#because it feels boring and redundant to do a themed search and find and then have it not relate

[paging-possum]

Debating how much pussy to put into these drawings

[noahsbookhoard]

📚March 2024 Book Review (Part 1/2)📚

Well, March had been a draught so this post will be short. Even more so since I read He Who Drowned The World by Shelley Parker-Chan but will give it its own post with book 1 of the Radiant Emperor, She Who Became the Sun. Still there's some good books in here, starting with a classic!

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

Basil Hallway has just finished the portrait of young, beautiful dandy Dorian Gray. The young man is just realising that he will grow old and become jealous of this picture who will keep its youth and charm; he starts to wish the portrait were aging in his place. The wish is granted and Dorian will go on living a life of hedonism and libertinage as his sins disfigure the picture hidden in his attic.

Chanson Douce by Leïla Slimani

I can't believe I had never read anything Oscar Wilde wrote before but here we are! I had to remedy this.

I really loved it, it has the gothic atmosphere I love, Oscar Wilde dry humour which I loved from his aphorisms and a razor sharp critique of the society Wilde lived in and who put him to trial for this book.

Dorian is despicable but that what makes him compelling in this story: how far would he go thinking he would never be caught and what would he do when the spell would inevitably come to ium for its due? Those last few pages and the first moment when he realised what was happening where the most interesting to me. Maybe the rest seemed harder to read for me because I lack some context to understand it?

However what hasn't aged (ha ha ha) one bit is the theme: The fear of aging up is kind of understandable one, especially today with social media and the pressure of well-being corporation trying to sell eternal youth in creams, diets and yoga classes. Would the people who use and abuse of cosmetic surgery say no to a picture that age in their stead? I don't think so. Internet also participates in the feeling of unaccountability some people feel: behind a screen, a username and at most a vpn, no one can judge what I do or say (or so they think). No one has their Google search history or their last tweet written on their forehead, so no one will ever know what the computer in the attic hides. That's not exactly true but most Internet trolls act like it is.

In so many ways it reminds me of The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde but the comparison is a classic one: two morally dubious characters, who found ways to give in to their basest desires without suffering from the social disgrace, their darkness manifesting itself physically on another form which catch up to them eventually. There is something deeply satisfying in seeing all of it crumble down and their true nature finally come to light.

TW for child's murder and attempted suicide

Inspired by the murder of the Krim siblings, the book opens on Myriam, mother of two, coming back home to find her two young children in the bathtub, stabbed to death by their nanny, Louise, who had then tried to kill herself. The story then goes back in time to explain how it happened, how Myriam and her husband Paul hired Louise and quickly couldn't do without her, how much the little Mila and Adam loved her, the way a disturbing codependant relationship is born and how it all fell apart.

This is getting redundant but once again I saw the movie before reading the book! I don't know why actually: I went to the cinema with some friends it is isn't the kind of film we usually pick. It was good!

Nevertheless I never picked the book because I had to much assigned reading at the time and in the meantime forgot about it. I found it back when I challenged myself earlier in the month to pick some prize-winning novels for the TBR to fight back my prejudice of Goncourt winning books being either too hard or too boring, as it won in 2016.

The book starts really abruptly with the nanny's murder-suicide and that short but awful "Le bébé est mort" "the baby is dead". I hadn't expected it, but it pulled me in: the author gives just enough hints of what the family+nanny dynamic was to pique my curiosity.

It all started when Myriam, the mother, wants to go back to work after their son Adam turned 2, even though they have no daycare and their daughter Mila is only 5: they need a nanny. There is the theme of womanhood and maternity throughout the book with the contrast between upper middle class Myriam who is a lawyer trying to balance work and family and lower class Louise walking the delicate balance of being a nanny, a trusted employee in the home's inner circle, treated "like she's family" without being part of it. At some point the couple take her with them on vacation but whatever they might tell themselves, it's so she will take care of the kids so they can enjoy their rest.

It creates some clashes (inner mostly) but also some very anxiety inducing scene: at some point Louise is so involved she tried to protest about how wasteful she finds Myriam and Paul; she picks up from the thrash the chicken carcasse they dumped and put in back on the table, bone clean. The film ends there if I remember correctly, a much more ambigous final than the book.

It pushed even harder in the horror as it continues after the murder with the police investigation. We see the female police officer putting herself in Louise's shoes to work out how she could have snapped like that. It concludes with the recomposition of the crime and the last, terrifying, sentence: "Les enfants, venez. Vous allez prendre un bain", "children, come here. Let's take a bath".

It is creepy, harrowing, but incredible well written. This one I know has been translated in English under the title Lullaby and the film adaptation dubbed under the title The Perfect Nanny.

Ségurant, le chevalier au dragon by Emanuele Arioli

The adventures of a forgotten Knight of the Round Table, Segurant, famed for his strength and for his endless chase with a dragon.

To be precise, Emanuele Arioli isn't the author: he is a archivist specialising in medieval literature and in his research he found traces of a forgotten Round Table Knight Ségurant. He traced his adventures back in several manuscript (even though most of the texts were written at least a century after the main arthuriana) and compiled the texts in this book.

I adored the arthurian mythology when I was a kid I although I started reading over genres, I never stopped loving it. At some point I even organised a tournament in here to elect the new King Arthur (if you are reading this and participated in it you are my Brother (gender neutral) in Arms and I love you forever, if you are just curious the winner was the little swedish girl who found an ancient sword in a lake back in 2018 and her seneschal (the runner-up) is Sonic the hedgehog) This means I was a little curious about this new knight and my father bought the book and shipped it to me in January or February.

Thankfully it was translated into modernised French but still the style was a little repetitive and hard to get into. I was expecting it, after all it is a 13th century text! Every thrice paragraph starts with "What's more to tell?" and it went from funny to endearing to slightly bothering.

Ségurant himself is the most indulgent self-insert character I have ever seen - I say this with all the love in the universe, it is just so funny: he is the strongest knight ever, he beats every unbeatable adversaries he jousted, Lancelot du fricking Lac admires him, he meets every famous knights, King Arthur in person dined with him...

He is so good that the only way he was defeated is through tricks: an illusion was cast on him that made him see a giant dragon, and as the brave knight he is, he just had to chase after it (in vain since there never was any dragons). In doing so he meets even more characters (Palamedes the Saracen's fans, I know you are out there) and defeat even more enemies like they weight nothing until the spell was lifted (I can't remember by who and I lended the book).

Overall it was an interesting book that rekindled my interest in Arthuriana but it was a little repetitive: nobody is a match to Segurant in a joust and he can win a battle ten to one with one arm tied back and his eyes closed (only slight exaggeration on my part, he does battle multiple enemies at the same time and wins easily). Nevertheless, for the historical interest alone it was worth it!

[serialkillerinthemaking]

below the cut is my insanely long analysis of sa and its metaphors its bad but i did in an hour with a headache so it is what it is

analyzing sa even though it's been said so much it's redundant I just need a place to collect it all ya know

note: none of this is chronological to the story and its probably just going to be the song lyrics

there are many run-on sentences and grammar problems sorry. I'm writing this off the idea that everyone has a decent understanding of sa and its plot.

obviously, mama who bore is about Wendla’s mom not telling her about sex. mwbmr is the same thing except it shows none of the girl's mom tells them about sex.

all that's known starts with the boys robotically repeating Virgil's Aeneid before Melchior breaks out and starts singing. He explains that science and facts are pushed aside in favor of religion and his parents wanting him to fall in line and not question what is taught. that's the general theme of the song. he is determined not to become part of the hivemind and question what is taught. he wants to find and see and experience more than what they know of and are teaching in terms of the world and he himself.

