#and then the events of the play actually occurred during the filmed show

[the-irrelevant-trumpeter]

i often wonder what the cornley drama society were doing during the christmases/decembers we didn’t see a show in

[steppingonyourshadow]

Selected excerpts from GQ February 2024

His is a face that's constantly under a microscope. A few months ago, his studio posted a series of photos for his birthday. Sharp-eyed netizens noted immediately that his face had "become rounder". In order to play Guo Jing of Tsui Hark's Legend of Condor Heroes, Xiao Zhan put on weight before filming began. His face was no longer so narrow, and he had obviously bulked up. The photos showed him with a scattering of stubble, a little rough.

Strictly speaking, Legend of Condor Heroes is Xiao Zhan's second movie. There have already been many iconic portrayals of Guo Jing, so the pressure was obviously on.

The day of the GQ cover shoot, Xiao Zhan got up early to go for a run. He couldn't help but worry that he'd lose muscle mass from sweating so much, and hesitated over whether to continue. Finally he decided to do a full 30 minutes. After that, it occurred to him that he wouldn't start burning fat until 30 minutes in, so he did another 10.

It's all for the sake of the job. "Actually, I'd rather not be running - it decreases muscle mass. But I have to, to get rid of bloating." After the shoot, no matter how late it got, he plans to go do more weight training. The discipline of an actor is the constant process of creating their character's look, all the while strictly controlling their diet and maintaining their figure. Xiao Zhan sees both as standard and imposes this standard on himself.

I was curious how he felt having been under constant scrutiny these past few years. I wasn't expecting him to say that it was barely on his mind most of the time, and hadn't brought much disruption to his life either, that the "cruelest" thing was "not being able to eat whatever I want".

"I still sneak out for a bike ride, or a walk. I've been spotted just the once, within five minutes of walking around a Hutong. I've also snuck into cinemas to watch movies, no one cares that you're there, really. Once you're away from the internet, a lot of problems just solve themselves. Sometimes we think what's in front of us is the whole world, that's a mistake, but one that can't be avoided. Nothing to be done about it."

There are lots of things he wants to do, like ride the subway, go shopping. "I really will use the subway, maybe tomorrow, nothing extraordinary about that. I used to do it every day."

For Xiao Zhan, this is real life. He's no longer bothered by social media comments.

"If I still let it get to me after all this time, what kind of life would I live?" He laughs. "Really, it's fine."

Right now, Xiao Zhan is very satisfied with his life. "I have my work, my own life, and an audience that appreciates me. Nothing to be dissatisfied about."

To an extent, Xiao Zhan's relaxed state stems from increasing clarity about his goals. Outside voices no longer bother him, he knows what he wants and what he doesn't want. Right now, more and more he's trying to simplify. In the past two years, he hasn't done much variety, choosing to focus on acting as his most important goal.

Three shows in which Xiao Zhan played the main character aired in 2023. Each character was a challenge in different ways. During the interview, Xiao Zhan said "it was a lot of pressure" many times, in relation to each of these stages, but his tone was always light, nothing of the heaviness of someone bemoaning difficulties, and more like an analytical mindset after the event, with concrete and objective reasoning: this show was the first time he did green screen, that one was his first solo lead role, first contemporary drama...

Where Dreams Begin was a script Xiao Zhan loved. He really likes stories from that era. When he was a kid he watched Bloom of Youth and Happiness As Flowers. In his mind the 70s and 80s shine brightly, in vivid colour.

Many say that the character of Xiao Chunsheng is perfect, but Xiao Zhan saw this as his greatest flaw. He found the character very interesting and wanted to give it a go. Xiao Chunsheng is a Beijing kid. How to convey his demeanor and speak in authentic Beijing dialect was no small challenge to Xiao Zhan who grew up in Chongqing.

The Longest Promise's Shi Ying is cold and aloof. Because he didn't want to disappoint everyone who had high expectations of his guzhuang look, Xiao Zhan pushed himself above and beyond to lose weight before filming began. "The Longest Promise was a script I got in 2020. Among the ones I had to choose from, it was the one with the most well-rounded characters, and the most nuanced relationships. Plus, it had a strong sense of internal logic and coherence. So it was my best choice."

Sunshine By My Side is the one Xiao Zhan had been considering the longest. He was given the script in 2019. Sheng Yang may be in the same line of work Xiao Zhan had been doing before debuting, but he wasn't certain he could recreate the life of a designer for the screen in a natural, believable way.

Recently, Xiao Zhan found an old book at home - Danshari [book about decluttering and optimization of the home by Hideko Yamashita]. It had been recommended to him by his boss when he was a designer. What the book said about organising one's life made him rethink what he wanted, and what he ought to leave behind.

"Contemporary and slice of life dramas were a totally foreign territory for me." At the start he was to eager to finish his lines, having them memorised back to front. But no one in real life speaks like that. Later, he realised that there was a particular logic in where to pause and where to place the emphasis in a line in a contemporary drama.

For example, when he decided to be an actor, and that he didn't want to do anything else other than acting. "If you try and force me, then let's have the debate. There's no such thing as right and wrong, my people are only looking out for me, isn't it positive to have so much work? But for me, I need to simplify my life. Because there are some things I definitely don't want."

Xiao Zhan's acting career began with an "ordinary overage guy pursues his dream into the entertainment industry" story. He went into a survival show at the age of 24, learned to dance as a total novice, debuted in a boy group, acted in internet dramas, played bit parts in movies, until he hit it big in 2019 and became an attention-grabbing star.

If you choose to do something, then give it your best. That's what Xiao Zhan was taught from a young age. When he was in junior high, his parents bought him a cellphone. Initially when he sent text messages he'd use spaces in place of punctuation. But his father said to him very severely, "where's the punctuation, why isn't there a question mark at the end of your sentence?" So now Xiao Zhan always pays attention to punctuation.

Xiao Zhan has had a competitive spirit since he was a child. So long as it's something he can control, he'd rather not miss a single opportunity. He used to take the bus to school and get anxious on behalf of the people who fell asleep and missed their stops. For the things he can't control, he'd remind himself not to get too caught up and learn to accept the outcome. And before that, do everything he can the best he can.

When asked which of his projects had come about following a lot of effort on his part to land it, Xiao Zhan's response is surprising. He says, "all of them". Before he made it big, he auditioned a lot. Once he'd passed the interview stage, gotten into the final round, even did trial shots with full makeup, and was still replaced. Now of course people pass him scripts, but Xiao Zhan always tells himself, that's just an expression of interest which can be given to many people at once. If he encounters a script he really likes, he'll set up a meeting with the director and talk to them about his understanding of the character. He feels it's important to display the right attitude.

Xiao Zhan grew up just like any other 90s kid - his parents worked, his grandma did all the cooking, he went to school every day, came home, and if he did poorly in an exam he'd get a beating. They ate dinner at 6:30 every night, and then his friends would call for him to come down and play Hide and Seek, Red Light, Green Light, or Hopscotch.

His face shines when he speaks of this time. These ordinary little things all seem rare and precious now. Xiao Zhan says he's grateful for those first 23 years before his dream-like brave foray into the entertainment industry. "I really value those times, I think it was great."

He thinks that if he hadn't entered the industry, he'd probably be living like his classmates and friends, taking clients out for dinner only to come home and do more overtime to finish his design work overnight, day after day.

"Being seen" makes him happy. No matter how busy he gets, Xiao Zhan never complains. "If there's work to be done, then do it properly." While filming The Oath of Love he was also recording the variety show Our Song. Whenever he had a moment between scenes, he'd put on headphones and sing along softly. When his costars came over out of curiosity, he'd give a sheepish grin and explain that he was practicing the song he had to sing that night. "There's no time, really none." Back then, work took up pretty much his entire life.

Xiao Zhan will almost never give himself a holiday. "Unrealistic," he says firmly. When he's exhausted enough, he can fall asleep sitting upright on set.

This year, Xiao Zhan felt a sense of urgency stemming from "not enough works". "Compared to some of my seniors, when they were in their thirties they already had many credits." He clearly understands that a huge breakthrough in his acting skills from just a single piece of work is unlikely. "That probably won't happen for me."

He's considered whether he wants to be an actor with a unique individual style or a crowd-pleaser. His answer is the latter. "They might not be fans of yours, or even feel very positive toward you, but when they know you have a show on, they think, maybe I should check it out, his shows are all pretty good. That's what I want, that's my current goal. Whether I can reach the level of the actors I admire, that's a long road, I'm going to take my time."

"Make more shows, work with more good people, that's the current goal. I'm not thinking about the rest right now," Xiao Zhan says.

[I'll translate and post the Q&A segment later.]

[chirpsythismorning]

Why do some people say the strikes won't be over until March next year? Like whoa that's taking it too far, neither side can afford to wait that long and it's starting to show

I haven’t seen any speculation about March personally, but I do know that it’s hard to be confident right now because we don’t know if the studios are being genuine about wanting to make a fair deal.

In fact, from what I understand the studios' most recent official proposal, while it did finally at least acknowledge the main points of the writers' demands, it used language that still made room for loopholes so they don't actually have to honor those demands in action.

While it's great that the studios are finally at least coming to the table to talk, there is bound to be some back and forth between them and the WGA for quite a bit, especially if the studios keep drawing out the process by trying to cheat their way out of this. Then there's still SAG, and as of now they have not been contacted by the AMPTP yet to set up re-negotiations. It's unlikely that will happen, at least not until the WGA is closer to making a deal. We'll have to see how all that plays out within the next couple weeks and going forward.

As of just a couple weeks ago, the Emmy’s announced they would be postponing the ceremony until January 2024, as the event requires talent to attend, although they obviously can’t during the strike. I’m guessing that January was the latest trajectory they could imagine, so they pushed it to that, as opposed to postponing it to like September/October only for it to have to get postponed again in the case that the strikes still weren’t resolved by then.

Honestly, I'm just at a point in general where I'm accepting reality as it comes. We should know by now that nothing is guaranteed and we're better off accepting that, otherwise we're bound to be disappointed regardless. I mean for fucks sake we're still reeling from a pandemic that is being projected to come back full force by the end of the year, with possibly even more cases than we've seen in the past. If that were to occur, filming could be put on hold AGAIN. And honestly if it comes down to that, the least of our worries will be a TV show.

NGL my brain can't even properly compute s5 happening because it's not in fact happening yet and it's been that way for so long. I think until it's at least halfway filmed, i'm just going to be stuck in this mindset of viewing it as a far away fever dream. As depressing as that sounds lol

[tellthemeerkatsitsfine]

If you’ve ever wanted to know where certain comedians were during important historical events, you can make a good guess if that event happened to occur on a Tuesday. Daniel Kitson has material about how he knows 9/11 occurred on a Tuesday because he was playing football at the time. The consistency of some comedians always being in the same place on Tuesday afternoons has actually been quite helpful in my efforts to catalogue every bit of comedy that’s ever been recorded - if I have trouble finding a date for something, any mention of how long it’s been since they last played football/will next play soccer will tell me how close it is to Tuesday.

In re-listening to bits of old Bugles, I’ve been reminded that Obama’s first inauguration was on Tuesday, January 20th, 2009. John Oliver spent the inauguration at the actual event, filming for The Daily Show. He spent quite a bit of the next Bugle episode discussing this, before Andy told him that he spent the inauguration in an interesting location as well, which was at the soccer game. And luckily, that meant he was able to capture the British reaction in the immediate aftermath of this historic occasion.

...It’s a Bugle clip of Andy Zaltzman briefly interviewing Lee Mack, Russell Howard, and Daniel Kitson about Obama’s inauguration, after playing soccer with them. That’s what that clip is, I thought it was funny and worth cutting out.

[leiajoydesign]

Tuesday 17th October 2023 - Research

The article reports on the negative impact of fake news in the context of recent unrest in France following the fatal police shooting of a 17-year-old in a Paris suburb. It highlights instances where false and misleading claims related to the protests were spread on social media, potentially exacerbating tensions.

