#Duke of Bootlegs

[zenoflee]

Zootopia Study #1

Finally after all these years I succeeded in drawing Nick.... the very character that made me start drawing in the 1st place.

(Im talking about Wilde Times Nick)

[psyscha]

Just a little Kario Mart and Chill. - Ghostlight

Connected fic!

[micro-pets]

Electronic Micro Mascot - Duke

[flwrkid14]

Batfam Goes to See Hamilton (Thanks to Jason Todd)

note: based on the fact that i saw hamilton on broadway today!

So, Jason somehow managed to drag the entire Batfam to see Hamilton—because yes, Red Hood is a theater nerd, and apparently, none of them can say no when he’s excited about something. Here’s how it went down:

Jason Todd: Living for it. Jason knows all the lyrics by heart and is practically singing under his breath the whole time. He’s vibing hard to every song, mouthing along to My Shot like he’s in the show. You’d think he was a one-man standing ovation from the way he keeps reacting to every scene. He also goes full nerd mode explaining all the historical inaccuracies and why they don’t matter because the storytelling is incredible.

Bruce Wayne: Very confused, but engaged. He’s trying to get into it, but you can see the gears turning in his head, over-analyzing every political angle and historical context. He does appreciate the themes of legacy, sacrifice, and honor (classic Bruce). He might’ve even shed a few tears during It’s Quiet Uptown, but he’ll deny it forever.

Dick Grayson: Having the time of his life. Dick is the one clapping the loudest, laughing at all the jokes, and crying during the emotional songs. He’s completely caught up in the performance, and by the time The Room Where It Happens comes on, he’s all but bouncing in his seat. He also loves the choreography and probably made a mental note to learn the dances later.

Tim Drake: Secretly loving it but pretending to be indifferent. Tim walked in like he was only going to humor Jason, but by the end of Act 1, he’s fully invested. He tries to keep a straight face, but you can catch him mouthing the words to Wait for It and tapping his fingers during The Room Where It Happens. He’s obsessed with the way the show mixes history, strategy, and storytelling, and he’s definitely taking mental notes on things to google later for a deep dive into historical rabbit holes. After the show, he’s already re-watching bootleg clips on YouTube, but if anyone asks, he’ll just say, “It was fine.”

Damian Wayne: Not impressed. Damian doesn’t see the appeal. He’s sitting there with his arms crossed, giving side-eye to everyone clapping or singing along. “I could’ve done better,” he mutters after Guns and Ships, but you catch him tapping his foot during Yorktown, and he seems unusually focused during the duel scenes. Maybe it’s growing on him��� but he’ll never admit it.

Stephanie Brown: Living her best life. Steph is totally into it. She’s laughing at all the jokes, especially King George’s bits, and probably even got Bruce to crack a smile. She’s belting out Helpless and Satisfied in her seat and whispering excitedly to Cass about how they should come back for the next performance. She’s already planning a Hamilton-themed karaoke night after.

Cassandra Cain: Loving the energy. Cass isn’t much for words, but she’s totally feeling the performance. The choreography and intensity of the actors keep her fully engaged. She’s watching every movement with laser focus, and you can see her appreciating the way the actors tell the story through body language. She’s not super vocal about it, but afterward, she signs to Jason that it was “powerful.”

Duke Thomas: Totally into the music. Duke is all about the beats and rhythm. He’s vibing in his seat, really feeling the music and lyrics. You catch him nodding along during Wait for It and The Room Where It Happens, and he’s probably already added the soundtrack to his Spotify. He’s impressed by the storytelling through music and keeps shooting Jason looks like, “Okay, you were right—this is awesome.”

At the end of the show, Jason’s the first to stand up, clapping like his life depends on it, and despite the varied reactions, everyone else follows suit.

[daddychi-01]

Give me Duke Thomas auditioning for the winter musical and getting the role of Seaweed J. Stubbs in Hairspray.