He mentions the stars and them being sort of all-knowing. stars are brought up again in those you've known sort of being a metaphor for society and the children of his generation and the ones to come. In those youve known, he vows to read Moritz and Wendla's dreams to the stars because they are dead and can really communicate with him and therefore rely on him to spread the word of their thoughts and ideas and stories. this being a cautionary tale, those stories must be told.

he mentions the repression of free thought. children are naturally curious of the world around them but as they grow up the adults push them not to be and only to accept what we know now. he doesn't want to lose this and stop eternally searching for more. this is sort of put into the term "purple summer". meaning the story, the cause, the prevention, and the tragic beauty of the story. we'll come back to the meaning of purple summer itself.

he says one day all will know generally meaning what is happening beneath the surface and societies refusal to talk about it and explore it. in purple summer this comes back more concrete. instead of one day, more like a distant hope, he says all shall know. they will know now, soon, not one day in the distant future. In the end, his journey is complete and it goes from one day all will know to all shall know. 

tbol and my junk are pretty straight forward you guys don't need me for those.

touch me is basically about the yearning for sex and to know what is. there are some metaphors but they are pretty self-contained within the song itself and don't really have enough grasp on them to go too deep. either that or they're really not actually that deep lol.

woyb is basically about Melchior and Wendla wanting to be with each other and trying to resist the temptation because of oppression

The dark I know well is about the rape and sexual assault of Martha and Ilse at the hands of her father and artist friends, respectively. Again the song uses one central self-contained metaphor that is never brought up again in the context of the show and is pretty easy to understand. 

and then there were none has frau Gabor intermittently reading a letter she wrote in response to Moritz asking for money to escape. Moritz jumps in and sings his thoughts as he reads the letter and basically watches his last hope fall through. he feels she tries to sugarcoat the point of the letter. he is mad for saying things in an attempt to make him feel better and to try her best to help, such as writing a letter to his parents. she tells him she still cares for him but can't help him. he feels he has no other option left after failing his tests. you all know the plot you don't need me to explain it.

mirror blue night Melchior is horny blah blah blah I hate this song moving on

I believe while they disobey the church and its a church song irony yeah

(it's so late I'm sorry)

don't do sadness blue wind ohoho lets goooo

Moritz wishes to be a butterfly, no longer having to deal with life, and happily flying. he says he doesn't do sadness because he just can't handle it anymore. the failing the test hurt him and frau Gabor refusing to help was the straw that broke the camel's back. he can't take it anymore. Ilse comes in and sees he's sad. it's cold and dark outside symbolizing his current mood so she sings about the happiness of spring and summer to cheer him up. fall and winter are analogies for sadness and pessimism, spring and summer are happiness and optimism, hence spring awakening, the happiness coming back after the sad times. purple summer also references that but that's for later. she talks about when they were kids happily playing in the sun. wind, a cold sad month thing always comes back but it always goes away. happiness will always come and sadness will always go just like the seasons. Moritz is only living in fall and autumn, not seeing the spring and summer ahead. Ilse gets through her life through optimism relying on the blue wind never taking when it creeps up and always going away once again. and then it just kinda repeats you get the rest.

left behind. he never got to grow up and be an adult and its his parent's (mostly his dad's) fault. metaphor once again fully in the song not really brought up again.

you guys got the rest (more than sufficient critical conjecture on woybr) until WHISPERING whooo

she hears the ghosts because throughout she alive and dead. sort of. everyone is sad. she describes her family's grief at her funeral. the preacher uses her as a cautionary tale and warns others of her fate. they say she did bad things and this how she ended up. such a shame, such a sin. she feels powerless, like she didn't have a voice and only could do what was told of her. she didn't know any better despite her best efforts. she mentions summer longing in the wind. happiness being swept up by sadness was pretty much her whole "relationship" with Melchior.

👏those👏you've👏known

there is so much I'm just gonna analyze it line by line (i consider this the pinnacle of metaphors in theatre considering the buildup)

MORITZ

Those you’ve known

And lost, still walk behind you

All alone

They linger till they find you

self explanatory pretty much

Without them

The world grows dark around you

And nothing is the same until you know that they have found you

Melchior's world has crumbled, he feels like it never going to be the same without them, but he found them.

WENDLA

Those you’ve pained

May carry that still with them

All the same

They whisper: “All forgiven.”

He hurt her, and she's still hurting but she forgives him because there is love in heaven, all will be forgiven.

Still your heart says

The shadows bring the starlight

And everything you’ve ever been is still there in the dark night

everything she was was left behind, but she still finds it here.

WENDLA

When the northern wind blows

The sorrows your heart holds

There are those who still know –

They’re still home

We’re still home

he's still hurting, they're still there.

MORITZ (Sung In Counterpart)

Though you know

You’ve left them far behind

You walk on by yourself, and not with them –

Still you know

They will fill your heart and mind

When they say there’s a way through this

he's living and must continue without them but they are still there in his heart.

MELCHIOR, MORITZ AND WENDLA

Those you’ve known

And lost, still walk behind you

All alone

Their song still seems to find you

They call you

As if you knew their longing –

They whistle through the lonely wind, the long blue shadows falling

they are still there! 

MELCHIOR

All alone

But still I hear their yearning

Through the dark, the moon, alone there, burning

The stars too

They tell of spring returning –

And summer with another wind that no one yet has known

The stars are back! they are all knowing and tell of the sadness passing, the happiness returning, with something new.

(MORITZ and WENDLA Join with Counterparts)

They call me –

Through all things –

Night’s falling

But somehow I go on

You watch me

Just watch me –

I’m calling

From longing

a call back to all thats known

WENDLA (Sung in Counterpart)

When the northern wind blows

The sorrows your heart’s known –

I believe…

she still believes in forgiveness.

MORITZ (Sung in Counterpart)

Still you known

There’s so much more to find –

Another dream, another love you’ll hold

he doesn't have to be stuck on them and they are giving him permission to move on and find happiness again.

Still you know

To trust your own true mind

On your way – you are not alone

There are those who still know

a call back to all that's known, 

MELCHIOR (Sung Alone)

Now they’ll walk on my arm through the distant night

And I won’t let them stray from my heart

Through the wind, through the dark, through the winter light

I will read all their dreams to the stars

i dissected this line back in all thats known but STARS! they back

I'll walk now with them

I’ll call on their names

I’ll see their thoughts are known

they know now! all will know he knows and know they know! their story will be told!

WENDLA

Not gone –

Not gone –

they are still there!

MELCHIOR

They walk with my heart –

And I'll never let them go

they are still there!

I’ll never let them go

I’ll never let them go

You watch me

Just watch me

I’m calling

I’m calling –

And one day all will know

ALL👏WILL👏KNOW👏

P U R P L E  S U M M E R

purple has historically represented freedom, the kids now have freedom and summer here means happiness. so now they have both. purple summer is just yeah knowledge and freedom of oppression and the hivemind because this Germany 1890 bad (its a john Mulaney reference I'm so sorry im losing my mind)

And all shall know the wonder

I will sing the song of purple summer

All thats known, all will know all shall know. They will know because we will tell them.