Images and videos from the French unrest were widely shared on social media, alongside false and misleading claims. A Twitter post depicting a group of young men driving a police van was accompanied by the words "France, photo of the day." However, this image was from a 2022 French film called Athena, not from the current riots.

Footage of cars falling from a multi-story car park, shared with the message "WTF is going on in France…," was old footage from a film, Fast and Furious 8, filmed in the United States in 2016.

A video showing a hooded man on a rooftop with what appeared to be a rifle was falsely claimed to be a rioter in France. This video was actually from March 2022 and wasn't related to the current disturbances.

A TikTok video showing a large crowd in Nanterre, where the shooting occurred, was not actually filmed in France but in Mexico City during a concert by the band Los Fabulosos Cadillacs.

The article highlights the dangers of fake news and misinformation during periods of social unrest. It demonstrates how misleading information and manipulated content can quickly spread on social media, exacerbating tensions and misinforming the public. Things that need to be considered with social media and the spread of fake news

Speed and Impact of Misinformation: The rapid spread of false and misleading content on social media can have significant consequences. It can fuel anger and contribute to the escalation of unrest, making it crucial to verify the accuracy of information before sharing it.

Responsibility of Social Media Users: The article underscores the importance of responsible social media usage. Users should critically evaluate the information they encounter, verify sources, and refrain from sharing unverified or misleading content that can contribute to the spread of fake news.

Media Literacy: Media literacy is increasingly important in the digital age. People must be equipped with the skills to discern between reliable and unreliable sources of information. This incident highlights the need for better education in media literacy to empower individuals to make informed judgments.

Ethical Implications: The misuse of images and videos, particularly when falsely claimed to depict current events, raises ethical concerns. Such actions can damage trust in media and exacerbate distrust in institutions.

Verification Efforts: The BBC Verify team's efforts to debunk false claims and verify the accuracy of content demonstrate the value of fact-checking in the fight against misinformation. Fact-checking organizations play a crucial role in combating the spread of fake news.

In conclusion, this article reveals the dangers of fake news in the context of social unrest, emphasising the need for vigilance, media literacy, and ethical responsibility when engaging with information on social media platforms. The spread of misinformation can have serious consequences, and efforts to verify and debunk false claims are essential in countering its negative impact.

LO1

[denimbex1986]

'The movie Oppenheimer is a dynamic display of events surrounding the 1940s Manhattan Project. J. Robert Oppenheimer was an exceptional physicist recruited with other scientists to develop the first atomic bomb in Los Alamos, New Mexico. He is given the task of using his knowledge to build the bomb using quantum physics, fission and fusion principles. The movie portrays, in a non-linear sequence, what occurred before, during and after efforts to build the bomb.

Oppenheimer, flawlessly portrayed by Irish actor Cillian Murphy, realizes that if Hitler’s Germany builds the bomb first, it could mean the end of civilization. Murphy’s performance shows Oppenheimer as a brilliant, haunted man who knows that he, his fellow scientists and the military at Los Alamos are in a race against time. Matt Damon does a fine job playing General Leslie Groves in a strong performance, and lending occasional comic relief. The scientists and the military work in tandem, but not necessarily in lockstep as to how things should proceed.

Some events, such as the hearings centered around Oppenheimer’s suspected link to the Communist Party, are filmed in black and white to differentiate them from what is occurring at other times. Oppenheimer is suspected because his wife and mistress had formerly been Communists. It was not clearly determined whether Oppenheimer was a Communist, but his security clearance was revoked because of the suspicion. Robert Downey Jr. deserves high praise for playing Lewis Strauss, Atomic Energy Commission head, a driving force behind the hearings. He becomes an enemy to Oppenheimer.

Christopher Nolan, the film’s writer and director, has assembled his film like a large, vibrant puzzle, moving unpredictably back and forth in time. The hearings may be shown, then Oppenheimer as a professor, then the Los Alamos activity preparing the bomb, back to the hearings, to the bomb’s assembly, then something else. The editing is tight, and the dramatic musical score holds your attention. The photography is masterful, often focused on Oppenheimer’s expressive face.

A few days prior to the bomb’s detonation, there is uncertainty whether the bomb may destroy the earth’s atmosphere. General Groves asks Oppenheimer about the chances of that happening. Oppenheimer responds that they are near zero. Groves says “Zero would be nice.”

On July 15, 1945, at 5:30 am, the bomb is ignited at the Trinity site near Alamogordo, New Mexico, about 250 miles of Los Alamos. There is bright flash of light, then pure silence for about 10 seconds before a shattering blast is heard. The sound would have taken that long to reach the observers a few miles away. The explosion’s light could be seen from 200 miles. Glass shattered at 125.

Most depictions of the bomb’s development show the explosion, then the bombs dropped on Japan weeks later. That is not the case here. Those bombings are mentioned only peripherally.

There is a key moment near the end of the film where Oppenheimer talks with Albert Einstein near a pond. They speak of the physics and calculations involved with nuclear weapons and what could happen if more powerful bombs are created and utilized. It demonstrated that two of the most brilliant men in the 20th century knew the consequences should the nuclear button ever be pushed.

The last minutes of the film are sobering, with Oppenheimer’s face reflecting the concerns of what he had helped unleash. One can only imagine his reaction to the threats, uttered in the past few years of actually using nuclear weapons. The message is that there is zero margin for error, with mutual annihilation the eventual and final outcome.

Oppenheimer is a long, multi-layered film intended for those who appreciate meaningful, thought-provoking work. It is filmmaking at its most powerful, utilizing all senses and intellectual abilities. Its lessons are intended to provoke its viewers to sober evaluation.'

[world-cinema-research]

Platoon (1986)

Platoon (1986)  Roger Ebert “Here is a movie that regards combat from ground level, from the infantryman's point of view, and it does not make war look like fun.”  

Ebert- “There are no false heroics in this movie, and no standard heroes; the narrator is quickly at the point of physical collapse, bedeviled by long marches, no sleep, ants, snakes, cuts, bruises and constant, gnawing fear. In a scene near the beginning of the film, he is on guard duty when he clearly sees enemy troops approaching his position, and he freezes. He will only gradually, unknowingly, become an adequate soldier.”  Platoon had a budget of $6,000,000. The movie made over $138,000,000 Worldwide.  

The historical images are Chernobyl, which the nuclear disaster happened the year the film was released. There is also a picture of the astronauts from the Challenger mission in which the rocket exploded on live television. 

The film that made an impact on me is Platoon. Platoon was released in 1986 and was directed by Oliver Stone. The movie follows a young recruit named Chris Taylor played by Charlie Sheen. Taylor joined the army while the United States was entangled in a conflict with North Vietnam. The movie shows the brutality of the war and the extreme conditions that the soldiers and the civilians of Vietnam had to endure. The directors wanted the audience to see what the Vietnam did to innocent people. The soldiers were subjected to conditions that were hard to endure. They reacted by taking out their anger on the civilians. The consistently had the notion that the civilians were giving information to the Vietcong that would put the American’s lives in danger. The movie also dives into the issue of soldiers who had problems with drugs. This was actual issue that went on during the Vietnam war.   

The producers of Platoon hired many big names for this film. Charlie Sheen, Tom Berenger, Willem Dafoe, Forest Witaker, and Johnny Depp had a small role as well. The graphic depictions of war and the strong language gave this film an R rating. Oliver Stone actual served in Vietnam which brings more realism to the script. The movie is very sporadic and there is no set story line. There are no true heroes. The soundtrack to the film is appropriate for the time and was well chosen. It is difficult to decide whether it is a mainstream or unconventional film. I would say it is mainstream because of the A-list actors. But the film was released before many of these actors were at the height of their fame.  

The information that I found online regarding the film definitely was different than what I remember watching the last time I watched this movie. After watching Platoon again, I realized a large portion of the story was the conflict between the two sergeants played by Berenger and Dafoe. It leaves the audience to wonder which side to take. Dafoe’s character displays more empathy for the civilians. He looks at them as humans. Berenger’s character on the other hand will do anything to survive, that means taking innocent lives.  

The movie was released in 1986. There were many significant events that happened that year. One was the Challenger tragedy which was televised live for millions of people to see. Another significant event that occurred that year was the Chernobyl nuclear disaster which turned an entire city into a ghost town. This film did reflect concerns people had at the time. The Vietnam war was widely protested and was during a time of extreme distrust in the government. The veterans of the Vietnam war were also not treated like heroes like other generations. This film did an incredible job in portraying the life of a group of American soldiers. Soldiers who were stuck in a country in Southeast Asia and exposed to extreme elements and exhaustion. The film showed what this did to the soldiers mentally. One does not know how they would truly act unless they were exposed to the same situation themselves. Would you always act with empathy? Or would you break moral codes in order to survive? Platoon is a film that will always remind me of being a teenager. This was at the height of my obsessions with American military campaigns. Watching it again reminded me how much I enjoyed reading and researching about the history of American conflicts.  

Tom Berenger & Dale Dye "Platoon" 1/10/87 - Bobbie Wygant Archive 

Platoon (1986) - Barnes Crosses the Line Scene (3/10) | Movieclips 

Platoon(1986) - The All Night ambush 

[mb5193]

Platoon (1986)

Platoon (1986)  Roger Ebert “Here is a movie that regards combat from ground level, from the infantryman's point of view, and it does not make war look like fun.”  

Ebert- “There are no false heroics in this movie, and no standard heroes; the narrator is quickly at the point of physical collapse, bedeviled by long marches, no sleep, ants, snakes, cuts, bruises and constant, gnawing fear. In a scene near the beginning of the film, he is on guard duty when he clearly sees enemy troops approaching his position, and he freezes. He will only gradually, unknowingly, become an adequate soldier.”  Platoon had a budget of $6,000,000. The movie made over $138,000,000 Worldwide.  

The historical images are Chernobyl, which the nuclear disaster happened the year the film was released. There is also a picture of the astronauts from the Challenger mission in which the rocket exploded on live television. 

The film that made an impact on me is Platoon. Platoon was released in 1986 and was directed by Oliver Stone. The movie follows a young recruit named Chris Taylor played by Charlie Sheen. Taylor joined the army while the United States was entangled in a conflict with North Vietnam. The movie shows the brutality of the war and the extreme conditions that the soldiers and the civilians of Vietnam had to endure. The directors wanted the audience to see what the Vietnam did to innocent people. The soldiers were subjected to conditions that were hard to endure. They reacted by taking out their anger on the civilians. The consistently had the notion that the civilians were giving information to the Vietcong that would put the American’s lives in danger. The movie also dives into the issue of soldiers who had problems with drugs. This was actual issue that went on during the Vietnam war.   

The producers of Platoon hired many big names for this film. Charlie Sheen, Tom Berenger, Willem Dafoe, Forest Witaker, and Johnny Depp had a small role as well. The graphic depictions of war and the strong language gave this film an R rating. Oliver Stone actual served in Vietnam which brings more realism to the script. The movie is very sporadic and there is no set story line. There are no true heroes. The soundtrack to the film is appropriate for the time and was well chosen. It is difficult to decide whether it is a mainstream or unconventional film. I would say it is mainstream because of the A-list actors. But the film was released before many of these actors were at the height of their fame.  

The information that I found online regarding the film definitely was different than what I remember watching the last time I watched this movie. After watching Platoon again, I realized a large portion of the story was the conflict between the two sergeants played by Berenger and Dafoe. It leaves the audience to wonder which side to take. Dafoe’s character displays more empathy for the civilians. He looks at them as humans. Berenger’s character on the other hand will do anything to survive, that means taking innocent lives.  

The movie was released in 1986. There were many significant events that happened that year. One was the Challenger tragedy which was televised live for millions of people to see. Another significant event that occurred that year was the Chernobyl nuclear disaster which turned an entire city into a ghost town. This film did reflect concerns people had at the time. The Vietnam war was widely protested and was during a time of extreme distrust in the government. The veterans of the Vietnam war were also not treated like heroes like other generations. This film did an incredible job in portraying the life of a group of American soldiers. Soldiers who were stuck in a country in Southeast Asia and exposed to extreme elements and exhaustion. The film showed what this did to the soldiers mentally. One does not know how they would truly act unless they were exposed to the same situation themselves. Would you always act with empathy? Or would you break moral codes in order to survive? Platoon is a film that will always remind me of being a teenager. This was at the height of my obsessions with American military campaigns. Watching it again reminded me how much I enjoyed reading and researching about the history of American conflicts.  

