#Script Vocalizer review

[nalyra-dreaming]

"But I think by Season 2, anybody who was still angry about what we were doing had moved on."

If only. i think rolin underestimated how toxic this fandom and in general fandom culture became. old reasonable fans used to move on if they didn't like something but not now. now they hate watch, doompost and make demands. i agree that most book fans who didn't like the changes stopped watching after s1, but there's still a vocal group of people who continue to watch the show despite hating the main character and not even liking or understanding the genre. i saw some of those wish lists for season 3 and they're stuff like "louis needs to kill that white devil again and get a new healthy boyfriend" and threating to bombard season 3 with negative reviews so it would be cancelled if armand won't be a main character. i'm glad that rolin has his vision and doesn't care about those childish tantrums but those aggressive pseudofans can still do some damage to the show.

I hope that the first few episodes of the new season are so insane and outlandish that they will weed out the haters from the real fans, but I think there'll always be miserable people who are watching and post an hour-long video about how much they hate lestat.

Ah, yes, the "white devil"... good luck with that, lmao.

I mean, to be totally frank, at this point it's "any press is good press" - if they want to make hour long videos hating... let them. It brings people in and makes them interested after all?! And the show and the acting, and the music and scripts... will do the rest :)

That part of the fandom will only make themselves seem like clowns in the long run, like everybody by now who is willfully ignoring the structure of the chronicles and what cast and crew have said on it all.

It's been said.

And it's also been stated, and quite frankly is also extremely apparent by now that AMC trusts in Rolin and what he does - and Rolin obviously listens to Sam and Jacob and Assad (and so on)... and gives fuck all about the screaming of those "fans".

He is doing his thing, with the plan he had when he worked it out for AMC, and though I wished he would do some things differently... thank god nonetheless.

It would be unbearable if this was a show where those screaming loudest would get what they want.

But it is not - and that is part of why it is so good.

So let them scream and shout and make absolute idiots of themselves online... the show will do its own thing.

Maybe they'll drop the show after the first few episodes... maybe not. I would almost hope they do - for their sakes. All that hate... cannot be good in the long run after all.

[yuurivoice]

Any advice for someone wanting to break into this niche as a creator?

I'll try to be concise, but as encompassing as I can be! I've tried to answer this many times and haven't put together a proper "here's my advice I always give ppl" post, so let's try taking a shot at this.

General Advice

Understand your "why" as a creator, and make sure you're doing this for sustainable, healthy reasons. In any form of creative pursuit, doing it because you're having fun and pursuing your passions is the best way to make sure your time is well spent!

Respect the arts, use human-made artwork, do not steal. There are numerous ways to find artwork you can use for the purpose of promotion and such.

Don't blow a bunch of money on gear you don't need yet. You're going to be bad at whatever new thing you're trying out, there are people who have crystal clear quality, pretty images, and all the rest...and then they don't actually do anything with it. Or they do, and their ability is disproportionately underpowered.

Getting into any sort of creative venture for the sake of COMMUNITY is kind of ass backwards. Treating business ventures like high school lunch tables is lame ass behavior, and there's no shortage of people going that route. Build your OWN spaces, work on your own filter to keep your spaces safe and free from bullshit, and be aware that not everyone is mature and honest.

ASMR Roleplay

You will continuously get better. Yes you will hate your own voice. Yes you will hear a million imperfections. No, there's no real easy way around it. Everyone starts somewhere. Get out of your own way and get started!

Understand your responsibility as The Voice. People are lending you the reins to guide them. That involves a great deal of trust. Respect that trust. Be mindful of the situations you depict, advice you may give, and subjects you brush up against. Understand that you are probably not qualified to be a fucking therapist, and if you were to present yourself in such a way, you run the risk of creating horrifically parasocial connections with vulnerable people.

There are tons of script fills you can find online. Just be sure to credit the authors and follow their ToS. And be aware that there are diminishing returns to doing the same thing that dozens of other people have already done.

If you're writing your own scripts, that's an entire other skillset you'll be developing as you go and is worth its own laundry list of advice. Understand that writing for non-speaking listener is a unique skill that requires a ton of consideration that general fictional writing doesn't account for. Practice makes perfect.

Consider branding as you get started. Visual identity, the way you stand out from others, how you get recognized regularly, etc. that is also a whole other thing that deserves its own breakdown.

Programs, Equipment, etc.

For just getting started (and well beyond) Audacity is a program that will cover all your bases. It's simple, just make sure you check out a guide or two on how to use it for voiceover.

The space you record in is the easy way to get the best sound out of ANY microphone. Getting into a small space with blankets, pillows, etc. is a tried and true starter pack. Treating a closet with 2" acoustic panels, finding a way to drape a blanket around you, and so on is a good start.

That being said, if you're recording on a $20 tin can USB microphone it will not sound pleasant on the ears. USB microphones have come up in the world, but XLR microphones are the going to give you your best potential results. I use Podcastage as my go-to for microphone reviews, but you'll likely want to find tests with someone who has similar vocals to your own so you get a better idea of what YOUR voice sounds like on that mic. That's a big deal.

That's all a fraction of the advice you could dig up, but it's a decent starter pack at a glance. Also, this is some Internet Dad advice that I offer because I've seen some alarming shit in this niche. Be 18+ before becoming some kind of content creator. While there can absolutely be entirely SFW creators in the space, there is a massive portion of the community that is adult oriented. There are a million reasons why that's a door you don't want to open.

I say this because I've literally seen folks who said they started when they were teens and that's batshit insane to me, particularly because the case I saw was heavily involved in triggering subjects as SFW comfort and it's like........hey maybe a teen shouldn't be serving as an at risk individual's personal hotline? That is fucking nuts, and the fact that no one caught wind of that in time to go "hey, maybe fucking don't?" boggles the mind.

This likely won't apply to anyone reading this because I've found that people who ain't got no goddamn sense don't tend to like me very much and flock to other corners of the internet. But it bears stating, just in case. lol

[rrezshifts]

SCRIPTING THAT Tommy [Shepherd…my boyfriend 🫣] can sing and proficiently play an instrument or two or three or more. Because he’s an art major with an adhd hyperfixation on all types of art, including music. So he’s probably all over music theory, song/album reactions/reviews on youtube and tiktok, and can’t live without music playing in the background when he’s working on an art project. His spotify playlists have been curated to prime perfection and he genuinely thinks his are the best at Columbia, our uni, at the least. He believes all genres have the potential to have good music and that all genres will have bad music. He’s always been a singer and enjoyed the art since he was a kid, but really started working on understanding the science of the voice and singing when he had free time in juvy because he never had access to any instruments while he was in there. As soon as the Young Avengers got him out he started studying as many instruments he could and mastered it as much as possible. He’s tried producing and mixing for the hell of it. And he almost let his brother convince him to join a band.

HE SNUCK UP ON ME when I was singing once. Literally sped up right behind me when I thought I was alone. And he then spent the next two weeks convincing me to sing for and with him. I was like way too nervous for that shit. But I gave in and sang for him once. I was very uncomfortable at first, so he turned away from me. But he eventually tested out singing with me when I got into it…that sounds so cringe and cliche, but like it sounded so good, us harmonizing together. Tommy became obsessed, he started analyzing my pitch and vocal range bc when the man gets fixated on something he will torture anyone until he gets his way…so help him. We’ll often sing together but it’s more he’ll mumble sing the lyrics of a song he’s listening to and i’ll vocalize the melody with him, or vice versa, nothing fancy. He’s been trying to get me to sing as he plays guitar or something similar, but that’s going to take a little more convincing I fear, sorry babe!!

[azinemagazine]

Jus doin' sum random scrollin'. 📱 - r3al' 🐉 #mambamentality🐍

Call it mindless, yet we all (in some sorta way) do it. It'd been a minute since anything had been posted for Azine. Supposing it appeared as though only reviews about Ye, Drake, Billie, or Taylor were worthwhile, it still felt integral to take my time. I'd go as far as to say that my creative nuances were both amusingly and unapologetically unafraid of patience. Cut to what one could curate as chancing upon the profile for Canadian singer, songwriter, and dancer Kallitechnis's Ardene interview on YouTube. While snuggly lotus sedentary in a lounge chair Kassandra (a.k.a Kallitechnis) sorted words on some pretty deep stuff. (See, I'm the type to keen in what artists fr say alongside of winnowing amid whatever it is they craft.) All her talk about authenticity, longevity, and even therapy, backdrops her latest Single releases, to delicately while devoutly dream weave some of the most sensational late night Trap Alt. Soul/R&B that I'd ever heard. After hours of zoning out on Spotify & Apple Music, I'd seemingly stumbled upon a mound of sound designs showcasing that Kallitechnis latest releases, "KALEDISCOPE LOVE" & "SOFT LIFE, are sonic gems worthy of ethereal shine. 