Give me the Batfamily being unbelievably supportive when they find out:

Cass helping Duke practice his choreography

Stephanie volunteering in the costume department because she wants Duke to look amazing

Damian doing ‘research’ by watching the movie and a bootlegged version of the Broadway version that way he is familiar with show before they go to see it

Tim being the one that gets Damian the bootlegged copy of the show

Dick calling a flower shop well in advance to make sure each member of the family has a bouquet to give Duke after they go see the show

Jason taking over some of Duke’s daytime patrols so Duke can be at rehearsals

Bruce bragging to everyone about Duke being one of the leads in the musical. Everyone at WE knows that Duke is playing Seaweed as do all the founding members of the Justice League. Bruce is even lifting his no metas in Gotham rule for opening night so Superman can patrol the city and let the Batfamily go support Duke.

Another for Bruce because he’s a good dad! Bruce taking Duke to the hospital so Duke can tell his parents about his role. They go back again after the musical is done but this time they have a recording of it that Barbara took, that way Duke’s parents didn’t have to miss their son’s accompaniment.

Just give me Duke getting to see just how much his new family loves and supports him.

[breadandblankets]

semi canon but, duke's music collection is almost entirely Office Depot™ brand burned cds with sharpie labels, his musical taste is absolutely everywhere, it's mostly garage metal and shitty phone recorded freestyle, bootlegs, and he even has one of the very rare copies of killer croc's bubblegum pop EP

[dallasgallant]

Talked about how I think Steve and Soda would do the Duke brothers slide across the hood/jump through the window to get in the car…

POV you’re Dally getting Two-bit his Coors;

For reference this shots from Smokey and the Bandit where they transported Coors across state lines east of Texas (thus bootlegging.)

Technically I think it’d be legal in Oklahoma, but the idea was too funny to me. Bootlegging is one of Buck’s business endeavors but I like to think Dal drove for him a few times, after all he rides horses for him so why not run?

[ballsballsbowls]

Stuff Your Kindle Day Part 1/5

People actually wanted to know what I was thinking and feeling and finding re SYKD this time, and we actually have multiple days of warning before SYKD so I have a little free time.

I'll throw out a few things to keep in mind and the slap the rest under a readmore since I assume the average person here doesn't want to read romance books.

If you actually do like reading romance books, I highly recommend that you DO check out the SYKD website. In particular, I am a creature existing in a pretty small niche of romance books, so if you like YA/NA/Mafia/Contemporary/present tense/retellings/Greek mythology, you will probably buy more books than I will. I have a bunch of really minor tropes I don’t like either (I don’t like second chance romance, for example, of which there’s always plenty)

I have a kindle and I'm only looking at the kindle books. I know the other stores have different books but I only have a kindle and don't have time to look at other stuff.

SYKD is Friday, June 20th. Some books are free already, but some will only be available the day of. I stick the books I want on an amazon wishlist and check the prices daily.

Some of them will never price drop because Amazon is a little bitch (and Amazon is unique in this issue). SYKD rarely has an issue with it, but smaller events often do.

I'll do a list of Looks Interesting, which is as non-judgmental and "look what I found" as I can manage, and a list of books I've read and can recommend.

SYKD is the oldest of these events and the most…”traditional” maybe? For a smuch as they have, it’s usually nothing genuinely wacky. But we’ll see.

With that, I guess we're good. Or good enough.

I always do this event the same way. These are the only categories I ever look at (I really thought this was going to be more transparent, sorry).

Wow, that's a lot of categories I'm not even looking at. You can see why I think you should look, too.

Historical Romance:

Observations:

Historical Romance always has a lot of clean/sweet books for SYKD, but it seems like a lot more than usual. I wish they’d give them their own category.

LOTS of Pride and Prejudice content and there’s one that’s Little Women, too.

No, I don’t why all the gay stuff is pirates.

Looks Interesting:

Purchased by the Duke by Vivian Murdoch After her betrothal ends in a hanging, this terrified omega finds herself on the run from a vicious threat and into the arms of the dastardly Alpha Duke of Birchleigh. The only problem... he thinks she's a courtesan he can have his depraved way with. Keywords: Regency omegaverse, Mf, darker romance, kink GET Purchased by the Duke FOR FREE ON KINDLE: Amazon US | Amazon UK | Amazon Canada | Amazon Australia