Tom Berenger & Dale Dye "Platoon" 1/10/87 - Bobbie Wygant Archive 

Platoon (1986) - Barnes Crosses the Line Scene (3/10) | Movieclips 

Platoon(1986) - The All Night ambush 

[heymmorg]

123 movies avengers age of ultron free online stream 123

#123 MOVIES AVENGERS AGE OF ULTRON FREE ONLINE STREAM 123 MOVIE#

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A leaked photo from the set showed Kate Bishop and Pizza Dog standing next to a banner reading "Happy New Year 2025: Year of the Snake." This would indicate that Spider Man No Way Home is actually set during Christmas 2024, not 2025. However, there is one detail that seems to knock this theory down. 'To all train destination Asturias', by Santiago Segura.įollowing Spider Man No Way Home's clues, the age of Clint Barton's children also fits the year 2025. If we take a look at the 10 highest grossing films of the year in Spain, 9 are big productions and only one is a more modest and Spanish film. Most watched film of the year in Spain, only surpassed -and only slightly- by the ninth installment of the Fast & Furious saga. In four days (it premiered last Thursday) it has raised more than 9 million euros in our country. Almost 9 out of 10 have opted for this blockbuster. Almost a million and a half people have gone to the movies this weekend. Spider-Man has not only been the best weekend of the year 2021 in the United States, but also in Spain, where not so many people have gone to the cinema on a weekend since January 2020, just before the pandemic. There has not been such a massive audience and collection premiere since 2019, when 'Avengers: Endgame' was released. Spider-Man is second only to two Avengers movies. With figures still provisional, the Sony film has raised 253 million dollars in the United States alone, being the third most successful premiere in its entire history. 'Spider-Man: No Way Home' has exploded at the box office worldwide. The last of the young spider man has broken all the schemes, setting several records. That would mean that Spider-Man: No Way Home happened about a year earlier. Thus, Spider Man No Way Home takes place in Christmas 2025.

#123 MOVIES AVENGERS AGE OF ULTRON FREE ONLINE STREAM 123 SERIES#

Spider Man No Way Home is definitely set during Christmas, but what year exactly and how does it factor into the timeline of Phase 4 of Spider-Man: No Way Home?Īccording to Spider Man No Way Home director Rhys Thomas, the Jeremy Renner-directed series takes place "two years after the events of Endgame." While the exact dates within Avengers: Endgame are not given in the film, the final battle with Thanos (Josh Brolin) apparently occurred sometime in 2023. Spider-Man: No Way Home creates more problems as it's set shortly after Spider-Man: Far From Home, but it does open up the Multiverse, which is an event that plays across multiple timelines. The release of the Phase 4 MCU films has not been chronological, with Black Widow returning to Phase 3 and Loki taking place in multiple timelines. Thank you for watchingĪvengers: Endgame was primarily set in 2023. Spider Man No Way Home establishes that the first episode takes place on December 19, while the second chapter is set on December 20. But Clint Barton saves Kate's life and Spider Man No Way Home becomes his hero.Īpproximately 12 years later, Clint saves Kate again in the first episode of Spider Man No Way Home, when Bishop is attacked by the Tracksuit Mob. A young Kate Bishop witnesses the Chitari invasion from her house, which is damaged during the battle. Spider Man No Way Home's first chapter episode begins with a prologue set in 2012 during the Avengers Battle of New York. The world's two greatest archers have an adventure set during the holiday season in New York City, but that location and date calls into question the events of Spider-Man: No Way Home. The Disney+ series brings back Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner) and introduces Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld). And as with every premiere of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, fans wonder at what point in the chronology or timeline of the saga the series starring Jeremy Renner fits.Īccording to Marvel Studios, Spider Man No Way Home occurs after Spider-Man: No Way Home (Spider-Man: No way home). Spider Man No Way Home (Hawk Eye) continues his journey on Disney +.

#123 MOVIES AVENGERS AGE OF ULTRON FREE ONLINE STREAM 123 MOVIE#

The most recent Spider-Man movie was positioned behind two other superhero films that dominate the best box offices in history: Avengers Endgame and Avengers Infinity War.

#123 MOVIES AVENGERS AGE OF ULTRON FREE ONLINE STREAM 123 FULL#

How to watch Spider-Man No Way Home (2021) video wherever you are In the midst of a pandemic, this film achieved such a record by selling 4,235 tickets according to Sony and Marvel. Spiderman No Way Home has positioned itself as the third best opening of all time in cinema with a box office, only in the United States, of 253 million dollars.

[unexplained-events]

Cursed Horror Movie Sets

I wanted to compile a list of Horror Movie Sets that had creepy incidents occur both during/post filming. 

1) The Omen (1976): Probably the most infamous set on this list. There is a lot of tragedy and death surrounding this movie. Gregory Peck (lead actor) and Mace Neufeld (exec producer) both had their planes struck by lighting on different days. Harvery Bernhard (producer) was actually struck by lightning while filming in rome.  A plane that was chartered by the film, but switched at the last minute, went down shortly after takeoff, killing everyone on board (a total of 11 ppl).

Special effects artist John Richardson, who helped with the film's infamous decapitation scene, was in a car crash during post-production. While Richardson survived the Friday the 13th crash, the head-on collision beheaded Richardson's passenger, assistant Liz Moore, in a manner that was eerily similar to the death scene he helped shoot. Richardson reportedly saw a road sign near the accident scene showing the distance to a Dutch town that read: Ommen, 66.6 km.

2) Psycho (1960): A handyman named Kenneth Dean Hunt, who was working on the film, murdered Myra Jones (an uncredited body double for lead actress Janet Leigh). Myra Jones was 71 when she was strangled by Kenneth in 1988. Kenneth wasn’t caught until 10 yrs after he murdered Myra and in between that period of time, he murdered two additional people.

3) Poltergeist (1 and 2): Heather O'Rourke (Carol Anne the little girl) died at 12 yrs old due to a cardiac arrest. Dominique Dunne, 22, who played the eldest daughter Dana, was strangled to death by her boyfriend. They are both buried in the same cemetery in CA. The cast and crew were so creeped out by this that they thought the set was plagued by evil and had the set of Poltergeist 2 exorcised.  Julian Beck (played the evil preacher) died during post production of Poltergeist 2, Lou Perryman (played a construction worker) was axed to death in his home, and Will Samson (played Taylor the medicine man on P2) died of kidney failure. Many attribute these tragedies to using real corpses during the “flooded pool” scene.

4) The Exorcist (1973) : A total of 9 deaths are connected to the film. While on set, Ellen Burstyn (she played the mother) suffered a permanent spinal injury during a stunt gone wrong while shooting a scene where Regan throws her from the bed (her real scream of pain is used in the film). Actors Jack MacGowran, and Vasiliki Maliaros both died while the film was in post-production (both their characters died in film too). When the movie first hit theaters, several audience members had heart attacks. A priest was actually called on set to preform a real life exorcism.

5) The Conjuring (2013): This movie is based on the events experienced by the Perron family who actually were on set a few times. Once while on set, a strong wind came up and seemed to swirl around them. Members of crew standing nearby noticed that the trees just opposite them were not moving. The cast and crew’s hotel caught fire and they had to evacuate. Vera Farmiga (lead actress) would find claw marks on her laptop screen and even had claw marks on her thigh after filming concluded.

A lot of these, of course, can be attributed to coincidence but I find the connections interesting.

[kaypeace21]

Will and the car on fire (theories)

*this is just under the assumption this is Will in the pic and not some other character. Which is still very possible .

Why it could be Will (it's for sure possibly not)

But, most of the rebuttals saying it's not Will are iffy. Cause we really don't have much evidence to point to any 1 character. Like the hair counterargument: that the hair is too long to be Will's .Will's s4 body double has a similar hair tuff on the back of his neck. And we know st uses camera shots of the back of Will's neck/silouette ,in past seasons . So doing so here could make sense. And Will of course is the most associated with fire: using fireball for Will the wise in s1 (3 times), the will the wise drawing from s2 had flames on his cloak, Will being being burned in s2,etc.

So...Will looking at lightning. And (Will?) looking at fire. Both have a dark full body sillhouete and red in the forefront .

We also see this character is possibly wearing a watch like Will?

And i've been hearing this a lot here ... but southern california (where the Byers are) does have a lot of trees lol. Not sure why people think otherwise.But, regardless a trip from cali to Hawkins would most certainly have some forrest.

*Also, any movies I’ll be mentioning (in the theories , below) were stated to be inspiration for ST.

So theories...

Theory 1) It's Joyce's car ( and it was rigged  to explode/look like an accident by Brenner or Lonnie). And Will wasn't there but sees it in a nightmare cause it's already happened/or it's a dream vision of the future.

Evidence:  CAR TROUBLES: Joyce’s car model was infamous for exploding in car accidents-being sued by the state of Indianna before the start of the series. We also have Alexi tell murray about a way to cause cars to explode-and turn people into dust (and make it look like an accident). Brenner’s name means “to burn” and he already hurt 1 mother to keep a subject -so not out of the realm of possibilities for him to hurt Joyce (and make it look like an accident to try and get Will and or el). 

In s3, we have Jonathan and Hopper try and fix  the car-and after this cars explode with people inside. Jonathan lifts the car hood- and notices someone rigged nancy’s car . Than,  right after,Billy’s car lights on fire with him inside. With Hopper (he also lifts the car hood) and joyce barely escapes the lit car (but she may not be so lucky next time).

 We also have Joyce tell Will 3x she’s going to be ok... which is a bit overkill if she will be OK ... 

And, notice during the hoodlift we see Will observing- which is similar to Alexi watching and warning them before hand that the car (with Joyce inside) will explode. So it’s possible foreshadowing since Will may predict the future and was was paralleled to Alexi.Alexi ‘can we watch lonnie toons now?. Will : can we play d&d now?

movie inspos: 

It’s hinted s4 will be around Will’s b day: In gilbert grape- Arnie after his b day, has his mom die, and a fire was stagged that lit his mom on fire. ( Before this,Arnie was also raised by his older brother Gilbert cause his dad wasn’t around). stoker-  kid’s parent dies in staged car ‘accident’ on her bday (this allows ab*sive relative closer to kid-since dead parent banned him from seeing kid). The kid  was taught how to hunt, by dad. And is also a painter and bullied at school (like Will). what dreams may come-painter blames themselves for fam dying in freak car accident- the relative was getting a present for them when it happened. so they blame themselves. The descent- also had (right before a b day, the main character’s fam dying in a car accident) .And the sole survivor/family member of the deceased hallucinates a shadow chasing her in a empty hospital hall. Get out-photographer (jonathan)blames himself for mother dying in car accident.