"KALEDIOSCOPE LOVE" is the most recent release by Kallietechnis.  Lyrically it's the lift off elements of romance dazzled in the depth of the "bedsheet ballets'" that hopefully accompany it. If you tap script Kallie's verses here, it'll literally take your breathe away. This 2024 Soul Over Ego Single release paints a sensual sonata, saturated in the palates of lovemaking by the likes of a Jhene Aiko, Victoria Monet, & fav Kehlani. My cherished over the two songs is the latter 2023 released, "SOFT LIFE", where the copulation carved crooning by Kallitechnics feels more assured in its contour.  Lyrics like, "Cocoa butter kisses on the back of your neck...No ones around, go and say it with your chest." sets up a between the sheet session, where direction details desire and more importantly: pleasures for both parties. The hedonism hails heavy here, and when ya place that alongside of Kassnadra's visceral vocal layerings, you're insatiably sedated into this ‘sensational style of life’ she's sojourning. 

Both releases mode just a mere of the music you can muse through courtesy of Kallitechnis. For me it's the completeness interwoven in the listening experience of these two tracks. Detailing what it takes to call yourself professional in this or any realm is something I valued early on. The attention to detail, care, production, and most importantly the passion, tentpole sound designing success for any act whether indie or not. On that note, Kassandra does something else, almost effortlessly. She ate, and fanged deep into the fact that there are stars who are not signed. Stars: real artists who are crafting carefree of what seemingly fates, what often lacerates acts who sign with labels. Definitively, I'm the late night type. I'm good either playing the pull while out, or layinlow at the cribbo, playlsitin' on the MacBook with Apple TV or YouTube dressing the backdrop. Either in or out, this pair of indie soul sounds soothe both the mind, as well as those other places the sensations may align.😉 

♾️

🔥🔥🔥🔥

∆³

[jimquisition]

Still Wakes the Deep is a masterpiece.

As beautiful as it is compellingly disgusting, it transcends its obvious Thingspiration with incredible writing, vocal performances, and imagery. To call this game gripping is to do an injustice to the stranglehold it kept on me throughout its runtime. 

Set on a North Shore oil rig that inevitably drills its way into a gory nightmare, the dialog and delivery stand out from the immediate get-go. Its Scottish cast puts everything it has into an impressively authentic script. From the lingo to the banter to the unabashed foul language, there’s a naturalness to the script that videogames almost never attempt, let alone excel at. 

[tltmofficial]

Good timezone everyone! It's been a while since our last announcement, hasn't it? We're thrilled to be back and ready to update you on the things we are working on right now! >:D

《💚》Behind-the-Scenes: What's Been Happening?

Before everything, we would like to talk about the elephant in the room. If you're not in our Discord server or our Instagram group chat, you might not have heard the news of Ash (the founder of TLTM) fully stepping down from the project. There had been cycles of arguments and disagreements that had continued for months, and when it had finally reached its highest peak during a discussion, we realized that it stemmed from differing visions of how the project should continue. In the end, Ash wishes to go make her own Third Life musical passion project, and we choose to respect her wishes and wish her the best of luck.

But every cloud has a silver lining, and we have one alongside lots of progress, so let's talk about what's been going on in the project, shall we? :D

《💛》The Silver Lining: New Names and Faces!

First, we would like to introduce to you our two newest project heads, Coffee (they/vei), and Bushy (he/xe/it)! This officially means there are six Captionheads now (Juniper, Oliver, Stryx, Leezz, Coffee and Bushy), and we each have our own unique flair and role that will help jumpstart the reset of TLTM! We will have a separate post introducing each of us, as well as our roles in leading the project!

One more thing, we now have a name for our collective group/studio of this project: the Hearts Imagine Studios! (Our acronym is HIS because we have always been him :3/silly -Stryx) While our main focus for now is TLTM, and discussions of future musicals are on hold until we finish and release TLTM, having a studio name opens up new opportunities for us to make more musicals for the following Life series (and possibly original music ventures too, who knows? (⁠≧⁠▽⁠≦) ~Coffee)!

《❤️》About Auditions and the Actual Project

This next part is for those on standby for singer auditions! We've stated in the past that we are postponing working on auditions until we make more progress, but now that things are finally moving again, we plan to reopen vocal auditions to try and fill the remaining 5 Lifers in our cast (Joel, Jimmy, Scott, Etho, and Tango). All vocalists auditions should be submitted to our CastingCallClub project, and as we’ve been asked about this before, the Captionhead in charge of vocals (Stryx) will review the requirements to audition: (1) Focus on the Lifer’s accent and energy accuracy over voice tone or pitch for the character you're singing for; (2) Demonstrate decent singing and speaking skills that mirrors the Lifer you're auditioning for; (3) Choose a song that aligns with the Lifer's vibe and highlights your vocal strengths effectively.

In regards to where the project stands now, we are working on getting a script ready (with the help of our lovely research team), so our story can flow the way we want it to. Although progress may seem slow from the outside, and even to the members of the project, we can assure you that there is a lot going on in the background to make sure that this project has the foundation needed to stand on its own. As such, we are looking for other types of auditions as well, like musicians, lyricists, and artists. They may not have not much to do in the musical’s current progress, but we would love to see people audition for them too!

《🤍》The Vision and What is to Come

To re-explain this project, Third Life: The Musical is a retelling of the story of Third Life, the minecraft survival challenge started by Grian. The events and characters have been slightly better developed to fit the musical format, but our version remains more or less one-to-one. We plan for our genre(s) to be a fun blend of fantasy/whimsical, folk, pop, and rock, but potentially more down the line! Our main POVs are our protagonists and antagonists, Grian and Scar, and Rendog and Martyn respectively. However, every member will have their own “special feature” songs (a.k.a a song specifically for them, with a major part in a song), so all the Lifers get their own time to shine in the spotlight!

We can't wait to get this project started officially, and we’re so so excited to start sharing more actual progress to you all, because while getting the foundation up is incredibly important, it can also be very tedious, and hard to show for until things can start moving with the actual musical part of the musical. We can’t thank you enough for your patience, and we’re so grateful for all the support we’ve received over the last few months, and of course, feel free to ask us questions on any of our socials, join our Discord server and Instagram GC, and one of us will be happy to answer! Thank you all again, and we will update more soon!

[susandsnell]

i saw wicked today too and loved it! what did you think? (was i the only one who went "oh shit" out loud in the theater when That Cameo happened?)

well i may or may not have just gotten out of my second viewing of it in three days some fourish hours ago, so that should be some indication!

hiya bestie! sorry for the delays on this, things have been thinging and life has been lifing. I'll admit that as early as February I was not looking forward to this movie or its promised follow-up. Splitting it into parts confused me, I was dubious over some of the casting, the visuals, the lighting, and the use of CG, and was being a bit of a hater over the trailers. However, every hater worth their salt should eat crow when they're wrong, and wow was I ever wrong. I couldn't have been more wrong, actually, because I'll go so far as to say (though I have high high hopes for Nosferatu later this month)! that Wicked Part One was my favourite movie of 2024. Extended (gushing) quasi-organized thoughts under the cut, because like Elphaba, no I never stop talking.

Bit of background, I've been lucky enough to see the show live twice, plus countless bootlegs/the cast album being the soundtrack to my life since I was nine. I know the script, the score, and the lyrics back to front. So you can imagine how shocked/pleased I was to find that the movie retained just about everything! I know people are giving mixed reviews about the extended scenes/runtime, but honestly the Oz they gave us (which I'll get to momentarily) was so wonderful and the cast so wholly inhabiting of their roles that I could not get enough of the world and these characters. I also thought they fixed several plotholes/added depth and stakes to a lot of arcs from the musical with their changes, especially with respect to the villains.

Visually, the film is an absolute treat; the colour grading/lighting does have the unfortunate modern fantasy film vibe to it, but the sets, practical props/effects, and costumes more than make up for it. That rotating library portico set? Let me live there! The Wizard's invitation?? The choreography was fantastic and every dancing scene was shot so so beautifully. My only complaint really is the CGI; the animals looked really fakey and goofy, particularly poor Dr. Dillamond, to the point that my entire theater was cracking up when his little goat ears wilted at the blackboard scene during my first viewing. Which is...not really the reaction you want to go for with a scene that's supposed to be depicting a hate crime.

The costumes in particular were a standout; Paul Tazewell's work is so stunning (Morrible's gowns, the revised Popular dress, and Elphaba's little pirate academia number when she gets her Emerald City invite) that I feel comfortable saying with the exception of Glinda's Junon-takeoff bubble dress (because it's just so iconic), they vastly outdo the stage version's costumes. He needs an Oscar for this yesterday and I'm not kidding.