Speak Easy to Me by Tabitha Krueger Let’s time travel to 1930s Chicago with Speak Easy to Me – a sizzling debut romance full of forbidden desire, speakeasy secrets, and a bartender you won’t forget. Keywords: Mafia, bootlegging, prohibition, love triangle, arranged marriage GET Speak Easy to Me FOR FREE ON KINDLE: Amazon US | Amazon UK | Amazon Canada | Amazon Australia

Bitter Winds (Lesbian Pirates #1) by Marina Tempest Falsely accused of treason, former Naval Lieutenant Victoria Walsh now commands a pirate ship in search of justice. When her path crosses with the admiral's daughter—who believes in her innocence—they're forced to flee together and forge an unexpected alliance. Racing to expose a conspiracy that threatens the entire Royal Navy, Victoria finds herself falling for the brilliant noblewoman willing to risk everything to fight by her side. Keywords: Lesbian romance (sweet), action and adventure, pirate queen, justice and redemption, slow burn historical fiction, Sapphic LGBT+ wlw F/F GET Bitter Winds (Lesbian Pirates #1) FOR FREE ON KINDLE: Amazon US | Amazon UK | Amazon Canada | Amazon Australia

Third Daughter (Royals of Dharia 1) by Susan Kaye Quinn Aniri is the Third Daughter of the Queen—zero royal duties. Then a barbarian prince proposes. If she refuses, the country may plunge into war. When she discovers the prince has his own secrets, saving her country may end up breaking her heart. Keywords: fantasy romance, Bollywood meets Steampunk, Young Adult GET Third Daughter (Royals of Dharia 1) FOR FREE ON KINDLE: Amazon US | Amazon UK | Amazon Canada | Amazon Australia

Blood In The Water [An Act of Piracy] by Tami Veldura A gay pirate adventure! Kyros craves treasure, Eric wants to be free from a curse, can they tolerate each other long enough to both get what they want? For fans of Pirates of the Caribbean! Keywords: M/M, gay romance, swashbuckling adventure, enemies to lovers, spirits, ghosts, witches, piracy! GET Blood In The Water [An Act of Piracy] FOR FREE ON KINDLE: Amazon US | Amazon UK | Amazon Canada | Amazon Australia

I’ve read other books by the same author and recommend:

The Accidental Mistress by Merry Farmer What do you do when your reputation is ruined? Have excessive amounts of fun convincing a man with a reputation to take you as his mistress! A fun, steamy, Regency romp with an innocent heroine trying to be naughty. Keywords: Regency, comedy, rake hero, "innocent" heroine, ruined reputation, accidental true love GET The Accidental Mistress FOR FREE ON KINDLE: Amazon US | Amazon UK | Amazon Canada | Amazon Australia

The Best Marquess (Wickedly Wed #2) by Nicola Davidson Bluestocking Lady Pippa Nash is content to remain a spinster, until her scheming grandmother tries to force a betrothal. In panic, she turns to her oldest and dearest friend Lord Finlay Knighton and bargains a pretend engagement...which abruptly becomes a real - and shockingly passionate - marriage. Can two erotic romance readers find their happily ever after, or will overwhelming duty and bitter foes destroy it all? Keywords: Regency romance, erotic romance, best friends to lovers, fake engagement, virgin hero, pleasure toys, he falls first GET The Best Marquess (Wickedly Wed #2) FOR FREE ON KINDLE: Amazon US | Amazon UK | Amazon Canada | Amazon Australia

My Deceitful Duchess by Aydra Richards Wrongfully accused of murdering her husband, Geneviève Amberley has fled prosecution and reinvented herself as Jenny Laurent, the manager of an exclusive Ladies' club. Sebastian Knight loves nothing better than a good mystery, and Jenny Laurent is steeped in them. But his unique observational skills are dangerous to a woman on the run - will he free her from the shackles of her past, or doom her to wear them forever? Keywords: Betrayal, grovel, neurodivergent hero, older heroine GET My Deceitful Duchess FOR FREE ON KINDLE: Amazon US | Amazon UK | Amazon Canada | Amazon Australia

Traitor in Her Arms (The Scarlet Chronicles) by Shana Galen The true story of the Scarlet Pimpernel is not the one you've been told. She's a thief on a secret mission; he's a traitor forced to betray her. Amid the tumult of the French Revolution, their loyalty and love will be tested. Keywords: Georgian romance, suspense, intrigue, enemies to lovers, French Revolution GET Traitor in Her Arms (The Scarlet Chronicles) FOR FREE ON KINDLE: Amazon US | Amazon UK | Amazon Canada | Amazon Australia