There’s also a lot of other films where the kid (for no logical reason) blames themselves for their mom’s/parent’s death: goodson, dream catcher, analyse this,etc. Of course ... this could simply relate to max and el having survivors guilt after the mall killed their family members (in a fake ‘mall fire’). However, a fake out fire causing  family to die (in s3)  could be foreshadowing for it actually happening in s4?

rigged car explosions: scarface -have guys try and bomb a car with kids and parent inside. backdraft -guy raised by older brother had 1 parent die in explosion and sees the freak explosion occur- later in the film someone rigs a car to explode and masks it as a  freak car accident. Same thing occurs in godfather- he sees family member die in rigged car explosion. The dark knight- rigs car to explode. batman v superman- calls superman a demon and says they need to burn the witch that bore him (aka his mom).

dreams (if in the past): Never ending story (reffed in s3)- starts with kid with bowl cut saying he had another dream about his mother who died. Peanut butter solution- kid has visions in dreams about people he knew who died in fire.  this next movie (emily rose) is  said to be Joyce byers inspo according to Winona - has (kid with 2 personalities) have nightmares from the past  of her and her mother burning in a car fire. while screaming/sleep walking she burns windows with her hands -accidentally using her powers. Some people suspect the videogame “life is strange’ is show inspo too- it has character named max caufield with a ‘never maxine rule’, etc. Anyways in the game prequel queer chloe, who plays d&d, would have dreams/nightmares of her nice parent’s car accident . Despite , chloe not being present for the car accident. After the parent’s death,  she’s stuck with her mean step dad.

dreams (if predicting the future): Will says in s3 Will the wise can see into the future. We also see Will/Will the wise via a dream predict Hopper was in danger-saying  to Joyce “he’s going to die”.  In ‘12 monkeys’ and ‘Rebel Robin st novel’ they mention the myth of cassandra- who could make accurate future prophecies , but was cursed to never be believed by those she warned. In 12 monkeys- he tries warning others of a dreaded event in future- and it’s dismissed as  him being mentally ill. Since, Will’s other abilities were dismissed as his ptsd in s2-and with the Byers fam having a family history of mental illness (they may not believe him over such a prediction). In ‘the ring’-the  movie opens with the guardian saying the boy is drawing the car accident that killed his mom -as a psychological coping mechanism. Only for the teacher to say he made that drawing before his mother’s death (and it’s revealed later the boy is psychic). Terminator 2- sarah conner says she is having future visions, which include explosions, and everyone dismisses it as her being schizophrenic. Like how in s2 a scientist said about Will “let’s see if this boy is a wizard or a schizo”.

If joyce survives the accident she may be hospitlized (and unable to have legal custody). In black swan the girl (with 2 personas) -blames herself for what happened to Winona Ryder’s character (who is in a coma after a car accident. They had had a verbal fight before the accident). In girl with the dragon tattoo- the main character (who is compared to a phoenix and dragon) has 1 parent burned in a fire- and after this her kind guardian is hospitilized so they can no longer take care of her- and she is placed with an ab*sive foster dad (who resembles her bio dad). If Joyce was in a coma - it would further parallel her to terry- and be another willel parallel.

 if dead: Tokyodrift- mom loses custody, and dad who is a mechanic and abandoned the family years ago, later gets custody. Super 8-mom dies in freak accident- douche dad gets custody. Book of henry-mom dies pre-film, ab*sive dad got custody. Outsiders- parents die in car wreck, relative gets custody of teen who he slaps etc.In black swan-girl who blames herself for Winona’s accident is stuck living with ab*sive parent. good son- mom dies, stuck with violent and manipulative relative after this.

Of course-joyce may be fine. And Lonnie may just visit for Will’s b-day and ruin shit that way.

Theory 2) It's an undercover government car that Will uses his powers against in self defense... or in anger after they hurt someone he loves.

Evidence:

Joyce about ‘Will the wise’: If he’s so wise, why does he need the fireballs? Why can’t he just outsmart the bad guys? Will: cause the bad guys are smart too. Joyce: so he needs the fireballs? Will: Yeah, to burn them to a crisp.

* the fact-this flashback happens at a funeral of a Byers, could also be narratively significant as foreshadowing.

Gov agents in s1 are  called “the bad-men” so Will may use fireball on “the bad-guys”(government agents) . Fire has been used on all the other adversaries relating to the upsidedown-so why not the gov agents (aka human villains) next? 2 movies on the inspo list caught my attention: firestarter & carrie (which are both stephen king adaptions with psychic kids who have fire abilities). 

Firestarter- she has pyrokineseis (firepowers) . And unlike every other psychic in the film- she is the only psychic that doesn't get nose bleeds (aka mini brain hemorages) from using her powers (Will). We know el and kali gets nose bleeds.  

(Anger): She only unleashes her fire abilities on gov agents after they kill her parent...

*And uses a literal “fireball” on them.

Could also be another willel parallel. kali about the US gov:" They took your mother away from you!" El str*ngles man from gov agency that incapacitated her mom . El before str*ngling him: " you hurt mama".

(self defense): While  in carrie  she kills people who tried to run her over with a car. And causes the car to explode.

Also, in s3 Steve does technically cause a car to explode to protect Nancy from being run over by a car (so maybe foreshadowing?). I believe, tumblr user ‘bran-who-writes-theoretically” was the first to point out the Carrie/car on fire parallel.

* This car scene could also be added to the list of Willel parallels. El�� in s1 uses her powers to flip a government-car upside down. And looks back at it. And it’s a ref to the film Et. So Will causing a government -car to explode and flip upsidedown (referencing carrie) could be a parallel. 

Of course El flipped over a car in s3 to attack the Soviet agents and protect her friends too ( right before losing her powers). Sort of like Steve using his car as a weapon in s3 to protect his friends. so who knows, if not Will, maybe El (wearing a ponytail) got her telekenesis back and she flips the car and it explodes ? To be honest, I just find this explanation too boring, cliche, and predictable. And I still hypothosize the mindflayer took her telekensis (but not her other powers). Since in d&d mindflayers have ‘mage hand’ (what el is called) and ‘telekenesis’/ along with the ability to steal powers from other life forms. But, we’ll see...

Theory 3) The car flips (maybe caused by a deer jumping in the road) and it blows up after the crash- with Joyce inside. And maybe Jonathan survives it/ Will wasn’t there but had a nightmare /vision about it?

Evidence: in s1 Jonathan sees a dead deer that was hit by a car. This could be symbolic : because it related to Jonathan mentioning the hunting story with his dad and how he cried for a week cause he liked the film Bambi. Which in the film : Bambi (a deer) has his mother k*lled. And after his mother’s death, he’s taken in by his douchey dad who was M.I.A for most of his life ,until his mom passed away. And the hunters are the bad guys in the film . In ‘get out’ the photographer , Chris,blames himself for his mother dying in a car accident - and he sees a dead deer hit by a car -and the dying deer was used to symbolize the guilt he has over his mother’s  death. in ‘the long kiss goodnight’ a character is driving home with a friend- they swerve and hit a deer and 1 of them is ejected from the car into the forrest. But their friend is unconscious in the car and it quickly explodes on the road. The survivor turns and sees the car in flames- disoriented they stumble and kill the dying deer. And it’s left ambiguous if they were helping the deer end it’s pain or if it was vengeful-hunting (since it caused the car accident that killed their friend). Cause their face was emotionless from shock.

Even in the st novel "suspicious minds' rabbits- like jonathan was forced to kill on the hunting trip with his dad (around his b-day) represented the bond between mother and child.And the mother sacrificing herself for the baby-to not get k*lled (by Brenner).

-so maybe?? jonathan before he gets the pizza job/car (may have his car break down , like hinted it would in s3).

 So him and Joyce share the car (once his car stops working) and the accident happens while Jonathan is behind the wheel -with Joyce. And after this he gets the job at surfer boy pizza. Billy was a surfer boy and that memory was used to think about his mother who is no longer around (once he's stuck with his ab*sive dad after moving away from Cali). While Jonathan moved to Cali after his mom passed-maybe stuck with Lonnie.Jonathan's actor in recent pics has a blonde mullet - which sort of resembles joyce/Billy's og hair. This may be why he starts doing dr*gs - which is pretty out of character for him- but it could be a coping mechanism(like in the s4 films). One of many examples was 'enter the void'- the older brother was surrogate parent to their lil sibling and after a car accident k*lls his parents , he starts doing dr*gs to cope. Also ‘hunger games’ was on the list- and Katniss (who was a surrogate parent to her litle sibling, like Jonathan is to Will) in the sequel, saw her family die in an explosion. And it really broke her emotionally.

I've mentioned this before but Billy is used to parallel and foil Will and Jonathan. And it may be more than a ... what if Lonnie had custody scenario. But to show how Lonnie (like most ab*sers) will later bring out the worst in the kids (once he does have custody). Like how s3 has Will mimick lonnie with the baseball bat (and we see in s3 Billy being bullied by his dad to play baseball and flashbacks showing him mimicking Neil). I've also discussed how there's a theme with pretty much every character mimicking their parent- for better or worse.

Killing a deer would certainly hint at Jonathan's possible character regression (and mimicking Lonnie to a certain extent). if he not only blames himself for Joyce's death. But is also stuck with his ab*ser.

The animal k*lling motif , and after that, mimicking an a b*sive father is already shown with el. Brenner , in s1,tried to make her k*ll a cat (using her powers) and she refused (similar to the s1 rabbit hunting story of Lonnie forcing Jonathan to k*ll a rabbit ). But in s2, she uses her powers to k*ll a squirrel (and like a deer- it's typical hunting game). Than in s3 el does literally everything Brenner ever asked of her- she spies on people and repeats the words back (like brenner told her to do), she becomes a weapon to ‘fight the commies’ (which was said to be the reason he k*dnapped her in the first place), and when looking into the void to see the mf (she mirrors the words brenner told her - when he made her go into the void to face the demogorgan).

And some s4 movies are literally about being trapped in a house with your ab*ser and slowly losing your mind because of the ab*se and gaslighting- lighthouse , black swan , good son, are prime examples. But movies like scar face , girl with the dragon tattoo, and book of Henry touch on this theme a bit as well. And ordinary people- is about a guy who survived a vehicular accident but his relative in the same accident didn't- and it causes him alot of issues /survivor's guilt.

The shadowy figure could just be Will in the shot - seeing it in a dream before or after it happens?

Theory 4) Will sees a future vision or has his ’now memories’ of someone else's car.

Evidence: i guess the s4 shot parallels El (in s3) spying on Billy while he’s hurting Heather. During that spying scene: the shot is of El near Billy's car. So it’s possibly a diff willel parallel?

If not Will. Who knows ...if El’s telekenesis is gone maybe her spying abilities strengthened and look different because of it (and now she can see background details)?

Theory 5) it's Lonnie's car and Will escapes from the trunk and uses his powers in self defense

Evidence: I’m pretty iffy on this one. This goes back to how people suspected Lonnie took Will in s1 (and could be foreshadowing). Even the recent rebel robin book-has characters say Lonnie probably took Will. Jonathan suspected Will may be at Lonnie’s - so checks Lonnie’s car trunk (to see if Will is there). We also see how the mf in s3, knocked people out by dr*gs/str*ngulation, ties them up, and throws them in a trunk (to k*dnap them). Or how the cops raided jonathan’s trunk- which had stuff to track the demogorgan (and the demogorgan parallels Lonnie) . And after looking in Jonathan’s trunk-they suspected something fishy is going on.

*heather was described as “another me” by Will- who was thrown in the trunk.

movies: “tangled” was on the s4 list- and had an ab*sive parent later try and kidnap their kid ,and that parent ends up dying. in girl with the dragon tattoo (the girl associated with dragons & phoenixes-  lights her  ab*sive bio dad on fire. In ‘drop dead fred’ (girl who is in love with childhood friend, named Mikey, who she met at age 5) lights a imaginary version of her ab*sive parent on fire - while in a trippy memory world. Chrissy accidentally lights her ab*sive relative (nickname “daddy”)  on fire in self defense- in a trippy hell memory scape. in ‘long kiss goodnight- the girl with 2 personalities (Will/will the wise) was kidnapped and put in a trunk and escapes by jumping into a quarry. Not sure if that could relate to a flashback or something else? like in ‘don’t breath’ the older sibling who essentially was a surrogate parent to the younger sibling-mentions how their dad left the family, and her parent would throw her in the trunk for hours as a punishment.

[sevenkittensinatrenchcoat]

Misto’s Mating Dance Partners

Because the White Cat Lift AKA Mating Dance scene of the Jellicle Ball focuses mainly on Victoria and whoever she’s dancing with, what’s going on in the background is often ignored. But, there’s a clear pattern. The other cats pair off, go to the edges of the stage, forming a circle around Victoria and Her Man. They then do...whatever. There don’t seem to be official rules for what the pairs do, so some of them nap, some of the stare out into space, some of them cuddle...

And some of them blatantly fuck.