The performances!!! Oh my gosh! Everyone sounding great and there being good mixing?? in a musical movie made after 2007??? Who'd've thought!!! My only complaint musically was, unfortunately, during Defying Gravity. In the stage show there's like 2 pauses in the song for plot to happen (Morrible's call-out and making the broom fly), and through that iirc they keep the instrumental going. Today, at my second viewing, I counted like....6-7 pauses where the song just outright stops, including two instances where they play different sad piano music altogether and give Elphaba this big suit-up superhero moment because book cover nod I guess, and healing her inner child, and it was kind of a pain because part of what makes Defying Gravity such a memorable piece is its momentum and when you stop the song to do something else, the momentum really dies. With that said, all eight parts of Defying Gravity were, in each pocket, performed to perfection.

I had high hopes for Cynthia Erivo vocally, but was dubious about an apparently more earnest, innocent Act 1 Elphaba as opposed to the stage version which I'm more used to, where she's a lot more of a Daria type. However, I was so pleased to find that she deepened the aching tragedy of the character with this take, especially opposite a more sinister and insidious Wizard + Morrible, and her takes on these songs, her vocal choices, her runs...heavenly. Ariana Grande pleasantly surprised me as being much cuter and funnier than I expected, and her surprise option ups during Popular were an absolute treat. Jonathan Bailey was as charming and talented as any Fiyero worth his salt (also loved how casually they made him bisexual?), Jeff Goldblum as the Wizard killed me (especially since they played him as simultaneously more of a huckster conman and an Evil Walt Disney, and it worked), but the show-stealer was Michelle Yeoh as Morrible for my money.

From the moment Morrible swoops in to smoothly cover for Elphaba's power explosion, knowing what it would mean to her to be spared social ruin, I was on the edge of my seat with such a different take on what's usually just kind of a comic relief diva character. Michelle Yeoh's effortless grace and elegance command screen presence. But the slow creep of her goading Elphaba into intensifying her powers while playing the sympathetic ear/mother figure/mentor only to make the betrayal hit that much harder (I genuinely choked up during the cut to Elphie's face when she hears her saying that her skin is a manifestation of her twisted nature), to say nothing of dangling her approval over Glinda until becoming the shoulder for her to cry on at the end of Defying Gravity...my god. chills. Forget Gelphie, shoutout to all the teenage sapphics with something deeply, deeply wrong with them who are going to have an awakening over this chillingly manipulative milfy sorceress who presents herself as a twisted maternal figure and intellectual colleague.

On the note of Gelphie -- oh my god??? A homoerotic swordfight during What Is This Feeling - are you KIDDING???? They amped it up from the stage show if anything; the Ozdust sequence brought me to tears, and then ended with them joining hands and running off together and leaving Fiyero behind like???? The amount of times they fell over each other? Glinda's thousand-yard stare during No One Mourns The Wicked, Elphaba's longing/fond glances....the love note, are you kidding me. They were baby's first yuri for me so seeing them on the big screen played with such natural chemistry by Cynthia and Ariana warmed my heart and got me super emotional. Sidenote, okay, not to be the boss baby guy about Carrie, but with the changes/additions, Elphaba is kind of Carrie White now and I'm here for it? From the visions to the explosions to baby Elphie already having her powers in the flashbacks...and then you get to the Ozdust scene, and the extended cruelty towards her plays very much as Elphaba's They're All Gonna Laugh At You Moment...only for Glinda to swoop in and dance with her as the Sue Snell, so yeah, we now have fantasy CarrieSue in Oz. We won so hard.

Last bit, to address your point about the cameos -- I really was worried that I'd be cringing at all the lore tie-ins with the '39 Wizard of Oz or the Broadway cameos or any of the other fanservice, but it all tied in and flowed so smoothly at most I was rolling my eyes affectionately rather than in exasperation (the Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead tie-in to No One Mourns The Wicked was shockingly seamless). Stephen Schwartz being the one to invite them to see the wizard got me properly emotional!! Idina and Kristin were hilarious and 10/10 diva legends as always, and the extended Wiz-O-Mania propaganda play/Grimmerie Lore Dump is both a visual and auditory treat. The original Glinda showing up to tell Ari to shut the fuck up during her song got maybe the biggest laugh of the movie out of me, but then they had Idina doing her end of defying gravity 'aaaaaaah ah ahhhh' Elphaba War cry riff as a heehe gag just like...20ish minutes before Cynthia!Elphaba is going to do it for real. Which had me in stitches because it plays then as either subversion of the wizard's propaganda in finding her voice, or Elphaba's a theatre kid and said yeah that was a sick riff I heard 2 hours ago, I'm going to incorporate it into my political loudmouthing after nearly being assassinated 20 times. Fuck you, Oz man, I'm stealing your propaganda riff!

What an ending. What a movie. Can't wait for part 2.

Thanks for asking! <3 hope you're well.

[its-your-girl-geekerella]

Wicked Movie Review

Spoilers Ahead. (Obviously)

Okay, I saw it on opening night release day. I've just been busy. And here are my thoughts:

Pre-watch. I was hoping for the best. The trailers were amazing, and the budget seemed sufficient for all it wanted to do. The vocals seemed a little off, but that was only because they had to make it "fit" for the trailer score. So I had high hopes!

But I was also preparing for the worst. After all, movie adaptations of musicals have a bad reputation for a reason. And all the promotion they were doing? I was certain they were compensating for something. And besides that, I had almost no faith (again, aside from what I heard in the trailer) in Ariana Grande. I don't really listen to her music, but I've heard a few of her songs. I honestly didn't think she could do musical theatre.

And boy, was I wrong.

Post-watch. It. Was. Amazing. I absolutely LOVED it. Ariana CRUSHED it! I think she did better than some Glindas on Broadway! In every scene leading up to the Ozdust Ballroom, I hated her. And I LOVED hating her. I think some Glindas just don't have that hateability, or they're too charming. But not Ariana. And during "Popular"? I absolutely loved it! She was great!

Cynthia Erivo did great, too. Her voice singing the riff at the end of "Defying Gravity" will certainly take getting used to, but it was, objectively, good. Her acting was on point, and I absolutely loved watching her. Say what you will about the woman's poster dilemma, the woman has a powerful presence onscreen. I honestly never doubted her ability.

Some random thoughts:

The script. The script was practically word-for-word of the musical. Some people might find it annoying and predictable. I, for one, found it charming and-- frankly-- reassuring. I knew what was coming a lot of the time, even if they did change some minor plot points (if you can even call them "plot points"; like I said, they were minor and didn't change the course of the story at all). For example, Mr. Thropp doesn't already have Elphaba enrolled at the school in the movie. But because I know how the story goes, I was sitting in the theater saying to myself, "He's gonna say 'go with her'". And guess what? He did.

Unfortunately, the script being word-for-word (and a lot of theatre kids knowing certain lines from the musical) partially ruins the impact or comedy of certain lines. The most notable one was when Fiyero and Elphaba are in the woods with the cub. Elphaba informs him that he's bleeding, and says, "It must have scratched you." He replies, a bit disassociated because of her touch, "Yeah... or maybe... it scratched me or something." Typically, in the theater, Broadway, regional, or high school, the audience laughs at this line. You know how many people laughed at it in the movie theater? Zero. Zilch. Except me. The delivery was AWFUL. I honestly can't believe that Jon didn't have that line reshot. Which brings me to Jonathan Bailey.

Jonathan Bailey is... a good actor? I personally haven't seen him in anything other than Wicked. But I do know that he is a good looking actor. However, I do believe that he was miscast for this role for three reasons. 1) Like I said, the comedy was not exactly there. Another example: "I've been thinking" "So I heard" However, I won't count that one against him, as I feel that one was mostly Cynthia's fault. 2) At first, I thought that Cynthia Erivo would look too old to play Elphaba, but I got over it really quickly. It was easy for me to see her as a college-aged student. And let's be honest, Ariana Grande will always look like a child, so that was never a problem. Jonathan Bailey, though? He doesn't look like a college student. He looks like a really hot 36-year-old man. And this kinda goes into my last point. 3) He was too intentional. I think Fiyero's character is dynamic in a variety of ways, and Jonathan's portrayal seems more like "Act II Fiyero" than "Act I Fiyero". Act I Fiyero's whole deal is that he's extremely loose. And while, yes, Elphaba calls it out as a façade, I think it's still a part of him that is a bit dumb (see the disassociated "scratched" comment or the "thinking" comment). I think if Jonathan had tried to play Fiyero more "dumb jock", it would've worked better, because his natural acting inclination would've counteracted it just enough.

I feel bad for complaining about Jonathan Bailey for so long. So onto the songs! The score was amazing. The music was amazing. The vocals were amazing. My favorite song was "What Is This Feeling?" The camera angles in this scene were amazing, and the choreography slaps so hard.