I’ve read this specific book and would recommend:

Sinfully Wed (The Five Deadly Sins) by Kathleen Ayers Odessa doesn’t want to wed a gentleman with a title. But Jordan Sinclair isn’t a gentleman, he’s slightly savage and lacking in manners. Barely an earl. He’s a Deadly Sin. Keywords: Enemies to lovers, quirky heroine, class differences GET Sinfully Wed (The Five Deadly Sins) FOR FREE ON KINDLE: Amazon US | Amazon UK | Amazon Canada | Amazon Australia

[somethingvinyl]

As is traditional on this blog, happy Mothers day! This year I’ll highlight the third Mothers, which was the final one of Frank’s backing groups to bear the name. (At least as far as Frank himself calling them that—plenty of concert promoters used it for the rest of Frank’s life for name recognition purposes.) It’s not merely Zappa’s best era, it’s also one of the best groups of humans ever to come together to make music. The constants for this era are George Duke on keys and vocals, Ruth Underwood on marimba and other percussion, and Tom Fowler on bass. Other excellent characters include Napoleon Murphy Brock on vocals and saxophone, other Fowler brothers on brass, and Chester Thompson on drums. From 1973-75, this group made expansive, heavily jazz-influenced rock, and it’s everything. I listen to every bootleg and every show that comes out from this band, because they’re always worth it and there’s always some new revelation.

[zenoflee]

The Duke of Bootlegs

Wow I havent post anything for so long

[sprnklersplashes]

Here's an invite to yap about TWF and Lily all ya want

yayyyyy

I really and I mean really love how veronica and duke's relationship is kind of based on "who can be the most fucked up". spoiler alert ladies, it's both of you.

is it too much of a spoiler if I hint that we (and veronica) have not seen the last of ghost/hallucination!jd?

there is a chapter in the future named after this is me trying.

martha and macnamara just need to kiss already idk what's holding them back (oh shit. me. and a decades' worth of internalised homophobia for both of them)

veronica and duke are lowkey losing the "you want to fuck me so bad it makes you look stupid" contest

lily:

I have done the math (by that I mean googled it) and if lily arrived on her due date she'd be a cancer and if she was early she'd be a gemini. because what I really contribute to this fandom is star sign discourse, apparently.

she has a lot of veronica's mannerisms (the hand flexing thing she does in the off bway bootleg definitely), also fidgetings with necklaces/the ends of her ponytail

she is also way more perceptive than her mum gives her credit for, which I think I kind of characterised her in all my mistakes. she knows when veronica isn't telling her something and, unfortunately, that tends to happen a lot of the time.

I actually have an idea for a fic that would complete the Lily Sawyer saga set when she's around 18 but idk if I need to wait until time won't fly is done and also... I don't want to end the Lily Sawyer saga.

[jugsjules]

Help I’m being consumed by the thought of an AU where instead of being taken in by Bruce Wayne, all the batkids are adopted by Scott and Barda Free:

•Dick gets to keep doing acrobatics as a day job as a kid

•His act includes a lot of Barda just huckin him way up high in the air

•When people ask if that’s safe they go “Its fine, it’s enrichment for him”

•When his little 9 year old self goes “Barda I have to go after Tony Zucco” she goes “I have seen first hand what becomes of children taught violence from too young an age. No learning how to uppercut until you are at least 10.”

•He keeps trying to sneak out anyway but Scott catches him and it becomes an increasingly elaborate game this is how Robin the vigilante is born

•Barda just comes home with Jason out of the blue, grinning and saying “He bit me” while Jason dangles from her giant arms looking like o//o

•He still dies but so does the fucking Joker so when he comes back his trauma takes the form of guilt over not being able to get out in time, like he failed Scott by not being clever enough

•He also still becomes a drug lord about it bc I just think that era is funny

•Tim starts as his normal Dick Grayson’s Number One Fan self but then Scott lets him tinker with Fourth World tech and it’s all over. He’s never leaving. Young Justice is gonna access to bootleg Boom Tubes Tim made in his bedroom someday and no one is gonna be ready

•Jack never dies, he just thinks Tim has a mentor for his son’s tinkering hobby that’ll be great for a future college engineering major or something. When he finds Tim’s Robin costume he just goes “Son you could have told me you wanted to join the Mr Miracle act, I’m fine with it as long as it doesn’t interfere with school” and Tim goes “……..yes.”