And still, I wait

The swallow brings

A song of what's to follow -

The glory of the spring

The happiness! The knowledge! The freedom! Its coming! It waking it up! SPRING IS AWAKENING! ahhhhhhhhhh

[zeeroweenies]

Do you have any advice for beginners. I want to start writing but I’m kind nervous😅

i know how you feel😭 i was the same way when i first started writing

1. Try to find your writing style

It’s taken me a hot lil minute to find a writing style that’s good for me and makes it fun for me to write so I don’t get burned out or bored with my writing

2. Be descriptive

This is something I personally struggle with a lot because sometimes it’s really hard to do. Try to search up synonyms for words so you don’t end up being redundant or repetitive

3. Have a clear idea of what you wanna write

If you have an idea for a fic try to expand on it. Some writers prefer to create outlines for their works, I prefer to just write as I go cause it’s what works for me

4. Try to be consistent

Depending on how often you feel like writing, it’s good to be consistent. Even if you don’t write stuff everyday, try to have stuff lined up in advance or queue works that you’ve wrote already

5. Write

If it’s a thirst or even just a little headcannon of a character you thought of, type that shit up and post it! You can even put it under tags if you want

6. Tags

Try to tag triggers as best you can if you write dc. Also put your work under tags so people can find your work. I like to use ‘megumi x reader’ or ‘megumi smut’ for example. Don’t use too many though, t*mblr will hide your post if you do

7. Interact with people

It’s good to make friends, it’s something I struggle with since I don’t talk to people unless they hmu first😭 but if you’re shy like me, step out of your comfort zone and try to make mutuals with other writers that you like

8. Have fun

Pick out a theme for your blog, make banners, use pictures to make it nice and pretty. It’s yours! Go crazy! Don’t let people pressure you into writing stuff you don’t want to and take breaks when you need

9. Don’t get too caught up in that ‘notes’ shit.

There are so many AMAZING writers on this dusty ass app who do not get the recognition they deserve so don’t worry if your blog isn’t taking off as fast as you think it should, your time will come and don’t let a note define your writing skill (you’re gonna do great😚!)

I really hope this helps, and if you ever decide to start posting you can hmu, I’ll support your work. you’re gonna do just fine! 🌈

[bfxenon]

How to Do Better, Lazier Keyword Research

This post is an expansion on something I discussed in my talk at MozCon this year: my view that a lot of time spent on keyword research is essentially wasted.

Don’t get me wrong — keyword research is, of course, important. SEOs and businesses use keyword research to decide which parts of their business to prioritize, to forecast the results of their activities, to appraise possible opportunities for expansion, and of course to write title tags, brief copywriters, or engage in other tactical activity. The point is, if you paid a non-SEO consultant — perhaps a management consultant — for this level of strategic insight, you’d pay a fortune, and you’d listen very carefully.

And yet, in SEO businesses, keyword research is the task most likely to be delegated to the most junior member of the team. It’s considered grunt work. It’s boring, tedious, repetitive, and easy — so we think. I know this, because I have made this (mistaken) assumption many times as a senior SEO, and was on the receiving end of that “grunt work” early in my career.

There are three main ways I think we’re turning what should be an involved piece of strategic thinking into tedium. I’ll cover them below, along with what to focus on instead.

Quantity vs. quality

If you hit up your favorite search engine and look for some guides on how to conduct keyword research, you’ll find that a common theme is to start by amassing the most exhaustive list of potential keywords possible. If you run out of rows in Excel, or cells in Google Sheets, that is seemingly a badge of honor.

Perhaps you’ll use tools like keyword multipliers, Google Search Console, and GA Site Search to add as many obscure variants of your target keywords as you can find.

This is a fool’s errand, though.

The very blog you’re reading right now gets 48% of its daily traffic from keywords that drive only a single click. And it’s not like we’re getting the same selection of low traffic keywords every day, either. Google themselves have said repeatedly that 15% of the keywords they see every day are totally new to them.

In this context, how can we hope to truly capture every possible keyword someone might use to reach our site? It seems entirely pointless.

Why not save ourselves an absolute shit ton of time, and greatly simplify our analysis, by just capturing the few main keywords for each unique intent we wish to target?

It’s easy to produce an enormous list of keywords that contains perhaps three or four intents, but it’s a grand waste of time, as you’ll be producing some small fraction of a vast unknowable sea of keywords, and you're going to optimize for the main ones anyway. Not to mention, it makes the rest of your analysis a total pain, and extremely difficult to consume afterwards.

Instead, try to capture 90% of the intents for your potential new page, product, or site, rather than 90% of the potential keywords. It’s far more realistic, and you can spend the time you save making strategic choices rather than swearing at Excel. On which note…

Removing automation

Another common piece of advice is to manually use the Google SERPs as a keyword research tool. This is fine in principle, and it’s advice I’ve given, particularly to editorial teams researching individual pieces of content, as it helps to make the research feel more grounded in what they’re actually trying to affect (Google SERPs).

However, for at-scale keyword research conducted by an SEO professional, this is an overly manual and redundant step. Why?

Because you’re probably already doing this, possibly twice, in other parts of your process. If you use a popular SEO suite — preferably Moz Pro, of course, but it’s not just us — this data is very likely already baked into any suggestions you’ve downloaded. Save yourself the manual data collection (or worse yet, the unreliable and finickety SERP scraping on your own personal computer) and just collect this valuable information once.

Similarly, if you’re mainly looking for keywords you ought to rank for rather than the wide open ocean of opportunity, you’ll get 90%+ of that by seeing who your competitors are, and what they rank for that you don’t.

It really doesn’t have to be some massive ordeal. Again, this is about spending more time on the important bit, and less time on the grunt work.

The wrong metrics

“The important bit”, though, is probably prioritization, which means it’s probably about metrics.

Typically, the primary metric involved in keyword research is search volume, and that’s probably unavoidable (although, not all search volumes are created equal — watch out for a Whiteboard Friday on this in the Autumn), but even the most accurate search volumes can miss the full story.

The core issue here is that click-through rates for keywords vary massively. The below range is for a random sample from MozCast:

The chart shows that only around a third of the keywords in this random set had a CTR close to 100% for all organic results combined. It also shows the high variance in total CTRs across the keywords in this group.

This is not untypical, and well-discussed in the SEO space at this point. Many SERPs have organic results that start essentially below the fold. What it means for keyword research is that volume is not that great a metric. It’s an important component — you need both volume and CTR to work out how many clicks might be available — but on its own, it’s a little suspect.

Again, this doesn’t have to be a massive ordeal, though, many tools, including Moz Pro, will give you CTR estimates for your keywords. So in the same place you get your volumes, you can get a metric that will stop you prioritizing the wrong things, or in other words, stop you further wasting your time.

TL;DR: stop wasting your time

There’s a huge amount of skill, nuance, and experience that comes into keyword research that I’ve not covered here. But my hope is that we can get into the habit of focusing on those bits, and not just screaming into the void spreadsheet.

[lakelandseo]

How to Do Better, Lazier Keyword Research

This post is an expansion on something I discussed in my talk at MozCon this year: my view that a lot of time spent on keyword research is essentially wasted.

Don’t get me wrong — keyword research is, of course, important. SEOs and businesses use keyword research to decide which parts of their business to prioritize, to forecast the results of their activities, to appraise possible opportunities for expansion, and of course to write title tags, brief copywriters, or engage in other tactical activity. The point is, if you paid a non-SEO consultant — perhaps a management consultant — for this level of strategic insight, you’d pay a fortune, and you’d listen very carefully.