This scene is often called the Cat Orgy because of the blatant fucking that often occurs. So, you can watch the characters, see who pairs up with who and whether or not they fuck. Because Misto is my favorite character and one of the easiest to identify in even low-quality bootlegs, I went and watched him during this scene in every production in my bootleg collection.

Part One: Failure

In several of the older productions, I couldn’t see anything. Bootleggers and professionals alike tended to zoom in on Victoria and Her Man and stay there for most of the scene. Mexico 1991 mainly did this. Also, Vienna, with its Dark Voids and Weird Editing Choices was impossible to decipher.

Among the newer productions, Madrid was lost to Weird Editing Choices. Most of the dance wasn’t even visible! There were long close ups on Old Deuteronomy and Grizabella doing nothing when they should have been filming Victoria and Plato doing Something. It wasn’t even like they were distracted by an interesting background event. They just held the camera on characters who weren’t doing anything other than Reacting Slightly.

Part Two: Mistoria

Paris and Zurich paired Misto with Victoria for the Mating Dance. There was a slightly different dynamic with Misto and Victoria than there is when Plato or Tumblebrutus is Victoria’s Man. When Plato or Tumble, the most common choices for this part, approach Victoria, they’re awkward, but they still sort of take the lead. Victoria comes across as a bit shy at first, but she quickly gets into it. In the Mistoria versions, Misto is far more nervous approaching and often jumps back startled after touching Victoria. It feels like Victoria takes the lead in these versions, turning her back and basically being like “lift me”. Zurich Misto in particular is practically freaking out and the lift is kind of bizarre to watch because he looks so tiny!

Part Three: You’d Think Misto/Cassandra Would Be a Bigger Ship

Broadway-based productions, which paired Alonzo with Demeter, seemed to love pairing Misto with Cassandra for the Mating Dance. Troika and Buenos Aires did this and they did it in the same way. Misto and Cassandra practically have a dance of their own, performing the same motions when paired together. Usually, these pairs tend to seem like they’re improvising a little, but this specific couple has its own choreography.

The idea to pair Misto and Cassandra most likely comes from Misto later choosing Cassandra as his “lovely assistant” when he brings back Old Deuteronomy. In most productions, they don’t have much interaction outside of that. In Troika, Cassandra is also one of the cats who sometimes stands in for Coricopat and Tantomile, who were cut. Coricopat and Tantomile’s twin stuff was given to Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer, while a lot of their psychic moments were given to either Demeter or Cassandra. So, in Troika, Misto and Cassandra are both mystical cats of some sort, which brings them together, because it’s something other cats don’t get.

I’m not super into this ship, because I generally don’t ship Misto with women, but the implications of the pairing in the Troika version are interesting.

Part Four: Lonely Misto

Hamburg, The German Tent Tour, and probably Moscow didn’t pair Misto with anyone. He just sat by himself. In Hamburg, there was a reason for this. Just like how Buenos Aires and Troika gave Misto’s role of fetching Old Deuteronomy to Skimble, Hamburg has a Mistotable instead of a Skimbletable.

I probably should’ve listed Moscow as a failure, but I’m still not sure what happened there.

The German Tent Tour just has Misto sitting by himself. He crawls to the Cuddle Pile, does a handstand, and no one cares.

But, the German Tent Tour shows signs of being part of a trend. While earlier, Broadway-based shows liked pairing Misto and Cassandra, newer productions never seem sure who to pair him with, so you have this scene of a lonely Misto surrounded by happy, horny straight couples and looking a bit out of place. This was probably unintentional, but it gives Misto an extra layer of gay coding.

Part Five: More Recent Stuff That Doesn’t Fit in the Other Categories

The 2013 UK Tour does something a bit interesting. Misto just sort of naps during the Mating Dance, but Carbucketty, who’s been following him around and imitating his dance moves for the past few minutes, lies down to nap at his feet. They don’t really interact and they’re barely touching, but it still counts as a pair. This is the closest I’ve gotten to finding a version where Misto’s paired with a tom. Of course, compared to most of the straight couples in any version of this scene, there is no horniness to be found. So, they’re two bros napping next to each other, but not quite cuddling ‘cause they’re not gay :(

Also I think Carbucketty might’ve ditched Misto for Rumpleteazer at the last second. We can never have nice things.

The Broadway Revival, having different choreography and staging for most of the Jellicle Ball is interesting in the way the Broadway Revival is usually interesting (kind of frustrating tbh). In the new choreography, everything from Bomba’s solo through the Mating Dance is basically one scene. Some queens dance, even more queens join them, a bunch of toms show up and pair up with them, the Boys Ballet and Whirlygigs are replaced with a romantic dance, everyone takes a hit of moonlight and things start to resemble other productions a bit more from there.

Because the pairs pair up quickly and stay together for a long time, it’s easy to see all of them. Only most of the cast is paired up, but I can identify, Tugger/Bomba, Munk/Demeter, Alonzo/Cassandra, Skimble/Jenny, Plato/Victoria, Coricopat/Tantomile (why do the siblings always stay together for the horny scenes?), Mungojerrie/Rumpleteazer (they’re probably not siblings in this version, so they get a pass), Pouncival/Electra, and Carbucketty/Sillabub.

Jellylorum, Tumblebrutus, and Mistoffelees are absent. They’re offstage until the Mating Dance properly starts. I have no idea where Tumblebrutus went, but this isn’t about him. Tugger crawls past Misto and they almost interact before Tugger leaves with Bomba. Jellylorum pairs up with Misto, presumably because neither one could find an actually date.

Now, the actress who played Jellylorum in this production has said in interviews that she played Jellylorum as the same age as Tugger. (The actors are besties irl so they made their characters besties too). So, this isn’t quite as weird as if feels when you first read it. Everyone’s the same age in this show, except for the kittens. Electra, Sillabub, and Pouncival were played as literal children in every scene but this one, because no one can escape the cat orgy (except Tumblebrutus, for some reason). But, unlike in 1998, which featured a lot of crack pairings during this scene (Tugger/Jenny, anyone?), pretty much every pairing in the 2016 orgy is the most obvious pairing possible. Anyone who didn’t have an obvious opposite gender counterpart was given one, except for Misto, Jelly, and Tumble. They could’ve brought back Peter (renamed Asparagus) from the opening to be Jelly’s obvious pairing, and then just had Tumble nap on Misto’s feet like 2013 Carbucketty, but they didn’t.

The result is that they created a bunch of comphet pairings but simply couldn’t do so for Misto. All his usual comphet pairing were taken. Cassandra’s with Alonzo and Victoria’s with Plato. Knowing that Tyler Hanes and Ricky Ubeda both shipped Tuggoffelees, they probably didn’t want to do the comphet thing either. Up until this point, this production had actually downplayed Tugger/Bomba, compared to other versions and added Tugger/Misto moments. I think, if it’d been allowed, Tugger and Misto would’ve been paired up there. Bomba can be like 1998, not having her usual partner and just going with whoever’s not paired up, which would be Tumblebrutus this time. Peter could be there for Jelly. Everyone’s happy!

But seriously, Gay Misto Mating Dance Scene when? Somebody get on that. People already find the horniness in Cats to be weird and adding gay horniness won’t make much of a difference.

[no-reply95]

This is bizarre: Philip Norman (yes, him again) just claimed in his new article on Get Back that George Martin had confirmed to him the "Harrison and Lennon physically fought" story in 2006. That seems odd, given that in the film we see them mocking the very newspaper story this claim came from, with John and George doing mock punches. Would they do that if such an incident had really happened?

Hi thanks for the ask!

To be honest, Philip Norman is the type of author where if he writes the sky is blue I’d have to check myself before I believe him… I think he’s improved slightly from his Shout days but he’s still not great when it comes to providing accurate information or analysing the sources he’s acquired to get to the truth.

With regards to the “fight” that occurred between John and George during the Get Back sessions, we have to evaluate the sources we have at our disposal. In Get Back we see the supposed proponents of this fight discussing in real time that the only time they’d ever had a physical fight was during Hamburg and being so offended by a news story about them fighting that they inquired about how to sue over it, that adds credibility to the view that they didn’t actually fight.

On the other hand, you could say that the Beatles knew they were being filmed so their whole discussion about never fighting was a PR ploy to downplay the tensions in the band and show the public they were still as united as ever. I think that’s somewhat unlikely but you never know, I guess it’s notable that they weren’t asking their legal counsel about suing the newspaper, they were asking PR expert Derek Taylor.

Now on to George Martin. I’m at a slight disadvantage because I haven’t read Norman’s book or know the specifics of George Martin’s account. I doubt that George Martin’s account of the fight was contemporary so it being retrospective adds in the possibility of faulty memory and the issue of borrowed testimony (relaying the thoughts of someone else who witnessed an event) which makes his account less credible.

There’s also the possibility that Martin may have been basing his account on the very newspaper that was discussed in Get Back rather than what he witnessed in reality. Similar a bit to George Harrison stating that he quit the band solely because of Paul, once an event has happened, when we give our retrospective opinion there’s a possibility that what we use to fill out our memories (a newspaper, a film etc) may not necessarily be accurate, resulting in a less credible take on what really happened.

Contrary to the above, generally speaking, George Martin is a pretty credible source in the Beatles world. George doesn’t really make wildly inaccurate statements based on his agenda, he had good relationships with all the Beatles so it’s less likely that he’d want to say something to get back at one of them, he didn’t take drugs so he was never under the influence of anything that would impact his perception when these events took place and it’s hard to believe that he would lie about the fight happening knowingly but, as I’ve outlined above, memory can play tricks on us.

Overall, the supposed fight occurred between John and George so their contemporary testimony holds more credibility than George Martin’s retrospective account. It’s possible that John and George downplayed their fight as that was in the PR interests of the band but without other sources from the time stating they actually did fight (have Paul or Ringo ever commented on this?) John and George’s account remains the most likely.

[nutty1005]

Exclusive Visit of 72 Hours! Full Record of “A Dream Like A Dream” Behind the Scenes

Original Article: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/yI4arm9P9nJwE3RMSUW-5Q Original Author: 杨晋亚 Translator’s note: The original author is part of Yuli Studio, this article is published in Yuli Studio’s Weixin Official Account on 23 Apr 2021 as a part of “Behind the Screens” Volume 640.

On 22 Apr, “A Dream Like A Dream” Wuhan Charity show was still in the midst, countless related topics were already on Weibo Hot Search.

This is probably the hottest play on the internet till date.

A big intellectual property that lasted for 21 years, and now with the addition of the hottest celebrity, debuted for the first time as a Charity Show in honor of the heroes of the pandemic last year, “A Dream Like A Dream” contained stories on stage and backstage.

Before the official start of the play, Yuli Studio walked into the backstage of “A Dream Like A Dream”, and entered the dream in advance.

“A Dream Like A Dream”

Celebrity Cast

On 19 Apr noon, 15 minutes before the first full dress rehearsal for “A Dream Like A Dream”, there were not much audiences, they were all in the lotus pond seats.

Overall producer Wang Keran was suddenly notified that there was someone recording secretly, he immediately called the executive producer Da Shan to check, who had already expressed multiple times that audiences were not the take pictures. Wang Keran face turned gloomy, loudly accused Da Shan of incompetency, stood up, “Trusted friends who are currently seated, I hope that everyone would protect the actors, stop filming.”

Afterwards Wang Keran told us, his anger then was actually “for show”, that situation needed him to make a stand, scold Da Shan so as to alert everyone else, “I needed to kill two birds with one stone, control the scene, protect the actors.”

Xu Qing, Xiao Zhan, Zhang Liang, Huang Lu… the addition of many celebrity actors, caused the interest in “A Dream Like A Dream” to increase.

Protecting his actors, was something that Wang Keran always did ever since he built this group.

Yanghua Theatre and Baoli Theatrical Center collaborated and did some massive and intricate work, in order to ensure that protection project was as per usual, “The theaters put in a lot, the meager profits that this project is giving them, can’t completely cover their massive investment.”