•When Cass turns up in Gotham Barbara just calls the Frees like “Hey I got another one for you but I get her on weekends”

•When Barda learns Cass’ story she’s like “oh no she’s just like me fr” and when she sees Cass beat the shit out of a room full of grown men she goes “fuck yes she’s just like me fr”

•She teaches Cass how to pick up and throw her brothers it’s therapeutic

•Cass brings home Damian out of the blue signing “he stabbed me :)” bc she’s just like her mom fr

•Scott and Barda leave for like two hours and when they come back the news is talking about some kind of robin themed child gang and Duke is sitting in the living room going “i can explain” while Jason goes “no he can’t he’s fucking nuts we’re keeping him”

This is all I got for now

[maybeimamuppet]

Veronica and Cady for the character thingy plss

DID I NEVER POST THIS HOLY SHIT OOPS

eeep i just found this and don’t remember when i got it i’m sorry friend!! i’m assuming this is for the list and not the bingo but if i’m wrong i’ll do it again lol

ok i have to do cady first bc it won’t let me type beneath veronica’s picture so woo i love it here soooo much /s

CADY

favorite thing about them

she has so much depth! i love how adorable she is and how bubbly and high energy and yet soft spoken and sweet she is but she also has a dark and vindictive streak in her that’s really fun to play with. also she’s like really fun to torture sometimes lol whoops

least favorite thing about them

again i hate how many people she uses for her own gain and how power hungry she gets

favorite line

“shuck! i started to say shoot and i almost said fu-” for funnies and uhhh

“fearless is the one thing i can be now, no friends, nothing to lose” and whatnot for like more emotional. also all of i see stars i still get misty every time i listen to it

brOTP

damiaaaaan. they wear matching outfits whenever they can, damian comes over to cadnis’ house for movie nights twice a week at least, they watch bootlegs together without janis bc she doesn’t like them. just. mwah. i could go off but i’ll hold back lol

OTP

TAKE A WILD GUESS DUDE

nOTP

aaron. they only worked bc of erikyle. if i could drop kick every other aaron into the road i would.

random headcanon

she can talk backwards!

unpopular opinion

there’s a point where she is fully aware of what she’s doing and how wrong it is and she actively chooses to continue for a hot second until the burn book being released and whatnot snaps her out of it that people do not talk about enough. i know i’m guilty of it too but she is not all innocent and naive and coerced into this shit like she’s a full teenager she knows damn well what she’s doing

song i associate with them

a change in me from beauty and the beast which hath inspired many a fic in my early days. at the plaza from the violet hour loosely inspired i’ll be there for christmas. like very loosely. uhhh and i think the like vibes of true love from frozen (or basically anything anna sings lol) even if it’s not necessarily the same meaning

favorite picture of them

i picked two for both her and veronica bc iiiim greedy lol

alright well one of cady’s is with ronnie for some fuckass reason thanks tumblr!!! i tried i swear

VERONICA

favorite thing about them

honestly this isn’t as much to do with her as a character as it is to do with the people who’ve played her but she has done so much for my self esteem in a really roundabout way. as someone with dark brown eyes and frizzy kinda untamable brown hair reading fic about her helped me appreciate more things about myself.

if you struggle with self image i really cannot recommend highly enough finding a character who looks and acts like you and reading stories where someone is absolutely, irrevocably in love with them. whether that’s platonically or romantically. i know it’s weird but being able to look in the mirror or at some aspect of my personality that i don’t like and say “that’s still lovable” is WONDERFUL.

least favorite thing about them

i despise the way she treats martha and also baby girl is kind of a doormat!! she’s one of those shitty wicker doormats that scratches the hell outta your feet but like dang!!