And yet, in SEO businesses, keyword research is the task most likely to be delegated to the most junior member of the team. It’s considered grunt work. It’s boring, tedious, repetitive, and easy — so we think. I know this, because I have made this (mistaken) assumption many times as a senior SEO, and was on the receiving end of that “grunt work” early in my career.

There are three main ways I think we’re turning what should be an involved piece of strategic thinking into tedium. I’ll cover them below, along with what to focus on instead.

Quantity vs. quality

If you hit up your favorite search engine and look for some guides on how to conduct keyword research, you’ll find that a common theme is to start by amassing the most exhaustive list of potential keywords possible. If you run out of rows in Excel, or cells in Google Sheets, that is seemingly a badge of honor.

Perhaps you’ll use tools like keyword multipliers, Google Search Console, and GA Site Search to add as many obscure variants of your target keywords as you can find.

This is a fool’s errand, though.

The very blog you’re reading right now gets 48% of its daily traffic from keywords that drive only a single click. And it’s not like we’re getting the same selection of low traffic keywords every day, either. Google themselves have said repeatedly that 15% of the keywords they see every day are totally new to them.

In this context, how can we hope to truly capture every possible keyword someone might use to reach our site? It seems entirely pointless.

Why not save ourselves an absolute shit ton of time, and greatly simplify our analysis, by just capturing the few main keywords for each unique intent we wish to target?

It’s easy to produce an enormous list of keywords that contains perhaps three or four intents, but it’s a grand waste of time, as you’ll be producing some small fraction of a vast unknowable sea of keywords, and you're going to optimize for the main ones anyway. Not to mention, it makes the rest of your analysis a total pain, and extremely difficult to consume afterwards.

Instead, try to capture 90% of the intents for your potential new page, product, or site, rather than 90% of the potential keywords. It’s far more realistic, and you can spend the time you save making strategic choices rather than swearing at Excel. On which note…

Removing automation

Another common piece of advice is to manually use the Google SERPs as a keyword research tool. This is fine in principle, and it’s advice I’ve given, particularly to editorial teams researching individual pieces of content, as it helps to make the research feel more grounded in what they’re actually trying to affect (Google SERPs).

However, for at-scale keyword research conducted by an SEO professional, this is an overly manual and redundant step. Why?

Because you’re probably already doing this, possibly twice, in other parts of your process. If you use a popular SEO suite — preferably Moz Pro, of course, but it’s not just us — this data is very likely already baked into any suggestions you’ve downloaded. Save yourself the manual data collection (or worse yet, the unreliable and finickety SERP scraping on your own personal computer) and just collect this valuable information once.

Similarly, if you’re mainly looking for keywords you ought to rank for rather than the wide open ocean of opportunity, you’ll get 90%+ of that by seeing who your competitors are, and what they rank for that you don’t.

It really doesn’t have to be some massive ordeal. Again, this is about spending more time on the important bit, and less time on the grunt work.

The wrong metrics

“The important bit”, though, is probably prioritization, which means it’s probably about metrics.

Typically, the primary metric involved in keyword research is search volume, and that’s probably unavoidable (although, not all search volumes are created equal — watch out for a Whiteboard Friday on this in the Autumn), but even the most accurate search volumes can miss the full story.

The core issue here is that click-through rates for keywords vary massively. The below range is for a random sample from MozCast:

The chart shows that only around a third of the keywords in this random set had a CTR close to 100% for all organic results combined. It also shows the high variance in total CTRs across the keywords in this group.

This is not untypical, and well-discussed in the SEO space at this point. Many SERPs have organic results that start essentially below the fold. What it means for keyword research is that volume is not that great a metric. It’s an important component — you need both volume and CTR to work out how many clicks might be available — but on its own, it’s a little suspect.

Again, this doesn’t have to be a massive ordeal, though, many tools, including Moz Pro, will give you CTR estimates for your keywords. So in the same place you get your volumes, you can get a metric that will stop you prioritizing the wrong things, or in other words, stop you further wasting your time.

TL;DR: stop wasting your time

There’s a huge amount of skill, nuance, and experience that comes into keyword research that I’ve not covered here. But my hope is that we can get into the habit of focusing on those bits, and not just screaming into the void spreadsheet.

[the-desolated-quill]

The Keys Of Marinus - Doctor Who blog

(SPOILER WARNING: The following is an in-depth critical analysis. If you haven’t seen this serial yet, you may want to before reading this review)

Oh poop!

The Keys Of Marinus was written by Dalek writer Terry Nation at the last minute to replace another serial written by Malcolm Hulke, which was deemed problematic by script editor David Whittaker. It speaks to Nation’s talents as a writer that he was able to come up with a compelling premise at such short notice, however the execution leaves a lot to be desired.

The TARDIS arrives on an island of glass in the middle of a sea of acid. Okay. Stop right there. I’m already sold! What a great location! Sure the 60s production values hamper the vision slightly, but that opening wide shot of the glass temple and the tranquil sea really is breathtaking. I really wish New Who could be as imaginative as this.

So anyway, the Doctor and co quickly run across a monk named Arbitan who is protecting a machine called the Conscience of Marinus from a group of invaders called the Voord. The Conscience has the power to remove evil from the minds of the planet’s entire population, but requires five keys for it to operate effectively. So it’s a race against time to find the keys and stop the Voord before it’s too late.

What really frustrates me about this six part serial is that there’s a really good idea at the centre of it that Terry nation fails to capitalise on. A machine that effectively brainwashes an entire planet, eradicating evil from the minds of the population. This opens so many questions that could have been fun to explore. Why would people willingly allow justice and morality be dictated by a machine? What gives Arbitan the right to decide what is and isn’t moral? How does the Conscience even know what’s moral considering that morality isn’t absolute and is often contextual (for example killing someone out of malice versus killing someone in self defence) or comes down to an individual’s point of view (for example abortion)? Is our free will and individuality what allows evil to exist in the world? if so, would we be prepared to give it up for the sake of peace or would that be too high a cost? It’s an excellent premise and yet the story does absolutely nothing with it. The Doctor doesn’t even comment on the ethics of such a machine until right at the end with a little throwaway line about how man shouldn’t be ruled by machines, which is really baffling to me. Sure the First Doctor isn’t quite the noble do-gooder his future incarnations would be in the years to come, but he still takes a moral stand. He still holds firm beliefs on matters such as freedom and personal autonomy. So to have the Doctor not comment on this rather fascist machine seems wildly out of character.

The main problem this serial has is its plot structure. Rather than taking the time to expand on the initial concept, each episode of The Keys Of Marinus plays out as its own mini-adventure with its own settings and challenges. By far the best episode of the six is the second one, titled The Velvet Web. The Doctor and co arrive in the city of Morphoton in search of one of the keys. Morphoton is initially presented as a perfect utopia where the TARDIS crew are waited on hand and foot, but over the course of the episode it’s revealed that everyone is being hypnotised by a Mesmer field and that the city is really a dirty, filthy squalor. This episode stands a cut above the rest for several reasons. The most obvious is the premise itself. (Honestly I think it’s good enough to be its own serial). It’s incredibly dark and genuinely unsettling. The hypnotised Altos played by Robin Phillips was especially creepy in particular. It gives Barbara a chance to shine as she’s the only one that manages to break free from the Mesmer and has to save everyone. But most importantly of all, it’s the only episode of the six that actually connects thematically with the central premise of the entire story. The idea of people giving up their free will for peace. If the entire serial was like this, I wouldn’t have much to complain about, but sadly that’s not the case. Before we can learn more about how the city came to be like this and what’s the deal with those brains in the jars, we’re suddenly whisked off to another part of the planet to find the next key.