Wang Keran also helped to block countless signature and photograph requests for Xiao Zhan, his good friend had came from afar to Wuhan just for a photograph with Xiao Zhan, but Wang Keran did not agree, “I promised a clean creative environment for my actors.”

The “A Dream Like A Dream” group tried their best to give all the actors an equal, harmonious creative environment, and in here, there is no celebrity actor Xiao Zhan, only Patient No. 5 B.

In the backstage of the Wuhan Qintai Theatre, the plaque on the door of Xiao Zhan’s resting room was not labelled “Xiao Zhan”, but “No. 5”.

Director Chen Limei and Zhang Rui said that the group did not treat Xiao Zhan specially as a celebrity; Actress Huang Lu, who portrayed the role Jiang Hong, had the most scenes with Xiao Zhan, she said that everyone was just actors.

Privately, Xiao Zhan would treat Huang Lu fruits, as well as recommend good motives to her, Huang Lu said, working with Xiao Zhan was not much different from working with other partners, the only difference was that there were suddenly a lot of Xiao Zhan fans leaving messages on her Weibo, most of them were messages of encouragement and support.

“A Dream Like A Dream” , Xiao Zhan, Huang Lu

During the very initial rehearsals, the director closed Huang Lu and Xiao Zhan into a small practice room, in order to cultivate tacit understanding.

“When we were rehearsing the French portion of the play, I knew he was from Chongqing, I would suddenly use French translated to Wuhan dialect to talk to him, what d’ya wanna eat what d’ya wanna eat, and then he would suddenly reply me in Chongqing dialect.”

Huang Lu remembered, when Xiao Zhan entered the group, he had already memorized all of his lines, the tacit understanding between them were built up within 3 or 4 days, and on the details of the performance, they would also inspire each other.

For example, the biggest reaction from the audience in the Wuhan show was the scene in the Parisian apartment, actually contained Xiao Zhan’s designs, when they spoke the lines “Monday Wednesday Friday Tuesday Thursday Saturday and Sunday”, Xiao Zhan suggested that the two of them would lean their heads on each other, so as to give a better effect.

When the two of them were conversing in comedic Japanese scene, there were traces of the old version of the play, but there were new creativity as well, “Pikachu” was from the old version, whereas “sleeping” was an idea that Xiao Zhan came up with.

“A Dream Like A Dream”, Xiao Zhan, Huang Lu

The duration for “A Dream Like A Dream” was long, the lines voluminous, there was once during rehearsal, one of the actors had a sudden breakage and his lines became more and more scattered, voice lower and lower, that day Director Chen Limei gave him a stern talking to, but in the director’s memory, this problem never occurred to Xiao Zhan.

“Xiao Zhan was very serious, we could all feel that, every night after he went back, he definitely thought through his scenes once more, so that he would not make this kind of mistake.”

Xiao Zhan expressed that his familiarity with the lines had gone to the state that he could say it “whenever”, he was more focused on the “current feeling and the chemistry with his partners.”

Xiao Zhan was very strict with his own expectations, on the 19th after the first full dress rehearsal, there were many audiences who gave his performance good reviews, but he said, “I’m not quite satisfied with today, it wasn’t as good as yesterday.” Although the audiences did not spot any problems with the lines from the scene ”Monday Wednesday Friday Tuesday Thursday Saturday and Sunday”, but after the performance ended, Xiao Zhan himself felt that there were some slight flaws.

“A Dream Like A Dream”, Xiao Zhan

The lotus pond seats in “A Dream Like A Dream” to Xiao Zhan was a challenge, it made it easy for him to lose concentration, and once you had lost it, it would be easy for the scene to scatter, he described, “the feeling in concerts is that you need to interact simultaneously, plays to me meant that I need to make myself lonely”, so he needed to make sure he could ignore the audiences.

Wang Keran invited theater critics to view the play for the 19th’s full dress rehearsal, after the upper half ended, they were exclaiming in praise of Xiao Zhan’s acting, Wang Keran also proudly recommended this newly found actor to people around him: “He had a different layer of creativity process, the first day we’ve finished the script, he surprised me onstage the second day, it was green but came with a lot of accurate instincts. He constructed the character to be intricate and abundant, but yet layered, not just emotional scenes, everyone could burst into emotions, but he was intricate, lively and entertaining, he conveyed the soul of the character, his sense of pace was this good.”

“A Dream Like A Dream” Performance Stage

The story of “A Dream Like A Dream” and Xiao Zhan had to begin with the Cao Yu 110 Anniversary Special Event last year.

In 2019, Wang Keran heard of Xiao Zhan’s name, but he quickly forgot about it. “Then I was in Wuxi, there was a large excited crowd of people, said that the hottest actor, Xiao Zhan, was in there.”

Until 2020, a psychiatrist friend told Wang Keran, to take note of this actor Xiao Zhan.

“Before then I was an older person, I’ve always picked actors above 35, but after the psychiatrist finished talking, I started subconsciously noticing this person, and then I found out that this person was really interesting.

How interesting? There were a lot of people attacking him, I thought I’d understand what these attacks were, I found out that these people were a contradiction of the most realistic things and most hypocritical things, this era’s idols were different from 5 years ago, they are now placed on a pedestal as a symbol, as something to be fought over or stepped upon. Via Xiao Zhan I noticed the new pulse in the development of society, understood this movement, art should be something that is most compatible with the times, my personal view on plays is just like this, plays should be the current drama action of this moment, and the emotional relationship of the people here and now.”

“A Dream Like A Dream”, Xiao Zhan

The commemoration event for Cao Yu, Wang Keran needed to find a young guest who could have a conversation with Wan Fang, a colleague suggested Xiao Zhan, Wang Keran suddenly realized, this was perfect, “The complexity on Xiao Zhan would fully represent the complexity of plays.”

The first time he met Xiao Zhan, Wang Keran captured the mysterious sense of fate behind his back, but yet he also gave a sense of youthful obtrusiveness, gentle and warm. Wang Keran gave Xiao Zhan a list of books and asked him to go back and read, after which Xiao Zhan finished the books in a few days, even wrote some 10 over questions to Wan Fang, the questions were simple but deep, and moved Wang Keran.

On the Cao Yu Commemoration Event, Wang Keran studied Xiao Zhan, and found that his sense of stage was fantastic, and immediately invited him to join “A Dream Like A Dream”.

To Wang Keran, the similarity between Xiao Zhan and Patient No. 5 was that they were both trapped in the uncertainties of fate.

Xiao Zhan’s portrayal of Patient No. 5 gave Wang Keran a pleasant surprise, as to whether he would continue as Patient No. 5 after this year’s shows, they had not spoken about it, but Wang Keran felt that “A Dream Like A Dream” already gave Xiao Zhan some rewards, “I feel that via this play, he can prove that he is a good actor, I feel that ‘A Dream Like A Dream’ gave him a power.”

“A Dream Like A Dream”, Xiao Zhan

Entering the Dream Again

Not only Xiao Zhan was a new addition, the Yanghua version of “A Dream Like A Dream” had almost a brand new cast.

Zhang Liang and Yanghua had collaborated for 2 plays, they were old friends; Huang Lu was recommended by Xu Qing, she was also the only actress that was confirmed without meeting Wang Keran.

Director Zhang Rui was in-charged of arranging actors, but because of the pandemic, the Taiwanese actress who was supposed to play the role of the wife could not arrive, another actress had to take on this role. “A Dream Like A Dream” had a total of 31 actors and actresses, many times one would take on multiple roles, any adjustment of actors would have big ramifications.

Zhang Rui created many versions of the casting chart, “This casting chart was an intricate process, move an actor, we might need to reallocate every scene, whether they could make the scene in time, whether they were suitable, reasonable, I’m so frustrated my hair’s dropping.”

Starting from 2013 when “A Dream Like A Dream” premiered in Mainland China, Director Chen Limei and Zhang Rui grew with this play for 9 years. Chen Lipai previously also handled the role of Stage Executive, Zhang Rui was with the crew everyday, there were the two who were most familiar with “A Dream Like A Dream”.

In their memory, the first rehearsal for 2013 lasted 3+ months, after which if there were not much changes with the actors, repeat rehearsals would last 1 week. Some years they had to change an actor, but yet they did not give sufficient rehearsal time and almost drove the actor insane, “Because the crowd actor had to act as multiple roles, the management of every role was complex, he needed to remember his position, his clothes, and he had to depend on himself, there would be no one backstage to inform him, he had to take care of himself.”

“A Dream Like A Dream”

This year, more than half of the cast was changed, theoretically they needed one and a half months, but to gather 31 actors to rehearse at the same time was not easy, the group merely squeezed out 17 days for practice time.

Practice time started officially from 9 Mar, the group settled in Hebei Tangshan, the time was tight, the mission was heavy.

Lai Shengchuan, who was faraway in Taiwan, gave instructions via video conferencing to the actors, to help answer their questions. Wang Keran, Chen Limei and Zhang Rui handled the task of direction.

Wang Keran mainly handled the mini classes to the new actors to the group, every actor had different classes to attend.

Huang Lu was a movie actress, her method for lines was to say to herself, but “A Dream Like A Dream” was to say them to 1200 audiences, Wang Keran gave her a training method, “He made me rehearse only with Xiao Zhan, each of us would stand at the furthest corner, but we must be able to hear each other’s lines, that is we needed to get used to speaking loudly, I felt that this method was actually quite crucial.”

“A Dream Like A Dream”, Xiao Zhan and Huang Lu during practice

When he first entered the group, Zhang Liang was tortured by the role of the Baron for 3 days, he totally could not find the sensation, Wang Keran gave him 3 days of progressive classes. The first class was to control the micro expressions and movements, “For example, the first day I reached Tianxian Court, he requested that when I did gestures, my hands could not be higher than my chest, when we normally spoke my palm would face up, but he said that the Baron could not have a moment where his palm was facing up, his palm would forever be facing down.”

The second class was culture class, discussing European culture, politics and artistic background, so as to understand the motives behind Baron’s actions. “Baron would not let Xianglan draw abstract art, made her start from still life, it actually had political connotations. Classical realism represented calm and control, whereas abstraction and symbolism, etc, developed from the lowest of the masses, represented the destruction to order, Baron hoped from the bottom of his heart that Xianglan would live with him, if you liked something he didn’t like, that represented betrayal to Baron, that’s where the cracks in their relationship started.”

Chen Limei and Zhang Rui understood every detail of “A Dream Like A Dream”, when the actors gave any small questions, they would immediately solve them.

For example, how to swiftly get into positions, what to wear after changing out, both directors could immediately give the correct answer, “We found that this time round that one of the new actors was slow in moving, he would say he could not make it, I would say you definitely could make it, you tell me why you couldn’t make it, I would know where you did wrong. He said it was very dark and he couldn’t find his bag, and he needed to take the gun from 2nd floor to the 1st floor, I said there’s another prop gun downstairs, you don’t have to carry it down, he said he didn’t know. We actually spoke to him after observing him for a few days, because we knew that the 2nd floor was very dark, we definitely had to ensure the safety of our actors first.”

“A Dream Like A Dream”, Xu Qing, Xiao Zhan, Zhang Liang, Huang Lu, Lan Nan, etc.

The time left for the directors was not much, rehearsal, costume, positions, etc, all had to be done simultaneously, the volume of “A Dream Like A Dream” was supposed to be large, there were pressures on progress, the experience for the whole group was basically demonic scheduling.

For example, for 22 Apr Charity Show, the schedule for the actors that day was like this —

10:30 to 11:30 Actors and actresses would set of from their hotels to the theater for make up and costume; 12:30 Lunch; 12:30 Microphone testing; 13:10 Warm up; 13:30 Audience entry; 14:00 Start of Charity Show.

After nearly 8 hours of performance, when the actors were having their media session it was already 30 minutes past midnight.

Everyday they worked for around 12 hours, that would be the normal hours for the group for the month, during practice they did not wear their make up and costume, but they still had to set out by 12:00, practice starts 13:00, 17:00 was dinner, 18:00 was practice again, and they end at 22:00.

“This time round we really went for it, we didn’t work this hard previously, because we changed very few people then, we could probably get to the practice at 2pm,” Chen Limei said.