Right before "One Short Day", I thought to myself, "I sure hope we get an Idina and Kristin cameo!" Guess what happened. Truthfully, I barely heard a word they were singing, I was too busy bouncing in my chair and fangirling with one of my friends to hear them.

If there's someone I didn't mention (I'm looking at you Ethan and Michelle), it's because they did a good job and I don't have any particular opinion on them. Overall, I really enjoyed the movie! My favorite song was "What Is This Feeling", Jonathan Bailey was the weakest part of the movie, and it was a lot better than I thought it would be. And it was really fun to fangirl with other theatre kids.

[room-surprise]

Dungeon Meshi Anime Review, Season 2, Episode 17 review

OH GOD OKAY here we go...

Once again, I am a broken record: good episode!

My two major complaints: The bit where Laios and Kabru stand around talking next to an off-screen, roaring, screaming monster seemed kind of silly in animation. In a comic it works, but they really should have animated them walking or stumbling away while delivering those lines, having them just stand there until the monster attacks them again is really goofy.

ALSO, something Trigger keeps doing that I am NOT a fan of, is throwing animated speed-line backgrounds behind characters when they're reacting to something. Sometimes these were in the original manga, other times they are NOT... and they break the immersion of the anime completely IMO.

The coloring in DM is so moody and wonderful, the aesthetic is generally grounded, so when suddenly the background is bright blue or lime green or pink and strobing, it's VERY jarring... and the joke DOES NOT NEED these effects in order to be funny! In fact I think it leeches some of the humor out of the jokes. Imagine if every time someone had a strong emotion in a classic Disney movie you'd get this:

This type of sudden background color change, strobing and speed lines are artifacts of older, cheaper anime, tricks that used to be done to hide the lack of budget, as a way to make a quick joke. It's now used as a shorthand to tell people a joke is happening.

But Trigger doesn't NEED to use these tricks, they're using them because "that's how you make sure the audience knows a joke is happening", but the jokes in Dungeon Meshi are so well written, you don't need to cue us with a visual laugh-track, Trigger!!!! ESPECIALLY when Kui didn't do it in the manga!!!

They've done it in other episodes, but I felt like they were particularly noticeable and bad in this one. Makes me sad because I feel it's dragging the anime down from the genuine peak of artistry that it's otherwise achieving.

As always, animation is fantastic. The stuff with chimera falin is obviously top notch, brutal and fast and amazing... But I also have to say that the Toshiro and Laios argument was animated INCREDIBLY well, with a lot of loving detail given to what is, ostensibly, just talking, something Trigger normally hates to animate.... But they put movie-quality work into that argument and it really paid off.

Honestly can't think of much to complain about. It's a solid adaptation of this part of the story, one of the biggest, coolest action sequences that we've all been waiting for.

Vocal performances were all great in both English and Japanese. Kabru's English voice actor did a great job, despite my misgivings about him in previous episodes. I hope he continues to improve.

A dub script change had Kabru think "He's excited" about Laios instead of "his pupils are dilated"... This isn't a terrible change, but a bit baffling. Saying his pupils are dilated tells viewers HOW Kabru knows Laios is excited, and indicates that he is using some kind of scientific criteria to measure it, it makes him sound smarter and more detached from what he's doing. Just saying "he's excited" doesn't tell us how Kabru knows... and it's a thought, not dialog, so it's weird for them to change it in the script, since there's no need to match mouth-flaps.

The sequence where Kabru strips off all his armor and does a surprise attack on Falin is still fantastic in this, though I am a little bit sad that they didn't find any ways to add any extra emphasis for it - in the manga it's drawn out a bit, to the point where you might miss what was happening on your first read... I think the amount of shots we got in the anime was the same as in the manga, but somehow it felt less impactful to me. Maybe pacing?

At any rate, it was an incredibly solid episode.

I already liked Toshiro, but seeing this part of the manga animated really made me like him more, I hadn't realized in the past just how damn romantic the twin bells thing was, but damn. Toshiro really has forgiven Laios by the time they part ways here, it's easy to forget that since Toshiro very much takes a back seat after this.

[fantastica-daily]

F1: The Movie – Review

Any movie that starts right off with Brad Pitt and fast cars set to Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love" is already a winner in my book. But what about the other two hours and thirty-three minutes? Well, I am glad to report that they're just as entertaining.

Director Joseph Kosinski has pulled off something that should be impossible in Hollywood: making a racing movie that doesn't feel like it's running on fumes from Rush or Ford v Ferrari. His latest adrenaline symphony stars Brad Pitt as Sonny Hayes, a former F1 legend who traded his checkered flag dreams for the considerably less glamorous world of gambling losses and existential drift. Think Top Gun: Maverick but with more horsepower and fewer volleyball scenes.

The setup is beautifully simple yet emotionally complex - Sonny gets recruited by his old rival Ruben (Javier Bardem) to salvage the dying APX-GP team. Enter the inevitable generational clash with rising star Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris), and you've got yourself a tension-filled character study wrapped in 200-mph metaphors.

Sonny Hayes feels like a natural evolution of Pitt's screen persona - weathered but not broken, cocky but self-aware. He inhabits this character so completely that imagining anyone else behind the wheel becomes impossible.

What elevates F1 beyond typical sports movie territory is Kosinski's obsessive commitment to authenticity. Having racing legend Lewis Hamilton as producer isn't just celebrity window dressing - it's like having Einstein consult on your time travel script. The racing sequences don't just look spectacular; they feel mechanically sound, down to the aerodynamic minutiae that would make gear heads weep with joy. And instead of mustache-twirling corporate villains (though Tobias Menzies does provide some sleazy investor energy), the real conflicts emerge from internal team dynamics and personal redemption arcs. It's refreshingly mature storytelling that trusts audiences to invest in character development over manufactured drama.

In a genre that typically treats women like decorative pit stop accessories, F1 delivers refreshingly complex female characters. Kerry Condon's Kat isn't just potential romantic subplot material - she's the technical mastermind designing the very cars that define victory. Sarah Niles brings warmth and wisdom as Joshua's caring (and somewhat overbearing) mother.

The racing sequences are pure buzz - each one delivers genuine stakes and unpredictable outcomes that'll have you gripping your armrest like it's a steering wheel. (A word of caution for the motion-sickness prone – some of the zippy POV scenes are a bit much. But thankfully, the editor does cut away to different angles with regularity.) Each race is set in an exciting and beautiful location, from the neon jungle of Las Vegas to the palm tree dotted opulence of Dubai.

Hans Zimmer's score deserves special recognition for avoiding the typical orchestral bombast. Instead, he crafts something that feels both mechanically precise and emotionally resonant - like if a Formula 1 engine could compose symphonies. There are also a variety of vocal hits by the aforementioned Led Zeppelin song, Queen, Rosé, Chris Stapleton, Roddy Ricch, and Ed Sheeran to name just a few.

F1 succeeds because it understands that the best racing movies aren't really about racing - they're about the people who risk everything for the perfect lap. It's a film that respects both its characters and its audience, delivering spectacular entertainment without sacrificing emotional intelligence.

= = = S.L. Wilson

[triviareads]

What are your thoughts on Babygirl?

it wasn't bad but it was less *thrilling* than I expected— by the time reviews started to come out, I wasn't expecting to be titillated very much— but I did want to be more shocked, and for there to be higher stakes than there ultimately was (and Romy, Nicole Kidman's character, gets off on that wrongness, that thrill that comes with the high stakes of fucking an employee and possibly ruining her life if he outs her, but it never went There or very close). I think it's telling that the only time the audience reacted audibly, it was to laugh during some sex scenes

To be clear, I didn't dislike those moments of awkwardness because sex can be weird! It can be awkward! But still, temper your expectations where the sex is involved— I kinda assumed the kneeling and crawling and milk-saucer-lapping would lead somewhere... more, but it didn't (I did appreciate the unfiltered sounds during, though).

And that's what led me to realize they really picked the right male lead based on this script, because my friends and I initially saw him in the trailer and we were all like "....shouldn't they have picked someone hotter? Or with more charisma?" But it makes sense because Samuel isn't some wunderkind dom— he really is just Some Intern Guy, a twenty-something who's maybe more intuitive than men his age (and even that part I question because they have to say it out loud lol) but that's really it. He's figuring their dynamic out as they go along, just as much as Romy is. There was a critique where a reviewer expressed their annoyance at yet another film of this ilk where it's the man who teaches the woman her desires rather than her asserting them on her own (they also seemed to intertwine this with a call for more sexually dominant women onscreen which, VALID, but I do see how there could be a movie where sexually submissive woman could assert her desires and the man is the one learning from her.... but that would be an entirely different movie from Babygirl, that's so rooted in Romy's shame about her "dark desires"), but in the case of Babygirl, the "teaching" is very surface level. Samuel recognizes what Romy likes and is the first man to vocalize it, but what follows after is... tepid.