favorite line

not a line but her face in the musical when jd and kurt and ram start fighting

but also the way barrett delivers the “oH MY GOD!” over chandler’s corpse is immaculate

and i had one of her like super iconic ones everyone knows in my head but now i can’t remember it siiiigh

brOTP

marthaaaaa buddies since babies. also like. still alive and post MUCH therapy jd has a lot of fun potential

OTP

poly heathers!! but to put them individually in order, mac, chandler (those two are almost tied), duke

nOTP

JD. i know he goes by his initials and that’s just his name but i was trying to yell that. i do not like him i think he stinky get him outta there

random headcanon

she’s not allowed to wear pants with drawstrings anymore because she’s gotten stuck in them too many times. also she’s not allowed to use superglue bc she’s glued her fingers together too many times.

yes both of these are true of me shut up

unpopular opinion

she’s a lot weaker than most people think and a lot stronger than most people think st the same time

and i’m not always a huge fan of her being autistic i think she’s just that painfully awkward and dense

song i associate with them

it is so much harder than you would think to pick songs that are not from their shows?? like the only one in my head is i’m blue dabadeedabadie like i don’t KNOW OKAY

favorite picture of them

[acethedria]

I’ve now experienced three new musicals (35mm, Heathers, Ride the Cyclone) and I want to blog about my thoughts with them.

35mm: A Musical Exhibition

This is intended more as a concert than a stage musical but it is still a musical. There’s no book, just 16 songs, an intro, 5 transitions, and a finale. Every song is based on a photograph taken by the composer’s partner at the time (now husband).

This musical is fucking incredible. Every single song is amazing except Mama Let Me In which is fine and I feel nothing about it. But that still leaves 16 other main songs. And I get hyped for fucking ALL of them. Even the transitions I love.

I was introduced to it through The Ballad of Sara Berry though I technically knew of The Party Goes With You a year before, and I love both, but by far my favourite is Crazytown.

I love the pacing of the concert which is underrated in things like this. A lot of okay shows can sort of pass by on their music but here the concert itself has good pacing and I love that. It opens big with a unifying theme piece, then goes into a bombastic disorientating narrative of falling into a nightmare world (how perfect for the first song after an introduction) then we get a rollercoaster of ups and downs. There are never a bunch of slow songs in a row, and the more narrative upbeat songs are spread out too, but importantly those two also aren’t the same or mutually exclusive. There are slow narratives, fast-paced emotion-based songs, and the other way around.

And of course it ends strong with Sara Berry, one of the three big strong narratives (I’d say they’re Crazytown, Leave Luanne, and Sara Berry which are at the beginning, middle, and end) which is altogether funny, concerning, and beautiful.

Also Cut You A Piece is genuinely the prettiest song ever written.

Favourite song(s): Crazytown

Honourable mentions: Caralee, Good Lady, Immaculate Deception, Cut You A Piece, Sara Berry

10/10

———————

Heathers: The Musical

I knew about most songs in Heathers as a natural result of being in theater clubs for a few years and jesus christ did I not know the context for most of them.

Songs I knew about beforehand: Beautiful, Candy Store, Fight for Me, Freeze Your Brain, Seventeen, Kindergarten Boyfriend, Meant To Be Yours

Songs I did not: Big Fun, Dead Girl Walking, The Me Inside of Me, Blue, Our Love Is God, My Dead Gay Son, + any West End changes

Heathers is definitely one of the few shows I could say I knew most of through osmosis.

I originally watched the pro-shot thinking it would be the most accessible version but as I found out and as is popular understanding, the West End production wasn’t very good? I didn’t like the Heathers or Veronica, JD and Martha were okay, but I really liked Ram and Kurt though, even more than the Off-Broadway run.

The next day I watched the 2014 Off-Broadway bootleg and it was a lot better

Regardless of casting frustrations, I also thought the pacing was pretty off. I’ve never seen the original movie but the first half of Act 2 is dreadfully fucking slow and I really just wanted it to be over. There’s also barely any reason for Heather Duke to take up the Red Heather position. There’s a song added in the West End version which gave it more of a spotlight but it just wasn’t justified later and only contributed to how slow it was. I also felt like My Dead Gay Son and Shine a Light were wastes of time. They felt like they needed a song to pad out the scenes but I just wanted them to move on.