“A Dream Like A Dream”, actors practicing

The tight rehearsal schedule was a challenge physically to the actors, as they practiced day and night everyday, even Huang Lu felt lost once.

“Because we would be acting the same thing everyday, everyday when you went in, it was day, but when you left, it was night, that period of time I really craved a normal life. There was once we were video conferencing with Teacher Lai, I just said that after this play, I suddenly feel that plays, movies weren’t that important, what’s important was our real life, I especially wanted to experience communicating with people, the feeling of being with family, friends and loved ones.

When you filmed dramas, you would still be outside, after you knock off you could be in touch with a more realistic life. When I was in the same play group as Zhang Ruoyun, we practiced in Beijing, everyday we practiced for around 3 hours, we could still meet friends in the afternoon and night, but this play was concentrated practice, when we left it would already be midnight.”

“A Dream Like A Dream”, Xu Qing and Huang Lu during practice

Wang Keran could foresee, that actors would experience this type of lethargy, so the arrangement from the very beginning was that after the 17 days of practice, the group would briefly rest for a period of time, until a week before the Wuhan Show, where he would recall them.

This method of working was not easily seen in plays, but to actors, this was a good time to rest and digest.

“The first day we returned, Keran said that was the best time I’ve acted with Xiao Zhan,” Huang Lu said. “Perhaps in-between I had time to digest, get in touch with real life, and had a new understanding.”

In comparison with “A Dream Like A Dream” from 8 years ago, besides the changes in actors, this year’s Yanghua version also shortened the script by around 15 minutes or so, without affecting the foundation of the script.

The adjustment was mainly on the pace of the actors. For example, at the end of the upper half, the housekeeper of the castle would talk about the past of Baron and Gu Xianglan, it used to use a slow and narrative tone, Wang Keran felt that it was not right, “This type of expression seemed to cause Grandpa, who just arrived at Shanghai, to seem unfamiliar with his surroundings, but in fact, Grandpa was very familiar with the castle, he could have returned frequently, like the feeling of a tour guide,” so he adjusted the tone and pace, and made the play richer and more layered.

“A Dream Like A Dream”, Xu Qing, Zhang Liang, Lan Nan

Every improvement in detail, came from written notes from everyday.

When rehearsing, both directors would sit in the middle of the lotus pond, with a small table, and a faint table lamp, the actors would be acting while the directors discover problems and mark it in the script, or write furiously on white paper, after the end of a day’s rehearsal, the paper would be littered with over 200 to 300 notes.

After the rehearsal ends, actors would sit together in the lotus pond and listen to the directors reading the notes one by one, every actor would record down their respective portions.

Xiao Zhan’s phone memo was full of everyday’s notes, for example there were around 10 notes for 19 Apr, Xiao Zhan’s note taking method was simple and concise, note down the scene, or a point, with the remarks of watch out for emotion or pace.

In Zhang Liang’s memory, with regards to his notes, there were up to 20 notes a day, but later on as the problems lessened, the notes also reduced.

Director Chen Limei said, some actors would be confused, why were there always 200 to 300 new notes everyday during the note session, did that mean that they had not improved, but actually everyone was getting better on the basis that they were already getting better.

“A Dream Like A Dream”, the directors at the rehearsal

There was a process in practicing, at the start you might not have memorized all the lines, that note would be about lines, when the lines passed, it could have been about wrong position or movement, at the last part when the acting was getting better, I might notice intricate details such as costume, hairstyle, which you needed to notice carefully. Every stage had its own set of problems discovered, only when you walked from Step 1 to Step 2 that I can see the problems of the current step, otherwise my focus would not be that.”

For example, on the last day before the official show, the note for Xiao Zhan became “the singing before the curtain call, stand slightly westwards” this type of small details.

After experiencing the full dress rehearsal of 18, 19 and 20 Apr, the last day of rehearsal became “note rehearsal”, that is to repeatedly rehearse based on the problems in the notes so as to affirm the scenes that could easily cause issues, including the group scene at Tianxian Court, the scenes between Baron and Young Xianglan, etc. For Xiao Zhan and Huang Lu, the scene they rehearsed was the propless scene around the staircase, which needed to take note of the eye contact as they two of them went up and down the stairs, entering by pushing the door.

After the premiere on 22nd ended, the notes continued, so as to have new improvements for the consecutive shows.

“A Dream Like A Dream”, Xu Qing, Zhang Liang, etc.

Idealism

After the full dress rehearsal ended on 19 Apr, all of the actors gathered backstage, surrounding the directors, quietly standing, it seemed like a special ceremony.

For the new actors who joined this year, this was their first time witnessing this ceremony, but to the actors who had been with “A Dream Like A Dream” before, this had already became a habit.

Director Chen Limei introduced that this ending ceremony was called “Echo”, it was a habit from Lai Shengchuan — a habit that existed since the first premiere in 2013, “When we finish a show, and gain the applause from our audiences, as well as new empathy for our roles, we must return this feelings out, give them to more people, you can imagine that there was a large crowd of people, we would send out these blessings and share them.”

After “A Dream Like A Dream” came to Mainland China, it had always been well acclaimed, it used to show in Beijing and another specific city. Starting the 9 Cities Tour, especially adding the Wuhan Charity Show, was also a form of “Echo”, to share this play with even more audiences.

“A Dream Like A Dream”, Wuhan Charity Show inside view

2 years ago, in Chongqing Theatre, Wang Keran came up with the idea to get more people to understand theater, experience theater. He started conceptualizing the 9th Anniversary 9 Cities Tour for “A Dream Like A Dream”.

When they heard of this plan, Chen Limei and Zhang Rui thought it was an impossible wish.

“Because ‘A Dream Like A Dream’ was such a large play, we would actually lose money by doing a tour. Such a big group, there’s about 130 people in the group, so many people’s living expenditures, including putting up the set for each location, it takes a week to put it up, only for a few shows.

Until the start of last year, Keran told us that we would still do it, I said we really had to do it? How could we do this in the pandemic? Last year he said that we could definitely do it the next year. This might had to do with his view of life, he would do what he set out to do, just like then when he did his first play, he sold 4 houses.”

In comparison with previous “A Dream Like A Dream”, the investment of this tour was obviously bigger. More touring cities meant that there was more costs with transfer of set, when they rehearsed in Tangshan it was not as good as Beijing, all the actors had to be in Tangshan with their living expenditures.

On the other hand, the seats in the theaters were fixed, there’s a ceiling to the ticket prices, in the face that it was not profitable, Wang Keran included a not-for-sale charity show, “The cost is too high, after completing the charity show, we basically have no profits for this stop,” Wang Keran said.

“A Dream Like A Dream”, Xu Qing and Xiao Zhan during rehearsal

Early last year during the pandemic period, Wang Keran already thought of doing a charity show in Wuhan.

Then, he spoke on the phone with the person in-charge of the theater, and asked about the situation in Wuhan, “He had always stuck to Wuhan, and told me that if you really cared about us, then you should bring your best show over, I asked which one did you mean? He said ‘A Dream Like A Dream’. I just felt that if ‘A Dream Like A Dream’ did not come, it would not fully express our special respect for Wuhan, and we would do a charity show, free.”

The actors had the same idealism.

Wang Keran said, theater would definitely be tough, the rehearsal time was long, and while they would perform for 3 days in every stop, they had to allocate 1 week for practice, a popular artist’s time would be calculated in days, but they were willing to allocate their schedule for the play.

Sun Zhongyi, who played roles such as the old housekeeper and professor, was one of the core actors for Yanghua Theatre, he was given the rare opportunity for a lead role in a movie, it was very important to him, but the schedule collided with one of the shows for “A Dream Like A Dream”, and for the play, he gave up this rare opportunity.

“A Dream Like A Dream”, actors rehearsing.

Plays do not earn as much as dramas and movies, no matter how popular the celebrity is, the profits from plays will never match up with the value of the drama, an actor’s rehearsal fee for “A Dream Like A Dream” is 100RMB a day, but all of the actors cooperated seriously.

Huang Lu said, sometimes we would joke that we “missed money making opportunities”, but everyone felt that this was especially fine, it was rare that we had a whole year to focus on doing one thing, the period where we practiced in Tangshan was very much like return to school.

“Everyone basically didn’t come here for money,” Huang Lu said, she viewed “A Dream Like A Dream” as a rare opportunity, it was a training for acting, also like a chance for self improvement.

After the “A Dream Like A Dream” Wuhan Charity Show ended, Huang Lu came to the front lobby for a photo.

Every actor gave their best performance.

Newly added actress for Young Gu Xianglan, Ge Xinyi, worked hard to match her senior; seasoned actress Feng Xianzhen controlled her character with grace and power, all 3 Gu Xianglan had an overall soul; Zhang Liang performed a Baron who was different from Jin Shijie’s version, but it was still accurate and layered; Fu Xing as the representative of the original group, became the foundation, their steady and down-to-earth performance assisted every new actor in building up their steady and accurate system of performance.

After performing for 9 years, Xu Qing had already embodied the blood and soul of Gu Xianglan, she also followed the progress of the group, and participated in all of the practices. Wang Keran expressed his thanks to Xu Qing once in Tangshan, “I say I really thank you for appearing in the practice, because your every practice would always accurately complete every detail, even if it was the most basic practice, you always put your heart to it, never held back, completely constructing the character.”

Xu Qing constantly improved her performance, frequently discussing how to handle every word with Wang Keran, for example after Baron had his car accident, Gu Xianglan would run up hurriedly to the police to say “I saw your incompetence” that kind of transition scenes, she would repeatedly try different expressions, after 9 years of “A Dream Like A Dream”, she is still pondering over it repeatedly, searching for the best method to handle every detail.

“A Dream Like A Dream”, Xu Qing and Zhang Liang during rehearsal.

During the rehearsal in Wuhan, Yuli Studio also witnessed how Xu Qing gave all of her emotions in every rehearsal, especially the important scene where Gu Xianglan took off her Cheongsam and walked through the lotus pond in sleeping garments, everytime Xu Qing finished that performance, her eyes would be filled with tears.

Xu Qing told Wang Keran one sentence later, and hoped that he would share that with the new actors, “Just tell them this point, 1 minute onstage, 9 years of effort offstage.”

Theater people always had this persistence in idealism and passion for the stage, with so much interest in “A Dream Like A Dream” this time round, Wang Keran hoped that with this play, more audiences would understand plays and love plays.

He especially prepared a live broadcast after the charity show ended, so that people beyond that 1200 audiences could see “A Dream Like A Dream”, hear the words from the actors’ hearts, he hoped that the other actors besides Xu Qing and Xiao Zhan would also be noticed.

“I know that the rules of news broadcast, if it wasn’t live broadcast, you would definitely cut away the people who weren’t important, right, but I hoped that everybody could see everyone’s effort. Xu Qing, Xiao Zhan, they were also very happy to have this method, I think that this is also a faith in collaboration equality built upon plays for them.”

“A Dream Like A Dream” would continue to tour 9 cities, Wang Keran hoped that through this play, it would encourage more youths to enter theaters, “I had this thought a long time ago, I just needed to find the right opportunity. For all of our lives we had hoped that plays would have more influence, could have more people entering theaters, if this worked out, then actors and actresses such as Xu Qing, Xiao Zhan, Zhang Liang etc, would have great contribution.”

[bumblingbunny]

Murder Mystery Results

Hey guys! I have finally put together the results from the poll and it’s led me to two different murder mystery ideas:

Idea 1

Years ago, a massacre occurred at a certain remote manor house. Since then, anyone who’s tried to stay there has claimed that it’s haunted. Skip to the present day, a group has been assembled to make a documentary on the history of the house and it’s hauntings. This group of strangers is made up of psychics, mediums, ghost hunters and the small tech crew tasked with filming it. However, things immediately don’t seem right with the producer never showing up. Then the murders start.

This idea would follow a single main character designed by the audience, and would feature some spooky elements along with voting for the big story moments.