Which is in part because for Romy, what happens between her and Samuel feels less about Samuel and more about what he represents— the ability to enact her kinks, the thrill and the danger of being caught. Like, there are genuinely no messy romantic emotions between the people having the affair, BUT the way Romy and her husband's relationship played out during the course of the movie is emotional and mature and much appreciated, although again, could she have groveled more? Could something actually ruinous have happened/come closer to happening? Yes, I think so.

The workplace stuff.... can I say, that office looks literally like mine, and Romy's outfits/style/botox reminds me of white women who are higher up in my organization?? So well done on that front, plus the end-of-year messages related to AI being "the future"... so real. What did bother me because I couldn't tell if they were going for irony or they were in earnest is the whole hashtag-girlboss white feminist undercurrent that comes to head by the end of the movie (yk... are women in power inherantly more moral than men? Should I have cheered when she shut down a man trying to out her affair? idk), which also reminded me this movie was AGGRESSIVELY white in its attitudes and casting, and coming from a romance-reading perspective, yet another piece of media where only white people are kinky 🤷🏻‍♀️

[nothingunrealistic]

A brand-new production of Dear Evan Hansen is waving through windows across the UK on its first-ever tour and today marks five years after performances started in the West End. Wearing the cast in the title role is Ryan Kopel, who is joined by Lauren Conroy as love interest Zoe. The two sat down to discuss the emotional weight of the story, connecting with their characters, and the changes that have been made in the non-replica show. “I knew the songs but I didn’t really know a lot about it,” Kopel starts, as it transpires that neither of them saw the original production. “It was the story, the story drew me toward it,” he continues, “I loved the complexity of the plot and the decisions that he makes, which are not always great decisions but weirdly I understood them…” A self-confessed “people-pleaser”, Kopel says he could empathise with his character; who following the death of a classmate fabricates a friendship and forges relationships with the deceased’s family. “Morally it’s not the right thing to do, but that he was following his instincts is very interesting.” “Evan is not worlds away from who I was at 17, I was quite anxious and I cared very much about what people thought,” the actor says, and carrying the weight of Evan’s actions requires discipline. “It’s a very vocally demanding role and the physicality of Evan; he lives in a place of tension and it’s not the most comfortable place to spend three hours.” It isn’t “too difficult” to prepare to play Evan each night: “I’ve made a playlist for myself and I’ll stop speaking to people, just to get into that sort of world,” he says, “and then after the show it’s vocal rest and cooldowns.” But it can be hard to turn off: “I find I do take it home with me a little bit, I watch a lot of Real Housewives when I go home because I need some mind-numbingly nothing television! It’s about protecting your psyche.” Being in a new production, both performers credit director Adam Penford for allowing them to “play” with the script and the songs. His decision to add an ensemble – the first time the show has featured one – “fleshes things out,” says Kopel, “it makes you feel like you’re in a world of people.” But one thing missing from this production is Evan’s signature blue polo shirt. Worn in the Broadway and West End productions and on promotional materials, it has become something of a motif of the show to fans. As we touched on in our review, the absence of the shirt “goes some way to suggest that anybody could find themselves trapped in a web that spirals before their eyes.” It’s something that the duo were shocked to see so widely spoken about online. […] “I didn’t expect to wear the blue polo,” Kopel explains. With the show being non-replica, he assumed the polo was “of a different world.” However, both of the performers understand the iconic association: “It’s like Elphaba not being green!” He feels, “there’s a power in us not having the blue polo… when you remove the iconography of the character it makes it more accessible. In a way, it could be anyone.” Conroy adds, “it’s not just Evan Hansen… you get to look at it fresh as well and maybe get something different out of it, which is a good drama, good writing.”

[81scorp]

Constructive criticism: Raya and Wish (2023)

Ah yes, Raya and the last Dragon and Wish... and a bonus

Raya and the last Dragon

Taking place in the fictional country of Kumandra, based on Southeast Asian culture, the movie follows the warrior princess Raya as she seek the fabled last dragon to save her father and the land of Kumandra from evil spirits that are known as Druun.

Critics gave the film positive reviews; some critics praised the imagery and depth but criticized the limited Southeast Asian representation.

The movie is very good on a technical level, Visually impressive, fun characters and the story is good... until the third act.

It`s message doesn`t really fit into it`s narrative. It tries to fit a square shaped peg into a round hole.

If I could wish upon a star that I could travel back in time and do some changes to the script I would like to make one small change.

Namaari giving her "This is just as much your fault" speech and Raya acting as if she`s right

The biggest downside in this scene is Raya`s reaction to what Namaari says, looking at her own reflection in her sword as if to say: "My god, what have I become?"

How I would do it: Raya and Namaari fight. Raya gets the upperhand, disarms Namaari and is about to strike the final blow... but then she looks at what`s happening around them, the city is falling apart, killing Namaari is not gonna solve this. She drops her sword.

Raya: "My original plan was to steal the gem. It was Sisu who convinced me to talk to you. She believed in you. And for a moment... so did I."

Then she leaves to save what still can be saved of the people of Fang.

Namaari looks at her own reflection in one of her twin swords and has a "My god, what have I become?" moment.

I guess I could stop here, but I want to change one more scene.

Raya giving her gem piece to Namaari

In the scene where they are all in the pit trying to fight the druuns with their gem pieces and Raya realizes that they have to put the pieces together, it would be better if Namaari gave her piece to Raya before she gives her piece to Namaari.

Namaari would then step backwards and let the Druun take her. The others would then give their pieces to Raya, stand next to Namaari and be turned to stone. Raya tries to put the gem back together, nothing happens, she places herself between Namaari and the others (Tong, Boun, Little Noi and the Ongis), puts a hand on Tong`s arm and a hand on Namaari`s shoulder as if to form a bridge between the two. (Symbolism!)

Then the dragongem starts working, everyone gets unstoned, the dragons return, Kumandra is united and everyone`s happy.

The end.

Yes, I know. Raya needed to learn how to trust, but Namaari needed to show that she could be trusted.

Wish (2023)

Disney (the company that owns your childhood) was turning 100 years old and decided to give itself a big pat on the back by making an animated movie that would celebrate it`s legacy.

The film received mixed reviews, with praise directed towards the vocal performances, the animation and references to the wider Disney canon, but criticism levelled at the plotting, songs, and screenplay.

People were disappointed in Wish because it was supposed to be a milestone, the movie made to celebrate that the Disney animation studio has been around for 100 years! It just couldn`t live up to the hype. But if you take all the hype and great expectations out of the equation and just view it, not as this BIG thing it was intended to be, but just as the movie it is, it`s... just OK.

Later when the art book of the movie came out and people saw what could have been, many youtubers decided to do what I have been doing since 2015, and do a little constructive criticism of their own. With so many rewrites of Wish popping up on the internet and my own history of playing script doctor, it only seems logical that I too throw my hat in the ring and submit my own Wish rewrite.

So... if I had a fairy godmother who could Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo me back in time to when this movie was written, this is what I would change.

People willingly giving their wishes to Magnifico

It would have been better if Magnifico took peoples wishes from them without their knowledge. It would have made him a better villain. He could take peoples wishes when they are asleep.

Asha

I`d dial down her quirkiness a little. Personalitywise she could be an ambitious overachiever, a mix between Hermoine and Tiana, with an adorkable side.

Valentino

Does everything he says have to be something comical? I like jokes but not all of them landed. It was like his funniness was mandated. Dial down the number of jokes.

Some of the songs

It`s not that the songs are bad per se, some of them just don`t fit into the scenes where they are used, like "At all cost".

They should either have :

A: Given Julia Michaels more time and let her be more involved in the production. (Howard Ashman was very involved in the making of The Little Mermaid.)

or

B: Hired people experienced in musicals. Maybe the people who wrote the songs for Wicked, Hadestown or Hazbin Hotel?

Magnifico needing a book to be evil

The biggest problem this movie has is that it couldn`t decide if Magnifico should be a redeemable, three dimensional antagonist or a classic Disney Villain, so it did both and the results were underwhelming.

I would have made him a twist villain, but instead of waiting for the third act I would reveal it near the end of the first. He would be a charismatic leader, great at fooling people that he has their best interests at heart. In the end, his paranoia would get the better of him.

To Starboy or not to Starboy, that is the question.

At first I wasn`t gonna bother with the whole Starboy thing since it`s not really an issue. The movie`s biggest problem lies in how they wrote King Magnifico. However, a while ago I saw a video on youtube by ColeyDoesThings who talked about what the movie could have been if they had gone the Starboy route, and she made some compelling arguments. So for this rewrite I`ve decided to go with the Starboy idea.