The word ‘random’ comes to mind when I think of this serial. The entire story feels incredibly disconnected because there’s nothing that seems to link all of these mini-adventures together. After Morphoton, we head to a screaming jungle that’s growing rapidly out of control. The episode after that takes place in the snowy mountains where the TARDIS crew have to contend with a hunter, some wolves and frozen zombie knights (I... I don’t get it either). Then at the final key, Ian gets framed for murder and we get a courtroom drama. Quite a bizarre change of scenery, granted, but it could have worked. After the jungle and mountains tested everyone physically, the trial could have been more a battle of wits, serving as a nice contrast to previous episodes. Except it’s really not done very well. It’s the really boring kind of trial where the baddies hold all the cards and where the law seems to cater solely to the prosecution’s side for the sake of plot convenience. Also it opens up a slight plot hole. If the Conscience of Marinus dictates what’s right and wrong, what reason is there for a courtroom or a judiciary to even exist? And if all evil has been eradicated from the planet, why is there law enforcement? Surely the Conscience would make that redundant considering that crime shouldn’t be a thing anymore, right?

What it all boils down to is this. How does this world work? And the short answer is... I haven’t the foggiest idea. And that’s the problem. All of these episodes and scenarios are wildly different to the point where they don’t feel like they’re part of the same story. They don’t fit into any overall theme or connection. It just feels like a bunch of random concepts shoved together. What would have helped immensely is if the Voord could have played a bigger role in the entire serial. They only appear in the first and last episodes (in fact, to be honest, I actually completely forgot about them until they showed up again). We never learn anything significant about the Voord other than they’re bad guys who want the keys to use the Conscience and, again, Terry Nation doesn’t take the opportunity to properly connect them to the overarching plot. What if, instead of evil invaders, the Voord were actually Marinusians(?) who had somehow broken free from the Conscience’s influence and were trying to sabotage it to set everyone else free? Wouldn’t that be more interesting? You could even have the Mesmer in The Velvet Web episode serve as a microcosm of what happens later in the serial. But no. They’re just generic baddies who want to take over the world because the script said so. Sigh.

It’s so frustrating. Given more time and a couple of rewrites, this could have been something really special. It has one or two really strong ideas at its core that’s just begging to be explored. Sadly, while it does have its moments, The Keys Of Marinus just feels like a wasted opportunity.

[scifigeneration]

Stephen Hawking: blending science with science fiction

by Christopher Benjamin Menadue

Fact or fiction? Either way, an alien still seems menacing. Cindy Zhi/The Conversation, CC BY

This article is part of our occasional series Zoom Out. Here we offer authors a slightly longer essay format to widen their focus, and explore key ideas in science and technology in the broader context of society and humanity.

Theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking died recently at the age of 76.

He was a man who had a significant influence on the way we view science today, noted for his work with Sir Roger Penrose on the singularities at the origins and future of the universe, starting with the Big Bang, and ending in black holes. His work had significant implications for the search for a unified theory that would link Einstein’s general relativity with quantum mechanics, and discussions that originated from his work continue to reverberate in the field of theoretical physics.

Beyond doing an excellent job of raising the public profile of black holes, Hawking also wrote and spoke publicly on issues beyond his research. He expressed concerns about the possible impacts of artificial intelligence, and the questionable wisdom of attracting alien visitors.

Was he presenting new concerns? Or were these ideas already deeply rooted in prior science, or envisaged in fiction? The answer lies in the complex relationship between science and science fiction.

A brief history of fictional science

There was a time when science fiction writers may have imagined they were exploring the frontiers of the future. When the science caught up with the fiction, and in many cases exceeded it, this relationship turned on its head. Enduring themes of science fiction, which survived the impact of this scientific apocalypse, include interests expressed by Stephen Hawking – putting ourselves at the mercy of machines, communicating with non-human life and phenomena that are so grandly cosmic that they defy normal comprehension: sentient machines, alien visitors and black holes.

Science fiction authors used to make mileage out of technological speculation. From the 1930s through to the 1950s, video telephones, atomic bombs and thinking machines were wonderful things to speculate about, and no one knew for certain what was out there in the rest of the universe.

Astounding Science Fiction, December 1950: Impractical SF - Cities in Flight. Author Supplied

Robert Heinlein talked about bases on the Moon run by free-wheeling libertarians and Isaac Asimov wrote of future star-spanning, galactic-scale human empires. Alien visitors were common – whether for good or bad – and ravening beams of destruction had been tearing through the black emptiness of space since the mid-1930s for E.E. ‘Doc’ Smith. You could even make cities fly.

Science overtakes science fiction

In 1957 the Russians launched the first orbital satellite – Sputnik – and perhaps this was the beginning of the end for scientific fantasy.

It is strange to think today that when the meticulous director Stanley Kubrick was working on 2001: A Space Odyssey – released in mid 1968, and now celebrating its 50th birthday – no-one even knew for certain what the surface of the Moon was like.

Earthrise on the Moon in 2001: A Space Odyssey. Kubrick's Films

Kubrick had access to in-depth, technical support by NASA and other space technology experts, and this strongly influenced his designs. But even NASA didn’t know whether the lunar landscape was rocky or smooth, or exactly how Earthrise on the moon might appear.

The first pictures of Earth from space had been taken in 1946, but it was not until Christmas Eve 1968 that a high quality colour image of the Earth rising over the Moon was taken by the crew of Apollo 8. Despite Kubrick’s access to the best information you can see the differences between his imagery and the real thing.

Apollo 8 Earthrise. NASA

But Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey has elements of realism that are not found in modern science fiction films – the silence of space being perhaps the most striking. What people remember about 2001, however, more than the realism, is HAL – the sentient machine who goes haywire.

2001: A Space Odyssey touched on subjects that were significant to Hawking – artificial intelligence, alien contact, and even wormholes in space-time, or whatever it is that happens when Bowman goes through the stargate. These were still being presented on the basis of well-informed guesswork, however – and it might be argued that the release of this movie, which attempted to portray space travel and technology as realistically as possible, marked a point of crisis for science fiction.

The Apollo missions revealed Earth to be a blue marble, and, as Jean Baudrillard has suggested: when you have seen people go to the Moon and come back again, in a “two‑room apartment with kitchen and bath” the magic and wonder may have evaporated. Astronauts might indeed just be “spam in a can…”, as the legendary test-pilot Chuck Yaeger cynically suggested.

The future now

After this, science fiction had two choices. Choice one: do realistic science, and get the science right so people couldn’t criticise it (which has even inspired an academic paper on the work of author Greg Bear). Or choice two: go beyond it. Create science so speculative and conjectural that it could not be categorically denied.

The Man in the High Castle: Philip K. Dick’’s alternate universe where the axis powers won WWII. Amazon Studios via IMDB

The future has become now, as British New-Wave science fiction author J.G. Ballard observed, and our fears about the future are that it will simply be more of the same, and boring. For his part, Ballard explored the “inner space” of human psychology in extraordinarily ordinary environments and alternate universes, approaches which enable some writers to evade criticisms based on scientific credibility.