Other than that I adored the music. Almost every song in Act 1 is very good, especially now that I have context. For example, Freeze Your Brain I originally was like why tf is there a song about liking slushies, but its actually a very good introduction to JD and is him sort of luring Veronica into his dangerous life and now I really like it!

The two meh songs to me are Big Fun and Our Love Is God, both of which I think are great when watching the show itself, I just don’t care for them on their own. Blue I am glad was changed to You’re Welcome even though Blue might be a bit better musically.

I think My Dead Gay Son and Shine A Light are okay, but as I mentioned, very unnecessary and slow. I didn’t like Never Shut Up Again really, but I did like everything else. Meant To Be Yours is fucking terrifying I love it, and I do think I Say No is a very good addition and I really like that song. It felt kind of rushed in the Off-Broadway version for her to just leave with little other dialogue and for JD to not really protest all that much. It felt unrealistic for him.

Also. Oh my fucking god Kindergarten Boyfriend is so sad with context. I thought it was just a pretty song about a good memory, not that that was Martha’s ONLY good memory in 17 years. Holy god.

Favourite song(s): Yo Girl, Dead Girl Walking, Lifeboat

Honourable mentions: Beautiful, Dead Girl Walking, Seventeen, I Say No, Meant to be Yours

7/10

———————

Ride the Cyclone

I learned about this show from Drawfee a few years ago as it was apparently blowing up on TikTok though I was unaware of that.

My friends really like it so I decided to watch it, specifically the Off-Broadway (I think) version.

I really liked it and it was very interesting, but overall it was. Mostly just good but not amazing.

My main criticism is that the characters aren’t all that fleshed out. Ocean, Jane Doe, and Constance I think are nearly perfect, though Ocean’s turnaround at the end was a bit too quick. Even after she threw the birthday party for Jane Doe it really just felt like she did that to get her vote rather than any actual change of heart or concern for Jane Doe.

Mischa and Noel I do like, but they’re kind of quartered off into their own sidebars without much involvement in the main story. While Ricky I kind of wish wasn’t even in the show. What awful choices for a disabled character.

I think Mischa was pretty well developed as a character which contrasts him from Noel and Ricky who’s songs are all about their fantasies. I get that their entire life is about wishing for a life that isn’t their own, but I do wish they had a secondary song like Mischa. He got a song where he created a facade and then let himself speak truthfully for once, while Noel and Ricky only spoke through their fantasies.

I adore nearly every song in the entire show with the exception of Space Age Bachelor Man which I like musically but really dislike in the context of the show, and This Song Is Awesome which I like while watching the show, but think is just okay out of it.

Ricky pisses me off. He’s a disabled character, a literal manifestation of giving a voice to the voiceless, and they barely use it. The moment he dies he gets the ability to speak, walk, and play instruments he never even could in life. Why? His disability plays very little into the story if pretty much at all, he doesn’t voice his frustrations he never could in life. Instead we just get “he fantasized about fucking his anthropomorphized cats all day because he couldn’t do anything else”

Are you fucking kidding me?

My only other issue, which is smaller, is that Jane Doe was the clear and obvious choice from 15 minutes into the show to be the winner. I feel like once Jane Doe’s song was sung, it would be really hard to justify voting for anyone else, and the only concern would be Ocean being a dick, but that would just delay the inevitable rather than being much of a threat yk?

Which is why the ending feels rushed. Constance goes, all of a sudden its time to choose and its only Ocean’s choice, and she chooses not to leave herself. All back to back with no tension. Then she has to choose one of the others which is meant to have tension but then again… she literally has to choose Jane Doe right?

But god every song is so fucking good. I love this kind of story structure and it did pretty good overall.

Favourite songs: The Ballad of Jane Doe no fucking contest

Honourable mentions: Noel’s Lament, Talia, Sugar Cloud, It’s Just A Ride

7/10

[deeplyshalllow]

So you've heard of Dracula Daily I present... Heathers Daily!

So in honour of JDonica day I have decided to watch each part of Heathers the musical on the day it happened. Technically it starts on September 1st but I hadn't thought of it then, so it starts now.

Join me!

Act 1 dates are pretty accurate, Act 2 dates I've guessed a little but I spent a long time thinking about and am prepared to fight people on them.