Starboy`s personality could be a lot like Aladdin, a little bit like Peter Pan with a pinch of Ariel. (Why Ariel? Because similar to her, he wants to be where the people are, he wants to see, wants to see 'em dancin'. You know, all that stuff.) He would be a bit of a contrast to Asha.

I did not change Star becase I thought it was necessary, but because I thought it sounded interesting.

I would also make Hal and Bazeema gay and have them kiss eachother in the end.

Plot

Asha prepares to interview for the job of Magnifico's apprentice on the day of her grandfather Sabino's 100th birthday.

When Asha is around, her mother and Saba put on a happy face for her, when she leaves they become a bit apathetic. This is something that many people in Rosas over the age of 18 (who have had their wishes taken) do.

She leads tourists through the town as she sings about what an amazing place it is and what an awesome king they have in "Welcome to Rosas". She rehearses for her job interview with her friends,

There are three wishes that the king refuses to grant:

Wishes about killing people.

Wishes about making someone fall in in love with someone else.

Wishes about bringing people back from the dead.

If you wish to become a magician you`ll have to become the king`s apprentice (and you don`t have to be 18.)

Queen Amaya shows up and takes Asha to Magnifico. At first it goes a little shaky because she`s nervous but then it goes well and Magnifico thinks she is worthy to be his apprentice.

They sing a duet, but not "At all cost". It is a song about optimism and ambition, about what a great student/mentor team they`ll make. The chorus could go:

Magnifico: "With you as my student!"

Asha: "With you as my guide!"

Both: "Great things will happen with you by my side!"

Something like that.

The interview is over and Asha leaves Magnifico`s study.

She is excited. She gets to work with the king! The most awesome king in the world! She does a dorky little victory dance. Valentino shows up, he snuck into the castle with her. Asha starts chasing him, she doesn`t want him to break something expensive, she really wants this job!

Valentino sneaks in through a door to a big (and probably forbidden) room and knocks down an ancient scroll. Asha picks up the scroll to put it back where it was, then she notices the title: How to remove someone`s wish.

Remove? The king grants wishes, he doesn`t take them!

She tries to convince herself not to read it, it`s not meant for her eyes, it`s classified, but her curiosity gets the better of her. She reads in the scroll that the spell should not be used on people under the age of 18. The individual who has had their wish removed becomes docile and free of aspirations, and in some rare cases, even lethargic (just like Simon). They will feel like something is missing from their life but are not able to put their finger on what.

She refuses to believe this. This can`t be true! Magnifico wouldn`t do something like this! He`s a good king!... Right? There are magical orbs of light floating in the ceiling, she takes a ladder and climbs up so that she can get a better look at them. One of the orbs shows a woman that wishes she could fly, another a woman who wishes to sail the seas, another a man who wishes to climb a muntain, and one of the orbs shows... her Saba! It is true, the king takes peoples wishes from them!

She climbs down, puts the scroll back and leaves the room quietly with Valentino under her arm.

She`s about to leave the castle through the main gate when Magnifico shows up. He tells her that there will be a wish-granting ceremony later that evening and he wants her to be present. Asha is nervous, but not a "OMG! I`m meeting my hero!" kind of nervous, but a "Hope he doesn`t figure out that I went into a forbidden room and saw things I shouldn`t have seen" kind of nervous. He seems not to notice, but at soon as Asha leaves the room we see that he did.

Later that evening there`s a wish-granting ceremony, a woman gets her wish granted, the people cheer for Magnifico and Asha sits there next to the queen, stiff and nervous.

Later that night: Asha tries to tell her family the truth about Magnifico, but they don`t believe her. Distraught, Asha runs away and makes her own wish on a star as she sings "This wish". (Not a bad song, but it could have used better lyrics in some places.)

Starboy appears and surprises Asha who smacks him with her sketch-book. (Meet-cute!)

Magnifico senses Starboy's arrival and sees it as a threat to his power.

Starboy doesn`t really grant wishes per se. He`s only as helpful as giving the means, but it’s up to the wishmaker to put the work in order to have their wish fulfilled.

Starboy's magic brings the forest to life, giving voices to the animals, plants and Valentino. They sing "I`m a star", but with better lyrics. (No "we're all shareholders" or "Get that through your system. Solar!") Asha, Valentino, and Starboy embark on a mission to recover Sabino's wish. She wants to save all the wishes, but if she can only save one she`ll have to focus on Sabino`s.

Tension rises in Rosas, Magnifico makes a public appearence and promises a great reward for any information relating to the strange light phenomenon. This makes Simon react. The residents of Rosas begin questioning his rule for the first time. Magnifico gets uncomfortable, leaves and sings "This is the thanks I get" (But sinister, not upbeat, and no "I let you live here fo free and I don't even charge you rent"). Asha and Starboy takes not only Sabino`s wish but a few other wishes as well and uses Starboy`s cape as a sack.

Asha returns Sabino's wish and he is overjoyed to have his memories back and sings "A wish worth making", playing his lute. They get ready to take the sack with the other wishes and return them to their rightful owners when King Magnifico bursts into the family's home. He has been informed by a mole that Asha was responsible for Starboy's arrival. He crushes Sakina's wish as punishment, rendering her overcome with grief. Starboy tries to defend her and is spotted by Magnifico, who vows to capture him. Asha and her family flee with Starboy. Sakina can barely stand after what Magnifico did to her wish, so Starboy uses his magic to give her the strength to walk. In all the chaos they unfortunately leave the other wishes in their home, Magnifico takes them as his own. Sabino and Sakima hide somewhere safe while Asha goes back to Rosas to free the rest of the wishes.

Later, in Magnifico`s study: Simon enters and feels bad for selling out his friend, King Magnifico tells him that what he did was necessary for the safety of the kingdom and that Asha won`t be hurt. He turns Simon into a knight, not in a public wish-granting ceremony though, but right there in his study.

Later, a brainwashed Simon is walking the streets with the company of other knights, searching for Asha and the rest of her friends. Asha sees him and looks for a place to hide. She finds her friends` hideout, not because of Valentino`s butt, but because of his sense of smell. She rallies the rest of her friends, Queen Amaya shows up and joins them.

Asha and her friends start making a plan.

Later, in King Magnifico`s secret lab: King Magnifico has made a staff, Amaya shows up and tells him what Asha and her friends are planning.

Gasp! Queen Amaya is a villain! (Dun dun dunn!)

She and Magnifico sing an evil duet villain song which is kinda similar to "With you by my side".

Asha`s friends infiltrate Magnifico's study to open up the ceiling and free the wishes while Asha plans to distract Magnifico. She and Starboy hides in the woods, she is nervous, Starboy tries to comfort her, so they talk a little. The talking leads to feelings being revealed which leads to singing. They sing "At all costs" and dance a romantic dance, first on the surface of a lake, then high up in the sky. (Thanks to Starboy`s magic.) Starboy gives Asha a magic wand to use as he leaves to help her friends, he then notices that he is getting weaker. Magnifico arrives, he and Asha fights. Magnifico turns out to be Simon disguised with an illusion and he breaks Asha`s wand, Asha finds a way to knock him out using the environment to her advantage.

Her friends almost free the wishes but are betrayed by Queen Amaya. Starboy tries to stop her but she pulls out a dagger and threatens to kill one of Asha`s friends, Magnifico shows up and zaps Starboy with magical chains that he can`t break free from.

Asha returns to the city, is caught by Magnifico, finds Starboy in magical chains and finds out that Queen Amaya was just a mole. Magnifico darkens the sky with clouds so that the people won`t be able to wish on stars.

Asha (to Magnifico): "I believed in you! I thought you were a good king!"

Magnifico: "I`m not a good king. I`m a GREAT king!"

All hope seems lost, Asha starts to sing the reprise to "This wish", her friends and the people of Rosas join her and their singing makes Starboy strong enough to break free from his chains. The breaking of the chains creates a shockwave that knocks Asha, Amaya and Magnifico off the tower. Starboy, still weakened, only has enough strength to save one of them, so he saves Asha.

With Magnifico defeated, his spell powers down as a new day dawns over the kingdom, with the citizens, Asha's mother included, are able to get their wishes back, afterwards, Asha is soon confronted by a regretful Simon, who understands if she doesn`t want to forgive him, but she does as she understands why he did it.

Starboy keeps getting weaker and has to go back, he gives Asha a new wand and the two of them say good bye. She wonders if she`ll ever see him again, he tells her that he`ll be the second star to the right.

With urging from her friends, Asha promises to help others earn their wishes as a Fairy Godmother, aiding everyone in making their dreams come true.