Science fiction has to build a vision of the future that is not just more of the same. As human knowledge, and the application of that knowledge through technology advances, it becomes harder to find scientific subjects that are truly inspiring.

These days, 2001: A Space Odyssey has appeared at number 12 on a list of “the most boring films ever”.

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence at the level of sophistication and consciousness portrayed in science fiction, with the potential to cause the concerns raised by Hawking, is a long way away. But Larry Tesler – former Chief Scientist at Apple – has suggested this will always be the way people think about it because “intelligence is whatever machines haven’t done yet.”

Hawking was not alone in prophesying the end of humanity as the logical endpoint of successfully building a sentient machine. We may think of this concern with what machines may do to us as recent, but in 1863 Samuel Butler encouraged us to rise up against the machines before we become their servants. He predicted that our increasing reliance upon technology would end with us serving it rather than it serving us, and that the more science and technology progressed, the more dependent we would become on it until it was indispensable. Butler’s proposal was immortalised in science fiction as the inspiration for the “Butlerian Jihad” in Frank Herbert’s seminal 1965 novel Dune, with the edict:

Thou shalt not make a machine in the likeness of a human mind.

Analog Dec. 1963 Cover for Frank Herbert’s Dune World. Author Supplied

The signs of this dependence on machines are around us now, and subtly pervasive – most of us have smart phones, and many other devices too.

Artificial intelligence is frightening for several, good, reasons. Perhaps the least threatening is that sentient machines could do our jobs as well as, or better, than we can – making us redundant. Robots have done this already with many manufacturing jobs. But robots who think could conceivably make human minds as unnecessary as our manual labour.

Current artificial intelligence projects include robotic doctors, stockbrokers, and, of course, weapons.

These, however, are not the “holy grail” of artificial intelligence – these examples are better described as “expert systems” that simulate human capabilities, like your fridge ordering some more milk because it has realised there’s none left.

A more disturbing recent development is the ability of algorithms and expert systems aided by humans to influence public opinion, and voter intentions. When machines can play poker better than humans, it demands we consider how else they might out-think us.

What people tend to think of as true artificial intelligence, and the type that appears most often in science fiction, and in the fears of people like Stephen Hawking, is the achievement of “general intelligence” – human level abilities. With the addition of consciousness, this is known as “strong AI”.

Strong AI is the stuff of science fiction nightmares - such as HAL in 2001, Ava in Ex Machina, and apparently more benevolent, but no less disturbing by implication, Her, the self-actualising virtual companion.

The face of indifference: Eva from Ex Machina. Universal Pictures via IMDB

Perhaps our biggest issue with artificial intelligence is the ethics of it - not whether it is ethical to build one, but whether an AI could ever be part of a human ethical environment that relies on communal concepts of moral accountability.

Would an AI have any feelings of responsibility towards humans, regardless of how we feel about them? What is to stop an AI with sufficient access to resources from exterminating all human life because it finds it convenient to do something that will incidentally cause us harm, as has been suggested by the philosopher Nick Bostrom?. Or would it stick to fixing elections in its favour?

AI researchers suggest that there is quite a lot that can be done to stop this, not least including a hardware off-switch, and not being silly enough to give an AI autonomous control of anything particularly important.

There are also suggestions that we could program an AI to be ethical in a human sense – and not just Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics, whose flexibility and loop-holes were the basis of the majority of Asimov’s robot stories.

Regardless of how carefully we try to protect ourselves from programming an AI to “do the right thing” by us, there is always the possibility of the AI finding internal exceptions, as Gödel’s Theorem implies. Determinism, and complexity theories also suggest that to believe we might begin to programme such a sophisticated machine to unequivocally respond to our orders may be doomed to failure. As Stephen Hawking would remind us, failure is not an option.

Alien real-estate agents

Hawking’s other words of warning were on the subject of contacting aliens - the logical premise being that any aliens who could both (a) pick up our communications, and (b) pop over for a visit, would be in the possession of powers to transform space-time which are simply inconceivable to us. Our theoretical approaches to faster-than-light travel have some serious obstacles to overcome.

Theoretical approaches include the Alcubierre drive, which requires the creation of “exotic” matter at the limits of, or beyond, our very concepts of physics.

Alcubierre Warp-Bubble: if we find a way to do this to space-time, we can get there faster than light. A. DeBenedictis

Again, the question of ethics arises - why would an advanced alien civilisation be interested in, or feel any responsibility towards humans? Cautionary tales abound in science fiction about the possibilities. A particularly gruesome example is The Screwfly Solution – a story by James Tiptree Jr. that won a Nebula Award in 1977. Spoiler alert: in the story, we discover that the horrific genocide committed on humanity may just be the result of some alien real-estate agents tidying up the back yard before putting the “house” on the market.

Science fiction writers and directors are fond of the trope of the alien menace. Director Ridley Scott has imagined the awful consequences of an AI believing an alien species is more deserving of survival than the human one, in Alien Covenant.

Artificial Intelligence teams up with Xenophobic Aliens in Ridley Scott’s Alien Covenant. Twentieth Century Fox via IMDB

Is there any reason to believe that visiting aliens would have any more noble or less disruptive intentions than colonists reaching the Americas, or Pacific islands? Perhaps they might consider Earth a good place to send convicts, like Botany Bay in Australia. It might not bode well for the indigenous Earth people.

Black holes

Stephen Hawking’s most significant contributions to science have been on the nature and characteristics of black holes. These were already imagined in physics and in science fiction, becoming more topical for science fiction writers towards the end of the 1960s when Hawking’s work was emerging.

Probably the most popular book to deal with the concept of black holes was Hawking’s A Brief History of Time, published in 1988. Black holes had appeared in popular media before, even in a Disney film in 1979, but realism had not been a strong point.

The Not-So-Realistic Disney Black Hole. Disney via IMDB

Testament to the increasing knowledge and fascination with these phenomena, faults in the portrayal of the effects of the black hole Gargantua in Interstellar – despite being well researched – were considered interesting enough to the general public to be worthy of critical attention in mass-media news reporting. They also inspired a detailed explanation in academic literature of how a black hole might actually appear.

Progressively more realistic conceptual images of black holes - a: as portrayed in Interstellar, c: the (more) genuine article. Oliver James, Eugénie von Tunzelmann, Paul Franklin and Kip S Thorne

Black holes have also featured in music, and are almost certainly the only celestial phenomena to have made it to the top of the charts.

To infinity and beyond

Did Hawking and other scientists discover things that had a significant influence on science fiction, or were they publicists of things that authors and specialists already knew?

The answer may be a bit of both - certainly the public comprehension of “grand science” has made it possible to create science fiction that is more readily comprehended, and discussed, by the non-expert. This, along with scientific progress, has changed the nature of science fiction - writers and film-makers can no longer produce “lazy” work, but can sidestep by presenting the unknowable, as Kubrick did at the end of 2001: A Space Odyssey.

The history of debates about and representations of artificial intelligence, aliens and even black holes pre-dates Hawking, even though he, and his contemporaries, have raised public awareness of these outside of a science fiction audience.

One thing is certain, however: even though science has rendered the premises of much historic science fiction obsolete, the relationship between science and science fiction is just as strong today as it has ever been.

Christopher Benjamin Menadue is a PhD Candidate, Literature and Society at James Cook University.

This article was originally published on The Conversation. 