So pick your favourite bootleg/proshoot and watch along on these days!

Musical

1st September - Beginning of Musical to the end of Beautiful

22nd September - “Dear Diary Three weeks with the Heathers” 

23rd September - Croquet scene to to Dead Girl Walking

24th September - Ronnie’s Dream to mid way through Me inside of me (finish at “that’s the curse of popularity”)

25th September - Last half of Me inside of me (start at “I am more than just a source of handjobs”) until the end of You’re Welcome

26th September - from “Dear diary that was a close call” to halfway through Our Love is God (stop at “so let’s go hunt some jocks”)

27th September - rest of Our Love is God (from Kram entering) to interval

4th October - Start of Act 2 until the end of Seventeen

25th October - From “And they all lived happily ever after” to end of I Say No

26th October - From McNamara’s cheerleading scene followed by Duke being blackmailed to the end of Kindergarten Boyfriend

27th October - From “Martha wasn’t in homeroom today” to the end

[rosalind-hawkins]

TLDR: Duke is smart boi, Mastershipping good.

Been thinking about Duke's arc in the anime, and here's the thing.

He was "in talks" with Pegasus about DDM, but it wasn't greenlit yet, yeah? It didn't get finalized and Pegasus just stops responding to his emails, hence the whole going-after-Yugi thing blah blah blah.

(Side-note about how clever and diabolical Duke is to go after Yugi via his good friend Joey; damn Duke, you make a good antagonist, I'd love and fear the version of you that goes full villain.)

But despite Duke not having the green light or official production yet, he's still got the DDM dice; probably a sample batch from manufacturers, okay, I can believe that they made a 100-bag batch or something as an early order. But he ALSO has a duel arena fitted out to be adapted for DDM specifically, and this can only exist a couple of ways.

Industrial Illusions commissioned the custom DDM arena from KC as an early model and it was delivered to Duke. (I think this is unlikely since, again, no final say from Pegasus yet.)

Duke bought a Duel Arena from KaibaCorp, studied it, took it apart, and made his own adjustments to convert it into a DDM arena, which means studying Kaiba's tech, redesigning portions of it, reprogramming some of the software, creating schematics and custom parts and reassembling everything for the final version.

Option 2, but Duke paid someone to do it. (This is unlikely to me because of how deeply personal this game is to him and how deeply involved he is.)

Option 2 is much more likely to me, and this is why in my Rock Bottom AU, I have Duke set up as a technical hardware genius. (In that AU specifically, Duke handles hardware and Seto handles software, and they're the perfect nerd team.) I do think he is a genius on some level. He's not on Kaiba's level, but I think he's highly intelligent and doesn't generally get enough credit for it.

What probably happens later on, after Pegasus gives the green light, is that Industrial Illusions formally contracts KC to design and produce DDM arenas, and maybe Duke tries to insist that he already did the design part, but KC won't produce a design that's not theirs, so they make their own.

I imagine that when Duke and Kaiba get together later, Kaiba just casually mentions that he knows about Duke's original bootlegged DDM arena, and Duke is like, "Yeah, I'm aware that I voided the warranty, and no, I'm not going to apologize for it." And Kaiba's intellectual curiosity gets the better of him, so he's just like, "Even though I know the official KC version of the DDM arena is superior, I wanted to know how you made the original adjustments," and then Duke gets to show off his own handiwork on his bf's tech, and Kaiba has someone that's not an employee that he can talk to about the intricacies of his inventions for maybe the first time ever? And it makes him happy in a way that he doesn't understand, but these inventor boys have each other to talk to now about this stuff, and it's so fulfilling for them.

When Duke eventually moves in with Kaiba, he gets his own workshop/office for all the creative and technical work he does for DDM, and Kaiba makes a point of stopping by every once in a while to see what he's working on and "no, I don't need your advice, I can do it myself" only needs to be said to him a few times in order for him to learn to withhold his opinions until Duke asks for them.

In the context of Mumbleshipping, I imagine that any time Duke or Kaiba talk about their inventions in any detailed way to Ryou, his eyes glaze over pretty fast, and bless him he's trying, but he doesn't have a brain for engineering or hard sciences, so this all goes in one ear and out the other.