Idea 2

A little less fleshed out, but this idea focuses on a cast made up of strangers and small friend groups, all of whom have gather at a ski resort to enjoy the winter weather. However a blizzard blow through trapping them there - and it doesn’t take long for the murder to seize this opportunity. This story would loop through the days, with each one following a different character. As for spooky elements, I think there would be a local legend for the characters to learn about. I still need to figure out how’d I do the voting moments for this one, so that they’re mixed throughout the story and not just during the first loop.

For now, I think I’m going to try work on idea 1. It’s a little easier to fit in certain elements, and my ideas for it are more defined at the moment. (However if you guys prefer idea 2, leave me a comment to let me know!)

Also, I WILL be making a perchance random generator to share soon! :D Just need to find the time and remind myself how to do it. It will also be featuring some awesome ideas from ninnin, Jex, The Magistra, SunshineNinja and a couple of nonnies!

Finally, I know I say it a lot, but I really appreciate everyone who took a moment to vote. I had so much fun and have some great ideas to play around with now! If you’d like to see the breakdown of votes, as well as my thoughts, you can find that all under the cut.

1. Which isolation location should this story take place in? 

Haunted Mansion: 12

Snowed-in Ski Resort: 11

Remote Manor House: 10

Closed-Down Summer Camp: 10

Space/Ship: 3

Island: 2

New Suggestions: Abandoned Cabin, Abandoned City, Cruise Ship

This turned out a lot closer than I thought it would! About halfway through the voting only the Haunted Mansion and Remote Manor House had a significant amount of votes. The Ski Resort and Summer Camp only started gaining votes after I originally came up with the idea of the Haunted Manor House full of Mediums and Ghost Hunters - so I wanted to come up with another idea using one of them.

Also I LOVE the ideas you guys suggested! They’re so good!!

2. How Should the characters know each other?

Strangers: 20

Small Friend Groups: 11

Work/Club members: 8

Family members: 7

New Suggestions: All know the host or guest of honor, “Strangers” with a secret connection, Strangers brought together for an internet or UrbEx meetup, a mix of Strangers and friend/family groups

A group of strangers was the clear winner here with a couple variations on it offered. Am I using one of them for my plans? Who knows? You’ll have to wait and see! :)

3. How should the story be told?

Story follows a main character designed by the readers: 14

Days repeat with each loop focusing on a different character: 14

Linear storytelling focusing on wherever the action is: 10

Story skips between 2 timelines: 9

Days repeat with events changing each time: 9

Story is told in reverse or with the days mixed up: 3

My favorite two options won! Which doesn’t make choosing any easier... The main character one was in the lead at the start though, so my first idea was based on that and I fit the characters one into the second idea.

4. How MUCH murder should there be?

Somewhere around 2-4 spread throughout the story: 20

The murderer is trying/succeeding at killing everyone: 16

A single murder that the story focuses on: 7

New Suggestions: Dealer’s choice, Anything can happen! Is it the murderer or the characters making dumb choices? Who knows?

Look at all of that murder. You guys are so chaotic - I love it. :)

5. How happy should the ending be? (From As Happy as Possible to Break Our Hearts)

Nice and balanced results! Although I love that there are more votes for break our hearts than as happy as possible.

6. How do you feel about supernatural elements?

Maybe a little would be fun: 15

Make everything spooky: 14

No thanks: 7

New Suggestion: A previous rumor or haunting adds to the chaos and causes characters to make stupid decisions

Perfect results for the spooky season! I promise though that this won’t interfere with the clues or trying to figure out the murderer. I’ve been burned before with a “it can only be magic” solution - it’s so disappointing after you invest hours into a story.

7. Would you be interested in having audience interaction with polls to decide story elements?

Only for big story moments: 29

Regular polls every couple of days: 9

No thanks: 3

I was leaning towards voting for only big story moments, so I’m glad everyone seems to agree with it. One day I’d love to try the regular polls, but it’s a lot more work.

OTHER SUGGESTIONS:

“POSSIBLY allowing your audience to give you their OCs to use in the cast. It might be easier to populate the story and afford you an organically diverse set of characters.”

I would love this so much - everyone makes such pretty and unique sims and I always love getting them! However, using other people’s sims does add some pressure to get things done, which has sometimes stopped me from actually doing them. So at least for the first story, I’ll probably stick to just sims that I make. If I actually manage to finish it though, I’d be willing to try using audience OC’s for the second one!

“The cast should be varied in age”

Absolutely. The only thing I’m trying to figure out is what’s the minimum age a character should be. There’s not going to be any children, but I might allow older teens or just have the characters 18 or older. For some reason the idea of teens in this kind of situation doesn’t feel right to me - although a story focused on teens in a remote boarding school could be really fun.

A vote on whether the story is about Vanilla or Berry sims

I was originally thinking of making this story vanilla, but if enough people are interested in berry I could change that. Would you guys like to vote on this? It could be part of the main character creation poll.

[imperiuswrecked]

To me, it doesn’t make sense to make Magneto the main villain because it has been done so much before and it would connect it so much to the Fox Films. Also I think there is a GREAT laziness in writing Magneto especially in films. He generally didn’t want to kill all humans, subjugate them yes because he doesn’t trust them. Which isn’t a ‘good guy’ move in itself and he slips in and out of.

He legit murdered genocide I think when he was going to kill all humans. Like no.

I also think that the average cinema goer likes Magneto too much… or maybe that is me. It would also require them to recast the most famous faces of the franchises?

Like is anyone going to care if they recast Jean, Scott, Iceman, Rogue, Kitty, Beast even Mystique but Magneto? I don’t know. I have long been a fan of an actual Jewish actor playing Magneto but following Ian McKellan would be difficult for the casual fans to accept. I don’t think Fassbender left such an amazing impression.

Even my most average MCU fans friends (and god they love the MCU 😤 but I see past it) still talk about how much they want to see a Magneto solo film.

To me I would put the focus on their reveal and sentinels. Then again I thought they’ll go through Krakoa stuff. Like it turns out the mutants have been living on this Island etc

With the ‘simpler times’ comment I have to for the sake of my sanity have to think that it was because Pietro knew where he was. Things were clear to him, as much as it hurt he had his sister. The following trauma had not occurred. Again I don’t think this is true but I am trying to reason bad writing. He didn’t doubt his morality but was indebted and controlled. Shitty actions were out of his control.

I don’t read Avengers so I didn’t know he was shelved for so long.

I think the Trial of Magneto is trying to ride on the coattails of Wandavision because even though she’s not a mutant a lot of the internet was wanting Magneto to show up. So what is the best way to get those fans who wanted to see that? Set up a family comic book where they establish the family again because I guess the MCU fans heard they’ve changed their background and themselves didn’t like it.

I see the Trial of Magneto as something poorly thought out as they saw what the audience was interested in. The timeline kind of clashes uncomfortably with Inferno. Which makes me think it was wedged in there to ride the Wandavision train and undo the retcon on the side of the main storyline.

Thank you for reading my essay/rant

Ok so I'm going to first say you have a lot of great thoughts and great on picking up the whole forced feeling. You are right, it does feel wedged in there and it does feel forced because that's exactly what Marvel did.

The Trial of Magneto was supposed to be an X-Factor plot, it was Leah Williams next arc, here's an article link talking about her podcast: link (yes I know it's bleeding cool but I don't have time to listen to the podcast)

Leah Williams tells us that X-Factor was canceled because Leah's pitch for the Magneto/Wanda story for X-Factor, now called Trial Of Magneto, became such a popular pitch at Marvel but they thought the reader numbers for X-Factor wasn't big enough for this story, so they wanted it as a separate comic. And canceled X-Factor #10 rather than seeing it run as originally planned, with the Trial beginning in X-Factor #15. Williams says she only learned about the cancellation of X-Factor when she was writing #9, so as she had to finish the series quickly, squeezing six issues worth of story into those last two issues, calling it "cramped and rushed".

So I'm not a fan of Leah but the way Marvel treats it's writers has always been terrible so this cancellation doesn't surprise me. Could this be about W*ndaVision? It's likely, but it's more likely this has to do with Hickman bowing out. It's no secret literally everyone hated the retcon and I always knew it would be undone but I didn't think it would take 6 years but here we are.

Hickman leaving is a bigger thing, he stated in an interview ( link ) that he had planned Krakoa and X-Men to be a 3 arc story, and he wasn't allowed to move onto the 2nd arc because the clowns at Marvel liked the idea of Krakoa too much and I'm so mad because that's exactly the kinda behavior that annoys me with the fans, them thinking Krakoa is just a fun playground for the mutants to mess around with.

"Oh, plans have changed entirely," Hickman says. "When I pitched the X-Men story I wanted to do, I pitched a very big, very broad, three-act, three-event narrative, the first of which was House of X. And while this loosely worked as a three-year plan, I told Marvel upfront that I honestly had no idea how long the first part would last because there were a lot of interesting ideas that I had seeded that other creators would want to play with, and so, we left this rather open-ended. I was also pretty clear with all the writers that came into the office what the initial, three-act plan was so no one would be surprised when it was time for the line to pivot." Hickman continues, "However, I also knew that I was cooking with dynamite, and it was very possible that what I had written in House of X, and the ideas contained within, was not actually the first act of a three-act story, but something that resonated more deeply and worked more like Giant-Size X-Men, where it would represent a paradigm shift in the entire X-Men line for a prolonged period of time. So, during the pandemic, when the time came for me to start pointing things toward writing the second-act event, I asked everyone if they were ready for me to do that, and to a man, everyone wanted to stay in the first act. It was really interesting, because I appreciated that House of X resonated with them to the extent that they didn't want it to end, but the reality was that I knew I would be leaving the line early."

I'm so MAD because the thing I was predicting, that Hickman would have it come crashing down and everything would be revealed to be terrible and Mutant Death Sex Cult Island wasn't a paradise is never going to happen because the fucking CLOWNS at Marvel don't want him to move past it. I may have my personal gripes about some of Hickman's writing but we can't deny the man wrote one of the best if only the best Marvel Event with Fantastic Four/Avengers/Secret War.

As for the simpler times comment, like I have my theories that I wrote out here, and that's what I think is most likely but I do think Pietro's life has never been easy or simple once his adoptive parents died. Pietro could be drinking to a time before the Brotherhood.

I would love for a Jewish actor to play Magneto and any other characters who are Jewish. I would love for a Jewish writer to be able to write them too. However Ian's performance literally set him in the minds of the people as Magneto, not even Fassbender's bleh one note Magneto could compare. Imo the only reason people liked the younger Magneto was because he was young, handsome (? ig idk i dont simp for him) and they could ship him with young professor X (cowards. where is the old man ship???) But I feel like a new actor could definitely fill the role if they are Jewish and the writing was good.

Magneto's writing in comics... well I just wish we could have a Jewish writer for him. There's some great stuff for him but I feel like characters like him and Doom could be written better by non white/american writers.

Although by today's standards the og X-Men trilogy doesn't hold up I will defend the first two movies with my life simply because after Blade these movies opened up the idea that a good serious, non campy version where characters called Magneto and Cyclops were taken seriously. X2 in my mind was the definitive X-Men movie. Was it totally comic accurate? No, but it doesn't do what the MCU does, it doesn't treat the watcher like they need to have their hand held through all the military propaganda and "hints to the comics". Also side note; the reason no one cared about any of the other X-Men being recast is because all through most of the X-Men movies the focal story point has been Professor X vs Magneto. If they really want people to care about those characters/actors then we would need stories that focused on them. Not like how Storm barely had any character growth or plot in the og X-Men and even young Ororo got mishandled by the script. This is why I feel we should have "origin movies" for the X-Men that don't do what Wolverine Origins did and try to make a whole new cast but instead should use the stories as they are. If it was Kurt's story then we would see him join the X-Men, and have the other actors revolve around that. Same with each of the others, the X-Men work best when they are working off each other and each given enough screen/page time to shine. Unfortunately we all have our favorites, even movies and writers, so those are who are going to be pushed for fans to love.

Thank you for your long rant and sorry for my own long rant/reply.