[thesweatycollectiontyrant]

110 in the Shade

I decided to make it as pleasing as possible for myself to just profile each musical in alphabetical (and numerical? hence 110 in the Shade) order, starting with a gorgeous classic, 110 in the Shade.

Background Info

This is a musical that opened just after the Golden Age. It’s kind of in that area of musicals that people don’t really know how to refer to. Others in the area are a lot of Bock and Harnick musicals, like Fiddler on the Roof and She Loves Me, also, Jerry Herman favorites, Mame and Hello, Dolly!

Writers

The show has music and lyrics by the team of Harvey Schmidt who actually died exactly a week after my 18th birthday and Tom Jones who did not die exactly a week after my 18th birthday. Schmidt and Jones wrote other works together including, The Fantasticks (one of the longest-running shows in history), and the marriage profile, I Do! I Do! starring the likes of Robert Preston and Mary Martin (with a low Db), who were quite the duo, if you’d ask me. The book was by N. Richard Nash, who actually wrote a play called The Rainmaker, that was produced a few years prior.

Da System

The way I’m going to do this is that I’m going to write while listening. I’m always going to include the cast recording I chose to listen to.

Side note: Most of the time, I’m going to choose especially with classic musicals cast recordings that I feel have the best voices. ALSO, while I do listen to the entire show, I’m gonna just talk about highlights.

Who’s Singing?

For 110 in the Shade, I decided to go with a studio recording from 1997, starring Karen Ziemba as Lizzie Curry and Ron Raines as Bill Starbuck.

Time to dig into this loaded show.

Let’s Do This

For a while, I listened to the recording with Audra McDonald (one of my favorite voices of ALL time, period) as Lizzie, but eventually, I noticed that they transposed a lot of songs for her. Which by all means is okay although a bit surprising for a soprano, but I wanted to hear the way it was intended. I also wasn’t the biggest fan of Steve Kazee’s voice as Bill Starbuck (choppy vibrato), so I searched for a recording for something that is true to the original material, but recent. Thankfully, this recording served everything I was looking for. Another thing that’s funny listening to Karen Ziemba sing this instead of Audra McDonald are these two things: When I think of Karen Ziemba, I think of her phenomenal dancing and the fact that she’s an alto. When I think of Audra, I think of her amazing acting and the fact that she’s a soprano. It’s funny to me that they had Karen Ziemba do the part. Maybe, she was a soprano back in the day. However, despite her alto-ness, she really has quite the range and went OFF in this recording. Very pleasantly surprised.

As I listen to the score, I can say that it is incredibly picturesque. The Overture is both riveting and solemn. It reminded me a lot of Rossini’s William Tell Overture with the whole Morning section mixed with some Fireball. The orchestra is phenomenal. The orchestrations are very lush; something like a mattress that eats you up, but doesn’t make you sink. It’s very full for such a Western-esque score, and it’s perfect to me. It’s a lot like Copland’s Rodeo.

During the opening number, you find out from the Greek chorus (kinda) of townspeople. There’s a drought and it’s gonna be Another Hot Day. The opening number is special because it introduces many themes that happen all the way through the show. The interesting thing is that they introduce them in a way that it doesn’t get annoying to the listener. The motif is formed in many different ways all the way through the show. Also, most of the singing in this number is unison or counterpoint between the men and the women on different themes. The unison singing (while it can be beautiful at times) really gives you that bored sense of I Don’t Care What Happens Today Get Me a Palm Tree I’m Hot.

“Lizzie’s Comin’ Home” is very fun and gives you something you don’t get to hear as much. A trio between three men ("Sincerely, Me" anybody?), Lizzie’s father, H.C. Curry, and her two brothers, Noah and Jimmy. Nice harmonies at the end, and definitely something that could be performed in a concert/cabaret setting.

A few things happen: Lizzie gets her “I Want” song, addressed to Love, so she can get her a mans. The dudes sing about poker and stuff (which is actually a fun number, and a great example of a “Blow High, Blow Low” male ensemble number).

Then the male lead is introduced. Bill Starbuck(s)(?) claims to be a rainmaker (what about a coffee maker? wow now I need caffeine). He leads all the townsfolk in a SUPER DUPER FUN ensemble number that I honestly love, simply titled “The Rain Song”. It’s so exciting and something that you can listen to to get your blood pumping. WOW Ron Raines’ voice. Ooft. Love it.

“You’re Not Foolin’ Me” is a fun duet between Lizzie and Starbuck where they are doubting each other to the point that it’s comical, sort of Beatrice and Benedick meet “Anything You Can Do”.

“Raunchy” is the ultimate definition of a hoot. I don’t need to say anything else. Just watch Audra McDonald do cartwheels at Radio City Music Hall.

“Old Maid” serves as Lizzie’s nervous breakdown that she truly might never find love. She’s just met this guy who she thinks she might like, but she’s not sure, because she’s never really had a chance before, and now he comes along and she doesn’t know what to do, so she just resorts to imagining the thought of being alone forever. This is a fantastic example of amazing songwriting, from changing meter, repeated themes, chord voicing, orchestrations, character arc, everything. This is a great example of a song to give a superstar Soprano who has some fantastic acting chops.

Act Two traditionally opens with an ensemble number *squeals in excitement* called “Everything Beautiful Happens at Night”. It gave me some “Clambake” vibes, as it was written in waltz time, and has some really beautiful and interesting harmonies that just fed my musician soul like I had some Cracker Barrel. Then there’s a fun dance routine with either tapping or softshoe that sounded like tons of sweat, or as my high school theatre teacher called it, success.

Starbuck gets a really nice solo called “Melisande” which is a sort of tale he tells Lizzie. I’ll have to listen again to get specifics yikes but y’all know.

“Simple Little Things” is a nice little (kind of redundant, but still beautiful and necessary) solo for Lizzie.

Kristin Chenoweth made a little appearance in “Little Red Hat” which is more or less of a throwaway duet with one of Lizzie’s brothers, whom she is dating.

The Finale culminates in an enormous celebration by the ensemble when the rain finally comes and the temperature drops from 110 while they’re in the shade to a melancholy 100 in the shade. RIP I guess. The number has some fun A-flats for the Tenors and Sopranos. An interesting ending to a genuinely fun show.

Audition Songs

Cool thing about future posts. Most of the shows that I post about, I have access to vocal scores for, so if you’d like PDFs of songs for auditions or anything, just let me know, and I’d be more than happy to send to you! YouTube links will be posted with the title of the song.

Regarding this show in particular, while I mentioned that this is not in the Golden Age, per se, this is still a perfect show to take to an audition that asks for a Golden Age song.

“Love, Don’t Turn Away” - Lizzie, D4-F5

The song has a charming quality. Good idea for auditioning for a Rodgers and Hammerstein show, like Cinderella. It’s for a Soprano, but can easily be sung by a Mezzo, as it doesn’t go too high.

“Raunchy” - Lizzie, G3-Ab5

This song is so so so so so funny. Coincidentally, this would also be good for a Rodgers and Hammerstein/Bock and Harnick/Lerner and Loewe audition. Maybe something along the lines of Amalia Balash or Eliza Doolittle. The song is for a soprano. The situation is that she’s explaining to her dad how she’s gonna get her mans. There are some harmonies at the end between her and her dad that could easily be cut for an audition. That’s where the high Ab happens, so if you choose to cut the section where they sing the “Doo-doo-doo-doo-doo”s, the song goes up to a G5, which is only a half-step difference.

