbey star Dan Stevens, who appeared with Dench in Hay Fever, is cast as bestselling crime novelist Charles who suffers from terrible writer’s block in struggling with his first screenplay. His picture-perfect new wife Ruth dreams of leaving London for Hollywood. Seeking inspiration, he invites Madame Arcati to perform a séance in his home, only to realise that she has inadvertently summoned the spirit of his deceased first wife – the fiery Elvira, who tries to win back his affections, leading to an increasingly complex love triangle.

The writer-producers, Nick Moorcroft and Meg Leonard, have adapted Blithe Spirit with Piers Ashworth. Moorcroft said: “It is one of Coward’s most famous comedies and, right now, everybody needs a reason to laugh.”

https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2019/jun/15/blithe-spirit-revival-judi-dench-dark-times

1945 film version of Blithe Spirit with Kay Hammond, Margaret Rutherford and Rex Harrison

Blithe Spirit (1945)

Blithe Spirit (1945)

AKA:

Abracadabra

Ein lustiger Spuk

El espíritu burlón

Elvira går igen

Geisterkomödie

Het schalkse spook

L'espiègle revenante

L'esprit s'amuse

Min fru går igen

Noel Coward's 'Blithe Spirit'

Seans

Spirito allegro

Spot niet met spoken

To poniron pnevma

Uma Mulher do Outro Mundo

Un espectro travieso

Un espíritu burlón

Vaimoni kummittelee

Vidám kísértet

Веселое привидение

Веселото привидение

陽気な幽霊