Post-credit scene: One year later: Asha is walking to the wishing tree in her fairy godmother outfit. She walks past a grave stone. Sabino is sitting in the tree playing "When you wish upon a star" on his lute. A tear rolls down Asha`s cheek. After Sabino has played the song he disappears as if he was a ghost. We see that the grave stone that Asha walked past earlier was Sabino`s. She wipes away her tear, looks up at the second star to the right, takes out her wand and teleports to some place where she might be needed.

And that`s how I would do it. Not great but hopefully not bad.

I cut "Knowing what I know now" because it was getting a little tight between songs. It would be hard to fit that song, Magnifico and Amaya`s villain song and "At all costs" so close to each other, while still maintaining a good narrative flow.

At first I wasn`t gonna turn Queen Amaya evil because I couldn`t come up with enough evil stuff for her to do (that I could fit into the plot without making it worse). But then I made her a villain because it would make things harder for Asha and her friends, which would make the movie more interesting.

But like I said before, the movie`s biggest problem is not that the Queen wasn`t evil, but that the writers couldn`t pick a lane when deciding if they wanted to make Magnifico a three-dimensional antagonist or a classic Disney Villain.

And now... a Bonus

One more thing about Frozen 2

Turning Kristoff`s Lost in the woods into a cheesy 1980s rock ballad musicvideo

I was gonna have this in my Frozen 2 CC but forgot and didn`t remember until after I published it. Since I don`t wanna go back and edit it I`ll write it here.

This scene is admittedly entertaining and if you don`t care about tone as long as it`s entertaining it`s fine.

But funny songs works better for funny characters and what Kristoff is singing about feels sincere, which clashes with how the song is executed.

The 1980s rock sound: Lose it.

The visuals: Have Kristoff walking around in the woods, seeing things that, to him, looks like Anna: a pile of rocks, a pile of leaves, a cloud in the sky. Stuff like that.

Probably an unpopular opinion.

It is of course very easy for me to write these because I have the luxury of hindsight. And unlike the filmmakers I didn`t have a movie studio full of corporate suits breathing down my neck, focus grouping the movie to death, forcing in unnecessary changes and pressuring me to get it made before a deadline.

Why do I write these?

For several reasons. I`m nitpicky. Sometimes the movies I criticize aren`t bad, I just like my own ideas better. Sometimes the movies I critize are bad. I care about good storytelling and it`s a fun excerize in creativity and script doctoring.

But also because I have a lot of of free time.

---------------------------------------------

Other movies on my Constructive Criticism list that you can look forward to

Supergirl (1984) Jonah Hex (2010) Dragonball evolution The Spirit (2008) The Dark Knight trilogy

And as usual: English is not my first language, so if my writing doesn`t seem to flow naturally, you know why.

[spammreviews]

Review of the First Two Episodes of the Uzumaki Anime

My biggest complaint is the decision to mix the chapters together, making them happen at once. You would think that making the chapters happen concurrently would be fine. 

The problem is, events happening one after another has a certain vibe to it, a feeling that the spiral is targeting one person and then the next. In addition, there’s a rise in insanity present in the original manga.

We go from one guy breaking all his bones, to a woman hallucinating, to a girl sucking a guy into her head, to three guys turning into snails. There are more victims as the story goes along, for the most part, like the spiral is spreading.

We don’t get that in the anime.

Not only that, but the events have different tones. The story of Shuichi’s mom descending into insanity has the opposite vibes from the black humor of the snail story. As such, the story of Shuichi’s mom in the anime doesn’t have the same harshness as the manga, especially because it’s stretched to two separate episodes.

This messes up the pacing of the stories. What makes Shuichi’s mom’s story so horrific in the manga is the way it feels like we’re being bombarded by disturbing occurrences. That doesn’t work here. 

It also feels like too much is going on at once. In addition, the story moving away from her descent into insanity makes it seem like it’s not even that big of a deal. She’s an afterthought. 

The snail story is also hurt by the interruptions. The whole story has always felt like one really weird joke to me, with the teacher turning into a snail being the final punchline. However, spreading every scene out means that it feels like the punchline comes three minutes after the setup. 

In addition, mixing the stories means that Shuichi acts weird. In the manga, he changes. He’s far more paranoid and skittish in Azami’s story then he is in the first two chapters. However, since Azami’s story happens at the same time as the first two chapters, it means that Shuichi is very paranoid from the beginning. 

Kiri also acts weirdly, getting over seeing the Jack-in-the-box kid die really quickly. It’s so strange to go from seeing a child get run over to snail sex. 

Also, none of the stories actually get to breathe. We go from weird thing to weird thing, and it’s all way too quick.

It’s so weird, because Uzumaki is already episodic. There’s no reason to do this. It means we get a story that feels distracted. I get that the chapters aren’t long enough to last for an entire episode, but they could have just divided the episodes into segments.

If you editing the show so the stories happen one after another, I don’t think I would have any issue with the script, as the individual moments are all done well.

In terms of positives, the sound is awesome. The soundtrack is filled with all this dissonant hits.

Plus, of the gross stuff sounds like what you think it would sound like, which is impressive, because how do you figure out what the sound of a tongue turning into a spiral is? There’s a lot of flesh stretching and twisting that all sounds great. I also like the way the altered people have altered vocals. 

I listened to the English dub, and I have no complaints about the performances there. They all feel very natural. 

Let’s talk about animation.

In the first episode, I like the artstyle, but I don’t like the animation. They do a great job at transforming Ito’s style for movement. The problem is, the movements themselves feel too fluid. They’re unnatural, but not in a good way. The mixing of 3d and 2d animation is a bit awkward.

It feels like what’s animated best is everything that’s not people. Smoke, wind, water, blood, and people’s hair. That all looks fine. A lot of the closeups also look cool due to the minimal movement. 

In the second episode, it’s all worse. There’s a lot less shadows, the movements feel more inhuman, and the expressions are more muted. Everything’s also just moving a lot less, increasing the awkwardness.

When people talk, it looks less like their talking, and more like their mouths are expanding. Kiri’s magical hair moves like it’s plastic. 

However, the scene where the snail guy eye’s stretch out of his head looks awesome. In fact, I’d say that the snails, out of everything in the episode, look the best, as well as the two lovers stuck together. 

I feel like they used too much of the budget on the magic and monsters. 

To finish things up, I just realized that they didn’t include the chapter “The Firing Effect”. You know, the chapter about Kiri’s dad making claying in his kiln. That makes sense to me. It’s not very scary, and it does sort of get in the way of Uzumaki feeling like a progression. However, I kinda wish they left in the scene from it where Shuichi has dinner with Kiri’s family, as it does a great job of showing his trauma. However, it’s only been two episodes, so maybe they’ve just moves it to later in the story. 

[txtaetertots]

HOPELESSLY DEVOTED 06: auditions

[ synopsis ] you’re trying to get into your dream school. beomgyu’s just trying to pass a class. the only way to ensure you both get what you want is to work together. very closely.

[ note ] send an ask to be added to the new taglist!

taglist will be up with tomorrow's updates!!

The line was ridiculously long for auditions. YN isn't normally nervous, but this time it's different. There's a lot on the line. If she doesn't get a decent role it could affect the outcome of her second review. She needs to 'wow!' the NYU Tisch admissions board with a main role she can truly shine in. She needs to be Sandy.

She runs through her lines in her head, making sure she doesn't miss a beat. Her competition is stiff. Everyone wants to be Sandy. But, no one is as big of a threat as Ahn Soojung, the theater department's Queen Bee. Soojung has been known for her cutthroat determination and competitive nature. She's always butting heads with YN, who was the only member of the theater department at her level.

"Kim Minji."

Eunchae appeared from the stage entrance. She's not much of an actress, but she loves being involved behind the scenes. Mr. Kim put her in charge of facilitating the auditions, a big responsibility for a sophomore. She looks down at her clipboard of names, crossing out names of the people she calls forward to conduct their audition. While waiting for Kim Minji to walk up, she looks around for her dear friend. She spots YN leaning against the wall and sends her two thumbs up for encouragement. YN smiles. Nothing relieves her nerves quite as well as support from her friends.

As Eunchae disappears behind the curtains with Minji, Soojung appears after them, having just completed her audition. Her head was held high, chin pointing out with pride. She walked with poise and unfaltering conviction in her abilities. No one can ever recall a moment in which Ahn Soojung was anything but elegant and confident. She walks by YN, exchanging a smirk as if it were her way of intimidating YN. She had snubbed three main roles from YN this year alone, and she was sure she was about to snatch another.

"Good luck, YN," Soojung sings, the clicking of her heels against the marbled floors taunting YN as Soojung walks away.

Don't let her get in your head.

YN shook her head, trying to rid herself of Soojung's intimidation tactics. She wasn't to get to her this time. This time is too important to let anyone interfere, especially Ahn Soojung.

"YLN YN."