“Old Maid” - Lizzie, B3-G5

This song is featured in the infamous The Singer’s Musical Theatre Anthology: Soprano, Volume One. Disclaimer: I’m not hating on the series of books; I’m hating on the idea that many voice teachers across the country simply choose the same songs for their students to sing. While this is in the anthology, It is more of an unpopular one. Which is good *maniacal laugh*. This is a great song to show your dramatic acting ability, ladies. It’s an awesome song to take to a Weill or Bernstein audition because of its opus nature, but also it’s great to bring to an audition for the composers and roles mentioned in the above paragraph. This is a fantastic song.

“Melisande” - Starbuck, G2-G4

This song is pretty range-y, but it’s a story-telling song. It’s a good song to have fun with. Very appropriate for a Baritone or Tenor.

“Simple Little Things” - Lizzie, B3-E5

Not much to say about it other than I think it’s really pretty. Starbuck has a weird line at the end you can cut if you use it.

To Wrap It Up

This is actually a really fantastic show. I love the plot. Lizzie really grows up over the show, and shows that even people who are a little silly can find love too. This show is a really good choice for high schools. You can cast it as big as you need by adding to the townsfolk. Not sure if they have a lot of individual lines, but it could be solved easily. The revised version, offered by Tams-Witmark only has twelve characters. Crizzazy. I know the original version, also offered by Tams-Witmark has a similar get-up, but gives the option to add more to the ensemble. If you’ve got a dynamite soprano who can act really well, this is the way to go. It’s a very accessible show, and something that could really bring a group of people together.

Get it.

[this-potato-is-cancelled]

Under the Sea of Stars

⁕ A short fic about Kanji and Naoto in Samegawa Flood Plain. 

⁕ For @kannao1draw    ｢ Stars ｣  theme

 ===================

Today Yu senpai invited us to hangout at their place. I was getting pumped up because I made some cute stuff for the whole gang including Nanako. Been working on them for days and weeks now and today’s the perfect time to give it to ‘em. Ma’s been bugging me so much to stop and help around the house, tch, she WAS annoying. Anyway, I’m getting a bit nervous because I don’t know how I’m gonna hand Naoto the thing I made… kinda hard to approach her y’know.

Everything went smoothly at senpai’s house. I brought 2 watermelons for all of us to share, I’ve been dying to have some. Summer can’t be summer if there’s no watermelon, dammit! Nanako was so excited and was very happy to see us. Yosuke-senpai and Teddie were the last one to come due to their work at the Junes. They promised to bring snacks but they forgot so we’re empty handed until Yu senpai decides to go out and buy while some of us wait at their house. I was the only guy around and it was really awkward around the girls especially Rise starts her usual teasing shenanigans around Naoto.

 Long story short, everyone was happy and stuff. I got up and start handing out the small but damn cute knitted straps I made for everyone. One exception is Nanako, I made a bigger rabbit plushie for her and she was so happy. Made me feel ...warm? She really loves it, her dad can’t believe I made them but I proudly explain how I’m able to make such cute stuff, leaving him confused.

 “H-hey…”

 I approached Naoto last, ‘twas hard! Rise keeps making faces behind her and even Yosuke senpai starts joining her. I saw Chie and Yukiko senpai cheering silently too. It made me so flustered, I was breathing hard and lost my words.

 “Yes Tatsumi-kun?”

 I showed her a tiny knitted Naoto strap I made on my hand, she looks surprised.

 “Oh… Tatsumi-kun, this is adorable. It...it’s me, isn’t it? Ah...it is very detailed, this is very fascinating. Thank you, Tatsumi-kun.”

 “MMmm...yeah…”

 I nod. Just nod. Word barely came out of my mouth. I’m too shy around her and everybody else aren’t helping in any way. So, we start heading home when Rise slowly nudge me from my side.

 “Good job, Moronji! She likes it.”

 “Sh-shut up! Mind your own business!”

 “Awww! You’re so cute when embarrassed. Thanks for the cute strap, you did well Moronji ♥”

 Can’t help but look at her as she went off. *sigh*

 I bought some fireworks too...I want...I want to light some together but I can’t put myself to invite her in the flood plain. Get yourself together, Kanji Tatsumi!

 *sigh*

 Who am I kidding, maybe I’ll just head home.

 ~

 “Kanji, get up there and help me clean the shop. You’ve been lying there for a while now. Honestly, sometimes you can be a lazy child.”

 “Dammit, Ma. I’m busy ok? Tch. Fine lemme bring the garbages outside.”

 Ma’s so persistent and I eventually gave up and help her clean the shop. I’m beat but I don’t want to do anything else beside sleeping later. I’m getting bored so I grab the fireworks I have and head off to the flood plain inside of rotting myself inside the house.

 The night sky’s really pretty tonight. There’s a good breeze throughout the town, not too hot, not too cold either. On my way to the flood plain, I felt happy all of a sudden. It felt like my heart skipped a beat, it was awful walking alone feeling like this. Maybe I was thinking about her too much.

 It’s a bit dark now and as I reach the flood plains, it seems that there’s somebody….wait, somebody in the water? I can see their silhouette and it’s awfully familiar.

 “Hey there ya need help…?”

 “....ah?”

 WHOA!

 It’s her, Naoto.

What is she doing here? She looks like she’s looking for something.

 “...h-hey whatcha doing here? Did you drop something on the water?”

 She sheepishly turned around and went a bit quiet.

 “Um…..I lost it.”

 “H-huh? What is it? I’ll h-help y-you!”

 “Something important…”

 “Huh?”

 I stood there confused. She looks troubled, as if all hope is gone.

 “I apologize Tatsumi-kun….I had dropped the strap you gave me by accident.”

 “Oh….don’t worry then, I’ll look for it!:

 “Thank you Tatsumi-kun. I believe it’s still around this area.”

 I search as much as I can. I’m worried that it’s already gone, thinking how small it is. An hour passed and she got worried.

 “Tatsumi-kun….I think it’s better to stop looking for it. It’s been an hour and a half. If it’s nearby, we should’ve seen it already.”

 “Uh yeah...we’ve been here long and uh, I don’t want you to g-get sick, y’know? Forget about it…”

 We walked towards the grassy area, she looks tired from searching.

 “I...I cannot just forget about it. It is something….important to me.”

 Speechless. I was speechless. I don’t know what to say.

 “Tatsumi-kun, you are…”

 She stood up and under the sea of stars, shining brightly. This person I adore so much, her warm smile made me feel so happy inside.

 “You are very important to me.”

 There was total silence between us, I wasn’t able to say or do anything. DAMMIT! I opened my mouth but nothing came out of it. I inhale deeply and out, trying to find the courage to say ...anything.

   “M-M-M-M-ME TOO! IMPORTANT...YOU ARE….SO IMPORTANT ….TO ME….”

 She smiled, a really cute smile.

 “D-D-D-DO YOU WANT TO LIGHT SOME F-F-FIREWORKS WITH ME?!”

 -  END   -

   Hanu’s note: This idea was one of those shower thoughts and I’m glad I stick with the main idea of Naoto’s image under the clear sea of stars where Kanji’s so dazzled by it. This was written on the spot and I barely did spellcheck and proof reading so I apologize if I’m too redundant or unable to describe actions properly.

 Hope you enjoy reading my first written entry for Kannao 1draw! ★☆

 Leave a comment, highly appreciated! :)