Eunchae's sweet excited voice chimed her out of her thoughts. It was time. YN took a deep breath, straightening her posture, before walking up to the stage. Eunchae whispered quick words of encouragement before dashing off to the side to observe.

YN looked out to the judges table where there sat Mr. Kim Seokjin and Mr. Park Jimin, the choir director. They always worked on musical productions together with Mr. Park helping lead the vocal rehearsals. They smiled upon seeing YN take her place on the stage floor marker.

"What part will you be auditioning for, YN?" Mr. Kim asked, getting her audition sheet ready to take notes.

YN gulped, the nerves starting to return.

"I will be auditioning for the role of Sandy."

"Very well," Mr. Kim nodded, turning to a scene in the script for YN to recite.

He named the scene and line from where she would start. YN nodded, immediately familiar with the scene. She recites Sandy's lines perfectly, bouncing off Mr. Kim's reading for Danny. Her expressions and tones were charming and sweet, encapsulating Sandy's character beautifully. Her smile was radiant, shining even under the dim stage lights. YN was born to be on stage.

"As always," Mr. Kim smiles. "A dynamite performance, YN."

"And what will you be singing for us today?" Mr. Park asked, resting his chin on his fist.

The nerves had settled, YN was in her element. She confidently replies, "I will be performing Sandy's Sandra Dee Reprise."

Mr. Park smiled, nodding his head gesturing her to begin. YN took one more deep breath. Eunchae cues to the soundbox crew to begin the appropriate track.

Club members had lined up by the doors, quietly settling in upon hearing YN's name. Along with Soojung, YN was known among members for her extraordinary talents. Her voice was one of the strongest in the department. Any chance to hear her sing, everyone will pause and listen without a second thought. It was a less than two minute set, but YN managed to have everyone mesmerized and swooning.

"Thank you , YN," Mr. Park says. "Beautiful as always."

YN was dismissed and she walked briskly off the stage, trying to hide her wide smile as she made her way back to the hall. She felt good about this audition. Really good. So good, she thinks she's got Ahn Soojung beat.

"How much longer must I wait?" Beomgyu sighs, restless. He's slumping closer to the ground, letting his back slide down the wall without resistance. It's been two hours since auditions began and he still hasn't been called up. His friends stayed back to wait with him after their auditions, wanting to make sure he saw it through.

"You know for being a drama club hater you sure are dramatic," Taehyun scoffed, watching him sprawl across the hallway floor and sulk.

Eunchae walked out, catching their attention.

"Choi Beomgyu." She says, looking around and laying her eyes on the boy exasperated on the ground. She tries to stifle a laugh as she watches Soobin and Yeonjun pluck him off the floor and onto his feet.

Yeonjun pushes him forward. "Be good!"

Beomgyu waves him off, trudging his feet up the stage and to the stage marker as directed by Eunchae. He gives her a friendly smile and nod, thanking her for her guidance. After she disappears to the side stage, he sulks again facing Mr. Kim and Mr. Park.

"Beomgyu?" Mr. Park says, surprised and confused. He looks over to Mr. Kim, who has a goofy grin across his lips. He pauses, realizing this must've been the 'big plan' Mr. Kim told him about earlier that day. "Nevermind."

Mr. Kim closes his script, leaning forward to rest his arms on the table, "I'll let you do whatever you've prepared. I trust it's an appropriate and genuine reflection of your effort."

Beomgyu nodded, clearing his throat and shaking the nerves out of his arms. He didn't have much prepared. He just picked a random scene and a random character to learn the lines of the night before. It wasn't exactly his best effort, but it was an effort nonetheless. The goal was to pass, not excel. His delivery was decent. A bit silly, but still decent enough to pass Mr. Kim's standards.

"Alright," Mr. Kim says, jotting down a few notes on Beomgyu's audition sheet. "What will you be singing for us?"

Beomgyu looked around wide-eyed. He was not aware he had to prepare something to sing. It was a silly slip, considering it was a musical. Singing was obviously going to be involved.

"Just sing anything you're comfortable with," Mr. Park smiles, trying to encourage the lost puppy before them on stage.

Beomgyu nods. He thinks for a moment before taking a deep breath. Time to get it over with. The auditorium was silent. Only the club directors, his friends, and a few crew members who were facilitating the auditions were watching.

"You're the sun to the moon, You're my ocean painted blue,"

Beomgyu's voice echoed. His eyes closed, body swaying to his own rhythm. His audience watched intently, trying not to make a sound. No one has ever heard Beomgyu sing. In fact, they didn't know he could. Mr. Park and Mr. Kim looked at each other. No word was exchanged, but they knew they were thinking the same thing.

As soon as Beomgyu finished singing, a deafening silence filled the auditorium for a brief moment. The crew members shuffled quietly, preparing for the next audition. Soft whispers among them could be heard. About what, who knows. The quiet was overpowered, however, by the loud claps and whoop-ing from Beomgyu's friends. Yeonjun was on his feet leaning over the row in front of them, calling out Beomgyu's name while violently clapping. The others looked between themselves with shock while clapping and cheering.

"Thank you, Beomgyu," Mr. Kim says, impressed. "The cast list will be up Monday morning."

Beomgyu bowed, excusing himself off stage. Part one of his assignment finally over and done with. As soon as he walked out the stage door he was bombarded with his friends jumping on him and yelling.

"WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL US YOU COULD SING?" Taehyun exclaimed, teasingly punching Beomgyu on the back.

"Because I don't," Beomgyu said, trying to shake them off him.

"You're so full of it," Soobin scoffed. "You're getting a part."

"Don't even say that," Beomgyu huffed. "I would rather take the L than put myself through a musical."

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[the-most-humble-blog]

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⚔️ SHE-RA WAS NEVER JUST A GIRL WITH A SWORD. 💫 SHE WAS A POST-WAR, PRE-HORMONAL DIVINE ENTITY WHO DESCENDED WEEKLY TO CHECK IF YOUR CHARACTER WAS DEVELOPING CORRECTLY.

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Let’s get one thing clear:

She didn’t “inspire girls.” 🙅‍♀️ She terrified boys. She dominated television. She rewired our brains before we hit puberty and most of us are still trying to understand what the hell happened.

📺 She calmly introduced herself as Adora. No theatrics. Just vibes. And then she gut-punched your soul by dropping this casual bomb like a gender-flipped archangel:

> “I’m the twin sister of Adam.” > 💥 Yeah. That Adam. > 👑 Prince of Eternia. > F*cking He-Man with the silk blouse and the velvet vest > looking like the club manager of Mt. Olympus.

And then it got worse. She said the exact same line as her brother—

> 🗣️ “For the Honor of Grayskull!”

Same tone. Same vocal cadence. Same haunted demon-twin inflection like the girls from The Shining got drafted into the Eternian Army. 😳😵‍💫

Then she casually reached behind her collar and pulled out an elegant executioner’s axe disguised as a sword the size of a Vespa.

🪓 Same size as He-Man’s. Let that sink in.

She wasn’t an accessory. She was the twin apocalypse.

Oh, and remember her steed? The cute little horse from episode 1?

Yeah. She used raw radiation and pre-Christian witchcraft to mutate that thing into a violent, talking, flying f*ck-beast with a unicorn horn and kaiju rainbow bird wings. 🦄🌈🕊️

It screamed like it wanted to kill God and hug a child at the same time.

In Yoda’s voice? > 🐸 “Gave no single fcks, she did.”*

You didn’t watch She-Ra. You survived her.

She didn’t empower you. She evaluated your existence.

> ✨ “For the honor of Grayskull.” And if your soul didn’t flinch when she said it? You were already chosen.

If it did?

📼 Too late. You belonged to her now.

She fought like a cosmic HR violation. She smiled like she was reviewing your performance report. She made you feel like a background character in your own life who just got benched by God’s favorite niece.

If you don’t understand that?

You either weren’t there…

> or you still haven’t recovered.

And don’t even get me started on the voice actor cadence sorcery: How did every line she delivered sound like a commandment and a lullaby at the same time?

Her transformation sequence alone could baptize you in gamma radiation and file your taxes while judging your diet.

She didn’t arrive with swagger. She descended like judgment. Every frame felt like an angelic background check with lasers, hair volume, and holy vengeance.

The villains didn’t monologue. They panicked. They recalculated their entire ideology while fleeing a glowing 6’2” war goddess on a technicolor monster steed from the fourth circle of pastel damnation.

You remember how He-Man punched mountains?

Yeah, She-Ra redirected storms and dissolved generational trauma with one divine lunge and a hair flip that shook the fourth wall.

You didn’t want to be her.

You just hoped she wouldn’t look directly at you.

Because if she did? She’d know.

She’d know what kind of man you were going to become. And whether you were strong enough to be on her team—

or smart enough to get the hell out of the way.

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